Mary Kelly presses her hands together and looks up at the tree. “Please, O mighty taotaomo’nas, may I go in the jungle?” She snickers.

“You better be careful,” I say. “Once Frank peed in the jungle and he didn’t ask permission. He woke up with a terrible sore throat and a big bruise on his arm.”

“Maybe he caught strep throat at school,” Mary Kelly says. “Maybe he bruised his arm in the jungle.”

Delia leans forward. “My father knows the jungle better than anyone. One day he forgot to ask permission to go into the jungle. He said that even though he walked a straight line, he ended up at the same spot where he started from, as if he’d walked in a circle.”

“Yeah,” I say, “Auntie Bernadette knows three pregnant women whose babies were snatched from their bellies.” I clap. “Just like that. Gone!”

The other girls nod.

“That’s right,” Delia says.

“Be careful,” Tonya adds.

Mary Kelly’s face turns kind of green. “Stop! I don’t want to hear any more.” She doesn’t say another word the rest of recess.

Finally some respect!

Evening Watch

Tonight I pat Olivia’s back and wait for her nightmare to pass, then take a deep breath and shut my eyes. Just as I’m about to fall asleep, I hear a scratching sound coming from the other side of the wall. I ease out of bed, walk into the hall, and peek inside Frank’s room.

Frank lies on his side, his back to me. The nightlight’s glow captures the shadow of his hand moving across the wall. Then I notice the small pocketknife he got for Christmas two years ago. Frank’s hand is wrapped around it in a tight fist. He’s carving into the wall. I step back from the doorway, walk down the hall, and slip into my bed.

The Marks on Frank’s Wall

I hate you.
I hate you.
I hate you.
I hate you.
I hate you.
I hate you.

A Stranger in the House

There is a stranger in our house. He looks like Frank, pretty Frank, his bangs always falling over the long eyelashes girls go crazy over. My brother, who stood in front of the entire church and sang “Ave Maria” last year. His voice was so pure and clear that it made women dig in their purses for tissue. Frank, who knew every knock-knock joke by heart.

Where is that Frank?

At the kitchen table I try to search in his eyes, but he grabs the cereal box, holds it in front of his face, and reads. Where is the boy who couldn’t care less about how many fortified vitamins are in Froot Loops?

Not a Rose

Mary Kelly shows off the yellow flower Dan Hernandez gave her. Delia hides her mouth, but I laugh, loud and long. For a moment, it makes me forget about Frank.

Dan gave Mary Kelly a take’biha. In English that means old woman’s poop!

Is He the One?

After school today, Tata mows the lawn while Frank throws rocks and cut grass into the jungle. I watch them from the cabana. Sometimes they’re only a few feet away from each other, but even if they spoke, the lawn mower would prevent them from hearing their words.