Jonny + Cindy

When Johnny was about eight years old, he discovered pushpins.

Brightly colored and sharp

Small enough to fit into a pocket

Or on a chair

Johnny never felt like he really had a home.

(His parents were divorced, about to be divorced, or should have been divorced. He didn’t know which)

Johnny took walks in the fields near his home, pushing his pins, searching (for what he did not know) Once in a while his parents would ask him, “Where have you been?” Johnny would always reply, “no wheres important.”

Johnny didn’t have any friends. The other boys just couldn’t understand the magic of pushing a pin. Which could, and in Johnny’s hands did go anywhere. Johnny spent his time wandering around pushing his pins. He began to think of it as marking his territory, or marking a spot he really liked.

This became his obsession

It was very important to him to have something of his own.

This continued for about a year.

Johnny was now an expert he could evaluate a place instantly, by just a feeling. Touching the soft grass The smell of the air

Johnny pushed many pins in his own room, but it was never enough to make it safe.

And then on another ordinary day it happened. (As important things always do)

He was struck

He was baffled

Even a little scared

There

Fairly close to one of his favorite spots was another pin

A safety pin.

How did it get there? Why was it in his place?! Was it an accident??

How dare this person! This was his. The only thing he really had.

Johnny stares for a while, and then slowly walks home without pushing even one pin.

Having convinced himself that it was only a fluke, Johnny returns to pushing pins. And for a few days, the search went very well.

And then once again, there it was another safety pin, in another one of Johnny’s favorite spots.

This was too much for Johnny to handle

He was furious

He raced over to the safety pin

Intending to destroy it

And remove it completely

From his world

But just before he disturbed it, he noticed the color, unlike any safety pin he had ever seen. Pink. He looked closer and saw that this pin had been carefully painted. He suddenly didn’t dare to touch it.

Once again confused, the mystery filling his mind, Johnny walked home.

Cindy had always been concerned with safety. Now, at eight years old, she was pinning safety pins on her Dad’s shirt pockets, because he had a weak heart.

Her Dad didn’t understand why

Once while taking a drive with her parents, Cindy watched as a small chipmunk was run over by a Truck. Cindy was terrified.

The next day Cindy got up early and began to force her pins into all the tires on her Dad’s car.

But her Dad happened to catch her.

The whole thing did not go over well…

But Cindy was a smart girl; she knew that she was too small to save the whole world.

When Cindy became aware of how big and dangerous the world was, she was overwhelmed.

But instantly had the need to pin the world into safety
She began to take long walks in the fields around her home.

Cindy would pin a safety pin a dying tree, or if she came across a dead animal, she would pinch her nose and slowly approach. Sometimes if she was just impressed with the beauty of a place, she would place a pin there, just in case.

This went on for a year or so, and Cindy became an expert safety pinner. She even began decorating her pins, mostly in pink, but sometimes she would paint little blue stars on them.

Cindy a keen observer didn’t miss much. She would always notice if she spotted other footprints on her walks.

She just knew she never wanted to meet a hunter.

Curiously she began to notice, once in a while, this same pair of tracks

Feet her own size

This puzzled her

She took note

And continued with her pinning

One day after a particularly smelly dead animal pinning, Cindy almost stepped on a bright red push pin, without even noticing.

At first she was annoyed that someone could be so careless

But then she noticed

That this pin was different from any she had ever seen

This pin had a little gold “J” on it (Johnny had decided to emulate the safety pins he was so impressed with)

An odd feeling came over Cindy.

She was excited

A little scared

And kind of happy

She immediately walked quickly home.

Johnny now had to know who this girl was; he felt he had to meet her somehow.

After much thought (mostly done in class as the teacher, blah blah blah) Johnny concluded that the only way he was going to meet this girl was to push one of his pins right next to one of hers.

Even if that meant pushing where he didn’t really want to

He had to be brave and willing

He decided

This was tense, this was important

He had to push this just right, and in the right spot.

It had to be perfect

If she was going to notice him

Finally he just pushed it

Stepped back

And told himself he did good

And he felt good
But it was out of his hands now, and he felt he should be at home.

Johnny proud of his plan to finally see this girl, is certain they will meet soon.

Cindy seeing Johnny’s pin is worried, and abandons the fields.

Johnny disillusioned that his plan didn’t work and that no more safety pins have appeared, becomes depressed and lonely again, stops pushing pins all together.

Cindy concerned that her safety pins will bring her more strange attention, begins to conceal her obsession.

Johnny still keeps a few of his favorite pins in his pocket, periodically feeling them through his fingers, during the day. It brings him comfort.

Cindy still pulls back her hair every morning with two of her most prized safety pins. She is careful to conceal them underneath.

One day Johnny fumbling with the pins in his pocket pricks his thumb.

He yanks his hand out of his pocket and stares at the red blood on his finger.

Suddenly he feels the need to be back out in the fields

Now

Cindy having just watched her Dad bury the family dog in the backyard ( another big Truck), is overcome once again with the need to keep the whole world safe.

Emotional

She runs into the fields