Little Boy Blue

The little boy loved blue.

Red and green and yellow were fine.

But blue was his favourite.

Everything had to be blue:

His room was blue,

His clothes were blue,

His macaroni was yellow, but the box was blue.

(His eyes were blue too).

The boy loved blue so much that one day

he asked his parents if he could have it for his own.

So they gave it to him.

The boy was so excited he took it wherever he went.

He made everything and everyone around him blue.

The house was blue.

The cat was blue.

He was blue.

And now his macaroni really was blue.

He made his whole world blue.

The boy was happy.

Then one day, riding up and down his street,

the boy noticed something.

There were no other kids about.

It was summer.

It was sunny.

It was warm.  

But there were no other kids.

He tried to play at the park.

He slid on the slide.

He swung on the swings.

He ran and he climbed.

But there were no other kids

Finally, the boy sighed and left.

The next day the boy begged to go to the beach.

When they arrived, he jumped out and raced to the sand.

His castle rose and fell and rose again.

At last he looked up,

and then out at rolling blue waves under a bright blue sky.

Then he looked around.

There were others on the beach, but they didn’t look happy.

They also looked out at the water.

But no one really played and no one really smiled.

And no one stayed long.

Then the boy noticed a little girl watching him, inching closer.

He smiled and waved.

When she reached him her eyes were wide.

Now she gazed out at the sea and the sky.

She smiled and she laughed.

Then she looked back to her family.

Her smile was gone.

The boy was confused.

He followed her look.

Then he followed their eyes back to the water.

After a moment he put the blue in his pocket.

Now he saw golden sands meet dull grey waves under a pale grey sky.

He looked out on the colourless horizon and thought.