The Park Bench {on hold}

unnamed

the name of this chapter is tbd. thanks for understanding (:

Chrystie hears a loud banging in the door next to her. A heavy object falls to the ground with a thud.

A few seconds later, Chrystie hears it again. She rushes outside and knocks on her neighbor's door.

Thankfully, Ada opens the door. Ronaldo's tiny head peeks through his mother's legs.

"Hi thewe," he calls to Chrystie.

Her eyes are open wide as she exclaims, "Am I going crazy? I thought I heard something falling. No wait, it sounded like many things falling."

Ada laughs nonchalantly, "Oh, don't worry about that. I was just throwing something things down from the top cabinet. Sorry about the noise."

She dismisses the apology with the wave of a hand and asks, "Do you need help?" 

"Yes, actually. I'd appreciate it if you have the time. If you don't, that's fine of course," rambles Ada.

"Any day. One second," says Chrystie. She walks back to her flat, grabs the keys, and closes the door. After locking herself out many times with the self-lock, Chrystie has learned her lesson to always keep her keys with her.

She ambles into Ada's home and stops. On the floor lay a plethora of books. Textbooks.

"What is this?" she inquires.

Ada's head pops out of the top of the blue cabinet connected to the wall. She stands steadily on a ladder that Ronaldo holds at the bottom. He looks very serious, as if his job is the most essential one.

Ada replies, "Nothing much. These are just some textbooks my husband and I kept for good memories. Seeing as he isn't here, I don't really need them."

Chrystie doesn't reply, sensing an underlying don't-pry-any-further tone. She sits near the bottom of the ladder on a chair, and she piles up the textbooks on the dining table.

Doing so, she reads the names of some of the textbooks. She spots Internal Medicine, Principles and Procedures, and Medicine in Depth. She recalls Ada's profession as a surgeon, and the journalist instinct in her calls for more questions. She wonders why the sudden throwing out of books and who her husband is.

She suppresses the need to ask questions and takes the book that Ada hands to her from the top of the ladder.

*

"Wow, you sure had a lot of textbooks," starts Chrystie. The two women are sitting on Ada's broken couch, while Ronaldo plays on the rug on the Xbox. They each hold their own cup of coffee, waiting for the strong heat to subside a little.

Ada nods, blowing on her mug.

"Are they yours from college?" Chrystie persists.

The other woman nods again and responds, "Yes, the books are all mine. I'm a surgeon as you know."

Chrystie makes do with the short response and silently urges Ada on by making direct eye contact.

She doesn't say anything for a while.

Though eventually, Ada cracks.

She turns towards the older lady and asks, "Do you have a husband?"

Chrystie shakes her head, "Nope, I never really found someone I trusted enough to spend the rest of my life with."

Ada nods with a look of understanding on her face. She replies, "See? I get that, I really do. Why commit your life to someone if they aren't even going to be there?"

"Hmm. I don't know."

"Well I do! It's love. It's always been love. Love is the only reason to stay with someone despite them not really even being there."

Chrystie asks, "And this someone... I guess it's your husband?"

"Yes. I love him. I really do, but I just miss him. Sometimes I wonder if we would really work as a couple if he were around more."

"Where is he?"

"Iraq, I think. He's in the army."

"You think?"

"I don't know actually. He was in Iraq a couple months ago, but lately he hasn't even been allowed to disclose his location. It's like he doesn't even exist."

"Hmmm."

"I want him to exist though.. I just.. I guess I just miss him."

Chrystie sighs, "I know, honey. It's hard."

And with that, both of the girls sit on the couch with their warm cups of coffee and watch Ronaldo play video games.

_______

Weak, I know.

Ada is a harder character to write with because she's already married. I'm trying to depict different stages of love, but I don't know how well it's working.

Thanks for reading anyways :)

-parisa

(675 words)