She opens her backpack,
pulls out a box of apple fruit granola bars.
Here, she says, eat, we have to keep our strength up.
The bars crumble in our hands.
Do you think a lot of people will be there?
I imagine all the people filling the community center.
I think about
the Calypso,
that we’re all connected
like a giant family,
that so many people
will be there tonight,
everyone except her parents,
who don’t even know,
but they will definitely find out.
But Malia is standing now,
her scarf unwrapped,
and even though the swelling in her eye
is not that different,
the redness of her skin
still a slight shine in places,
she seems so much freer.
She spins near the pool
and her body moves in the windless air.
I think I am ready, Etan! Nervous, but ready!
I feel like all of our days here
have really, you know, put me together.
I feel like myself inside my own skin,
like I could handle anything.