first person

My friend Wendy had called me and invited me out for a Friday evening of fun. She called at 5pm and told me to meet her at her friends place at 7:30pm. I was excited about going out but not meeting at Arlene's. Arlene and I had never gotten along. She had always had something against me. It had been years since her old boyfriend had dumped her for me…and another guy who did the same thing to her… and another guy who did the same thing to her.

Helia and I were invited to a costume party and Helia had plans for both our costumes. I was not going to argue with her but she was pretty good with stuff like that.

I walked to Helia's house and knocked on the door. "I'm in the backyard!" she yelled sweetly. I walked into her backyard. Helia stood there in her costume. She was dressed as Sailor Moon. She even had that cute Odango Attama hairdo Sailor Moon has.

"Helia, you know Lisa Harrison said she was going as Sailor Moon, didn't you?"

"Yes, love, but I'm going to be a bigger and better Sailor Moon than Lisa." Helia tells me.

As we grow older, there are certain things that will always trigger a momentary flash of remembrance, bypassing the thinking mind and directly stimulating that happy place in your mind with the feelings you felt when you first experienced them. The way light falls on a certain patch of carpet on a winter's morning, the smell of something you used to enjoy in your youth... the sound you heard when your deepest, most hidden fantasies came to life.

My friend Wendy and I sat at a small large round table at a small restaurant in the mall. Wendy was having her usual health plate of sparkling water and a vegetarian sub. I was having pizza, four slices with all the toppings, a chocolate milk and a brownie for dessert. Seated around us were an assortment of mall visitors; a couple old ladies, three young boys at one table, two young mothers with their children and an older guy who was quite intrigued with the newspaper he was reading.