THE UNEXPECTED WEEK

Day 5- Friday

Ryan

"Where should we go?" She asked smiling at me as she always did. We were outside the orphanage, standing in the same sidewalk which I had always seen from behind the fence. It has been sixteen years and yet the ice cream cart still stood there, unmoved and unaffected by time. Even the guy who sold the ice-cream was the same one from my childhood. The only difference was his face that had wrinkled and faded with years of toil and stress. It seemed as if I was looking at a picture from long back that had changed but subtly. It was remarkable how I could still feel a sense of longing and distress at the scene.

"Can I have some ice-cream?" I asked pointing to the cart that stood by the roadside. I felt strange.

"Sure." She replied.

I had always played this scene in my head countless times when I was small though I would never admit it to anyone. I would grab the fence with both my hands and peer outside  through the opening. Then I would imagine someone holding my hand and taking me towards the cart. My hand would always be above the level of my head. I would smile at my imaginary mother or father and they in turn would smile back at me.

Now I was past that fence, past that road and past that age. My hand was no longer stretched out above my head. I was taller than her.

As if on impulse, my hand unconsciously touched Ashley's. It just brushed past her's and I removed it as soon as I could to make it less awkward. But much to my surprise, she grabbed my hand in hers. I stole a look at her. She was as stoic as ever and both of us stood there like that. I averted my eyes towards the ground. For other person it may have looked stupid but for me, it was a very big moment. I had passed a certain barrier in my mind that was guarded with fences and a blank road. Now both of them seemed so easy to surpass.

It was as if I had climbed past the fence and was running towards something new, something dangerous yet calming. I smiled at the ground and then pulled myself together. I glanced up and gave the guy my best smile.

"A chocolate cone please."

The cart guy smiled back at me in some sibylline recognition and nodded. Maybe he knew who I was. I looked at Ashley who grinned and patted my back lightly.

"I wanted to do something like this." She said.

"Me too."

After that we went across the park and towards the mall. I was a bit nervous in dealing with her today because of what had happened yesterday. I didn't want to remember how she had broken down and neither wanted to spoil the wonderful moment that had happened just before. What should we talk about? What can we talk about? If I ask her something, it would be related to her and the trouble would return. I sighed.

"What happened?" She suddenly asked, knitting her eyebrows.

"Um...I wanted to see this movie." I replied quickly so that she wouldn't get suspicious.

"Oh okay. Let's. We couldn't see one on Wednesday after all." I nodded and we both made our way towards the mall's PVR. It was the only mall in our small town. It wouldn't have been that much of a tourist spot had there been other attractions. The town as a whole was dull and the people, uninterested.

We watched whatever movie that had released and had less people watching it because Ashley told me that she hated crowds. I complied and within minutes we found ourself sitting in the hall with scattered audience, eating popcorn.

--------

"You know, when I was small, this place was worse than it is now. There was absolutely nothing to do, nowhere to go, save for that park around where you live." She said. The movie had finished and we were outside the mall.