The Swing Set

Being back at this place was odd. It made the hairs on my arms stick to my long-sleeved plaid shirt and the aroma in the air was almost intoxicating the second I pulled into the parking lot. The smell of hot plastic, wood chips, and hand sanitizer were prevalent here. I took a deep breath as I watched the wind push the swing set forward, inviting me to come and take a seat. I walked to the swinging chair and felt the wood chips from underneath my feet crunch and crinkle. I sat down, feeling the hot plastic seep through my denim jeans. I sat there for a moment and admired the sight of the playground. How long has it been? Ten, maybe even fifteen years since I've been here. I felt the warm metal chains attaching the swing to the pole above me between my fingers. The feeling was nostalgic. The old school to the side of me wept as I started to get comfortable on the seat. Being here, sitting in this swing felt so unreal. All of it felt so unreal. I, a 26-year-old man was feeling nostalgic over the warmth emitting from the chains on a children's swing set. I was getting all riled up over something that seemed so insignificant at first glance, but this place holds a special spot in my heart. When I was 16, men and women weren't allowed to go to school together. They weren't allowed in the same classrooms as one another, in the same schools as one another, and for a long time, we weren't allowed to park near each other in the parking lot. It all seems so unreal now, like something out of a book or fairytale. Ten years ago the state abolished men and women segregation. On that day, school buses were full of men and women, riding on the same bus, sitting next to each other, talking to one another. I had no idea what the lift on gender segregation was going to do for my life that day. I was sitting right here, in this very swing, watching the boys and the girls play kickball and tag with one another when a girl with strawberry red hair, bountiful curls, and freckles all across her nose region sat right next to me in the second swing. I remember being extremely nervous. I had ever talked to a girl or another woman in my life besides my mother, so having her sit next to me was a big surprise. "Is it ok if I sit here?" She asked me. I nodded my head, too flustered and nervous to say anything back to her. She was beautiful. Her curls framed her face perfectly and her strawberry red hair was daring and vibrant. Her freckles made her face look softer and rounder and the way she kicked her legs out to push herself on the swing only emphasized that factor. "So, are you excited to be around a bunch of girls now? I would think that being around a bunch of boys all the time can be kind of gross and annoying. Not saying all boys are gross and annoying." She stumbled over her words and fidgeted with her fingers. She was just as nervous as I was. "Girls are a lot prettier than boys are." Finally, I had said something to her after ten whole minutes. She seemed embarrassed by my comment. "I didn't mean it in a bad way! I've just never talked to a girl before so I don't know how to tell you that you're really pretty!" I blurted it out before I could comprehend what I was actually trying to express to her. Her face lit up and turned a cherry red the second I was done talking. "You really think I'm pretty?" She asked me. "Of course I do. Why wouldn't I think your pretty?" I asked her as I started to get equally as embarrassed. What was I even saying? The first chance I get to talk to an actual girl I completely blow it! I was messing up my one and only chance to actually talk to this girl and all I can manage to say is that she's pretty? "Well, being around a bunch of girls is exhausting. All they like to do is talk about their hair and their outfits for the day and the famous celebrities that they want to marry." She confessed as she started to kick her legs out in front of her again. I chuckled at her statement. "Is that really all girls talk about?" I asked her. She giggled, making my heart flutter and making butterflies form in my stomach. "Pretty much. Girls aren't all that interesting." She spoke as she started to swing herself. "Well, what do boys talk about?" She asked me as she swung past me on the swing. "We talk about girls, sports. dirt, stupid stuff like that." I spoke as I started to kick my legs up to move the swing. "Really? Boys don't sound very interesting either." She said as she started to swing up higher. "I bet you can't swing higher than me." I challenged her as I started to kick my legs out harder and faster as to build up momentum to get myself high in the sky. She laughed at my challenge and started to kick her legs out harder and faster to try and get herself up in the air too. We both were laughing and trying so hard that I ended up putting my legs too close to the ground. The toe of my shoe got stuck in the woodchips and I hurdled myself forward, face first in the woodchips. She screamed and skid her feet against the wood chips to stop herself from swinging and came running towards me. "Are you ok?" She asked me. I looked at her and all I could see were her green ember eyes. They were so glorious and shiny that they looked like they had been carved straight out of a piece of jade stone. "You're pretty." I said as I smiled at her. She shook her head and giggled at me. "You're so stupid." She said as she kicked some wood chips onto me as she got up. "Hey watch it." I said as I started to pick myself up from the ground. "Don't do anything crazy like that. You might hurt yourself one day." She said as she started to dust off her jeans from all of the wood chips. I started to do the same thing as well, taking each individual wood chip out of my shirt. "You have one in your hair." She said. "Where?" I asked. She came up close to, right in front of me, noses barely touching, and took the wood chip from my hair. "Here." She answered, flicking the wood chip in the opposite direction. She turned around and went back to the swing. My face lit up like the fourth of July. She was so close to me! I could smell the lavender perfume she had on. I ran back to the swings and sat right there next to her. "I never got your name." She spoke.

"Lucus." I answered. "And you?" I asked. "Wendy." She answered. Wendy. She looked like a Wendy. Her name was pretty just like the rest of her was. I smiled at her. "Hi Wendy. I'm Lucus." I said as I extended my hand out to her. She giggled and took my hand and shook it. "Hi Lucus. I'm Wendy." She played along with my foolishness, making me erupt into laughter. We played with each other on the swing the entire day. I gripped the chains on the swing hard. I sighed deeply. I looked around at the quiet playground, the smell of fall nipping at my nose. I closed my eyes, trying to envision that day one last time. "Daddy!" A loud, high pitched voice yelled out to me. I opened my eyes again and saw a small, curly red-haired girl in front of me. "Hey, there little miss." I said as I picked her up and put her on my lap. "How was school?" I asked her as I started to swing us lightly. "School was fun! We did arts and crafts and we painted and look! I made you, mommy and me matching bracelets!" She exclaimed as she showed the small blue and red beaded bracelets. I took mine from her small hands. "I'm sure mommy will love it." I said as I kissed her forehead. She giggled at me and hopped off my lap and started running to the car. I got up from the swing and took one last deep breath, touching the bottom of the swing to feel the L + W engraved in the seat I was just sitting on. I brushed off my pants and walked to the car where my daughter was. "Alright, get all buckled up and we can go home and have some diner ok?" I said as I looked in the rearview mirror to see her buckling herself up. I started the engine, feeling the rumble from it in the car. I peered back at that swing set one last time, before smiling to myself and pulling out of the school parking lot.