The sun wakes me up.
Ouch! my neck hurts
because I’m still sitting at my window.
A fringe of icicles hangs outside,
and the sun makes little rainbows inside them.
I smell coffee and bacon,
and I know that hot chocolate is waiting downstairs.
No cornflakes for Papa this morning—
Mama’s making her special basted fried eggs with onions
and the bacon he loves.
Today is Thursday, but it feels like Saturday
because this is still school vacation.
Thursday is the only day that doesn’t have a personality,
so today it borrowed Saturday’s.
Mama has already set out her maneki-neko,
the cat statue that waves, so we will have good luck from the start.
It makes our new house feel more like home.
“What’s your plan today, Meems?” Papa asks at the table,
the newspaper open in front of him.
What I really want to do is see that dog again,
but I shrug and say, “Explore.”
“It’s cold outside,” Mama says. “Wear your warm clothes.”
Papa looks up from his paper. “And do not leave the yard.”