TWINKLE TWINKLE

IV. Wheels

I ran away from home. And here I am running and running again. Is there no end?
I thought about going back home and immediately withdraw. I’m not ready for extreme noises and deafening silence yet.

I stopped by a little park down by the roadside. I think it’s the fourth time I saw this banner which said, “We are proud to be from the town of hope and flowers”.
I spent minutes watching cars pass by. And I know from the moment I sat there, there have been 17 cars which passed. That would make a total of 68 wheels. Then I remembered Kyle.

Pale Street is one of the busiest roads in our city. In a day hundreds of cars pass by. Our house is by the main road. Whenever there’s nothing to do I watch cars pass. I count them by our garden, sitting on the grass.

One day while on my momentum of calculating and catching cars, someone passed my way. I didn’t even held my head to look up. Then he passed my way again, blocking my view. I concentrated back to my counting. Suddenly it’s him again blocking. My patience wore thin. I don’t like it when somebody disturbs me whether I’m doing the smallest task or biggest ones. So I stood and pushed him away. He laughed his heart out at the sight of me really pissed.

“What?!”
“You look like I just destroyed your favorite toy.”
“You actually ruined my day!”
“I’m sorry. I’m Kyle. We just moved next door.”
“And?”
“Can I count cars with you? I love doing that too.”

That was the beginning of a good friendship. He was my only friend in the neighborhood. I never befriended the kids there though I want to. They find my look weird so nobody talks to me. A big pair of glasses and the long black hair made me some sort of laugh stock to them. And I was too small for my age.

We spent are afternoons counting cars. He taught me some car models I never known before. He let me borrow his car magazines and we play with his many toy cars by their attic.
Mama likes Kyle so much. She bakes real good cookies for us in the afternoon and she usually invites him for dinner and T.V. It went on for weeks.

But the days after my 7th birthday I saw a big truck unloading everything in Kyle’s house. I was completely puzzled. I waited to see him outside. But he wasn’t there, even his Mom, Dad and sister. He never even said goodbye.

I never felt so alone. I never felt so lonely. Mama wasn’t talking to anyone. Kyle left. I counted cars alone and spend the whole night crying by my window.

One day I came across the neighbor kids. They raided Kyle’s house. I heard them talking about some treasure they were taking away. So I followed them. They went to the attic. They screeched in happiness. I was shocked with what I saw. All of Kyle’s toy cars were there. Is that possible that he left it for me?

“These stuffs are too good to throw away. That yellow one belongs to me now! Let’s get this place cleaned up. Hurry up!”
“They were in so much hurry when the family left.”
“I heard the pale boy got hit by a car and died.”
“Well who cares? We have his toys now. Ha-ha!”
“So a truck ran over him?”
“No. It was a red lancer 1996.”

That night I never slept. I didn’t cry. I just stared at the ceiling.

The next day I walked to school. I’m not getting my feet on our car again.