The wooden screen door thwacked shut and the shouting inside succumbed to the droning chorus of the cicadas. Lydia’s summer-browned bare feet carried her across the searing sun-softened tar. At the end of the street, blacktop yielded to hard nature kilned-clay veiled by powdered sand. The dust cooled her toes.
She paused to crouch at the small stagnant pond beside the path. Last summer she would have stretched out on her stomach to watch the tadpoles, crawdads, and water bugs. Not now — even in her over-sized t-shirt she didn’t want to be reminded of her emerging breasts. Stretching her legs, she trekked on.
Thoughts tumbled as she passed dry, root-bound tumbleweeds and gnarled mesquite trees. The sharp exchange between her parents pierced her mind as she avoided prickly pear cactus. A skittish black tarantula hastened to her hole, safe from the burning heat.
Lydia reached the NO TRESPASSING sign at the base of the earthen dam and climbed past it to the top. She settled on a large rock and scanned the horizon for the muddy lake in the distance. An emerald skink flashed in the brush beside her. She hugged her shins, knees pressed against her bosom and sighed.
She paused to crouch at the small stagnant pond beside the path. Last summer she would have stretched out on her stomach to watch the tadpoles, crawdads, and water bugs. Not now — even in her over-sized t-shirt she didn’t want to be reminded of her emerging breasts. Stretching her legs, she trekked on.
Thoughts tumbled as she passed dry, root-bound tumbleweeds and gnarled mesquite trees. The sharp exchange between her parents pierced her mind as she avoided prickly pear cactus. A skittish black tarantula hastened to her hole, safe from the burning heat.
Lydia reached the NO TRESPASSING sign at the base of the earthen dam and climbed past it to the top. She settled on a large rock and scanned the horizon for the muddy lake in the distance. An emerald skink flashed in the brush beside her. She hugged her shins, knees pressed against her bosom and sighed.
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