“HUNTER! HUNTER!”
I lay there on my bed fully clothed with my shoes still on listening to my mother call me. I can never get any sleep! I punch my pillow with my fist and place the pillow over my head to try to drown out my mother.
“Hunter! I know you hear me calling you! Hunter!”
Even from under my pillow, I can still hear my mother calling and cursing me out in Spanish, thinking the little ones wouldn’t catch on. Frustrated and already knowing what my mother wanted, I yell out, “Mami, What?”
“Ay, Hunter! What is this? You lay there sleeping. I would like to be able to lay down to ya know! But No! I have to take Josiah to daycare, go to work, clean and cook, all while you take it easy sleeping! No way missy!” My mother, Marie, lay Josiah on top of my chest.
“Ugh! Mami, he stinks!
“Yup! Change him!” My mother takes the burp cloth off her shoulder and toss it onto the bed.
“Why didn’t you change him before you brought him to me?”
She turned on her heels to face me. “Because Hunter-”
“Sup!” My brother comes crashing into my room interrupting.
“Jordan, go get me Josiah’s diapers and his wipes.”
“Okay, where they at?”
“I dunno! Ask Mami.” Jordan leaves out of my room yelling at the top of his lungs for my mother to find the diapers and wipes.
I’m so cranky and irritated because I haven’t been able to get any sleep lately. It was six of us all crammed like sardines inside a three-bedroom ranch style house. There was no upstairs, no attic, no basement, not even a garage. There is no peace for me here. I can’t wait until I turn 18 and get a place of my own. Don’t get me wrong though, I love my family, but sometimes, it was just too much.
“Jordan, bring me the stuff!”
“I’m coming, hold the freak on!”
I change Josiah’s diaper and reminisce about the days when I would be included in charging my father at the door. I couldn’t wait until Papi got home because he would always bring me something. I didn’t care if it was a new pair of shoes, jump rope, or a 50-cent bag of chips. He’d done it as long as I could remember, but not now. Now, was a different story. So many things have changed.
My brother, Justin, one of the more mature twins comes into my room, grabs Josiah, and plays with him. “What’s up between you and Papi?”
“Nothing. Why do you ask?” He sits on my floor and hands me a rubber band. I brush his long, thick, curly hair back and place it into a ponytail.
“It just seems like since you and Mami came back from grandma… it’s just been a lot of tension. I mean, it was a lot of tension while y’all was gone too. He and Mami argued a lot over the phone.”
“I know, I heard it from my end too.”
“You know what it was about?”
“Not really…” I can hear Jordan and Joey fighting over a video game.
“Pipe down all that noise in here!” My father roars as he walks in the door.
“Dad!” Jordan ran to my father to tattletale on everything that Joey had said or done.
My father, Terry, was tall dark-skinned man who towered over people like a giant. He spoke in a deep tone and had permanent wrinkles etched across the top of his forehead from too much worry and un-forgiveness.
My father sat on the edge of his bed removing his work boots. After releasing his toes into the air, he places his sock up to his nose and takes a whiff. Jerking back from the wretched smell, he balls his socks into each other and throws them into a corner.
I stand by the threshold of their bedroom door with Josiah planted on my hips. I was tired of the silence between us and him treating his firstborn like a stepchild. I swallow hard and clear my throat. “Papi, Hi.” I say in a low tone focusing on the tattered corner of a throw rug that flowed from beneath my parents’ bed. I wait for the sound of his voice to respond before I move or say another word.
“Close the door. I need to change my clothes.”
11 CHAPTER ELEVEN
SYMPHONY PERKINS
Tick for Tack
Fitting In (Is Hard to Do) Semester 1 Page 10