The Empty Playground

A closer look at Lavender. She is a small nod to my dad. There were lavender bushes planted outside my old home in VA. This was while I was in high school. There were also cherry blossom trees planted down the street of my neighborhood. I miss those a lot.

I love how personal writing can be sometimes. I try not to always make it personal, I feel like I stray into non-fiction realms at that point. But occasionally, I love having something that I can connect to. I love being able to share that connection with readers, too. It feels like another way of having a conversation.

***

Lavender woke up before her parents, and moved through the silent house. She finished packing, she took a shower, shaved her legs, and resisted the urge to scratch the invigorating facial mask she rubbed over her cheeks, chin, and forehead. While the mask dried, she checked her email, and then washed away the exfoliating beads and melon extract from her face. Lavender tugged on a pair of track shortsShe went for the stairs, and heard her parents mumbling and giggling behind their bedroom door. Lavender rolled her eyes, and went down the stairs. The second he saw her, Nemo sprang from his mat by the TV.

“Hey, boy,” she ruffled his ears, and made sure she scratched him under his collar. “You wanna go for a walk before our super boring trip? Huh? Yeah!” Lavender excited him, and he gave a happy bark. Her sarcastic joy was stripped away for a legitimate laugh. “Sh. Sh. Sh. Let’s not bug them.” She attached the leash to his collar and led him out the front door.

The mornings and evenings were the only times Lavender could run comfortably in the summer. She did not run as many races or charity events in the summer, simply because she was tired of the heat stroke. She more than made up for it with events like the Warrior Dash in the autumn, and a few of the 5Ks and 8Ks in the spring. Mornings and evenings to herself were cherished, Lavender had always been such a private person. The only friend whoever joined her on these routine runs was at her side, jogging with her on four paws with his big pink tongue lagging out of his mouth.

The street was lined with cherry blossom trees that panned their pink and white colors by. An evening rain made the asphalt shimmer, but those dark clouds had since moved on and left a velvet dark blue sky in its wake. The sun was about to peek over the rooftops and the trees, and in no time Lavender’s parents would be arguing about how they got up too late and now they had to deal with traffic.

Lavender understood that these trips were family tradition, that she would probably make the trip to Cat’s Paw Mountain with her own children someday, or maybe some unforeseen partner, but right now Lavender was not sentimental. She wanted to spend the last couple weeks of summer with her friends. They were all off on so many adventures. Janey was in Australia, doing a walkabout with her pen pal. Lily was fulfilling a dream she’d had since Freshman year; she was traveling around Europe, staying in hostels, visiting places Lavender had yet to see. The only chance she had to see any of them was now, but her parents were insistent. They had already had one fight about it… and since then Lavender had officially written them and the rest of the trip off.

She knew it was important to them. A part of her was resentful that it was not as exciting anymore, that it had lost its value. That thought hurt more than any other. She remembered, when she was little, loving Cat’s Paw Mountain. Now it was just a boring camp site, with a boring diner attached to an old, boring lodge, that she would be serving boring food at because her boring parents had made some boring deal with the boring owners. Sure, it was a way to earn money, but what would she even buy? A new iPod to take with her on her runs? Maybe. A new pair of shoes…? Those she needed, she gave in on that argument with Sam, but the whole point of summer was to relax and repair before the school year. Not take dumb orders from the people who remembered her when she “was only this high”.

Lavender’s jog ended at the elementary school not far from her house. The woods lined a big field that boasted a basketball court and a playground. The basketball rims were old and rusty, bent and ready to fall off. The asphalt was cracked and weeds grew through the stones and chipping paint. The playground was one of those old, wooden structures that gave kids more splinters than enjoyment, and it had one of those big metal slides that cooked under a hot sun, just waiting to burn some unsuspecting child’s legs. The sandbox had not been played in, so not a single grain was out of place. There were some leaves and twigs scattered across the top, a sign of failed maintenance, or maybe just the passage of time. If Lavender did not know better, she would have sworn this playground had been here for years, waiting to be played with again. It was not that the place had gone untouched; it was that the place seemed forgotten. Like it had seen years of children playing pirates, cowboys, cops and robbers, Knights of the Round Table only… to see them move on and grow up.

The thought was deep and soul shaking. Nemo’s bark brought her out of her reverie though, and Lavender offered him an uncertain smile.

“You want to head back?”

He wagged his tail, and took a seat at her feet. His mouth shut, but then opened again to keep panting. His tongue hung over the side of his teeth and he looked up at her with unconditional love. She dropped to one knee in front of him and stroked him with excited, devoted pets. He caved to the affection, and rolled on his back. Lavender rubbed his belly, and then clapped her hands.

“Let’s go, boy! Let’s go!”

They were off, running back to the house as fast as they could as the sun started to rise, and cast shadows over the abandoned playground. Lavender had worked up a shimmering sweat and ravenous appetite by the time she came back. David was loading the car, and Sam was inside making sandwiches for the trip. Lavender let Nemo off his leash and he went straight for his water bowl. He whined and pawed at the dish upon discovering it was empty. Lavender eyed the sandwiches warily. Sam was a good cook, but what was the point? They could just stop somewhere.

“You know, there are plenty of McDonald’s and stuff along the way right?”

“You know your father. Once he gets started on the road, he only stops for two things. Gas and bathrooms.” Lavender rolled her eyes and received a sour look from Sam. “Runner like you still eating that crud?”

Lavender shrugged, indignant. “I like that crud,” she grabbed an apple and went to leave the kitchen but Sam stopped her.

“Give me kisses,” she pointed at her cheek.

“Gross,” but Lavender did come back and pecked Sam on the cheek before making a second attempt at the stairs leading to her bedroom sanctuary. At that moment, David returned, out of breath and excited.
“
Hey there, kiddo! Ready for an awesome two weeks?”

Lavender continued up the stairs, and David called after her:

“We’re out in twenty minutes, baby. Try to be ready by then.”

Her door slammed, David clasped his hands over his heart. He staggered, and his back struck the wall. He gasped and reached for Sam as he slowly sank to the floor. Nemo barked and ran over. He jumped on David, pawed at his shoulders, and started kissing him all over his face as his tail wagged.

“Nemo, no!” David laughed, and Sam could not keep herself from giggling, and shook her head as she spread some mayo over bread slices.

“You two better play nice. You know she’s already in a sour mood.”

“Pfft,” David hooked Nemo’s head in a playful headlock, and Nemo thumped to the floor. He rubbed Nemo’s belly, and cast a defiant look up the stairs. “I’m not making any promises. That girl is bound and determined to not have a good trip.”

“Well, being mean won’t help that will it.”

David opened his hands and perked up with a defensive outcry: “Who’s being mean? She’s slamming doors, I am loading the car, I am letting my lovely, beautiful ladies prepare themselves as they see fit, and alas.”

Sam pouted. “Alas.”

Nemo sprang off the ground as David jumped to his feet, and took the water dish with him. As he filled it with water, Nemo started jumping around like a puppy again. His tail sawed the air, and the nails on his paws clicked against the linoleum floor. Once David set the water down, Nemo bound over and took in one happy lap after the next.

Sam had paused in her work, lost in thought so deeply that David could not help but notice. He did not want to intrude, but he did not want to leave her alone either. His hands slid around her waist, and his arms followed. The embrace was warm and brought Sam back. She set her knife down and leaned against him, and David nestled into her gold-red hair as he laid his cheek on her shoulder.

“What’s on your mind Samantha?”

“I had a dream last night.”

He left a kiss on her shoulder, and turned her to face him. Her fingers hooked idly into his belt loop, and he saw a blush across her cheeks. Maybe that was sunburn. She loved to lay in the sun when the days became warmer and longer. The morning sunlight streaming through her hair and along her neck never failed to amaze him. He fell in love with her over and over again every morning.

“Tell me.”

“I had a baby.”

A sly smile appeared. “Did you?”

She was embarrassed. “I did.”

“What was he like?”

“He was a little girl.”

“A little girl! How about that...”

“She would break your heart.”

“That must come from her mother.”

“I wish you could see her.”

“Maybe I will some day,” he looked for her reaction of dread and panic, the one that had crossed her face the previous night. He did not find such a look, only a bashful smile and those exotic jade eyes.

“Maybe,” she kissed his cheek, and then reached around him to end the moment with one abrupt smack to his butt. “Come on. Let’s get ready to go. I don’t want to get caught in traffic this time. You get cranky.”

“The hell I do!”

But only a few hours later, the family had hit bumper-to-bumper traffic, and David was irritable. Little suggestions were met with snapped answers, and the radio could not be touched or be changed, much like the air conditioning. Lavender had finished one of the bottles of water four miles ago, but of course, with the traffic, that was more like half an hour ago. Still, that half hour felt more like thirty days than minutes. She knew she was not going to win the battle for the boosted AC, not without Sam’s help. Would Sam be a suitable ally? If she was uncomfortable with her nettled husband, she did not show it.

Sam’s feet were propped on the glove compartment. Her painted toes wiggled in time with the music playing on the radio. A thin, faux gold band was wrapped around one of her toes, and glinted in the summer sun plaguing the car. Any time David grumbled about that driver, or growled about how he should have done this or that to get them ready faster, Sam would just nod enough to acknowledge him, but beyond that she did nothing to attract his attention. She let the road take the brunt of his verbal and emotional assault.

“It’s hot,” Lavender groaned. “Let’s turn up the AC.”

“It’ll eat up the gas.”

“Dad, it doesn’t work like that – ”

“The AC’s fine,” David snapped, and Sam, who up until now had been fanning herself with one of her magazines, stopped. Her hand slid across the back of his shoulders.

“Our exit is coming up in a couple miles. Maybe just a little bit of AC and we can put the windows down when we head up the mountain.”

“Fine! Fine!” David snapped the dial over, and then settled back in his seat with a snarl. “You want the AC? There’s the AC!”

Lavender sighed. “Thanks for taking one for the team there, David.”

He was about to round on her, but Sam encouraged her massage, and leaned over the emergency break to devote a kiss to his neck and ear.

“Thank you, honey,” she whispered, and he calmed down enough to save his retaliation against Lavender. There was a loud sound beside Lavender as Nemo’s mouth dropped open, and he issued a rattling yawn that bordered a moan. Lavender pulled her iPod from the backpack between them.

“That’s not such a bad idea,” she muttered, but Nemo said nothing, he was already festooned in a deep, uninterrupted sleep. Lavender inserted the plugs in her ear and turned them until they were comfortable. The white wire trailed down into a slim iPod. It was branded with a couple stickers, one from each of her friends that were off traveling this summer. The ones she missed more than anything, now that Lavender was faced with a sea of crawling cars. She was glad the exit they needed was coming up. The traffic was rubbing everyone wrong, but that did not mean Lavender had to continue being a part of it. As the music came on, Lavender closed her eyes.