This is an absolutely wonderful story - Great description, great similies and metaphors!!!
simply a wonderful tale about the joys of childhood!-
and I bet the end will have you turning a few pages back to read again!

nashfan,
I don't know this one, but it sounds great. Where would I find it?

Dan (the newly-elected prime minister of procrastination)

DanB:

I think it is in:
"One More For The Road"

"With Smiles as Wide as Summer" is in "One More For The Road". I hadn't read it before, so I read it this evening. I enjoyed it, but was reading it in an interrupted mode, so had to go back through it to figure out what was going on. (Of course, in retrospect, it wasn't too hard, which is embarrassing, now.)

I agree with Nashfan1 that it is a wonderful story about the joys of childhood.

But, true to Bradbury, there is a kind of dark side that leads to where he (Will Smith, the boy) finds joy. Will Smith (6 years old) is three years too old to play with the younger kids and three years to young to play with the older kids. So he's in kind of a twilight Zone where he doesn't really belong anywhere.

The story starts off with two indications of some level of unhappiness and dissatisfaction:

(1) "William Smith kept running. Not because he could catch anyone but because he could not admit his feet were slower than his wish, his legs shorter than his goal."

In this passage, he shares some of the wishing/yearing Jim Nightshade feels in "Something Wicked This Way Comes" -- he wants to be older and bigger, and is not happy at his present size and age. He's too slow and too small. So the story starts off with this sense that he is yearning for a future he doesn't yet have.

(2) "Yelling, he plunged down the ravine at the heart of Green Town, seeking friendships hid in empty tree houses blowing their burlap-bag door curtains in the winds. Searching caves dug in raw earth, he found only burnt marshmallow fires. Wading the creek, even crayfish saw his shadow, smelled his need, and scuttled back in mild-sand explosions. 'All right, you guys! Someday I'll be older than you! Then, watch out!"

Again, there's a strong sense of loneliness. He just doesn't fit anywhere. The cave is empty, the creek becomes lifeless when he approaches it.

His salvation seems to be in finding a group of dogs out in the meadow that he kind of sees as boys. He is able to play with them and they play with him. Even at that he seems to realize that it will not last forever. He may be too old to play with them next year. He may have other friends.

Interestingly, part of the fun of the story is the capturing of little things of carefree boyhood.

"The boys [the dogs] unbathed themselves from shadow, tossed amber water-beads to telegraph pole with crisp salute of leg, then in a running march, saluting all along the way, they headed for the real lake."

On the following page, the carefree nature of boyhood/doghood is repeated:

"But then, at last, while his friends saluted trees, William rose and imitated his team with style and flourish. His name was writ in amber water on the sand. 'I feel sorry for girls.' He looped the two l's, made low hills of the m, and dotted the two i's in his name."

The ending seemed upbeat to me, but also seemed a bit ambiguous:

"Then, bearing his own smile as easily as the shoes in one hand, and the life in the other, he took his happiness back through and into the cool dark pantry, where, picking and choosing, he gave it gifts."

But it is a very fun little story.

I think some of the story is about this boy's ability to use his imagination to create a new world -- a blending of the real world with his imaginary world -- that is happier for him.


[This message has been edited by Mr. Dark (edited 04-29-2003).]

nashfan1. Unrelated question. Are you a Steve Nash fan?

Mr. Dark:

I know this isn't the Steve Nash that you are talking about, but, since you are a photographer, thought you would be interested in THIS Steve Nash...

click on, or type into finder: http://www.steve-nash.co.uk/contents.html

Nard: This was funny. Where do you find all this stuff!

The Nash I was thinking about was mighty unimpressive tonight. Maybe he needed a bit more warrior-type aggressiveness tonight!