The Fountain Wish

Do fountain wishes come true?

Jennie and Marcus stood at the park fountain and leaned over the tubular railing, watching the water shoot up forty feet and cascade down four marble dishes into a large pool of water only to do it all over again and again.

Jennie said, “Look at all those coins in there, all those dreams. Wonder how many of the wishes actually got filled.”

“Mmm hmm. Amazing, isn’t it?” Marcus said.

“Penny for your thoughts, Marcus,” Jennie said as she eased closer and wrapped her arms around his upper arm.

Marcus sighed and continued to stare into the fountain, not saying a word, not acknowledging that his girlfriend of three years had said anything. Over the last few weeks, she had been hinting at commitment, but Marcus wasn’t taking the bait or else he didn’t understand her subtleties.

Or worse yet, he was ignoring her hints.

“You ever toss a coin in and make a wish, Jen?”

“No, never did. You?”

Marcus reached into his pocket and pulled out a penny.

“Here, make it a good one.”

He pulled out another penny, closed his eyes briefly, and tossed it in.

Jennie closed her eyes for a full minute and overhanded it into the fountain. It bounced off the bottom dish and sunk to the bottom right under the dish.

“What’d you wish, Marcus?” Jennie asked.

“Oh, then it won’t come true, Jen. I don’t wanna jinx it. What’d you wish?”

“I see what you did there, ignoring my question. I wished for a wedding soon accompanied by four little ones down the road.”

“Mmm,” Marcus said. “Big wish. Who’s getting married? Anyone I know?”

“We are, Silly. One day, right?”

“Probably,” Marcus said.

“So, what’d you wish?”

“You really wanna know?”

Jennie said, “Yes, I do.”

“I was hoping for maybe seven or eight kids in our brood.”

Jennie was silent.

“I think you’re serious, Marcus,” Jennie said.

“Very. But they come on one condition…”

“What, Marcus, what?”

“You wear this first and accompany your dad down the aisle in front of a bunch of witnesses.”

Marcus pulled out a ring box and opened it.

He bent on one knee and said, “Jennifer Lynne Houser, will…”

“Yes, Marcus, yes!”

They could say with certainty later on that at least two dreams had come true in the fountain.

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