Forgetting the Forgotten

The flowers had never been so beautiful. Neither had the sky for that matter. The day was warm and as I looked up, I saw clear, crystal blue for miles around. “I’m going to the park!” I called behind me to my mom. She was in the kitchen, baking cookies.
“Alright dear! Have fun and be careful! Make sure you bring your-” I cut her off as I shut the door. It was too beautiful out to worry about such serious things. I bounced happily down the sidewalk to the park, soaking in every ray of sunlight I could and smiling up towards the sky.
“I want the blue swing!” yelled a little girl, running past me and into the park entrance. A boy not much older was right behind, laughing and yelling at her to wait up. I grinned even wider at them. They stopped at the swings and the little girl sat down on the blue one. Instead of getting on one of the other swings like I’d expected, the little boy started pushing her. She giggled and yelled for him to push her higher. The boy laughed and did so. I laughed too.
Over on the other side of the park, there was an older set of swings but one more familiar to me. I floated over with careless bliss and sat down on one of the black plastic seats. The rusty chains squealed in protest. As I stared at the two kids playing, I remembered something I had long since thought I’d forgotten.

It was a sunny day out and my mom had said I could go to the park with Nathan. We were just walking down the sidewalk, our parents behind us talking, when Nathan proposed we race.
“I’ll beat you because you’re just a girl,” Nathan said, sticking out his tongue. “And I’m older!”
“Hey!” I said in protest, pouting and crossing my arms, my short legs trying to keep up with his larger strides. “You’re only 6!”
“And you’re only 5,” he pointed out. “Are you afraid little Devvy?” he asked. He knew I hated it when he called me that. Deciding to get a head start, I rocketed ahead as I heard our parents laughing behind me and Nathan yelling that it wasn’t fair and trying to catch up. I laughed and raced through the park entrance, soaring to the swings before he could catch up and claiming the best one. Nathan came up to me and frowned.
“That wasn’t fair,” he said. “You cheated.” But Nathan was a 6 year old with the capacity to stay mad for only a few moments and he went behind me and began to push me high up so that I could see the tops of the distant trees. I giggled.
“Higher Nathan!” I called to him. He pushed me higher. I felt like I was flying, just floating above the trees and coming down only to glide back up again. Nathan stopped the swing suddenly though. I looked back at him, wanting an explanation but I never got one. Because Nathan began tickling me, his bright blue eyes shining in glee as he heard my high pitched giggles. He ruffled my long black hair and I ruffled his sandy brown hair in return.
“Nathan, you’re my best friend,” I told him, smiling as huge as possible.
“You’re my best friend too Devvy,” he told me with the same smile. “Forever and ever.”

The smile had fallen off my face as I remembered and I began to gently rock myself on the swing when I felt a push from behind me. Startled, I spun my head around to see who was pushing me. I saw a boy who couldn’t have been more than two years older than me with dark brown hair and dark brown eyes to match. He was tall (at least 6 feet) and was muscular but not to the point where his arms were bulging. As he looked at me, he smiled a small smile and my breath got caught in my throat. The boy pushed me higher to the point where I could see over the tops of the trees once again. I didn’t ask questions. I just let the boy push me as I felt free for the first time in quite a while.
The boy must have pushed me for at least five minutes before he stopped the swing and came around to look at me. We didn’t say anything for a couple seconds before he held out his hand.
“I’m Charles,” he told me, smiling with his teeth this time. They were perfectly straight and white. I smiled back a bit too.
“Devyn,” I told him, shaking his hand. “Are you new around here?” I asked.
Charles rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly and put his other hand in his pocket. “Uh…yeah. You’re actually not the first person to ask me that. I guess this is the kind of town where everybody knows everybody, huh?” he asked with a small laugh.
I smiled wider, all earlier thoughts gone. “Yeah, it sure is. But maybe you’d want me to show you around?” I asked politely, getting up off of the swing and straightening out my shirt. Charles put his other hand in his pocket and looked down shyly. My grin stayed in place.
“That’d be nice,” he told me. And so began my job as a tour guide.