Chocolate Puddles and Imaginary Fish

On shaky worn out legs, Albert walked down the equally worn out line of sidewalk. It had been many a year since his feet had tread this path before. Whispered voices, faded visages and haunting memories had beckoned him back home to Old Mill Street, and now he was Old Albert Sparks.1

No longer the spry young thing he had once been, he could now truly come to an understanding with Old Mill St. He had just left the funeral. Dolores. Oh, his dear, wonderful, beautiful Dolores, childhood's love. His golden sun on the rainiest of autumn days, much like this day in particular. As children they would run up Old Mill St. to fish in the tiny creek adjacent. They never caught a thing which always made Albert quite sore.2

Dolores would just laugh and shake her head. "Are you mad? Look at the bounty we have here. Your the best fisherman in the world Alby!" She smiled as she held up the imaginary line of decidedly imaginary fish. It never failed. That sunny grin with the missing tooth was all he needed. It made the imaginary fish taste better than the real thing ever could. Now Albert passed the creek with vacant eyes. Nothing but a ditch full of refuse now. The only thing anyone could catch would be an old, rusting shopping cart or a cold.3

He stared back down at the broken cement of the sidewalk. Back then the breaks had been tiny cracks. "Don't step on the cracks Alby! You'll break your mother's back!" Dolores would shout and spin, her auburn curls dancing in the sunlight. That missing tooth had grown back in by now but her smile was still as mischievous and enchanting as it had ever been.4

Together they would skip down the street in a race to see who could make it without stepping on a single crack. He had always let her win. Now the sidewalk was a health hazard. Stepping on a crack was more likely to break your leg than your mother's back.5

Albert wound carefully around them. At the end of Old Mill St. sits the old ice cream parlor. He could tell from some distance that it would be lucky to make it through another winter. The boards over the windows were so broken down that they no longer served any real purpose and the roof dipped precariously low in the middle.6

Back when they were kids it was a veritable palace of everything good, and safe. Never empty and always smelling of the most delicious aromas, they would hurry back home to beg a penny off his Mom or Dad. Back they would race as fast as their legs could carry them for a nice cool treat. It would always be two heaping cones of the best chocolate ice cream in the world, or so it would seem.7

One time on a particular scorcher, Dolores' ice cream ended up as a melted puddle, right on top of his dingy sneakers. Dolores had appeared close to tears until Albert had handed over his own. "Thank you so much Alby!" she said sweetly, kissing his cheek. Her grin was now covered in shiny braces, and was now the most beautiful thing he had ever laid eyes on.8

The last time he had seen that smile was at the bus stop. Both now graduated from High School, the most obvious place for Albert to go was to fight the Nazi's. Here they stood, him in his green uniform with a small suitcase in hand. "Alby, you look so handsome. Just like Clark Gable." She whispered through tears. Even crying, she was still smiling.9

"Don't go boosting my ego. I have red hair and I'm skinnier than a telephone pole, but thanks anyhow Doll. I'm going to miss you but next time I see you, you better believe we're going to the parlor, your treat," he shouted as he boarded the bus.10

Next time didn't come. The war had been longer and harsher than he anticipated and life had taken him on a different course. They wrote back and forth at first but every week turned into every month, and every month into every year. After a while he heard she was a wife and a mother. Good for her. She would make a perfect Mom. He meanwhile focused on a career as time passed him by. Now, he was Old Albert Sparks on Old Mill St. ... and Dolores was gone.11

He looked down at himself with wet, glistening eyes. No chocolate puddle on his shoe. Just a decrepit fossil of a man in a black moth-eaten suit and shiny shoes two sizes too big. Where had they gone? Where had time gone? He sobbed and glanced at the sky in hopes of seeing her grin. Nothing.12

On he trudged hoping to follow her into oblivion. He spied a glint of copper ahead of him as he reached the end of the street. As he neared the dilapidated ice cream parlor, he realized that on the ground in front of it was a dirty penny. Stopping carefully he picked it up and brushed off the grime. It felt so incredibly light in his hand, just like the years he thought while watching the sun peak through the clouds. Albert sat down heavily upon the curb and began staring down at the penny in his wrinkled hands. It was now shiny in the sliver of sunlight, just like her grin.13

"Thanks Doll..." he sighed to the autumn air.14