He healed Me

~chapter sixteen~✔️

~chapter sixteen~

They stopped at the traffic light, there wasn't a car in sight, but Dario stopped anyway. He looked at the full red circle staring at him like an eye somewhere in nowhere.

Red Red means stop He looked left down the street that led to the Am Park neighborhood, to the mansions with the wrought-iron gates and the gold doorbells. And thought that his mother could also put a golden bell on the door; a gold doorbell on a gray house would look good, maybe the gray wouldn't be so gray anymore. But maybe a gold bell wasn't enough when everything was gray behind it, maybe it just made the gray look grayer.

A converted van pulled up from the right and drove through the intersection with a large golden eagle on the door. The driver stuck his head out of the window and eyed the Rakmobil curiously. A ponytail of gray hair swished beneath his red bandana. Andy craned his head, squinted, and gave a long, drawn-out welcome to this strange house on wheels. The eagle returned the salute with a twinkle, the driver laughed and called out something unintelligible, which was immediately drowned out by the roaring engine. Then he drove on.

The red circle blinked briefly, blinked at Dario, looked at the van that had passed, then turned green.

Dario turned the corner. He followed the road to the end, passed a soccer field, a small playground. He also passed the van with the golden eagle standing there in the middle of the playground, from which the driver was just climbing out with a lounger in hand. Then he passed a meadow, a row of tall, narrow trees, and finally he stopped in front of a transformer shed because the road there ended at a gate with a yellow danger sign. "It's over," Dario said.

"Ver," Andy repeated.

"Maybe we took a wrong turn. Maybe was further back yes, another traffic light."

They drove back the way. Passed the trees, the meadow, the playground again. The man from the van was now sitting in front of it and smoking. There was a six-pack of beer on the floor next to him. "Hey!" Dario called and waved. "I'm looking for at Parks!"

The man raised his head. "What are you looking for?" Dario stopped at the roadside. "At the park," he repeated. "I was told to turn onto this street at the light." The man got up and walked towards him. He looked at Andy and tossed his hair, the one under the bandana welled up, to a Page.

"I didn't understand you," he said, leaning forward. He had strange eyes, watery, dirty gray like two stagnant pools.

"Oh nothing, I must have taken the wrong turn...", said Dario and put his hand behind his head. "It doesn't matter, thanks anyway."

"Wait a minute," said the man. "Don't I know you?" He sniffed, frowned. ''Sure, I know you... I, I never forget a face. Where have I seen you before...?" Then his eyes widened in surprise and his mouth dropped open to reveal yellow, irregular teeth. "Dario?" he asked incredulously. "Dario, is that you?"

Dario's stomach clenched.

The man laughed. "Flora!" he yelled, turning to face the van. "Flora! Come out and see who's here!" He leaned forward, grabbed Dario's shoulders and shook him two or three times. "My Dario!" he said. "You came to see me, didn't you? You wanted to give the old man here a look, what?''

Dario just looked at him speechless and took a step back.

"What, don't you recognize me?'' the man asked.