The Gift
Chapter 25

The elevator comes and we make our way into the half-packed car after I hit the ground floor button. At the back of the car, we stand together, still holding hands as we descend the two floors, and it wasn’t until we were exiting the elevator that I noticed that at some point during the rude we had intertwined our fingers together instead of just holding hands.

Since it felt right, I left it alone, but it had made me pause for an instant and Ben was now leading me towards the playground, deftly avoiding people in our way.

The door to the outside opens for us as we approach and Ben pulls me through the door, then comes to a stop. “Okay, your turn now. Where to?”

“How did you do that?” I ask.

“Do what?”

“Get around so well? Avoid all the people.”

“Well, I’ve been here plenty, and know the route. There’s a lot of memorization involved in being blind.”

“But what about all the people?” I ask.

“They see just fine,” he says, and I groan. “Kidding. Would you believe I’ve got super hearing?” he asks and cocks his head like a dog.

I shake my head no. The silence lingers a bit before I feel stupid again.

He squeezes my hand and says, “You shook your head, didn’t you?”

“Yes,” I answer sheepishly.

“I know, I heard. The rocks rattle a little.”

Hey. “What’s tha…”

He squeezes my hand again and says, “Teasing. Now, where to?”

I push my lip out in a pout and say, “Swing.”

He begins pulling me toward the swing and says, “Stop pouting.”

I stick my lip out even further. We reach the swings and sit, still holding hands. “Swinging is a little difficult when we’re holding hands,” I say.

“Oh, sorry,” he says letting go.

I hold the swing’s chain but my hand feels like it’s missing something. Looking over at Ben I get the urge to ask him for his had back. “Let’s see who can go the highest,” I suggest, trying to take my mind off his warm, soft hand.

“Nuh-uh, you’ll cheat.”

“Will not!”

“I’m blind, how will I know?”

“You don’t trust me?” I ask.

“Of course, I do.”

“You’re confusing. You suck.”

“Yeah, but you should see my magic act. Things disappear… Well, at least they do for me. Might or might not be so amazing if you can actually see it. I really think I can do magic for the blind.”

“Um…” I had nothing.

“You know, like card tricks. Pick a card. Is this your card? You can’t see it? Well, take my word for it, it’s your card. Or I could juggle and tell them I’m juggling like a hundred balls. How could they dispute it? Or maybe slight of hand. The coin disappears. Did you see it? No. I’m that good.”

I laugh and say, “Be serious.”

Now he sticks out his bottom lip and says, “I am.”

“No, you’re not. You’re making fun of me.”

“Yeah, but you stopped pouting.”

“Swing,” I say, sternly. We both start swinging, going higher and higher then finally stop just letting inertia and friction take over and stop us.

“So who went higher?” Ben asks.

“You did,” I told him.

“Oh, so I accuse you of cheating before, so now instead, you simply tell me I won to appease the blind kid?”

“Now why would the dying cancer girl do a thing like that? Death trumps blindness you know,” I retort.

“Touché,” Ben replies.

“Come on,” I say grabbing his hand. I pull him over to the merry-go-round and put him on one side behind the upside-down U bar and tell him to hang on. Going around to the other side, I grab on and start running in a circle. Getting a good pace going, I jump on and we spin around until the friction finally slows us.

Ben starts laughing and says, “That was fun.”

A couple of younger kids that were playing nearby came over and asked if they could ride too. “Sure, hop on,” I say, directing them to opposite sides so we would have people on all four sides like the points of the compass. I grab ahold and start running again.

Once to up a good speed, I hop on and we twirl around until we get dizzy and come to a stop.

Both kids a d Ben want to do it again and I tell them to give me a minute to catch my breath.

“Are you okay Amanda?” Ben asks, concerned.

“Yeah, just not used to so much exercise. Gimme a minute and I’ll be good to go.”

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