All I’ve done is chase a rainbow

Dave sat on the old picnic table behind the house. Mother was singing in the kitchen. Way off key. The novel he was reading perched on his knee. The cold evening wind blowing at the leg of his shorts. It looked like rain. To many thoughts fought in his mind. He would ask her. He knew that. It was just about timing. The right mood, the right moment. He would have the courage one day. One day soon. He had told himself that daily for years. It would have to be soon. Next year he would be at varsity. He was running out of time.

It was August. Spring was getting closer. So was bursary, and summer and the end of all he knew. He knew he loved her. He just didn’t have the words to say it. She was his life. He’d gone to the formal with Kate; she had gone with James. They’d all had fun. Even if all he thought about was her.

A chilling sou’wester blew up his shirt and shorts. He folded over the page and jumped off the table. The lawn’s mud squelching between his bare toes as he walked to the house. Even the freezing mud made him think of her. This week. He would ask her this week.

Dave vacuumed his room. It was spotless. Everything in its place. He doubted his room had ever been this clean or organised. But bursary English was tomorrow, it had to be clean. Else how would he study? He was going to ask her out tomorrow, at lunch. He had to do it now. In two weeks it would be summer and school would be a memory.

"I think I’m going to Dave. He has a nice house his parents bought him. They’re wealthy. But that isn’t why I like him. It’s just that he is everything I’ve ever wanted. All I need."

She looked out over the harbour. The blue sky cloudless and the evening sun warm.

"I want to marry him, we’ve talked about it a bit and I think that’s where we’re heading. We both want kids."

She watched a yacht dance around the harbour, dangerously close to Portsmouth drive playing in the shallows.

"You’ll help me move wont you? I have lots of stuff and it’ll take me ages with just me and mum."

"So you’re going to move in with him then."

"Yeah, I think talking to you made it clearer. Thanks, I’ll always remember this. You’re a good friend."

"Anything to help," he mumbled feebly.

"Anyway, what have you been doing."

"All I’ve done is chase a rainbow."

© Matthew Robertson

1998