Let Us Be Friends Forever and Ever

 

            Rick was smiling when Hannah and Dexter came into his office, because he had been wondering what in the world it would take to get them together. And now he knew. It took a skinned knee.
            “Hannah, come and sit down. What happened to you?” said Rick, heading to the kitchen nook, where he kept the first aid kit. When he came back into the room he handed the first aid box to Dexter.
            “I was walking up into the campground, and I tripped. I don’t know what I tripped on. I don’t remember anything except landing on the ground with a skinned knee and torn pants,” said Hannah.
            “Why don’t you sit on my desk? It’ll give Dexter better access to your knee,” said Rick.
            “Can you pull your jeans up above your knee,” said Dexter, who found himself in charge without noticing it happening.
            So, Hannah hopped up on Rick’s desk and pulled her jeans leg up above her knee. Both men examined the wound and decided it wasn’t very serious. Dexter swabbed it off with some kind of antibiotic wipe. Then he very gingerly smoothed a drop of Neosporin over the scuffed area, and put a large Band-Aid over it.
            “Thanks, Dexter,” said Hannah, who climbed down off the desk and pulled her pant leg back into place. “Didn’t hurt a bit hardly,” she said.
            All three stood quietly for a moment. Then Rick said, “Why don’t you walk her up to her place? If you see any campers looking lost and bewildered, you can help them out.”
            By the time they left the ranger station office, evening was coming down. The sky was deep purplish blue, and the great trees stood in dark relief. A little sigh of cool wind blew past them, reminding them that fall was coming some day soon. It was a summer night, the sweetest of times.
            Hannah tried not to limp, and Dexter tried not to walk too fast for her.
            There were a couple of RVs pulled into the longer parking spots. Lights shone from their windows, and it smelled of cooking in the campground. One yellow tent was lit from inside, causing it to appear rather unworldly sitting there glowing in the dimming light.
            Hannah’s small mobile sat in darkness. She fished her key out of her pocket and unlocked the door.
            “Would you like to come in,” said the girl.
            “Yes,” said the boy.
            She turned on the kitchen light and opened a couple of windows to let out the stale air.
            “I could make coffee,” she suggested.
            “I wouldn’t mind coffee,” said Dexter.
            “Why don’t you sit, and I’ll do that,” she said.
            So, he sat and watched her boil water and set up her French press.
            “Hannah,” he said, “you are beautiful and wise. I like you very much.”
            “I like you very much too. But I didn’t know how much until today. We could be friends forever and ever and it wouldn’t be too long.”
            “Maybe someday we could marry, and always be best friends,” said Dexter.
            “I think maybe we could do that. I feel like I’m pretending, but I’m not,” said Hannah.
            She laughed a little, then went to her fridge and brought out the green crown that Cherry had made. She put it on her head to demonstrate how neat it looked. It had been in the fridge to keep it fresh. She struck a couple of poses, and he took out his phone and took a couple of photos of her in the crown.
            “Would you like to try it on?” said Hannah, more seriously.
            “OK,” said Dexter.
            Hannah put the green crown on Dexter’s head, and suddenly he looked different. His red hair and pale skin and blue eyes contrasted with the green of the leaves.
            “You look like some kind of mythic king, Dexter,” said Hannah.
            She made several photos of him as he posed it up a little. There was a fair amount of giggling.
            They both took their coffee with cream and sugar in large brown mugs.
            “I better go home. I will have to be back here in the morning at 8AM.”
            “I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said.
            “Lock your door, Hannah. I don’t want anything to  happen to you, now that we are friends forever.”
            “Don’t worry. Ralph and Maeve are nearby and they keep watch, Dexter. No fear,” said Hannah.
            She hugged him around his slender middle, and he kissed the top of her head as if she were a beloved child. She laughed and gave him a little smooch on his lips.
            Then Dexter went home, and Hannah went to bed. Both had work in the morning.
            Her knee didn’t bother her too much, but she had to get out another pair of jeans for the next day.

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