Water sprays through the air, glimmering in the
sunshine as it reaches its highest point, showering children as it falls, and
ending its course with a final splash. The children scream in delight as the
cold water contacts their skin, bursting with surprise and relief at its chill.
In between sprays, the children laugh and splash at each other while parents
sit idly by, smiling at their children’s excitement.
Eric watches his son smiling and playing. As he sits
there with his finger in his book, he realizes that he can’t recall the moment
when he became a boring adult, reading books from Oprah’s reading list, while
his 6 year old child gets to have all the fun.
“Watch this daddy!” his child screams. Eric looks up
to see his boy catching water as it falls from the fountain and throwing it
back up in the air. Eric feels a large grin of pride and love peal across his
face, and puts the book down.
The fountain was a beautiful work of art. Three
large dolphins cascaded around each other, noses pointing up to the sun.
Chrystal clear water shot out from the dolphin’s noses and showered the water
and children below, while water also shot up from the sides of each dolphin.
All this happened in a beautiful and rhythmic pattern, creating an artistic and
almost musical effect.
Eric approaches his kid at the fountain,
continuously getting splashed more and more the closer he gets. ‘It’s very
refreshing’ he thought, grateful for the cold and wet surprises in the hot August
sun. The kids loved playing here after school, and while it was still this hot
it was a wonderful way to keep them entertained without worrying about
dehydration or heat stroke. Recess at school had been cut down to just 30
minutes, and Eric wanted his boy to have a healthy amount of play time.
“Daddy! Are you going to play with us!?” His boy
calls as he sees his father approaching the fountain.
“Yes of course little man,” Eric replies. He looks
in his boy’s backpack and finds the tiny dollar-store squirt gun he’d forgotten
about. Filling it up with water, he squirts the water-gun at his kid. The other
kids scream and rush over to join in on the fun.
