“Yeah.” There was a slight chuckle to his voice.
We passed through the security checkpoint, showed our tickets, and entered the festival. The typically divided event center had been opened up so it was one huge, open space. Different booths formed a colorful maze that was oozing with a variety of delicious smells. The purpose of the festival was food, of course, but there were several entertainment and merchandise stalls set up in each ‘country.’ With the throngs of people feeding in and out of each divided row were enough to make the added effort worth it. Plenty more than food would be sold at the festival that day, and with my mom’s money burning a hole in each of our pockets, Colin and I would be contributing.
We walked the first row of stalls in silence. Our space issue was solved, as the number of people around us forced us to walk shoulder to shoulder, but it only made the awkwardness worse. We were so close that we were uncomfortable, so neither of us disrupted the little bit of stasis we had struck by saying anything. My stomach was growling amidst all the delicious food, but I was almost too afraid to say anything. I was trying to work up the gumption to admit I was hungry, when I felt a hand grab mine. I looked down and saw that Colin had grabbed me. I looked up at him, not certain what I would see, but noticed him staring off to the right with a shocked expression.
He pointed out with his free hand. “Oh my god, Tati, look.”
My skin prickled at the sound of my nickname skating across his lips. I followed his finger to where he was pointing. “What?” My eyes found what he was looking at. Standing in front of the France pavilion, was a massive Dr. Louis Pawscal mascot; a character from a show that Colin and I religiously watched as kids. He was a doberman pinscher with a stethoscope hanging around his neck and a white, doctor’s coat over his back. “Is Dr. Pawscal still a thing?”
It was a France-based cartoon that was recorded only in french. When we were little kids, we discovered it by accident and fell in love with Dr. Pawscal’s crazy adventures trying to be a dog doctor in a human world, even though we never had any idea what he was saying. We would sit in his living room for hours, making up our own dialogue to the show until it was finally adapted to an English version, which we enjoyed less.
Colin whipped his head towards me. “We have to go and take a picture.”
I laughed. “We are seventeen years old.” Colin was a few months older than me. He’d have his eighteenth birthday in a few weeks, but mine wasn’t until after the holidays.
“So! Look at him!” I looked over and it did look kind of sad. No kids were interacting with him, and those parents who knew who he was and were trying to force their children over, were being met with severe resistance. “He needs some fun!”
Suddenly, Colin was that little boy I knew all those years ago. “Okay.” I smiled. “Let’s go.”
“Yes!” Colin dragged me through the crowd until we were over to Dr. Pawscal. “Hey! Dr. Pawscal!”
The mascot jumped up, and even though he was stuck with the painted on smile, we could tell our excitement had given him new energy.
I pulled out my phone. “Can we have some selfies?”
Dr. Pawscal jumped and down and waddled over and we rushed over to him. We spent the next five minutes taking a variety of selfies. We’d almost lost steam at the two minute mark, but then Dr. Pawscal revealed that his stethoscope could be pulled off, so we of course needed shots with each of us wearing it as well. To our delight, our enjoyment turned into a twister that sucked in several of the families around us, and before too long, a line was forming, all of the kids excitedly waiting to take their own pictures with Dr. Pawscal.
Colin and I dragged our damn near adult selves away so that the kids could start to hang out with Dr. Pawscal, and we smiled as we stood off to the side, watching all the kids yelp and cheer.
Colin started to flip through the pictures he’d taken with his phone with a broad smile on his face. “That was awesome.”
It was. There was one picture in particular on my phone that had Dr. Pawscal holding his stethoscope up to Colin’s chest like he was testing his pulse, and I had the back of my hand to Colin’s head like he had a fever. Colin had a blinding smile on his face. I would keep that picture forever.
“Alright, food?” Colin asked.
My stomach growled to remind me that it was, in fact, hungry. “Please.”
“Let’s go this way. There was a lavender tea stand in Japan.” He started off, but I didn’t immediately move. I loved lavender tea. He remembered. “Tati?” he asked when he saw that I didn’t move. “You good?”
I nodded. “Yep.”
He led me over to the Japan stand, where there was, in fact, a lavender tea and ramen booth. We each ordered both, but were told the wait would be about 20 minutes, it was a long line and the ramen was being cooked fresh.
“Let’s go look at the kimonos,” Colin suggested.
“Okay.” We walked to the nearby clothing racks and started sifting through the bright colored kimonos. I pulled one out that was bright pink with white cherry blossoms on it. I hadn’t worn anything that bright in years. “This is pretty.”
Suddenly, Colin was right behind me looking over my shoulder. He was so close I was melting. “It’s really nice.”
“Want to try it on?” We looked over and a stall worker had wandered over. “We have a changing room.”
“Try it on,” Colin said. “We have time.”
I felt embarrassed. “I don’t know.”
“Come on. We have to buy something with this money your mom gave us.” I could see the excitement behind his eyes and it emboldened me.
I went back to the makeshift changing room between curtains in the back of the stall and wrapped the kimono around myself. I did my best to tie the sash in its traditional manner, but I was failing. I stepped out of the changing room and the saleswoman took over instantly, helping me tie the sash. I looked at myself in the mirror and it was weird seeing myself in such a bright color again, but I didn’t hate it. I thought I probably would buy it, even if I never wore it. I started to undo the sash, but the saleswoman grabbed my hand.
“No, no. You have to show him.” Started dragging me back towards Colin.
“Oh, no.” I shook my head. “That’s okay. I’m okay.”
“Come on! He wants to see.” She continued to pull me along, and given that she was a small, frail-looking old woman. I didn’t want to just yank myself away, I’d break her. She pulled me through the stall and out towards the front, where Colin was standing looking through other articles of clothing. “Ta da!” she announced and it was so embarrassing.
Colin turned and looked at me and the look he gave me sent a shiver down my spine. His eyes shimmered like he was looking at a stack of pure gold and his lips parted just slightly, like he had the world to say, but didn’t know how to say it. His emerald eyes drifted down my form slowly and back up again until they were locked in mine.
“Stunning.” It was whispered, and came out almost like it was subconscious.
My skin was burning so much I thought it was going to melt off. “Y-yeah?”
Colin blinked. “Yeah. You have to get it.”
I hadn’t overcome my shock enough yet to do anything other than respond with an absent nod. I turned around and shuffled my way back to the changing room, my heart racing so hard I feared I was going to have a heart attack. I changed back into my regular clothes and walked back out to the front part of the stall. Colin was talking to a different salesperson and handing over some of his money. The woman who was helping me put the kimono in a bag and I started to pull out my wallet.