Maps
by Jenny Yukyung Jung

1. Oasis

I was in a desert and I attempted to find an oasis using Google maps.

2. Teenagers

We were biking from uptown to downtown. Paul, Hannah, and the Japanese-speaking girl from my French class in high school. The streets were hilly and I had my GPS.

Heidi was there too! She asked if we could take her to church in K-town. She asked if we went to the Superbowl. We grinned at each other and said, Yes! As if we were fans.

She crinkled her nose and called us out on our lie.

3. Celebrity

We were training to be clowns and working on our balance. We had to step on what looked like ventriloquist’s dummies and if you stepped on their mouths you would get more points.

Elaine had 0 shits to give. She was like, Everyone, I give 0 shits. I’m just really happy I can be mindful right now. This is all I wanted from this. If only a female celebrity could see how mindful I am and pick me up and pay for me.

I was clapping and saying, Yas kween, or something like that, and this ajumma next to me was like, No, that’s just Elaine.

I’m so happy for Elaine because that’s what she told me she wanted and then she runs up to me and says, Jenny, I’m ready to go home now. Thanks for taking me home. And she had such a tired smile that made me want to hug her.

4. Marriage

I was playing baseball with a girl named Alaya but she left me because she was a troubled teen. Meanwhile my friends were making plans for staying. There was also a wedding, a Mormon wedding, and their last name would be the Potachos. But the blonde girl Jessica decided to get divorced right after. The house would’ve been enormous.

5. Love

My grandparents live in a hanok and have a big watermelon that Dad bought. He asks if it’s sweet. Grandma is wearing a gray hanbok and Mom says her friend is getting married. She says the man has a big mouth for smiling and is older.

6. Mercy

I was hiking with Dad and he demanded that I have water. It was super sandy and the path had wired fences. It was supposed to be beautiful at one point. Then it switches to some city setting and everyone’s trying to kill each other. There were many celebrities but at the end my grandpa killed my grandma out of what seems to be love and mercy. He says, Your fried eggs always tasted better than anyone else’s.

7. Desert

I attempted to find an oasis using Google maps but I was in a desert.

Jenny Yukyung Jung is from Busan, South Korea. She works for global medical information in oncology at Merck and misses her cats Moomoo and Suzie and enjoys sitting next to open windows and watching her plants sway in the breeze while sitting on her previously owned Natuzzi sofa and doing the NYT crossword. This is her first published fiction. Find her @itsjennyjung

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