Page 30 of Flirtasaurus
“Cool. My guess is it isn’t broken then. I used to do some ka-ra-tay when I was younger, and kids were always busting their toes when we kicked the wooden boards. They couldn’t walk for days.”
“Sorry, did you mean karate?”
“That’s what I said. Ka-ra-tay.”
“Okay, you have to stop pronouncing it like that. It really diminishes your cool factor.”
“You think I have a cool factor?” He smiles brightly at me.
“Well, not anymore, I don’t!”
He laughs. “Noted. So, shall we?”
And then we’re walking side by side. Intentionally this time. And it no longer feels weird or aggressive, but kind of nice actually.
“I’m a little surprised you want to help me.”
“Why is that?”
“I just figured you were pretty mad at me. Ya know, for this morning.”
“Well, I do feel a bit responsible for this, uh… footcident.”
“Footcident?”
“Yeah. And footcident or not, wouldn’t I be a bit of a douche if I didn’t help out a woman struggling with a bunch of boxes?”
“I wasn’t struggling,” I protest.
“You were. But hey, for the record? I’m not mad at you. My boss, however…”
“Ismad at me?”
“No, he’s mad atme.”
“Oh. Is he going to give you another chance, I hope? To lead the planetarium show?”
“Looks that way, yeah.”
“Good. That’s good.”
We’re separated for a moment as we push through the revolving doors leading outside. Damn Philadelphia is beautiful in the springtime. Flowers on the trees. College rowing teams gliding silently down the Schuylkill. I think I might love it here.
“Which way are we going?”
“That way.” I point. “Then we’ll hang a right on Locust.”
We walk in silence for a block or so, and my foot actually doesn’t feel so bad after all. I should probably tell him as much and just travel the rest of the way myself, but for some reason, I don’t.
“You’ll be happy to know we’re cutting the part about the dinosaurs farting themselves out of existence.”
“Really? Why? You’re not changing it because of what I said, are you?”
“Hell, no.”
“Oh.”
“No offense, but your opinion doesn’t hold much weight with me. At least not yet.”
