Songbird

Chapter 1

        The once brilliant orange leaves outside the cafe window had now turned a musky brown color. The temperatures of late autumn began to dip and more people stayed locked up inside. The sky was dark with clouds, a placid feeling arose in the air. Not many people were up and about except for an old man drinking whiskey in an unlit corner of the cafe and a young girl sitting patiently in front of the counter. The girl had with her a small book of poems she had recently found at the local library. As she waited for her order of drink she placed the book neatly in front of her, flattening the corners of the paperback cover.

        The man working the counter came over to the girl and handed her a latte. "Avis?" he inquired. Avis nodded shyly and took the latte from his hand. Jumping off the stool she was sitting on, Avis grabbed her book of poems and turned to leave the small cafe. For such a quiet day she had such a content skip in her step as she walked out the door.

        Avis strolled down the avenue until she reached the crossroads. From there she headed south, towards a nearby park. As she walked Avis sipped on her drink, savoring every drop. The neighborhood she walked through was home to many of the lower class. The apartments had errant shingles and the charming colors seemed to be fading from the walls. Clothing could be seen hanging outside of many of the apartments, drying on cords of wire.

        The park was simple. There was one swing set with two swings attached. Parallel to the swings was a slide that faced the north. The slide was originally yellow, but the sun have faded the color to a mere whited tint. Two small kids, a boy and a girl, could be seen running around in the sand. Both children seemed to be around nine years of age. The boy appeared to be very thin with dark hair and eastern features. The girl had long, fair hair and her nose was speckled with freckles. As the boy ran towards the swing set, he took notice of Avis.

        "Hello?" he asked politely. He walked towards Avis, the young girl close behind him.

Avis smiled kindly. "I'm Avis. What are your names?" The little boy thought for a while before he spoke.

"I'm Joshua, and this here is Lisa." he pointed at the fair haired girl. Seeing that Joshua approved Avis, Lisa waved shyly. Joshua continued with his introduction, "Both of us are neighbors and we are in the same class at school." Avis nodded as Joshua continued to talk.

        At the back of her mind Avis kept telling herself that she had to leave, but something intrigued her about the two kids. They seemed to have a friendship that she had never witnessed before. They were polar-opposites. Here was a little girl who was very shy and hardly talked playing with a boy of the same age who was very talkative and outgoing. Avis almost wanted to laugh, but she kept that to herself. 

After a while, the little ones' mothers came over calling them home for dinner. Avis smiled a polite, friendly grin as they left the park. She wondered if she would ever see them again.