Charlie Wong had been kicking his soccer ball back and forth to three of his friends for the past two hours. His mother had left him in the park, just down the street from their apartment, since she had to do some shopping while his father was still at work. His mother had gone to the store with his little sister, so what better thing to do then to hang out at the big park with some of the other kids?
Charlie was an active, happy kid. His father was from Hong Kong, and his mom was from Shanghai. He was born in San Francisco and he had never been anywhere else. He loved soccer and baseball, and this was the time of year that all the kids loved to be out in the park kicking the old soccer ball around. Plus, being fifteen years old and only having two or three good friends meant only having a few places to hang out during the long, hot and humid summer.
The weather was nice today and he was happy that it wasn’t raining. The wind had kicked up, but it still made it a nice day to go out to the park and to kick some ball. A bunch of kids were out on the soccer field, so they had enough to create a team. Charlie scored a goal, and that had made his day. He just played soccer for fun, but he liked to talk about professional players and dreamed of watching the pros play in person some time.
The only thing about soccer was that he would get really thirsty after spending an hour or so chasing after that ball. He only had a Dollar with him, of which he spent some of it on gum. He was dumb enough to forget his water bottle at home again, so this time, he had to buy something to drink. He finally wandered off the pitch and searched for that little guy who was standing off in the shade somewhere, peddling snacks and drinks. Hopefully he still had something in his cart for fifty cents.
The boy jogged up to the snack cart, which was neatly parked under the big palm tree. Charlie wasn’t very skinny, but he wasn’t chubby ether. He was stocky but not fat, but not very athletic. He was about 5-foot-4 inches tall and weighed about 165 pounds. He played soccer in order not to gain any more weight, which was easy to do with all the soda vending machines everywhere. His mother had already restricted his soda intake dramatically, so Charlie decided to get something other than that.
Sherman looked up as a boy wearing a soccer jersey, cleats, shorts and long athletic socks came running towards him. The boy looked hot and sweaty, with his long, straight jet-black hair blowing in the wind. The boy looked Asian for sure, but he had a friendly facial expression and he was of average height.
“Hello!” Charlie said, as he finally came up to the cart. “Got anything to drink?”
“Well, hello there, young man! I certainly have! I have some fruit juice, lemonade, coke, diet, milk, and orange juice!” Sherman replied. “What do you feel like?”
“Uhmmm…” Charlie sighed, as he reached down in his pocket and pulled out two quarters. “I only got two quarters and I’m really not allowed to have any soda from my mom…”
“Hmm…” Sherman pondered. “All the juices are seventy-five cents… The only thing that’s left is this!”
Sherman squatted down and opened the bottom compartment of his cart. He pulled out a small carton of milk and set it on the counter top before Charlie.
“Milk?”
“It’s my last one!”
Charlie made a face.
“You got anything else?” he said with a deep sigh.
“Hey… Milk is good for you, my boy!” Sherman grinned. “A carton is actually sixty cents! I’ll let you have it for fifty!”
“Blahhh… Milk!” Charlie groaned. “Then I’d rather have soda!”
“Noooo… Don’t give in to temptation!” Sherman said angrily! “Are you allowed to have soda from your mother?”
Charlie let out an even deeper sigh. Then he set the two quarters down on the counter. He reached over and grabbed the carton of milk.
“Hey kid… Milk is better for you than soda! Milk helps you GROW! It’s good for your bones!” Sherman grinned, as Charlie started to walk away.
“Thanks, Mister…” Charlie said. He was too thirsty to argue. He opened the spout of the carton and started to drink the milk. He had to admit that the milk actually tasted pretty good once it hit his dry tongue.
He drank half of it before he started walking home. He was tired. He needed to get home anyway since it was already getting late in the afternoon. At least he had some cold milk to quench that thirst and he wouldn’t arrive home completely dying of thirst and totally dehydrated. Then his mother would chew him out over that! And… he didn’t have any soda.
Halfway to the house he drank the rest of the milk carton before tossing the empty carton in one of the trash dumpsters on the street. He noted that the milk did seem to have a funny aftertaste to it. Maybe it was starting to get sour or something. Hopefully it wasn’t going to make him sick. Thank goodness it was summer vacation, but still, Charlie didn’t want to get sick now. He wanted to be back in the park the next day.
He arrived at the house in time for supper followed by a few hours of TV and some video gaming before going to sleep. Tomorrow would be another day of fun in the Bay City.
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