Lollypop Teeth
by Pascale


Again there she was. I had just the perfect view from this room. First the dirty pavement, some trees, the street, some more trees, grass and swings and behind that a dirty pond. But while the sun was shining everything looked lovely. She fitted right into the picture with her summerdress, rubber rain boots and her hair dancing as she was going up and down on one of the swings. I like how she kept the arguing kids away. Kids these days only yell at each other and have rap battles with knives involved. What ever happened to 'my daddy is stronger than yours' eh? Ah there it was. I was wondering if she forgot it, but she got a lollypop from her pocket, upwrapped it and stuck it into her mouth. I think she might be mentally challenged... but she's fit. She scares my friends, they all say she's a weird girl. A retard. Who ever goes outside to sit on a swing in the rain? Well, she did. And I think that she started to recognize me aswell. Everytime she caught me looking, she waved. Well, she waved to anybody that looked at her, but... she always gave me this heart filling smile. Oh shit, the phone rang.

"Babe, you ready? I'm outside..."
I looked down, and there she was. My girlfriend. She's a wonderful person but I've been wanting to break up with her for quiet a while. But I'm scared to hurt her feelings... I'm just too much of a pussy to tell her.
"Ahh Brenda... I'm sorry, but I've just been puking my guts out," I quickly stepped away from the window, still able to see the girl my age on the swings with a plastic stick coming out of her mouth. She saw me looking at her and waved. I quickly waved back before walking into my bathroom.
"I don't feel so well, I should've called..."

"Aw baby, are you alright? Should I come up and take care of you?"

See, she's so lovely! I don't know why I'm not in love with her anymore... it's so strange. I flushed the toilet to make it more believable that I just had been hanging down the toilet. Which I wasn't of course. I just didn't want to look at her pretty face again all night and be having these awfull thoughts about telling her that she can bugger of.

"Nahh it's alright. I want to spare you the ugly sight of my vomit... besides there's not much hair for you to hold back," I tried to be funny, and somehow it worked. I heard her chuckle.

"Well get better soon ok, I think I might call Vanessa to join me then,"
We said our goodbye's and hung up. I felt terrible. Brenda doesn't deserve an ass of a man like me. Besides, what I'm doing now is probably way worse than just telling her. I leave her guessing and I feel honestly shit about it. Not that it matters to her. She must feel even more crap than I do. I walked back to my window and looked down to see her walking out of my street, around the corner with a phone stuck to her ear. Probably calling Vanessa.

Again my eyes got drawn to the girl on the swings. It looked like she was singing, with her boots going up and down into the air and almost touching the sand on her way down. Maybe she had one of those illnesses where you stay 10 in your head but your body grows older. I've heard it's dangerous to communicate with people like her. You might get attracted to her, while she's only a naive 10 year old.

Shit, she noticed me again. She waved once again and smiled too. She took the lollypop out of her mouth and said something I obviously couldn't hear. I looked at her, figuring out if she was talking to me, yes or no. Suddenly she stood up and put the candy back into her mouth, tapped her arm with two fingers and started doing some strange dance. What is this? Hints?!

Oh, it really was hints. She was, with arm and leg movements, making clear to me that she wanted me to come down and join her on the swings. It was weird, but I felt as if she was coming onto me too strong, so I waved it of and walked away from my window. I didn't want to make things worse.

I got a drink, thinking about that I had to ignore the girl outside. She might bring trouble, not only for me but maybe for herself too. I had no idea if she was normal like me or... if she had something wrong in her head. I had to be carefull. Plus, I didn't know the girl and everybody thought she was a retard. People liked to stay away from her, so I figured it would be the best thing for me to do.

With my drink I walked to the sofa, and on my way I threw a quick look outside. She was gone. In a way I felt relieved, but also a bit sad. What if I had gone outside and she seemed to be perfectly fine and kind of cool? That would've been awesome and I could've told all my friends about my cool new friend. I shrugged it off and turned my TV on, sitting down on the sofa and putting my feet on the coffee table. The doorbell rang, and I almost choked in my drink. Brenda? I hope she didn't see me, or knows that I'm fine but just made up an excuse so I didn't have to go to her dinner party from work.

I took the phone.
"Yes?"
"Hey, I'm... the girl that you've just played hints with..."
Oh thank God. Brenda was gone and thought I was ill. This just spared me another arguement.
"You don't have to buzz me up, I just wasn't sure if you got my message there,"
She sounded awfully happy and not much of a retard. But, it was kind of strange to ring somebodies doorbell that you don't know and to play a game in the middle of a field with a guy in an appartment across the street that you don't know.
"Uhh yea, I got it..." How lame did I sound?
"Yea so, why don't you come over? I'll be waiting on the swings and make sure that yours doesn't get touched!"
"But..."

I didn't need to finished my sentence, I saw her skipping across the street. I sighed. Now she was expecting me to come over... how could I stay in now? But, in a way it felt like I was cheating in Brenda... íf I was gonna do it. I just told her I couldn't go because I was throwing up all over the place, which was a lie. And, then this girl just demands me to go on the swings with her. I looked out of my window where she was back on her swings, holding the other one. Again it seemed like she was singing.

How can I make two women feel bad on one day? I'll feel bad about this forever, but if I don't go over I'll be scared every time I see her.

I put my sneakers on and closed the door behind me, making my way down the stairs and stepping onto the street. I checked for cars and quickly rushed into the park, where I slowly made my way to the pair of swings.

"Hey,"
"Hi,"
"So... how does your girlfriend feel when you tell her that you can't make it too where ever you were planning on going to?"
What the? How does she know this? I looked at her, she was smiling and I could see that her teeth were starting to get red, as well as her tongue was as red as the lollypop she was now holding.

"I saw her standing on the street, looking up to your window with a phone, and then you with a phone but stepping away from your window kind of scared... I just made up my own story in my head but seeing your reaction, I was right?"

Who is she? And, doesn't she have anything better to do on a day like this, even if it is lovely out here?
"Who are you?"
"Jale Johnson,"
"Really?"
"No... but I prefer that name over my own, and I get funny looks from people so when people ask me for my name, so that's the first thing that I say," she shrugged.
"What's your real name then? It can't be that bad..."
","
","
"Is that your real name?"
I laughed.
"Yes, my name's really ." I held my hand out, and we both had to stand up a little to shake each others hand.
"Sorry for my sweaty hand..."
"S'alright."

It was strange, but you know how people are shy at the beginning when they first meet you. Then you make a joke and they laugh and the ice is broken and they can be themselves? That's me. Then you have this other kind, people that can talk to anybody, doesn't matter who it is, and just be themselves, make jokes and tell their oppinion without being scared of what people might think of them. People that talk to you like they already know you for years. She's like that. And in a way she made me being there so normal, while in fact it was one of the strangest things I've ever done. I saw a lollypop in front of my face, still wrapped. "Want one?" she asked. Without answering, I took it, unwrapped it and put it in my mouth. God. I forgot the sweet taste of candy and had to get used to it again.

"So, how come you're always out here on the swings?"
"Because I like swings,"
Wow, never thought that the answer to my question could be that simple. I expected a life story to roll out, but... of course. If you like something then nobody should be able to stop you from doing what you want to do.
"And, I like yellow rain boots, I like pink dresses and I'm in love with lollypops,"
Good, she cleared the whole thing out for me. She must know that people might not understand her that well as she just told me that. She must have known that I was about to ask her about it, but she saved me my words.
"So, how come you just blew your girlfriend of like that?"
Right, should I tell her the truth? I might as well do, she doesn't know me that well and it's not like I'm planning on talking to her anytime soon again. Besides, it's nice to talk to somebody about it.
"I was supposed to go to a dinner party from her work, but I didn't feel like going to I protended to be ill and said that I had been puking my guts out earlier," I grinned at my own story.
"And that's why you had to step away from the window. Otherwise she'd see that you're fine but just was looking for an excuse not to go..."
And she wasn't stupid either. She was... just a girl with strange hobbies I guess. Far from retarded or any brain desices or whatever. Perfectly fine.
There was a silence where I enjoyed the sun burning on my face. It was a lovely day to be outside and I suddenly wondered why I never went to this little park out here. It's right in front of my door for God's sake! Maybe I should get a dog, so it doesn't seem weird if I go out here and throw a frisbee around...

"I bet I can beat you a long jump," I suddenly heard next to me. Her boots were lying in the sand underneath her and she was swinging high. She made me laugh.
I quickly kicked the sneakers of my feet and started swinging like mad. She just dared me, and being the man that I am, I just had to take it. Plus, I was the king in long jumps of swings when I was about... 8. So I should be able to beat her easily. Also, I wondered if it would still be as much fun as it was when I was younger.
"The winner needs to take the other one out to somewhere fun tomorrow,"
"... But, tomorrow it's Sunday..." "I know, and you being awfully ill have the whole day to get better, right?"
She's playing evil now! I gasped but laughed at the same time and agreed to her offer. We both counted down and a three I streched my legs and all I saw was blue sky. I was flying. I saw clouds and couldn't feel any gravity, just for a second. Closing my eyes, I felt as if I was floating in the air, God just gave me wings...
But when I opened them I saw trees, grass, sand and before I knew it I touched the ground and went rolling. My knees hurt and my hands were full of grass that I tried to hold onto but I just pulled it out of the ground. I heard laughter next to me and saw her lying on the grass aswell.

"Is this a tie?"
"No, I jumped way further than you did!"
"Did not!"
"Did too!"
We looked at each other and burst out laughing again. Even though I had no idea who she was, this was the most fun I have had in months. Doing what nobody expects you to do makes people confused and for some reason they take a step back and leave you alone. It felt good like this... nobody seemed to mind us playing hints and doing long jumps all afternoon, both without shoes on. And, even though it would feel like massive flirting with any other girl, with her it was like I was back in my childhood and it didn't matter who you played it. Girls, boys - nobody blamed you for anything! I had fun, ánd ate sweets again. Réálly sweet sweets. The ones that make your face twist when you taste them for the first time, and afterwards they're delicious and you can't get enough.

"Damn, it's five thirty... I have go, it's dinner time,"
She got her yellow rain boots of the grass and shook all the sand out of them before putting them back on.
"What, do you still live with your parents or anything?"
I grinned at my own comment. Was it so nessecary for her to suddenly leave after all the fun we had today? The sun wasn't even doing down just yet!
"No, but six is dinner time. I need to be home at six... that's all."
She stood straight as she was about to leave but wasn't sure how to say goodbye to me. I guess that I knew why people thought she was mentally challenged. I understood perfectly. But, if people just took the time to step into her world for a second, they would understand that she wasn't retarded. She just needed some good structure that she could hold onto, and knowing this, I wasn't going to hold her back from leaving. If six o'clock means dinnertime, then it does and I think that I can't change that.
"See you tomorrow I guess, I need to take you somewhere fun right?"
"Yea alright, you did jump just in inch further than I did," she giggled.
"Right, meet up here?"
"Yea I guess you'll see me from your appartment anyways, bye ." she shrugged, threw me another lollypop which she found in her pocket, gave a short wave and hopped away.

Wow. Never would I have thought that the strange girl from the swings that used to wave to me from the park could totally change my day. I didn't know people could be so inspiring...

I had dinner at six, watched some TV but with my thoughts at some place else. When I finally went to bed I couldn't stop thinking about how much fun tomorrow was gonna be. Spending the whole day with ... the amazing girl with the yellow rain boots and the red lollypops that make your teeth change colour aswell. The girl with the summerdresses where she always had lots of candy in. The girl that loved the swings in the park right in front of my door. The girl... who asked me to come join her... the girl who changed my life already...

...the end