INTRUDER
when I wake in the night
I think it’s Mom or Dad
standing in our room
backlit by streetlight
dimmed by thin curtains
but then I see that actually it’s someone …
shorter?
I jerk my head up
something clanks onto
the desk and I yell
and Cora shrieks
as the intruder
runs out of our room
I race after
whoever it is
down the stairs
out the front door
and as he disappears
down our street
and turns the corner
into the bath of streetlight
I see the side of his face
and I shout at Gō
to stop!
Dad reaches the front steps behind me
what the hell’s going on?
I tell him some guy was in our house
did you see him?
not really I say
did he take anything?
I don’t know I say
and I go back inside
run upstairs
past Mom and Dad’s room
where Cora’s crying
and Mom is holding her
into Cora’s and my room
where I see that it’s
not something taken
but something left
on my desk
the dragon paperweight
how’d the guy get in?
Dad’s shouting from the hall
I locked the door before
I went to bed!
and right then I know
that someone
Shō, Ken, or Yōhei—
the only friends who’ve
ever been with me
when I forgot my house key
the only friends who’ve
ever seen me get the spare key
from a jar under a clay pot
that we keep near our bicycles
must have told Gō
I shove the dragon paperweight
under my pillow
before anyone can see
and then I go
into the other room
and ask Cora
did you recognize him?
Mom has her back to me
and Cora sees me
just barely shake my head
to mean no
no Cora says
but Mom whips around
and narrows her eyes
at me
did YOU see? Mom asks me
did YOU recognize him?
I don’t want to lie
but right now I can’t
tell the truth
I didn’t get a good look I say
he was backlit and he ran
as soon as I woke up
when Cora’s settled
back in her bunk
and Mom and Dad
have locked all the doors
and windows
I climb down the bunk ladder
and scoot in next to Cora
it was that boy from your class! she whispers
the one who was with the boy
on the lightning bike at the temple!
yeah I say
but don’t tell for now
why not?
what will you do?
you HAVE to tell!
no I say
just give me some time
so I can figure this out