Drew sighed tiredly. It was the middle of summer. Everywhere in the city smelled of hot grease
and chemical attempts at flowers. People were being their annoying selves, but he had finally
found a stand that sold iced coffee. He went about in the park trying to find an unoccupied spot
to drink said iced coffee while the heat gathering on the handle of his cane made his palm sweat
uncomfortably.
He didn't enjoy sitting down on the grass as either people or animals or objects would end up
colliding with him and he didn't feel like dodging attempts today.
Drew had gone blind before his 21st birthday. It only seldom still bothered him that he would
never see things he took for granted again.
As he was sitting on the bench in the park pondering his day, he heard a voice travel a bit clearer
than others even though it sounded like they were still a ways off from reaching his bench.
Their voice came closer and closer as it drifted over from a spot behind him. He could do
nothing else but seek it out. It was like a soft, breezy caress on the otherwise harsh, humid day.
They were not happy to be out in the middle of the heat any more than Drew seemed to be and
their soft sarcasm very much amused him.
Their jokes, when sufficiently swayed by egg sandwiches apparently, were almost funnier than
their sarcastic jabs.
Listening to them was almost as amazing as the one time he went cliff diving with his friends.
When he could still catch the sunlight cheekily winking at him from the surface of the water. His
vision wasn’t as deteriorated back then as it was now. He could still tell when lights were on or
off or whether it was day or night, but the details of the world surrounding him were not his to
dwell on anymore.
And then they laughed and he nearly inhaled his iced coffee. If he wasn't listening to the joke
being told, he would have thought they were sobbing their heart out. At that moment he decided
it was the most beautiful thing he had ever heard.
Originally published by Morning Fruit Magazine 2023
Atlas Booth is a writer who lives in Cape Town, South Africa. He has been published in several lit mags. He enjoys an assortment of tea's and cold brew coffee. For more information on his work, visit his website: https://atlaslbooth.wixsite.com/main
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