Flashback flash forward handout exercise

Michael flew down the Old Tillery road on his well used ten speed. Looking desperately for Jenna he turned, tearing up a small alley that led to the Matthews Elementary School. He had to have her home before everyone was waiting for her to show to her surprise birthday party. Coming around the bend that faced the schools playground he saw her. "Jenna! I've been looking for you," he spoke quickly, ineffectively trying to cover up his fast paced breath. She sat on one of the aged and somewhat rusty swings, barely rocking. "Mom said she would push me on this swing even if I were a teenager." Jenna words came out as if she hadn't realized she were no longer alone, looking intently at the brown worn walls of Matthews. "Well, I'm a teenager and Mom won't push me," Jenna stated with only a slight quiver of emotion on the word "won't." Michael let the surprise party slip from his mind as his mothers smile came back to him. The smile was the only thing that still seemed real from the faded face that had been changed and buried more than two years ago. In the silence Michael heard a song begin far off in the distance. He didn't recognize it, but the first two notes were the same as those of a song that mother used to sing. Not often. Just when the world was all peace and she had been tucking her children into bed with the tranquil hours before dawn.