Some boy, somewhere

In the dark autumn night a small boy is walking in the rain. The wind
sometimes makes the yellow and orange leaves whirl around as if to say
"hey, what's up?". But the boy doesn't listen to the wind's
question. He just walks on. Once in a while a car glides by with the
headlights reflecting in the many pools of water. The boy doesn't mind
the rain either and he doesn't mind the pools of water that once in a
while blocks his way. He just walks on. Despite the rain he can still
taste the salt taste of his tears when they run down his cheeks. "Why
does it always have to be like this?", he thinks as he turns a corner
and continues down a long dark alley. Away from the cars.


The boy has probably been in love with all the girls in his school
class. It doesn't take much for him to fall in love. At least the kind
of love that a ten year old believe is love. Insecure as he has always
been he has never dared approaching a girl so when She, the most
popular girl in class, approached him the other day he first turned
red and did not know what to say. Her smile was so lovely and it was
so amazing that She was talking to Him. He had many times looked at
her in secret but he had always known that she was out of reach so
imagine how his heart jumped when she after a few words asked him if
he wanted to go to the new movie with her tonight down at the town's
cinema, because you see, even though the town was a very small town it
had a cinema. Maybe not the best cinema in the world but everyone in
the little town was very proud of it and going to see a film was
always something very special. Going with a girl was, of course, just
unbelievable.

When school finally ended, the boy ran home. He really ran, bounced,
tumbled his way home as fast as he possibly could. His mother was at
home making dinner as usual. The boy sat down at the table to eat but
he was too happy to eat. He just rambled on about this and that and
his mother, wise as she was, just played on and the mood in the whole
family got to be a very cheerful one. The wise mother suspected what 
might have caused this sudden change in her little sons mood and she
was so happy for him. It was not common that he was this happy, being
a boy with many thoughts, too many thoughts, so the boy's mother
smiled both on the inside and on the outside when she saw him. He told
her that he was going to see a movie, but of course he did not tell
her that he was going with a girl. Of course not! After trying to
finish his meal for some time he was excused and went to his room to
prepare for the night. Oh, so many ideas went through his head during
those two hours before the movie and when it was finally time to go he
put on his nicest trousers, the pair his mother always wanted him to
wear but that he felt a bit uncomfortable in, and walked his way to
the theatre.   

Once there he stood outside waiting, nervous as few that night. What
was he to say? He went through all the nice lines in his head but he
knew that when She finally got there he would not remember any of them
anyway so he abandoned the idea and just stood there waiting. He was
too early, as always, so it took some time. It took too long he
thought. Where was She? Did he mistake on which day she meant? He was
almost about to give up when she finally arrived. She arrived! How
lovely! But, the strangest thing was that she was not alone. She had
three of her friends with her and they were all chatting loudly,
laughing at each other when they came closer. It's ok of course for
her to bring her friends, the boy thought. But the strangest thing
happened. They didn't notice him and just walked past him and started
going into the theatre. He called out her name, a bit insecurely as he
usually did and then they stopped. She looked a bit uncomfortable when
she looked at him, then at her friends and then at him again. Then she
went up to him. "I thought you got it that I was only pretending! It
was just a joke! Did you really think I wanted to go with you? I'm
sorry...". And she turned around and they all went into the cinema
giggling beween each other. 

The boy just stood there. He stood there for a long time. He did not
know what to do. He did not see the fun part of the joke at all. It
was no joke to him at all. He started crying and to hide his tears he
walked away from the entrance of the theatre. He did not want to come
home immediately because then his mother would ask him what had
happened and he did not want to start crying in front of her. So he
started walking around the little town, through the park down by the
lake. The rain started falling and he walked and walked in the rain
until enough time had passed and then he started on his way home.  



When the boy comes in through the front door he can hear his mother
still in the kitchen. When she hears him entering she stops what she's
doing and comes out to meet him, curious as she is. 
-"My god, you're wet", she says. "It must be raining much more now".
-"Yes, probably", the boy answers and manages to squeeze out a smile
at the miserable rain. 
-"So, how was the movie?", she asks. 
-"It was ok", he says and walks past her into his room and shuts the
door behind him. Maybe it was ok, he thinks to himself lying on his bed. 
It could have been ok.