"I ... want to ask you something, then."
"Please ..." she said.
"Yes, Margy?"
"Let's not be serious. You've been getting so serious, lately. I don't like you when you're that way."
"I have not!" he said hotly.
"You have too," she said. She slipped down from the wall and ran wild and free toward the classroom building.
"Don't forget! After school!" he called.
Don't forget, she thought bitterly, running, don't forget....
School was over, and they left the grounds together. The grass underfoot was soft and green. The shade trees around the path, pleasantly protecting. The neat, clean houses, set in the forest at intervals, individual proud flower beds a dot in the smooth, close cropped lawns. The sky, bright blue with sunset on the horizon (through the trees) gold and purple, and the air, clean, perfumery. Adults moved around their homes, puttering in the gardens, mending the tiny spots where mending was required; their faces were bright eyed, young, peaceful, but wise with the wisdom of experience.