4 stickers, each one different, each one obtained from a quarter based machine in the local video rental store. The first was a cartoonish vampire bat, which belonged to Mae. The second was a beautiful unicorn ripped straight from the pages of a fantasy book, which belonged to Trisha. The third was a retro spaceship that belonged to Chaz and finally, the fourth was a pseudo realistic T-Rex which belonged to Allie. They'd gotten them one Saturday night while renting movies for a sleepover at Mae's, but now, sitting in the living room with the movies on, each one inspecting their particular sticker choice, didn't know what to do with them.
"My mom makes scrapbooks sometimes," Trisha said, "We could just do that, make a little scrapbook and put all our stickers we collect in them." "I'm not sticking Batholomew into a book," Mae said, making the other girls giggle. "I say we each pick a place and then we put our sticker in that place because the place means something special to us," Allie said, "That way, whenever one of us winds up at that place, we might see the sticker and think of eachother!" "That's a good idea actually," Chaz chimed in, "how about we each come up with one tonight and then tomorrow we go around and put them up?" So it was decided. The following day, Saturday, the girls would collectively go to each spot each one had chosen and place their sticker there. The next morning, the girls woke up, watched cartoons, ate junk food for breakfast and then went gathered their stickers and bikes and began the trek. The first stop would be Chaz, and only because she'd picked the closest spot. Chaz's spot was at a park, the one where she'd had her 7th birthday to be exact. As the girls pulled up to the spot near the BBQ grill and the picnic tables, hopping off their bikes so Chaz could place her sticker, none of them were really sure why exactly she'd picked this place in particular. "I don't think I even went to your 7th birthday," Mae said. "None of you did," Chaz said, "It was a small birthday." "Small like family only?" Trisha asked, and Chaz nodded. Chaz walked slowly to the BBQ grill and got on her knees, her shorts getting covered in dirt and gravel. She smiled as she pulled the sticker from her pocket and looked at it, sighing. "This was the last birthday I had when I saw my dad," Chaz said solemnly, "he made BBQ for everyone, and he gave me a bunch of easy to read chapter books, none of which I ever read, but all of which I still have. That was the best birthday ever, just because he was there." She started to peel the sticker, but Trisha grabbed her wrist and knelt beside her. "Are you sure this is where you wanna put it?" she asked, and Chaz nodded, peeling the sticking off and slapping it onto the side of the grill. Trisha helped Chaz stand up and together they stepped back and looked at the sticker on the BBQ grill, admiring it. Chaz couldn't help but smile. She missed her dad, and she couldn't forgive him for leaving, but she also couldn't forget how much she loved him, and how much she wished he'd loved her enough to stay. After a moment, she climbed back onto her bike, and they rode off to the next location. *** The next location was Allie's, and it was a small minigolf park near the middle school, somewhere the girls had actually been to fairly frequently, alone and together. As they peeled up the curb onto their bikes and came to a skidding halt, Mae couldn't help but feel a little odd that this was the second location chosen that didn't really revolve around their friendship. She grimaced as Allie pulled her sticker out of her coat pocket and headed up the hill, where the three primary color headed dragon statue was. The other girls followed. Allie stopped at the dragon and slapped her sticker onto the red one, her favorite color, before standing back and admiring it, hands on her hips. "A T-Rex on a Dragon, doesn't get much cooler than that," she said proudly. "Gotta admit, it's pretty cool," Chaz agreed. "Why'd you pick this spot?" Trisha asked. "Well, my dad and I come here to minigolf alot cause it's one of the cheaper activities we can do together besides, like, the movies, and also remember last summer when we all came here when they had the tournament? We all got loads of slush drinks and nachos and got to play for free since we were the right age." "That was a lot of fun," Trisha said, "Probably the only time I'll ever participate in a sporting event of any kind." Allie's smile faded a bit as she reached out and touched the dragon, running her hand down the neck. She and her dad had used to do minigolf a lot more frequently, but these days he worked so much they rarely seemed to do much of anything together anymore, and this saddened her. At least she had this. The sticker, and the dragon it was stuck to. The memory would last forever, even if the games didn't. After a few minutes, she sighed, put her helmet back on and they all climbed aboard their bikes, riding off to the next location. *** Trisha had the third spot, and hers was...well...odd to say the least. While the others had been places the girls had been together, Trisha's was at her church, or more specifically, the bible study beside it. None of the girls had ever come to church with her before (Trisha was a mormon, and the other girls were not only varying faiths, but also didn't really attend their own churches to be fair), so it was an odd decision to them, but they weren't going to bring that up. This was her sticker, and this was her spot to place it. They parked their bikes at a bike rack and walked to the building where bible study was held, Trisha unzipping her coat pocket and pulling her unicorn sticker out. "I love fantasy stuff," she said, "which is maybe why I love religion. Whether it's real or not doesn't matter, it makes me feel safe and happy. It gives me comfort. That's why I like my bible teacher. She tells me that so long as I believe for my own sake and not the sake of others, then I'm doing well." Trisha didn't have to say it, but they all knew she was referencing her mom. Despite loving her mom, and despite her mom being pretty alright, she was weirdly controlling and overly religious to a fault, and it made the girls uncomfortable at times. They could only imagine how Trisha must've felt on a day to day basis, being her daughter. Trisha peeled the sticker off and plastered it onto the side of the building, near some bushes so nobody else would see and remove it. Afterwards, she stepped back and sighed. Trisha had a clearly complicated relationship with her family, her religion and herself, but at least, she thought, at least there's stickers, and there's nothing complicated at all about those. *** The fourth and final spot was Mae's, and it was not going to make anyone feel good. Mae picked the the school bus stop they had all used at one time or another. The pole was already splattered in stickers, wrapped around the entirety of it, so it was an odd choice, but as she climbed off her bike, silently angry, she pulled the bat sticker from her pants pocket and looked at it. She looked up at the bus stop sign, then back down at the sticker and sighed. "I thought we were putting these places that meant something to us," she said, "that meant something about our friendship. That's why I picked the bus stop, cause it's where I met all of you for the first time. But...I guess it's selfish for me to think that our friendship comes before family or whatever." She began to peel the bat, but Trisha stopped her. "It's not selfish," she said, "All those places we picked are all places we've been together too. We've all gone to that park where Chaz put hers, we've all played minigolf where Allie put hers, and you even came to bible study with me one time, remember?" A moment passed, and then Mae's eyes lit up. "I did! I forgot about that! In second grade, I went to bible study with you one weekend cause it was the only way we could spend the weekend together!" she said, sounding chipper now, almost laughing; she looked at the bat sticker and peeled it, then told Allie to get on her hands and knees. Allie walked over and did just that, letting Mae climb up on her back and slap the sticker onto the bus stop sign. She then climbed down and admired their handiwork. "God speed Batholomew," she said, all the girls laughing together. *** 4 stickers, each one different, each one obtained from a quarter based machine in the local video rental store. The first was a cartoonish vampire bat, which belonged to Mae. The second was a beautiful unicorn ripped straight from the pages of a fantasy book, which belonged to Trisha. The third was a retro spaceship that belonged to Chaz and finally, the fourth was a pseudo realistic T-Rex which belonged to Allie. They'd gotten them one Saturday night while renting movies for a sleepover at Mae's, but now, now they each sat a distinct and specific location, each one marked by their time spent apart...and their time spent together. If there's one thing nobody should ever underestimate... ...it's a young girls love for stickers.
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FANNYPACK follows 4 girls - Chaz, Allie, Trisha and Mae - in the 90s as they deal with adolescence and friendship. Archives
December 2022
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