The Magic Swing Set - Part 1

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What would happen if you swung all the way over a swing set? Would the world change? Would you? In this story, two friends experience what happens when you take a trip over the Magic Swing Set.

The Magic Swing Set
Copyright 2007 by Heather Rose Brown
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The chains jangled and groaned as Mark slumped into the plastic seat next to me. I dug my heels into the soft sand to stop my swinging and looked at my friend. "Hey, I didn't see ya trick-or-treating last night."

Mark stared at the ground and started making spiral designs with his toes. "I kinda chickened out." With the setting sun right behind him, it was hard to read his expression, but the ache in his voice told me plenty.

"That's a shame," I said, wishing I could think of something that didn't sound so lame. "You woulda made a cool Tinkerbell." Actually, when I'd seen him last week in the costume he was planning to wear for Halloween, the only real way of describing him was ... cute. But how do you tell another guy he looks cute? You don't.

"Actually I did eventually go. I just went after I saw everyone else had got back home."

"Whoah, you're way braver than me."

Mark kicked at the pattern and looked up at me. "Whatcha mean by that?"

"Well. ..." I let the word hang as I tried to come up with an honest answer that wouldn't hurt his feelings.

My friend cracked the tiniest smile. "Go ahead and say what you're thinking."

"I guess there just ain't a whole lotta guys who'd go out wearin' a dress."

"Well, it was just for Halloween."

"Yeah, I guess you got a point there."

"Besides, you wore it too."

I tried to yell at Mark, but all I could get out was a gurgling sound. I took a quick look around. The only other people I found were a couple of kids hanging from the monkey bars at the other end of the playground. Even though they were too far away to hear, I still leaned closer to my friend and whispered, "Not so loud."

He whispered back, "Sorry 'bout that. Ya did wear it though."

"Yeah, but only after ya dared me. I felt pretty dumb in it." It had felt strange, but not really as bad as I'd expected.

"You didn't look dumb. You looked cute."

"Hey!" I gave Mark a sharp smack on the arm. Any other guy would have gotten a solid punch, but Mark took being hit differently than most guys. "So, didja get any of Mrs. Fritters chocolate covered Oreos?"

"Nah. She was all out by the time I got there, but she did tell me a story."

"Oh cool!" When we were younger, our parents used to take me and Mark to Mrs. Fritter's story time at the library. Even though I knew being ten years old made me too old for story time, I still missed it.

"Yeah, it was pretty cool." My friend peeked around the chain with a sly grin.

"So give already!"

Mark giggled. "Okay, okay."

He kicked at the ground and began swinging. When he came back I shoved off with both feet and matched his swing. "So, what's the story about?"

He looked up and stared at the sky. "Actually it's about this swing set. She said it was magic."

I chuckled and swung harder. Mark pumped his legs until he was swinging next to me again. "What's so funny?"

"Well, after all the years we've been going to this playground and swinging on these swings, I'd think we woulda found if there was any magic here."

My friend looked at me, frowned, and pushed out his bottom lip. "I ... I guess you're right."

I felt bad when I saw him pouting. "Maybe, maybe not. Magic is kinda tricky sometimes."

His pout turned into half a smile. "That's true."

"So how'd the story go?"

"Well, nobody can tell a story like Mrs. Fritter, so I ain't gonna try telling it like she does. Basically, she told me a story about a boy who was swinging on this swing set on the day after Halloween. She gave some name to that day, but I forget what it was now. Anyways, what happened is he'd kept on going higher and higher, until he completely swung over the top."

"What's so magical about that?"

Mark shot his legs out as he swung forward, then looked over his shoulder as he passed me. "He turned into a girl when he came back down."

I pumped my legs until I was swinging next to him again. "That don't sound like one of her regular stories."

"I don't think it's a story."

"What? You think it really happened?"

"I dunno, but there's one good way to find out." Mark gave me the cheesiest grin before stomping at the ground to push himself higher.

We were both pretty high before I managed to catch up with him again. "Wait a minute! Your mom'll kill you if she looks out the window and sees you trying to pull such a stupid stunt."

"No she won't. She's usually watching that game show 'round this time."

"Yeah, but. ..." My stomach did its best to flip over when I found myself nearly upside-down. As I swung back, I tried to think of something that would get my friend to stop acting stupid. All thought left me when I nearly slid out of my seat at the end of the swing back.

"Hang in there Andy!" I barely heard my friend shout as the wind whistled past my ears. Together we swung up ... and up ... until the swing set, and the whole world, was directly overhead.

I felt completely weightless. Time slowed to a crawl. It seemed to take hours just to turn my head and look at Mark. Mostly I just saw beams of sunlight flickering around a dark, fluttering shadow. The fluttering confused me, since most of it was around his legs and behind his head. Did jeans move like that, and wasn't his hair too short to be flowing that far behind his head?

Eventually, gravity found me again and decided to yank at my gut until I thought I was going to puke. Time shifted from super-slow-mo to fast-forward. I screamed for days as the ground rushed up to me.

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The next thing I was aware of was being carefully rolled over onto my back and hearing Mark's voice. "Andy, please be okay."

An older voice said, "Don't move her, hon. Let me make sure she's in one piece first." Someone lifted up my left arm and slowly moved my hand around. "Let me know if anything hurts, Andrea."

I opened my eyes and saw Mark's mom and a familiar looking girl. "Who's Andrea?"

"Oh god," the girl whispered. "Does Andy got amnesia?"

Mark's mom gently laid my arm at my side and leaned closer. "Sweetheart, do you recognize me?"

"Yeah, you're Mrs. Johnston."

Mark's mom smiled as she pulled back, then reached around the girl's shoulders and gave her a one-armed hug. "I think she's okay, Marcie. It looks like Andie just has a case of tomboy-itis, not amnesia."

My chest tightened around something cold when I started realizing what was going on. "Marcie?"

The girl leaned around Mrs. Johnston. "Yeah?"

Her voice was one I'd recognize anywhere. I studied the girls face. It was softer, surrounded by long hair, but it was definitely Mark's face. It was then I realized the impossible was really true.

Me and Mark had flown over the Magic Swing Set.

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Comments

If Only

joannebarbarella's picture

Lovely little story.

Short and sweet

Cute, if you ever have tried to go over the top of a swing set you know how scary that can be. It was just enough of a challange to show the boys wanted something badly and the nice use of a very common childhood practice. I liked that for me at least, the story left enough room to wonder which gender was really imagining that they where the other.

A pleasant read as always,

Gwen
Gwen Lavyril

Gwen Lavyril

Experienced Swinger

terrynaut's picture

Thanks Heather. That was a nice story. It had a whimsical element that had me sighing. *sigh*

I have a wee bit of criticism about the swinging though. Have you ever tried to swing all the way around a swing set? I have. I have a very good memory and I remember trying the same action when I was a kid. You slow down to a stop at the end of a swing, so if you go beyond horizontal, you start to fall straight down. With each swing, you get just a little higher until you start falling. The falling causes a jarring when the swing eventually straightens out the chains. It's pretty much impossible to swing all the way around unless you can swing fast enough in one try.

- Terry

what it was was... you know

laika's picture

But it was a magic swingset, Terry! What's a little thing like Newtonian mechanics when you got magic giving you a boost, and putting gravity on hold? Despite how it might have looked & felt (magic tending to hide itself), mostly what they were providing was the WILL. I betcha that story-lady done it first, and was keeping her eye out for kids that it would help...... Another exquisite little jewel of a fable, Heather Rose! (better than the talking milkshakes, which I saw as more of an experiment, an interesting quick sketch.)
~~~hugs, Laika

Magic swing

Wonderful tale Heather! I really enjoyed it and could those two kids so clearly swinging into the sky. Maybe just over the swing-set and not over the rainbow but magical just the same! There was the question about physics, but remember it was a MAGIC swing-set! :) It made me want to know more about this pair of likable scamps, but I guess that was the point.
Hugs!
grover

swing set story

wow way cool got anny more of tham like this verry sweet and way cool ,love n hugs awalys [email protected]

mr charlles r purcell
verry good story i wood love to see a lot more of this all i can say is wow verry good thanks for shareing

Swinging Writer

Thank you everyone for commenting on, voting for, and reading my story. This story is based on my own experience trying to swing over the top of a swing set. Like Terry, I also discovered how difficult that can be. I guess I could have made it a bit clearer how the magic was giving physics a bit of a boost.

For me, there's always been something inherently magical about swings. Listening to the whistling wind as you fly through the air ... feeling the world stop, if only for a moment, as you hang weightless at the end of your swing ... reaching as far as you can with your toes until you can almost touch the sky ... there's not a whole lot of other things I've experienced quite like that.

As far as the talking milkshakes go (in my story Strawberry, Chocolate, and Vanilla), it definitely was an experimental piece. I'd been feeling stuck on a couple of stories (including The Magic Swing Set) and decided to give another story a shot rather than trying to force the ones I was stuck on. I have a lot of stories simmering on the back burner of my imagination, and I discovered something new I could add to the milkshake story that seemed to pull a lot of the elements together.

Heather Rose Brown :)
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Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend.
Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.

Groucho Marx

I hope you can't see me now.

Because, I am hugging myself and wiggling in my chair. Perhaps I'll fall out and hit my head. Will that mean I've flown over the top too? It'll be just grand. :)

Gwenellen

But what about Andy?

I hope the swing set works both ways. It didn't really seem like he wanted to change (although he really didn't seem so upset at the end of the story).

Still, it was a cute, touching story, and both Mark and Andy felt very real. *hugs* Thanks for a short but sweet trip into ... the Twilight Zone! *grin*

Randalynn

Going back

Yes, the magic swing set can turn girls into boys in the same way as it can turn boys into girls. There's just a bit of a glitch. Since both Mark and Andy were transformed at the same time, Marcie would need to ride the swing set at the same time as Andie for her friend to be changed back to a boy.

This means one of them would need to sacrifice something. Either Marcie would need to go back to being a boy, or Andie would need to stay a girl. Although I've only got that premise and no real story outline, I'm hoping to resolve that choice some day in a sequel to this story.

As the story currently stands, I hope Andy came off as a boy that, while not really interested in being a girl, wouldn't be completely dead set against the idea. I also hope that Mark came across as someone who, while being very happy as a girl, would also be willing to give it all up for Andy's sake.

Heather Rose Brown :)
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Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend.
Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.

Groucho Marx

Pure Magic

Huggles and snuggles Heather Rose

OMG...You've done it again. What a wonderful piece of pure magic you've created. It's a tale that could only come from the heart of a child, and having had the joy of meeting you and reading your stories, I know with all my heart that you truly are a beautiful and very talented child with magic in her fingertips and loads of love in her heart.

This wonderful, sweet, innocent and joyful journey had me in tears half way through and I'm still wiping the tears away now: tears of joy for Andrea realizing her dream and sadness for those of us who have yet to climb aboard the magic swing and find ours.

Few authors reach me to the depths of my soul like you do, but sometimes it takes a kid to know a kid, giggle. You continue to amaze me with using so few words to create so much magic.

Thank you for magic that I will keep in my heart forever. I will never pass another swing set as long as I live without wondering if this is the one to take me home.

Hugs and love, Maggie the Kitten

The Magic Swing Set

Where is it? I know a few who would love to ride.

    Stanman
May Your Light Forever Shine
    Stanman
May Your Light Forever Shine