August 2019
A beautiful pair of beautiful pairs.
Entry One
Mya expects to hear Leena singing her folk songs in the shower. Instead, she walks into the kitchen and finds Leena has dyed her hair purple. You’ve dyed your hair purple, says Mya. Leena also has on glitter Dr Marten boots and a short skirt. Yes, she says, I have. She appears to have taken all of the books out of the lounge and stacked them on the kitchen table. Mya doesn’t ask what she’s doing as Leena often does strange things. Once, Leena came home and showed Mya her notebook, which contained all the text messages she had overseen on the train that day. Mya thinks that perhaps Leena does things like this because she is Finnish. Mya pauses, hands on hips. Leena looks up and says: we have too many books so I’m doing a bit of thinning out. It sounds like she says ‘tinning’ out. Mya says: we don’t talk about diets, remember? Leena pokes out her tongue. Mya can see the silver stud. I love it when you poke out your tongue, she says.
Entry Two
He brought her a gift. She ignored him.
That night he asked the moon, “How do I prove my love?”
The moon replied, “What makes you think loving her means she must reciprocate?”
“If she understands my love is pure, she will love me back.”
The moon laughed. “You are a fool.”
“What do you know?” he squawked. “You’re just a shiny rock.”
“Hey, you asked me.”
“You’re not helping…wait, actually, you are!” He took off in a flurry.
He brought her to his tree and gestured to the moon. “I would give you the biggest, shiniest gem in the sky, but giving you gifts won’t make you love me. Your heart must choose on its own, as mine has. I am sorry I insulted you by trying to buy your love. Can you forgive me?”
The moon’s light reflected off her black eyes. She said, “Can you really give me the moon?”
He raised his head and positioned the moon between his open beak. She laughed and kissed him.
Two crows flew over a wheat field. One turned its head to the full moon and winked.