Memories Pt. 17

summer or fall, the lakeshore

We got in your car and went for a drive. Bored I guess. You wanted to get out of the house and we didn't have much money or anywhere to go.

It was warm during the day and cooling off in the evening. I think you suggested 7-11. I am not sure why, but I think you wanted a treat. You knew I loved slurpees and I was going through a phase. I think you just wanted to make me happy.

We stopped there and stocked up, me with my slurpee, you with your hot chocolate/coffee mixture that you got from time to time when you were slumming it and amusing my junk food habit.

It was the story of our affair. I was warm and needed cooling off and you were cold and wanted to warm up. Just like when we were trying to sleep. So a slurpee and hot chocolate seemed to make perfect sense.

By the time we got down to the lake it was dark and deserted. We headed west of Sunnyside to the playground near the Bryers. You loved swings and I loved how happy they made you.

Sugar rush kicking in, we played on the swings to see who could go higher, until one of us got scared, you because the whole set started to shake or me because the swing I sat in didn't seem up to the capacity.

The teeter totter seemed more our speed and off we went.

You didn't seem used to having a fella that could pick you up and throw you around. Without much effort or warning up you shot as my end grazed the ground. I wouldn't let you down, teasing you while you giggled and struggled the entire time. Eventually, we did what we were supposed to and gently teetered and tottered until we both fell into a stupor of childhood memory.

Soon the sugar wore off and the night cooled so we wandered back to your car, pressed together, you trying desperately to climb inside me for warmth and me wondering how to make it possible.

Climbing into the car, I leaned over and kissed you, like many times before and many since, just wanting to impart some of the happiness I felt with you, some of the love I had for you and especially some of the warmth I had left on my lips.