Dear Sonia,

The invitations are all finished now, but Jesse says we aren’t going to mail them until next week, so they are just sitting on the table. He says you’re supposed to mail them six weeks before the wedding. I don’t know why.

Also, Lizette and her grandma came over and we got to try five different kinds of cake! (Guess how she does cake samples? She brings mini cupcakes! Isn’t that cool? And they all had different frosting.) We got to pick three kinds of cake, because a wedding cake has three layers. I never thought about that before. Each layer is actually a whole different cake.

We picked 7 Up cake for the bottom layer (the biggest one), lemon cake for the middle, and chocolate cake for the top. And they are all going to have buttercream frosting. Don’t worry, it tastes really good.

I wished you were there when we picked the cakes.

You accidentally turned your Skype account off, I think. I tried to send you some messages, but your light is red. When you get this, maybe you can send me an email and tell me if you turned it on again?

Your sister in seven weeks,

Bea

Bat

Something happened that April. I’m not sure it’s “officially” part of the story about Dad’s second wedding and the sound of corn growing, but I’m going to tell about it anyway, because everything is attached in my mind: Sonia, Angelica, Uncle Frank, the wedding, and this random bat that flew into Mom’s apartment one night. (Yes, there are bats in New York City. I had never known that before, either.)

Mom shook me awake by the knees in the middle of the night. She had turned on every light in my room, and for some reason she was holding the cat.

“Don’t panic,” Mom said, “but we’ve got a bat.”

I felt like my brain was still under the covers. What?

“Red was going nuts,” she said, patting him.

The pieces were coming together. Slowly.

A bat?

“Where?” I sat up. I had never seen a bat up close. I jumped out of bed and went for the door, but she said, “Leave that door closed!”

“Where is it?”

Mom slid into my bed. “In the living room, last I saw. The super is coming up to get it out. He said I should open all the windows and come in here with you.” She smiled. “Everything will be fine.”

The doorbell rang, and Mom went out, making sure the door clicked behind her. I heard voices—hers and our super’s—and then Mom came back.

“How did it get in?” I said.