The Summer Vacation

The Departure

On the penultimate day of their visit Ellie's granny came to the lake house along with his mother and Corey. They had a nice time there. They sat down by the lake and at nearabout late noon granny and mom left.

"You coming, dear?"

"I'll stay here with Ellie and come back in the evening maybe."

"Ok. Whatever suits you two."

Mom and granny left, leaving Ellie and Corey behind. Ellie didn't expect Corey to stay. He was about to leave the next day. His girlfriend was back and they were having a nice conversation the other day. So Ellie thought Corey would be eager to get out of there, pack his bags as fast as possible and be ready to leave the next day. But clearly that wasn't the case.

"Can you try me?" Corey asked as Ellie was getting ready to organize his paint brushes.

"What?!!"

"Can you draw a portrait of me?"

"Oh.. I mean I can try."

Ellie certainly did an excellent job at depicting Corey. Corey was absolutely stunned by it.

"This is magnificent." and then something caught Corey's eyes.

"Is that a polaroid camera?"

"Yes. It is."

"Oh my God. I've never seen one. How does it work? Come on, click a picture."

"Of what?"

"Us. Me and you. You can remember me that way."

The camera was a bit old. So it took a while for them to get it to work. Corey let Ellie keep the picture as he had presumably no intention of taking that with him. He just wanted to see how polaroid cameras work.

It was getting late so they left for home.

The next day came pretty fast. It was time for them to drift apart, maybe never to meet again. Ellie looked a bit sad, maybe because his granny was leaving or maybe because of something else.

"I had an amazing time here. It really felt good to be here. I thought it was gonna be awful."

"Happy to please you." Ellie jokingly said.

"You're an excellent artist. I hope to see your paintings in an art exhibition one day."

"Let's hope so."

Ellie gave him the portrait he drew of Corey.

"Are you sure you want me to take it? This is a magnificent piece of art."

"Yes. It's your portrait. You should have it."

Corey gladly took the departing gift and went outside for the taxi.

It was time to bid farewell to his granny. Ellie was visibly very sad.

"I see you two became very close friends over the summer. Let me tell you something my dear. Friends are very important in life. You'll have such friendships again. Cherish it. And call me when you decide to host your art exhibition. I'll be the first visitor."

"Take care of yourself. Love you..."

"You too, dear. And tell your brother granny says hi when he gets back. That little prick didn't even say hi to his granny."

That was the last year grandma came to their house.

"78 years young I'm." Ellie remembers.