The job was easy, except on weekends, when the line of fretting children in front of his ice cream truck never seemed to end and sometimes they spoke so softly he mostly had to guess what they wanted and he had to be patient while they couldn't make up their minds. It's a wonder he somehow managed to notice her - sitting in the grass, by the lake looking and the ducks with such a wondrous look on her face, you would have thought it was the most marvelous things on earth. He kept looking at the beautiful girl, hoping she'd come by for an ice cream and he'd get a chance to see the color of her eyes and, why not, try out his most seductive smile, carefully practiced in the mirror. She did not move from the edge of the water until it was time to close shop. He had to muster all his courage to go talk to her, which did not go too well as he froze when her blue eyes turned to study him. They both started to laugh to hide their embarrassment.
He sat on the grass, not close enough to touch her, but still so near he could smell jasmine on her hair, neatly tied back in a ribbon. There was an entrancing sing-song quality to her voice, maybe because of the strange accent he could not place.

They wandered around the park well into the night, with her stopping to look at every statue and read every sign, asking questions, so many questions. He taught her how to jump on a clumsily chalked hopscotch and they went on the swings, deserted at that hour. He pushed her higher and higher, the skirt of her white dress billowing in the wind. He was afraid to ask too many questions, as if that might scare away the incredible luck of meeting such an impossibly beautiful girl. But he wasn't that used to talking to girls so the most pressing thought on his mind, managed to escape and he blurted: 'Why me? Why did you pick me?' He cursed himself as soon as the words were spoken, but she smiled and gave just a hint of a shrug.
'Why not? I have but a short time here and I want to experience everything'. He bit his lisps as he felt he was about to say something stupid again, but she guessed his thoughts anyway. And she chuckled and her hand touched his cheek for the briefest of moments.
'You look all the same to me and I just want to feel this thing you call love'.
Then her lips locked on his and he never got a chance to ask whether she was from another country, another planet or another universe altogether. And it didn't matter. They spent the night in the park and he forgot all the crushes he'd ever had and the girls he'd ever went out with and those who wouldn't go out with him, for he had found Her. He fell asleep holding her in his arms, playing with the ribbon in her hair. When he woke up only the ribbon was left and it smelled of jasmine.
He was never the same after that night and going to work was pure torture as he could hear her laughter everywhere and her voice reading the names on the statues he walked by . At night, he'd stop by the swing looking for the memory of her. When he could not stand it anymore, he shut his eyes tight trying to erase what he should never have seen, wishing he'd been born blind.

Story written for @mariannewest's freewrite challenge. Today's prompt was: Swing! Check out her blog and join our freewrite community.

Image: Pixabay