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“I don’t know. I’ve heard rumors of people getting lost for days in there. That people have died in there, and their ghosts haunt it.”
“That’s silly. If someone died in there, they wouldn’t be promoting it as family fun. And besides, it’s the twenty-first century. You got a phone, don’t you?”
“If I can reach it in this costume.”
“I’ll help you if you need. I promise you won’t get stranded forever. But maybe we’d like to get lost, my dear Nicole. Just for a bit, anyway.”
More chuckles. “I think I wouldn’t mind that at all.”
Hand in hand, a bit more intentional this time, a taco and an avocado walk into a corn maze.
“People dying in here and ghosts haunting it sounds like a Halloween story teenagers would make up. In fact, I think it is. I remember people talking about it a lot when I was a kid.”
“Me too, actually.” It’s absurd. It’s not like you can’t just push your way through corn stalks. They aren’t that thick. Most people just don’t out of respect for the work that went into making the maze.
“Born and raised in Burly, huh?”
“Yep,” she says. “I thought urban legends always had to have a bit of truth to them, so it’s always scared me off of the maze.”
“It’s all bullshit. Besides, if any ghosts show up, I’ll protect you.”
“Lots of tough talk coming from a guy dressed as a taco.”
“My father taught me to always have plenty of hot sauce ready for whatever comes your way. And to be ready to apply it liberally if people want to make things spicier.” I do a bit of shadow boxing to drive my metaphor home.
“I’m somehow doubting he put it like that. My dad just made sure I was ready to kick a guy in the nads if he tried something. Didn’t want any daughter of his unable to defend herself.”
“Good. Everyone should be able to take care of themselves. But they also shouldn’t be afraid to find strength and comfort in others.”
“Yeah. Good values. Guess they’re Burly values. In a tiny town like this, you can’t stand to have a lot of enemies when something goes wrong.”
“You also gotta know who your enemies are, though. They are closer than ever in a small town so you gotta be on your guard.”
Dad got along with everyone pretty well. Mostly. He says he can count on one hand the people he absolutely can’t stand who call Burly home. He usually expresses it by saying what hewouldn’tdo if he saw they were on fire.
We travel deeper into the maze. I know how they normally set it up, but I’m deliberately making wrong turns. The longer we’re in here, the more I can get to know the avocado that my taco so direly needs.
It isn’t long until we’re totally alone.
“You know, I’d love to see more of you than some googly eyes on a vegetable, Nicole.”
“Fruit.”
“Fruit, whatever. And I’m sure you’d like to see what’s behind these olives and tomatoes, too.”
“I would, I think.” It’s amazing how much our body language communicates even when we are nearly fully covered like this. I want her badly. Even if she turns out to be the mom with the awesome skin routine, it’s going to be hard for me to just walk away from how she’s making me feel.
“Who goes first?” I ask.
“Why don’t we take them off together?”
“Count of three?”
“Sounds good to me.”
We prepare to remove the tops of the costumes. For me, it’s the top fifth of the taco, and for her, the narrow part of the avocado. The heads are zipped on for quick removal, I guess in case the person behind the mascot has to identify themselves.
“One... Two... Three...”
