A reindeer in an Oak tree

Tonight’s dinner: Reindeers

Today is Saturday evening in the summer, like every other evening on Oak street,  my friends and I came out to play in our front lawns while our mothers cooked dinner inside. Fluffy green oak trees lined the sidewalk in front of each house. This is the best time to play because the sun casted a shadow extending from the oak tree to our yards, releasing us from the heat. However nobody was allowed to step foot outside of our respected lawns, not even a tiny finger beyond the boundaries because other kids can get rewarded if they snitched. Our mothers told us that once a kid named Fred tripped and landed on the sidewalk face first and was never seen again. He lived on 467 Oak street-- the house that is supposed to be in between 465 and 469, but it just got skipped. So we rumored that someone would disappear if they violated the rules. My mom said to stay away from the perimeter of the house because you can accidentally fall out or drop something outside. Anyways we played all sorts of games in our lawns like hopscotch, I spy, and catch. Catch wasn't a good idea because Anthony Drifon-- my next door friend threw it so hard that it landed in one of the oak trees. So we resorted to playing competition games. For a long time, players wore shirts that match their house colors, so it’ll be easier to distinguish them-- at least this is what my mom told me. Our house was light brown so I wore a light brown shirt. One game that we played was called “lawn mower.” 

Players: at least 3 hyper 10 year olds

Materials: a lawn full of grass

Coach: Alex Miand (aka the one across my street)

Rule: Whose lawn with the most pulled grass when Alex stopped counting 1-30 would decide on the next game. 

Unfortunately the lawn mower was banned by the players' mothers right after it got its first debut.

  After the games end, our mothers would open the front window at the same time, stick their heads out, and announce “Dinner’s ready!” all in sync. We would comply because each competition ate up much of our energy. Right after the mothers shut their windows, all the children walked inside, shut and locked their doors again at the exact same time. Today however, when the rest of the mothers called out, my mom never followed. She didn't open the window, nor stuck her head out, nor announce that Dinner’s ready. 

“Click.” sounded the doors being locked, nothing like his happened before so i didn't know what to do. I made my way to the shadow made by the oak tree and played with the grass. No thoughts came through my mind on why my mom was late or what happened. But the cool and quiet shade made up for everything. Just then I hear a ruffle in the oak tree in front of my house. The leaves started to shake although there was no wind. I turned around facing the tree and watched it once more. “Heyy!” It spoke. Is this tree magical? “Hi...” It whispered again.

“What?” I said inching towards the oak tree for a better look. There was an odd branch in the tree. Instead of being covered with oak tree leaves like the rest, this branch was bare, and had a lot of unfinished stems sticking out. “Can you help me down?” the tree spoke again, but in a louder cascading tone.

“Who are you?” I asked as I walked closer to the tree. The more ruffling sounds I heard, the closer I walked-- as if I'm following the scent of baked cookies. Suddenly my right foot was a couple centimeters outside of the yard. 

“Why did you stop?” the tree asked 

“I walked out by mistake. Our yard.” I said on the verge of tears. 

“But nobody saw you. You can walk back in.” 

“I can’t go back! I already stepped out.” I said through my sobs. Just then, my head became weirdly light, everything around me besides the oak tree spun around. I turned my head back to my house and saw the colors of my shirt being pulled towards the house. The light brown traveled on thin air back to its owner. It was as if my house was seizing what it had lent me. 

“Am i going to disappear?” I thought as I fell to the ground.

“Are you okay?” A voice sounded-- it was the one up in the oak tree. It sounded hoarse and unstable. I looked up to see the oak tree getting fuzzy and blending into one big mush. By all means the voice was no longer apparent. 

After a few minutes, the moving stopped, and I landed back to reality. “I’m still here aren’t I.” I said. 

“Of course you are. I’ve been calling you for quite a while now.” The voice replied. Everything became clear besides the oaktree. So I rubbed my eyes if it helped. 

“The tree is still blurry.” I accidentally confessed. 

“Okay but can you get me down first.” It said. 

“I need to join my family.”

 “Where?” 

“In your house!” it chided

“What are you saying?” 

“My reindeers--my sister Ella and her son Robin. They're your dinner. Now please get me down!” the reindeer said. 

“Ok.” I replied. I looked up making eye contact with the now visible reindeer and walked towards the oak tree in the most upright manner. I felt like I had to make some sort of connection between this animal. While I walked, our eyes did not dare to blink. I cleanly climbed up the oak tree as if I had done this many times. Once I got behind the reindeer, without any warning, I kicked its back, sending it tumbling down onto the ground.

“Ow!” the animal shrieked. I watched carefully to see how it would react.  The reindeer shivered and rolled around on the pavement, then got up and moved to the yard. 

“Thank you! Aren’t you gonna come down?” it asked, confused. I didn't dare to move, I sat still like air. 

Right then, the window of my house opened and antlers that looked like branches stuck out of the window. Then she called “Dinner’s ready!” And the reindeer walked towards the house and shut the door behind it. 

“Click.” I look to my right and see a boy sitting still just like me in another blurry oak tree.