Snakes and Rainbows

Saturday the 22nd of June was Sam's seventh birthday, but Sam had to
sit on the front step of his house. He had to sit there because his mum
had told him to.
"You stay put Sam, and don't move from that step. I don't want you
getting under my feet. I've got too much to do today." She continued.
"And don't talk to strangers". She said, shouting from the hall.

Sam sat with his elbows digging into his knees and his chin resting in
his hands. He was fed up. He was fed up with being told off. He was fed
up with being bored. He was fed up with being fed up. All he could do
was watch.
Sam watched the milkman as he went from door to door collecting his
money.
"Morning Sam, happy birthday" he called, as Sam managed a smile.
He watched next doors dog escape over the fence and run full pelt down
the road, ears flapping, tongue hanging out and three hairy legs trying
to catch up with each other.
He watched as Matthew and Daniel raced past his house on their bikes
and wished he could go with them.
Sam was definitely fed up.

A little while later Sam watched a funny looking man with a tall black
hat, a long black coat and huge strange looking spectacles, walk pass
the front gate, whistling to himself. Sam watched as the man turned and
said, "Morning", and gave him a friendly wave.
Sam didn't answer. He knew he could only speak to strangers if his mum
or dad was there, so he waved politely instead, from where he
sat.

After the man had gone Sam noticed something glistening in the sunshine
on the pavement just outside the gate.
He knew he wasn't supposed to leave the front door step, but he crept
up the garden path, grabbed the shiny thing and ran back to his place
before his mum could say, "time for bed". The shiny thing turned out to
be the rather unusual, multi-coloured pair of spectacles that the
strange man had been wearing. They were square like two small slices of
thick bread and as Sam looked at them the frames turned a different
colour every second.

Sam put the glasses on and everything turned pink. The trees were
pink. The sky was pink. The sparrows were pink. The grass was pink,
even Sam's cat Sooty was pink.
"Wow", thought Sam, "these are great."
Very soon, old grumpy John from two doors down came past, carrying a
bag of shopping in each hand and a roll of brightly coloured wrapping
paper tucked under his arm.
Sam didn't like old grumpy John because he sometimes shouted at him to
stop making so much noise.
When old grumpy John turned to look at Sam, he didn't see the usual
old grumpy John, Sam saw a very brightly coloured old grumpy John.
Rainbows were sprouting from his ears and his eyes sparkled like stars.
His nose looked like it had rivers of blue bogies streaming out of it
with silver fish that jumped in and out. His hair was gold and it was
fizzing from the ends like a sparkler on bonfire night and as he smiled
his teeth turned purple and red and gold.
Sam put his hand over his mouth. Old grumpy John shouted, "Morning Sam,
happy birthday," and Sam waved back at him trying desperately not to
laugh.

Sam couldn't wait for someone else to walk past and watched excitedly,
straining his eyes for anyone coming up the road.

He didn't have to wait very long before he saw Mrs James get out of her
car and slam the door shut. She started to walk up her front garden
path on the other side of Sam's house. But Sam got such a shock.

Mrs James wasn't like old grumpy John. She wasn't rainbow coloured at
all, she was a greenie colour from top to toe and very dirty looking.
She looked like a walking dollop of sludge.
Out of the top of her head Sam could see lots of snake like creatures
wriggling about in her hair. Her fingernails were so long they almost
touched the ground and caught the geraniums in her garden. Her feet
were like two giant, grey cauliflowers, knobbly and gnarled and every
time she took a step there was a squelching noise that sounded like she
was farting and they let off a horrible smelly steam at the same time.
Her ears looked like they had been bashed with a rolling pin making
them flat and shiny in the sunlight and her eyes were yellow and fierce
like an angry cat.

Sam had crept up to the fence between his house and Mrs James' garden
and peered over it. He couldn't believe his eyes.
Mrs James was scowling and her hooked nose almost touched her chin but
she said, "Hello Sam," in such a friendly way that Sam had to take his
glasses off to double check that it really was Mrs James. His mouth
opened and closed several times, but he couldn't speak.
When Sam took off his spectacles, Mrs James looked like she always did.
Her dark hair was neat and tidy. Her ears were normal and fitted her
head perfectly. She didn't have creatures wriggling about anywhere Sam
could see. It was all very strange.

He put the glasses back on his nose before Mrs James disappeared out
of sight and he watched as she trudged her way through her front door
with the snaky things back on top of her head and the farting noise
following close behind.

Sam's mum came outside with a white baseball cap in her hand.
"In case you get too hot", she said as she placed it on his head. "Are
you Ok Sam?
Sam nodded his head.
"You'll end up catching flies if you're not careful" she said laughing
and Sam closed his mouth shut again.
"What have you got there?" she asked.
"Well, I was sitting on the step and a funny looking man walked past,
he dropped these glasses. But before I could give them back to him he
was gone." Sam's mum took the glasses from him and placed them on her
nose.
"Rose coloured spectacles, eh!" she said looking about her. "I like
these. If you see the man again Sam you must call me and we can give
them back. They look very expensive". Sam's mum handed him back the
glasses and went back inside the house. She started humming to herself
and it sounded like "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you", but
Sam wasn't quite sure.

As he put the rose coloured spectacles back on, Sam thought it very
peculiar. His mum didn't seem to see anything unusual through the
glasses, but they certainly put her in a happy mood. When he watched
the back of his mum disappear down the hall, Sam saw golden rainbows
wafting behind her and a strong smell of strawberry jelly and roses
drifted past his nose.

Sam sat on his front door step all morning and most of the afternoon.
He didn't even leave when it was time for lunch and ate his cheese
sandwiches right where he could see everyone that walked past.
Some people had snakes and smelt disgusting and some had rainbows and
smelt really nice.

When it was nearly time to go in doors, Sam took off the spectacles and
was just about to put them in his pocket when he saw the funny man
stroll back along the road and stop at his gate.
"Hello again," said the man.

"Hello," said Sam, as he walked down the path towards the man.

"I see you have my spectacles, I wondered where they'd got to".

"I looked after them, but they were?er..very strange".

"Ahh! So what did you think of my rose coloured spectacles?"

"Well some people have rainbows and some have snakes," said Sam.

"So, do you think that the people with rainbows were bad people or good
people?" said the man.

Sam thought about this for a minute. "Well, old grumpy John always
looks like he's angry but he had rainbows", continued Sam, "Mrs James
is always nice to me when I see her but she had snakes and she smelt
like dog poo, and my mum had rainbows too, but she shouts at me
sometimes".

"Well Sam, some people may look grumpy or horrible but really they are
very nice, perhaps they are just sad or lonely. And sometimes people
who are supposed to be nice are really horrible or perhaps they are
just in a bad mood".

"So how do I know if people are really horrible or really nice?" asked
Sam.

"Well, you can't always believe what you see about people, but I think
that the people who surround you with love and look after you are
usually very nice, even if they shout at you sometimes and I bet if you
saw Mrs James tomorrow with these glasses on, she will have
rainbows".

Before Sam handed the spectacles back to the funny man, he put them on
his head one last time. The strange man didn't have any rainbows or
snakes, as Sam had expected, and he wasn't pink either, he was pure
white from the bottom of his shoes all the way up and up and up to the
top of his hat.

"Wow" said Sam as he craned his neck to see the man's face.

Just then Sam's mum came out and watched as Sam took off the spectacles
and handed them back to the man who was back to normal again.

"Sam, it's nearly time for your party, come inside and see".
Sam ran back down the path, but before he went inside he turned back to
say goodbye to the strange man but the man had disappeared.

Sam went into the house to find the front room had been decorated with
streamers and balloons ready for his party and gave his mum a big
hug.
Meanwhile outside the front gate, right where the strange man had been
standing, a rainbow coloured snake wearing a huge pair of square
spectacles disappeared under a hedge.