The Element

~*~ Chapter Twenty-One ~*~ A New Way to Outreach ~*~

I looked up at the sky and noticed, while we were kissing, the sun was being hidden by the clouds and all of a sudden, it poured rain. We gathered everything up and I ran down with the basket in one hand, my shoes in the other. Despite being unable to see the sky while I was running for the car, it still fell just as hard. I kept running until I saw the truck and started running faster until I reached the door. The door was locked. Trevor ran with the blanket under his arm and the keys on his finger. I yelled to him “Throw me the keys.” He threw them and I caught them. I put it into the door as fast as I could once I unlocked the door I hopped in and drove to the entrance of the forest. He hopped in and as we started driving away, we laughed hysterically. He said “Well… What do ya wanna do next?” I thought then I said “I know a place for good hot coco.” He laughed and looked at me as though I was perfect. I shook my head and gave him my iTouch again and he chose ‘Too Little Too Late – JoJo’ As we drove I finally arrived at Ron’s. Trevor looked at this wallet and tried to hide a grimace. I drug him inside and yelled “Uncle Ron! I’m here like I promised.” Ron came running down from a staircase at the side and all but face planted into a box. He looked up to see me and Trevor. He gave a devilish smile and winked at me “I see you finally found yourself a man.” I smiled lightly, trying to not blush. Trevor decided to introduce himself, I could tell he was confused. “Hey, I’m Trevor, Trevor Shrock. And… Who are you?” “I’m Ron Weaver. I’m the owner of “Ron’s” and Audrey’s ‘uncle’ nice to meet’cha.” Trevor and Ron shook hands and Mali came down in a simple American dress her hair in a rolled bun. She saw me and immediately exclaimed in Thai “Audrey! It is good to see you. How are you?” she saw Trevor and continued “Oh, that is a very… How do you kids say it… ‘Sexy’ man.” My face turned scarlet as I replied “It’s great to see you too, I am very good, and goodness, thank you.” She grinned. Ron drug Trevor and I upstairs, Mali not far behind. They sat us down at a table and he asked “So, what’cha want?” I laughed “A pot of that coco you used to make all the time for us.” He laughed “The Aztec Coco?” He saw I had no clue what he was talking about so he said “The spicy one?” I nodded. He smiled “Be back.” After a few minutes he brought a huge pot of it out with two mugs. Trevor and I drank it, smiling. Ron whispered in Trevor’s ear something about paying, and instantly he was relieved and thanked him. After we finished half Ron Put the rest in a to-go container and gave us two mugs and as we left, Trevor smiled looking at me.

We just drove around for a while until we ended up at a animal shelter fundraiser. There were people of all ages and races there trying as hard as they could to get people to listen to them even for a second. I parked and Trevor looked at me confused. I hopped out and saw a young black girl trying to brain storm with other girls around her age on how to get people’s attention. I walked up to them and a large Latin man said to me in a Spanish accent “Would you donate a dollar to help dogs to find a nice home.” I gave him two twenty dollar bills and inquired “Is there anything else I can do to help?” He looked at me and a very attractive woman came up to us, a small smile on her face. She was a slender woman, her skin was the color of coffee, eyes a dark caramel color, and her black hair was pulled up into a ponytail. She spoke very kindly “Well, if you would like to help, would you mind helping think of a way to get people to listen?” I looked around “Well ‘A’ Not many people are out. ‘B’ You are in an area that not many people that care about animals walk around and ‘C’ You don’t have any product to appeal the eye for them to give you their time.” She was taken aback “Amazing. You do know quite a lot about advertising; don’t you? Would you help us? What kind of ‘product’ should we have?” I told her “I suggest something that everyone will like… For example, cupcakes, and maybe you could put something that has to do with animals on them for decoration. Maybe a paw print or maybe dog and cat faces on them.” She nodded “That’s an amazing idea! Maybe, if it wouldn’t be too much trouble, would you mind helping us with that?” I wrote my name and cell phone number on the back of one of their cards and handed it to her. “Call me anytime. But my boyfriend and I can help for a little bit before we leave. I don’t think he’d mind.” I ran to the truck and said to Trevor “Do you mind if we help them out a little?” he smiled “I like that idea.” He hopped out and we handed fliers to every person we saw. Some took the fliers, others refused, and some took them and asked “Can I get your number with it.” This made Trevor mad every time he heard them.

After we ran out of fliers, they thanked us over and over again. We smiled and said at the same time “It’s not a problem! We had fun.” The adults were surprised, the older people were dumbstruck, and the kids were laughing and handing us colorings of animals on the back of them. I could tell one thing they all had in common about their reactions; they were all grateful. They offered to treat us to something from Starbucks. We kindly declined but they insisted until we accepted. We both just got a drink, I got an iced tea lemonade and Trevor got a coffee. Everyone else got food with their drink. They all told us their story and why they decided to help out. Most of the older people did it because they wanted to get out and do something, younger adults wanted to help out in the community, which was extremely respectable. The kids pretty much told us the same thing “We wanna help the puppies and kitties!” We talked for a while until we finally saw it was almost four o’clock and kindly excused ourselves. They thanked us again before we left. I walked out, Trevor by my side, feeling good.