Bea & the Broken Record

Chapter 9: Established Colors

"Yes, actually. We're here," she smiled widely at me as she parking along the sidewalk in the middle of a town. Tall, old buildings blocked our view of any other street. I unbuckled my seat belt and stepped out of the car and onto the sidewalk. A building made of concrete stood tall in front of me. The sign hanging above the doorway had a few Spanish words that I didn't understand. I took Spanish for two years in tenth and eleventh grade, but still I only know how to count to five in the foreign language.

"Are we going in there?" I asked as I walked up to the door. Bea giggled and shook her head. She walked up into the sidewalk and grabbed my wrist.

"Not unless you want to see a bunch of girls strip. That's a strip club, Asher," she explained as we walked down the sidewalk side by side.

"I can't read Spanish," I answered. "Where are we going, then?"

"You'll see," she smirked and continued walking while I followed close beside her.

As we walked, I thought about what she could possibly be dragging me into. I had a feeling it would be a fun day no matter what we did. My questions were answered after we walked a few blocks. I then understood why Bea parked us so far away.

Lined up and down several connecting streets were colorful banners with stands under them. They were selling things ranging between clothing to food to random little trinkets that were homemade. People were walking up and down the streets chatting away and having a fun time. The smell of different kinds of cultural food filled my nose, making my stomach grumble.

The one thing that really got my attention was the music playing loudly throughout the streets. Some of the songs they were speeding through I didn't know but still sounding great. This was a music festival. They probably had live music somewhere playing.

"Holy crap, Bea," my smile grew wider and wider as we started walking down the streets. We had to squeeze through the crowd of people of all ages. There were small kids holding onto their mother or father's hand as they pointed at the colorful objects. I felt someone's hand slip into mine, lacing their fingers between my own. I was about to pull away until I turned to see Bea's arm stretched behind her as she pulled me through the crowd. I was well aware that we were holding hands at the moment and unable to concentrate in anything else around me. The people didn't exist. The music wasn't playing. It was strange how just that little gesture made me lose myself.

"I didn't want to lose you," Bea laughed nervously but never released my hand from hers. We walked for a while, observing the unique stands on the sides of the street. It wasn't until we reached a small convenient stand with the words "Dippin' Dots" on the top of the movable cart. Bea was practically jumping up and down with joy at the sight of them.

"What are they?" I looked content my at the sign that had different flavors listed. Bea smiled and stood on her tiptoes to order "cotton candy Dippin'' Dots". It took less than a minute for the lady working behind the cart to get a small plastic bowl full of tiny little dots ready for Bea. She handed the lady a five dollar bill.

"Okay, so you don't know what these are?" Bea asked incredulously. She took the plastic spoon she had gotten and spooned up a bunch of the dots.

"No, what are they?" Bea shoved the spoon my way and I moved my head away.

"They're just little balls of ice cream. Do you like ice cream?" The smile on Bea's face was nearly contagious.

"Yeah, who doesn't?" I shrugged my shoulders.

"Do you like cotton candy?" She raised an eyebrow suggestively.

"Yeah..." I said before she shoved the spoon in my mouth. The ice cream hit my teeth and I cringed at the feeling. As soon as it came it went and I could taste the glorious ness of cotton candy flavored ice cream in miniature dot form.