Elise lives alone in a small forest house with her cat Mr. Softy. Feeling lonely, she decides to take a bus trip to Brookshire. On the bus, she meets Klyde, who offers to show her around. They bond over drinks at a bar where Klyde shares about his past relationship. Elise stays at Klyde's apartment but leaves after his ex-girlfriend shows up unexpectedly. Klyde realizes he has feelings for Elise and goes to her forest home to apologize. Elise accepts his apology and the two share a kiss, with Elise inviting Klyde to stay with her.

1. Heading: LOVING AVOCADOS 1
Loving Avocados
Adreena Lind
March 10, 2014
English 340
Pr. Sophia Mavro

2. LOVING AVOCADOS 2
Down a long and winding road far from the smog of the cities, the commotion of people in the
town and the neighing, and mooing of the small farms there was a small clearing in the middle of
a thick forest. There was an old house. Inside of the house with chipping paint and broken red
shutters was a girl and a cat. The girl's name was Elise.
Elise sat near the fireplace and sipped a warm cup of tea. She was only joined by her orange cat,
whom she called Mr. Softy. She didn‟t speak a word. She continued this way for many hours.
She looked at the wooden walls and old furniture that was older than she was and suddenly said
to herself.
“I think it is finally time.”
She walked to the kitchen and open the window only a few inches. She opened a can of cat food
and emptied it into Mr. Softy‟s food bowl.
She walked into the next room grabbing a small suitcase and placing it on the floor. She put a
few books, an old picture frame with a black and white picture into the suitcase. And a few
blouses and other clothing.
She then stuff a bus map into her pants pocket and said, “Be a good boy, I will not be gone very
long,” to her beloved cat.
She slipped on her shiny black flats and a rust-colored jacket on. Wrapped her neck with a
woven blue scarf, picked up the suitcase and quietly walked out the door of the small house.
“My goodness.” Elise said to herself, “I never realized how many trees there were and how many
people there weren‟t.”
Elise walked to the end of the dusty path. She did not look back but could hear Mr. Softy‟s sad
goodbyes. She was ready and knew what she had to do.
After walking for what seemed like a long time she came upon a bus stop. She sat down on the
bench and looked up. The rain was coming slowly with great big drops that looked like tears.

3. LOVING AVOCADOS 3
Elise pulled the bus map and her CD player from her pocket. She put the CD play on her lap and
put her headphones and pulls up her hood. She studied the map intensely. Elise quickly put the
map away and hummed the lyrics to “out of my mind” by the Pixies.
Elise noticed the tall, thin man in the distance walking toward the bus stop in the rain. She
straightened up nervously. He wore a dark green jacket; a shabby looking thing with holes. He
sloped next to the entrance of the awning patting the front pockets of his jacket looking for a
light. Success, he pulled the match from the book as he stuck the match there was a soft pop.
Elise flattened her skirt and leaned against the glass awning.
He had a cigarette hanging from his lip. The stranger stared straight at Elise. He plopped down
next to Elise and watched the raindrops run down the large glass-pane next to her.
Elise waved the smoke away and coughed lightly.
“Does the smoke bother you?” his voice was gritty and deep.
“A little.” Elise perked up hoping he would notice her excitement.
The man smiled, took another pull and the cigarette out on the bottom of his shoe.
“What‟s your name?”
“Elise.”
“Pretty. I‟m Klyde. You know like bonnie and Klyde, but with a K.”
Elise looked puzzled.
“Never mind. Where you headed.”

4. LOVING AVOCADOS 4
“Brookshire.”
“Oh yeah me too. Business or pleasure.”
“Hmm … pleasure, I guess.”
"You ever been before?"
"No," she said in a shy low voice.
“I can be your guide.”
Elise hesitated, “I don‟t know. I mean …”
“I get it. Don‟t talk to strangers.” he said with a smirk as he moved his hair from in front of his
dark brown eyes.
The rain started to pour harder as the bus pulled up.
Elise went to get her money from her pocket as Klyde walked onto the bus and swiped his card
twice. He looked back at Elise
“I got you. C‟mon,” he held out his hand.
Elise smiled and put her hand in his.
She felt the heat of his skin and yearned to feel more of this warmth.

5. LOVING AVOCADOS 5
Elise and Klyde took two seats in the near the rear of the bus. They warmly conversed about the
weather and made small talk.
The rain poured down furiously when the two acquaintances got to Brookshire. Klyde lead Elise
to a red brick building with a black awning. The bricks were old and cracking and had two dust
covered windows just about where Elise and Klyde stood. Klyde pushed the greyish black door
open and walked in with Elise following closely behind.
Klyde and Elise sat quietly at the bar.
Before asking “So tell me something about you.”
“What do you want to know?”
“I was almost a someone's dad, but it didn‟t work out.” Klyde replied with a kind of sad grin.
Elise stared at Klyde for a time and ask the inevitable question.
“Did you love her?”
“Yeah, I did. For a while, but it was hard for her.”
What happened?”
Klyde ordered a whiskey. Elise asked her for a glass of milk.
“She got pregnant with twins and lost them. She had other kids. Real pretty girl with dark eyes
and dark hair. But after the babies that, she just couldn‟t be with me. I understood.”
Klyde stared at the brown liquid in his glass and didn‟t say anything after that.

6. LOVING AVOCADOS 6
Elise sat quietly next to Klyde and asked him if he wanted to leave.
He finished his drink, and the two walked out of the dark tavern.
Outside the rain had finally stopped.
Elise pulled up the hood of her jacket and slid her hand into Klyde‟s.
He glanced at her and smiled.
Klyde looked up and then stopped in front of an apartment building. The building seemed to be
squashed between two larger buildings; red brick building to the left and a brown building to the
right. The small cramped building seemed out of place on the nice cobbled-street block.
“Want to come up?” Klyde said with a kind innocence.
I‟d better be heading home. It‟s getting late.” Elise said unsure of whether Klyde was as
trustworthy as she wanted to believe he was.
“C‟mon, it‟s late already. I don‟t bite.”
Elise smiled and tightened her hold on his arm. She leaned in and whispered maybe, “another
time.”
She gently let go of Clyde‟s arm and walked the way she had come.
Klyde watched her graceful shadow disappear around the corner.

7. LOVING AVOCADOS 7
He wanted to run after; everything in him told him not to let her go, but he didn‟t. He just pulled
the matchbook from his pocket and a half-smoked cigarette from his shirt pocket. He let the
smoke fill his lungs and then slowly exhaled. The thick greyish-white smoke. Klyde slumped
down onto the stoop in front of the small, cramped building where he lived. He took a drag, and
then another before flicking the filter into the sewer. He watched as the water carried the small
filter until it too had disappeared.
He shook his head and thought about the girl he had lost, about the twins, and then about Elise.
He didn‟t run after her; he didn‟t consider the possibility of seeing her again. He walked up the
long winding stairs to the sixth floor. Klyde pressed his head to the door and pulled his keys
from his pocket. Klyde's coat was still wet from the rain. Klyde walked in the apartment tossing
his keys in a small glass bowl and the table next to the door. The rooms were practically empty
except for a mattress in the corner under a narrow window, a small television, and dresser
cluttered with old papers and pictures. He laid on a mattress and stared at the ceiling for a time.
He noticed it was raining again.
Now, perhaps in some stories this would be the end, but not this one. In fact, Klyde soon heard a
light tapping at the door.
From the back room, he shouted “Go away! We‟re not interested.”
“Klyde? It‟s Elise,” She said faintly.
A sudden rush came over Klyde. He jumped to his feet and ran sprinted to the door.
He opened the door to a drenched Elise.
“Can I come in?” She said with a shy smile.
“Yeah, let me get your jacket.”

8. LOVING AVOCADOS 8
Elise shivered “can I use your shower?”
Klyde was surprised by Elise‟s request but said “Yeah, of course.”
The two stood at the entrance for a moment smiling at one another.
“So where is the …”
“Oh, right ...” Klyde took Elise by the hand, lead her down the hall, and smiled. He stopped in
front of a half opened door directly across from the small room.
Elise smiled. She thanked Klyde and walked in closing the door behind her. Elise placed the
plain suitcase on the floor the bathroom. It was a plain bathroom. White porcelain sink, toilet,
and bath. A clear plastic shower curtain. A bar of green soap and a red toothbrush hanging from
the silver holder attached to the black and white tiled wall. Very clean, but nothing fancy about
it. With a tiny window at the end.
A few minutes later Elise can out of the bathroom.
So what changed your mind” Klyde asked still puzzled.
“The rain,” said Elise with a coy smile.
Klyde chuckled and handed Elise a mug of hot tea.
"So, now it is your turn to tell me about you and I want to hear it all."
“Well, I live in a small house, in the forest. My grandparent's built it"

9. LOVING AVOCADOS 9
"I have an orange cat named Mr. Softy, but needed a change of pace, so…”
„„Wait you named your cat Mr. Softy?‟‟
She said bewildered “Yes.”
„‟Like the ice cream trucks?‟‟
"So you came ... I mean ... to the city.”
„‟Well I used to live in a small town, but I came to the forest to care for my grandmother until
she died a few years ago. She was wonderful.‟‟
“Oh, I‟m sorry.”
“Don‟t be!” Elise said “she was a great lady and live a long happy life. I had fallen into a rough
patch. My parents were never really there for me as a child, but my grandmother was. I loved
her.” Elise‟s eyes seemed to fill with joy as she spoke. They were a brilliant shade of jade green.
Elise and Klyde talked like this for the rest of the evening.
In the morning when Klyde woke up, Elise was already dressed.
“I have to go see about a job. I‟ll be done around noon if you want we can have a bite to eat
then?”
“Yeah, let‟s meet at the diner up the street.”

10. LOVING AVOCADOS 10
A few hours later Elise came down the street she walked into the diner and sat in a booth. She
ordered a vanilla milk shake and waited for Klyde.
After an hour, she began to get worried. She paid the tab and collected her things. Elise walked
back to the corner and crossed the street to the small green apartment building. She walked in, up
the stairs to Klyde‟s apartment door. Elise knocked on the door. Klyde did not answer.
Elise knocked again, but there was still no answer. The doorknob turns. The door opens and out
walks a tall dark haired women. Elise knew instantly that this was the women that Klyde was
once in love with. Her heart sank.
"Elise," Klyde says dryly as he stood in the distance breathing out a cloud of smoke. Klyde
couldn‟t find the words to explain, so he didn‟t.
He looked up at Elise and saw the tears forming in her eyes. His head hung in shame.
The woman was gone, and Elise was frozen.
Elise studded by what has just happened moves to grab her suitcase. Klyde didn‟t say a word to
Elise. He only stared out of the window. Elise was gone, again.
That night Klyde didn‟t sleep. He didn‟t sleep the next night or the night after that. He only
thought of what had happened in the days before.
Elise returned to her quiet cottage she walked in to the pleasant smells of the old house where
she had lived with her grandmother for so long.
She sat down and was greeted by her beloved Mr. Softy.
„‟Softy my love I have so much to tell you, ‟‟ she said with a certain excitement.

11. LOVING AVOCADOS 11
“I saw and did much in the last two days and even made a…”
“Knock, knock” there was a knock on the door.
Mr. Softy ran to the door and gently pawed the thick green door
"Wow, you must have made a friend too” Elise laughed.
Elise opened the door widely and was stunned to find it was Klyde standing on the porch.
“What are you doing here? How did you know where I lived?”
“I had to see you again!” he exclaimed. “Can I come in?”
“Yes, come in.”
“I just want to explain. The women you saw that day in my apartment was the women that was
pregnant with my twins.” Elise took a deep breath as Klyde continued to talk.
“I didn‟t know she was going to be there”
„‟You don‟t owe me an explanation.‟‟ said Elise.
Klyde interrupted “Yes, I do. I am sorry if I hurt you. I care about you. You gave me this
something and when you left it.”
Elise erupted, “I cared about you. I hope that you believe that, but we are from different worlds.”

12. LOVING AVOCADOS 12
Klyde moved closer to Elise and said “I need to be a part of your world no matter what it takes.”
In that moment, Elise‟s heart melted.
She moved closer to Klyde and could feel Mr. Softy‟s soft orange fur move between their legs.
Klyde stared into Elise‟s green eyes. They looked darker now, but still glimmered and sparkled
like the dark skin of an avocado.
Elise passionately kissed Klyde.
“Stay.”
“I‟ll be where ever you want me to be,” Klyde said.