Heather in Small Heath

Enlightening Exchanges

"You see, but you do not observe.

The distinction is clear." ~ Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

June, 2006. Town of Cannon. Pennsylvania.

Heather Tremblay squeezed herself down between Theodore Rosewall and Seraphina Dobbs in front of the town's only ice cream shop. Since it was only the second week of the shop being open for the season, the wooden tables outside were packed with people sitting shoulder to shoulder. There were even some people sitting on the curb of the sidewalk nearby, and that was where Heather and her friends also found themselves.

The hot, June sun beat down on the three young teenagers, and Heather started to quickly devour her vanilla ice cream cone before it started melting too much. The trio of friends sat in comfortable silence as people walked by them.

After a few minutes passed, Eugene Tremblay strolled over to where his daughter and her new friends sat. He plopped himself down behind the youngsters, and he began to eat at his bowl of chocolate ice cream.

Eugene took a look around at the crowd, and he then turned his head towards his daughter with a smile. "Want to play 'Sherlock'?"

He watched as his daughter's brown eyes lit up. She then turned towards her friends to invite them to play along.

With a face covered in strawberry ice cream, Theo asked Heather, "What's Sherlock?"

"Well," Heather began. "The person Sherlock is the best detective in literature. The game 'Sherlock' is picking random people and guessing who and what they are. Me and my dad have played it ever since I was little."

Heather leaned over towards Sera and pointed at a young man in line wearing a dirty baseball jersey. "I would guess that his team lost the game."

Sera looked over at Heather with slight confusion on her sunburnt face. "What makes you say that?"

"Because," Heather started. "If his team won, it wouldn't be just him here. His team would all be here, celebrating the win."

Sera scooped up another bite of her mint chocolate chip ice cream. "That makes sense." Sera glanced around as well, and she pointed at a young couple eating ice cream together at a table. "They're on a first date."

Heather raised her eyebrows. "Ooo, do explain, Watson."

"As you can see," Sera started with confidence. "They look a little bit nervous, but they also look very excited. Ice cream is great, but I don't get that excited about it."

Heather did see what Sera meant. The young man was moving his hands in an energetic fashion, and the girl was smiling brightly at him. Both of them did not seem to notice their ice cream melting in the heat of the summer. Heather smiled at the pair of possible new lovers.

Leaning towards Theo, Eugene prompted the young boy. "Now you. What do you see?"

Theo paused to look around. After a couple of minutes, he pointed at an older couple that had just gotten in line for ice cream. "They are on their second marriage."

Heather snorted into her ice cream while Eugene gaped at Theo's deduction. "And what makes you guess that, boy?"

"Simple," Theo declared. "They are more affectionate. My grandma remarried a few years ago, and she is more affectionate towards her second husband than her first."

"Did she hate her first husband?" Heather questioned.

"No, no," Theo hurriedly answered. "She loved him, but she now gets a second chance with someone else. She doesn't want to pass it up." Theo gestured towards the older couple. "My guess is that they are either on their second marriage, or they are naturally just more affectionate."