I lost sleep this week thinking of Deni and the ‘Butter Mouse.’ Thought it might be nice to take them out. Not to my favorite mall, but to East Dream. East Dreams has the best cherry ices. No better way to celebrate my first pay day. A good coincidence, and Mum is not wrong. These days your money goes so far.
Deni’s agreement message was a simple ‘Yes.’ I assumed this did not mean they are cross, but no real way to confirm.
The bus flew me over in less than twenty minutes. At this time on a work day I was the sole occupant, and not much traffic dotted the sky.
No matter how old I get, the glory of the city does not leave me. If anything I like it more now my teens are close to completion. I appreciate the greens and purples of the flowers on the buildings, mixed in with the people of the city walking and floating below. The Stitch was a shimmering rainbow on the edge of the sea. Good to be a part of that corner, even for a year.
No queues at the entrance. My footsteps rattled through the empty corridors of the mall. Fine by me. Deni stood outside the ice bar, staring forward like a guard. A stub of menthol cigarette hung from the metal O of their mouth.
When I said hello, her response was
‘I saw…you coming. You..took the…stairs.’
The cuffs of her hoodie were still earthy from our plant work. Diffused my concerns about not washing my hair.
No idea why I had not visited this ice bar for so long. Different fruit hang around you all the way up to the counter. The spiders that crawl between them have this shimmer from their journey into the syrup. I will have to ask Mum if her team is involved. All the sugar is grown in the basement, which is cool too. Stops them having to visit the other side of the city I guess.
Took a while to get the conversation going with Deni. Work was my topic of choice, but they moved onto the killing.
‘Let’s hope…they don’t try…and kill me! I’ll have…to run away…or kill them…first…then what…jail?’ They said. That hot water bottle noise rumbled from their belly.
Cherry ice was good though. Deni was happy to stroll about after that. They made some awkward comments about a woman’s cog hand, and I had to look away. The war might be a touchy subject for Deni, but not something we are going to solve in a midweek mall trip.
No bother. A cherry ice and a gorgeous bus ride across the greenery of the city made the day glorious already. A palette cleanser after last week. And important that we hang out if we are going to work together for the year.
Gosh, I forgot clip day yesterday! Have included below. Addicted to them now. Like a packet of sweets on the way home.
Clip: Another call of the Butter Mouse, clear as if you were standing near 1619. More footage from the vehicle. Is this a place beyond our world? Or still a figment of her imagination?
Sometimes I want to run into the Stitch, and find out.