• The leaves were just starting to change their color from green to various kinds of red and gold. It was my favorite time of the year, fall.

    I was pretty sure that fall would be the time my life would change. The leaves falling quietly, the whisper of the wind blowing stories right past me. I didn't think though, that the savior from this daily, boring life I had would be the one kid from the park who couldn't even see me wave a hand in front of his face.

    He was sitting on a bench not far from where I was heading. He looked normal enough, but he seemed like "the lights were on but nobody was home", if you catch my drift. He just stared absentmindedly, not really looking at anything at all.

    What really startled me was when I walked past him; all he did was sit still. What, was he sleeping with his eyes open?

    Okay, so maybe I was being overly-curious, but you must admit it's a little weird to someone who had no idea that he was blind. I must have kicked a rock or something, because something caught his attention.

    "Who's there?" He asked, and let his hazy green eyes wander lazily at the sky, the ground, but never once at my face.

    "Um...me..?" I managed to muster up frantically. "What? Can't you see me?"

    "I'm not sure I can see anything...” The boy pronounced with a heavy tone. I stepped back a little, trying to digest what he had just said.

    "So...you mean you're...” I didn't want to be rude, even though I probably just crossed that line earlier.

    "Blind." He finished my sentence.

    "..Oh... really? Wow...that must be uh..." I racked my brain for words, but none came.

    "Interesting? Not really. I can't even see colors." His voice sounded as if he were looking at something far away, like he wasn't really focusing on our awkward conversation.

    "So you mean you don't know what color the sky is? Or the grass? Not even your own face?" What a horrible life that must be, I thought to myself.

    "No." I got the feeling he wanted me to end the conversation and move along, but I was too nosy for my own good.

    "My name is Ian by the way, what's yours?"

    "Ben." He said in his heavy tone.

    "Mind if I sit here?" I asked.

    "No."

    I probably shouldn't probe around in people's lives like that but I couldn't help myself!

    "So...do you know what color your hair is?" I asked him.

    "Of course I do! It's..red." Telling a blind person their hair color didn't exactly paint a mental picture in their minds. He sounded embarrassed when he asked, "What is a color exactly?"

    "Well, a color is something that can help describe emotions. Obviously it gives diversity to the world..and red, red is something that stands out from the rest. It's like being ambitious, courageous, and out there. But it can also stand for anger or something much too hot. It's a warm color." I said.

    "..Warm, huh?" Ben said thoughtfully. "The sky?" He asked unexpectedly.

    "Well...the sky isn't warm, it's the atmosphere. It can be warm or cold.."

    "What color should cold be then?"

    "Cold is usually described as blue. Most of the time when people feel sad, or just emotional, blue is the color people use to describe themselves as. It's my favorite color, because it makes me feel calm." How odd that I had never thought about these things before.

    "Okay..red is warm and blue is cool..what color is the grass?"

    "Green. Green is...sort of a calming color for some people. It represents lots of things, like Earth, envy, or jealously. I like to think of it as a color that people will love or hate."

    "There's not a 'in between'?"

    "Not that I've heard of."

    "Okay..so what color is your hair?" Ben asked curiously.

    "My hair? It's black. It's the darkest of all the colors, and it's kind of common, I guess. It's a very plain, almost boring, color. And..well I guess it's probably the color you see all the time.."

    "Oh." Ben seemed kind of surprised. What, had no one told him that before? I took a moment to think over about this, but was interrupted by his next question. It came in a feeble voice, as if he didn't really want to ask such a thing.

    "Can you describe to me the colors of fall? It's the season that I enjoy the most, because how everyone seems to be inspired by it's colors. I'd like to know them.." He trailed off, and shifted his position in the bench.

    "Well fall has many colors, like gold and red and brown and orange.." How could I describe it to him? I took a moment to think, and another to take a breath. "Gold is like the color of riches, I guess. It's bright and shiny..to me gold sounds like the chime of pennies in in your pocket. But to another rich guy out there, it's probably the chime of a million pennies in his."

    "Pennies?" Ben scoffed, but smiled softly to show he was amused. I shrugged once more. "I'm not a big detail person, but when you think about it, what I said made sense."

    "I guess so."

    Ben shifted his position on the bench once more. The amusement had died quickly, and he lifted his head up and faced the opposite direction of where I was. The whispers of the wind blew quietly passed us, and I could barely catch the next thing he had said

    "I know that the leaves are falling because I hear them. Could you hand me some?"

    I picked up a handful of the fallen leaves from the ground. Red, gold, and orange scattered between my fingertips as I handed them to Ben.

    "These are some of the leaves that had been falling down." Ben felt each leaf individually, and nodded. "It's the color of fall, right?"

    "Right." I agreed confidently. "Think of it as a gift."

    As he felt them in his grasp, a once blank face had lightened up, and he began to smile.

    "What's making you entertained now?" I raised a brow, and Ben returned it with a sigh.

    "I understand the colors I've never seen before. I understand the moods and the shades of the things my eyes have hid from me. But in my mind, these things we call colors are the ones that are making my mind see such visual wonders I thought were bland before, light up. I don't see what other people see, but... If I can think about it, we get a close match of the same thing."

    He laughed lightly, and placed the leaves beside him. “Ian, do you think you could help me find the colors we've been talking about? I have a journal I think I'd like to keep them in."

    At first I was confused, dazed at what Ben had said. I didn't understand how we would get colors in his book other than by crayons or markers, but when he have extracted an empty book from a duffel bag on the ground, he picked up one of the leaves I gave him, the red one, and placed it quietly on the first page.

    "Would you find me a pen in that bag please?"

    After doing what I was told, I handed Ben the pen, but what surprised me was that his handwriting was crisp and neat, like a normal person would write. Sure, some of the words would get off the lines every once in a while, but it wasn't by far, just a little knocked off. It took me longer than I expected to understand what he wrote down though.

    'Here lies the leaf of Fall.

    This is my favorite season, and I treasure it even more because of a nice guy named Ian who helped me understand more of the talented beauty. The colors of Fall, which differ between the leaves, reminds me of people's kindness towards each other.

    Together, kindness is beautiful, but when that one or two or five people begin to wither, they fall, and so do the others soon enough. All that's left is the cold, cold winter, where no one is warm like they had been so much earlier.

    Ian taught me that with a little time, a little kindness, and a little patience, he could show this one blind kid the thousands of shades a color could have. Maybe if I ever see Ian again, he'll teach me how to express these colors, but that's just asking for too much, wouldn't it.'

    "I don't see why I wouldn't show you." I pointed out blandly. Ben's face sprung up, looking opposite of me until I told him that.

    "Really?" His lips parted in awe.

    "Of course, I mean... it's kind of fun explaining colors to someone. Usually people need to explain things to me instead." I shrugged a little bit.

    Ben nodded quietly, before standing up. He waved the hand closest to me, and I assumed he wanted me to hold it.

    "What are we doing now?" I asked curiously as I took his hand carefully. The boy began to walk, but stopped shortly to make sure I was following.

    "Help me find more leaves." It sounded more like a command than a question, but I guided him anyway, to pass the time.

    We both spent hours wandering around that park, but in the end, Ben and I created a thick stack of multi colored leaves for him, and tied the stems together with blades of long, green grass.

    I watched as a genuine smile washed over Ben's face as we sat back down again. "Thank you very much. Fall is such a wonderful season; I just never knew the colors it could give people."

    "Of course."

    I shut my eyes quietly, and reached for Ben's hand. Surprised by how cold it was already, I wanted to open them, but I wanted to try to see what exactly he saw in his mind.

    Ben seemed to understand this, and in a whisper he asked:

    "What do you see in my world?"

    "It's hard to define the colors, but-" I was hushed with a finger to my lips, and I should have been surprised, but now I could see.

    I could see the boldness, the anger of the red; the deep dark tones of emotion and fluffy pale shades of a happy blue; a dark and mysteriously calming green; and then it all disappeared, coming back to black once again.

    "You should open your eyes."

    And with that, I did. Slowly, my eyelids began to open, and from it, the color of Fall poured into my vision. The gold’s and oranges, and browns and yellows and reds.

    A gust of wind ran passed us again, and I realized that I was still holding Ben's hand.

    "Sorry about that," I began, flustered.

    "As long as you get what I'm saying, it's fine."

    And with that I gave out a sigh, and told him my goodbyes. I knew someday we'd probably meet each other again, but it wouldn't be soon. And inside, it was kind of painful to know.

    The walk home was silent, but I thought about what I had done earlier, making someone who couldn't even see colors understand them. When I got home, instead of the usual sit down and watch TV, I began to document my day on paper.

    My usually dull, bland life had been changed. And hopefully, so did Ben's.

    End.