Commute - Camp NaNoWriMo April 2015

Chapter Twenty - Maya McKenna

Tell us about your life. I'm twenty-eight years old. I live in Coxbury with my fiancé, Jamie. I've got two siblings - a brother and a sister. They're non-identical twins, three years older than me. Callie lives in Manchester, Callum in Scotland. Callie is married with one kid, and Callum... I don't know about Callum. We don't really talk that much. Jamie's got a sister, older than him, who lives in Rio de Janeiro. But this isn't about Jamie, is it? It's about me. Anyway. I work at French Weekly, the newspaper from which you're reading this article. In fact, I'm the one who wrote this article. And I interviewed myself. I haven't actually written the article yet, of course. Trust me, I've stared at the interviews I have so far hundreds of times. Gone over them in my sleep. It's like I know them back to front and inside out. I can't think of a way to present them - a way that doesn't copy all the other newspaper interviews that have ever been done. A way that doesn't copy Charlotte Finley's article. But anyway. Moving on. 

What was your occupation before you started commuting? University, I guess. Searching around for jobs... finding a house. Thinking about the future... honestly, I spent most of my pre-commuting time thinking. Trust me, it was a hard job. I was also catering for Jamie's needs. I'm still looking for a job for him, actually. Don't ask me why he can't do it himself. Too busy partying, I'm guessing. 

Why are you based in London? Because that's where I got my job. I'm a Junior London Journalist, so I focus on London. I couldn't be a Junior London Journalist anywhere else. You know what? Before I got the job, I didn't want to work in London. To be honest, I still don't. Spending hours every day commuting? No thank you. That's not up Maya McKenna's street. If I had my way, my life would probably be waking up at ten o'clock, having a lie-in till eleven, then getting up for breakfast (pancakes, obviously). Then I'd get my onesie on, and stroll down the road to my bouncy castle. I'd bounce around for three hours, then I'd go back home and eat. It doesn't matter what meal it is. Then I'd go to bed and sleep for a solid ten hours. Repeat. Repeat. Unfortunately, that's not the way life works (It should be). 

Why don't you just move to London? All the reasons other people have gone with. Too much hassle. Too pricey. Coxbury is beautiful. Basically, Jamie doesn't want to move. Neither do I. It might seem way too secluded, but Coxbury is actually just perfect. Not too many shops, but there are enough to get by. Beautiful meadows. Cheap but pretty houses. Quiet. Peace. That's exactly what I need after a long day at work... and exactly what Jamie needs after a long day of partying. 

Lastly, tell us an interesting fact about you, or your family. On Valentine's Day, freshman year, Jamie turned up at my house wearing a bunny onesie. He handed me a heart-shaped box of chocolates with a Post-It note on top (orange color. I still remember it was orange) that said, in neat cursive writing, Will you be my girlfriend? I never knew why... until yesterday. I plucked up the courage to ask him. He said, "Well, I'd just had a party with Dave and the others, you know? And it was dress-up. The week before, he'd written on different bits of paper about twenty different animals. Then he put them in a hat, and we all had to pick them out. Then, whatever was on the piece of paper, we had to go as. And I picked out 'CAT'." I asked what that had to do with anything, and he said "I got my mum to go online and order a cat onesie. But her eyes aren't too good, you see, and she mistook a bunny onesie for a cat onesie. When it arrived, she realised her mistake. So she went back online and ordered a cat onesie, and I went to the party, and it was fine. But I still had a bunny onesie tucked away in my wardrobe, and I wanted to ask you to be my girlfriend in a romantic kind of way. So I got some chocolates, and found the onesie... and that was that, I guess." I laughed so hard when he told me that. 

 Thank you for your time. It's time well spent.