The path to my school had a shortcut cutting diagonally through a square walkway. I always avoided it, figuring it wasn’t official. Then one day, I saw they’d finally paved it, making the route “real.” Guess I’d been behind the curve—and the crowd—all along, just stubbornly zigzagging away.

Sima Sharifi is linguist and translator, fiction enthusiast, and Vancouver-based author. Her debut novel is currently with the editor, readying for publication.