Confession Bear- ON HOLD

My Red Balloon

                Two months have passed since I saw him by the corner, leaning on a lamp post. Since then, I’ve decided that I’d like to meet him, just to make sure he exists. In order to do that, I’ve started to walk by the café as much as possible since then. But doing that has done nothing but convince me that he just exists in my imagination.

                So maybe I was just over-thinking, just as my best friend Sophie had said.

                We were dismissed way too early for today. I followed my new routine on the way home. I searched for him at the café, doing nothing so I’d be subtle about it. But all I saw inside was a waitress smiling at me so I just smiled back and walked ahead. After I got home and changed my clothes, I found that being alone at the moment bothered me like crazy. It felt as if the pink walls of my room were threatening to close in on me, so I decided to go outside and proceed to the park.

                The park wasn’t really that far away and I have already developed a habit of just walking to wherever my destination is, unless it’s really, really far away. Also, today is one of the few times that I’m going to walk alone since I normally have Shawn to accompany me.

                There were only few people at the park. Less than half were old people. I guess it’s not only children who love parks. I can’t blame them anyway since the air is fresher here. This park has an open ground at the middle where kids fly their kites, ride their bicycles and do other stuffs. There are also picnic areas, and benches are situated all around the park. Walk paths are lines with either flowering trees or bushes, which gives it a romantic vibe during spring.  Then there’s something I call “The Garden” and that’s where I am now.

The Garden is filled with many different species of flowers. I have always loved this place and always will. From all the benches available, I sat on one which was surrounded by a mix of white periwinkles, yellow cosmos flowers, and scarlet begonias.

As much as I wanted to clear my thoughts, I couldn’t. Instead, I watched the kids run around and fly their kites. Some children had adults to help fly their kites; others flew them with other children. Mostly, it was the kites that I was looking at. There were more than a dozen diamond shaped kites way above, some were shaped as birds, and others were too high for me to even see their shapes.

.               I suddenly found myself asking, when did I last flew a kite too? I couldn’t even remember. Maybe I could invite Shawn for a little kite flying sometime. We used to love flying kites made by dad when we were young. That suddenly gave me another idea. What if I could tell dad to make a kite and ask mom if we could all go for a picnic? Just thinking of it makes me happy already.

                “One can never be too old to fly a kite you know.” I suddenly heard an old man behind my back say.

                “One can never grow out of their childhood too, am I right Mr. Adams?” I replied, now facing the friendly old man I’ve always known since childhood.

                Mr. Adams is the owner of the toy store near this park. He was who my brother and I often visit after playing here in the park. He would sit with me and Shawn and tell us stories. We loved going there but as they say, time changes everything over the years. Shawn and I only got the chance of visiting him if we remembered. Sadly, that meant rarely. But the old man stayed the same. He was still the same kind and cheerful Mr. Adams we’ve come to know and love.

                “It’s been quite a while since I’ve last seen you out here. I see you’re getting prettier too.” He complimented and smiled knowingly. “Now tell me, why is a young lady like you out here alone and in deep thought?”