Head to the Sky

Downtown Brit-Wales. Clover looked around the stalls for fresh fruit and vegetables. She had already collected the squash and eggplants. Now, the girl examined the tomatoes. The fruit needed to be healthy and red. No bruises either. Clover took her time over-looking each piece.

“Clover!” someone yelled at her. The girl quickly looked up. A boy her age raced over to her, waving.

“Clover!” he yelled. The girl turned to him with a smile.

“Hello Brian,” she said. The boy made it to her, panting.

“Hey,” he said. Brian looked at her bag. “What’cha doin’?”

“Buying vege,” Clover said.

“I see,” he said. A long pause came between them. Greg looked around.

“You doing anything today?” he asked.

“No,” Clover answered, blinking. “Why?”

“Great!” Greg said. “Uh… because… uh…”

“Because what?” she asked. Greg shuffled his feet.

“Uh… well…” he said. The boy quickly grabbed her by the hands. Clover blinked at him still.

“Greg? What is this?” she asked. He looked deeply into her eyes.

“I like you!” the boy cried. “Go out with me!” The color drained from the girl’s face.

“Huh?!?” she asked. Clover tried to get away, but he wouldn’t let go. “Uh… Greg…” she mumbled.

“Yes?” he asked.

“Please let go.”

“Huh?” His hands slipped away from her wrists and Clover took off running. It Greg a moment to grasp the situation.

What just happened?, he thought. Did she just run from me? A laughter behind him brought the boy back to earth. He turned and saw Clyde, Muriel, Lewis, and Pauline walking towards him. They saw the whole thing across the street. Greg dropped his head in embarrassment.

“Hi,” he said with a little wave.

“Hiya!” Clyde cheered. Lewis looked down the path that Clover fled with.

“Struck out with Billy’s niece, huh?” she asked. Greg’s face turned a bright tomato.

“You saw that?” he asked.

“Yeah!” they all said.

“Not a way to win a girl,” Muriel pointed out. Greg dropped his head.

“I’m hopeless, aren’t I?” he complained. Clyde nodded.

“Prutty much!” she said. Pauline gave her a hard nudge in the rib cage.

“Ow!” she hollowed!

“Not so loud!” Pauline said. “You’re in public!” Clyde frowned at her.

“But it ‘urt!” she cried. Polly hit her in the head with the purse this time. Greg looked really crushed now.

“I knew it! I’ll never be able to get a date!” he wailed.

“Oh don’t be like that!” Lewis said. “You can get a date.” Greg’s eyes shot wide open. He raced over to the old biddies.

“Teach how to girls!” he whimpered. “I really do love Clover!” The four old friends looked on in confused silence. He even gave them sweet puppy-like eyes. How could they see no?

Clover ran all the way into the Sunny Plum café. She leaned against the door, panting. Tucker and Annie looked up from what they were doing and gave her funny looks.

“Clover?” Annie asked. “What’s the matter, child?” The young girl quickly shook her head.

“You didn’t see me!” she said quickly. Tucker raised an eyebrow at her.

“What?” he asked.

“Bye!” the girl yelled. Then, Clover ran out the door again. Annie and Tucker blinked as the bell rang.

“What was that about?” the man asked. His wife just shrugged.

“Dunno,” she said.

The old biddies took Greg under their wings. That boy, oh man! Never had they ever encountered a youth that had so many questions to fire off at them.

“How do I get a girl to like me?”

“What if she doesn’t want flowers?”

“Where do I take her on a first date?”

“Do I try to be adventurous or do something soft?”

“What keep of gift should I get her?”

“Should I get her gift on the first date?”

“What if her parents don’t like me?”

“What about her siblings?”

“What do I do if she invites me back to her house?”

“How do I know if the date is going well or not?”

“What do I do if the date is not going so great?”

“Do I make the first move or do I wait for her to?”

“What if I muck it up our date?”

“If I don’t like how the date is going, how do I end it?”

“Should I dress up or be casual?”

“How much money should I take out on a date?”

“Should I do dinner or a movie first?”

“How do I keep her attention of a date?”

“How much do I tell her about myself?”

The old biddies didn’t know how to deal with it all. They knew the questions would keep on coming until they did something.

“’Ow do we deal wit ‘im?” Clyde asked. Muriel shrugged at her.

“No idea,” she said. Lewis held out her hand.

“Okay, okay,” she said. “We’ll just all give him one piece of advice and move on from there.” The other three looked at her, puzzled.

“You sure about that?” Pauline asked. The farmer only shrugged.

“Got anything better?” she asked. Her friends went quiet. Great point. They all turned back to Greg. Lewis clapped her hands together. Their student looked up at them.

“Okay! Greggy-boy!” she said. “We have some good answers to your questions.” The boy listened in closely.

“Okay, what?” he asked.

“Be good to the woman,” Pauline offered.

“Be yourself,” Lewis told him.

“Buy her nice things,” Muriel said. Clyde shrugged.

“Can’t think of one!” she said. Pauline nudged her in the side.

“What?” the scruffy woman asked. “It’s true!” Greg nodded once.

“Okay!” he said. “I think I got it now.” The old biddies gave him a hard look.

“You sure?” Lewis asked. Greg nodded with a huge grin painted on his face.

“Yeah!” he cheered. “Cheers!” He marched off to claim his woman. The old biddies looked on with uneasy faces. Something else told them otherwise…

Head to the Sky

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