Curiosity Must Be a Dog

    Dog poop.

“Ugh. Romeo, I love you but really? Every single time I come out with you you have to do this? Really?!” I sighed and grimaced in disgust as I picked up the still warm and definitely very stinky handiwork. “Three times a day…” I murmured. “What a digestive system.”

    But as I was just about to get back up, my attention was caught by a girl lying in the grass on a pale pink checkered plaid, flat on her stomach, staring intently at a notepad. She was blonde, barefoot and very very focused on that piece of paper in front of her. A pencil was placed motionless against it.

    I slowly got up without tearing my eyes away from her petite figure but as Romeo began to chase another dog, I got back to my senses.

“Romeo! Come here!” I tapped on my thigh twice to call him, my other hand still occupied with the bag of smelly little gift he’s left me with. “Come on, come to mommy,” I sing-songed. He finally abided and came running over enthusiastically with his tongue sticking out of his mouth. “Good boy!” I patted his head lightly and motioned for him to follow me.

    As he scurried around and ahead of me, my mind traveled back to the girl lying in the grass. It was a bit of an unusual sight, to be honest, and for one reason or another, I felt it revive a curiosity in me.

    People in this park don’t usually do something like that. People in this park don’t usually come here alone in the first place, unless they were here to exercise in some shape or form or, like me, take their dog for a walk. And, sure, on a day with a nice weather, you’d see couples having a little picnic in the grass, near the trees, sometimes families camping out for a day… but even they were closer to the path than this girl, all alone, lying in the grass by herself at a secluded little territory, afar from everything.

     It was just an unusual sight here, I guess.

‘Yes, that must be it. That’s why, that’s why.’

    I didn’t usually go to that part of the park. I’m not sure why, but I always just stuck to the same old road that I took from day one, when I first came here with Romeo. I don’t really know what got into him though, but these days, he often decided to just go on his own little expeditions and explore, and that meant me chasing after him most of the time and sometimes finding myself at places I wouldn’t usually go to. Like today.

    As we returned to the path I was used to, I finally found a bin to throw the bag into. Then, we began to take another round so that he could run around a little more and I’d have my daily exercise too. (Yeah, call me lazy but I’m not one of those people who will go to a gym and work their off for some burnt calories and tight abs.) Meanwhile, I was thinking about how I used to play in our backyard a long-long time ago as a kid, back in Cali, how I used to love lying in the grass until one day a huge bug crawled into my hair and I screamed my guts out, crying until Daddy came home and took me out to get some cotton candy.

    Thinking of my family and friends, I decided to check some messages on my phone while I walked and soon enough, I found myself on the same path as before, following Romeo as he ran into the more secluded and peaceful area where I saw the girl before.

    She didn’t fail to unknowingly catch my attention this time around too. She was now resting her chin on her fist against the ground, her pencil’s movements slow and hesitant. Even from this distance, I could see her pout adorably, followed by an undeniably very dorky expression signaling her dissatisfaction, probably over what she was writing. I felt strangely drawn to the idea of simply walking over to her and just lying down in the grass next to her. It would smell great there, we would talk and she’d make me smile, and she’d hold my hand, and we’d just close our eyes and Romeo would lay down next to us under the shades of that big old tree. I felt excited by the thought, my heart started to race and I felt strangely nervous even though I was sure even I couldn’t get as bold as to just walk over and interrupt a complete stranger like that. It’d be rude, and I’d probably make a fool of myself as well. ‘But, well, then again… what’s life without taking chances?’ I thought. ‘Maybe she’ll tell me to screw off and then I’ll just walk home and feel a little sad and disappointed for a while, but it’ll be fine. I’ll be fine. And if she’s nice and she doesn’t mind the company, maybe she’ll tell me her name, maybe she’ll ask mine, what I’m doing here, if I’d like to have a cup of coffee... or cake, or lunch or breakfast or dinner sometime... Maybe.’

    I smiled to myself and Romeo ran around happily after marking his territory on what seemed like the hundredth tree this afternoon.

    ‘And maybe I’d say yes, and we’d become friends and then… and then… I don’t know. I don’t need to know everything, right? For now, all I know is I want to draw her attention on me. But how?’

   Well, I really couldn’t just walk over to her and say, ‘Oh, hey, I’m Tiffany, and I’ve just got this weird curiosity about you for some reason so do you want to be friends?’ ‘Hah. Awkward line is awkward. Even I know to be a little more tactful than that.’

   And then I remembered. ‘Romeo!’

“Romeo,” I put my phone away, “come here, come here boy!” As soon as he arrived to his destination beside my feet though, tail wiggling in sheer joy from all the freedom he was getting out here, I motioned for him to run towards the girl.

    He did so too… but then stopped halfway and decided to turn around and come back to me. So I gave it another go. “Go, Romeo, go!” I urged him and he made a huge round again but still not as big as to get near enough to the girl to distract her.

    Finally, for the third time around, after lots