It’s “Sun”-day, but all I can think about is Claudia moving out. The unfairness of it all hits me hard. I go into the living room hoping to distract myself by watching some TV, but it doesn’t really work.
All I can think about is the fact that I have very little time to get my life together before becoming a young adult myself and I haven’t even heard from my mother. Next time I talk to my social worker, Miss Hillary…I’ll ask her about possibly setting up another visitation at the prison. Maybe something has changed and my mother will be able to get out sooner than she thought.
I know it’s a long shot, but I have to think positive. I try my hardest, but the little bit of positivity that I manage to muster up is short lived.
It’s another bubble blowing type of morning.
Claudia is up by the time I return to the bedroom to change. I get a chance to let her know how I feel about her moving…
Claudia: *gives me a big hug* Awwww…I’ll miss you too. I just wish we had hung out more.
Alida: Yeah…me too. Have you found a place to live yet?
Claudia: I found a place in the Spice District of San My. It’s pretty shitty, but it’ll do for now.
Alida: But…what will you do for money?
Claudia: I actually found a job working as an activist. I’m actually pretty excited about it.
Alida: Oh…that’s good then.
Claudia: Don’t worry about me…I’m a survivor just like the rest of you. We’ll all be just fine. Let’s go see what Mama Nadine is cooking. *turns to leave the room*
Alida: Yeah, okay…
Claudia and I join Mama Nadine in the kitchen. We sit down at the counter and Claudia tells me about her new political cause…World United. She wants to work to stop deportation and the separation of families. I can totally understand why she’d be passionate about it.
Mama Nadine finishes cooking pancakes and I grab a plate. Raul sits down beside me and gives me a very unexpected compliment.
Raul: I like your hair like that.
I almost choke on my food. I sit there for a moment…unsure of how to respond. I’m not used to Raul handing out compliments. I wait to see if he follows it up with some type of insult, but he doesn’t. I don’t overthink it…I just keep it simple –
Alida: Thanks!
Michael comes over and sits to my right. Surprisingly, Raul doesn’t have anything negative to say about him either…or he’s just holding it in out of respect for me. Either way…it does a lot to improve my mood.
“Sun”-day is the day that we celebrate the 1st day of summer…and yes – it happens to be on the first day of the week, so the name has a double meaning. It’s not as hot as we hoped it would be…but it doesn’t stop us from enjoying some water play. Darwin and Michael take to the sprinklers and Claudia claims the kiddie pool.
Raul and I are the only ones with nothing to do, so I go over to ask if he’d like to have a water balloon fight. As competitive as he is…I knew he wouldn’t turn me down.
Our water balloon fight isn’t much of a fight. It’s more like a few rounds of toss and miss…neither of us succeeds at actually hitting the other. I have a feeling that Raul kept missing on purpose though. We celebrate our non-victories with a selfie.
Not one to be left out of picture taking…Michael insists that I take a selfie with him too. Little does he know that I was already making my way over to him. Afterward, I change into my swimwear and join him by playing in the sprinklers.
Mama Nadine heads out to the grill out back and cooks up a fruit cobbler…successfully maxing out her cooking skill, while Darwin takes himself a little nap in the kiddie pool.
(Generation 1 Chapter Summaries)
