I just exercised again, trying to get in shape for swimming season. Daniel handler owns my universe.
Driving Down the Highway
Looking at the cobblestone road ahead; I sigh. My hands drum the wheel. Finally we start our journey. I look behind me and pull out of parallel park; come to think of it how did I hit him in the first place if I was parked. Something feels slightly off but I ignore the gut tugging feeling and we turn onto the road. Edmund toys with his necklace unsure as to what to say. We pass a few houses with picket fences and turn left and then keep going straight.
"I know what you must be going through." Edmund whispers, his voice sounding thick and deep like rock. Oh, really; he thinks he understands, he thinks he gets me... I grimace and my hands clutch the steering wheel as if it was my only means of survival. Clearing my throat, I make sure to inflect malice and distrust in each word. "Oh, really; you think you understand, you think you get me? How on earth did you even get hurt if I was in park?" We now have left behind the suburbs and are headed downtown. Smog condenses around the car, " The truth is... I ain't gonna tell ya the truth till I know ya better." Why did his accent change, weird? His brow furrows in annoyance.
A little kid tries to go get his ball, awe man. I slam on the brakes and we jerk forward. Once he was clear of our car, we continued down the highway until we left the city behind. Briny Beach is up ahead. It is almost noon; Edmund's stomach grumbles. It is an overcast day, at least, now it is. Turning off the car; we walk towards the lighthouse hands clasped together. My backpack is weighting me down, we should camp in the light house for lunch since it is starting to get chilly. I squeeze his hand, and say," last one to the light house has to clean up, see ya!" I start running and running with and my backpack punches my back with the pace of my footsteps. Looking backward, he still is standing there; and then he grins like a Cheshire cat. He starts taking up the rear and I feel like whooping. My once up-do has flown behind me in a tangle of brunette curls. My dress is starting to hinder me, thank God it's so close now. I tag the lighthouse and dance a dorky jig, because yes I won.
We meet at the entrance to the lighthouse and walk up the inside till we reach the center. I wonder if he packed food in my bag. I look inside and there are Very Fast Delicacies. Seriously, where does he find the place to put everything. I pull out two packets that say' just add water ' I start to wonder whether fresh or clean water but Edmund interrupts my thinking. He stands across the room and he is gesturing to me. A few minutes later and we are munching on crunchy bread and butter. " My mother invented them you know?" His idle chat, while uncomfortable was necessary.
Once we had finished up our lunch we piled back into our car and drove for what seemed like hours without saying a word. The smell of Horseradish leaked into our car and we passed a garden of shrubbery which happened to look like snakes. Darkness had started to fall and the day just seemed to slip away, like sand through someone's hand. Turning on the night lights for the car, the dairy just visible beyond the horizon.