Eternity on Paper [COMPLETE]

Heart To...

Gray clouds sulk heavily in the tainted blue far above a park that slowly fades from green to orange. A mother buys herself and her daughter a pair of ice cream cones and sits beside her on a bench. The young girl holds the cone in her tiny hand, staring at the sweet with a vacant duo.

"What's wrong, you don't like it?" the mother asks.

"I do," the girl replies. "That's why I don't want to eat it."

"I don't understand."

"If I eat it, I won't taste it. If that happens, I won't like it anymore."

Puzzled, the mother licks the vanilla mound that rests atop the sharp, brown wafer in her own hand. The taste is vibrant and delights her tastebuds. More confused now than before, she says, "mmm, see? It's plenty tasty. Try it."

"I won't taste it."

"That's ridiculous, you eat all the time, don't you?"

"Not by choice."

"Right," the mother scoffs. "So, what are you going to do, just stare at it?"

"If I stare at it, I can pretend I still like it. I can pretend I'm like you."

"And when it melts?"

"Everything melts."

Frustrated with her daughter's persistence, the mother snatches the cone from her hand, deciding she'll have it for herself. The unpleasant scent of a dog's waste carries on the breeze that blows through the parent and child.

"Ugh," the mother groans. "That smells disgusting."

"I don't smell it."

"Oh, can you not smell now either?"

"I told you that a long time ago."

The mother's hand freezes under the dripping, untouched ice cream, sending her into a mild rage. "You just think you know everything, don't you?"

"I don't."

"You act like you do."

"I don't, you're just upset."

"Yet here you are, little miss know-it-all, acting absolutely ridiculous and trying to tell me you know how I feel."

"I do. I always do."

The mother growls and motions to a tree that stands tall mere feet from them. "Do you see that tree? Do you know how it got there? What about how it was planted? How about how long it's been there?"

"I don't know the answer to any of that."

"Exactly," the mother says, victoriously. "You might think you know everything, but you don't. God is perfect and only He knows all."

"But God isn't perfect."

"Oh? And how do you 'know' that?!"

"Because He made me."