Polly & Jeremy - Part 5

THE PROMISE

Pollyanna and Jeremy walked together, pushing a construction cart.

Inside were bags of food for abandoned dogs and cats.

The cart rattled unevenly as they made their way down the street.

Pollyanna looked at Jeremy.

“I showed your note to my grandmother. She said you might have dyslexia!”

Jeremy kept pushing the cart.

“Yeah, I do!”

Pollyanna smiled.

“My grandmother can help you!”

She looked at his face.

Jeremy lowered his head, trying to hide the mark that still covered his left eye.

“Yeah. She can.”

Pollyanna was silent for a few seconds.

“Who did that to your face?”

Jeremy kept looking at the ground.

“Forget it...”

Pollyanna didn't push him.

But she didn't let the subject die either.

“At least your mark will go away. Mine was there from birth.”

She touched her own face.

“It’s horrible. People are afraid to talk to me. They’re even disgusted by me, like they might catch it from me. Pure ignorance. And then there are my eyes... I’ve gotten so many nasty nicknames because of them.”

Jeremy finally raised his head.

“But you’re unique!”

Pollyanna blinked.

“What?”

Jeremy tried to put his thoughts into words.

“How many... eyes... that you know... people who have eyes different from yours?”

Pollyanna stared at him.

“What did you say?”

Jeremy blushed.

“Uh...”

She tried to figure it out.

“You mean, ‘How many people do I know who don't have the same eyes as me?’”

Jeremy nodded quickly.

“Yeah. That’s what I meant!”

Pollyanna started laughing.

“Your dyslexia is funny! It’s cool and weird!”

Jeremy smiled.

Maybe it was the first time someone had ever joked about his dyslexia without making him feel humiliated.

When they reached the top of a hill, they began spreading the food around the park.

Some dogs appeared almost immediately.

Others stayed farther away, watching.

Pollyanna knew every one of them.

She knew which ones were shy, which ones fought over food, and which ones had to wait until the others had finished eating.

When they had spread out all the food, the two of them sat down in the grass.

The wind moved through Pollyanna’s hair.

She looked at Jeremy.

“Promise you'll always come to the park with me to feed the dogs?”

Jeremy thought for a few seconds.

“What do I get in return?”

Pollyanna looked surprised.

“My friendship!”

Jeremy looked at her.

“Promise?”

“Friends forever?”

Pollyanna held out her pinky.

Jeremy looked at it.

Then hooked his pinky around hers.

“Always!”

Pollyanna smiled.

“Always what?”

Jeremy thought about it.

“Whatever you want. Friends!”

They both smiled.

For a few seconds, they simply sat there in the grass.

Then Pollyanna asked:

“What are we going to do tomorrow?”

The next day, Pollyanna was waiting for Jeremy with a bicycle.

As soon as she saw him, she started waving.

“Come on, boy!”

Jeremy walked over.

“Okay, let’s go! But why the backpack?”

Pollyanna put the backpack on.

“None of your business!”

Jeremy made an offended face.

“Mean!”

Pollyanna laughed.

“Come on. I’ll tell you later!”

They set off.

They rode for hours.

They passed through streets, little squares, and paths Jeremy had never been down before.

Eventually, they reached a park.

They stopped beneath a tree.

The two of them sat in the shade.

Jeremy looked at the backpack.

“What did you bring in there?”

Pollyanna flashed an exaggerated smile.

“Ta-da!”

She opened the backpack.

Jeremy looked inside.

“What’s so special about that? A sketchbook and some pencils!”

Pollyanna took them out.

“Well, I’m going to draw you!”

Jeremy looked at her.

“What?”

“Then you’ll draw me.”

Jeremy frowned.

“How do you know I can draw?”

Pollyanna smiled.

“I know you can draw! I saw you drawing on a school desk a few days ago.”

Jeremy looked at the pencils.

“But where are the colored pencils?”

Pollyanna held one up.

“Why do we need them?”

She pointed at the sketchbook.

“Black and white represent infinity!”

Jeremy didn't look convinced.

Pollyanna ignored him.

She began preparing for the drawing.

She sat one way.

Then changed positions.

Turned her face.

Lifted her chin.

Made a serious expression.

Then another one.

Jeremy watched all of it.

A few minutes passed.

“Do you really need to do all that just to draw?”

Pollyanna continued posing.

“Shut up! The artist Polly Côrtes cannot be questioned during her artistic daydreams!”

Jeremy laughed.

Suddenly, she became serious.

“A dot joke.”

Jeremy waited.

“What is a little brown dot in the sky?”

“I don't know.”

Pollyanna grinned.

“A brownboleta.”

Jeremy stared at her for a second.

Then they both burst out laughing.

A few minutes later, Pollyanna lifted the drawing.

“Done! Voilà!”

She handed it to him.

Jeremy took it.

He looked at the drawing.

It was him.

Somehow, Pollyanna had managed to capture his face.

Jeremy smiled.

“It’s beautiful! I’m not that handsome...”

Pollyanna shrugged.

“It’s just a drawing!”

Jeremy looked at her.

“My turn!”

He took the sketchbook.

Sat down.

And began drawing.

Pollyanna waited.

A few minutes passed.

“Done?”

“No!”

She waited a little longer.

“Done?”

“No!”

Pollyanna started laughing.

“Done?”

Jeremy kept drawing.

“I already told you, no!”

A few more seconds passed.

Then he looked up.

“Yes!”

Pollyanna immediately snatched the sketchbook from his hands.

Jeremy flinched.

She looked at the drawing.

And froze.

Then she began talking so quickly she could barely catch her breath.

“Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow! Wow!”

Jeremy became nervous.

“Is it good?”

Pollyanna looked up at him.

She was happy.

Excited.

“Good? You said good?”

She hugged the drawing against her chest.

“Good is the sun, life, and puppies!”

She looked at the drawing again.

“This is amazing! This is the best drawing in the world!”

Jeremy didn't know what to say.

They looked at each other for a few seconds.

Then Jeremy pointed toward the ground.

“Hey! Look at that!”

A tiny dandelion was growing in the grass.

Pollyanna immediately lit up.

“Can I blow it? Can I?”

Jeremy crouched down and picked the flower.

“No! I found it!”

Pollyanna looked disappointed.

She fell silent.

Jeremy looked at her.

Then at the dandelion.

He sighed.

“Okay.”

Pollyanna looked up.

“Let’s blow it together! I’ll count to three.”

Jeremy held the dandelion.

Pollyanna moved closer.

They stood side by side.

“One...”

Pollyanna smiled.

“Two...”

Jeremy looked at her.

“Three!”

Pollyanna opened her mouth first.

In one quick movement, Jeremy popped the dandelion into her mouth.

She immediately started coughing.

Jeremy burst out laughing.

Pollyanna was laughing too, even as she tried to cough.

“How could you?!”

She coughed again.

“You...”

Another cough.

“You’re gonna get it!”

Jeremy collapsed onto the ground, laughing so hard he could barely breathe.

Pollyanna kept coughing and laughing at the same time.

For several minutes, neither of them could stop.

And in that moment, Jeremy wasn't thinking about his father anymore.

He wasn't thinking about school.

He wasn't thinking about the mark over his eye.

All he could do was laugh.

And Pollyanna was laughing with him.

#indiefiction #indieauthor #indiewriter #indiebooks #originalfiction #originalstory #fictionwriter #storytelling #literaryfiction #darkfiction #psychologicalfiction #comingofage #teenfiction #characterdriven #indiepublishing #writingcommunity #fictioncommunity #independentstories #newfiction #emergingwriter