Marshmallows - Camden

Prompt : "marshmallows"

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Marshmallows are for church.

Or more specifically, marshmallows are for the Walker’s house in the summer at the pool parties filled with children running around and parents not caring too much. Marshmallows are for after we run all over the Walker’s property, and possibly their neighbors’ as well, pretending to be magical and pretending to be special. Marshmallows go at the fire pit, by the side of the pool. Maybe there are some errant kids in the hot tube or hanging off the diving board, but by the time we get to marshmallows, most kids are tucked into towels and squished up against parents or each other.

Marshmallows go after hot dogs and wrapping a towel around my head and telling my pastor that I’m Muslim. Not on my watch, he says. Marshmallows are after we dodge bees with our lunches and leap into the pool for safety. Marshmallows are after sunscreen and belly flops and playing pool in the safety of the Walker’s cabin, dripping all over their carpets. Marshmallows are sometimes with sing-alongs but always with prayers and thanks and good company.

Marshmallows signify the end of the day when we know we must crawl back up that monstrous hill, so easy to run down in the morning but so difficult to climb up in evening. We should be sad to be waving goodbye to our once-a-week friends, but we’re delighted to be standing barefoot on the asphalt, shivering in our towels and still dripping from that one last cannonball because. Because we’ve just had marshmallows.