“No,mijo. Don’t walk out just yet. First, go to my car and bring in that little tote with the stuff from the pharmacy. I’m changing your sister’s bandages, and her new ointment is in there.”
I knew better than to argue. It was just the three of us in the house. Pop still wasn’t home from his shift at the airport, and none of my other brothers and sisters were around.
Only Marisol. She almost never left the house.
I found the bag my mom needed and brought it to the bedroom, placing it on top of the dresser near the doorway before attempting a quick getaway.
Mamá sighed from her chair near the bed. “I raised you better than that, Arturo. Bring it over to me so I don’t have to get up.” She met my eyes. “I could use a little help, too.”
“Cruz is gonna be here any minute.”
“Entonces probablemente deberías ayudarme rápido, ¿verdad?”
Stepping slowly toward the bed, I glanced down at my sister. HerKim Possiblebedspread was bunched at her feet, and the sheets were a sweaty heap resting on her midsection. Her breathing was shallow, a result of pain and pain meds, and I wasn’t sure if she knew we were there.
“¿Qué necesitas, Mamá?”
“That’s more like it,cariño. I’m just going to pull these off and use the cool water before putting more ointment on. Then freshbandages. Not too complicated. If you can hand me everything as I go, it’ll be quicker.”
I steadied myself. The process itself wasn’t complicated. But seeing the tight silvery skin pulling across my baby sister’s neck and jaw, the fresh red across her chest and shoulders, puffed up and angry after her most recent skin graft? That part was torture.
Five years and dozens of procedures later, it was still hard to look at. I did what my mother asked. Handed her the sponge. The little scissors. Gauze. All while keeping my eyes on anything but the bed.
We weren’t quite finished when I heard Cruz pull up outside. Mamá took pity on me. “You can go,mijo. I have it from here.”
I gave her a kiss on the cheek. As I passed through the kitchen to the side door, I ran into my pops coming in.
“Cruz is outside.”
“Yeah, we’re gonna pick up Johnny and go to Eliazar’s to play video games, or maybe head over to a friend’s house.”
He grabbed my shoulder as I tried to pass him.
“Artie, we have enough to deal with after your sister’s surgery. We don’t need any more nonsense—”
“I know, Pop.” I interrupted, annoyed.
“Don’t think we didn’t hear how late you came home last night. Stumbling around.” His grip tightened as he looked past me out the window, to a clear view of Cruz sitting stoically in the driver’s seat of his car. “I mean it. Don’t get up to anything.”
“Sure, Pop.” I twisted out of his hold. “I’ll be good.”
Cruz and I pulled up to Johnny’sdouble-wide earlier than planned. I assumed Cori heard the engine because she opened the door before I could knock.
“Johnny’s in the shower,” she said, not quite meeting my eyes. “You can wait here for him to finish up if you want.”
A blush spread across her cheeks, and her mouth turned up in a shy smile. I clocked the cute little moles on the side of her face. On school days, she wore makeup like all the girls did, but now I saw every freckle on her nose. Johnny would probably punch me in the face if he knew how much I’d been thinking about those freckles lately.
I turned around and yelled to Cruz that Johnny wasn’t ready yet.
“Imma go get Eliazar then,” he shouted back from the driver’s seat. “You stay here and make sure Johnny keeps his ass moving.”
I smiled and waved Cruz off as I stepped into the trailer, shutting the door behind me. It was a running joke in our crew that Johnny moved at the speed of a stoned turtle. He took going with the flow to the next level, always running into the store to get one thing and coming out with another, losing his keys, or forgetting his backpack somewhere. One time, he left his jacket at my house. The rest of us hung in the car while he went inside to grab it. After ten minutes, Johnny still hadn’t come back out, so I went in. That fucker was sitting at the table with Pop talking football, chilling, like we weren’t sitting out in the driveway waiting for him.
But it was impossible to stay mad. Johnny never meant anything by it. He just loved people—loved making them laugh and loved when everyone was happy.
I’d known Cruz and Eliazar since kindergarten. Johnny had shown up in fifth grade, feeling like a long-lost relative. Johnny and Eliazar were on the younger side for our grade, while Cruz and I were older. But the four of us fit together perfectly. Especially Johnny and me. I’d never had much in common with my musical genius brother Raymond, and Emilio and Fernandowere a lot older than me. Johnny was my brother from another mother.
And, of course, with Johnny came Cori.
