6. Ducks

"Pssst! Betty!"
Huh?

"Betty!!"
I don't see anybody, so I start pushing the cart slow and easy. You have to be careful around some of these guys. Suddenly someone jumps out in front of me. My heart lurches.

"Betty, it's me!!"

Cal.

"Jesus, Cal." My heart is still pumping hard.

"C'mon!" He starts pulling on my cart. "I gotta show you something!"

Okay, okay. Gimme a minute. I'm usually glad to see Cal, but surprises are not my cup off tea. Plus, I don't like being ordered around. I finally let go of the cart and off he goes. I cringe as Cal almost crashes my cart into one of those wheel chair guys. Guess I better get a move on. This is not my usual speed at all. Cal is more of a jack rabbit type, and I am more of a fiddler crab type. But he's got my cart.

"Check 'em out!" he stops hard at the fountain by the train station. I mostly care if my stuff is okay, which it seems to be, so yeah, what? I look around. Cal is gazing at the fountain which seems normal to me. Pretty rocks, pink and yellow flowers, bubbling water. Oh, I see. The ducks.

"Aren't they something?" he sighs.

Two mallard ducks float in the fountain, a brown girl and a green-headed boy. How. Very. Cute. If I had my camera phone with me I'd take a picture and then call up Dr. Phil and tell him about true love. Instead, I laugh. This is why everybody likes to be around Cal. I haven't laughed in three, four days. I pushed right by that fountain and didn't notice the ducks. Cal has his notebook out and is scribbling, probably a poem about world love.

Oooh, ooh! Here's my chance to use a nice bathroom. "Hey, Cal. Can you watch my stuff?"

"Sure, Betty." He's still writing. Should be a while.

"I'm going over to that McDonald's." He nods. "Be right back."

5/6/07