Chapter 5. Strawberries

5

The next day, as I walked home from school, I stopped at my favorite park. I stood a while before entering; he is going to be there, waiting for me with a box of candy that I'm eager to try 1 from.

I walked into the park, straight to where my favorite bench was. It was empty. I took a seat and thought he might be running late, I should wait. So I waited.

As I waited, I looked around and saw children playing, couples holding hands, old people just sitting enjoying the smooth breeze of the evening. It was a picture I come across everyday, but only today did I notice it.

I waited for the old hobo for ten minutes, half an hour, an hour… until I decided he wasn’t going to show. What was I expecting anyways, he was a homeless hobo, he could be a liar too.

The sun was almost setting when I finally stood up and was about to leave when his voice stopped me.

“You waited!” The old guy said. “I’m sorry, I got caught up with work.”

Work? He has work? It didn’t seem to add up, but I commented nothing.

“I was afraid you would have left, but you were patient.” He continued.

“I have nothing to do anyways.” I said simply. He took a seat next to me.

“What did you do while waiting?” He asked

“Nothing in particular, just here, noticing things.”

“What things?”

“The usual: children playing, couples being romantic and all that…”

“And the colors?”

“Colors? What colors?” I wondered if he was referring to the color of the sky, the trees, and the flowers. But somehow I felt he meant something else.

“The colors of their auras.” He said. I looked at him confused. “You see, life is filled with colors, so are we and our souls. Every emotion we have has its own color. Every thing we endure, every moment we have, puts another color in our soul that projects to our aura.” He explained.

“So did you noticed the colors?” he asked again.

“No, I don’t think so…”

“How did you feel when you were noticing them?”

“Feel? Nothing I guess…” I paused. “Although, I realized that although every day I come here and come across the same scenes, today it was different. I guess I didn’t leave earlier because it made me feel warm.”

The hobo laughed. “Every day you come here, you were always occupied with thoughts of you; everything becomes blur, it’s like you are swimming but you don’t realize that you are soaked wet. Today, it wasn’t thoughts of you that made you sit here; you were waiting for me. Thus, for once you actually took in this picture that you see everyday. Today, you saw the colors.” He said.

I just kept quiet, although me ego did not want to admit it, what he said made sense.

As if he knew what was in my head he laughed, “You are just a child, still so much to learn, so much to see.” He said. Then he took out the box of candy he had, opened the lid and offered it to me. “Here, chose one.”

I took the pink colored one. I felt my self got excited. I wanted to know what the candy would taste like. I felt my blood rushing to my head and my heart was thumping a little harder. It was a feeling I have long lost. Before I could stop it, I felt a smile curled up on my face.

It was strawberry; the candy, as it melted in my mouth, I tasted fresh strawberries. Like those freshly picked. For a moment I closed my eyes just to let the taste stay in my mouth and fills my soul.

“Strawberries; a little sour, a little sweet, just like life, don’t you think?”

I said nothing, but I just smiled.

“You have a beautiful smile, young lady” he said. “Do you realize that this is the first time you smiled at me?”

I realized something else, I realized it was the first time in a long time did I smile whole-heartedly. And I realized I missed that feeling, and I realized I liked it.

“Thank you.” I said.

“Oh don’t thank me yet, just keep smiling and you will see wonders.” He smiled and I noticed his eyes shone. “So I meet you here tomorrow, same time? I promise I won’t be late.” I smiled and nodded.