Sister Shnike

Charina had a bright green long sleeved shirt on over her tshirt. The elastic around her head didn't match--it never did--but it matched her runningness becuase this is what she looked like every time she went running. The silky black basketball shorts still had holes in them from her her knee brace rubbed, and trailing from underneath the front of her shirt came the white wire of her headphones. She held the old mp3 in her hand as she hopped from one foot to the other, her high, thick, horse-tail hair do swinging from side to side.

"Please, Char? Can I please go with you?" I was bundled in a ball in the corner of the couch, mostly becuase I knew she wouldn't say yes, but if she had I would have been ready at a moment's notice.

"No, Kris! I just like to run slow. I just am a slow runner, k? You go so fast!" Her little brown eyes squinted up and she gave me her receptionist smile before turning toward the door.

"Char, I will run your pace!" No budging. "Ok. Well, will you tell me where you are going? Maybe it will give me a good idea for a route." I said it hopefully, innocently. Just wondering, you know.

"I'm just going up Alta Loma around to the Borrego ditch then out by the Becars to get to Keller Park. It won't be long enough for you anyway, Kris. Sorry." She turned the doorknob and went out onto the front porch; i could see the raindrops bouncing off her shoulders as she trotted past the large front window.

I didn't lose a moment's time. Jumping off the couch, i dashed up the stairs two at a time and down the hall to my room where I ripped off my hoody. I slipped on a white long sleeved shirt over my t-shirt, much like Charina, and forced my feet into my shoes. Charina didn't have to know I wasn't still nestled in the corner of the couch. That was the point.

I ran down Topaz, past the fire mailbox, the duplex, Brianne's house, the woodpecker lightpole, and the mini hill half way down. At the stop sign on Meadowland I turned right, the muddy corner causing me to slip in my haste. I flicked the mud off my hands before resuming my jaunt past the church where Meadowland intersected with Alta Loma and started heading towards Keller Park. The sidewalk had just enough moisture to feel like it was splashing beneath my feet, and I trundled past the pine tree cluster where we had our seminary socials. If I timed it right she would be coming out by the Becar's on the other side of the park in about 2 minutes.

The grass squelched beneath my feet as I skipped through the rain across the park. I could see the fence lining the park and the point where it would open to the Becar's cul-de-sac. Still a quarter mile away I saw her emerge- bright green glimmering through the rain, flying ponytail knocking rain drops out of their paths.

My whole face broke into a huge grin. Just seeing Charina come out of the rain, running toward me with a conviction in her stride, hand clasped around the precious mp3 probably blaring Colors or Kelly Clarkson made me lengthen my stride over the clumped bits of aeration.

She eventually looked up and her eyes trailed over the landscape. I couldn't see every detail of her face, but I could tell she did a double take when the horizon was suddenly interrupted by my bounding figure.

The gap closed until I was right in front of her. "Kris! How'd you get here!?" Her lips were still pursed, but she wasn't mad. She rolled her eyes as I turned to run the same direction as she was, and the raindrops started making way for the two of us.

"Char! You look great! I was so happy to see you just forging your way through the rain just now!"

Eye roll again. She switched the mp3 over to her left hand, and I'm pretty sure between each swish of the ponytail and the bright green blur as her arms moved back and forth, I saw a sneaking smile spread across her face.