An Unexpected Friend

“You wanna do something fun?”

Alice looked up, startled out of her deep rumination. A young woman stood over her, a big, warm smile lighting up her face.

“If you would rather be left alone I’ll be on my way, but you looked sad and I wanted to help if I could.” The woman’s long chestnut hair was loosely bound in a braid. It swung gently against her chest as she rocked back and forth on her feet.

Alice blinked and brushed the tears from her eyes. She began to pull herself back up to the surface, away from the drowning depths of her thoughts. A soothing breeze drifted over her from across the quiet pond, at which she had been vacantly staring a few seconds ago.

“Thank you,” Alice whispered hoarsely. She cleared her throat and added, a bit more clearly, “what did you have in mind?”

The woman grinned, a great flash like golden rays of sunlight bursting out from between silver storm clouds. Alice’s breath caught in her throat.

“I like to skip stones here," the woman said. "I’ve been doing it since I was a little girl. But you don’t even have to skip 'em, you can just chuck them in and that's fun, too. Sometimes I get the biggest one I can find and see how big a splash it can make. So basically I'm just a big, overgrown kid, really.”

Alice laughed a little, and felt her shoulders ease down a notch. “That does sound fun.”

The woman nodded enthusiastically and turned to scour the shore for skipping stones. With a bit of effort, Alice rocked her weight forward and pushed herself up off the leaf-strewn pond bank. She walked over to join the woman's search for skipping stones. “What’s your name?” Alice asked, trying and somewhat failing to keep the wobble out of her voice.

“Maggie, Maggie Cooper. You?” A friendly smile and quick glance.

“Alice. Alice Lynwood.” She bent down and picked up a round, smooth stone. “Are you from around here, Maggie? I don’t think I’ve seen you at this park before.”

“I grew up just down the street, actually. On the north side of the park.”

“No way! I grew up and live down the road on the south side. We’re practically neighbors.” Alice frowned slightly and shook her head. “World’s a lot smaller than we think, isn’t it?”

“You could say that again.” Maggie smiled calmly as she threw a stone out over the water. It skipped once, twice, three times. “Not too bad,” she remarked contentedly.

“That was good, better than what I’ll manage in all likelihood. I haven’t skipped stones in years.” Alice squatted down, wound her right arm back and hurled it forward with a snap, launching the smooth stone with a spin. It smashed into the surface of the water with a dramatic splash and immediately sank. Alice threw up her hands in defeat. “What did I tell you?”

“Are you kidding? That splash was phenomenal! Ten out of ten for splash height and trajectory,” Maggie encouraged.

Alice gave her a brief look, the I-know-you’re-just-humoring-me kind of look, then sighed and replied, “thanks. It certainly did make a big splash, just wasn't quite what I was going for. I’ll try again.”

Alice and Maggie took turns flinging stones, with Maggie’s stones skipping far across the pond and Alice’s stones usually making great big splashes and waves. A quiet comradery settled over the two women, comfortable and calm. Never once did Maggie press Alice to talk about what had been troubling her. They smiled and exclaimed over each other’s triumphs, and laughed and shrugged when a toss went askew. Alice forgot what time and day it was, so immersed was she in the happy splash of the rippling water, the mellow glow of the setting sun, the eternal blue of the sky, and the smile in Maggie’s warm brown eyes. For a brief moment, Alice forgot her troubles and felt safe, peaceful, even joyful.

The light dwindled drastically as the sun slipped beneath the tree line on the horizon. Maggie dusted her hands off on her jeans and turned to Alice. “Have you had fun?”

Alice smiled. “Yeah, I have, thank you.” Then, more shyly, “did you?”

Maggie flashed her breathtaking smile. “I sure did. Come back and skip stones with me sometime, Alice.”

Maggie waved and turned, and began to float away across the pond until she had dissipated into little more than a gray mist. Alice stood frozen in place, staring dumbfounded at the empty space that her new friend had just become. She blinked rapidly a few times and swallowed hard. She drew an unsteady breath and let it out slowly, starting to smile. Alice bowed her head and whispered “thank you” to the silent pond before turning down the dark, shadowy path back home.

In the years to come, whenever she felt the burdens of her life growing too heavy, Alice would find her way down to the pond. She would sit quietly on the bank gazing out at the dark, still water, waiting, until a familiar voice would ask, “you wanna do something fun?”