it's the closest it could be.
Once upon a time, in a game called Capesize, there was a ship called Wayward Son.
They are all dead now, but maybe not.
hypotheticals.
Maya is four and a half years old and she already has a boyfriend and a girlfriend.
Sometimes she's not sure they know it, and her Mama teases her and tells her that having one of each is being greedy, but they are hers all the same and one day she knows she's going to marry them.
They all work together but do different things, Papa told her once, which explained how most of them knew each other. Now he is sleeping under the tree with his arm lying across the new baby while her mother reads and Maya colors, all of them exhausted from picnicking and playing and everything else they've been up to, all those other things. Maya is an only child now, but she won't be for much longer. Before she is five, she'll be a sister. She should be excited, she knows, but there are things of hers she isn't sure she wants to share, like the way her mother hums to her when she is falling asleep, and Hyun and Rhea, and the little picture stories she draws with her father on the back of restaurant placemats, because they are all her things.
Maya is the only person she knows with four names. She has both of her parents' last names, and one first name from each of them because they couldn't settle on just one, but mostly everyone just calls her Maya. When Hyunsoo was first introduced to her (she is too young to remember it, but this is how the story goes), he said she had a long ways to go to grow into her name, and she is waiting for the day he finally says she has. She's used to people making fun of it; by now she just thinks it makes her special.
When Maya asked her mother if they'd fight over the baby's name, like they fought over hers, her mother had laughed and just said, “Probably,” and Maya isn't sure she's ready to share that, either.
She sees Acoustic first, rambling along on the end of the harness, excitable and small between the climbing blades of grass. Acoustic is probably Maya's favorite cat in the whole world and almost makes up for Mama and Papa saying she can't have a kitten yet. Acoustic is her favorite because wherever Acoustic goes, Hyun is sure to follow, and Rhea.
And there they are.
Maya squeals to see them, wiping her hands on her dress when she stands. It's new, and she probably shouldn't. Acoustic has just decided to lay down in the grass, and rolls impatiently from side to side as Maya waves and waves and hopes they might have time to stop and sit with her.
They do stop, and Acoustic rolls this way and that like the happiest cat on Earth. She manages to stay still, but only just, as they say hi to her to mother and go through the adult stuff everyone thinks she doesn't understand (“Uh, congratulations,” directed sidelong at the baby and “Thanks. We weren't really expecting this one, but...We're happy,” in response, in that quiet, content voice she's not used to her mother using) until finally Rhea says, “''Lo, Maya!”
“Hi!” Maya gasps, hugging Rhea's knee first because she is closer, and then Hyun's because one without the other doesn't make any sense. Mama used to scold her for doing this until Rhea said it was all right, and now she's free to greet them with a hug whenever she wants.
She could talk to them for hours. Yes, she was very happy to see them and it must have been good weather for walking - or going on a picnic, like they were - and no, she wasn't in school yet and yes she was very proud to be a big sister and could she please say hello to Acoustic?
There are so many things she could still talk about, but Maya can see her chances blowing away like dandelion tufts, so she asks, very suddenly worried that they might say no, “Do you wanna color? I got lots of crayons to share.” (“Have.”)
Hyun says, “Maybe...” and Rhea says, “Sure!” so they end up sharing corners of the blanket and dogeared pages torn from her new coloring book while Acoustic chases butterflies and tries to eat the grass, tiny nose smeared dark with dirt.
Maya doesn't like ponies much in real life, but they're the best for coloring because each one looks a little different. Each one gets its own name and special markings and her four initials in the corner, and Hyun's is dark with headphones added in, and Rhea's wears a leather jacket and a big floppy hat. They are probably a herd somewhere, in some far-off coloring book fantasy land where horses can wear hats and it's not selfish to want a boyfriend and a girlfriend at the same time.
Three pictures later and it's nearly time to go. It takes Mama a lot of effort to stand up, first extracting herself from the arm across her belly and then finding the best way to stand. Maya's already half-packed by the time she comes over to collect her. She gives Rhea and Hyun each one of her pictures and they each give her one back, and they do this without even talking about it. It's just something they do, together, like they're used to it.
“Go jump on Dad, munchkin,” her mother says, running a hand across the top of her head. “Tell him it's time to get up.”
“Okay,” she says, scuffing her toes and getting her should dirty just like she wasn't supposed to. She cannot meet their eyes as she says, “Bye, Ms. Rhea. Bye, Mr. Hyunsoo.” Saying goodbye is always harder. She wouldn't leave them first if she didn't have to, but maybe Acoustic is getting tired, too.
As Maya is running over, preparing to leap, she hears her mother say, “She really likes you two, you know. Normally, she's really very shy. But the two of you...I don't understand what it could be.”
Then Maya is pouncing and she doesn't hear the rest of whatever they're saying, but doesn't need to. If her mother was going to marry them someday, maybe she'd understand, too.
They are all dead now, but maybe not.
hypotheticals.
Maya is four and a half years old and she already has a boyfriend and a girlfriend.
Sometimes she's not sure they know it, and her Mama teases her and tells her that having one of each is being greedy, but they are hers all the same and one day she knows she's going to marry them.
They all work together but do different things, Papa told her once, which explained how most of them knew each other. Now he is sleeping under the tree with his arm lying across the new baby while her mother reads and Maya colors, all of them exhausted from picnicking and playing and everything else they've been up to, all those other things. Maya is an only child now, but she won't be for much longer. Before she is five, she'll be a sister. She should be excited, she knows, but there are things of hers she isn't sure she wants to share, like the way her mother hums to her when she is falling asleep, and Hyun and Rhea, and the little picture stories she draws with her father on the back of restaurant placemats, because they are all her things.
Maya is the only person she knows with four names. She has both of her parents' last names, and one first name from each of them because they couldn't settle on just one, but mostly everyone just calls her Maya. When Hyunsoo was first introduced to her (she is too young to remember it, but this is how the story goes), he said she had a long ways to go to grow into her name, and she is waiting for the day he finally says she has. She's used to people making fun of it; by now she just thinks it makes her special.
When Maya asked her mother if they'd fight over the baby's name, like they fought over hers, her mother had laughed and just said, “Probably,” and Maya isn't sure she's ready to share that, either.
She sees Acoustic first, rambling along on the end of the harness, excitable and small between the climbing blades of grass. Acoustic is probably Maya's favorite cat in the whole world and almost makes up for Mama and Papa saying she can't have a kitten yet. Acoustic is her favorite because wherever Acoustic goes, Hyun is sure to follow, and Rhea.
And there they are.
Maya squeals to see them, wiping her hands on her dress when she stands. It's new, and she probably shouldn't. Acoustic has just decided to lay down in the grass, and rolls impatiently from side to side as Maya waves and waves and hopes they might have time to stop and sit with her.
They do stop, and Acoustic rolls this way and that like the happiest cat on Earth. She manages to stay still, but only just, as they say hi to her to mother and go through the adult stuff everyone thinks she doesn't understand (“Uh, congratulations,” directed sidelong at the baby and “Thanks. We weren't really expecting this one, but...We're happy,” in response, in that quiet, content voice she's not used to her mother using) until finally Rhea says, “''Lo, Maya!”
“Hi!” Maya gasps, hugging Rhea's knee first because she is closer, and then Hyun's because one without the other doesn't make any sense. Mama used to scold her for doing this until Rhea said it was all right, and now she's free to greet them with a hug whenever she wants.
She could talk to them for hours. Yes, she was very happy to see them and it must have been good weather for walking - or going on a picnic, like they were - and no, she wasn't in school yet and yes she was very proud to be a big sister and could she please say hello to Acoustic?
There are so many things she could still talk about, but Maya can see her chances blowing away like dandelion tufts, so she asks, very suddenly worried that they might say no, “Do you wanna color? I got lots of crayons to share.” (“Have.”)
Hyun says, “Maybe...” and Rhea says, “Sure!” so they end up sharing corners of the blanket and dogeared pages torn from her new coloring book while Acoustic chases butterflies and tries to eat the grass, tiny nose smeared dark with dirt.
Maya doesn't like ponies much in real life, but they're the best for coloring because each one looks a little different. Each one gets its own name and special markings and her four initials in the corner, and Hyun's is dark with headphones added in, and Rhea's wears a leather jacket and a big floppy hat. They are probably a herd somewhere, in some far-off coloring book fantasy land where horses can wear hats and it's not selfish to want a boyfriend and a girlfriend at the same time.
Three pictures later and it's nearly time to go. It takes Mama a lot of effort to stand up, first extracting herself from the arm across her belly and then finding the best way to stand. Maya's already half-packed by the time she comes over to collect her. She gives Rhea and Hyun each one of her pictures and they each give her one back, and they do this without even talking about it. It's just something they do, together, like they're used to it.
“Go jump on Dad, munchkin,” her mother says, running a hand across the top of her head. “Tell him it's time to get up.”
“Okay,” she says, scuffing her toes and getting her should dirty just like she wasn't supposed to. She cannot meet their eyes as she says, “Bye, Ms. Rhea. Bye, Mr. Hyunsoo.” Saying goodbye is always harder. She wouldn't leave them first if she didn't have to, but maybe Acoustic is getting tired, too.
As Maya is running over, preparing to leap, she hears her mother say, “She really likes you two, you know. Normally, she's really very shy. But the two of you...I don't understand what it could be.”
Then Maya is pouncing and she doesn't hear the rest of whatever they're saying, but doesn't need to. If her mother was going to marry them someday, maybe she'd understand, too.