I first snuck into Skot’s house on a Tuesday after school. I thought I would be the only one there. I opened his drawers, searched his closet. I found his tapes and records and studied them. Next time I would come back with a camera.
I saw him leave with Robin before class.
I could hear a car pass outside his window.
I looked out the window and thought about him looking out the window.
Footsteps up the stairs. The smell of gardenia, pointed.
•§•
It’s dark on Tigertail Lane even in the day. So many trees shading me. There is a carob tree by my house and a eucalyptus across the street. There are windows that no one looks out of. I know because I’ve spent days by mine, looking out with no one looking back. I’ve called to the street, hello out there! But there are no eyes to bat. Mom will call me down for dinner. It’s always sweaty and I want to leave as quick as possible.
•§•
Mom pushed into my room without knocking and said, are you smoking? I punched my pillow and said, for the last time, I’m no smoker!
All the smokers go to Grit Park after school by the library. They kick the rocks around the trees and blow puffs like dragons.
The girl smokers wear tight shirts and the boy smokers wear baggy ones.
•§•
I can’t do this anymore, is what I thought. I’ve been climbing these trees too long. I could climb every big tree on this street since I was five. There are lots of magnolias but only one purple jacaranda. There are plenty of prehistoric-looking ferns and juniper bushes to hide behind. I can hop from tree to tree or sneak between bushes or climb to rooftops. I can peek into any house I want, see their blue glows, their greens and yellows, hear the clinking sounds of dishes like a wind chime crying. I can cry if I want to...
