Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 4 - 7 2018 | Page 93

Maria tilted her head to contemplate this offer. She didn’t even know this person’s name. They could be
tricking her. And she didn’t have the energy to trek across town to the soup kitchen again. Before she could
make her final decision, the woman took her hand and pulled her towards the door. She let herself follow,
and they walked into the store.
“Why isn’t there anyone here?”, the woman muttered to herself.
“The cashier went outside to smoke,” Maria replied, overhearing.
“Ah. So what do you want?”
About ten minutes later, give or take, Maria went to find her companion with a bottle of cold coffee and a
bag of pretzels.
“How do you pay when there’s nobody here?”, she asked, as they walked up to the cash register. In answer,
the woman dug into the pocket of her oversized jacket and pulled out a five-dollar bill. Maria stared in
astonishment as she placed it on the counter, and then followed her out the door, returned to their original
position. “I’m Maggie, by the way,” said the woman. Maria nodded. “Maria.”
“Do you have anywhere to go?”
“Nowhere.”
“Want to go somewhere?” Maria studied her, confused as to why she was suddenly being invited places by
someone she had known for fifteen minutes. She knew she had no allure, nothing special that would make
anyone want to spend their time on her, but maybe this stranger was different. “Sure,” she said, trying to
seem as nonchalant as she could. She wondered why she cared. Maybe it was just something new, and she
couldn’t keep her curiosity under control.
“Okay. So—”
“Wait!” Maria interrupted, regaining her sense of skepticism. “Where?”
“I dunno,” Maggie answered, unfazed. “Anywhere.”
“Okay.”
They walked down the street, and as Maria sipped her coffee and listened to Maggie talk, the streets got
nicer and the buildings got taller, and the air seemed to warm up with every word. Maggie yawned, and
Maria offered her the coffee. Hours went by, as fast as if they were minutes, and they sat on a bench facing
west out over the river, and Maria told Maggie things she had never addressed out loud. They ate pretzels
and turned around to watch the sun rise behind the buildings. Maggie sympathized with Maria, which was
something Maria hadn’t experienced beyond soup kitchen volunteers and their cheerful voices. Eventually,
Maria stood up to leave like she normally would, but found herself willingly admitting that she didn’t have
anywhere to be. She sat down again and smiled at Maggie. “You smiled!”, Maggie said excitedly.
“I mean, I guess.”
“I haven’t seen you smile yet.” Maria thought about this. She really hadn’t smiled in a long time. Her mind
immediately pulled up dark images of intimidating men with ruthless eyes, but she frowned and pushed
them away.
“Are you okay?”, Maggie asked. Maria nodded, taking note of how easy it was to stop herself from thinking
about things she didn’t want to see anymore. She wasn’t sure if it was Maggie, or this part of town, or even
this time of day that made that possible, but she knew she was going to remember that combination. Maggie
continued, “You know, you just have to keep going west.” Maria raised an eyebrow. “I mean, I think
about the sun to keep me going.”
Maria’s gaze fell to her hands, suddenly nervous and vulnerable, and when Maggie didn’t say anything, she
looked up again. “Go on.”
“Well, the sun can’t just stop moving— I mean, I guess this all depends on us moving, but the sun looks like
it’s moving to us, so I never question it. Okay, whatever, just imagine the sun moves across the sky every
day, and it goes from east to west, right?” She looked at Maria for clarification. Maria was caught off guard.
“Uh, I guess?”
Maggie nodded. “Okay, yeah. So the ‘sun’—”, she raised her hands in quotation marks. “The sun can’t stop
moving or we won’t have day or night and time will stop and life as we know it will be over.” Maria
smiled. “So you have to be like the sun and always keep going west because if the sun decides to turn
around and go east, it will screw everything up for everyone.”
Maria nodded slowly and Maggie’s cheeks flushed. “I’m trying, okay?”, she said, laughing. Maria laughed
too, to avoid an awkward pause, but then something clicked. Maggie’s explanation had a few scientific
holes, and it was kind of cliche, but it made sense. Maybe it just wasn’t the best analogy. Regardless of that,
the point was there.