Young and Naughty
by Marianna Maruyama ︎︎︎When we were young and a bit naughtier, we used to meet in the park every few days and dig into whatever was troubling us.
Ben’s girlfriend wanted him to meet her identical twin sister and this worried him because he was afraid he might find her more attractive. Meanwhile, Callie was afraid that her guy was annoying everyone with what he called radical honesty – expressing the opinion that someone’s voice was too high, or saying that he rather enjoyed the smell he sensed was emanating from someone’s anus. This embarrassed Callie even though she often had the same feelings but would never say them out loud. Jae, on the other hand never complained about a significant other but was simply a bit sluggish all around and struggled to manage the effort of living. Arla was the easy-going one. She always made it plain and clear that today would not come again, and for that reason we’d better be kind to ourselves and each other. Sometimes her compassion was exhausting, but everyone loved her and we needed her perspective when it came to really understanding our petty jealousies and insecurities.
As our lives started evening out, we eventually stopped getting together in the park. Ben met the twin sister and in fact, did find her more attractive, but he had three pups with his girlfriend anyway. Callie’s husband became a personal trainer soon after they parted ways, barking out orders that everyone paid attention to. Jae kept him company, and even started to walk a little faster. Arla, as one might expect of such amiable creature, just kept walking with the other dogs in the park, living her compassionate life in ignorance of politics, human tragedies, world events and relationship dramas.