I have a map, a very important item. I don't know why it's important, but it is. Oh, yeah, because I forget things. I just do. Last week I forgot where that church is and it took so long to find it that I didn't get any dinner. That was when I decided to make a map. Because of my cart, I don't travel great distances. You wouldn't think I'd need a map, but there you go.
First thing I had to figure out was what places to include on this map. I made a list.
Betty's Important Places
- That church
- The news stand
- Latte Heaven
- The train station
- The culture garden
- Jewel Market
- The library
- Downtown Park
- The welfare office
- McDonald's
- Tony's secret place
- St. Mark's
- City Park
- The fire station
That's about it. My world.
Next I had to figure out the streets. There are two big streets here: Main and Townsend. They cross each other. Main is where most of the businesses are. On Main, there are trees and benches and trash cans and streetlights and pigeons. Main is good for hanging out. Townsend crosses Main about halfway down. At one end of Townsend is the train. The other end goes out past City Park and who knows where else because I've never been that far. Cal says it goes to the freeway and then the Grand Canyon. I guess he knows.
All my landmarks are somewhere connected to Main or Townsend, so how do I get so lost? I decide to draw my map on the sidewalk with the colored chalk I found at the playground. Pink, green, blue. Making a map sounds easy, but it's not. I would hate to do this for a job. But I need this map, so I don't quit. I'm busy drawing when I hear footsteps stop behind me. Uh oh.
"My, my, what have we here?" Mike. I stay very still and hope he has something better to do.
"Hey, look!" Oh, shit. Gary. He points at my drawing. "That's Jewel Market!"
"Cool!" Jack too. Of course. I'm doomed anyway. Jack hunkers down, picks up the pink chalk, starts drawing.
"Me too!" says Gary, giving Jack a shove. Pretty soon there is a naked woman in my map.
"Check this out!" Gary draws a giant stop sign with the blue chalk, writes GO in the middle of it, then laughs like a hyena. Jack adds a few clouds and stars. Then some kids come along with their mom and a dog.
"Look, Mommy!" They point excitedly at us. "We wanna draw!" They leap on the green chalk that I have abandoned.
"No, no, kids," the mom tries to stop them. But I tell her it's okay. The mom and I stand there watching while the kids add trees and a moose, maybe. They are good drawers, better than Gary.
"Here, kid," Jack says, handing over some pink chalk. "Put some spots on that cow."
"It's a horse!" the little boy shouts. Everyone laughs. Then he draws pink spots on it anyway.
"And these are the fishies," the little girl explains proudly.
"Yeah, dead fishies!" Jack gleefully gives them exes for eyes. The little girl whacks Jack on the arm and everybody laughs again. Soon there are ocean waves around Main and Townsend and a big pink sun at the train station. This is looking way better than my real life.
"And here comes the tidal wave!" Out of nowhere Mike tosses a canteen full of water all over the sidewalk, the drawing, our feet. We stare at him. This is the kind of stuff that makes me float away. The kids look like they are about to cry.
Suddenly Jack jumps up and starts dancing around in the water. "Mayday! Mayday!" he yells. Then Gary makes police siren sounds and sings yo ho ho extremely loud. The kids can't stand it and they start giggling and splashing. The dog runs around barking. Me and the mom just stand there, being happy I guess. I can't figure out why Mike also looks happy, after wrecking everything, but he does.
In a while, the mom takes her family home and the guys leave. What a mess. I decide I better put my map on a piece of paper, which I do, and now I have a map. No pink sun, but I like it anyway.
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