Wednesday's Three Word Wednesday

The words over at Three Word Wednesday are gait, nudge and ripen.

Zooming the Girls

He falls to his knees and in mock torment, beats his fists on the sidewalk, which skews the contents of his backpack painfully to one side.


Two girls on bikes flank a third. She is tall and gangly (with a hint of the curves she’ll ripen into) and carries a skateboard.


Hazel eyes that sparkle in the sun, this tall girl is the one he craves. An adolescent tease in jean shorts, white blouse over a white tube top, flip-flops and a wispy braided bracelet around her right ankle. Her hair is long and curly and she’s pulled it back into a ponytail.


He stands up, thrusts his hands in his pockets, advances yet again in a cool, calculated gait.


“I gotta go,” he pleads.

The sentries nudge one another, put their hands up like stop signs, wag their fingers. He can only shrug his shoulders, eyes pleading.


The lanky girl, her skin the color of melted light brown sugar, thrusts her shoulders forward, shakes her head no, and screws her lips into a pout. Her cheeks are red; she puts a chewed fingertip to her lips. She smiles; her eyebrows arch.


“Just one kiss,” he says. “’Cause I gotta go home.”


The sentries won’t relent.


Even though she wants them to just disappear, in the very worst way.