That’s why Tana and I got invited to her birthday too. Tana said, “But it’s Saturday!” so Mom promised to take her to the mall after the party.
Polly talks about Maya the same way she talks about the manatees. She doesn’t say Maya’s cute but she’s always saying poor Maya.
Maybe Polly’s sad for me too because I only have two friends. More like one and a half friends because Kelsey hardly ever talks to me anymore.
Maya has a lot of drums in her living room and plants all over her house, even in the bathroom. I think they might be hippies. When we get home I’ll ask Mom if they’re hippies.
The birthday cake is on the kitchen table. The frosting is gray and it isn’t very smooth and there are pretzel sticks on top spelling Happy Birthday. Mom says, “I love it,” even though there isn’t much to love about that cake. Maya’s mom says they have to be creative because Maya can’t eat sugar.
I try to be extra nice to Maya because she doesn’t have friends and she can’t eat sugar. I tell her I like her dress even though I don’t like it, except for the color, so it’s not really a lie. “Purple’s one of my favorite colors,” I say.
“It’s not purple,” Maya says, “it’s plum.”
Maya says we’re going to play now, so we follow her outside. Only part of Maya’s backyard is mowed, the rest is a field. I don’t like that it’s crooked. I wish they mowed it even instead of crooked.
We’re sneaking through the field part because Maya said she sees wild rabbits in here all the time and if we want to see them we have to be super quiet.
“See,” Maya whispers, “that’s why my mom put that chicken wire around her garden. Rabbits eat lettuce and carrots. Rabbits have good eyesight because they eat so many carrots.” Maya is always telling us things we already know. I think that’s one of the reasons she doesn’t have friends. Plus her teeth. “There!” she whispers.
“Where?”
“There!”
“Where?”
“I don’t see any rabbits,” Tana says.
The grass is moving but it could be a cat, it could be a snake. All I said was “What if it’s a snake?” but I guess they didn’t hear the what if part because now they’re all screaming and running for Maya’s crooked yard.
“Rabbit!” I see one. She’s hiding in that clump of grass. But oh no, I scared her away. Where’d you go, little rabbit? I know you’re in here somewhere. There you are! Aw, she’s looking right at me. “Shhh, don’t be scared, I won’t hurt you.” I think she likes me. She doesn’t even hop away when I squat down. But now everyone’s back, talking and staring and scaring my rabbit away.
“I bet the rabbits like it here,” I say to Maya’s mom when we’re inside eating cake. It tastes more like a muffin than cake, more like bread.
Maya’s mom smiles but before she can say how much the rabbits love it here, Polly chirps, “Piñata!” Out the window, in the backyard, Maya’s dad is standing on a ladder, hanging a piñata in a tree.
Maya runs outside so we all run outside.
I think Maya’s mom made the piñata too. It’s yellow with orange triangles all around it. I think it might be the sun.
When Maya’s dad reaches his arms up to tie the string around the branch, we can see some of his stomach under his shirt. I look away, into the field, so I don’t have to look at Maya’s dad’s stomach. Some of the grass is moving. I bet it’s my rabbit. I wish Mr. Gullick’s rabbits lived in that field. Then he couldn’t kill them. Then they’d all be safe and free.
“Maggie!” Tana’s pulling on me, pulling me back. “Mom, Maggie’s frozen again!” She says something about the piñata and I see the broom in Maya’s hand, blurry because my eyes are stuck open. Maya’s dad is saying, “The other end, the stick end,” and everyone is laughing, but I don’t care about the piñata, I don’t care about the candy, I just want everyone to be quiet so I can figure out how I’m going to get Mr. Gullick’s rabbits over to Maya’s house.
There’s a crack and everyone’s diving for the ground. Maya made a hole on the first try, or maybe it wasn’t the first try. Maybe it wasn’t Maya. Tana and Polly are crawling around the grass, looking for the candy, and I hear Mom say, “What a great idea!” before Tana can say anything bad about the boxes of raisins and bags of peanuts and suckers that can’t be real suckers because Maya doesn’t eat sugar, remember?
Maya’s parents aren’t hippies, they just like drums and plants.