Free Solstice - Of The Heart by John Blenkush

looking clouds shaped like waves.
    “What are these?” I said holding up
the beanie so Aaron could see the design. (Really, all I wanted to
do was keep the conversation going)
    “Clouds over a mountain.”
    “Really. Like waves?”
    I knew this from my marathon surfing
the net on Saturday. It showed a picture of the cloud formation
below the Abraham Tree graphic.
    “How does that happen?”
    “Two different layers of air moving at
different speeds and in opposite directions. Causes
friction.”
    “And beauty,” I said.
    “Yes. And beauty.”
    I loved the way the word beauty rolled
off of Aaron’s tongue. I could only hope that at some point in time
the two of us would be in a position to cause friction and create
beauty.
    “Okay, I’ll get this one. I put the
maroon beanie on.”
    “Good,” Aaron said. “Follow
me.”
    To heaven and back.
    Aaron led me to the counter, punched
in the numbers, and I paid him. He didn’t discount the hat and I
wasn’t about to say anything. Ten percent of fifteen dollars?
Buck-fifty? I could live without it.
    “Well,” I said, hesitating, “guess
I’ll see you in school.”
    Aaron nodded. I could see darkness
return to his eyes as though he was troubled by the
thought.
    I walked out of the store with the
maroon beanie on my head. I swore I would not wash it, at least not
for a while as Aaron’s scent still lingered. As I walked away I
remembered I had left my orange beanie in the pile of beanies on
the floor. I could go back for it, but why? It was one of my prized
possessions, but I was willing to sacrifice it on the chance Aaron
would rescue it from the pile and return it to me.
    When I got home I found a note on the
refrigerator from Dierdra.
    Julissa:
    I’ve gone to Redding for a
client again. Don’t think I’ll be making it back tonight. There’s
chicken pot pie in the freezer. Be safe. Do chores. Love
Mom
    Not making it back tonight? Seemed
strange. Who was this client anyway?
    I pulled the Marie Callendar’s chicken
pot pie from the refrigerator and put it in the microwave. Even
with my coat and beanie on, I felt chilled. The wood box sat empty
as usual. I grabbed the plastic tote and headed out for the wood
pile. As I filled the tote I couldn’t help but think of how ironic
it was for me to be in sunny California toting wood and never
having done so in Minnesota.
    It didn’t take long for the cabin to
heat up. I removed my coat, but kept the Maroon beanie on. Now and
again I would pull it from my head, bring it to my nose, and draw
in what I told myself was Aaron’s scent. Just knowing he had
touched it was enough to warm me through and through.
    With a fire roaring in the fireplace
and hot pie in my stomach I settled in for the evening. I lay in
Mom’s lazy-boy and worked on my homework. There was laundry to be
done. There was always laundry to be done. It was one chore I
wasn’t up to doing on this night. I thought about giving Cherrie a
call, but dismissed it. It was nice having some alone time and
revisiting the day’s events.
    My mood soured as I reflected on
Aaron’s and my conversation. Was he trying to tell me something by
picking out this particular beanie? What had he said?
    Two different layers of
air moving at different speeds and in opposite directions. Causes
friction.
    Were we two different people moving at
different speeds and—I gulped—in opposite directions? What
friction? I had something intimate in mind. But the friction I
caused Aaron to have with his cousins and Bernard was unmistakably
injurious.
    Wherever direction Aaron was headed I
wanted, no—I needed to head in that direction also. I just didn’t
know if Bernard and Aaron’s cousins would let me.
    I fell asleep in the lazy boy curled
up under my coat with the maroon beanie pulled down over my eyes
and resting on the bridge of my nose. The smell of Aaron filled my
nostrils and his face my mind as I entered dreamland.
     
     
    7 GIRL TALK
     
    I felt a
squeeze to my