Two Hours
You smiled as you saw me walking towards you. We said hello and before long we were on our way to the massive playground that you were so excited to visit. I was a bit confused as to where it was, but you knew to follow the red signs, and soon enough the spectacular rope structures and towering artificial hills came into view. I’m ashamed to admit that one of my first thoughts when I saw the sand on the ground was “But my shoes will be full of sand?!”
As you dashed towards one of the structures I reminded myself that sand in my shoes was an inconsequential price to pay for making wonderful memories with you that I would cherish for a very long time, if not for the rest of my life. I followed you and by the time I caught up you were already climbing onto the second “floor” of the wooden bungalow, which consisted of strong sections of rope that criss-crossed and from which you smiled down at me as I looked up from below.
In an instant, I became a troll that chased you around from below and attempted to grab your feet as you laughed and giggled while avoiding me in a lithe, almost effortless manner. You escaped via a connected wooden bridge and I lumbered behind. Every so often you would stop and look behind or around you to make sure I was still following and perhaps to give me a fairer chance of catching up. Hopping down from the bridge, you headed for another wooden labyrinthine cube-like contraption.
You crawled inside of the labyrinth and bade me to follow suit, to which I responded that I was a bit too big to squeeze in the same way you had. For this of course you had a solution, which involved you rearranging some of the movable panels of the labyrinth thus creating a me-sized gap which I could then climb into. This I did and together we continued rearranging the panels as we saw fit, with you intermittently exploring the new form of our creation.
After our adventures in the movable 3D maze, it was time for an ice cream. I chose pistachio on a stick, and you chose chocolate in a cone. We took a seat on a railing under the shade of a few trees as we enjoyed our well-earned frozen reward. I practically gulped mine down, while you took your time and about halfway through handed yours to me saying you were done. I had a bit more of yours before conceding that I also did not want to finish it, tossing it in a trash can nearby.
With fresh energy you took off for the plastic mountains, complete with caves underneath. I chased you around, up, and under the mountains as you evaded me once again. A tunnel connected both cavernous regions under the plastic mountains, which you used with great effectiveness to quickly move from one side of the plastic mountain region to the other, while I was stuck going around outside and back in, a much slower route.
All this chasing, climbing, ducking, and running had worked up your appetite, so we took another stroll over to the snack bar, where you ordered a Bratwurst with a piece of bread, while I grabbed a coffee for myself. We talked while you munched away on the sausage and I sipped my coffee, enjoying this moment with you. I checked my watch and made the sinking realization that our time together was already drawing to a close. I tried not to let the melancholy show on my face as I told you we would be heading back soon.
There was still time for one or two more rounds of cat-and-mouse through the playground, but soon enough we started our walk back through the park towards the entrance where we would part ways. I told you I loved you, that I had so much fun, and that I was so grateful I got to spend time with you. The sand squished in between my toes with every step as we drew ever closer to the park entrance. We hugged and gave each other our signature fist bump, and you told me how excited you were to stay in your hotel tonight and play with your knight action figures. As we emerged from the park, your grandfather was already approaching from the opposite direction to pick you up. We gave each other our signature fist bump once more before we said goodbye.
I didn’t want to walk in the same direction as the both of you after saying goodbye, even though it was the direction I needed to go, so I walked for a minute or two the opposite way before turning back around. From a distance, I saw you disappear into the convention center, and felt the ever-familiar weight in my chest as I proceeded on towards the subway entrance, knowing you were only a few hundred meters from me but that our time together, for now, had already drawn to a close.