The girl of the prarie

March was coming in like a lion but still, the winter still freezing everything, like it was saying he doesn'’t want to leave.  Sumire, a seven year old girl with long black hair and a light cinnamon tone skin that was covered with mud left the school and, instead of going home, she to decided to detour. 

She loves to take a stroll in the town she lives. Always going to see the neighbours  and greet them. They were always one or two that  give her candies. No matter the season it is always a perfect time to explore, to play in the forest.

The school was near an area that she always visit: a place she could hear some birds, watch the people work and hear the vague sound of the train. There were always something new to watch.

While she walked, she rubbed her left arm near the elbow. She ignored the pain and the strain as she followed a path toward the outskirts of Yorukaze, the village where she had been born and raised. She tripped and fell into a small stream. She giggled a little at her clumsiness. After climbed out of the stream and began to walk, Sumire felt her kimono. It was cold because of the freezing water. She started to shiver, also felt hungry. It was time to go home.

Again, she rubbed her arm while she walked home. Her feet got all dirty because of the mud and the dirt that clung to his wet sandals. She got distracted by the trees. They seemed enormous to her, blocking out the sun, which she regretted. 

There it was, her home, her house. Behind it was a lot of trees and the darkness of the forest. A forest she wanted to explore once the spring comes. She saw the smoke of the chimney and imagine the aroma of the food.

She stopped all of a sudden when she saw her mother waiting for her at the entrance of the home. The woman was moving her left feet up and down in a signal that she was mad. Her arms were crossed, and her impatience was obvious. Sumire rubbed his arm one last time so that his mother wouldn't notice her discomfort when she reached her.

“Mom!” Sumire shouted while she aproached her mother. She was waiting not to get a reprimand.

“SUMIRE ARAKAWA!” screamed the mother when she noticed her daughter wet, dirty and also trembling. Sumire laugh a little out of her nervous.

It was difficult to lie to her mother. Sumire haven’t said nothing and yet, her mother said her complete name. Sachie Arakawa, the mother of Sumire took the arm of her daughter and enter the house. Immediately changed the clothes of Sumire to pervent her sickness.

At the same time she was reprimanding her. The mother ordered to come home immediately after school finished. She told to Sumire that she can’t go to the forest. Sachie noticed a different color on her daughter's left arm. A horrible greenish, the girl tried to hide it.

“SUMIRE! How long have you had this?" the mother shouted again when she saw her daughter's arm covered in a serious infection.

“I don’t know mom!” Said Sumire while wishing her mother would let her go. 

Sachie didn’t let her go making her sit and wait. She was preparing the necessary medicine for the wound. The girl cried and begged her not to do anything. That just water was enough. When the mother applied the medicine to cauterize the wound, were more screams, more crying. The girl kicked. Sumire was forced to take medicine for the infection, and the mother noticed she had a fever.

Evening came, Sachie was preparing dinner. Her daughter was sleeping on her futon; the fever hadn't fled. The routine with her daughter was always the same: she preferred to go out and play and run around the forest, also,  easily distracted with silly games.

That wound was surely from when she hurt herself playing while climbing a tree. She hid it very well. She hadn't even noticed that the sleeve of her daughter's kimono was torn.

While Sachie was setting the table for dinner, her husband arrived. With a lamp in hand, he greeted his wife and asked about their daughter. Sachie told him she was resting. Sachie told about what had happened that afternoon.

"She has another infection?" her husband asked. His unruly black hair was noticeable. He wasn’t surprise about her daughter wound.

Sachie's husband glanced at the room where his daughter was sleeping. He liked that Sumire was a curious, and mischievous kid. It was better than a shy, introverted daughter. It was a shame she hid her wounds. One day she would get really sick, and there weren't any hospitals nearby.

"There are somethings I just can't do with her," Sachie explained as she served dinner. "I never thought raising her would be so difficult."

"Let her have fun," her husband said, smiling. "She doesn't do it out of malice."

Someone knocked on the door, and Sumire's father went to see who it was.

"Arakawa Takumi san!" exclaimed a short woman with gray hair upon seeing who had opened the door. "It's a miracle to see you."

“Michiko san!,” said Takumi upon seeing his daughter's teacher. "What brings you here? Another prank of Sumire?"

"Not at all, Takumi," said Michiko with a smile. "I just came to return Sumire's books; she forgot them at school."

"Thank you so much, Michiko san, you're so kind," Sumire's teacher smiled and blushed slightly. For the teacher, Takumi, was a gallant, kind, and handsome young man. He was popular among the young women of the town. It was a shame he was already a father and husband. A very attentive and gorgeous one.

"By the way," said Mrs. Michiko, "I wanted to let you know that Sumire has to hand in an essay by next Friday."

"What's it about?" 

"A three-page eassy, with any theme," the teacher explained. "I must go. It's been a pleasure."

"Good night, Michiko san," Takumi said, bidding the teacher farewell. Upon entering, he saw his wife's annoyance. He understood her anger. Sumire had forgotten her school supplies, prioritizing her fun, her adventures.

"You know, it's not so bad that she goes out to play," Takumi commented, remembering his daughter's homework. "It might even help her with her homework. Having her sit down and write about her adventures for school could help."

Sachie thought about the idea. Perhaps her husband was right. The real problem was that she sat down to write those three pages.

★★★★

The next day, Saturday, most of the morning, Sumire was resting in her room. The only moment she get up wa to eat something. It was almost midday when her mother made her get up. She checked her daughter wound; the infection had subsided a little; she applied more medicine.

Now, more calmer, Sumire didn't throw a tantrum when she felt the pain and discomfort. Mother and daughter sat down to have some tea. The weather was a little chilly.

“Mom” said Sumire, Sachie watched her little daughter. “Is really bad that I go out to play?

Sumire was sad. For her, the house was always a reprimand for something. She was always fighting with her mother. If it was because she was dirty or was late for dinner. Sumire’s father was always motivating her daughter to do it; to go out, to explore her surroundings and to play outside.

“Dad, when you was a child like me do you also explore and play in the forest?” Said one evening Sumire to her father.

“Ah… well…” Said Takumi in response to the question. “ I grew up in the city."

“In the city?” Shouted Sumire with curious. It was new that. “What was the name of the city?

“Osaka” said Takumi with a bit of nostalgia.

Sumire began talking about her wish to visit the city. She wanted to see with her own eyes that place.

Sachie watched her liitle girl.  She seemed sorry for what had happened yesterday. It was true that she couldn't forbid her from going out, playing, or enjoying her childhood. The idea of ​​a school assignment and having her record those adventures wasn't a bad idea.

"It's not wrong to go and play, Sumi," Sachie replied.

The girl smiled. There were few occasions when she called her Sumi. Only when she was truly ill, when she was worried about something that frightened her, or when she wanted to apologize.

"I just want you to obey," Sachie continued saying. "It's still winter, night falls quickly. I wouldn't want you to get sick, or worse, get lost.”

The mother hoped the girl would truly understand, was her only wish. Sumire rubbed her wound, and her mother told her it wouldn't heal if she insisted to do that. When the tea was finished, Sumire asked permission to go out and play.
She had already received the assignment from professor Michiko about her homework and her father's suggestion that she write about one or more of her adventures.

"You can go," Sachie told her daughter, which pleased Sumire. "But you must be back before your shadow is taller than you. Understand?"