WEEK 42

Levi stood up on his own today.
We jumped around and screamed and clapped.
Pretty much like morons.
Happy morons.
He is almost eighteen months old.
That’s when most babies are already running.
But Mom says Levi is growing on Levi time.
That’s OK even though Levi time is slow.
Can you believe he stood up?
I gave him a prize.
Vanilla yogurt.
His favorite.

I love that they painted it green.
Because of course.
José’s dad said,
Thanks for the inspiration.
And he laughed
and I patted the top of the turtle car,
the shiny green top
and felt a little bit amazed
they actually did it,
you know?
They actually took that hunk of junk
and made a real car out of it again.

Killing aliens.
Getting killed by aliens.
Side by side.
His shoulder knocking mine.
My shoulder knocking his.
I guess you like her,
he said, running behind a bunker.
I shot a missile
into an alien’s face.
You mean Isa?
I stared at the screen.
José stared at the screen.
Who else, dummy?
He darted from the bunker
covering me as I opened fire.
Sure,
I said,
I mean, I guess, yes. I do.
His shoulder knocked mine.
Another alien went down.
Don’t be gross about it, dude.
My eyes burned into the screen.
I’m not being gross about anything.
I laid down some cover.
He ran into a building.
She’s my sister.
I know.
I ran into the building after him.
He whirled around a corner
and shot me
as if I was an alien.
He shoved my shoulder,
Don’t forget that, OK?
I shoved him back.
OK.
Then we laughed weird laughs
and started over again.

10:42.
She runs upstairs as soon as it rings.
Selfish.
I hear her through the locked door.
No
I don’t
he doesn’t
he might never
unforgivable
Then the shower turns on
and I walk down the hall,
back to my room,
my heart pounding,
my stomach twisting.

As some of you might know
we have a family at Honeycutt Middle
who is in need of a little help.
And because we are a family at Honeycutt Middle
we’re going to do everything we can.
That was when I slid down in my seat
and tried to shrink into a dot-sized Timothy.
In just less than six weeks
we’ll have our annual
Carnival of Giving!
So get ready, Mustangs,
and let’s show the world
how our family
helps other families
in their time of need.
I stayed low in my seat
for the rest of class
not wanting to be embarrassed
not willing to admit it’s my family
but feeling my pounding heart
feeling my breathing going faster
just thinking about how it might really
really
be happening
and how we might really
really
be able to take Levi to Cincinnati
if we can all survive
the Carnival of Giving
first.