Baby

Just A Friend

"So you in any rush to get back into town?" He asked as I pulled the car away from the spot we'd been parked at.

I looked at him.

"I was gonna suggest maybe we grab a late lunch and then I could show you our side of town?"

As his words set in, I guess I hadn't realized that we'd been talking for a good while and had in fact gone past 12 in the afternoon.

"I don't know Maxen."

"Come on Baby...just look at it as two people having lunch...we've gotta eat right? And you'll also be getting a tour of the bayou." He offered with a small smile. "...Look you said it yourself...you don't know how long you're going to be here, and unless you want to be stuck in town where there's pretty much the diner, the drug store, or the bar to do anything, let me show you around the bayou...this way you can see our part of town, get a little familiar with the lay of the land so to speak and maybe have some fun while you're here."

I finally nodded and he gave me the directions.

Realistically we were in the same town, but he was right...as I drove onward we seemed to pass some invisible barrier that led into a different town altogether, small city would better describe it.

Call me judgemental but I assumed by the rough setting of the old fish warehouse where the fights took place, and Maxen's words of the Bayou townsfolk being treated like second class citizens, I had assumed the people who lived along the bayou were almost destitude.

But as I saw the thriving metropolitan I couldn't help but blush at my own ignorance.

"We took what they gave us and turned it into somthing they never expected." He sounded proudly.

A small silence fell between us as I drove through the small town with a big city feel.

"Uh, " He sounded, breaking the silence. "Over to the left there you'll see one of our Apartment units...we have a lot of members who live here and limited space as you can imagine...so we tend to build up instead of out...the towners can have their lands, but no one claims the skies." He said as I looked up at the luxury apartments.

Right across the way was a small strip mall, it had a bakery, arcade, beauty salon, book store,  various clothings stores, coffee shop, and a small drugstore. All things that reminded me they were still just a small town.

"Both the drugstore and coffee shop right there stay open 24/7...occassionally the bookstore will stay open until 1 in the morning and together with the coffee shop they hold poetry slams, or just have live music...I know they also have a book club."

"Have you ever been to a book club meeting?" I asked.

"No." He smirked as if it should have been obvious, "But i'll go when theres live music ocassionally."

We reached a stop light and I saw what could easily be noticed as a school.

"You guys even have your own schools?" I asked a little sad that the segregation seemed to affect even the children.

He nodded, "Yeah...Up ahead are the schools here on our side of town, On the left over there with the playground is the primary school, grades k-8."

"Kindergarten through eighth grade?!" I voiced slightly concerned now, "What about a middle school...I mean the older kids could mess with the younger kids so easily."

He shook his head, "Not much use of a middle school, they learn the tradional studies and age gaps aren't much of an issue when you've basically been raised with the same kids your whole life...plus everyone's pretty much family or family friends."