Today is Thursday, May 23rd. It's been a week since my younger sister Zoey Berura Harvey-Dahl was born, and all she seems to do ever since she came home is cry a whole lot. It doesn't seem like much of anything can stop her crying, no matter what we do or might do. The whole house and I lose sleep, her cries are so deafeningly loud. Fortunately for me and Jonah and Mom, we're not alone. We've got Aunt Pearl, Aunt Belinda, Aunt Amy, Aunt Peri, Aunt Nyoko, Uncle Greg, and Aunt Margie to help take care of her. Life seems to go on just like it's done since Zoey was born and then some. She's got an entire family right here that's willing to protect her to the very end, and she's got another family out in Piscataway that would gladly do the same for her. Yes, I consider Quilene and her parents and siblings to be family now. Well, Uncle Steven and Patrick are stepbrothers, so Quilene was always going to be family to us regardless of how we felt about her. Plus, Grandma Ruby's cousin is one of her moms. I think that's a good argument for considering her a family member.

I'm getting off-track. I'm just glad to be back home with my family now. Jonah and I now have a chance to spend time with Zoey for the whole summer, though it breaks my heart to know that we'll have to leave her in the fall for our sophomore year. Will she even remember who we are when she gets older? That's another thing that bugs me about Mom having a baby while Jonah and I are practically adults. We're not close enough in age to Zoey to get that sort of sibling bond. In fact, I don't know what our relationship to her could feel like more. Still, I hope that we can squeeze in as much time with her as we can.

It's about twelve-thirty in the afternoon when I decide to leave the beach house for a little bit and hang out with April. As nice as it is to be back home with the family, sometimes it's just good to give myself some space and share it with my beloved. I knock on her front door and wait patiently for her to open up. About a minute later, she opens the door and sees me.

"Oh, hey, Hope," April says. "Congrats on your new sister. I'm sure she's adorable."

"Yeah, she's adorable, alright," I reply. "Mind if I come in for a bit? I just want to hang out."

"Sure. So how are... things?"

I sit down on the brown leather couch. "Pretty good. I'm so glad Mom and Zoey are all right. It feels like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders."

"I'm so glad to hear that. So how do you think your next semester will go?"

"Hopefully, better than the last two, not that they were terrible. I'm not sure what the classes I got into will be like, though. I've never met any of those professors in my life, at least nobody that I recognize."

"Is there anything you are certain about?"

"I know I'll still have Quilene as my roommate, but other than that, that's it. I can't worry about all that right now. I've got a whole summer to look forward to."

"Me too. So what would you like to do this summer?"

I give that question some thought. There's so much we could do together, but I don't know if we could do them all. Not to mention, some days, Mom might ask me to watch Zoey for a time. That would mean sacrificing some precious time mingling with my girlfriend, but it would also mean spending time with Zoey so she can remember who I am.

"Why don't we have a bonfire sometime?" I suggest. "It'll be just like our double date we had with Jonah and Quilene."

April seems to mull my suggestion over for a good while, then says, "Yeah, I'd like that. This time, we can have the bonfire all to ourselves and just look forward or, I guess, backward to the future."

So she did remember. She remembered what I'd told her about the Aymara and how they see time differently from other groups of people. God, could I love her any more than I already do?

"Sounds great," I tell her. "Though, we'll have to figure out when we can have that bonfire."

The weekend soon arrives, and Jonah and I decide to head out for Beach Citywalk Fries. When we're not eating at Fish Stew Pizza, we're eating at Beach Citywalk Fries. We love getting to eat the fry bits at the bottom and getting to talk with Peedee and his family. He seems like a genuinely nice guy with his blond dreadlocks and the gap in his teeth. Many years ago, he had his very own food truck called "Hot 2 Tot," but he had to sell it to someone else in order to take care of some financial issues. As a result, he's back to working with his dad and older brother Ronaldo. He's not alone, though. He's got our good old friend Patricia as his girlfriend, as well as his twin girls from a previous relationship. The girls, Maritza and Naomi, are too young to actually work behind the scenes, though, so they just handle the advertising aspect of Beach Citywalk Fries.

"Hey, girls," Peedee greets us from behind the counter. "How's it going?"

"Pretty good," I quickly reply. "Jonah and I just thought we'd stop by and get some fries."

"Oh, cool. Congrats on your new sister, by the way."

I give a polite little smile. "Thank you."

"Isn't she just adorable?" Jonah asks Peedee. "She really takes after Mom with her dark skin and dark hair."

Peedee chuckles. "Oh yeah, I can definitely see that. So, uh, what kind of fries do you guys want?"

"Just the usual: I'll have the regular fries..." I trail off so Jonah can finish my sentence.

Jonah gladly obliges. "...and I'll have the spicy fries. We'll also have packets of ketchup and buffalo sauce with those, please."

"Okay, coming right up." Peedee turns around to face Dinah in the kitchen. "Hey, Dinah, I'm gonna need some regular fries and spicy fries out here, please."

"Alright, I'm on it!" Dinah shouts from the kitchen.

I can see Dinah wearing gloves and chopping up thin slices of potato on a chopping board. She's got her lavender-dyed hair set up into a bun, and her rectangular prescription glasses are balanced ever-so-delicately on the top of the bridge of her nose. She wears a white apron over a purple long-sleeve shirt and light mom jeans, and she wears white tennis shoes with socks on her feet. I still can't believe that this girl who's over half a decade older than us is also Quilene's aunt. Then again, Aunt Margie adopted her with Uncle Herb back in 2021 when they were still together. How happy they must have been when Dinah joined their family.

"Man, Dinah seems to really enjoy working here," Jonah tells me.

"Yeah," I rejoin. "I think Professor Hillenburg's old work ethic must have really rubbed off on her."

"I can definitely see that. So when do you think you can have that bonfire with April?"

"I don't know. We don't have to go back to school until sometime in September, so there's plenty of time to set aside for a bonfire. I don't know which day could be good for one, though. We could try looking at the weather predictions and see-"

Jonah cuts me off. "Hey, Hope?"

"Yeah?"

"Why don't you save the overthinking for school, huh? We're trying to have fun this summer."

I smile at my brother, knowing fully well that he's right. If we're going to be totally honest here, I think he has a bright future ahead of him.