Issue #20 (2011) PDF - myweb - Long Island University

WILD GIRLS
Julie, Ben and Sarah are playing Wild Girls for the last time with their cousin Catherine. Since they
don‘t know it‘s the last time, they play it as always, with no beginning or end.
Wild Girls are girls without parents who live apart from society, swing on a large rope across
a swamp (a dog leash tied to the monkey bars) in order to escape lion attacks, and eat mostly pine
cones stewed in water.
Julie, being the oldest, is the leader of the Wild Girls. She calls herself Lakota and her job is
lookout and leading expeditions. During lookout, while the other girls do chores or make food, Julie
sits in the top of the oak trees and spies on approaching enemies. Catherine, Fraggle, is responsible
for scavenging for food and cooking. She is the head chef and tells Ben and Sarah what to add to the
stew.
Ben makes everyone call him Connie. Though his father tells him that he might as well move
to Vegas and wear leopard-print leggings, he insists on the name. He is usually not allowed to play
because Wild Girls live apart from men and their influences. But when Catherine needs an extra hand
she hires him as a dishwasher in exchange for letting him swing on the rope. Sarah, known in the
tree house as Billy, finds this particularly frustrating. ―Wild Girls are not supposed to help men.
When have men ever helped Wild Girls‖
―It‘s okay,‖ Julie calls from her perch. ―Ben is Connie today. He‘s gonna give us a hand and
then go back to his people. And anyway if they mount an attack we can always use him as a
bargaining chip.‖
Julie jumps down from her lookout to get a drink of water. She doesn‘t notice Catherine
running after her.
She finds Aunt Norah in the kitchen and asks for a glass. Then she watches her aunt as she
attempts to pour the water. Her fingers seem too soft and Julie is not surprised when she drops the
glass. Bending down to pick up the pieces, Aunt Norah slices her finger open. Julie slides from her
bar stool to help her clean up. Norah grabs her niece by the wrist forcefully. "Do not touch this!" she
shouts. Her breath stings and Julie has to hold back the tears forming at the corners of her eyes.
Catherine is sitting at the table with a coloring book.
Aunt Norah stands up and steadies herself against the breakfast bar. She holds her bloody
finger in the air like she‘s going to say something profound. A red drop falls onto the counter.
Catherine does not look up from her book. She is making a dark blue dog and has colored it in so
precisely that it looks like paint. "Catherine," Julie whispers, but her cousin doesn‘t respond. Julie
stares at the red dot on the counter, afraid to move her eyes.
―You girls go outside," Aunt Norah says to the ceiling. She is swaying slightly as Julie looks
up at her. Neither of the girls moves. Aunt Norah starts for the kitchen door and without looking
back says, "Now!" Catherine jumps up from her chair, taking the blue crayon with her into the yard.
Julie stands there staring at the blood soaking into the countertop as the screen door and the
bedroom door above her slam shut. She can't find a napkin so she wipes the red dot away with the
edge of a paper plate. Outside she finds Catherine in the tree house, writing her name in blue on the
far wall.
"Wild Girls don't have crayons," Julie says and Catherine immediately throws the crayon away
and begins stirring the pot of soggy pine cones. "I caught a baby mountain cat today," says
Catherine. "So we'll have meat tonight too.‖
"A baby" says Julie and squints at Catherine.
"Normally I wouldn't kill a baby, but we have to get our protein. And besides, it looked like
the mother abandoned it. It wouldn't have survived alone."
"Might have to close the shutters tonight." Julie says, looking out the tree house window.
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