MELISSA GUTIERREZ Close We were close in age, you and I. I was March nineteenth and you were April third, and we thought it was strange you were younger because you were always taller. Third grade we met when we both got stuck with Ms. Avincula, who wasn't fat but looked like it because her old skin rolled over her knuckles when she had them down at her sides, or on your hands trying to get you to make the cursive "S" right. You were a lefty, that's why it was hard, and you always had to use the red scissors instead of the blue ones, I remember. You lived close by. I could run around the block in one– hundred-and-four steps and I always thought your house was a castle because you had stairs going up the porch and stairs going up inside and then you had an attic, where we found your dad's trombone and your mom's lingerie that we both tried on, and once we found a bird's nest by one of those little holes. It had six white eggs and when we listened carefully from your room we could hear them peeping when they hatched. Remember how you thought it was cool when we found the dead baby bird, all naked and plucky like when I get goosebumps, Rat stuck to the concrete under the eave in the spring? I was sad and you wouldn't bury it so that day I ran home early. 101 Dalmatians came out, the real live version with Glenn Close. Your mom took us to see it after your dad left. She was crying but not because of the movie, you were crying but not because of the movie, but I was crying because I was so scared ofher black-and-white hair and how she killed tigers to wear. And your mom hugged you close and I didn't know why because it was the ending where every– thing was turning out happy, but I guess not for you. That night I told my mom, "Don't close the door!" that's how scared ofgetting turned into a cape by Cruella De Ville I was and that's how scared ofmy dad leaving I was. She told me Cruella didn't live around here and dad wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, but I could 39
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