Childhood Summers and Ring Pops

"Johnny! Stop!" Nine-year-old squealed, running downhill away from her summer friend. Jonathan was close behind her, grass stains on his knees and a grin plastered on his face. It didn't take long before he caught her, but his momentum made them tumble to the ground and roll to the bottom of the hill, both laughing hysterically.

Finally at the bottom, they laid on their backs for a while, puffing and panting. It was a beautiful day in Sainte-Marie, Quebec, and small cottony clouds were rolling in the clear blue sky, making shapes Jan was struggling to identify.

"Janny?"

The little girl turned to see her friend looking at her, his smile never leaving his face. Jonathan was a year younger than she was, as she loved to remind him, but he still was her favorite person to play with every time summer rolled around. But it was already mid-August, and she knew he would soon leave to his home in Manitoba. She had asked at school one day how far Manitoba was, and the class smarty had pushed up his glasses and answered "it's next to Australia. Duh."

But that did not matter right then. He was still here, and they were having the best time of the year. As always. 'We're like Bonnie and Clyde.' She thought, having heard the story somewhere. Bonnie and Clyde were best friends, even if they were a boy and a girl, that did everything together. 'Janny and Johnny.' She giggled.

"Yeah?" She answered, out of breath. She looked into his eyes, getting lost in the deep, chocolate brown they held. She just loved his eyes. She had once told him that, adding that she hated her dull gray eyes. He had just frowned, looking in the mirror. "My eyes are boring," he had said. "Everyone has brown eyes. I wish I had gray eyes like you."

"Mommy said you couldn't come to Winnipeg with us," Jonathan pouted. "She says you have to stay here with your parents."

Jan pouted with him. "Bummer. I don't want you to leave again."

They were silent for a while before Jonathan began rummaging in his back pocket. "I have an idea."

Jan only stared at him questioningly before he told her "don't look!" so she simply laid back down in the grass, looking at the clouds and hearing something like a plastic wrapper being opened. "You can look now."

She sat up and turned to see him holding a Ring Pop, the Pop part already cracked and broken. "It probably broke while we were rolling down the hill... Sorry." He mumbled.

"It's okay." Jan smiled, slipping the ring on her thumb. "Cherry, my favorite!"

"I thought we could be married. You know, like my mom leaves my dad for the summer but that doesn't mean they're not together anymore." He grinned, obviously proud of his idea. "It's like us. I leave after summer but I always come back."

Jan copied his grin. "It's perfect! Wow, I never thought about that." She stuck the pop in her mouth, her mouth immediately filling with the synthetic cherry flavor she loved.

"It's supposed to go on your left hand. The finger beside the pinky." He held his hand up to show his own green Ring Pop. "That's where my parents wear their ring."

Jan quickly moved the ring so it was on her left hand, on the finger Jonathan had shown her. Ironically, she learned later on that it was called the ring finger. "So we're married now?"

Jonathan nodded, licking his own ring. "For forever." He grinned at her, and she grinned back, positive that they would be friends forever and always.

Jan sighed, dropping her right arm over her eyes. It was six-thirty on Sunday morning, way too early for anyone to be conscious; yet here she was, unable to fall asleep again. She reluctantly sat up, raking her fingers through her hair. She had seen Jonathan again only the day before, and here she was digging up memories of summers past, old and faded like a polaroid.

After recognizing her, Jonathan had simply stared at her as a minute of of awkward silence fell over the two, not knowing what to say after a decade of absence. It was finally Andrée who had cleared her throat loudly and announced that it was very nice seeing her again, but that they had plenty to do and that they'd be seeing her very soon. Then she had tugged at the sleeve of her son's t-shirt, who was visibly startled out of his thoughts and followed his mother out of the supermarket. Never looking back.

After her shift, she ran home to call up Melissa and told her what had happened, only to realize that Mel had no idea of what she was talking about. So she explained the whole story to her, beginning when she was the happy three-year-old skating wobbily at the local arena and meeting the Winnipeg native up to the summer of her thirteenth birthday when her mother had told her that no, Andrée and her son were not coming to Sainte-Marie for the summer. Jan had thought she had skimmed through the whole story, but it took her over an hour for her to explain.

Melissa had been surprised to hear that her best friend knew Jonathan Toews, but of course, Mel wasn't from the region. She had lived in the heart of Quebec City up until high school, and had packed up and left on a whim right after the hat-throwing ceremony of her graduation. Why she chose the small, quiet almost-village of Sainte-Marie, Jan always wondered, and Melissa didn't have an answer to give her.

She was starting to stand up as the phone rang, startling her into sitting back down on her bed. Curious about who would be calling her before seven, she answered almost suspiciously.

"Janice! Sweetie, I didn't wake you up I hope?" Andrée's voice carried through the phone.

"Uh, no, I was awake actually." Jan rubbed her eyes, willing her vision to sharpen after hours of staring at the back of her eyelids.

"Good! I didn't notice the time before Davie said I'd wake you." So the two boys were in town. Jan felt the side of her mouth twist into a smile.

"No I'm fine. How are you?" She asked politely. "I'm afraid Mom can't talk to you. She's out for the weekend."

"Aw, that's too bad." Andrée genuinely sounded sorry to hear it. "But at least you're here, and that's the important part. Tell me you aren't doing anything this afternoon."

"Um, I had nothing planned. Why?" She asked, biting the inside for her lower lip.

"Because you're coming to our picnic! Practically everyone will be there, and of course you're the first one I want to see. It's at my parent's house, surely you remember where it is?"

"Of course I do Andrée." How could she forget, when she passed every single day of every summer there, either playing with Jonathan or later on, when he didn't visit anymore, helping the Gilberts with their lawn and fence?

"That's great! So I'll see you at six then. Wear something cute!" Before Jan could reply that she hadn't fully accepted yet, the line went dead, leaving Jan with her thoughts.

Wear something cute? What was that supposed to mean?