Peaches Romero was having a difficult day. It started out alright but then she woke up. She regretted doing that but once she was awake, going back to sleep was not an option. She shuffled around her house in her fuzzy slippers and had a cup of coffee while staring out the window at the back yard. The neighbor’s kids were in school and knowing that the school year was closing a pit of anxiety formed in her belly. It’s not that she didn’t like the kids next door, but they were a bit too rambunctious for her sensitive nerves.

With her car in the shop, Peaches decided to walk around her town today. She hadn’t done that in quite a while, driving was the usual mode of transportation. There were no sidewalks in Peaches’ neighborhood so she carefully walked alongside the curb wearing her running shoes and a flattering track suit. Approaching the main street she found a sidewalk and was able to walk on that. She passed the candle shop and waved to someone she thought she knew but actually didn’t. She was almost upset that the person she thought she was waving to didn’t wave back, but she kept walking.

The supermarket had a few cars in its parking lot but Peaches did not need to do any grocery shopping. She walked into the nearby park and sat on a bench overlooking a pond. There were ducks and geese around, not that she saw any but she did see what they had left behind which Peaches found disgusting. Behind her as she sat, various people ran or power walked, elderly couples walked by slowly. Occasionally Peaches wished she had someone to walk with but this was not one of those moments. She relished the fact that she was alone and just sat there, taking it all in.

As the sun progressed overhead, sitting in the sun turned into sitting into shade and then back into sun again. She did apply a thick layer of sun block to her exposed skin like she always did before leaving the house and the track suit also provided ample protection. As Peaches sat there someone she used to know approached. She saw the person in the corner of her eye and anticipated saying the briefest ‘hello’ but the other person did not seem to notice Peaches and when they passed she let go a sigh of relief.

Children started to appear at the other end of the pond and Peaches figured it was time to go home. She didn’t mind the kids but the number of them in the park would increase and whatever peace and solitude she had would likely disappear. So Peaches got up and walked around the pond a few times and by the time she finished her second turn she noticed the older, louder kids turning up and so she she just continued out of the park.

Peaches hated backtracking and so she took a different way home, which was merely walking down a less busy parallel street. Soon she was back walking alongside the curb, heading home from the opposite direction. The kids next door were playing in their backyard and when they saw Peaches they shouted a hearty hello to which Peaches nodded her head as she climbed the stairs to get back to her house. She fixed herself a cocktail and sat in her overstuffed chair and watched her shows. She was quite happy as she settled in, running shoes off- fuzzy slippers in place. For Peaches it was a very good day after all.