Reach for the stars

It's a Summer night and I am in my garden. I'm seven years old and I'm standing up on my swing, in an attempt to reach for the stars... I feel dizzy. But I carry on swinging, as I'm trying to grab a star.

There is a fountain in the middle of the garden and I have a few shells hidden away, under a balcony. I keep them hidden behind some pots. I will hide and listen to the sea. You can really hear the sea inside a shell!

                                    

Wow! It's a big shell, this one... the sea is rough, tonight. If I close my eyes I can almost smell the seaweed, just like I do in the morning, when my mum opens the windows and the smell of the sea comes into our home.

But look at those stars, and the moon, and... Perry Mason is starting on TV. I know! I can hear the music! And I hear my sister say: "Perry Mason, Perry Mason!" But... I don't care!  I will stay here, with the cats and the moon.

I will write my name on the wall, I will eat the buds from my mum's fern (she keeps wondering why her ferns never grow! I know why!) and smell the passion flowers. I like that smell.

The black and white cat had babies, today. She's watching me right now. She's beautiful... she's a mum who let me pick up one of her babies, today. It was little, skinny and soft. I wanted to call her Margherita, as she was born in a pot full of white daisies. I picked her up and walked towards the kitchen. "I will tie a red ribbon round her neck. She will be my kitten and I will love her. We will have adventures together"- I though, but... my mother SCREAMED when she saw the mousy looking kitten. I got scared and I dropped her. I cried.

The mother cat watched anxiously, as I picked her baby up and put her back into the daisy pot. I could smell good things to eat, though I was a bit upset. The smell must come from our kitchen- I thought. So, I made my way back. The sky was still full of stars and the moon was beaming. I'm sure She winked at me... the moon, I mean. Maybe She didn't! But then.... Didn't I just say I thought think I could hear the sea inside a shell?