A Path to Blindness

Part 2

My arms draped on the steering wheel while I longed to find the place I was looking for. Every street looked the same at this point.

Why a park? I could have totally just given you my address and we could talk in my house.

Finally, a sight, other than terracotta red roofs and elongated streets that all ended in a 'T', only leading down more roads where houses in the hundreds sat, came into view. I peeked at a small, green, grassy square area that was made to relax at. It was passed by concrete paths of the worn kind; though not old and dishevelled, nor pristine like they were made the day before. The park was used, definitely, but still nice to look at. The clear blue sky that morning really held a firm grip on one's sight.

Before I went searching for Mindy, even though she could look so different it would have been pointless anyway, I first searched for a place to leave my beloved maroon Volvo 300 series. Like anything I owned, it wasn't fancy or made a statement, but it was decent and it was mine, so it had a special charm.

I remember one time when that hatchback took me on a great trip through Oregon in the winter time. After it was given to me for my eighteenth birthday, I took my first girlfriend on a weekend retreat. Lisa was her name. You couldn't forget hair like hers - thin, soft, cut to the base of her neck, and coloured a subdued wood brown. She argued that since it was winter we shouldn't have gone, but waited. I detested with a smile and took her anyway. The snow was way worse than what we had expected, so when the car got stuck on a road we left to go get help. We were still in town, so it was no problem. The snow picked up quickly to a point of bellow, rushing down on us soon after and we hurried back for safety inside its small, warm interior. Completely frozen, we both laughed our asses off when we reached the car. To get warm, she proposed, we use each other's body heat. I locked the car completely and we kissed each other in the front seat still in our sweaters and beanies until it was after noon. Don't know where she would be at now. I couldn't help but think about fragments of the past, I guess even the harsh memory of her departure had a special place inside of me, like the rest of her.

I brushed the bead of water in my eyelash away. Forcing the gear stick down, I killed the car and pulled my keys out. The car door opened and I stepped out under the midday sun. It was a solemn temperature, not too hot. Locking the car back up before leaving, I set out to find where Mindy might have been.

Maybe where I first drove by. It was a possibility, and it was the centralised area in the river-side park where many people came to meet.

Strolling for long enough, I re-encountered the small, roofed bench and table that was standing near the previously-mentioned grass patch. Getting closer, I observed a young, pretty looking girl in a mint green dress, with a white collar and belt that went around her waist. She sat undisturbed with both hands under her chin as she stared tranquil off into the neighbourhood just next to the park. I advanced further and arrived close to the bench before she snapped out of it and responded to me.

"Hey." I said.

"Oh wow, it's you!" She said to me.

"Mindy?" I asked in happy shock.

"Yeah! It's been a while, huh?" Mindy asked back.

"I guess. It's been what, over 7 years since we graduated?" I replied.

"Damn, that long?" She said. "Wow, come here!" She stood up and raced over to give me a tight hug around my ribs. Her physique had completely changed as well. Her waist was thin and she had nice thin, girly legs, finished by brown slip-on shoes.

I never knew Mindy - hell, I still didn't - and I wasn't even acquainted with her either, yet she acted this way. She was the complete opposite from what she used to be. She was instead a complete extrovert upon meeting her. She had maroon-tinted brown hair that was cut short at the back and fanned out like a bob, but more subtle, and had a single tied up tail on the left side of her head. Her face was lifted entirely, the warm rose tint of her cheeks shining out. Her lips were brighter than ever, and she had beaded, brown eyes behind a small glasses frame.