"I like it when the sun kisses the water," Amy says, almost in a daze. Her feet skim the water, dangling off the dock she sits on. Her mouth agape, tongue curled with the tip resting against her back tooth, her jaw rotating in an exaggerated chewing motion.
Dimming sunlight and its reflection splashed against her curious expression.
"That so?" Tails is in a daze of his own. Behind her, he lay as small as he can in the safety and comfort of her shadow. Needing no view from the plane he currently occupies, his eyes resting back in his brain where he reckons they belong. The cool breeze tugs at his fur as he lay on his back with his hands on his chest – coffin like – only his chest moves his hands up and down with his breathing. "What fer?"
"It's like it's kissin' the world goodnight," she says, sighing dramatically. "Leavin' us all to our own devices fer bedtime. It's a nice thought. It's also purdy."
"I reckon."
"The sky is like this big purdy paintin', innit?"
"I reckon."
"It's like this big old beautiful picture of somethin' you feel like you could just reach out and touch, but you can't."
Tails opens his eyes and studies the clouds above him for a moment before responding. "I can."
"Why don't you?" she asks, still awestruck by the sunset over the great lake.
"I useta," he says, pausing for a second to breathe. He closes his eyes. "But then I got tired."
"Tired?"
"Mmhm." His mouth hangs open for a moment before he speaks. "When you get tired enough even the things you love most don't seem worth it much."
"I get tired sometimes," she says, sympathetically.
"I reckon we all do."
"Sometimes I get real tired!" she says, enthusiastically.
"I reckon we all do that, too."
"Sometimes," she starts, excitedly, "I get so mad I could spit!"
"I don't reckon spittin'd help you none," he says flatly.
The breeze picks up and she hugs herself, looking down past her knees at her feet splashing the water irregularly as she kicks them back and forth. "Naw. But I could."
"I don't doubt that."
"You wouldn't!" she exclaims, throwing her arms around meaningfully as she imitates spitting. "Folks know me 'round these parts as the rootinest, tootinest spittin' machine you ever did see!"
"Nobody's ever said that, Amy."
"See, you can go on tryin' to ruin my fun again and I can just ignore everything you say and keep havin' fun, or you could, like, you know, maybe have fun for once in your life?"
"I dunno, crushin' yer dreams is purdy fun."
"Boy, you couldn't crush my dreams with a dinosaur."
"What kinda dinosaur?"
"I dunno! What's yer favorite dinosaur?"
"Don't reckon I have me a favorite dinosaur."
"Mine's the pterodactyl, because it's spelled all funny." She laughs. "It's a flappity little thing!"
"You sure are funny," he says through an almost silent groan.
She falls flat on her back, tearing the shadow away from him, her head almost touching his.
"I figured so," she says, eyes drifting along slowly along the sky with the orange clouds. She lifts her legs suddenly into the air, her skirt falling over her waistline, her feet hovering over her face. Her eyes widen as she catches herself in a daze of thought as droplets of water fall from her toes. The splash against her cheek jars her back into reality and she blinks a couple of times, dropping her feet again. "We should build a boat."
"A boat? We can fish fine from the dock."
"Nope! Not for fishin'!" She shakes her head side to side exaggeratedly. "For adventurin', fool!"
"What ya wanna go off adventurin' fer?"
"Stickin' around here all the time makes me tired."
"Adventurin' all the time'll get you tired quicker'n stickin' 'round here."
"Not all the time," she smiles. "Only often enough to keep it special."
"You don't know how big that lake is. We can't even see the end of it. You wouldn't last three days out on that lake, we'd never see you again."
"If you never saw me again, you never saw me again."
"Suits me."
"Shut up," she laughs. "No it don't."
"Don't flatter yourself. I don't even like you."
"Gee willikers," she says. The sounds and feelings of the world absorb her. The sunset, the gentle water. The trees dance and the leaves sing as the wind carries them proudly. She's a part of it - and it can be just as comforting as overwhelming at times. "If I could fly, I would fly."
"You'd get tired."
"And I'd fly anyway! I'd fly and fly and when I got too tired to fly, I'd just let the wind carry me!"
"Let the wind carry you to the ground? You could die, dependin'."
"The world would catch me," she says, opening her eyes again. "The world would catch me and keep me safe. I know it."
"The world aint as kind as you romanticizin' it, woman."
"Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. You'd never know if you didn't give it no chance."
"World's the one not givin' no chances."
"Maybe," she says, chewing her fingertips. "The world's a big and scary place but it can be just as beautiful and nice as it can sad or mean."
"You keep dreamin' so big I can't crush it with no kinda dinosaur."
She hums happily in response to this. "I will."
"Twenty years on this planet and you still think like you're four, you know that?"
"Maybe you're the one who hasn't matured," she says quietly.
He doesn't take any offense, because he knows none is meant. He just smirks and opens his eyes.
"Havin' yer head in the clouds aint gonna keep yer feet on the ground," he says.
"I reckon that's why we're friends," she says solemnly. "We can meet each other in the middle every once in awhile and enjoy the other side of things."
"I reckon," he says.
"If I didn't have you, I wouldn't know how people like you think!"
"Mmhm."
"If you didn't have me, you wouldn't know what the world around you even felt like."
"I don't reckon I do, anyhow," he says quietly.
"Of course you do!" she says, looking up in his direction in vain. "I tell you about it all the time!"
"Hearin' aint the same as knowin'."
"I guess so," she says, her head limply turning to the side. "That makes me sad."
"What would you do if the world didn't catch you?" he asks suddenly, eyes rolling in her direction in futility.
"What do you mean?"
"If the world didn't catch you. Like if it crushed you instead of catchin' you. What then?"
She pauses, looking up again. "I'd have to find another way to fly, I guess."
"What if you couldn't...?"
"I could." She smiles. "I definitely could."
She pops up into the sitting position quickly and takes one last good look at what's left of the sun and its reflection. She smiles, feeling at home. "C'mon, boy," she says, hopping up to her feet and slipping into the sandals next to her. She sidesteps Tails and walks past him. "We'd better get back before it gets too dark.
He doesn't say anything. He just takes one last good look at the picturesque sky as he listens to his friend's fading footsteps on the dock.