One Day in the Park

The puddle grew slowly; blue mixing with red on the pavement creating a violet ribbon that drizzled  toward the storm drain as the popsicle melted away. Meredith watched curiously as the scene unfolded. She had been lollygagging; been far more focused on the handsome man reading near the statue as he always did on Tuesdays. While studying the curves of his face and his gentle nature, she had forgotten about her popsicle and it had plopped angrily on to the shoe of the woman next to her. The younger woman happened to be having an argument with someone. Meredith heard a lot of huffing, sighing and swear words then…

“Seriously? SERIOUSLY!” the young woman’s lips thinned with irritation and her voice became flat and sour, “Talk to you later ~ wardrobe malfunction”.

“Oh my!   My fault- my fault..” Meredith turned and smiled sheepishly, shrugging her shoulders in apology. “So very sorry.”

“Eh. Just the way my day is going.” The young woman grumbled and began rummaging for a tissue.

Meredith fluffed a napkin at her from her own hand. “I hope I didn’t ruin your shoe.” trailing her eyes to the shockingly blue smack on the white canvas sneakers. The woman crossed her toes as if embarrassed.

“Want to trade?” the older woman pushed out her shins and clicked her own sneakers like Dorothy from “The Wizard of Oz”.

“What? Oh. Oh no” chuckled the youngster. “Thanks though. I’ll survive”

“Sure?”

The young woman raised her brow, “’S’cuse me?”

“Seems you weren’t having a good day already.” Meredith softly prodded.

“Oh.. that… well..” the lady twisted her phone in her hand as if she were conducting an orchestra. “My mom and I don’t see eye to eye and we often end up nose to nose.”

“mmmm My daughter and I were like that. Feisty.” She smiled wanly then glanced across the park to the statue.

“Yeah?”

“Sometimes people just feel PUSHED into being the worst they can be. They simply become unfixably broken.” The elder squared her shoulders and sharply nodded, pulling her purse close in her lap.

“Yeah.” This time the younger woman lowered her head sullenly.

“Well, for me,” Meredith continued, “it was so bad that we didn’t speak for more than twenty years.”

“I’m sorry.” The youngster pouted, staring at her blue toed shoe.

“You didn’t do it.” And Meredith patted the woman’s knee.

“Did you say sorry?”

“Noooooo… I wasn’t wrong.”

“Did you want to?”

“Of course, Dear. But when her dad and I broke off, he told such awful stories and she believed him. Wouldn’t even LISTEN to me. And THAT just fed his already bloated ego so he got even … meaner.” The old woman clucked and shook her head, the memories tearing her eyes. “Then she told me that I was so poisonous I could never be part of her life. She kept her daughter from me, continued to babble the dirty lies he’d started and so the poisoning continued. And me? I was defenseless.” She let out a heavy sigh and wiped tears away. “Her father was a great cheat but a better liar, in his business and his personal life. I knew things and so to keep me quiet, he paid me well, but I had to take what came with it; the hatred of my daughter. What a foolish mistake I made. But by the time I had come to my senses, it was too late. It was unfixably broken.

The girl cocked her head and waited for Meredith to continue. “Then his little girl got into trouble. He was too busy with his career and his lovers to be a proper father; too full of himself to love anyone else. It really wasn’t that he wanted her but more that he didn’t want me to have her; ever. He made good on that one.” She laughed bitterly and closed her eyes.

“Drugs?’

The story-teller nodded “She needed money but he was of the tough love philosophy and so she came to find me. I was elated and enchanted to see her, hold her, help her.  And don’t get me wrong, I reveled in our secret meetings. But with time and age come wisdom and I understand now I did more harm than good.   When I told her, I wouldn’t help her anymore, she punished me again with a granddaughter I couldn’t see or love.”

The stranger touched her hand.

With a shaky breath Meredith continued “But I found her of course.  My granddaughter. Watched her. Loved her and was invisible because if her mother or grandfather knew…I would surely lose her forever.”

“Did you ever think to reach out?”

“One day, I did.” And the old woman took in a deep breath, “I dropped a popsicle on her shoe.”

Meredith waited for the words to melt in and grinned as the young woman snatched her into her arms and hugged her.

“I can’t believe it” she rushed.

“So silly isn’t it?”

“All this time gone.”

“All this time… left.” Meredith soothed.

The two women held hands and smiled softly.

“Let’s celebrate! I’ll get us BOTH popsicles!” and she nodded in the direction of the ice cream truck near the statue.

The new grandmother reached for her clutch bag but her granddaughter playfully scolded. “Don’t you DARE!”

Meredith shrugged with pretend sadness and waited for long lost angel to return.

“I’m Kayla by the way.”

“Meredith.”

The two clinked their frozen wands.

“mmm Kayla, can I tell you a secret?” Meredith slurped and swiped her mouth with the back of her hand. Kayla noticed the woman’s lips were blue. 

“Of course!” she giggled nibbling her icy treat.

The old woman mumbled with her head lowered.

“What? Sorry….” And Kayla leaned in to hear. She barely felt the slice of the blade. The warm stream that quickly soaked her shirt caused her to grab her belly; startled and confused. Her eyes were wide with horror. The popsicle tumbled from her hand to the ground.

Meredith winced at the whiff of hot pennies. “I hate popsicles.” She muttered through gritted teeth. She kissed the dying woman’s head, leaning her back against the bench they had shared and tightened her victim's cardigan to give her just a little more time. Meredith stood and walked brusquely passed the handsome man. After all these years, her ex was still beautiful to look at. She dialed his number, trembling at the sound of his voice; poisonous hatred raged in her veins.

“Lo? Meri? What the Hell?” He was indignant and bothered.

“Sorry to call. I know it’s against the rules but wanted to let you know Kayla won’t be joining you today.”

Terrified silence choked him. “What have you DONE? You spiteful…” he hissed into the phone. She could hear him running and other people wailing. “You promised you wouldn’t!” he was sobbing. Meredith was unmoved.

“Tsk tsk Darling. Sometimes you tell so many lies, they become truth. You said I was a soulless, conniving, witch that took everything from you. I just did.” She hung up and flagged a cab.

The puddle grew slowly;  blue mixing with red on the pavement creating a violet ribbon drizzled toward the storm drain as the popsicle melted away.