THE SIMPSONS
THE FIRST CRY OF DAWN
WRITTEN BY ZARIUS
The bell rang, and as the class filed out, Ralph Wiggum noticed two people asleep at their desks.
One was a teacher; one was a friend who had also dozed off.
Ralph may have gained a reputation for an underdeveloped and wandering mind, but he never proved he had any kind of wandering eye when it came to his friend.
The tiniest percent part his soul that could think a little more clearly, and could feel a little more freely, found itself reflecting on the snoozing friend, a girl, and what she still meant to him.
It was still her. No matter what had happened between them in the past, rejections, humiliation, failed dates, flawed friendships, distance etc that was what remained clearest to him. It was still her.
Lisa Simpson was still the one girl who had chosen him, the only true friend he'd ever had, and, yes, he still wanted her to be something more, though at this point the ball remained firmly in her court. He had already made all the right moves months earlier, only for her to rally against it, and perhaps all too cruelly.
She regretted rejecting him in that fashion of course, but ever since they patched things up, he still felt like she owed him another chance, that maybe she would see him a bit more clearly now that the pressure was off of them to date more immediately.
Maybe he just had to wait until they were older, though he often felt like Lisa always acted somewhat above her years, where as he often acted beneath his own.
Still, as he watched her sleep, it occurred to him that age didn't seem to matter much when the future could promise him as many timeless moments as this.
If he could, he would watch over her as she lay there undisturbed until the first cry of dawn from a passing bird heralded the next chaotic day ahead.
Alas, he realised such a perfect moment made for a much stronger memory than an ongoing reality, Lisa needed to awaken and they both needed to go home.
He grabbed a ruler off of Ms. Hoover's desk and poked Lisa in the side with it.
Lisa stirred, rubbing her eyes wearily; she glanced over at the clock just above the blackboard and hastily rose to her feet.
"Whoa, class is over? Ralph, what happened?" Lisa asked.
"I thought you were being Hoover" Ralph said, pointing to their teacher, who was still sound asleep.
"Thanks I guess, there's no telling how long I'd have been out" Lisa replied
Ralph didn't answer, he simply walked over to the window to see a small robin fly out of its nest in the tree, perched itself next to the window sill, and belted out a few cheeps.
"You're a little early" Ralph said.
Lisa wondered what he meant as he began whistling along with the robin, and eventually she decided to join in.