Lilly and Danny hide behind the gas station with popsicles in their hands, the sticky white, red and blue layers melting onto their fingers. They aren’t supposed to have them so close to dinner. When the ice cream man’s bell came down the street, Danny had enough change in his pocket for two rocket pops. They giggle and run away when Danny’s brother comes around the corner.
***
They line up for Red Rover, Red Rover, during sixth-grade P.E. They send Carolyn over and she slams into the arms of two boys, who force her back, but gently so she doesn’t fall. They laugh and open their hands to let Carolyn slide in. Lilly is last to be called over. When she nears the line, the boys she approaches drop their hands apart to let her through. She stands alone on the losing team.
***
When Lilly arrives at the coffeehouse, she recognizes Mick. They didn’t have many classes together. Just the one year of P.E. He was an athlete, ran cross country, and track and field. P.E. was the worst period of the day, her least favorite activity, running. When they had to run in class, Mick finished first and looped back around to her, as though he wanted to rub it in, how slow she was. When her brother- in-law set up the blind date, he must not have remembered who she was from high school.
***
Jack’s popsicle is melting quick in the summer heat. Jack’s hands are stained blue and red, his lips turning purple. He laughs when Mick tries to clean him up with a wipe, and squirms away. Mick’s mother-in-law said they shouldn’t have let Jack have sweets so close to dinner. Lilly says it’s hot, let him be.
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