The Park, Tuesday Afternoon

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy had to meet up with Eliot to return Val, but she figured that she and the puppy had time for at least one more walk together. So after strapping on her ATs and grabbing an ice cream cone from Chilly Boulder, she headed over to the park to run about with Val and maybe toss a ball around for her to fetch. It seemed like an appropriately summery thing to do, didn't it? One of those scenarios that came right out of a Rockwell painting.

If one ignored the trio of squirrels hanging out in a tree passing a nipper bottle of rum around and a teal deer that had wandered out of the preserve.

[Open!]

Comments

[bestatmystery]

"I dunno," Lottie admitted. "I'm still considerin if I want to take any A-levels."

[spin_kick_snap]

"...I don't even know what that means," Kathy said, confused. "Is that like senior year?"

[bestatmystery]

"You don't have A-levels?" America didn't have A-levels. Lottie suddenly wanted to go to school here forever. (Or, you know, until she was 18.) "They're these tests in all sorts of subjecks to find out if you've learned enough for higher education. You don't have to take them to be done schooling, but universities like them."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Oh, like the SATs!" Kathy said. "And the AP exams! Yeah, I took a ton of those this summer. I have one more coming up, in fact. And then, I'll be done until November, when the SAT IIs happen."

Sorry, Lottie. No dice.

[bestatmystery]

Lottie slowly shook her head. "I don't think even my friend Shauna is as into school as you are."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Yeah," Kathy said. "I get that a lot. But I'm cool in other ways?"

Keep telling yourself that, Kathy.

[bestatmystery]

"Well sure!" Lottie agreed. "You've got excellent taste in music."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I'll take it," Kathy said, laughing. "And if anyone else says anything, I can point to you and say, 'At least my little sister thinks I'm cool!' You know. One of them."

[bestatmystery]

"I promise to back you up. That's what little sisters are for!"

[spin_kick_snap]

"And I promise that when you get in trouble with Mom and Dad--or, rather, the Principal or the Dean--I'll be there to bail you out. Because that's what we big sisters do," Kathy said, eyes sparkling.

[bestatmystery]

Lottie offered her hand. "It's a deal!"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Deal," Kathy said, and shook.