Page 10 of Genesis

And she shouldn’t be running off alone in this neighborhood.

Don’t ask me why I gave a shit. I still don’t know the answer to that. But she seemed like she had the whole world on her shoulders. Like whatever she was tore up about was life-changing.

She’ll be in Samuel’s grade. I wonder if she goes to church, and how that cut is on her jaw.

It’ll be a scar for sure, just like the many I have.

It shocked me stupid that she didn’t jump up and burst into tears. I’ve never seen a girl not cry after getting hurt. The girls at school are wimps. They fall and scrape their knee and whine like someone broke their arm.

I feel the slickness of Neosporin as Paul rubs it across my skin.

“You can’t sleep on your back tonight,” Paul says.

“Duh,” I reply. Paul’s like the father figure around here. He gets on my nerves, though, always telling us what to do.

Paul replaces the top back on the medicine and washes his hands before drying them on a towel.

“You three wash up and put shirts on.” He exits the bathroom and Samuel and I fight over who’s washing their hands first while Johnny chooses to wash his in the tub.

_____________

We sit at the table as Ma places the pan of spaghetti down onto the flowery tablecloth. The wooden chair creaks when she takes a seat and she looks at us expectedly. We all bow our heads and take each other’s hands as she begins grace.

“Bless us, O God, as we sit together. Bless the food we eat today. Bless the hands that made the food. Bless us, O God. Amen.”

We each make the sign of the cross and say, “Amen.”

“Did you boys see the new neighbors we have?” Ma asks as she grabs the pan and starts loading up our plates.

“Yes, ma’am,” Paul says.

She nods. “I’ve got a cake baking in the oven. “You’ll take it over when it’s done,” she says, looking at all of us.

I look over at Johnny who’s also looking at me. “Yes, ma’am,” we all say.

“Good boys. Wipe your mouth, Samuel,” she says. My younger brother lifts his napkin and wipes his mouth. My shirt’s sticking to my back and it’s uncomfortable.

“Danny hit the new neighbor on the skateboard,” Samuel says. I kick his leg under the table, glowering at him. He doesn’t say anything as I look over at Ma.

“Don’t speak with your mouth full,” she says to him and then points her eyes on me. “Danny, how did you do that?”

“I was coming down the hill. She got in my way.”

She narrows her eyes at me. “Are you hurt?”

I shrug. “Just my back.”

“Do I need to look at it?” she asks me.

“I cleaned it up,” Paul chimes in, wiping his own mouth.

She nods. “Good.” She lifts her fork, twirling the pasta. “I assume you apologized?”

Crap.

“Umm, well, not really.”

“Danny O’Brien. You will apologize to that girl when you take the cake over. You four will make her feel welcome in this neighborhood. You know what it’s like to be the new kid. It’s no fun.”

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