Midget
Dag and me must be feeling charitable to Midget cuz the rest a the walk we include her in our conversation, real interesting stuff like do peoples heads pop off when they get hanged and whats up with yeast infections and how its possible from like a science perspective for Aragorn to surf down the bones of the Dead Men of Dunharrow. We go like <Isnt that right, Midget?> and <Midget, you hear that?> and <I bet Midget knows what Im saying!> Course Midge doesnt reply. Shes busy trying to trap a fly in her hand so she can tell it her secrets. But I think she enjoys hearing her name in chitchat. When we cross the street little sister holds real tight to my jean jacket.
* * *
Midget doesnt do squat unless her bug friends say its all right. Makes life challenging around the homefront, Ill tell you what. If I want her to take out a trash bag I got to wait for her to catch a fly first and have a whole long discussion about it. By then the trash is dripping all over! One time Midge cupped her hand by her ear to hear fly secrets and that fly zoomed right up inside. Moms about crapped her drawers. She started thumping Midges skull to knock the fly out and when that didnt work she poked a chopstick in there. Finally she dragged Midge to a doc in the box and Moms was crying all hysterical and I was like <Moms, why you tripping?> and Moms says she saw a picture in a book that showed maggots crawling out a ear cuz a fly laid eggs inside it and if Midget starts hatching maggots in her ear the city robocops are gonna take her away and there go our monthly checks.
* * *
The doc though just flushes the fly out with oil. Yo, the craziest part? Midge was happy as hell with that bug in her brain. She was grinning like it was Christmas, nodding real interested like the fly was giving her important knowledge. But when it flushed out all oily and dead Midge worked herself up like I never saw. Moms was afraid to even touch her emotional ass. And that was back when Moms still acted mostly normal and didnt spend all day talking to the TV.
* * *
A few months after we got Midget I was bored as hell and I told myself, Jody, its time to solve The Mystery of Midget. So I went all 007 and strapped on the goggles I found in Robbies yard and put on my high class Isotoner gloves I discovered in the weeds and took off my snowboots for super stealth and then I creeped across our crib. The carpets always nasty with tater chips but 007 never complains. I snaked my ass over to Midgets room and listened to her whisper to her bugs for like half a day and the only word I comprehended was <DAndre>. Midgets giggling <DAndre> this and <DAndre> that. So much boring ass garbage I fell asleep right there in my goggles till Midget woke my ass up cuz she was hungry. Little sister likes her butter bread with sugar.
* * *
So check this. About a year back Dag thefted some bags from Taco Bell and we were on the monkey bars at 15th and Clinton killing those bags dead and she starts in with her gordita grease mouth about how Moms told her a story about Midge. Even though Dags from Pinebluff Glenn Estates she comes to the hood sometimes and her and Moms are friendly and discuss things private. It never bothered me cuz I figured it was about maxi pads or babies or how come her jugs are so small. Turns out it was confidential stuff Moms didnt even tell her dang son! I started chucking taco supremes and cheesy fiesta potatoes far as I could cuz that raged me up.
* * *
What Dag learned is Moms isnt the first foster mom to get Midget. One lady that took Midget also took this child DAndre and when I heard that I thought <Uh oh!> but I kept it to myself cuz remember I was feeling rageful. Dag said this lady also had real biologic children that were mean as hell and one day they pushed DAndre off the roof and DAndre busted his arm. Even though Midget was crying for help the real children didnt want to get in trouble so they went to where this orange vest robocop was paving the sidewalk and the little fools jacked them some wet cement and cemented up DAndres arm.
* * *
I heard a lot of wack junk before but dang. Foster lady must a been in worse shape than Moms if she didnt notice her new foster boy had a cement cast out of nowhere. Either that or she didnt care. Few days in, DAndres arm went ripe. Children couldnt even sleep cuz a the stink. Plus DAndre was screaming like a bitch how they had to get that cement off him so finally the kids found a hammer and cracked off a chunk and a big chunk a DAndres rotted ass arm came off with it. Now all of them were screaming.
* * *
But heres the most important detail. There were like a hundred flies under there. They cracked off that cement and flies exploded all over. Maggots were present too. Maggots are baby flies in case you arent an expert on insects. Look, Im no 007, not for real, but Im just saying there could be a connection between Midges current ways and all this traumatic garbage from her screwed up history.