What you see all depends on what your looking for.
My Daddy used to tell me this a lot,
and while I’m not exactly positivley sure what it means,
I have sort of an idea.
I think it means that,
if your looking for something great,
like money or fame,
you’ll find it somewhere, someday,
if you truly deserve it.
But if your looking for something like I am,
it might not come as easily,
but as long as I keep looking for what I’m looking for,
I’ll see it,
if I really deserve to.
I just hope I do.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“Aroooooo! Werewolves in london! Aroooooo!”
Parker sticks his head out the window and laughs,
loud and hard,
the good kind of laugh that
everyone should laugh.
“Parker, you get back in here!”
Marigold is sitting up front next to Linkon,
whose driving.
The trailer bumps behind us.
Mari looks at me.
“Brooke, get him to stop.”
I pull on Parker’s shirt.
“Park, come back in.”
He raises his eyebrows and grunts.
“C’mon, we’re almost there.”
He throws himself back into his seat.
I buckle him.
He kicks his feet and bites his fingers.
“Parker, stop kicking.”
Linkon takes a sharp turn.
Parker laughs and claps his hands.
Grace rolls her eyes and puts more
lip gloss on (like she needs any.)
Momma snores from the backseat
and Sky giggles.
“Are we almost there, Link?”
“Uh, yeah Brooke. Almost.”
Parker claps again.
I fix his glasses and sweatshirt.
He smiles.
In five minutes,
he’s asleep.
Mari turns around and grins a little.
“Now, you all be quiet. Don’t wake him up.”
Grace rolls her eyes (once again) and
flips open her cell phone.
I lean over Parker to look outside.
We pass a sign.
“Welcome to Merril”
I guess that means we’re here.
I look around.
There’s really not much to see here, it looks like
a quiet place.
A little place.
Our new house is far away from any others—
that’s a good thing.
We turn into a long, dirt driveway,
and then
we’re here.
Here is a new beginning,
a new home,
a new start.
I just hope we don’t mess it up like all the others.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *
After everything’s unpacked and
us kids get kicked outside,
I decide it’s time to do a little snooping.
“Ma! I’m gonna go see what’s around!”
I hop down the porch.
“Bring your brothers, Brooke!”
I round up Sky and Parker,
and we start down the road.
--------------------------------
“Brookey, where are we going?”
Parker talks slow and careful,
laughing and grunting every few words.
“We’re going to, ya know, look around.”
“I-I think that we need to buy a,
puppy, you know, like with the big ears!”
He laughs and starts to flap his wrists.
Sky jumps on his back and laughs too.
“Brooke, do you think Momma would really let
us have one now, since we live in a big place?”
I shrug.
“You’d have to ask her.”
Parker twirls with Sky on his back,
still laughing.
He blinks his eyes hard and quick then squints
at me.
“Brooke, what’s over there?”
He yells.
“That’s the town.”
He puts Sky down and stops walking.
I turn around.
“You alright?”
“IT’S A TOWN, BROOKE! A TOWN! LOOK SKY! A TOOOOOWWWNN!”
He starts to run,
as fast as his long skinny legs can carry him,
all the way into town.
--------------------------------
“Let me see it, bud.”
Parker’s knee is bleeding,
and he’s crying hysterically.
A few people are staring, but I don’t mind that.
“Aw, Park, it’s all right…”
Sky hugs Parker and I wipe the blood off his knee with my shirt.
“Oh, Brookey I runned and fell and I hurt…”
Hr cries more.
“Let’s go see if one of these places has a band aid.”
He hops up and runs into the nearest store.
I follow him, like I always do.
The man behind the counter is bald and
has big glasses that make his eyes seem all foggy on the other side.
“Do you have band aids?”
He points to a display near the back.
I jog to it and pick out the best ones.
Parker talks to the man.
“I hurted my knee. I wased running, and I felled on the rocks.”
“That sure stinks.”
Sky runs up to me.
“Brooke can I please please pleeeease get a candy bar?”
Parker whips around.
“Oh! Brooke! Candy, please! Yes! Look at all of them!”
“Oh, I don’t—”
“I can picked this one, or this one, or this one…”
“Alright, fine. One each only.”
“Oh yay, Brooke yay! Sky look! Look what we can get!
Sky, you can get this one or this one or this one, and so can me!
Parker gets one, too! Any one I want!”
I turn to the counter.
The man is laughing.
“He sure does talk a lot, huh?”
“Yes sir.”
“You just move in here?”
“Or this one, Sky! I might maybe pick this one…”
“Yeah, just today.”
“Your Momma and Daddy around?”
“My mom’s back home with my brothers and sisters.”
“And your Father?”
“In the war, sir.”
“Good man. Raised good kids, too, I see.”
I smile Most people don’t think that.
The boys put their candy up on the counter and the man
checks out our stuff.
“The candy’s on me. I’m Mr. Bee, by the way.”
“Thank you, Mr. Bee. I’m Brooke. That’s Sky, and that’s Parker.”
“Fine names, you got there. Have a nice day.”
We skip out the door.
-----------------------------
Walking around the little town Merril,
we see lots of people.
Well not lots,
but some.
Mostly kids,
on there bikes, playing tag.
No one invites us to play,
but that’s okay, cause we just got here.
“One…One two, three two four…eight seven..”
Parker counts and hops as he eats his candy bar.
He gets it all over his face, but he doesn’t mind.
“I’m gonna get some drinks, I’ll be right back.”
I run into the store.
I scan the freezer—
Grape Soda, Chocolate Milk, Apple Juice—
“No! No why-why-why…”
“Stop that!”
I run outside.
Five boys about my age are standing around Parker.
Sky’s screaming from the other side of the circle,
trying to fight his way in.
“Hey!”
I run through them.
A chubby red headed kid smiles at me.
“Hey there, you wanna piece of this ‘tard, too?”
I kneel down to Parker.
He’s crying.
They throw more dirt at him.
“Leave him alone!”
“Why should we?”
“Because he’s my brother!”
Parker curls up on my lap.
He screams and hits himself in the head.
“Stop, Parker, please stop..”
“Go away or I’ll kill you all!”
“Oh, we’re sooo scared!”
“You should be.”
All the boys turn around.
Link’s holding a wiffle ball bat.
He twists it around in his hand.
Sky’s behind him, shaking his fist.
Link walks closer.
“If I ever catch any of you messing with my brother,
or my sisters, I will beat you into next Tuesday.”
They bolt,
but of course,
not without saying something.
“We’ll get you next time, retard!”
And then it’s just me and Parker in the dirt, crying.
No pressure.