That's my girl(Dream Daddy Robert)

More Neighbors

Amanda and I begin a stroll through the neighborhood. I can't believe how beautiful it is outside. The kids are playing in the street, the flowers are in bloom, and the faint smell of a nerdy barbeque drifts through the air "this place is nice" I say looking around
"too nice," Amanda says narrowing her eyes "I don't trust it"
"Good eye, honey, you can never be too careful. See that baby in that stroller over there? Government operative"
"We're onto you, baby" I smile and shake my head
"come on kid" I say leading the way to the park.

We walk for a while and eventually end up at a small park. Toddlers chase each other through the playground and dogs of all shapes and sizes romp through the grass. It's pretty crowded, but Amanda spots a nice empty bench. We start to make our way over to it when- "HEADS UP!"
"ow!" I hiss as frisbee suddenly hits me in the face
"woof" a corgi with a neat plaid handkerchief tied around its neck bounds up to me, wagging its tail "hello," I say smiling at it, it barks back at me and runs around in a circle and nudges my leg with his nose. oh god. this is the cutest dog. "impart upon me your wisdom, tiny dog" he barks "how long do I have left?" I ask it, it growls "What's that? Am I already too late? My fate was predetermined for me long ago? I have no real agency in this cruel lifetime?" he barks again "you're right.I am the master of my domain, for fate is unknowable. Thank you, wise dog" once again he barks at me
"you definitely coulda caught that," a voice says, a guy in a Hawaiian shirt jogs over to us and takes the frisbee from me "you know, frisbees are traditionally caught with your hands, not your face"
"it's a new technique," I say "it's like disc golf, but the goal is my face. Looks like you're winning"
he laughs "HA! I'm just Messin' with ya. I'm Brian, by the way"
"I'm Celeste and this is my daughter, Amanda" I look over at Amanda only to find her sitting on the ground, rubbing the dog's tummy
"hi," she says "your dog's cool"
Brian smiles "ah, old Maxwell sure loves the attention, it's great to see another parent and daughter out here on such a sunny day"
"Where's yours?"
Brian gestures over to a grassy knoll, where a young girl sits on a checkered blanket. She's reading a book bigger than her head. She puts it down and heads over to us.
"this is Daisy. She's reading the Brothers Karamazov. Her teacher tells me that she has the reading comprehension skills of a high schooler"
"How old is she?"
"Ten! she's a precocious little youngster" he says smiling
"whoa" Amanda says her eyes going wide
my natural mom instinct kicks in. I must brag about my child's accomplishments....

after our 'battle' Brain strikes up another conversation "so, I take it you guys are new to the neighborhood?"
"we just moved in, do you live around here?"
"Yeah, we live in that cul-de-sac down next to the coffee shop"
"what a coincidence, that's where we live too," Amanda says happily
"small world. Yeah, Daisy and I are in that little ranch-style house on the corner"
I know that house. It's just like ours, but slightly bigger and better-landscaped. Does this guy have to outdo me at everything? I think clenching my fists, but I force a smile "what a lovely place"
"Well, I don't want to take up any more of your time. Really nice meeting you guys! You'll have to stop by some time" yea right
"yeah, definitely! bye!" Amanda waves as they walk away
"do you get the feeling that he was trying to one-up us?" I ask her
"trying and succeeding. I can't believe that kids only ten. What was I even doing at her age?"
"Uh...I believe you had a bit of a thing for horses"
"Shame that didn't pan out. Coulda majored in Comparative horse studies"
"it's not too late to minor in Horse Creative writing" I point out
"too close to the truth, mom" she sighs "let us never again speak of the Fantastic Adventures of Sir Sonsington the Brave: an Epic in seven part by Amanda Lewis"
we laugh off the horse epic and walk around the park a bit more, enjoying the day.
"all this sunlight is making me really tired. I don't think I got enough sleep last night" I say rubbing my eyes
"you slept for 14 hours" Amanda points out
"exactly" I state

As we're walking home, I hear heavy foot steps come up behind us "Celeste! Bro!" someone yells, I turn around and am greeted by a familiar face jogging up to us "Craig?" I ask not believing my eyes, he smiles "bro"
"dude" I smile holy...wow I haven't seen Craig in forever
"it's been too long, dude"
"Yeah wow, you look great!" I still can't believe it's him
he laughs "yeah, I cleaned up my act"
cleaned up this act? are you kidding me? he's ripped... wow he looks...good, no Celeste stop
"Amana, this is my friend Craig, we went to college together, he and your uncle were roommates for a while"
"Amanda! Dude! You probably don't remember me but you're so big now!" Craig laughs
"Hello! and hello, cute baby!" she shakes his hand and smiles at the baby strapped to him
"aw, thank you. The last time I saw you I think you were about her size" she's so cute "this is River. Say hi, River" he picks up her tiny wrist and waves it around. River gurgles happily
"are you...babysitting?" I ask raising an eyebrow at him
"Nah dude, Rivers my kid" wait what?
"Man, it HAS been a long time. Feels like one minute we're rolling up to exams with bad hangovers and the next we're both parents. Where ya been man?"
"I was working out in California and just relocated the business back to Maple Bay"
"no kidding! Amanda and I just moved to this side of town. How's Smashley doing?" shit quick recover Celeste "I mean Ashley. Ashley is her name" I say as fast as I can
"she actually still goes by Smashley. And, uh, we got divorced last year"
"oh.dude. I'm so sorry" no I'm not I hated her, she wasn't good for him anyway
"it's old news. We take turns taking care of RIver and the twins. It's all copacetic"
what? "twins!? you have three kids?" my eyes going wide
He nods "ain't life something, Bro? right?"
"Keg-Stand Craig is a father! Of three!"
"Keg-Stand Craig?" Amanda asks
Craig rubs the back of his neck "oh" he laughs nervously "yeah it was my old college nickname"
"He got it because he did a lot of Keg-stands"
"It's that thing where you do a handstand on a keg and then drink from the keg"
"right" Amanda nods
"He was very good at it" I add
"Ah bro, I hate to be that guy, but I'm in the middle of my daily jog and I really gotta keep up my heart rate. Brought River along for, you know, resistance training."
"you jog daily? I jog...yearly" I say in surprise "on January 1st. when I promise myself that I'm gonna jog daily for the rest of the year but give up after 30 minutes and just walk home"
"Well, it's never too late to get back into it, dude! you should join me sometime" yeah right
I laugh a little "I don't know..."
"come on, it'd be fun. We could grab breakfast afterward, catch up. We could do a bro brunch like the good ol' days" he says trying to convince me
I sigh in my head, but smile "all right, sure. Sounds great."
"Great, let's get that going soon. I better get moving. Good to see you guys!" he gives a little wave, puts his earbuds back in and jogs off. We stand there watching him leave "I can't believe Craig is ripped and has kids. I'm reeling" I say trying to get over the shock
"why's that?" Amanda asks
"The Craig I knew is not fit to be responsible for any living thing, including and especially himself." course you could have said the same thing for me "one time I watched him drink an entire jar of marinara sauce for dinner." I shiver and turn to my daughter "Amanda. He opened up a new jar of marinara sauce and then he drank it like it was a thing that normal people do. It was unholy. And then I asked him what the hell he was doing, and he said, and I quote, 'It's basically a smoothie, bro'"
"I mean technically...he's not wrong?"
"He jogs! He was jogging!" I yell ignoring her "He's like a totally different person" I shake my head "anyway. We better get home. I'll have plenty of time to reflect on how old I feel later"