Out with the Ice Girl

21^st October 2012

Dear Cassi,

There was a time in my life where this month was one of the happiest of my year. That was when I was young. It was back in the time when I could play among the ghosts and ghouls of our imagination. As a young boy I would imagine the other children as zombies and the teachers vampires on Halloween and play out an adventurer in my head.

Today I did my best to capture this feeling by going to a Halloween attraction of which is common in California. This is something that in a loose sense I would call a date as I was accompanied by a woman who I would at very least call attractive. I fail to see the fuss but you know how cold a man I can be in this regard.

It was my decision to take this girl to Dark Harbor at the Queen Mary as I have never been and found that she lived not far from the event. I know very little about the old cruise ship, but I thought at very least this would be fun.

A damp spirit was placed on the evening early on as she would not let me collect her at her apartment but decided to meet me at the event. This I took to be a sign of distrust and led me to believe that she has had more than a few jerks in her life. To further this she is somewhat younger than I and so less sure in her wants and less clear in her movements. In other words she was cold as a pillar of ice.

I had the best tickets one could buy for this event and so they cost me, but we would spend no time in lines. This was thankful as she kept me waiting for twenty minutes past event open. Standing there I had to do some thinking about this whole thing and thinking is never good when it come to social events. What was I doing hanging out with this girl anyway? She lives a good distance from my home and long distance is something to handle.

As I said, when she finally arrived she was a pillar of ice. We went through the mazes in the dark and I tried to keep hold of her wrist so as not to lose track of her. To this she took little notice as we strolled along in the company of various remnants of the dead.

I’ll admit that other than for the small size the Dark Harbor was well done. We did no taking of the food as my ‘date’ was rather apprehensive I think of their price.  This was a night full of awkwardness and long pregnant pauses but in the overall it was fun.

We finished early as we had no desire for repose and my tickets had taken us through the events rather quickly. I have to say some unfinished feeling as we walked past the gates and to the parking structure. I learned then that she had been dropped off and that she expected me to drive her home.

On the way to her home she talked about her life and her city. Long Beach isn’t much in comparison with LA but there is more sea life and the associations. She told me she was a vegetarian but could eat fish. I dropped her off at her apartment and watched her step through the door feeling as if the night would have been better if it was a larger group. I think this letter is kind of boring but then so was my date.

Stay safe, little sister,

Richard Leland Neal