Whole Lotta Love

Cheyenne picked up her sketch book and flipped it open, checking the empty pages. Plenty of pages. Good. She threw the sketch book in her bag and looped the bag over her shoulder.

In the hallway, she knocked on the bathroom door. Kayla had come home late last night and Cheyenne hadn't had a chance to talk to her.

"Kayla?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm going to the park. Just wanted to say hi. I'll be back in a few hours. If Eric calls could you tell him that he can stop by tonight?"

There was a long pause. Cheyenne pressed her fingers into the door, straightened to hear Kayla on the other side.

"Kayla?"

"Um... how about we talk more when you get home, okay?"

"Sure..."

"Bye."

Cheyenne left, driving straight to the park. It was just after eleven when she arrived. Mothers were still there with their children. People were beginning to arrive to enjoy the outdoors on their lunch breaks. This was Eric's favorite place to come and his favorite time of the year. She thought she'd surprise him by sketching the view; that way he would always have a piece of summer.

Cheyenne already knew what Eric liked and hated. She could however, immerse herself in something Eric enjoyed.

She found an open picnic table beneath one of the younger maple trees the city had planted about five years ago. It allowed her a little bit of cover while keeping her view somewhat in the sunlight.

Getting comfortable on the table, Cheyenne opened her messenger bag and pulled out her sketch book. She flipped it open to the first page.

Off in the distance, a mother plucked her baby from a stroller. She rubbed her nose against the little boy, giving Eskimo kisses. Cheyenne's pencil hovered over the blank page.

Cheyenne moved on, finding a mother and daughter near the lake. The mother pointed at the ducks and the little girl crept next to her mother, moving slowly, afraid to scare the ducks away.

The mom produced a bag of stale bread and the two threw bits into the water. The little girl giggled as her mother smiled, watching her daughter and nothing else.

A long time ago, Cheyenne and her mother were like that. Before Mrs. Kavan transformed, they'd come down to the park together to feed the ducks. Afterward, they'd get ice cream at Dairy Scoop. Cheyenne always got the strawberry cheesecake, and her mother went with plain chocolate. They'd share, though, so Cheyenne got the best of both bowls.

That seemed eons away now. As if they weren't her memories, but perhaps someone else's from a past life.