Page 40 of Audra: The Prequel

“Mommy, look!” Kerilyn called out. Damon had let her take control.

“I see you.”

Kerilyn pranced around the grass, looking back every so often at the kite overhead.

Minutes later, Damon jogged over and dropped onto the blanket beside Audra. “Hey, beautiful.”

“Hey, handsome.” She kissed his cheek.

He angled his chin toward Kerilyn. “I think Little Bit has the hang of it now.”

“She has a good teacher.”

“We didn’t do so well with the baseball earlier, though.” When they first arrived at the park, he’d shown her how to throw the ball and helped her catch it.

“I warned you she’s not athletic,” Audra said.

She watched Kerilyn stumble and then right herself. Her daughter glanced over at them.

“You’re doing great, baby,” Audra called out.

With the encouragement, her daughter started running again.

“I’m going to keep working with her on the pitching and catching,” Damon said in a determined voice.

“That’s up to you, but she’s having a great time with the kite. Where did you find that particular one, anyway?”

“As soon as you told me that she liked Princess Tiana, I started my search. I found it at a specialty store and ordered it rush delivery so it would arrive by this weekend.”

She vaguely remembered mentioning her daughter’s preference when they talked on the phone. A man who listened. Unbelievable.

“I’ve never flown a kite before,” Audra murmured.

“Never?”

She shook her head.

“I used to fly kites all the time. A few of the neighborhood kids and I used to make our own. One time, I made a Spiderman kite. Man, I was so proud of that thing. My boys and I would go to the park and fly our kites until it got dark.”

“How old were you?” He so rarely shared stories about his childhood, Audra was anxious to learn more, especially hearing the excitement in his voice.

“About nine. The park was close to our apartment complex, so we walked over there and spent hours running around.” He laughed, shaking his head.

Then she sensed a change in him. The smile slowly faded from his face, and his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down as he swallowed.

“How long did you keep making kites?”

“Not long. I quit after a while.”

“Why’d you quit? Sounds like you enjoyed it a lot.”

“My Spiderman kite got messed up, so it wasn’t fun anymore.” He shrugged.

“How’d it get messed up?”

He tore at the grass. “Someone messed it up. He destroyed it.”

“Oh no. Why? Who did that?”

---