The 20 Dates Challenge

Twelve - Date Number Five

Date Number Five

‘Five, dress up as superheroes and stop at least one petty crime, for example; littering, jay walking,’ Alex laughs.

He throws me a pair of bright-purple stockings, a bright-green skirt, a bright-purple sweater, and a bright-green cape and eye-mask. He holds up his own costume; red pants, cape and eye mask and a yellow shirt.

‘We’re gonna walk around the bay wearing these?’ I ask.

‘Yep.’

‘How many of these dates involve silly costumes?’

‘After this, only one more.’

‘Oh joy,’ I laugh.

He leaves my room to get changed in the bathroom. I get changed, put on my runners and go out into the living room. Mum raises her eyebrows when she sees me.

‘And you are?’ she laughs.

‘I think I’m a superhero,’ I can’t help but laugh as well.

‘A very bright one at that.’

Alex comes out of the bathroom and comes into the living room. He smiles when he sees me.

‘Where did you get these costumes?’ I ask him.

‘My mum made them,’ he shrugs.

‘Charlene did always make your costumes for parties.’

‘Well, we should be on our way,’ Alex says.

‘Ok, let’s go,’ I laugh and follow him to my front door.

‘You kids have fun now,’ Mum yells.

‘We will,’ I yell over my shoulder and close the door.

I turn back around and Alex has his camera out.

‘Smile,’ he says.

I put my hands on my hips and smile. He laughs and takes the picture. Then we walk to the bay. People laugh and point when they see us. We just point and laugh back. When we reach the park, we run around with our arms out in front of us like we’re flying. A group of kids, probably about six to eight years old, join us. When we stop, Alex is looking at an old guy eating an ice-cream.

‘That man has dropped his ice-cream wrapper on the ground,’ he says loudly.

I laugh along with the kids.

‘He is littering,’ I say.

‘What are we gonna do about it?’

‘We’re gonna tell him to pick it up,’ one of the kids laughs.

Alex and I, followed by our crew of sidekicks, run up to the man.

‘Excuse me, sir,’ Alex says.

The man turns around and gives him a look like he’s crazy.

‘Yeah?’ he asks.

‘You just littered,’ I say, pointing to the wrapper on the ground.

‘What about it?’ he says gruffly, looking at the kids.

‘You need to pick it up,’ one of the kids says.

He slowly leans down and picks it up. Our small group follows him to the bin and we all cheer when he drops it in. Alex hi-fives all the kids. Then we run around, pretending to fly again. He snaps photos as I run around.

For the rest of the afternoon, Alex and I recruit kids to help us stop the petty crime of littering. We manage to get them all to help us clean up all the rubbish around the park. When the parents come to collect their kids Alex and I introduce ourselves to them all. They just laugh and smile and wave goodbye. Alex and I walk back to my house. My mum makes us sandwiches for afternoon tea while we change. We eat in the backyard beside the pool.

‘You free tomorrow?’ Alex asks.

‘Yeah, wanna go on another date?’ I ask.

‘Yeah, I think my house is more suited to tomorrow’s date,’ he winks.

‘Can’t wait,’ I say.

‘You can sleep over tonight.’

‘Sure, I’ll just have to ask my mum.’

‘It’s fine, I’ve already cleared it with both our parents.’

‘Efficient, aren’t we,’ I smile.

He just takes a bite of his sandwich.