blue and white paper sculpture

Athena was having a grilled cheese sandwich, an orange, grapes, chips from a fifty cent bag, and orange juice. She hunched across from Hugo who ate a turkey panini with kale and tomatoes, a one dollar bag of unbuttered popcorn, and pineapple slices. He drank water, supposedly rare water, from a hidden island in the mediterranean sea.

“I tell you,” he said. “This water is brought to Chicago only for a select few and I am one of them.” He sipped the water slowly closing his eyes every time. “Want to know what it does to you?” he whispered. With a full mouth of grapes, Athena glanced at her watch. In ten minutes their lunch would end.

Before I worked in a cubicle, I would measure trees in the middle of Millennium park. On a Thursday, I was measuring a tree. The largest tree I have ever measured to date. It had a tree trunk with a radius of two feet and a half and was fifty feet tall. An orchestra played as I rocked on my heels. The measuring tape, in my hand, touched the pavement. During the violin solo, I was tapped on the shoulder. A little woman in her mid-thirties stood before me.

“I see you have an affinity for nature,” she said, her blue droopy eyes travelled from the measuring tape to the tree. “I’m Estelle. Guess how old I am?”

I stumbled backwards. The tape scraped against the pavement. “Uh, um, thirty-five?” I replied.

Estelle poked my chest. “Nope! Guess again!”

“Thirty?”

“Nope. I’m seventy-five!” she said and her smile exposed wrinkles around her eyes. She had to be at most thirty-seven. Not seventy-five. That couldn’t be, but then she let me in on a secret.

Hugo reached for one of Athena’s grapes and raised his water in a fragile toast. “This here will keep me looking twenty-five forever.”

the cramps

Dog Walks

Simon was the second to last puppy to leave the animal shelter. The reason why. He had short fur. Other adoptees wanted puppies with fur that could reach the floor. To me, Simon was the cutest of them all, so I took him. I tucked him under my oversized sweater to stop the rain from touching his short rough fur and drove to our home. An apartment where the landlord only allowed one small pet. Luckily, Simon was small and plump. He barked sporadically, sneezed excessively, and followed me throughout the house. When I arrived from work, he stepped on his food dish to ask for food and drank water so fast he had trouble breathing. He never learned to stop barking at people when we went on walks. Small children would run, crying, to their mothers when they heard Simon. Grown-ups would walk on the grass and cover their ears to stop Simon from becoming a part of their life, even if just for a second.

Now, Simon is almost four years old and gaining weight. With his temper we only go on walks when no
one is around, early 6:00 am and 11:00 pm, usually. He once barked at a pitbull who got so mad that he
attacked Simon and sent him to the E. R. Wounds did not stop Simon from barking at the E. R. veterinarian. The back of his fur stood up when he sensed the threat of the vet approaching. Gums appeared inside the muzzle I placed on him. After the surgery, Simon barked worse than ever. He barked at mice inside the walls and cars parked on the street. I think he has Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and I am convinced he will never change. I bet Simon thinks he’s a large dog similar to a pitbull, lion, or possibly a bear. But he’s not, he’s a small, plump dog with a temper.

Two Milks

It was a dreary afternoon and rain poured rapidly. The clouds appeared to jump around and although it had been raining for four hours there were no puddles on the ground. Alicia stood with Athena at their house’s front door entrance. Alicia wore a pink raincoat with matching pink boots. Athena wore the same outfit except her ensemble was black. They stood in the doorway after bickering about where and what type of milk they should buy. Alicia became a vegetarian when she went on a field trip with her third-grade class and saw a farmer carrying a dead chicken. The sight of the chicken awakened in Alicia a desire to stop eating meat. When she arrived home, later that day, she ran through the front doorway, opened the fridge, and threw all the chicken away. She proclaimed, “I will not eat animals anymore! I will not!”After Alicia threw away the chicken, Athena picked it up. “Who does she think she is?” she said. “Wasting perfect food.”

Athena wanted plain cow milk, the one that comes in the blue gallon. Alicia desired almond, soy, or maybe cashew milk. “You know what? I’m just going to buy almond milk at the farmer's market,” Alicia said as her feet stepped on the front porch. “Since we can’t decide where to go.” Athena stared at her sister as she walked through the gate, but when she lifted her gaze, a figure in a dark purple raincoat approached rapidly. The figure stopped next to Alicia as she closed the gate door behind her. Without saying a word, the figure handed Alicia a bag and walked away.

“Wait, wait,” she said. “I think you have the wrong person.”

Inside of the bag, there were two milk cartons, one was cow milk from the blue gallon. The other carton was almond milk. Alicia raised her gaze to where Athena stood. She was smiling and motioning for her to come back inside.