THE ROMAN LEE SERIES
"CRIMSON ROWS"
One
6:45PM
Seven- year old Riley Olk had been having the time of
her life. Her father’s family reunion
was winding down. The parking lot near
the pavilion was nearly empty now. The Olk’s couldn’t have asked for a better
day. There hadn’t been a hint of a cloud
in the clear marble blue sky all day. The temperature never went above
seventy-eight degrees with almost no humidity.
Unlike the past week which saw torrential downpours that had left
standing water almost everywhere.
Riley made her last jump off the swing set
perfectly. The metal links of the chain
that had supported her small frame were beginning to settle.
“Race you to the Scape Riley.”
Riley’s cousin Adrianna took off running ahead of her
toward the wooden beamed structure filled with plastic tunnels and slides. The playscape finally abandoned by a large
family of boys from Nebraska. Although
related to them in some way they weren’t very nice. Despite many protests only boys were allowed onto
it. The only other time it had not been occupied was when everyone had gathered
to eat under the pavilion.
The girls clambered up the slide instead of using the
stairs. Some residual dirt from previous
occupants remained on the plastic making the footing a bit slippery as they
made their ascent. Reaching the first
tunnel Riley Olk found a small puddle of water trapped there from last weeks
thunderstorms bringing intense flooding throughout most of the area.
Riley stared down at the greenish water. Teeming with life the water seemed to move on
its own changing shapes every so often.
She turned to warn Adrianna.
“We need to go back.”
“Why?”
“Owww.”
Riley looked down on her small right hand horrified to
see a mosquito resting on top of her bluish veins. The damage had already been done. Six sharp needles retreated from her blood
vessels having filled the abdomen of its owner.
An Aedes Aegypti mosquito that had laid eggs just a few days earlier.
The girls backed out of the tunnel. Sliding down the green plastic slide they
reached the ground. A small bird lay
dead on the fringe of the sandy landing area with only a few flies circling
over its remains. Both girls paused to
stare at the lifeless form before running back towards their parents.
Riley Olk stopped momentarily to scratch her
hand. It had swollen considerably in the
last few minutes. Her skin itched
something terrible. The girls finally
reached the wooden picnic tables and sat down completely out of breath after
the sprint.
Riley’s father Matt Olk had just returned from his
final trip to the family’s Subaru after packing the red plastic Coleman cooler in the trunk.
“Ready Pumpkin?”
“Ready Daddy.”
“Ok, ready set 123 Go!”
Riley took her customary three steps back. Crouching down
she sprang forward leaping into the air.
Catching his daughter mid-flight he swung her up and around onto his
broad shoulders. Her hands now cupped
underneath his chin, they started toward the parking lot.
“We have everything Matt?”
His wife of ten years Annette Olk stopped to check the
pavilion once more before leaving on their trip back home.
“All set. I
double checked everything.”
“It was nice to see your side of the family for once.”
“It sure was. I
can’t remember the last one. I think I
was Riley’s age the last time I saw most of them.”
Looking in the rearview mirror he watched his daughter
fasten her seatbelt.
“What happened to your hand Pumpkin?”
“Skeeto got me.
It was really gross Dad. There
was this puddle that was moving inside the tunnel.”
“We’ll take a look at it when we get home.”
The Subaru reached the entrance of the expressway for
the short forty -minute ride home.
“Ready for takeoff co-pilot?”
“All systems check Daddy.”
Matt Olk pressed firmly down on the accelerator and
the car reached 80 miles per hour easily as they eased into the weekend
traffic.
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