#FlashFictionMagic: Theme Park

“That was the best! Wasn’t that the best?” Seven-year-old Grace was babbling at ten miles a minute as she and Laura exited the rollercoaster and began the walk back to where Fern and Dave waited on a bench with the backpacks and drinks. 

This child is exhausting, is the only thought Laura could muster at the moment, but she immediately chastised herself. Dave and Grace were a package deal, a father-daughter team befitting a sitcom. She couldn’t have one without the other, and she really, really wanted the one. 

“Uh huh,” she said vaguely, giving Grace that smile she’d perfected over years of waiting tables. Meanwhile, she brushed through a sea of fluorescent yellow tee shirts from the Flower Hill Retirement Community, looking for the bench where she’d left her boyfriend and the babysitter. 

When Dave said he’d bring someone to take care of his daughter on their vacation, Laura had expected a college kid with her nose in a book, not someone like Fern. Though Fern was just the next-door neighbor, she was a member of the team in a way that Laura couldn’t help but find threatening.  She and Dave had a language all their own, with inside jokes about things like Hanson (wasn’t that a boy band?) and Jar Jar Binks, whom Laura had said was cute only to be met with stunned, uncomfortable silence. Fern made Laura feel like she was always a dance step behind the beat, forever stumbling and stepping on toes. 

Finally, the onslaught of retirees waned, and Dave and Fern came into view. Grace tugged on Laura’s hand. “There’s Dad! Come on!” Laura found she suddenly wanted to run to Dave, too. She wanted him to see that she could do this. She could take care of his little girl, and make her happy, and he wouldn’t need a babysitter, and they could get married and move, and then Fern wouldn’t be able to  – 

This daydream came to an abrupt end when Laura noticed the postures of the two people on the bench. Dave, lap full of everyone’s stuff, lay his arm across the backrest as his gaze wandered, taking in the sights. Beside him, Fern had fallen asleep, and her head rested against Dave’s shoulder. To any casual passerby, it undoubtedly looked like Laura was the babysitter, and these two the happy couple in love. The thought came to her: This relationship is exhausting. 

Grace woke Fern with a pounce of a hug, and she sat up, stretching. Laura figured Fern would feel embarrassed, apologize, maybe even jump to her feet when she realized what had happened. But she remained unruffled, and Dave, too, seemed to take it in stride.

They didn’t know, Laura realized.  The dance they were doing was so familiar to them, so comfortable, they didn’t see anything special in it. Only from the sidelines could someone - Laura - understand the partnership they had formed. 

As Dave rose, smiled, put an arm around Laura’s waist, and kissed her temple, Laura also understood something else. Ignorance may be bliss for Dave and Fern, but what they didn’t know could - and inevitably would - hurt her.