Fast Forward to us

21- Sukiyaki

Emma

The last thing I wanted to do that night was sleep in my own bed. For some reason, the bag full of ashes made itself completely visible. Instead of my room, I sat in the destroyed race car that seemed unlikely to be complete. It was one of those warm and clear nights where you had to look at the stars after a long and confusing day.

Crickets were chirping everywhere. Owls were making their presence known. Part of me was hoping to see my daddy in the stars. Maybe he could somehow say something to me tonight. Of course, that never happened and it never would.

"Mija, I'm sorry I couldn't take you to the father-daughter dance tonight," my daddy apologized as we sat at a table outside my abuela's taco shop where three other people were eating their food.

His face looked broken and both his arms looked burnt. Yes, my daddy looked tired. Maybe he should be in bed sleeping. That's all he ever did ever since we moved here. Tired people couldn't dance.

"It's okay daddy," my sad voice spoke. "I'd rather be here with you anyways."

His shaky and weak hand grabbed my hand and squeezed as best as he could. If anything wasn't lost, it was that smile he gave. It was something my daddy couldn't lose.

"Can you believe it's almost summer?" he spoke again with a deep breath. "And that means second grade is about to end. You'll be in third grade next year. And you already met a boy. What's his name? Joey? Jerry?"

"His name is Jeremy," my face couldn't stop blushing. "He's the bestest friend I ever had."

"Yes, he is." There was that smile again. "Don't ever lose him." For a brief moment, all we could do was look at each other. It was our way of sharing our love. "It's nice that you have a friend that wants to help you make a racecar. I don't know how much time I have left, but I would love to see it when it's finished."

"Pablo, you are being too sad," declared my abuela who softly smacked his back with a fly swatter. "You're going to make the little girl cry. And you're going to make her grandma cry." Before either of us spoke, she pulled out a notepad. "You guys know what you want to order yet? Let me guess, it's the usual. Eight Tacos for the two of you to share, Tecate, and apple juice."

"Sounds about right," my daddy responded as he stole the fly swatter out of her care and smacked her with it. My abuela thought it was funny and took it back only to swat him with it.

"Por ti estoy aquí," sang a beautiful voice on the stereo. "Tan triste derrotada."

My ears ignored the fun that my daddy and abuela were having. All I could do was stand and move my head around this pretty song. Who was this singer? She was amazing. My heart was feeling happy.

"You like this singer," asked my abuela who had the fly swatter in her pocket. My head nodded yes. "Ah yes, that's your tio's new album. He recently went to a concert and watched her perform. Her name is Selena Quintanilla. This is my favorite song on the album.

"Y mi llanto esta cada día mas

Quisiera verte junto a mi."

It was amazing. I couldn't stop listening. My daddy saw how much I loved this song. With all the energy he had, he stood and offered to dance with me. For the next few minutes, it was just us. This was the moment that we shared. The two of us danced to a beautiful song. Even when I lost my daddy, I would always have this to remember.

"Shouldn't you be in bed?" asked a familiar voice. It was none other than Marvin. He looked like crap, but my heart was beating in glee to see him sound and safe.

"Can't do it tonight," I responded. "Just can't do it. Sometimes I just need to be outside at night with my thoughts. I try to sometimes clear my head and make sense of everything."

After Marvin asked if he could join me in the car, I accepted and he hopped right in. Son of a gun. everything about him at the moment was unpleasant for the nose.  It wanted nothing more than to die from what it was enduring. My insides found themselves gagging. Guess sewers were not the place to be.

"How was the party tonight?" asked Marvin who began to play around with the dashboard. "Did I miss anything exciting besides getting thrown into a sewer? Did that bus driver ever show up?"

"Yeah, the bus driver did show up and took a few people home. Jeremy included, but he wasn't drunk. Believe it or not, we actually played Spin the Bottle, and Jeremy and this girl ended up taking a dare from Ted to play Seven Minutes in Heaven."

"Ted was the one who had me thrown into the sewer?" Interrupted Marvin without a second thought. A nod yes was my response. "Already hate that guy. Somebody should throw him into a sewer."

Anyways, after that, something weird was going on with Jeremy. He had this weird bloody red rash on his leg. It was as if he were about to die or something. It was like something I've never seen."

"Wait a minute," the dude butted in again. "You said a bloody red leg? Did it look like it was ready to pop?" Marvin seemed as if he had great concern taking over him. Did he? What did he know? 

"Uh, yeah, it did, I guess. Maybe we should've taken him to the ER." Seriously, Butts should've taken him to the hospital. Why didn't we have him do that?

"Probably best that you didn't take him there. What about you? Do you have any red marks or anything out of the ordinary on your body?"

What was going on with Marvin? It seemed like he was freaking out. Of course, checking myself, there was nothing wrong with me. Would there be?

Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Remember to comment and vote!

Do you have a favorite childhood song?

Thoughts on the flashback?

What does Marvin know about Jeremy's red leg?