Summer Wishes: Chapter Three
When I got to the dining room, it was already cleared out. Dad and Tito were nowhere in sight. However, I could hear washing noises coming from an open door just at the edge of the dining room. I walked towards it. It was a small kitchen nicely fitted with the basics: a gas cooker beside the open window, a sink, and a cabinet. It kind of smelled like my kitchens back home... oh wait, this is my house now.
Mom smiled when she saw me, doing the dishes. She motioned to the cabinet. I walked slowly towards it and sat at the only stool there. Mom had made me some sandwich toast and milk, my favorite. My stomach skipped in delight as I settled down to eat.
"Where's Dad and that baby?" I asked with my mouth full.
"Oh, the driver bringing our remaining stuff arrived just now and your father went to attend to them, and Tito tagged along," Mom said as she rinsed out the last dish and put it on a rack.
She stood akimbo and gazed out of the window for a while. I didn't know if this was a good time, but I decided to ask anyway.
"Mom, you said we'd talk about what was going on..." I started.
"...Tomi," Mom said, pretending to arrange something on the sink, "we still have a lot of packing and arranging to do. Maybe..."
As her voice trailed off, I hit her with the next question almost immediately. "Can I attend Singfest? I'm finally old enough, you promised I'd attend once I'm fourteen."
"Sing Vest?" Mom asked slightly confused. "Where's that?"
I was shocked. How could she not know what it was? "Duh, Mom, it's the music school that turns singers into stars."
That seemed to strike a chord in Mom's brain. "Oh, that singing stuff."
Singing stuff? Wow, Mom really had her way with words, and it wasn't nice.
"So?" I said. I had just finished my breakfast and walked towards Mom. "Can I go, pleaseee?"
Mom stopped what she was doing, even though she wasn't really doing anything, and turned to face me. I looked up at her tired face as she spoke. "Tomi, you know your dad and I have been trying to fix a lot of things up. Why don't you just wait this one out? Next year you'd definitely go."
My shoulders sagged a little. My summer was officially ruined, and I didn't even know how to feel.
Suddenly, I heard Tito shriek from the living room, "Mooooomm!" she called with so much delight in her voice. A gentle crashing and scratching noise followed. Dad must have come up with the remaining stuff.
How could she still be happy in the middle of all this?
Mom gave me a reassuring squeeze on my shoulder and walked out of the kitchen towards Tito. Her footsteps seemed heavier than usual, but not as heavy as my heart. I quickly cleaned my dirty dish and headed out of the kitchen to meet the others and probably find out what the ruckus that seemed to keep increasing was about.
I had barely walked out of the kitchen door when Dad caught me off guard.
"Good morning, Daddy," I said in a rush. Dad always made a big fuss when I didn't greet him properly, and I wasn't ready for that now.
"Good morning, Tomi," Dad replied, a little startled. "Oh, good, good," he said, his voice changing suddenly. "Tomi, why don't you help our friend over there in setting up those frames?" he completed, gesturing towards the left.
I turned my head to follow his hands and my gaze rested on a huge figure meticulously fixing frames on the wall, the wrong way.
"Just tell him where to fix what, you know how it goes, right?"
"Right" I replied with a small voice as I watched him walk away. I was clearly upset and all I get is work instead of comfort. I'd much rather stay in my room and think about my misery than tell some strange giant dude in baggy pants how to hang pictures.
I walked grumpily over to the corner where the frames were being hung by a strange man or boy, whatever he was.
"Move over to the left," he said suddenly, albeit quietly, but just loud enough for me to hear him.
I stared in shock. Did he just ask me to move?
"I said move!" he said again.
The nerve!
I just had to say something. No one talks to me like that in my own house. "Excuse..."
"He's thinking out loud," a soft voice behind me cut me off. "He's not talking to you."
I turned sharply and there she was, the window girl from this morning. What in the world was going on? I stood there with many questions in my head, but I asked the most pressing one.
"And how do you know he's talking to himself?" I asked.
"He's my brother," she replied. "He does it all the time."
"Oh," was all I could mutter.
She must have been a mind reader! She answered the next question on my mind.
"Mother asked us to come help the new neighbors," she said, spreading her arms apart awkwardly like she was giving a presentation.
I felt kind of awful when I heard that though. They came to help us, and I had only thought awful things about them. I know I can be a brat, but I have my limits.
"Oh," I said again, then quickly added, "Thanks."
She helped me get her brother's attention by using the weirdest method possible – tickling his wrists. Then we arranged the frames like they were meant to be, the family picture in the middle and all others around. Her brother had left, and we walked towards the window.
"Thanks for the help there, by the way. I'm Tomi," I asked nicely, "uhm, what's your name?"
Her fair cheeks flushed crimson. I was puzzled. What could be so provoking about a name that would cause such a reaction? I stared, expecting an answer.
She muttered something.
"Uh?!"
"Satire," she said more loudly.
"Your name is a Satire?"
"No, my name IS Satire," she retorted.
Who names their child satire? I thought in shock.
"I know it's an awful name," she blushed even more and looked away, fiddling with her skirt.
"No, not at all, it's unique and creative," I replied, hoping my facial expression and fake smile didn't betray my lies. It definitely was an awful name, but I couldn't have her feel even worse on my account.
Thankfully, it worked. She seemed to cheer up a little, and she smiled at me, muttering loudly, "Thanks."
She seemed like such a shy person, and I couldn't help but wonder why she warmed up to me even without me trying.
Maybe she was lonely and needed friends. Well, I already have friends, I think. That reminds me, I have to chat with Zarah and Michelle. They would probably miss me.
I quickly grabbed my phone that had been enclosed in my pocket all this while and opened TikTok. My heart sunk upon stumbling on the first video.
It was Zarah, Michelle, and a new girl. They were at a garden singing their hearts out. We always sang together – my alto tune was a perfect complement to Michelle's Soprano and Zarah's tenor. Even worse, they didn't look like they missed me. They had replaced me with a new alto singer.
I felt so awful, and it showed on my face.
"What's the matter?" Satire asked softly. And did she have a soft voice, the kind that lets you just let go of anything clogging your heart.
"It's nothing, it's just my friends and I had this big summer plan together, and now I'm left out," I explained. Funny how just a few moments earlier I wondered how Satire opened up to me easily. Now I was doing the same, maybe because I badly wanted to tell someone how I was hurting, and she was the only one around. I continued regardless.
"We were supposed to audition as a band for a singing competition, and now they've gone on without me and posted their first video entry. I can't join anymore because my mom..."
I broke up at this point. Of course, I couldn't tell her about how my dad was hardly home these days, his countless arguments with mom, and how mom shushed me every time I tried to have a conversation. How we moved from a comfortable house to this cramped concrete box...and the list went on and on.
She held my hand reassuringly, the first time she'd done that, and it felt good.
"You can still join the competition," Satire said. "Maybe you could reason with your mother..."
"She already said no," I interjected sharply. "It's not just about the competition..."
"Is it the singing?" she asked.
"Well, kind of," I exhaled. Sometimes I wondered if anyone understood how music made me feel. Everyone had something that set their hearts on fire, and for me, it was music.
"We could sing together too," Satire interjected.
I paused, and she continued, "Let's do a TikTok right now."
Somehow that made me feel better. Maybe this summer wouldn't be so bad after all. Maybe, just maybe.
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