The Long Way Home

"Straight home after school" is what my father always told me. As a police officer of fifteen years he’d seen too many things to not worry about me. Unfortunately his worry caused me to live a sheltered life in a small world. Usually I did exactly as he asked. The final bell would ring and, without any delay, I started my half mile jaunt home. But the weather beckoned me to take a different route today. With clear skies and a warm breeze, one really needed to walk by the water. My rout was almost perfect for a detour like that; three blocks east, down to the water, marked the worst of my detour. There’d only be another two blocks west at the end to catch back up to my rout before I arrived home.

When I reached the water, I took my shoes off so I might enjoy the occasional sections of beach along the river. The sand between my toes and the cooling touch of the water made up for the lengths of burning hot pavement I had to tread barefoot between the different beaches.

About halfway home, I came across a handful of other kids swimming and playing. “Hey Sammy come join us. It’s cold but way worth it,” called Jessie.

“Can’t, I have to go straight home, and I don’t have a swimsuit.” I yelled back as I stared longingly at the cool flowing water and the children playing in it.

“You wouldn’t be here if you were going straight home.” Jessie countered.

I shrugged. “Even so,” I pinched the shoulder of my shirt. “no swimsuit.”

Jessie slogged out of the river, fully clothed and gave me a huge hug. “I’m not wearing one either, and now you’re wet. So you’re out of excuses.” Jessie said, as she drug me into the river. With that, I was officially distracted. Jessie and I played with the other kids, thinking nothing of anything but our aquatic games for what could have been hours, but felt like ten minutes, tops.

Our games ended when we all heard the short burst of a siren followed by, “SAMANTHA JOHNSON. OUT OF THE WATER… NOW!” over the loud speaker of a cop car.

I trudged my way out of the water, head hung low. I glanced over to Jessie who watched me with a look of guilt, as if she had just killed me. I cracked a small smirk towards her. We both kept our heads low to fool any adult into thinking we were sorry, but we both knew our afternoon had been totally worth it. Sure I would be grounded for a while, but the difference between grounded and not, with a father like mine, wasn’t much. Yeah, I regret nothing about taking the long way home.