Aruni: Part One and Two

Aruni knew very little about the world. She knew what she learned up until the fourth grade, and to her, that felt like an awful lot. She knew how to spell all of the states, what a verb is, and multiplication tables. She knew how to work the DVD player, and how to jump rope to 137. But Aruni still knew very little about the world.
Aruni had thick auburn hair that shined like copper in the sun. She didn’t like the way ponytails felt, so her hair was always tussled wildly on top her head. It fell passed her shoulders curling every which way. Her father said that her hair made her lucky, and that he had learned that from a book. That made Aruni feel very proud. Aruni did not like wearing dresses and skirts. Being different made her feel very special.
Aruni was just discovering a new emotion in her chest. She felt queasy and unsteady sometimes. She might be brushing her teeth absentmindedly when her heart would start thumping wildly in her chest. She worried about that for a long time. When she asked her mum about it she said that Aruni was probably just getting too excited and that she need not worry. Aruni was falling in love, and neither she nor her mother knew.
When Aruni was nine, her family moved to a new house. She liked her new room, but she missed her old friends. Summer was lonely and it was hard to make friends in a new neighborhood.
“I’m boored,” Aruni whined.
“Why don’t you ride your bike?” her mother asked.
“Because it’s hot,” Aruni complained.
“Okay,” her mother said, but it was not ten minutes later that Aruni was complaining of boredom again. So her mother sent her out of the house toting a water bottle and her helmet and forbade her from coming back inside until she met someone new. Aruni pouted until her mother was out of eyesight, and then smiled. It would be so much more fun if she found someone to play with. She rode around the block, but every kid she passed looked busy; playing in the sprinklers, chasing other kids around with sticks. One was even crying while his older sister picked him up. Aruni felt really shy every time she thought about approaching anyone.
Disheartened, she set her sights for home when a cocker spaniel as black as the night and as shiny as silk darted in front of her bike. She quickly yanked her handle bars left, and her tires skidded out from under her. She tried to stand and not fall, but she hopped on one leg three times before she finally toppled backward and landed on her hands. Her face felt hot and tears of shame welded up in her eyes. She quickly tried to wipe them away. She heard laughter and looked up to see a girl her age standing over her.
“You should have seen your face!” she hollered and roared laughing again. Aruni tried to let out a small chuckle but a little squeak came out instead.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry,” the girl smiled. “Need help?” Aruni shook her head no, afraid to open her mouth. She got up and tried to wipe the dirt from her skinned palms.
“Bad dog, Yippie! No! No!” she scorned suddenly. “I was supposed to be watching him, but he ran out.”
“That dogs a he?” Aruni asked. “Why’s he wearing that bow?”
“Oh, my Momma said he don’t know any better, so I can put that bow on him if I want to,” the girl smirked. “Don’t he look pretty?”
“I guess,” Aruni held out her hand for the dog to sniff. She had never had any dogs because of her father’s allergies. The dog sniffed her hand, then licked her fresh cut. “Ouch,” Aruni yelped.
“I have a band-aid inside if you want it,” the girl said.
“No, that’s o-” then she remembered her mother’s instructions, “Actually, okay. I could use a band-aid,” she decided.
“Good, the cat behind the house just had kittens. Let’s go play with them.” The little blond grabbed the dog’s collar. “What’s your name? Mine’s Joelle.”
“It’s Aruni.”
“That’s weird. A-runi. I think I like it though,” and with that she was off leaving Aruni to follow her.


“Thank you for the band-aid,” Aruni said. She watched with jealousy as Joelle reached inside a fish bowl filled with candy. Joelle house had a funny smell to it, almost like stale bread. It felt too messy and dark for Aruni to be completely comfortable. Dishes littered the counters, and the laundry was half-folded in the dining room.
“You can have some if ya want,” Joelle shrugged and unwrapped a big lollipop. Aruni grabbed a blue one and follow Joelle out the back door.
“Where’s your parents?” she asked.
“Mom’s at work. My brother’s home though.” Joelle’s little nose wrinkled at the thought of him. “He stays in his room, so hopefully you don’t have to see him.” Joelle ran behind a white shed. Her backyard was big, and to Aruni, it looked like the best playground she had ever seen. There were two fat rabbits huddled underneath a bench to her left. Joelle had an in ground swimming pool and a trampoline. Aruni thought that Joelle would make fun of her if she saw how excited she was, so she bit her lip and followed Joelle behind the shed.
“Hey-lo! Hey!!” Joelle cooed to a cardboard box. Aruni could hear the soft high-pitched mewing. She peered over the edge and saw four kittens pushing themselves around in the box. Aruni had never seen a kitten before, but in pictures they looked cuter, she decided. These kittens were small, and their faces were smushed in. They could not stand, or see very well because they kept pushing themselves into one another.
“What’s wrong with them?” Aruni asked shyly. Joelle shrugged. She popped her red lollipop out of her mouth.
“Mama said they’re ugly cause they were just born, but one day they’ll get bigger,” she reached a finger out to pet an orange kitten on his head. Just then, a big fluffy black cat landed in the box. The cat looked defensively at Joelle, its tail swishing back and forth. “We best go, that mama looks mad,” Joelle backed away. Aruni agreed.
“So…” Aruni said while trying her best to look nonchalant. “Do you swim a lot?”
“Huh? Oh. Yeah, I mean I guess. It’s boring to swim by myself and my brother don’t like to swim too much. I guess you could swim with me if you wanted, but we’d have to wait until my mom got home. Else my brother would have to come with us.”
“Oh,” Aruni tried to hide her disappointment. She never had a swimming pool. She sucked diligently on her lollipop and looked up. “Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if he came. We could just ignore him,” she said.
Joelle pushed the blonde hair away from her face. “Well, it is really hot. Come on, I got a swim suit you can put on!” She skipped back inside, Aruni giggling behind her. They ran up the wooden staircase and into Joelle’s room.
“Your room is cool,” Aruni said politely. Joelle’s room was painted dark blue. She had a bigger bed than Aruni, with a red and white striped blanket on top. Aruni sat down on the bed while Joelle dug through her closet.
“Here,” she said and threw the garment at Aruni. She held it up. It was a white one-piece bathing suit that glimmered a little in the light. The back had a heart shape cut out of it. “I got a prettier one last week anyway,” Joelle said as she held up her purple two-piece. Hers was indeed prettier; it had purple flowers sewed onto the fabric on the top piece. The bottom was in the shape of a short skirt. “You can change in here, I’ll use the bathroom,” Joelle said and then left Aruni to change.
Aruni stripped naked and stepped into the suit, but when she pulled it up to her shoulders it was a little tight. It pulled the fabric tight between her legs. Aruni decided that it fit okay though; mostly she just didn’t feel like going home. Aruni buddle her clothes up, hiding her pink panties underneath her shirt and then stepped into the hallway just in time to see Joelle come out of the bathroom. “Let’s go get Rudy,” Joelle said.
Joelle knocked on the last door in the hallway as she pushed it open. “Rudy!” she yelled.