A Girl and A Dog

Author's Note: This quick story was written while listening to The Beatles, it is recommended that it is read the same way as there is never a bad time to fully appreciate the fab four. The following is based loosely off of real events and a jewelry advert I saw. Enjoy.

There is a girl. She has brown hair, light skin and an infectious laugh, which is the only good infectious thing in the world. A self-proclaimed "simple lady", she wants her coffee to be strong and her men to be tattooed. She smokes a pipe, likes her clothes a few sizes too big and is scared more than she lets on. She is scared of left-hand turns. She can't read a mystery book after 9 pm and is terrified of living the same year more than once. But the girl is the best thing you could be when you are scared of something: brave and kind.

This girl, like most people worth taking note of, has a dog. This dog isn't scared of anything, except for the obese chicken named Buttercup that roams the backyard and door stops when they make a "twang" sound, of course. This dog is a goofball and a force to be reckoned with when treats are concerned. He will eat anything you place in front of him with the exception of carrots. And even though he hears his name be spoken harshly when he tries to get on furniture or get his food that the girl accidentally left on the back of the counter, he loves his girl and always knows how to make her laugh.

One Sunday afternoon it was raining, as it does often in November, so the girl moved her rocking chair indoors and smoked her pipe that way. She holds the pipe in her left hand and throws a ball for the dog with the other. But her mind is occupied with more than the routine tasks of rocking, throwing and puffing. She thinks fiercely about her fears in a way that made her forehead scrunch up. She desperately wants to know if she will feel this way for the next 25 years. She was 27, but she mentally excludes the first two years because she didn't think they really count in this instance. It was at the moment right after that one, that she realized she needs change. 15 minutes later she went to Safeway and found the hair dye section. She picks out a box from the "$9.99 AND UNDER" section and spends the night dying the underside of her hair a royal blue. Afterwards, she paints her toes, like she did each Sunday night, and made sweet potato fries instead of regular fries with dinner.

The dog is oblivious to the changes his girl was instilling in their lives. He only knew that he got to go on walks more and that the girl swore more while cooking weird smelling things. For the dog, life mostly stays just the way he liked it: routine. Little did he know this was the precise reason his girl was upset.

A month later she found herself in the same spot, rocking, throwing, and puffing. The blue in her hair had faded to a dull green. The feeling of adventure once again faded from her chest. In the last few weeks, the girl had grown a paradox inside of her; she was terrified to get into a routine she couldn't break but she was equally scared of change and the unknown. She was at a loss. With each dreary fall day, she felt herself wanting somewhere new a little more. The girl hated the streets she had to drive down and hid from people she knew if she saw them.

The next day was Monday, which meant it was time to go to Value Village and look at the historical biographies. The dog doesn't like this because he had to stay home, but he did like the new things the girl always brings home just for him to smell. As the girl was leaving the store with a book about the Kennedys and one about Vasili Arkhipov, she saw, in the corner, a dart board and a map of America. She was struck by an idea and grab those too. She paid the teller exactly $13 and went home. Quickly, even before the dog got to smell his new things, she hung up the map of America on the back of her bedroom door. She grabs a dart from the dart set, closes her eyes and throws the dart. A sense of excitement wells in her chest as she opens her eyes. She sighs as she realizes the dart landed in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. She sinks to her bed defeated and confused at her bad aim.