5-Year Old Anxiety

I tipped the glass of kool-aid over and was worried that mom would notice. I placed two paper towels on the spill and watched as the red crop circles formed on the once white fibers. Maybe she wouldn't be as nice as last time. This time she might trade me with the village barter for some Chinese spices or a bag of corn kernals to make a stress bag.

So I went ahead and grabbed my knapsack. I had no other choice but to run away. I decided that I should bring eight days and eight nights worth of food so I tiptoed to the kitchen and filled my Rainbow Brite thermos with more of the dreaded kool-aid that put me in this predicament in the first place. There wasn't much else in the fridge other than a head of lettuce (which I hated and I didn't want people to mistake me for a rabbit) and I didn't think I should touch Dad's pickled vegatable collection because those are his prized treasures.

So what else was I to do but ask my sister what she thought would be a good foodstuff that wasn't perishable. She told me to bring candy and said I was in luck. For one dollar she would give me her whole stash of sweet tarts. I thought it was a deal that only came along in a blue moon so I broke up Mr. Curlytail and counted out one dollar in pennies and made the transaction. I packed the candy away in my knapsack along with one pair of underwear, an umbrella, my cabbage patch doll, and a picture of my family (at that time it was just four of us). I told my sister I was going and she just said goodbye and I regretted breaking Mr. Curlytail into so many pieces.

It would be a long journey. Out the backyard door all the way to the corner where the grass was long and tall. No one would find me there. I would stay there and maybe see how many times my picture would come up on the milk carton. But where would I find the money to buy milk cartons. That means I have to dig through people's garbage for empty ones. Gross.

My stomach was hungry. I took out my thermos and poured my Cabbage patch doll a cup of kool aid as I drank straight from the thermos. I took out the pack of candy my sister had given me and sorted it out by colors. I ate the orange one and immediately spit it out. It tasted like gasoline. I realized that my sister had given me Easter egg dye tablets and sighed for being so naive. She would never have given me so much candy for just a dollar. Now what?

I waited for probably five hours (in reality, it was only thirty minutes) and mom comes out to the yard and says that dinner is almost ready and to come in and wash up and I shouldn't be sitting in the tall grass because that's where the ants are and I hate itchy bites.

She must have not noticed the spill or maybe aliens had touched down and taken the spill as corroborative evidence of human dietary habits. The latter was more beleiveable so I made a promise to always say a blessing for green martian men when I said my prayers before I went to bed.

I packed up my knapsack and held my cabbage patch doll tight. I put them on top of my bed just in case I spilled something at dinner that night.

Lifelong Struggle for Haiku

(Attempt #1 [Ambiguous kigo, overdone theme])

Rain of tomorrow
Erases tears of today
When will I move on?

(Attempt #2 [Lacks kigo. Good attempt])

Waking from slumber
The sun shines brightly outside
No light in my room

(Attempt #3 [Kigo relative to U.S., first line needs adjustment, change "watch" Ln.2, onomatapeia?])

Popcorn, sticky sweet
Perfect time for Oscar watch
Shh, movie begins

(Attepmt #4 [No kigo. Weak second line])

Get out of my head
And on to the blank paper
Words, my friend, my foe