January 20th. Original. Traditions.
This is kind of a character study. I may add it into the larger piece the characters are taken from (my very first nanonovel). It was nice having them back in my head.
Erin has a way of opening and eating fortune cookies. She's been collecting traditions from the various people she knows. It's interesting to her that everyone seems to have a different way, a different belief surrounding the mythically bland cookies.
She's not surprised that Amelia crushes her cookie up to sprinkle it over her bowl of soft serve like sprinkles. She's impressed that Alim is very careful with his, cracking it in half and then dipping it into his tea before eating it. Neither reads their fortunes until all traces of the cookies have been digested.
Erin always crushes her cookies in the packet and tries to read her fortune without opening it. It's almost like a game and always amusing for her friends to watch. She pushes the bits of cookie all around under the clearest bits of plastic trying to decipher what the ancient Chinese prophets have printed for her this time.
"You will be successful in everything you do… In bed!" Amelia yells.
Alim snorts and shakes his head. His friendship with Amelia is part of the reason he doesn't suffer from culture shock anymore. Not that he had to suffer much, he's been in America long enough that any culture he might have had from his early childhood is buried under a blanket of patriotic holidays and consumerist traditions.
It's funny to Erin, to see these two together. Amelia had always been a strange bird; her friendships all but confirmed it. And Alim, the sweet foreign born boy who was like a masterpiece yet to be painted. Erin laughs with her friends and manages to make out the words which seem like a brilliant coincidence.
You are surrounded by wonderful friends.
Erin has a way of opening and eating fortune cookies. She's been collecting traditions from the various people she knows. It's interesting to her that everyone seems to have a different way, a different belief surrounding the mythically bland cookies.
She's not surprised that Amelia crushes her cookie up to sprinkle it over her bowl of soft serve like sprinkles. She's impressed that Alim is very careful with his, cracking it in half and then dipping it into his tea before eating it. Neither reads their fortunes until all traces of the cookies have been digested.
Erin always crushes her cookies in the packet and tries to read her fortune without opening it. It's almost like a game and always amusing for her friends to watch. She pushes the bits of cookie all around under the clearest bits of plastic trying to decipher what the ancient Chinese prophets have printed for her this time.
"You will be successful in everything you do… In bed!" Amelia yells.
Alim snorts and shakes his head. His friendship with Amelia is part of the reason he doesn't suffer from culture shock anymore. Not that he had to suffer much, he's been in America long enough that any culture he might have had from his early childhood is buried under a blanket of patriotic holidays and consumerist traditions.
It's funny to Erin, to see these two together. Amelia had always been a strange bird; her friendships all but confirmed it. And Alim, the sweet foreign born boy who was like a masterpiece yet to be painted. Erin laughs with her friends and manages to make out the words which seem like a brilliant coincidence.
You are surrounded by wonderful friends.