Suddenly

Suddenly Chapter 2

Chapter two

Better than Picasso

There was a major cricket tournament on TV at the time, so cricket was on our minds and hearts. The day before, my brothers, dad, neighborhood boys and I had just finished our version of a day night match in the cul-de-sac of our street. It was an intense game of cricket in the warm summer heat. Sport was my favorite past time, cricket, soccer, volleyball and tennis. Maybe I took it too seriously at times. The will to win exceeded every other desire of mine.

My dad was an avid cricket fanatic and my brothers and I would cheer for every other team against the teams my dad supported, this made for great banter between us, which always ended up in heaps of laughter.

Truth be told, we were fans of the boys from down under, it wasn't a matter of patriotism, it was a love for the game that hinged us to playing the sport. I thoroughly enjoyed batting and bowling fast whenever I got the chance and that evening I was on fire to say the least, I was cleaning up pretty good. My brother was a tad bit faster than I with the ball, together we were unstoppable if on the same team.

Sitting in class that next day my right armed ached from all the fast balls bowled the evening before. Gently nursing my sore arm I sat adjacent to her, my knees together, gentleman like, courteous I tried to be. My ears in tuned to the frequency of her voice as she spoke about the games that had been played. Her feminine knowledge of the game and of the players was astounding which kept me wanting to know more about her, I quickly realized that BE was more than just a cute face.

Up until that moment my favorite indulgences in life were corn flakes and guava juice, the combination of those two satisfied my soul, I was just fifteen, I didn't know what a crush or the attraction to the opposite sex was. I didn't comprehend what I was feeling but I knew something was happening to me just by speaking to her.

Her voice somehow gave executive command to my body to act in an unfamiliar manner. Why were my legs twitching up and down? My palms were sweaty, words were escaping me. I trembled lightly as she tucked her hair behind her ear.

I was glued, to her and her display of beauty and gracefulness, her eyes put me in a trance and her lips taunted me in the most tranquil manner. I didn't want it to end, but as I felt myself drawn to her the bell rung for us to go home.

On my way home, I always took the longer route because all my closest friends' homes were on that way home and I liked walking with them. I couldn't stop thinking about her, my eyes were seeing things acutely closer and in much detail. On the walk home I nodded and gestured to the laughs and conversations with my friends but I was on another planet that afternoon, a planet where I thought deeply about how amazing of an artist God was, I was convinced that no Picasso painting was as perfectly beautiful as the artistry that the fingers of God had painted, He was better than Picasso.

I couldn't get rid of the thought of BE's chestnut eyes, they felt like home, how could God have created something so alluringly delicate? Those eyes were made with just the right balance of dark golden yellow browns. I had no doubt, she was a special specimen. There was nothing I could equate to her.

Day one of the first test had ended and I had to pull myself away from speaking to her and go back home to the dugout. I had never had a conversation that felt like a few minutes but in actuality were most parts of the school day. Moreover I had never met anyone that I enjoyed speaking to for such a long while.

Home was the welcoming usual, mum's sandwiches after I had prayed and changed into something homey, nothing special, just a pair of shorts and an old T. Mum was all smiles and a bag of chips, nothing seemed to phase her or change her attitude about her goals and what she wanted, it was safe to say that mum was a true woman of faith. She was not just Godly but also a hard working woman as well, she had just resigned from work due to her third arrival.