Three-Legged Race

'What kind of a place is this anyway? No pizza crИpe?'

'Funny boy,' Amy said. 'I think I'll just have a dessert one. How about a CrИpe Grand Marnier?'

'Fine. Me too. It better be good or I'll break your leg.'

'Just try it. Why can't you be romantic like the guy in the movie?'

'I'm not your lover. If you put out for me, I'd bring you candy.'

'My, aren't we suave tonight? It's not part of the game, I'm sorry to say.'

They ordered the two CrИpes Grand Marnier and ate them with delight. They tasted the sweet powdered sugar, the thin crisp crИpe and the sharp flavor of the liqueur. The dim candlelight and quiet music were the backdrop, and they sat for a long while after they had finished eating.

'It's so nice to be away from the hospital for a night. Sometimes it gets to seem like it's the only world there is,' Amy said.

'I know what you mean, although sometimes I wonder if it's such a bad world compared to the real one.'

'I liked the movie tonight. But it was so sad. I wished the girl hadn't died in the end.'

'They always die in the movies. You know that. It's tough, but so what? It's only a movie.'

'Have you ever cried in the movies?' Amy asked. 'I cry all the time. It's silly, I guess, but I can't help it.'

'Yeah, I cried once. I was five years old and I was taken to see Bambi. I cried when the mother died. I was just a little kid then.'

'I guess I shouldn't let movies get to me so much. They are just movies after all.'

'I had to leave my seat once when I was six,' Kirk said. 'It was during The Wizard of Oz. I took a dollar from my mother's purse. I sneaked out of the house one Sunday and went by myself. Well, when those flying monkeys came swooping down and picked up Dorothy, I almost wet my pants I was scared. I ran up the aisle and watched the whole rest of the movie from the lobby.'

'You're funny,' Amy said. 'It's cold in here too. Let's get going. I guess I should have brought a sweater after all. We should be heading back soon anyway.' She coughed quietly.

'Yeah, I guess so. Brent must be wondering where we are.'

They paid the bill and went back to the deserted sidewalk. They passed by store windows on the quiet street.

'I wish we could bring something back for Brent.'

'Why don't we?' Kirk said.

'Nothing's open.'

They passed a shop full of handthrown pottery and original jewelry and a shop with jeans and jersey tops.

'What do you take a guy in the hospital when none of the stores are open? I wish we had thought of it earlier. At least we could have taken him a cup of popcorn or something,' Amy said.

'We could break a window and steal something,' Kirk laughed. 'Pull a heist, so to speak.'

'What kind of a getaway could we make with you in a wheelchair?'

'Slow.'

'Exactly.'

'I can see the headlines now: 'Mono Bonnie and Wheelchair Clyde Strike Again.' Somehow it seems a little too dramatic.'

Kirk stopped the wheelchair and leaned over. He picked up a candy wrapper from the sidewalk.

'How about this? Do you think Brent needs a used candy wrapper?'

'Aren't you thoughtful, but I think he has enough already.'

'That's the trouble with trying to find a gift for someone who has everything. We could take him flowers,' Kirk said. 'You always take people in the hospital flowers.'

'Kirk, that's a wonderful idea. Where are we going to get flowers at a time like this? I didn't notice an all- night florist on the way to the movie.'

'Yeah, I know, but I bet I do know where we could get some flowers at this hour.'

'Where?'

'There's a cemetery less than a block from here.'

'You've got to be kidding,' Amy said.

'No, really, I'm serious. There are always tons of flowers lying around a graveyard begging to be picked up.'

'We couldn't do that.'

'Sure we could. No one would ever miss them. A flower here, a flower there, what's the difference? They practically have 'Pick These' signs all over the place.'

Amy laughed. 'I guess you're right. I hope we don't get caught.'

'Now who would catch us at this hour?'

The bank clock on the corner said eleven thirty.

Kirk wheeled ahead and Amy followed. On the other side of the small park was a church with a graveyard. Kirk and Amy moved through the warm darkness past the gates into the cemetery.

'It's spooky,' Amy said. The fireflies were high in the trees now. The light from the streetlamps barely reached that far into the blackness.

Amy wandered among the tombstones. Kirk wheeled across the damp grass.

'Somebody's bound to notice the tire marks tomorrow,' Amy said.

'They'll just think it was a ghoul with training wheels,' Kirk replied.

There were a few pots of planted flowers - geraniums, petunias and summer marigolds.

'I don't see anything worth picking yet. Geraniums smell like mud. Only the best for Brent,' Kirk said.

They wandered farther into the darkness.

'Hey, look at this,' Kirk said. Amy came to him. Kirk had stopped by a grave piled high with fresh flowers, full wreaths of white carnations, piles of long roses wrapped with white ribbons.

'They must have buried someone here just today,' Kirk said. 'There are sure lots here we can take.'

'I don't feel right about it,' Amy said.

'So what's the difference, Amy? We'll take just a few. Nobody will notice. Brent will appreciate them more than this person. Here, pass me some of those roses. I'll hold them in my lap.'

Amy bent down and picked up a few roses. She handed them to Kirk, cutting her finger on one of the thorns. She sucked on it until the bleeding stopped.

'Hand me some more,' Kirk said. 'We can't be cheap about this.'

Amy bent down again and passed him some more roses and some carnations. There were so many flowers, no one would be able to tell that a few were missing.

'More, Amy. Really pile me up.'

They finally stopped when Kirk could hold no more. His lap was heaped high with flowers. They seemed to glow in the dim white light.

'They're beautiful,' Amy said. 'I think Brent will like them.'

'Sure he will. It was a good idea.'

Amy leaned back against the tombstone.

'I feel all tired out,' she said. 'It's been an evening, all right. I loved it. If we stayed here all night, we'd be covered with dew by morning. It would sparkle in our hair. If Brent were only here, I wouldn't move an inch.'

Kirk said, 'We'd better head back.'

They started to move. Amy turned back to the grave with the flowers. 'Thanks,' she said. 'Brent needs them too. I hope you don't mind.'

'Come on, crazy girl,' Kirk said laughing.

They passed through the dim graveyard between the tombstones in the darkness. They returned to the sidewalk and the streetlights.

'Boy, do you look silly. Like a rolling greenhouse,' Amy said.

'I've got this thing about flowers. They follow me everywhere. It's kind of embarrassing on the school bus sometimes.'

A dog started barking from the porch of a darkened house. Amy and Kirk looked toward the noise. The dog,