Rising Sun
A/N : This is the flip side of the coin first shown in my story "Falling Star" and details the morning of John Walker's 16th birthday. Italics indicate thought.
Disclaimer: Not my characters. My plot, though!
Very early one summer's morning, the back door of Holly Howe creaked open, letting a tall, gangly boy outside. He gently shut the door and walked down to the lake.
John Walker was now sixteen.
Sixteen at last!
He took a deep breath of the fresh breeze off the water. Today was the day he could buy his own vessel with the money he'd been saving since he was twelve. Today was the day that Mother had promised on to give him his first driving lesson. Today was the day he could at last begin the path to adulthood and the Navy. Sure, he had two more years to go before he could actually enter the Navy, but he could begin working towards it now. And perhaps, when he was a man, Nancy might...
Last night, Mrs. Walker had pulled him aside and said, "I'm proud of you, John. You are almost a man."
I really do have the best of all mothers.
He squared his shoulders proudly and gazed at the rising sun.
I'm ready to become a man.