Oranges: A Short Story

Part II

"Gran," he muttered, trying to keep his hands from reaching up and wringing her neck.

"It's time for breakfast and I need you to hurry into town for me. I have an errand for you to run," her voice was brittle and cold, as if she knew what he had been dreaming about and didn't care.

He nodded and she left the room.

Dressing up in a sweater and jeans, Alex joined her in the kitchen for breakfast. Apparently it had been time for breakfast without it actually having been made.

"Yes, Alex!" Exclaimed gran when he entered the room. "I need an idea of what to make for breakfast."

"Can we have pancakes?" He asked hopefully.

Looking disappointed, gran said, "Now look here, Alex, you can't keep going around and eating junk food."

Alex always took that to a little offense. He'd never thought of himself as someone who ate a lot of unhealthy foods. "And what were you dreaming about?"

A jolt went off in Alex's gut. What did she know?

"What do you mean, gran?"

"I mean, I heard you mutter, 'Anastasia' in your sleep. Isn't she that girl from town? I don't want you associating with her kind." What other kind is there? Alex thought. Everyone in a 20 mile radius of us lives in town.

"I'm not sure what you're talking about," Alex lied, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Then what were you dreaming about?" The old woman asked, practically interrogating him. Alex's eyes glanced around the room frantically. Think of something, anything! He prayed. His gaze hooked on to a bowl of fruit on the table.

"Oranges!" He answered, silently cursing himself. "Yes, oranges!"

This, of course, had to give his grandmother an idea. "Oranges. That's nice. How about we have those for breakfast? You can take some on the road with you when you head to town. Does that sound nice?"

No. "Yes."

.  .  .

And that's how two oranges came to be in Alex's hands as he left to town. After bundling up in his warmest coat and putting on his rain boots, he'd headed out.

His gran was right about something. It had rained last night. The grass outside of their house was wet and muddy. Each step brought Alex's foot deep into the ground. The air was gray around him, fog tracing the scattered trees that lived on their property. Some old buildings that used to be used to treat animals were still there, old and falling apart.

Alex glanced down at the oranges in his hands. They glowed against the damp world in front of him.The walk to town took about 15 minutes. 15 minutes for Alex to think about his dream. This crush was getting serious. He was dreaming about her. What kind of creep was he?

As he entered the streets of Apetvet, he saw that even less people were there than normal. Both the School of Learning and the Food Palace were closed for the day, all due to a little rain.

A guy smoking a cigarette was slumped against one of the common abandoned buildings. Alex made a mental note to stay away from him.

Slipping the two oranges into his pocket, Alex pulled out the list of errands to run that his grandmother had given him. As he stood on one of the few corners that even existed in town, he read.

Eggs

Bananas

Apples

A yoga ball from the physical therapy clinic