A/N: I am only writing this A/N because I want it up here because it looks
cooler. But don't really have anything to say.
Chapter Nine
SARA
Sometimes my brother scares the life out of me. He scares me because when I look at him, he's never just happy. There's always something in the way of it, a memory, the peeling wallpaper, the fact that there's no heat today, there's no food, the water has turned rusty again. There's always something in the way of him being all the way happy. Some times, if you catch it, David is just happy. Or Sids. Sid-o is angry a lot but he's also happy a lot too. And Remy, well she always seems.not happy but.content I guess. Angel was happy. Angel smiled and laughed and she knew how to stop arguments and make you feel better and she was just always there helping and fixing. But now she's sick and I just don't know what to do.
Because I'm not Angel. I'm not magic and I can never say just the right thing, do just the right thing, to make someone feel better.
We're all in her room right now. Mark brought us, but he's outside in the waiting room. When we came in the first thing I saw was this giant black man with long dreads stooping over her bed and I thought 'Shit! He's going to kill her!' He just looked so desperate and sad, and a little angry, kind of like Jordan did that night.
Never mind.
But then Sids went crashing into the room and did some kind of quasi pirouette and flopped over Angel's legs. He wasn't trying to be funny or anything, he was just so desperate to see if it really was our Angel. And if I'm going to be honest, I kind of had this abstract hope that it wouldn't be our Angel. Maybe Mark was wrong and it was a different person.
But then Sids moaned softly and I knew it really was her. And that's when I started to cry.
ANGEL
Someone's crying. Sara. Jordan. Collins. Mimi. Sids. Alberto. David. Roger. Maureen. Me. someone.
The baby.
The baby was wailing on Ms. Jane's hip, pulling on her bleached hair and squirming. That stupid baby was always crying. We all had our hands clamped over our ears, Jordan had his head under the sofa cushion.
"Jane! Shut that fucking baby up, Jane!" Called Mr. Ralph from his room. I hadn't seen him once since the first night I was there. We'd been at the dinner table eating gluey spaghetti with watery sauce when he stomped into the room. He was wearing what I'd come to think of as his uniform, a white undershirt and jeans, he had thinning brown hair and a thin, sallow face. He wasn't old, only about thirty and very thin.
"Who's this?" he said, looking at me with mild interest. He was standing behind Jordan's chair, holding on to the back of it. Jordan's back was stiff as a rod. No one was eating anymore. "This the new kid? Is it a boy or a girl?"
I got that a lot, my hair was shaggy and I had big eyes and what my Abuela- God rest her soul-called "Effeminate features" which I guess meant I looked girly. Grammy used to use really big words. She had a Ph.D.
"A girl." Said Jordan quickly. "Her name is Angel."
"Did I ask you?" snapped Mr. Ralph. Jordan hunched his shoulders and stared hard at his spaghetti.
I expected Miss. Jane to correct him but she just said, "Want some pasta, Ralph?"
"No it looks like shit. I'm ordering pizza."
He swore! I thought. He insulted her cooking! If I'd said that word in front of Grammy, if anyone had said it, they would have gotten a slap. But maybe Miss. Jane was more like Mami, maybe she didn't care about that type of thing. Because she just looked down at her pasta, just like Jordan, and shrugged.
"Fine. Do what you want."
Mr. Ralph grunted and trudged over to the phone to call for his pizza. Then he trudged back out, stopping by Jordan's chair to ruffle his hair. "G'night, Jordan."
"Jordan." said Sara, but he was already out of his chair and half way to the bathroom. Minutes later we heard him retching.
"Anyone want some bread?" asked Miss. Jane.
"He's throwing up, Miss. Jane!" I cried.
"How about salad?" asked Miss. Jane.
"But-"
Sara elbowed me hard in the ribs. "She knows." She hissed, "But she ain't gonna do anything. Leave it."
Later that night Sara came into Jordan and my room. Jordan was on the bottom bunk, reading quietly. Sara crawled in beside him and motioned for me to sit beside her.
"Sometimes Miss. Jane don't see things or hear things." She said. "Sometimes there are things she don't wanna see so she just don't. You get it? She don't wanna see Jordan being sick so she don't."
I nodded. I got it. Sometimes there were things I didn't want to see Mami doing, like bringing home strange men or drinking till she passed out. But I couldn't stop seeing them. I envied Miss. Jane.
"Why don't you tell a story, Sara?" asked Jordan, shutting his book.
"Okay." She said, grinning. She cuddled up by Jordan, I leaned against her legs, every now and then she'd poke me in the back with her toes.
"Once upon a time." She began, "Which could be anytime really, there was two princes and a princess. They lived in a tower in a castle in a forest surrounded by a wall covered in thorns. Each had a special power, the oldest prince had magic so he could make himself anywhere just by closing his eyes and imagining. The second prince had the magic to turn into anything he wanted, he could be a deer or a bear or a hawk or a rose or even a girl if he wanted to. And the princess, who was the prettiest girl in the world," Jordan snorted, Sara elbowed him and continued, "The princess WHO WAS THE PRETTIEST GIRL IN THE WORLD, could change the past when she wanted to. So if one of them fell and scraped their knee she could turn back time and change it. Or if there weren't enough food she could turn back time to when food was really cheep and buy it then. Or if someone died she could turn back time to when they weren't dead and have them back again.
The first prince and the second prince and the princess were very happy in their castle except for one thing. Sometimes at night, when it was dark and the moon dissolved, Shadow Wolves made of the darkness where there is never light. They prowled the castle and tried to hurt the first prince and the second prince and the princess. And their master was an Evil Man made of cobwebs and slime from between the bathroom tiles and sludge from the side of the street and bad breath. And he hated the first prince and the second prince and the princess so he sent his Shadow Wolves to kill them."
But he could never get them."
See, whenever the Evil Man sent his Shadow Wolves out to get them, the first prince would close his eyes and be far far away, in the Sahara desert, or on the bottom of the sea, or inside a mountain. And the second prince would turn into a peasent girl so the wolves wouldn't recognize him. And the princess would turn back time to before the moon dissolved and hide there till they'd gone."
And that was just the way it was and they were always safe from the Shadow Wolves, until they figured out how to kill them."
"Is that the end?" I asked, I wanted to hear more. I wanted to know if they killed the Shadow Wolves.
Sara shook her head, "Not really. It will end when they figure out how to kill the Shadow Wolves and the Evil Man and how to get out of the forest."
** A/N: hey hey hey! SYMOBLISM (I hope it isn't crappy symonbism but if it is, cest la vie!)
Chapter Nine
SARA
Sometimes my brother scares the life out of me. He scares me because when I look at him, he's never just happy. There's always something in the way of it, a memory, the peeling wallpaper, the fact that there's no heat today, there's no food, the water has turned rusty again. There's always something in the way of him being all the way happy. Some times, if you catch it, David is just happy. Or Sids. Sid-o is angry a lot but he's also happy a lot too. And Remy, well she always seems.not happy but.content I guess. Angel was happy. Angel smiled and laughed and she knew how to stop arguments and make you feel better and she was just always there helping and fixing. But now she's sick and I just don't know what to do.
Because I'm not Angel. I'm not magic and I can never say just the right thing, do just the right thing, to make someone feel better.
We're all in her room right now. Mark brought us, but he's outside in the waiting room. When we came in the first thing I saw was this giant black man with long dreads stooping over her bed and I thought 'Shit! He's going to kill her!' He just looked so desperate and sad, and a little angry, kind of like Jordan did that night.
Never mind.
But then Sids went crashing into the room and did some kind of quasi pirouette and flopped over Angel's legs. He wasn't trying to be funny or anything, he was just so desperate to see if it really was our Angel. And if I'm going to be honest, I kind of had this abstract hope that it wouldn't be our Angel. Maybe Mark was wrong and it was a different person.
But then Sids moaned softly and I knew it really was her. And that's when I started to cry.
ANGEL
Someone's crying. Sara. Jordan. Collins. Mimi. Sids. Alberto. David. Roger. Maureen. Me. someone.
The baby.
The baby was wailing on Ms. Jane's hip, pulling on her bleached hair and squirming. That stupid baby was always crying. We all had our hands clamped over our ears, Jordan had his head under the sofa cushion.
"Jane! Shut that fucking baby up, Jane!" Called Mr. Ralph from his room. I hadn't seen him once since the first night I was there. We'd been at the dinner table eating gluey spaghetti with watery sauce when he stomped into the room. He was wearing what I'd come to think of as his uniform, a white undershirt and jeans, he had thinning brown hair and a thin, sallow face. He wasn't old, only about thirty and very thin.
"Who's this?" he said, looking at me with mild interest. He was standing behind Jordan's chair, holding on to the back of it. Jordan's back was stiff as a rod. No one was eating anymore. "This the new kid? Is it a boy or a girl?"
I got that a lot, my hair was shaggy and I had big eyes and what my Abuela- God rest her soul-called "Effeminate features" which I guess meant I looked girly. Grammy used to use really big words. She had a Ph.D.
"A girl." Said Jordan quickly. "Her name is Angel."
"Did I ask you?" snapped Mr. Ralph. Jordan hunched his shoulders and stared hard at his spaghetti.
I expected Miss. Jane to correct him but she just said, "Want some pasta, Ralph?"
"No it looks like shit. I'm ordering pizza."
He swore! I thought. He insulted her cooking! If I'd said that word in front of Grammy, if anyone had said it, they would have gotten a slap. But maybe Miss. Jane was more like Mami, maybe she didn't care about that type of thing. Because she just looked down at her pasta, just like Jordan, and shrugged.
"Fine. Do what you want."
Mr. Ralph grunted and trudged over to the phone to call for his pizza. Then he trudged back out, stopping by Jordan's chair to ruffle his hair. "G'night, Jordan."
"Jordan." said Sara, but he was already out of his chair and half way to the bathroom. Minutes later we heard him retching.
"Anyone want some bread?" asked Miss. Jane.
"He's throwing up, Miss. Jane!" I cried.
"How about salad?" asked Miss. Jane.
"But-"
Sara elbowed me hard in the ribs. "She knows." She hissed, "But she ain't gonna do anything. Leave it."
Later that night Sara came into Jordan and my room. Jordan was on the bottom bunk, reading quietly. Sara crawled in beside him and motioned for me to sit beside her.
"Sometimes Miss. Jane don't see things or hear things." She said. "Sometimes there are things she don't wanna see so she just don't. You get it? She don't wanna see Jordan being sick so she don't."
I nodded. I got it. Sometimes there were things I didn't want to see Mami doing, like bringing home strange men or drinking till she passed out. But I couldn't stop seeing them. I envied Miss. Jane.
"Why don't you tell a story, Sara?" asked Jordan, shutting his book.
"Okay." She said, grinning. She cuddled up by Jordan, I leaned against her legs, every now and then she'd poke me in the back with her toes.
"Once upon a time." She began, "Which could be anytime really, there was two princes and a princess. They lived in a tower in a castle in a forest surrounded by a wall covered in thorns. Each had a special power, the oldest prince had magic so he could make himself anywhere just by closing his eyes and imagining. The second prince had the magic to turn into anything he wanted, he could be a deer or a bear or a hawk or a rose or even a girl if he wanted to. And the princess, who was the prettiest girl in the world," Jordan snorted, Sara elbowed him and continued, "The princess WHO WAS THE PRETTIEST GIRL IN THE WORLD, could change the past when she wanted to. So if one of them fell and scraped their knee she could turn back time and change it. Or if there weren't enough food she could turn back time to when food was really cheep and buy it then. Or if someone died she could turn back time to when they weren't dead and have them back again.
The first prince and the second prince and the princess were very happy in their castle except for one thing. Sometimes at night, when it was dark and the moon dissolved, Shadow Wolves made of the darkness where there is never light. They prowled the castle and tried to hurt the first prince and the second prince and the princess. And their master was an Evil Man made of cobwebs and slime from between the bathroom tiles and sludge from the side of the street and bad breath. And he hated the first prince and the second prince and the princess so he sent his Shadow Wolves to kill them."
But he could never get them."
See, whenever the Evil Man sent his Shadow Wolves out to get them, the first prince would close his eyes and be far far away, in the Sahara desert, or on the bottom of the sea, or inside a mountain. And the second prince would turn into a peasent girl so the wolves wouldn't recognize him. And the princess would turn back time to before the moon dissolved and hide there till they'd gone."
And that was just the way it was and they were always safe from the Shadow Wolves, until they figured out how to kill them."
"Is that the end?" I asked, I wanted to hear more. I wanted to know if they killed the Shadow Wolves.
Sara shook her head, "Not really. It will end when they figure out how to kill the Shadow Wolves and the Evil Man and how to get out of the forest."
** A/N: hey hey hey! SYMOBLISM (I hope it isn't crappy symonbism but if it is, cest la vie!)