Ceiba

The little droplet of sweat seemed to ooze out of her forehead, we had really done it this time. She was in the midst of yelling to us, and this time I bet she’d call my parents. It was as if the calmness she had reflected today was fading as the sweat began to drop. 

 

The Church walls weren’t done yet, they were placing tinted glass near the door, and the ceiling was being reconstructed. Every Saturday morning I would come to our nearby church, I walked to it and would always make a pit-stop by the nearby ice-cream truck. I was about ten years old.We were infront of the church sitting in white white chairs, listening to our “catequesis” teacher. She was a middle aged woman, maybe that’s why she didn’t have much patience with us, but nonetheless she volunteered for the church and spent most of her free time there. She lived a calm sea life, near the coast city. The warm sunglazed air, salty yet calming would always soothe us into an all encompassing mood. The sky is always teal and the palm trees will always rock you to sleep. We sat and listened. My friend and I, would always be yelled to for speaking too much. But in my defense the lectures should bee more dynamic if you’re only tren and oozing energy. The day was very warm and the ice-cream truck hadn’t arrived yet.  Him and I always played with the church’s neighbor dog and raced ourselves to the food truck. Our teacher though wasn’t as happy as us with it. We did this in a matter of ten minutes, which is as long as she took to go to the bathroom. 

 

She yelled, yelled as if her life were at steak, or maybe ours was. “I’ve had enough of all you children not behaving, you come here to listen and not to have fun. The fun can wait.” The fun did have to wait, she left us sitting down for the next forty minutes until the parents started to arrive. At least she didn’t tell my mother, she left the second the class was over. My mom though, heard from another parent what had happened, and of course I had to pay for it. My friend got away with it, as he did with pretty much everything. He was always so calm about things, his parents never knew when they had reprimanded him for distracting himself in Sunday school. My mom as usual was very mad.

 

After that we moved and everything changed because I started going to the church that was near my house. I never saw my friend again. I had to change schools as well, the other one was a little far off. My sisters and I usually like to take bike rides around the shore, so when we didn't have a lot of homework we went together. On one of those days, my sister had a cold, so I went by myself. It is a very Long Beach, it surrounds most of Ceiba, so the further you go, the less and less buildings and houses you see. After a while it started to get a little dark, so I stoped by the city pier. The ocean was gleaming, and the sun was already waving goodbye, simmering into shades of darkish pink. As I walked to the ice cream stand, I saw him! After six years. 

 

I'm writing this 3 years later while sitting next to him, 1162 miles away from our pier.

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