Drabbles 65-72
Mark over eight years:
Cat with snowcone
"Aw, nuts, there's no way I can eat that now!"
The cat meowed insolently up at Mark before proceeding to take another lick of the snow cone. Had it not been for its impertinent look, it would have appeared almost comical.
Mark found himself shaking his head as he sat beside the feline. "Not fair. Everyone else gets their snow cone, everyone except for me."
The cat gave him a sidelong glance before flicking its tail and walking off. The student shook his head as he checked his wallet, hoping he still had enough change to get another cold treat.
“Bloodbath” pool
The sight of yellow rubber ducks floating in the inflatable pool was enough to make everyone laugh. "Are we spoofing a haunted house or something?" Gerard asked Mark irately.
"We can't make it too scary," Mark pointed out.
"I thought we were supposed to be making a horror booth not a joke shop!"
"Yeah, but I don't want to be responsible for a heart attack."
Gerard squirted another bottle of red food coloring into the water. "The old bats should know better than to go here then."
"Oh you'd be surprised," Mark laughed, remembering his own intrepid and stubborn grandmother.
Boys sitting around a campfire
"Wakeboarding, running through the forest, what's next?"
Tato smiled cryptically before tossing more wood onto the fire. "Ghost stories."
"If you want to do it right, we have to sit on the floor," Alain groused.
"I like the chair just fine, thank you," Mark chimed in.
"You're just afraid to get your pants dirty," Alain taunted.
"Well I only have one more change of clothes," Mark said. Unlike Alain, he knew better than to pack half his wardrobe just for a weekend out of town.
Tato shook his head before opening a can of beer. "Just drink up, you guys."
Sand dunes
"Is it true that they have actual sand dunes up north, in Pagudpud?"
Ida gave Mark a sidelong glance. "I heard. I've never been there though."
"Why not? Isn't that in your home province?" Mark asked confusedly.
"My mother's. I'm not entirely from there, my dad comes from elsewhere," Ida replied. She looked at her hands. "Much of my life was in San Mariano, really. I was born and raised there"
"You don't sound happy about that."
"I couldn't wait to get away."
Mark sighed, understanding her point. He too had his own memories of the south to leave behind.
Tent by a stream
The only dry thing Mark still had was his jacket, so he wrapped this around little Nina. "Think she'll be safe here?" he asked, looking around the tiny tent.
"It's better than being out there, in the floodwater," Ida replied, checking the baby again. "I'll stay here and watch her."
"They need someone who knows first aid."
"Later. For now, they need men who can effect a rescue."
Mark nodded morosely. This day's rescue effort had yielded wreckage, corpses, displaced people, and a child who was for all intents and purposes, an orphan.
"God where are you?" he asked silently.
Busy old-style street
"It's not quite Paris or London, but it will do."
Everyone at the table laughed. "Come on, we know Intramuros is the best place to get cheap food---at least when there's a fair here," April said. It had been a spur of the moment idea to dine here the night before graduation, but it was one of the best things that had happened all day.
"And it saves the expense of a plane ticket," Mark chimed in.
Ida swatted his arm. "Just eat your clams will you?" she teased.
Mark raised his glass of soda. "To tomorrow and better beginnings."
Temple over the water
To say that the entire group cringed on seeing the installation would have been an understatement. "It doesn't make sense," Mark said.
"It's pretty!" Nadia retorted.
"I think he means thematically," April concurred.
"You guys don't know anything about art," Nadia huffed. "It's supposed to illustrate other possibilities, historical accuracy sometimes be damned."
"Well, there might be a little justification for combining a ziggurat with a water garden," Ida trailed off, clearly at a loss for diplomacy.
"But?"
"It just has to be unified. This isn't."
"Yet," Mark finished.
Nadia rolled her eyes before flinging the building tools at them.
Diving into the sunset
Even after all these years, Mark could not decide if his element was either air or water. "As if those things eally matter anyway," he thought as he and his family sat at the edge of a raft one day.
"Daddy dive!" Nina chirped eagerly.
"You want me to show you?" Mark asked.
The girl nodded enthusiastically while her mother rolled her eyes. "Be careful!" Ida admonished, adjusting her grip on Tara.
Mark got to his feet. "Alright, three, two, one!" he shouted before leaping off the raft, before realizing too late that he was poised for a belly flop.