Sad Sprinkler Smiles

On a hot day of June, a lonely sprinkler sat baking in radiating sunshine, remembering its days of usefulness. How two little girls had hopped over it, giggling with delight, as it sprayed them with refreshing, cool water. Running and jumping over aquatic arches projected by its spinning summer dance, the young girls skipped merrily under reflected rainbows of light. How our poor, disheartened sprinkler now missed those days!  

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Sulking in shadows, it now wondered where its companions could be- Surely something terrible must have happened to them, thought the sprinkler, for they loved him too much to ever leave him alone- and especially on such a sweltering day! Now and again, he pondered whether or not his little happy companions would ever return- his hope fading with each day of companionless existence that passed. Who was this woman now standing over him- and holding such a strange flashing device? Could it be that this girl is one of the two missing friends from my only happy memories? Our sprinkler pondered this possibility for some time as the mysterious lady now circled him, before concluding she could not be one of the little girls he’d known so well. She looked far too serious and neither of his long lost friends ever furrowed their brows- Nor did they point strange objects in his direction that frightened him. Alas!- thought the sprinkler, for he now knew something dreadful must have happened to his beloved children.

Our sprinkler's anxious thoughts were suddenly soothed by a familiar sound that he swore he must have merely imagined hearing…that…laughter…I’ve heard that before! Delighted at what he now affirmed to be reality rather than delusion, the sprinkler watched the serious circling lady and was mesmerized. Another woman had entered that backyard and whatever she said to the strange lady still hovering above, must have been something funny for now she laughed. Her laugh sounded just as little sprinkler had remembered it- and the other woman’s voice, though it had changed somewhat, still carried tones of joy that identified it in an instant. Lonely sprinkler beamed as brightly as did the sun on this day, for his best friends had finally returned home.