A Little Story

X and Y had been walking down the same street holding hands for a long time. When other people passed by, X and Y would smile at them and continue on. Sometimes X would start kicking a rock and then when it got too far away Y would use a foot to reach for it and continue to kick it along. Sometimes X would want to stop walking and lie down but Y said no. They spoke thier own language and laughed and laughed and laughed.
Then one day Y started speaking and X could't understand. "What? What?" They looked at each other with panic and continued to walk, but slower. Whenever they passed O on the street they didn't just smile, they stopped so that Y and O could talk...in a language X didn't understand.
X was worried and layed on the ground pulling Y's arm. But Y let go of X's hand and continued talking to O.
As O walked away X and Y continued to walk...but without holding hands. They walked into each other a lot and now couldn't understand each other at all.
The next day X and Y saw O again and this time O started walking with them. There is only enough room on a sidewalk for two people to walk side by side, so X walked behind them. X tried to trip O a couple of times and tried to push him off the sidewalk...but couldn't. Y and O had started holding hands and there was no way to lose O without hurting Y.
So X sighed, and crossed the street. Y didn't follow or ask X to come back. For a while it was lonely. And when X would kick a rock too far it would just sit unkicked as X walked by. Or X would have to go out of the way to kick it back on course. Across the street she could see Y and O laughing and laughing. They had their arms around each other. Every once in a while Y would look over and smile and X would wave.
One day Y and O turned a corner and began walking down a different road altogether. X watched, stunned, until they dissapeared completely. "Should I follow them?" "Should I walk behind them?" But X knew better, and they were gone.
X layed on the ground without anyone there to notice for a long time. Y and O were long gone and there was no one to talk to or laugh with anymore. Or even to wave to on the other side of the street.
It grew cold and X realized that nothing would ever come of laying on the sidewalk all day like a log for people to step over. So X stood up and moved forward, slowly and nervously. X crossed the street where Y had dissapeared and kept going. When X kicked a rock it was kicked hard and straight so it would travel far and be ready to get kicked again. X stopped and talked to the people who passed her, though most of them were holding hands and spoke hard to understand languages.
Eventually X came to a four way interesection. Unsure which road to take X sat down and waited. Eventually P came strolling in from the south, Q walked in, laughing, from the east. Z bounded in from the West. None of them knew which road to take...but none of them felt like they were lost either. They sat down with X and laughed and laughed and waited and waited. They didn't hold hands, because they had all done that before and knew that someone always let go. Instead they told each other about their plans, and what they hoped to find on the roads they would eventually choose.
One day X just picked a road and started walking. It was a beautiful dirt road with Cherry Blossom trees on either side that hung over and created a lace pattern out of light on the ground. There was a silver lake for swimming on one side and a forest that X coud wander into without getting lost on the other. Often the road would cross briefly with P's road, or X would run into Z in the forest...but Y was nowhere to be seen. It was fun to see friends from the intersection, but X knew it would hurt to see Y again and not know how to communicate.
On a warm day X sat down in the middle of the road and watched as the breeze blew pink petal raindrops onto the ground. A V shape of birds flew overhead and X could hear the ducks and geese splashing down in the lake. The sad but wonderful smell of leaves was in the air and the grassy patches on the sides of the road were greener than ever before.
X took it all in and hoped hoped hoped that no matter what road Y was on...it was just as beautiful as this one.