the younger years

pippy. my favourite storybook character. long stockings, stick-out braids, loud freckles, enchanting eyes. i used to be her -- laughing with wide open mouth, scaling trees, skipping rocks, brewing mischief. calvin and hobbes often joined us, paddling upstream on rickety rafts. the adventures of tom sawyer and gang. no one would know it. i'm all folded up in a neat package in this stuffed-up, white-walled office. but once upon a time, there lived in me a little girl. a colourful world. a magical existence.