30
With his new-found confidence and exuberance, Abraham
Lincoln Panim decided to take a walk that evening, a walk like he had taken
many times before. But with his physical change, this was going to be a walk
like no other.
He got up from his bed, put on his jacket, and wrapped his
scarf around his neck, but not on his face. He also stuffed the mirror into his
pocket, and then he walked to his mother’s bedroom.
“Mom, I’m taking a walk,” he yelled through his mother’s
still-closed bedroom door. “I’ll be back in a couple of minutes.”
Mrs. Panim heard her son this time, and said, “Take that
walk, and maybe it will help you think!” she screamed back.
He walked outside the house, letting the door close by
itself behind him. He entered the fresh air with a big smile on his face, and
he began to walk with a cadence that he hadn’t ever remembered that he had in
previous walks with himself and his mother.
It was turning to evening, and there was barely enough
natural light to use as the street lights popped on, illuminating the area of
his walk, which led to the nearby park, as his walks always did.
“Why aren’t people stopping and admiring me?” he said, but
while it wasn’t completely dark, it wasn’t as light as it was during the day.
“I guess it is too dark for people to admire me,” he thought.
Abraham Lincoln Panim walked his usual walk, and he went by
a few other people walking in the park, and a few did, in fact, stop to look at
him, some young girls and some older women. He knew they were looking at him,
and almost instinctively moved his scarf even further down his neck so it would
expose more of his face to everyone.
He reached the point where he normally stopped, sat on the
same bench that he had sat on many times before, and took in the night air as
people passed him going both ways. Some stopped to look at him, and he sat up
when he knew they were staring.
“I have to give them a full look at my features, so I
better sit up straight,” he thought to himself as he moved up on the bench.
Abraham Lincoln Panim sat on the bench for some time, and
then he saw in the distance a woman jogging with her dog, and as the woman came
closer to him, he saw that it was Ariel and her dog Snuff.
“Ariel, Arilel … it’s Abraham Lincoln Panim … please take a
rest,” he said as she came closer to him. “Please … .”
Ariel approached, and guided by her seeing-eye dog, sat
down on the bench.
“Hi, Abraham Lincoln Panim,” she said, still taking in her
breath from her run. “I am really, really glad to see you.”
“And I am too,” he said, thinking to himself, “If she could
really actually see me now!”
“Look, Abraham Lincoln Panim, I really want to apologize
for the way you were treated the other day. I am sorry that Brandon screamed at
you like that. He told me who you were, and what he was so upset about.”
“So he told you about my rat face?”
“Yes, and I really don’t care about that,” Ariel said. “I
mean, I can’t really see anything anyway, and you have a nice speaking voice
and you are so kind, that well … look, I am blind. Who am I to say anything
about how you look, when I can’t even see you?”
“Well, Ariel, things have changed—“
“Yes, they have changed. After Brandon did what he did, I
had a long talk with him, and we are no longer a … a … couple, let’s say. He
didn’t take it very well, but we aren’t together anymore.”
A big smile crossed Abraham Lincoln Panim’s face, and he
tugged at his scarf. “You mean, he is out of your life?” he asked.
“Yes, we are not together anymore,” Ariel said. “He showed
what a big jerk he was when he yelled at you like that. I don’t care if you
have a rat face, you seem to be a nice guy. Brandon and I were going together
for a short time, and it went both good and bad, but I guess you can say that
this was the straw that broke the camel’s back. There was no need for what he
did, because all we were doing was talking.”
Abraham Lincoln Panim pushed himself up in the bench.
“Look, things have changed—“
“Yes, they sure have,” Ariel said.
“Listen, I am not trying to hit on you or anything, but if
you aren’t with Brandon anymore … might you like to … well might you like to go
out for coffee maybe … things have changed—“
“Yes, I was hoping that you would say that,” Ariel said.
“If you hadn’t asked me, I am pretty sure I would have asked you!”
The two laughed, and the conversation stopped, as Abraham
Lincoln Panim sat with a broad smile on his face in the moonlight, and Ariel
sat back for a few moments.
Some young girls walked past the bench, and each time,
Abraham Lincoln Panim sat up straighter in the bench, as he knew he was being
stared at without Ariel even realizing it.
“Boy, a lot of people are walking in the park today,” she
said, as she finally got up from the bench and was ready to continue her
evening jog.
“Wait, before you go, when can I—“
“How about tomorrow, we meet right here at this exact time?
It is where we finally met and spoke anyway, and we can take it from there.”
“OK, Ariel, I will meet you here tomorrow at this exact
time.”
“Yes, and don’t forget, Ruff, will also be here, so it will
be a threesome!” she said as she started to run away from the bench.
“See you then,” Abraham Lincoln Panim said as Ariel ran off
into the distance.
He continued to sit on the bench for a few moments, with
his arms stretched out from one side of the bench to the other, and a big smile
on his face.
At least this time, when people passed him by and stared at
him and giggled, he didn’t respond at all. He had other things on his mind.
Once again, he looked over a few benches, and the older
woman was sitting on a bench.
He blinked, and once again, she was gone.
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