Something wasn't right. Usually when Feli dragged me out to play with all of his idiot friends, that stupid-head Toni was there. He was super annoying and always tried to get me to play pirates with him. It's not like I was concerned that he wasn't there, it was just that he was the only one that didn't tattle when I said bad words and he was the only one who would play mafia with me.
Feli went off to play with those stupid Germans from down the block. There was no way I would play with them, they ate potatoes. I hate potatoes. I could play with Alfie and Kiku, but I think they were watching Totoro again at Kiku's house, and Kiku's brothers were kinda scary. I could play with Ivan, but he was always playing with flowers, and flowers were for sissies.
I had no choice. I had to find Toni. If he didn't want to play, then I would bribe him with pizza rolls (Grandpa said I wasn't allowed to use the oven without supervision anymore, but I knew I was responsible enough. That time the oven caught fire was an accident).
I walked over to Toni's house and rang the doorbell. Last time I came over I didn't ring the doorbell and just walked in. Toni's mom got mad at me. Why were grown-ups all so mean?
I waited in front of the door for a super long time, but no one answered. I knew that Toni's mom was at Francis's house talking to his mom, but Toni should be home. He was probably in the backyard or something.
I walked around to his backyard gate. The latch was stuck, but it was no match for me. I pulled really hard and dug my feet into the dirt. My shoes were getting muddy, but I didn't care. What if Toni had a secret stash of tomatoes that he was hiding from me? What if Pedro the turtle had babies and Toni was playing with them? The stupid gate wouldn't stop me from seeing the tomatoes or the turtles!
I finally got the latch to give, and I raced into the backyard. I looked around for any signs of Toni. There he was! Over by the tree! I ran over to him, but something was off. He was crouched down with his face buried in his knees.
"Toni? What's wrong? I thought we were playing mafia today. You better not have forgot, stupid-head." Toni turned his back to me and tried to wipe his eyes without me noticing. He turned and looked at me.
"Oh, hi Lovi. I don't really wanna play today." He tried to sound happy, but I could tell by his eyes and his voice that he had been crying. I had never seen Toni cry, not even when he skinned his knees that one time. I wasn't sure what to do, 'cause whenever Feli cried i hugged him, but I didn't know if Toni would like a hug. Oh well, if he didn't like it then that was his problem. I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him close.
"Idiot, what's wrong? And I know that something is wrong, so don't lie. If you do I'll send my mafia henchmen to steal all your stuff." Toni was quiet for a while. I could feel his tears on my shoulder.
"I w-woke up this morning and and Pedro wasn't moving, so I gave him some l-lettuce for his breakfast. But he didn't m-move even though lettuce is his favorite! I thought that he might just be sleeping b-because he sleeps a lot, so I poked him to w-wake him up. That always wakes him up! But after a while he still didn't m-move so I went and got mama and she said that P-Pedro was dead! How can he be dead? He was alive yesterday!" Toni was sobbing now. I was crying a bit too, but I trusted Toni not to tell anyone (everyone would think that I was a sissy like Feli if they heard that I was crying).
I really liked Pedro. He was cute and didn't mind that I painted on his shell sometimes. When me and Toni would play pirate, Pedro always got to be the mermaid. We would pretend that he was trying to make us fall in love with him and steal our treasure. Then we would laugh because that's silly: turtles don't get married, so why would he want us to fall in love with him if he couldn't marry us? Why did Pedro die? He hadn't looked like he was dying last time I saw him.
After a while Toni stopped crying and crouched down by the tree. "Me and mama put Pedro in a box and buried him here." He was quiet for a moment. "Hey, Lovi, do you thin turtle go to heaven?" Toni looked like he was about to cry again.
"Idiot. Of course they do. Remember that movie we watched about dogs going to heaven? Turtles are way better than dogs, no matter what Ludwig says, so they have to go to heaven." Toni smiled.
"Thanks Lovi! You're really nice!" I blushed.
"I'm not nice! I'm a super scary mafia guy and you're my henchman!" Toni only laughed.
"Okay, but I get to be the boss next time. Can we have some pizza rolls now?" He grabbed my hand and led me out of his backyard.
"That's a stupid question! Of course we can have pizza rolls! Mafia bosses can have whatever they want."
Later we would have a funeral for Pedro, but for now pizza rolls sounded good.