Lucid Waking

Archive for August 2nd, 2007

Before

            It seemed like quite a while ago when they had that conversation. They had been sitting on a towel at the beach under one of his mother’s old summer umbrellas and talking. He had agreed to help her watch her brother and twin cousins for the day, so that she wasn’t alone. She proposed taking them to the beach for a picnic and after that, they found themselves watching the children play in the sun. She had leaned over to rest her head on his shoulder before he took a deep breath and asked her the question that had been bothering him most of the morning.
            “Have you ever thought of being a mother?”
            It was an odd question for a sixteen year old to ask another his age, but she didn’t seem to be bothered by it. Quite nonchalantly she answered: “Sometimes.”
            They watched the three children again in silence. He blushed, thankful that she wasn’t looking at him.
            “It seems like it would be a handful,” he said trying to stimulate conversation.
            “Well, yes. But I love children and I think that there are times that the trouble is worth it. What about you? Do you want to be a father?”
            He faced the water again, caught unawares. “I suppose so.”
            “Just suppose?”
            “I never really thought about it.”
            “Fair enough.”
            She sat upright again and shouted to her brother to stop throwing sand. He pictured her as a mother, like she said and leaned back on his elbows. It would be a while before either of them were parents, but he knew deep down that she would be a good one. She smiled at him, but remained sitting.
            “What do you want to do in college? It’s a little closer.”
            “I’d like to major in robotics,” he said dropping eye contact for the sea.
            “That’s unique.”
            “What about you?”
            “I think anatomy and psychology would be good for me.”
            “Why those two?”
            She blushed. “I like the way the body works.”
            He blushed, too, but he didn’t know why. She made a motion to yell at the children again, but didn’t and leaned back on her elbow so that they were at eye level. Neither one said a word. But they didn’t have to.