Etan! Are you in trouble? Are you okay?
Why aren’t you in school?
She smiles, and I notice that she’s not hiding her face;
it looks a little less swollen.
I lean my bike against the porch, unload the heavy backpack.
I … I’m fine, I say.
She looks relieved.
I’m studying US states.
Did you know that Georgia is the home of Coca-Cola?
I mean, I can’t drink soda, but …
What’s in the backpack?
I lower it to the ground.
I feel so light, like I could fly away.
Can we go to the Sitting Stones? I say.
Now? she asks.
Yeah!
Lola! and she goes inside.
I walk up the steps.
Okay, she said yes,
but we have to eat first.
She gives us each a plate of chicken adobo
with rice and a fried egg.
I notice that Malia’s skin is red and cut in places,
but she isn’t scratching.
Maybe the tea is working.
We eat, and she tells me stuff about different states.
Did you know the Venus flytrap
is the official plant of North Carolina?
I bet it could eat our fingers off.