Hybrid

Amuse

Maria's eyes gleamed as she looked over the bright lights and rides moving at unsafe speeds. I looked at her, feeling bad for having to ask.

"Do you want to use the wheelchair?"

Maria looked at her feet, nodding so slightly I could barely see it. I grabbed it out of the back and brought it to the passenger side so she could get into it. I pushed her to the ticket booth and Maria strained her neck trying to see above the counter. I placed my hand on the counter and Maria did the same, each of us getting a stamp to use the rides.

Maria started excitedly pointing in all kinds of directions and I laughed as I struggled to keep up. The first thing she wanted to ride was the swings. We got in line and the person in front of us turned around, saw Maria's wheelchair, and offered to let us pass.

Maria declines the offer and said she was fine where she was. I could tell she wasn't thrilled about the pity in the man's voice, but if it meant we could skip the line, why not take the opportunity? We made it to the front and I moved her wheelchair aside, picking her up bridal style to find us seats next to each other.

She giggled as I twirled her around while I was looking. I sat her beside me and held my hand out to her. She took my hand and swung our hands back and forth while she waited for the ride to start. I couldn't tear my eyes off her face as she smiled so widely her cheeks would hurt.

The ride ended and I picked her back up to put her in her chair. Only a few moments later we ran into some kids from school. They all looked at Maria with pity and her mood soured.

"How're you feeling?" Troy asked.

"I'm good." Maria didn't look anyone in the eyes.

"We're actually gonna grab some food, you want to come?" Troy asked.

Maria looked at me and nodded her head and I completely forgot she had barely eaten since this morning. We made our way over to some vendors and Maria pointed at something I had never heard of.

"You can't tell me you've never had a fried oreo," Maria gasped.

"Is that a bad thing?" I asked.

She shook her head and said I could try one of hers. I ordered something less intimidating and a snow cone. Maria happily took the snow cone out of my hand and I frowned at her.

"Was this not for me?" Maria asked, knowing it definitely wasn't for her.

I leaned down and tried to put my mouth over the top so she wouldn't eat any of it. It was cold against my teeth but I couldn't lose this so I had to suck it up. Maria kept trying to push me away from the cone but I refused to budge.

"Give me the cone Dylan!" Maria demanded.

"No," I mumbled over the cone.

"My legs don't work but that doesn't mean my arms don't. I"ll hit you in the head for it," Maria threatened.

The fried Oreos came out and Maria gave me back the cone in exchange for the food. I smiled and as annoyingly as I could, licked all over the cone. Maria popped an oreo in her mouth and smiled as powdered sugar covered her chin.

We sat down with the rest of the group, everyone talking about school. I'd already missed a lot of it and Maria had missed even more than I had so everyone felt obligated to fill us in. Nothing super interesting or out of the ordinary had occurred in the time we missed.

Troy glanced at Maria and asked, "So do you plan on coming back?"

"I don't know yet," Maria answered, "I guess it depends on how fast I run out of things to do."