B E L L O

“Thought so,” she grinned, rezipping the bag and slipping out the door again. Throwing the bag over her shoulder and trying not to look too suspicious now she was standing outside the shed, Nyla turned to the other girl. “So, where’re we heading?”

“Exactly! I guess you could put up some decorations for it but who does that? At least save that for Easter. People are weirdos. Hm,I guess but it tastes better when you get it closer to Valentines.”

“the land of eternal summer? where’s that?”

Moving past Desta as she pushed open the door, she turned on her heel as she pulled the bag off her shoulder, giving her a nod. “Sounds good to me. Holler if you see anyone.” Putting all of her trust into Desta as her lookout, Ny set about grabbing the things they’d need and stuffing them into her bag. A couple trowels, a hand fork, even a pair of gardening gloves. The very last thing she threw in was a can of red paint that had been resting on a shelf– just in case they needed more, of course. Then, she moved back to the door and held out the bag for the other girl to look into. “How’s that look?”

“Well yes,I guess I do. Huh,I guess so but who really buys Valentines stuff so early? It’s not like you have to put up that much stuff for it.”

“Does it really seem silly if I say that’s what I want to do? It seems logical. Why go sledding when there is no snow, that’s impossible really, well not impossible just difficult. Ice skating could be a possibility and I’ve never done that before. But the beach is an environment I’ve never been to before. I think I’d rather a new environment than activity.”

“Exactly. Who would need gardening tools at this time of year?” Aside from us, she added, though not out loud. Hopping up from where she’d been perched, she zipped up the bag and threw it over her shoulder, taking a step towards the door before motioning for Desta to follow, “C’mon, best get this done quick.”

“Yes I understand the weather situation, did you here me saying to not complain about that simple denominator? I never planned to swim in the ocean, I do not have a death wish. Ice cream in a cold environment actually makes you warmer so..I do not see the problem here. Okay. What do you suggest?”

I don’t think I’d ever be able to do after Christmas shopping or Black Friday. Groups of people reallystress me out. What if I got squooshed? Aren’t you afraid of that?

“I have the paint,” reaching down beside the couch she was perched on, Nyla grabbed her schoolbag and swung it so that Desta could see inside the open zip. Rather than having books inside, it was half-filled with spray paint cans. “If you aren’t opposed to some sneaking around, we could pay a visit the gardening shack– get that equipment we need, without needing to pay anything.”

“Well, I was just gonna throw out the idea of boring ‘ol graffiti, but–” drawing out the word, Nyla’s expression went from mostly bored to mischievous in an instant, her lips upturning in what could only be described as a wicked grin, “I can have some fun with snowmen. Especially ones that look like they’ve died from severe trauma.”