sweet tooth - karl jacobs

chapter 36- past tense

"are you gonna tell me where we're going?" i ask as karl backs out of his parking spot.

"nope," he replies. "don't you like surprises?"

"not really."

karl smiles and huffs at my response.

"well, i think you'll like this one," he says confidently.

"if i guess where we're going, will you tell me if i'm right?"

"sure. you only get three guesses, though."

"ten guesses and you have a deal."

"are you crazy? three."

"ten."

"four."

"five."

karl thinks for a moment.

"fine. five guesses," he sighs. i clap my hands together.

"uhh..." i furrow my eyebrows together in thought. despite how badly i wanted to guess, i'm actually at a complete loss at ideas for where we're going. "the arcade?"

"no."

"restaurant?"

"still no."

"the movies?"

"you're not very good at guessing, are you?"

"some carnival or festival?"

karl shakes his head.

"one guess left."

"shit, uh..." i scratch the back of my head.

"c'mon blondie, use that pretty brain of yours."

"i dropped out of college!"

"so did i!"

"yeah, but you're not the one guessing!"

karl laughs as i rack my brain.

"can i have a hint?" i beg.

"sure. it's outside."

"outside? that narrows it down a bit..."

i think for a moment longer before giving my final answer.

"a picnic!"

"five strikes and you're out!" karl announces gleefully, probably glad i didn't ruin the surprise.

"damn it. i really thought i had it with that last one."

"the last one was the closest, but none of them were really on the right track. you'll see when we get there."

i slump down in my seat as karl continues driving for about twenty minutes. the two of us talk casually, until karl excitedly stops the flow of conversation.

"we're here!" he exclaims as he looks for parking. i jolt up in my seat to look out the window. when i do, i'm greeted with many cars in the parking lot, and large iron gates beyond the lot. there's a sign above these gates that reads-

"a botanical garden?!" i shout excitedly. i turn towards karl, who has a proud smile on his face.

"have you ever been?"

"no! but i've always wanted to!"

"see, i told you that you'd like the surprise."

the two of us get out of the car and walk through the gates after karl pays for our entry fees. we walk on the path, and tall, colorful, gorgeous flowers frame every square inch that we're not walking. there are a bunch of signs in front of certain flowers, naming what the plant is and a short description of them.