Chapter 8

When I woke up, the sky was already bright, but the sun still nowhere to be seen. “What time is it?”, I asked Paula, who was standing a few meters away from me, watching the horizon again. “Guess around four.” I growled as my whole body itched from the grass and probably some bugs. Really, sleeping outside is not half as romantic as films make it seem. I learned a lot about Paula last night. That she lived alone with her grandma, a very sociable person, who often wasn’t home, despite her age. That she had had a best friend a few years ago, who had moved to London, but they still texted sometimes. That she loved pickles but hated cucumbers. That she didn’t own a single white piece of clothes, because they always tempted her to draw on them. That she had painted that mural on the house together with her grandma in sixth grade. And that she was not always a strong person, although her confidence was real and not just a facade.

“Actually, I wanted to ask you something”, I said after a while. Paula turned in my direction and sat down beside me. “What is it?” – “Why do you have a bucket list? I mean, how do you get all these fancy ideas?” She leaned back a bit and sighed. “Not all of them are mine, to be honest. I found the list in my mom’s stuff after grandma cleaned it all out. Some things were already crossed out, so I decided I would finish it in her place. Turns out it’s pretty fun.” The corners of her lips curled upwards, but the smile didn’t really reach her eyes. I opened my mouth to say something, to ask, then closed it again. “I told you, nights always make me feel melancholic”, she said. “That’s why I am a sunrise person. The light disperses the darkness and shadows from the world and gives hope for a new day. Let’s not talk about the past, rather decide on the future. I know what we could do next.”

It was August, just for the record, it was August, when we went into the mall with Santa costumes. Try wearing boots and a coat and a beanie in summer and you know why we celebrate Christmas in winter. Not to mention the people staring at us. I hid my face behind my hair, trying to remember when exactly I had agreed to this. Paula on the other hand walked fully confident through the main hall as if it was the most natural thing in the world. We had made cookies and muffins to give to the children at the mall and it all went pretty well until we saw security guards chasing after us. Paula stopped where she was and faced them. “Who are you and what are you doing.” Not friendly. “Can’t you see. We’re Santas and we are giving cookies to the kids.” The guards narrowed their brows. “It’s August.” I sighed. “You want a cookie?” Paula held the cookie bag in front of them. “Self made and super yummy.” They didn’t react. “We must ask you to leave.” – “Oh come on. At least try one. They’re not poisoned.” Slowly, people started gathering around us to watch the scene and I just wished I could vanish. “We must ask you to leave”, the security man repeated. I pulled Paula’s sleeve, urging her to go. “We didn’t do anything wrong”, she said. I wasn’t sure about that. Right as I thought they were about to grab us and throw us out, one of the guards reached for a cookie and ate it. Stunned I watched. “Good as always, Paula.” They burst out laughing. “Good act, Mr. Sanders.” The people around us were as confused as I was. “Guess I owed one to the Goddess of Cake.”