Age 8

“Hurry up!”

“I’m coming, I’m coming!”

Young In kicks off her sandals and holds one in each hand as she hops along to catch up to Jongin, who is already two blocks down the street.  The sole of her feet sting as they slap against the burning pavement but all she thinks about is the ice cream truck that is driving farther and farther away.

“Hurry up!” Jongin shouts again.

“Don’t run so fast!”

She moves her legs faster even though she knows that no matter how hard she runs, she’ll never catch up.  Jongin is already too far ahead and he has a partner to run with him.  A partner he calls Sehun.

“Wait for me!” Young In cries one last time.

She wants to cry when she sees Jongin and Sehun laughing as they turn the corner.  The ice cream truck disappears with them.

“This isn’t fair,” she groans, sinking to the ground.  She wipes the back of her hand across her forehead, sweating under the heat of the sun.  She can’t ever remember July being this warm.  This must be the hottest summer yet.  She feels even worse because Jongin can run so fast.  Because Sehun can run so fast.

It makes her so angry.

As she sits and pouts, Young In realizes that she can’t be angry for long.  Because being angry means that she’ll have to sit here and be miserable while Jongin gets ice cream.  And sitting here means being fried by the sun.

So she reluctantly puts her sandals back on and turns around to head home.

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Young In walks slowly, head hung low as she kicks at the pebbles that are lying on the sidewalk.  Her arms and legs are scorching under her t-shirt and shorts even though Mother lathered her in sunscreen just this morning.

And she’s so thirsty.

She walks past a few houses until she stops at her mailbox.  It's almost always empty. She wants to open it to see if anyone sent them anything nice.  Like a happy summer letter from one of her cousins or an invitation to someone’s birthday party.  Or an ice cream cone.

She wonders how many scoops of ice cream Jongin got.  One?  Two?  Most likely three.

Young In sighs without opening the mailbox and walks up her driveway, still unhappy but now she can’t tell if it’s from her anger or from the heat.  She looks across the street, because that’s where Jongin’s house is.

She wonders if she should run over there and tell on Jongin’s father about Jongin running away to get ice cream without her.  That would probably make her feel better.

She thinks about it for a little longer, and then realizes something.  If she tells on Jongin, his father might yell at him when he gets home.  If Jongin’s father yells at him, then Jongin will be sad.  If Jongin is sad, Young In will be sad.

So Young In decides not to run over there.  She would rather not have ice cream and let Jongin be happy than not have ice cream and let Jongin be sad.  That seems like the right thing to do.

Young In imagines that she’s kicking Jongin in the shin for running away without her (except she won’t actually do it).  And then she opens the door to her own home and goes inside.

13:00 pm