Little!AmericaxLittle!Reader: 100Year Kite

Alfred looked sadly at the dark gray polished stone in front of him. Well, he looked moreso at your name, engraved permanently in the weather-worn rock. It had been thirty years since you'd taken your final breath, and before that was seventy solid years of friendship and love.

~~

You skipped along the sidewalk with a big, red-white-and-blue kite in your arms. You were in a very light mood today, with not a care in the world. Why? You'd finally gotten the perfect chance to test out the toy you'd built a few weeks earlier. Sure, children your age normally bought their playthings...but to you, that was part of the fun: creating it.

So down the walkway to the park you went, smiling merrily at the wind that gusted around you.

After a few more minutes of slow-paced moving, you gave up with your happy waggle and ran the rest of the way to the open, green field that called your name.
"Hello trees!" You called to the large, leafy conifers.
"Hello grass, and sky, and wind!" There was not a thing in the world that could bring you down...or so you thought.

You stopped giggling when you heard a choked sob to your left, and turned your head to see what was going on. A boy of your age sat under a gnarly pine tree, hidden by the tall reeds as he cried in a child-sized ball.

You stood there dumbly, not sure what to do. You wanted to go and see what the matter was...but you'd always been shy around other little kids; you never seemed to like the same games as them, and you never knew what they were talking about: because that you got picked on a lot at school.

His heartbreaking wails were too much, however.

"Hey, are you okay?" You wondered, tiptoeing up to him to lay a hand on his shoulder. He shook you off.

"Go away! I don't need your help!" His voice cracked, and he curled up tighter. You could tell he was just trying to be strong in front of a girl, though.

Sighing, you walked away from the tree, devising a plan. You unwound the string from your kite and tossed the aero-toy upwards. Phase one was complete. Now it was time for phase two: commence operation!

"Ow! My hands! I guess I'm not good enough for this thing...I even went through all the trouble of building it, too....if only there was a strong, brave boy around to help me....he could help me hold the string, and we'd have fun together, and I wouldn't be upset anymore.....I could really use a hero right about now...." You griped dramatically, eyeing the kid....but he wasn't there.

Saddened, you glanced around the field, only to be stopped when arms wrapped around you and took hold of your fingers.
"You're holding it wrong; you're going to get rope burns like that. Take it by the handle, and swing it back and forth to make it move. Like this!" Hands still in his, you swished the kit around so it arched magnificently across the clear sky.

"You sure know a lot about kites! What's your name?" You questioned, looking over your shoulder into a pair of pretty blue eyes. Happy blue eyes.
"'Course I know 'bout kites. I used to play with them with my brother...but our parents separated, and he's up in Canada now...that's why I was sad. But you know, this is kinda fun. I'm Alfred, and I'm totally your hero, right?"

You laughed and nodded. "I'm ______! And yeah, you're my hero!"

~~

Alfred wiped at his eyes. Sometimes he wished you had been a country, like him. He'd also wanted to be a human, like you...sometimes he was sick of all this business crap, and wanted normal life. Luckily, he'd had you.

"I love you, ______." He whispered, and tied a string tightly around your grave.
Before tossing the kite into the air, and let out a hearty sigh.

He watched as red, white and blue soared upwards, floating and flying in the wind.

"I love you forever." He walked away slowly, head bowed to slightly hide the tears of another years' passing.