masaafa
“There are no completely good people or completely bad people, everything is mixed up and separation is impossible. ”
The girl walked the streets in a dirty romper and sandals too large for her feet. She couldn't see without her glasses and walked nearly into parked cars as she tried to cross the street. Music filled her body; she was humming all the time. Yam-yam-yam-yam. Those who walked by her thought perhaps she was hungry and some women pulled out their wallets to give the girl money.
She was no beggar; she had pride in her position in the world, even though it was a bit small and quite smelly. The girl slept where she ended up each day; she was not picky about her bedding. She could pass out anywhere, being one who roamed so far during the sunlight hours. There were many like her on the road. Light Workers, Julieta called them.
The girl met Julieta on the beach. She had pink hair and cut her bangs to a short fringe above her dark eyes. Julieta was always chewing gum and loved it when she found fresh kiwis.
'They help the bowels move,' she'd said, biting into one half—skin and all! She ate the furry bits after she rinsed the fruit, which the girl had found odd though she didn't say anything.
There was no sense in pointing out people's differences. There were too many to comment upon without dominating every conversation.
The girl didn't care for kiwi, though she ate half and listened to Julieta's stories. She liked the color of the kiwi and held it in both palms and stared into the bright gold eye at its center.
'Nurture and foster an experience within yourself that draws you back to your power source. The center of the universe is within you; there and only there will you discover what you need.'
Julieta was full of these little sentences that presented very strong messages. The girl followed her for the week she stayed in town. Julieta slept on the beach in a blue tent and the girl slept under the canopy just outside.
'I cannot let you in; there's no room, you understand.'
The girls swam together in the morning and ate whatever Julieta had purchased from the market. Usually bananas and kiwis. Cheap fruits she could share easily. Sometimes she bought raspberries and did not share those with the girl.
The girl was prone to investigating everyone she met and took to her mental notebook with Julieta. She jotted notes when Julieta spoke and often missed what she was saying. She'd return to the sound, pick up some sentences, and then drift back to her notes.
'It's the mythic interpretation we should focus on- the relationship between media and ethics is based on historical narratives we've fostered for centuries!'
Julieta was always excited about what she was talking about. The girl could see the exclamation points whenever Julieta spoke.
The girl didn't record what Julieta said; she was more interested in the non-spoken elements of a person's personality. So as Julieta filled the ether with her words and exclamation points, the girl sometimes closed her eyes and listened with her whole body.
Julieta moved like a rabbit; she was soft and quick. Jumpy, even. She darted about less like a bird, whose grace fills the skyline and more like the mammal that hops about a bit disconcertedly, on the lookout for the coyote or the fox.
She attracted undesirable attention far too easily. People watched her pink flossy hair like cotton candy at a fair, following her with hungry eyes. Her lips were always painted and her nails sparkled. The men licked their lips like wolves and the girl could hear them howl in the silence.
Gaps were the best part of being with Julieta. Things stopped when Julieta started moving and the girl had access to a realm she'd never been to.
The realm was tenuous and sensual. Julieta wriggled her hips into tiny swimsuits that laced up her back and she skipped down to the water with her heels at her ass.
The younger boys watched unabashedly, understanding and not understanding what was being conveyed in such moments. The older men snuck glances behind their darkened glasses. They looked without looking; the girl didn't need to see to know who was watching them.
The girl hated being watched. She didn't like the feeling of eyes on her body.
Julieta picked at the skin around her cuticles. She left her nails alone, so they stayed rounded, pretty, and manicured, though the skin around the nailbeds bled often.
Julieta took a phone call each evening around sunset that caused her chest to blossom with a faint red rash. It colored her throat and was gone by morning.
Julieta cooked slowly and ate quickly, usually with her hands. She ate so fast that it seemed she didn't chew her food.
Julieta squared her shoulders whenever the girl looked her directly in the eyes.
Julieta touched the girl's elbow each time she wanted to go for a swim.
The last night she was to stay on the beach, Julieta bought pizza at a shop and returned to the tent where the girl was sitting in the sand. She'd buried her feet and was working up to her thighs when she'd smelled the cheese and basil.
'Let's eat down by the water.'
So the girl removed her legs and Julieta put on a pair of sweatpants and a sweater and they walked down to the water's edge with a blanket and the box of pizza.
Julieta let the girl sit on the blanket when it was not in the tent.
The two sat side by side and watched the tide move outwards even as it leaped up and in.
'It's funny to watch a thing move backward even though the motion is forwards.'
The girl nodded. She knew exactly how it felt to be stuck like the sea.
Photo source.
