Spring-A-Ding!

Bird. Bird. Bird. Bird. Zzzz…

“Morning, punk.”

I squint my eyes open to see my older brother towering over me. I scowl at his sight. 

“Get lost.”

“Nope. Not going ‘till you pay back our deal. I won the Ludo match, pay up.”

“Not nowwww.” 

“I’ll tell mom what you said last week.”

“Wallet’s in the drawer. No extras.”

As I squint-glare at his face, he’s watching me with a sly smile. He reaches out to my drawer and opens it. He sticks his hand in and rummages through my books and pencils. He finally fishes out my wallet. The leather gleams in the sunlight as he zips open the zipper. He takes out a 50 dollar bill. He’s supposed to take 25. I stare at his beady little eyes, and he’s staring at mine with the sly smirk still plastered across his face.

“Luuuuuke…”

He takes my wallet and dashes out the door. With my wallet. I jump up from my bed and chase him all the way downstairs to the kitchen. That fool. He’s on the length of our marble counter, and I’m on the other side across from him. He holds my wallet up in the air with one hand, and in the other is the 50 dollar bill. 

“Let’s double the bet. 50 dollars for me and you take your wallet. Or vice versa. Up to you sis.”

Grunt

He has to ruin a perfect morning for me. He’s a foolish brat. As my brain rants on about how...brainless he is, I get an idea. Now it’s my turn to take hold of a smirk. I cross my arms around my chest.

“Mo-om!”

“No, you do-”

“MOOOOM!”

As his smirk fades away from his face, it adds to mine even more. 

“Hand it over.”

“Your 50 dollar bill?”

I narrow my eyes at him. In a second, I’m right beside him. I snatch the wallet and the bill from his hands and quickly stuff my 50 dollar bill back into my wallet. I fish out a crisp 20 dollar bill with a nickel. 

“Minus 5 dollars for you because you disturbed my sleep. Keep the change.”

I slap the money on the counter and turn around to walk away from him. But I shouldn’t have forgotten that I called mom because I ran right into her. She had a slipper in one hand, and her eyes narrowed down to both of us. I forgot she hates it when we wake her up from her sleep. Cripes.

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Haha. Guess what? Luke got scolded and I got off scot-free. Now, it’s time to get ready for my early-afternoon runs. It’s Sunday. I guess the person who named the days of the week put a sun in “Sunday” because it’s always so sunny specifically on that day. I change into my jogger pants and a tee. I pull my blonde hair into a high ponytail fixed with a maroon scrunchie. Now, all I need is my wallet, just in case I want breakfast. It’s weird how I, Rose Davidson, don't take my breakfasts in the morning. I just don’t feel hungry. And people think it’s weird. But I guess that’s me. Your average Rose. With pale skin and light freckles. Skinny and tall. The athlete. These are all the words that my friends describe me as. There’s a whole dictionary of words that describe me, so I won’t dive deeply into that. Now, on with my run. 

Wooh! That was a hot run! It feels like spring already. But this winter didn’t even feel like it. Well, I guess it’s Calgary. Always filled with obnoxious weather and climates. I swear it was winter yesterday with frost all over the windows and plump snowflakes falling to the ground, creating a soft blanket. But today? The frost’s gone. No snow. Water and puddles everywhere. In fact, a car was coming by and splashed me with a heap of water. At least it helped me to cool down. And I haven’t seen ano-

Fee bee.

Seet seet seet.

A bird. I haven’t seen another bird for months. They migrated and I never saw them. I missed their cheery talk with each other as they ate lunch. My favourite bird is perched on my bedroom’s window. A black-capped chickadee. Its feathers are so vibrant, and its call is magnificent. I walk over to my window, trying my best not to scare it away. The closer I get, the more attentive it looks. Once I arrive at my window, the chickadee looks up at me. 

Fee bee, fee bee.

The chickadee flies up to my shoulder. I get startled for a split second because I’ve never seen a bird do that. I’m amazed. I inhale the crisp air of probably-so spring.

🌺❀🌺❀🌺❀🌺

It’s been a week and all I can see are birds and the chickadee showing up to my window. Oh, and my brother trying to pay back me for the 50 percent off coupon he got for the bet. The weather has been great lately, which I don’t understand. It feels really weird. But never mind that, it’s just weather, right?

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Ah! I can’t sleep! My pajamas are stuck to me and my face looks like I’ve been bobbing apples. I’ve tossed and turned, wiggled and squirmed, but I just. Cant. Sleep! The heat’s killin’ it. Killin’ me. I get out of bed and waddle over to the stairs. I grab the fan that stands right beside the staircase. As sweat trickles down my back, I heave it into my room and plug the wire into the socket. The fan beeps on. I press the button for the highest mode and go back into bed. The fan pulls my hair off of my sticky face. This is what I needed. Now, I’m gonna try to go to sleep.

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Guys. There’s a bee outside of my window. A bee. A bee. What do I do?! I’m so scared of bees. It sounds childish, but I can’t help it. Their wings look creepy, and their eyes are like droplets of black ink. And their skin? THEY HAVE FUR ON THEM. Ew ew ew! Ok, that’s childish no- HOLY GUACAMOLE IT’S IN MY ROOM!!! I need to make a mental note to not keep the window open. But back to the situation now. There’s a bee. In my room. Waiting to suck my blood. It's bloodthirsty. For my blood. 

Bzz bzz.

Cripes. I’m dead.

Bzzt Bzzt.

Uh oh. It’s flying towards me.

BzzZZZZzzZZZzzZzzzzzZz

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!

I scream so loud as I run out of my room. I sprint down the stairs and down to the kitchen where my mom is cooking. 

“Rose?”

She raises her right eyebrow.

“Mom! There’s a bee in my room!”

Luke comes waddling down the stairs and walks between us. We both stare at him. Once he’s settled, he looks at both of us.

“You may continue.”

Mom makes a grunt.

“Rose, it’s spring! What else do you expect in spring?”

Huh?

“Where’s your phone? Haven’t you seen the Google Doodle?”

“N-no! I haven’t. My phone has been dead for the past week.”

She glares at me with her ‘seriously?’ face on. 

“You crazy girl.”

BzzZZZzzZZzzZzZzZzzZzz

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!”

“You need to loosen up a bit!”

“LUUKEEE!”

“Haha. Cat.”

“Not one.”

“Too so.”

“No!”

“Yes!”

“NO.”

“YESSSSSS.”

“Luke, Rose! Stop right there you two. Go resume the stuff that you were doing before. The bee should be out of your room, Rose.”

“Ok.”

“Oh, and Luke. Go get me onions for the-”

“Luke went back upstairs.”

“Oh. Can you help me then?”

“Sure Mom.”

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This is it. Its spring. All that I have seen were all signs that its finally here. Spring!