INGUS:

We leave her house around noon time. She told me earlier that she doesn’t really know where she wants to take me, and that she just wants to go with the flow for today. I’ve never been more excited about anything in my life. I’d be remiss though if I said that I didn’t feel guilty about leaving Frank the way I did. I don’t agree with what he said about me, but I do feel bad that I said those harsh things. This is the first time in years too, that I’ve gone so long without working. I have no idea how I’m going to catch up but I just want to enjoy Ms.2000’s presence.

We wait on the street for a cab. Ms.2000 told me last night that she doesn’t have a car. You’d think with the nice apartment she lives in that she’d have a car but maybe I’m missing something. She wears a black and white outfit. Still wearing her mask, she wears a white fur coat, black soft gloves, a loose fitting black shirt, a white skirt, black leggings and long black boots. I’m wearing what I wore when I came in, which is pretty much just my coat I usually take to work.

We spot a yellow cab and Ms.2000 whistles. The man driving pulls over and we hop in. As soon as we sit down I recognize him. “Ingus! It’s good to see you!” It’s the man who’s driven me. He seems different this time, happier, lighter even. “Where to?” Ms.2000 tells him where to go and he starts driving. As we drive he taps his fingers rapidly to the exciting music on the radio. He’s practically beaming, his bushy eyebrows unfurrowed and free, reveal his brown eyes in the mirror. He makes eye contact with me, and then Ms.2000. “Oh my goodness, is this her?” he says, ecstatically.

MS.2000:

“And who are you?” I ask. The driver tells me his name, “Oh I’m sorry, my name’s Donny.” “And you know Ingus, and me somehow?” He turns around to face me, practically with each sentence he speaks. “This guy was telling me he met you a while ago. He told me that he wanted to dedicate his life to love and that he wanted to know all about you.” I turn to Ingus who is now red in the face and looking out the window. “I thought he was crazy for even talking to someone like you, but Ingus, I gotta tell ya’ man you inspired me,” Donny says. Ingus remains quiet. “There’s this girl who works at Esteban’s man, I’ve always wanted to talk to her. I was always scared though.”

“I guess I figured that it would either end in misery or that she wasn’t worth it. But I’m telling you, after hearing the way you talked about love it inspired me to ask her out. We’ve been on a few dates and I’ve never been happier.”

INGUS:

We reach our destination and get out of the cab. “Rides are free from now on if I ever catch either of you,” Donny says as he drives away. “What was that all about?” Ms.2000 asks. She continues, “You dedicated your life to love?” God, why did he have to do this to me and out me like that. I explain to her that after watching Till Death Do Us Part, that I want a love like they had. “Aw,” she says, “That’s super sweet.” She then looks down, rubbing her right index finger nail under the nail on her left thumb. “As flattering as that is though, are you sure you’re looking in the right place?”

She clears her throat and points out that we should go in. She’s taken me to an ice cream shop called “Genesis.” We walk in and I’m suprised to see how empty the place is. There are white tables everywhere, all empty. The place is essentially a white room with tables, and a long glass counter with various ice creams in it. We walk up to the counter and I look around, expecting someone to serve us. A camera is mounted above the counter. I always knew of places like this but I’ve never been into one. Ms.2000 tells me that we can just choose our ice cream and leave. 

The flourescent lights from above, and the lights from inside the glass light Ms.2000’s face. “I’m curious what kind of guy you are,” she says, “You know, the kind of ice cream a guy eats tells you all you need to know about him.” She looks inside the glass, pointing at all the kinds. “They have sherbet, chocolate, mint…” “You know, I’ve never even had ice cream,” I say. She stops reciting the different kinds, closing her eyes in playful disappointment. She stands there, frozen, as if what I just said is the worst atrocity man could commit. “What do you mean you’ve never had ice cream?! Like, ever, not even chocolate or vanilla?” “Nope. I just never got around to it I guess.” That’s the truth.

“I pretty much only eat peanuts.” That was all I really liked. I never saw much sense in trying anything else, especially when it costs so much. Peanuts are cheap and hit the spot. “We have to get you on to this. I promise when you eat it it’s going to feel like you’ve died and gone to heaven.” “Dang, so which kind would you like?” she asks.

MS.2000:

“Why don’t you surprise me?” he asks. I skim through the assortment of flavors once more. I know I’m going to get the lemonade, but what would he like? I breathe out and bite the loose skin on my teeth. “Yes!” I point. “Pistachio, have you ever had it? Pistachio, I mean.” He shakes his head no. You’d think I was talking to a five year old with how his palate is so limited. I choose two scoops for each of us, and I stop. 

INGUS:

Ms.2000 stops before we exit the doors. She looks panicked, almost looking ashamed. After a beat she looks at me, “I forgot, I don’t have money.” She doesn’t have money? “I, with the way my job works, I don't get paid. I can’t pay. I’m so sorry. If we leave it’s going to charge you.” I find it odd that she doesn’t have any Ralomi, considering the house she lives in. How does she live there then?

MS.2000:

Without missing a beat, he takes the ice cream from me and tells me it’s fine. He decides that he’ll pay and that I shouldn’t worry about it. This guy is too nice for his own good. I keep waiting for the other shoe to fall anytime I say or do something but he’s not like the other people I've met. Is that because he simply doesn’t know how to act otherwise? Or could his dedication to love really be true? Could he really just be a naturally nice person?

INGUS:

We sit outside at a table with a heating device in the middle of it. “I know it’s crazy that I decided to take us out for ice cream in the middle of winter but, this is just what called to me.” She excitedly stares at me, waiting for me to take a bite. “You’re going to love it, I promise.” I use the spoon to take a bite. 

MS.2000:

He takes his giant hand and the little spoon to take a bite. His face lights up with a smile. He laughs and goes in for more. “Good?” I ask. He shakes his head yes ferociously. He continues to shovel it down and that’s when I realize. “Wait, you should slow down though because of the brain freeze…” In near perfectly comedic fashion, he raises his head slowly from the cup of ice cream, his face covered in the stuff. As his eyes meet mine I look into the cup: it’s empty. “What’s a brain freeze?” The moment he asks that, he contorts his face and closes his eyes tightly. He clutches the sides of his head. He gets up pacing around. “It's basically just your mouth getting cold, I promise your actual brain isn't freezing,” I say. He acts as if he's experienced no pain like this before and honestly, I let out a giggle or two looking at his betrayed face.

INGUS:

I've worked in the heat in temperatures reaching hundreds of degrees, my skin chipping and flaking due to the abhorrent heat. I've carried hundreds of pounds of trash, creaking my shoulders, wrists and elbows with each pound crushing me. I've worked in rainy conditions worse than imaginable, with floods so bad that trash water would be up to my hips, the smell of sludge searing my nostrils. I've frozen in the rain on such occasions, experiencing pain that attacks each nerve, making the skin taut and excruciating. I've lived through a life of physical pain no man should experience: this pain is one thousand times worse.