Once, there lived a pretty little girl who loved to be on a tree. Her name was Daisy, and she looked as fresh as a Daisy. She lived in a humble home with a dirt floor. For clothes, she only had three dresses per year (better than one). Being vain, she kept one dress unused so that on a holiday, she could look nice. She dreamt of lovely dresses for she liked to look girly and pretty. She was poor but not altogether unhappy. She lived with her grandparents and loved her grandmother dearly. Her parents lived far off and Daisy was left to be raised by her grandmother because her parents were busy eking out a living in the city.

She loved her grandmother so much that she followed her like a shadow. Her grandmother who had to work from crack-of-dawn became exasperated when her granddaughter followed her out to the field. While her grandmother worked in the field, Daisy would sometimes fall asleep on the field and a bug entered her ear one day, which eventually caused an infection. Yes, it is agreed. The story almost sounds like a horror story. You can imagine the shock as her friend Thorn listened to Daisy. She had an urge to touch her ears to check for bugs.

Realizing that Daisy was seriously sick, her grandmother took her to her parents. Although scared, Daisy bravely allowed the doctor to remove the pesky bug in her ear. Poor Daisy would have lost her hearing had the naughty bug not been removed.

When Daisy was not shadowing her grandmother, she was a wild lass of the wild forest. When she didn’t want to go to school simply because she did not want to pass by a nasty boy, her grandmother left her to her own devices. Thorn was shocked Daisy grew up with so little guidance. Instead of going to school, she climbed up trees and loved throwing down fruits that were on the tree at an annoying woman who chastised her badly beneath the tree. The woman was rather stupid to have messed with a wild child on a tree. She’s lucky Daisy didn’t spit instead. Thorn knew of someone who could impressively spit long-distance, and she shivered when she thought of it. With the tattered dress and barefoot, Daisy was like an elf on a tree.

This wild Daisy loved to play pranks and almost got stabbed by a knife one night. She cut off her grandfather’s treasured beard while he slept (it took him forever to grow it). As she ran off, her grandfather awoke and threw a knife—merely instinctive, he thought she was a burglar. Daisy was very lucky indeed for the guardian angel must have guarded her for the knife barely missed her. It is surmised that Daisy had to live on a tree for a while to avoid her angry grandfather. An old man without his beard was considered shameful in her country of origin, and without honor, you can imagine how angry her grandfather must have been. Thorn thought that she would have been too. If it was Thorn, she may have wanted to throw something at Daisy like a book—although a book is very precious to Thorn. Let us presume that Daisy had plenty of fruits to pluck off from the tree and thus satiated when she was hiding from her grandfather.

After almost getting stabbed by her grandfather, it was ironic that Daisy took up an ax-throwing sport. Seeing her throw an ax with a rosy smile made Thorn ponder about her. She thought that if she was her husband, she would be concerned. Thorn thought that any man married to Daisy had better behave. Daisy was good. Unlike her grandfather, she didn’t miss her mark. She was both sweet and feisty—traits that men desire.

Eventually, Daisy’s father decided to immigrate to the United States and Daisy followed. She had more than three dresses in America, which was good, but she chose to sleep in a closet because she felt ostracized by her siblings and mother. She didn’t grow up with her own family and she had become estranged from them. As she was falling asleep, she felt her loving father drape a blanket over her. The image of Daisy sleeping in her closet reminded me of a bird sleeping in her small nest. The nest was very small but it was her nest and her world. Not only was Daisy sweet and young at heart, but Thorn saw that she was also tenacious and stubborn. And thanks to that stubborn strength, she grew up to succeed.

There were days when Daisy found herself missing her grandmother dearly who had passed away before she left her country. She was ever so sorry that she was not present when her grandmother died. However, she did keep watch for three days near her grandmother’s body for that is the tradition in her country of origin. In a room with a dirt floor, with an open casket, Daisy had to sit near the body and keep watch. Many tears must have fallen on Daisy’s cheeks that day. It must have been a heart-breaking scene. The story was very touching to Thorn and her heart began to warm up to Daisy that day.

After the wild roaming in the forest, Daisy found herself studious in America. She wanted to succeed. A wild girl who slept in a tiny closet grew up to obtain a college degree and became a lovely woman. Yet, she still retained that sweet wildness about her. She grew to love and embrace American culture and peeved Thorn when she dragged her to a suburban dance club. Her friend being a tad “hoity-toity” was not fond of the rural areas—although she loved the cows. She loved the cows because they were social animals. Thorn noticed how the cows congregated underneath the trees. To Thorn, they appeared to be gossiping as they were grouped together. Were they gossiping about different farmers? However, Thorn learned that the rural surrounding had its own charm and stop minding so much when Daisy dragged her about, but it is believed, however, that she quietly grumbled under her breath.

Unlike the wild girl with only three dresses, Daisy had plenty of dresses and wore some sexy outfits that caused Thorn to cover her eyes in shock admiration, which caused Daisy to giggle like a girl. Thorn caused Daisy to giggle quite a bit. Thorn’s humor was as thorny as she was and could come out funny—sometimes. While Daisy danced like a girl on the dance floor Thorn kept watch as Daisy was flitting here and there like a butterfly and eventually bumped into an Asian woman, which caused Daisy to be gleefully happy because she and Thorn were not the only Asians in the dance club.

Daisy introduced the new Asian woman with pointy teeth to Thorn, and Thorn wondered if the woman was related to vampires somehow and smiled to herself because she was writing about vampires. Thorn had an urge to ask, “Your skin is so fair even for a vampire … it’s from staying away from the sun correct?” Truly, the woman had an alabaster skin that reminded Thorn of the white flounder that she loved to eat. The woman wore a white dress as fair as her skin and twirled with a man who was not so attractive-looking. C’est dommage … mais c’est la vie.

Thorn was the polar opposite of Daisy. Less adventurous and little more tight-laced. You will never find Thorn dressed so sexily in public like Daisy. Always a little intimidating … If Thorn would glare down at you, you will find her a bit unnerving. It was, however, a good thing that Thorn was different from Daisy. As Daisy attracted the undesirables sometimes, Thorn could keep them at bay with her intimidating stare that appeared to say, “You—peasant! Do stay away.” No one could quite understand Thorn’s haughtiness; where did it originate? She found some people a bit blasé, yet she loved people of all genre and saw the beauty in them too. If some people found Daisy childish, Thorn only saw the loyal nature in Daisy and that she had enough love for everyone around her. Thorn admired that about Daisy and she was very sorry that she didn’t have a limousine to whisk Daisy and herself away to cities like Paris or London where Thorn really wanted to be. She would truly have loved calling out to the doorman, “You—there! Assist me with this door!” If they should dawdle, she may call out, “Chop, chop … I haven’t all day. Hop to it!” However, there will be a whisper of a smile on Thorn’s lips if she spoke out like that because she was never truly serious, which got her into trouble many times. People could never figure out when Thorn was joking or serious.

Once, Thorn’s friend Ami told her that she was high-maintenance, she feigned to be in shock and said, “What! What do you mean? I am so sweet.” How she laughed. Thorn tended to forget her haughty airs. Poor Ami had to deal with two female friends who were like a pair of high-maintenance twins: Thorn and L. They even looked alike—L being more beautiful. Such a glutton for punishment. Why does he put up with the two thorns? Indeed, we need to examine further. Why, oh why indeed. Do we really want to know? Sometimes being bored is the worst. Ami cannot stand being bored—like Thorn and L.

There is always a balance in life. There is the sweet Daisy and then there is Thorn. And we have talked of Daisy’s childhood, and should we talk about Thorn’s childhood? Well, unlike Daisy, Thorn grew up in South Korea. Unlike Daisy who lived in a wild forest, she lived in a different jungle-like environment which was a city called Seoul. It was teeming with people and buildings instead of trees.

When Thorn was a little girl, she rose early and enjoyed going for a walk, and she still walks. She can walk until she collapses. And if someone should find her fainted and ask, “Were you trying to kill yourself?”

She would respond, “No idiot! I just like walking until I drop.”

Thorn should have been born to a farmer—more fitting. Early to rise and early to bed, however, her mother found Thorn’s early rise bothersome for Thorn was hungry upon waking. She lived to eat so to speak. She wanted breakfast but the whole family was still asleep. Bored and hungry, Thorn would go for a long walk but found the experience pleasing. If you ask how could a five-year-old be left alone to roam, it was quite the norm in Korea. Young children were allowed to roam like street urchins. However, Thorn never looked like an urchin. She was particular about being clean. She carried a hankie and wiped her shoes if they got dirty. The children around her used to laugh at her fussy behavior.

For Thorn, something about being the only one to walk the narrow streets caused her to feel alive—especially when the sun rose and greeted her. She was not only awake but felt that she lived; her existence was real. When she was young she did not perceive this but grasped the meaning after she turned into a grown woman.

Then like clockwork, a church’s bell was sounded to which Thorn dutifully followed. She did this almost every morning. She looked behind the metal gate as she stared at the humble church that rang with the sound of the bell. She did not know the meaning of God then, yet she loved that sound for it was as if it was calling for her—just for the little girl who woke up early to greet the sun. She smiled and no one could believe that she would grow up to own an “intimidating stare” that could make strangers from approaching her. Before she grew up, her heart was happy that the sun was beautiful. What care did she have for Paris or London?

Now that Thorn is grown, she does not wake up early at all. She has to roll out of bed to force herself awake. Who would believe that she woke up before sunrise like clock-work? She wished that she could write instead of going to work. All she cared about was writing—especially after losing her husband. The writing was the only solace for Thorn from going totally crazy from grief. There were days she thought that she should name herself as the “gone-girl.”

If locked up in a tower to write away like the miller’s daughter in the Rumpelstiltskin’s story with a room full of straws that she had to turn into gold, Thorn would not mind at all. If they brought her a meal of bread and water, she would not mind that it was prison food and eat it just so that she could continue to write.

Thorn reminded herself to remember how she loved the rising sun in the morning. Sadly, she looks at the rising sun and could only think of repeating another day that was like yesterday—thus the hatred of it for yesterday was despised but it was now today that was yesterday. The beauty of nature turned sour until that is, she starts to write. Then, she is filled with the memory of human hearts and minds like that of Daisy, and thus be able to retain hope again in the miraculous life and finds that it is bella after all.