The Locket    by Kandace Levy

    They were walking home from school, the tan girl on the left and the darker one on the right.
Often they would walk from place to place and their skin had absorbed the sun like a sponge. This day was one of the days they had longed for all winter, but now didn't want anymore. Being as it was oppressively hot once in a while the dark girl would lean over and run her hands through a sprinkler. The other girl walked slowly as if in a daze. She wiped the beads of sweat from her forehead, and continued to daydream of Alaska. Suddenly, she bent down and pocketed an object that glittered under the sun.
    "What have you got there?" asked the other girl as she skipped over to her side. 
    "Nothing much," she replied, drawing out the words as if it would save her from the heat.
    The other girl knew she was lying, she had seen the sparkle in the blades of grass as well, but had been too preoccupied splashing in the sprinkler-flooded sidewalks. "Come on, let me see it," she urged, the idea of unknown treasure excited her.       Now the other girl, she just ignored her, and walked with slouched shoulders and her hands in her pockets as if she was hiding some great mystery.
    "Come on, come on, come on," the darker girl urged, her words getting louder every time.
    The tan girl continued to drag her feet and walk with her head down. She paid no more attention to the other girl then she did the anthill that sat like a castle in the crack of the sidewalk. She had walked right through it not bothering to lift her feet.
    But the darker girl saw the hung head and shade of hair around her face as an attempt to find more treasure. And in response she grabbed her hair, put it into a high ponytail, and with a sense of destiny watched the green lawns like a hawk. But finding nothing she once again began to pester.
    The tan girl stopped and stared into the other's coffee colored face and curious deer eyes, "Look," she said,  " I don't have anything that would concern you, so shut up and leave me be."
    The other girl was wounded and said, "You don't have to be such a grouch."
    Suddenly the distant music of the Jack & Jill's Ice-cream truck drifted to their ears. The dark girl's mouth began to water. And the tan girl finally had found a solution to the incredible thirst she had been experiencing and pulled out of her dollar the proper dollar and fifteen cents, but while she did this the treasure rolled out of her pocket and onto the sidewalk. The darker girl snatched up the object and held it in her hand, finally satisfied.
    "Why," she said, "It's a locket, a silver one." She looked at the other whose weary face held lashes that seemed too heavy for her eyes. And suddenly the victory seemed bitter.
    "Give it back," said the tan girl in a tired tone. But, in defiance the dark girl carefully opened it up and inside was a picture; it seemed an ancient one. In a black and white universe sat a girl whose big bow contrasted with eyes so powerful they had burned away the long lashes. "Wow," she said, "I bet she was rich and lived in mansion, a big white one."
    "Turn it over," said the other girl softly.
    The dark girl flipped it over and on the back was carved from Elise to Victoria.  "They must have been best friends." She   looked at the tan girl and said, "Just like us," and feeling a sudden sympathy handed the locket back to her. They then continued on their way home, but suddenly the sun didn't seem so hot.

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