I had cycled on my brother's bike that day along the canal to the markets. His bike was younger and gave me far more of a leisurely cycle in comparison to my own. So I did what many would've done in my position and often used it disregarding him as the owner. The route that I had taken that day led me along the long narrowing river leading to the open water sea. It was a hot morning for a September day and beads of sweat had begun to form on my forehead before I had even said goodbye to my mother. I wondered how the outcome of my day would've gone if I'd taken another, longer route, or maybe gone another day, or even used my old bike to get to the markets. Would I have ever met her? Would I have gone home with my books and purchases and let it be another day? I would question and ponder this later in life, why I still held onto that Autumn day even decades after the one day when I was 17.
I rode the bike past the town's people who walked their dogs from 9 till half-past without fault for each day of the year. It was like they were immune to the effects of the seasons as they fell into the next and the snow began to pile up or the pollen infiltrated the blue air causing many to suffer from hay fever. I even noted that many times throughout the year the owners seemed more eager to go out than their pets did, causing a great disturbance through the town as all that was heard those days were frustrated owners and whining pets.
Crossing the river on the old wooden bridge, each panel jumped as the wheels came by them causing the water below to quiver around the structures which barely managed to keep the bridge alive let alone anything that dared to cross it. I of course, however, was quite blind
towards the extent of danger that I was in every time I had crossed the old oak bridge. It stayed upright for me every day until I left my hometown at 19 however was rebuilt 4 decades after when I returned for my mother's funeral.
It was only peaking past 9 o'clock that morning the day I met the girl. The sun was glimmering in the water and in the sky. I could feel its rays being absorbed by my brown hair causing me to feel ill and dizzy after a while without any water.
I don't remember what I had been thinking that day when I left for the markets. Perhaps I was thinking of the book I had been reading, or maybe I had been silently complaining to myself due to the heat. It isn't all that important to be true but as that day grows more distant from me, I try my best to remember even the smallest of details so I don't forget her.
I had first seen her when I was paying for my items (or at least attempting to pay for my items as she had stopped me in my tracks causing a great disturbance and frustration for the people behind me), in another store across the bridge from me, I arched my neck in order to see her clearer. Nothing stood out about her features. She wasn't strikingly pretty, nor was she horrifically hideous. She was just pretty. Long black hair had flowed silently in the wind as she talked to the cashier who made her smile, nodding her head, and laughing again.
I felt envious. I didn't even know her, nor had I ever seen her. But I felt envy that that other boy had seen her smile before I did, he had made her smile before I did. The lady in front of me had packed my items into a brown paper bag for me attempting to nudge them into my grasp before resorting to snapping at me. I thanked her guiltily and turned back to the girl again who was now nowhere to be seen. I stumbled out into the centre of the cobbled street to find her again. Why did I even do that? How had I grown so fond for someone I had merely laid my eyes upon, never mind talked to or reciprocated smiles with from afar.
I had just simply seen her by chance, she had caught my eye and I feared I would never see her again. However as I stumbled forward a few more steps, I found her. Her dark brown hair elegantly waltzed with the wind as her body was angled down to her bicycle wheels as she sat on the seat, as if reassuring herself she was safe then cycled away from me, soon turning a corner and disappearing from my view. My arms slumped to my side, I stood there for what felt like a second.
