With this one we go back a few years or more to a 5-year-old Toretto baby. Already percolating some ideas for the next scene. Feedback is welcome! I'm glad everyone is enjoying these. Thanks so much for the reviews and favorites and follows. They totally make my day!
A Morning
"I'm too sick for kinder-garden," the girl proclaimed, dragging her socked feet across the carpet. Brand new red converse sat beside her batman backpack. She'd colored racing stripes along the side with silver gel pens.
Her hair had been tamed in two braids earlier that morning, when Mami had brushed it and told her that she'd like school and she'd make lots of new friends. She didn't want to make new friends. She wanted to go to the garage with Mami and Papi and play with the cars and color in her animal book. She wanted to make Uncle Brian carry her around piggy-back and eat Aunt Mia's monster sandwiches at lunch break. She wanted to search the scrap pile for pretty pieces of metal that Aunt Mia would help her make into a charm bracelet, and practice tightening lug nuts with Papi. She wanted to leave greasy handprints on Mami's coveralls until she tickled her into submission.
She wanted to walk down to the store with Papi while he told her stories about a long time ago and laugh when they caught Mami singing off-key to her iPod, head under the hood of a car, hips swaying.
Most of all she knew that she didn't want to go to school. She didn't care that she had brand-new shoes and clothes and that Mami had said she could wear her red leather jacket. She didn't care that she had a hot wheels lunchbox all full of snacks with her favorite juice box. She didn't even care that Papi was going to drive her in grandpa's old car.
Okay, so maybe she cared about that a little. And maybe she dawdled at the window to watch him move her booster seat into the back, dancing around on her tippy toes. She lingered over her breakfast, even though strawberry waffles were her favorite, pushing pieces around on her plate until her mother took it away, declaring if she wasn't going to eat it she wasn't going to play with it, and to get her shoes on.
So here she was, one shoe on, laces still untied, pouting up at her father, who was waiting patiently for her to finish getting ready.
"I'm sick," she moaned, flopping onto her back on the floor. "Mi estómago se sienta mal…" another groan, she crossed her arms over her belly, eyes closed.
Silence.
She cracked one eyelid, peering up to see her father still staring down at her evenly. He had that look in his eyes. That look he got when she lied about drawing on the walls. Or when she repeated a bad word. He called that his "no-nonsense look" and she knew it meant that she would not be getting out of her first day of kindergarten.
With a heavy sigh she shoved on her other shoe, lacing both up like Mami showed her. Cross over, make one loop, then another and pull it through. She had to do it twice to get the left shoe tied, then wiggled her toes proudly. Jacket went on, and she might have paused in the entryway to check herself out in the mirror, before snatching up backpack and lunchbox in her little hands.
"I'm ready," she stated, still pouting a little. But when Papi led her outside she practically skipped her way over to grandpa's car. It was shiny and black. Mami called it a monster. It made loud noises when it went, vroom vroom.
She didn't want to sit in the back in her little kid booster seat. She wanted to sit up front with Papi. She couldn't wait until she could drive. Vroom vroom!
She mimicked steering, little engine noises as she yanked open the back door, tossing her backpack and lunchbox to the floor and climbing into her seat. She could buckle herself in now and Papi didn't even have to check the straps, though he usually did, tweaking her nose as she wiggled in her seat and demanded that he "Go! Go, drive fast, Papi!"
He rolled down the window so she could feel the wind in her face and turned on the radio. She sang along to "I can't drive 55" with Sammy Hagar.
And wouldn't you know it… turned out the first day of kindergarten… wasn't so bad.