See How She Runs (The Chronicles of Izzy #1)(7)

“So…..what time did you want to go to the museum today?” I asked, hoping to change the subject.

“Well, it is a gorgeous day, so I thought we would be tourists in our own town and do it up right.”

“What do you have in mind, oh master planner of the day?"

“Well, I figure we could go down to Millennium Park and walk around for a while, see if the weird face fountains are still spitting water on people. Then maybe we could head over to the museum campus. We might have time for the aquarium and the Field today.”

“You have a deal, if we can go to the zoo instead of the aquarium. I want to see the penguins.” At least they wouldn’t be acting as weird as everyone else in my life. Well, I hoped not. If I got there and they are wearing tiny top hats and monocles, the jig was seriously up.

“Sounds like a plan, man! I will get this mess cleaned up, unless you feel like licking the plates clean. I mean, I think I might see a couple of crumbs left on your plate.” I threw my wadded up paper towel at him and got up.





**********





FIVE





I quickly showered and got dressed after checking the weather. Indian summer was usually warm, but there was the occasional chilly day that could sneak up out of nowhere. Today looked to be one of those days. I headed over to my pitiful clothing collection and decided to just throw on my jeans from the previous night, a t-shirt that said something about love, and my green granny sweater. At least that was what Kennan called it. I loved it, it was soft and had big buttons. It even had elbow patches. I decided to toss a little makeup on today since I planned on taking pictures. I know, vanity is unattractive, but so was my pale skin when it reflected a camera flash. After spending close to an hour getting ready, I got downstairs to find Kennan waiting on me.

He was dressed in some khaki cargo shorts, a t-shirt and flip flops. I didn’t bother explaining the temperature to him. Even in the winter he did not wear weather appropriate clothing. I pulled on my brown leather knee boots and grabbed my bag.

“Not one word about the sweater. Yesterday was full of weird so I am bringing my security blanket with me today. You ready?” I asked as I made for the door.

“What was so weird about yesterday? Speaking of weird, you still having that dream about your mom? I thought I heard you yell last night," Kennan asked, trying to hide something behind his eyes.

“Nothing and no, I am not still having the dream," I lied. “I just want to be comfy today and we all know how much I love this sweater."

I didn’t want him to know about the dream. I had told him about it the first few times it happened because it really freaked me out. That and I would wake up screaming. He had a tendency to rush into my room to make sure I wasn’t being mauled by an intruder. I had gotten the whole screaming thing under control, for the most part. But there seemed to be something about the dreams that I couldn’t quite figure out. I didn’t want to share them with him or anyone for that matter.





***********





We made our way over to the zoo pretty quickly. Since it was a weekday there were several field trips going on. I loved watching little kids at the zoo almost as much as watching the animals themselves. Their shear excitement over something wild being right at their fingertips was contagious. Then again, part of me was always sad about the animals never really knowing what it was to be free. We headed in and immediately made our way to my favorite display, the penguins, which luckily were not sporting monocles or top hats.

“Aren’t they so cute Kennan? It is like they are wearing tiny formal wear.”

I just got a blank stare in return. He was totally zoned out like he was not even paying attention. He had been doing that more and more lately. Either I was seriously starting to lose my marbles or something majorly weird was going on in the world around me that I was not privy too.

“Earth to K.O., anyone home in there? Listen, if you don’t want to stay at the zoo we can head out, I think I am getting hungry anyway.”

“Seriously Iz, how do you not know if you are hungry?” he asked.

We spent a little more time meandering through the zoo. He made jokes at my expense and I ignored him. It was finally feeling like a normal day again. Plus he bought me a pretzel, which left me being the happiest girl in the world. After a couple of hours we hopped on the bus and headed over to Millennium Park.

“You want some lunch, Izzy? I am thinking something fast, like a hot dog or something,” he said, spotting a vendor in the park.

“Sure, sounds good,” I said, mostly because I knew it is a losing battle trying to peel him away from a hotdog stand.

He grabbed himself four hotdogs, and one for me. I knew he was a big guy, but he seriously ate like a horse. I could not stomach half of what he did, and if I tried I don’t think I would fit through my front door. We sat down on a bench overlooking the lake and proceeded to chow down. It took me about ten minutes to finish my hotdog and by then he was finished with all four of his.

“Ready?” he asked grabbing our trash. “Hey you wanna walk over there or grab a cab?”

“It is such a pretty day. Do you mind walking?" I asked, hoping to hide the sadness in my voice. While we were eating, the date snuck its way into my head reminding me that today was not a fun day. In fact today, two years ago, I was sitting in a funeral home mourning the loss of my Grams.