[Camp NaNo, Day 8] Aspiration

She remembers a conversation she had with Gray that still makes her sigh.

Many summers ago, he was waiting for her when she walked outside, leaving the house empty. Not going to call Angela and the others today? he asked as they began walking down the street.

Nope, she said. You're more interesting to talk to, and she has soccer practice.

I don't know how to feel about your word order, he responded. She laughed.

They continued down the block and came to a large fountain, with a base big across as a living room and a jet the height of a ceiling. They say that you can see a huge rainbow when the sunlight hits this fountain at the right angle, she said. They walked around the fountain, twice, but saw no rainbows. Screw you too, she told the fountain. She picked up a pebble and tossed it at the fountain. It plinked into the water, like a coin, and sunk.

Why did you do that? he asked. It's not the fountain's fault.

I know, she said, and sat down on the fountain's rim. He sat on a bench nearby. There was also a street nearby, a big one with four lanes and a low pavement island in the center. People were walking across it, despite a Do Not Cross Here sign, a marked crosswalk less than a quarter of a block nearby, and incoming traffic.

Most people who live here are doctors, correct? he asked.

Yes indeed, she said. Another pedestrian reached the central island, looked both ways, then dashed across the last two lanes right as a car barreled by. Doctors and researchers.

Ah, he said.

It's because they have wizard powers, she said. If they get hit, they can just sew themselves back up, right there in the street, and keep going like nothing happened. And the researchers have wizard cells they keep in their back pocket--they put them on their injuries and next thing you know, they're fixed up and good as new.

I see, he said.

They sat quietly, watching doctors and researchers trickle, unafraid, across the street. I'm going to go to college one day and become a doctor, because that's what girls do, she said. And then I'll have my own wizard powers, and I'll jaywalk across streets and not give half-a-rat if I get hit, because I can sew myself up again if I do.

Promise me you'll at least try not to get hit, he said.

Mmm, she said. He gave her a look. Okay. I promise, she said. It would hurt, anyway. She leaned back. balancing herself over the water, head tilted back to take in the gleaming windows of the hospitals and research buildings. I wonder what it'd be like to wake up underwater, she said. Just to open your eyes, and see all the fish staring back at you.

It wouldn't be anywhere as pleasant as you make it sound, he said.

I know, she said, and leaned forward again. I know.