Here, There, and Everywhere

The ceremony of Passover made way for another, which was not affiliated with any particular religious group but was known to all as Park Worship. In the first few weeks of spring when the weather was warmer spring fever arrived. The trees were full of leaves and the air was sweet with honeysuckle. Everyone in the middle school and the upper school would leave Randolf after dismissal and flee to Central Park.

Veronica and Sylvie leaned against the stone wall that separated Central Park from Fifth Avenue. The sun was bright and beat down on Veronica, making her feel like she glowed from the inside out. She opened up her Toasted Almond Good Humor bar while Sarah-Lisa and Athena and other girls were still on line to get theirs.

“We’ll just go for a little while,” Sylvie said.

“I’m not in the mood,” Veronica said.

“Come on,” Sylvie said, “we haven’t even been once this whole year.” That wasn’t really a fair thing to say, Veronica thought, since they hadn’t been friends a whole year. And the weather hadn’t even been nice for very long. She took a bite of her ice cream.

“Let’s go to the closet world and talk to dead people,” Veronica said.

At the mention of dead people Sarah-Lisa’s ears pricked. “You talk to dead people?” she asked. She and Athena had bought their ice cream and were on their way into the park.

“Yes,” Veronica said. “I talk to dead people.”

“You are such a freak!” Sarah-Lisa said.

“So do I,” Sylvie said, “and you know what? Not one of them misses you at all.” Sarah-Lisa turned away. If Veronica didn’t know better she would have sworn Athena looked back over her shoulder and smiled at her and Sylvie. Since failing their science project their friendship had been less than perfect. They had to do another project over the summer.

“Veronica, no offense,” Sylvie continued, “but I feel like being outside today. In the sun. If you want to go home that’s okay but I’m gonna stay in the park. I want to see the cherry blossoms.” Sylvie walked through a break in the wall.

Veronica had no intention of following. The park made her sad. But Athena Mindendorfer and Sarah-Lisa Carver were nearby, and Veronica didn’t want them to think she and Sylvie were fighting, so she followed Sylvie in. Runners, joggers, and high-speed walkers made loops around the reservoir, chasing physical fitness. It was bewildering. (Veronica was a Morgan through and through. None of them were exercisers.)

And then there were the dogs.

Everywhere. Dogs leaping. Dogs wagging their tails. Dogs sniffing other dogs. Dogs on the hunt for invisible prey. Dogs looking up at their owners. Dogs alive with the scent of squirrels nearby. Dogs getting to know each other by touching noses. There was such etiquette among dogs. It was so sweet, the combination of enthusiasm and gentleness. A cute dog with beagley ears came her way. She knew she shouldn’t have come in here. It just made her think of Cadbury. She turned away from the beagley dog.

They followed a wide path to a grove of cherry blossoms. The branches reached out in every direction and created a canopy overhead. It was hard to tell where one tree began and another one ended. They reminded her of the poem her class had read at the beginning of the year:

O chestnut-tree, great-rooted blossomer,

Are you the leaf, the blossom or the bole?

O body swayed to music, O brightening glance,

How can we know the dancer from the dance?

On the other side of the cherry grove was a sloping meadow. Veronica spontaneously galloped down the hill and Sylvie followed. They both gathered speed and Veronica closed her eyes until she collapsed at the bottom. It was so fun they did it again and again until they were exhausted and lay in a tangled laughing heap.

“Sylvie, I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, but you are almost as fun as Cadbury when it comes to running down hills.”

“Thank you,” Sylvie said. They lay on their backs watching the clouds overhead. “Veronica, did you have any kind of ceremony for Cadbury?”

“Huh?”

“Like, did you pick a day and a place and remember him?” Veronica felt her mood sour.

“Sylvie, there was no day,” she said. “There was every day. I cried all the time and remembered him every day.”

“I’m not trying to say you didn’t miss him. Gosh. I was just thinking it might be nice to have a ceremony for him here.”

“In Central Park?” Veronica asked. “Now? He died months ago.”

“I know. But wasn’t this, like, both your favorite place?” Veronica felt like Sylvie was trying to ruin everything.

“Yeah, and I want to keep it that way,” Veronica said, almost under her breath.

“After my mother died, we took her ashes to Hawaii. That’s where she was born and it was always her favorite place. I remember scattering the ashes into the ocean. I didn’t really understand what was happening at first. I was really little. When a breeze kicked in and all her ashes flew away, I cried. I didn’t want her to go. But now I don’t exactly feel like she’s gone. I feel like she’s just everywhere. She’s in the ground I walk on. She’s in the air I breathe. I miss her all the time. And I never feel alone either because she’s everywhere. It’s weird.”

Veronica thought that made a lot of sense.