Disclaimer: This was a story that I wrote as a contest submission recently. I had a time and page limit, as well as was require to use the following words:
Shade, Train, Fireworks, Lovingly, Tree
If anyone was interested in seeing some of my works, this is among the few completed pieces that define my current skill in writing and plot development. As always, I hope you enjoy.
~S8N
The Little Tin Soldier
It was recess for the first grade class of Rocky Canyon Elementary School, and the children began flocking the playground in torrents. Many ran for the equipment shed, racing to select the best ball for their daily activities, and others went to play on the swings and slides. Off to a shaded area underneath the trees gathered it’s usual group of kids, who all crouched in a semicircle around a certain little boy.
That little boy was holding a small toy in his hand— a figurine of a little soldier, made completely out of tin. Other than a couple scratches and small dents, the little tin soldier was in excellent condition, and the little boy was very keen to keep it that way. He would never let any of his classmates touch the little tin soldier, so they all crowded around him as he showed it to them.
He brung this toy soldier to school every day, and with it, a new story. It could’ve been a fantasy of when the brave little soldier brought down the largest and fiercest of dragons to save its lovely princess. Other times, it was an epic where the little tin soldier rallied up its captive companions to break free of the bonds that the enemy had casted onto them. It was clear that this boy loved his toy very much, and it went wherever he went.
The little tin soldier was given to him by his father. It was on a Saturday morning during the summer. He recalled sitting in the car staring out of the side window at the endless rows of trees in the distance, which occasionally were obscured by the hills that the car sped past. From their distance, they reminded him of little people, standing still in organized arrays as they watched the little boy pass by. He waved at them, but they stood there, unmoving. The little boy decided they probably couldn’t see him, and settled down with observing them from a distance.
When the car stopped, his dad helped him out from the back seats, and the two of them held hands as they walked through the parking lot. The little boy did not know where his father was taking him, but he hoped it was going to be on another fun adventure. Last weekend, he and his parents went to Disneyland. He played until he was too tired to walk, but even then they hadn’t went through every one of the rides. The boy’s father carried the little boy on his back for the rest of the day, and they happily proceeded to finishing their expedition around the park. That Saturday, however, his father never said a word. He didn’t even smile.
The little boy and his parents entered a large building. It was bustling with people and they had to squeeze through the crowd in order to get around. The little boy saw his father buying tickets, and his eyes lit up as he remembered his father doing the same thing one week before. After his father came back, they proceeded through the hallway.
The little boy followed his father’s lead, which eventually brought them to a set of large vehicles. The boy immediately recognized them as trains. He loved to play with his own set of trains, but these ones were bigger and louder. The little boy wondered if today he would be driving one of them. His father patted him on the head, and he beamed up at his father excitedly.
The little boy’s mother told him that his father would be going on the train for a long while. He nodded eagerly, and his father hugged him. They played for a while before his dad pulled out a new toy for him. It was a little tin soldier. His father told the little boy that if he wasn’t around, all the little boy had to do was to pull out that little tin soldier. Then, his dad stepped through the open doors of the train. The little boy went to follow his father, but his mother grabbed him by his arm. Confused with this, he asked his mother why he couldn’t go along with his dad. She told him his father was going to leave by himself in the train, but he wouldn’t be gone for long. The little boy didn’t want his father to go, but when he turned around the train was already moving. The little boy watched his father through the sliding door’s window and waved sadly to him. The figure, now in the distance, waved back.
This was why the little boy never let anybody touch his little tin soldier. He was afraid that if he gave it to somebody, they would steal his father away, and the train will never come back. It was selfish of him, but he had already waited for months for his dad to return.
It approaching the end of the school year, and the finals were coming. One day, the little boy and his friends came across a problem that none of them could solve, and they sat there wondering what they should do. They wanted to ask the teacher for help, but they didn’t want to look dumb in front of the rest of the class. Finally, one of his friends announced that he was going to ask his father for help. The other students chorused that they would do the same, but the little boy sat there quietly, not saying a word. He wished he could ask his dad too, and then brag to his friends about how smart his father was.
That day at recess, the little boy told a very different story. The little tin soldier was the son of the usual protagonist, who was all grown up now. It wondered why its father had to go fight a set of large, evil trains. The little tin soldier waited for his father for a very long time, and it cried every night in its bed waiting for its father to return. It wished that it could play with its father, and that it could ask its father for help whenever it had a hard math question that it couldn’t answer, but the little tin soldier couldn’t. The little tin soldier wondered why its father had to be the one to fight the evil trains, and why its father had to slay the dragon and free the prisoners from the enemy. The little tin soldier was lonely, and all it wanted was its father back.
That day, the little boy was sent home. His mother was told that the little boy, for some unknown reason, bursted into tears in playground. The teachers didn’t know what happened and couldn’t calm him down, so they called his mother to pick him up. That day, his mother asked him what happened, but instead of answering her, he threw the little tin soldier down on the ground, demanding to see his father. His mother merely picked up the little tin soldier and handed it back to the boy. She told him that his father was not ready to come home but, very soon, they will see him again. To the little boy’s surprise, his mother started crying as well. He never seen his mother cry before.
The following day, he took his end of the year finals. He didn’t bring the little tin soldier to school that day, and during recess he sat by himself in the shadows of the trees. He was scared that he had hurt the little tin soldier and, because of that, his father would never come home again. After they finished the tests, his class threw a huge party. He wasn’t interested in any of the festivities, and sat in the corner watching all the other kids laugh and play.
A week passed after school ended, and the little tin soldier sat on the floor of the little boy’s room, collecting a layer of dust over its once shiny uniform. One of its arms were bent after it had been thrown on the floor, but it still stood there with a smile on its face. The little boy glanced at the little tin soldier every now and then, but he was afraid to pick it up. Ever since he started playing with the little tin soldier, he hadn’t been able to see his father anymore. He wondered if the little tin soldier was lonely. He certainly was.
It wasn’t until the middle of early July that he was confronted by the little tin soldier again. He went down after his mother called him to eat. When he entered the dining room, his mother was seated behind the table, where the little tin soldier was propped up on. It’s arms were no longer bent and it smiled at the sight of him. His mother explained to the little boy that she talked to the little tin soldier, and it told her that it had been very lonely. She told him that, after dinner, the little tin soldier had something to show him.
The little boy finished his meal as fast as he could. Then he, holding the hand of the little tin soldier, was lead to the car. His mother brought the little boy to a grassy hill, and then took the little tin soldier from his hand, setting it on the grass front of him. It was dark, and the little boy could barely see the little tin soldier. They sat there, looking at the little tin soldier, and the little boy started to worry. He didn’t want the little tin soldier to leave him too.
Suddenly, a bunch of tiny stars shot up from behind the little tin soldier and into the sky.
The little boy pointed towards the lights and asked his mother what they were. He only seen them once before, at Disneyland when he went with his father. They weren’t as colorful as the ones back then, but they still looked pretty and were bright and shiny.
She smiled to him and answered, “You mean the fireworks? Well, honey, those represent the people that helps keep our country free. Just like your daddy.”
So the little boy watched in awe as the white lights bursted into brilliant shades of blue, and white, and gold, knowing that one of the countless sparks that cascaded from the sky was his father. He wished he could reach out and pluck it right out of the sky, and his father will be standing before him again, arms outstretched to receive the little boy in a warm embrace.
And he clutched his little tin soldier lovingly, waiting for that day to come.
Topic: The Little Tin Soldier (Read 3668 times)
