Untitled - ScholarWorks Home - California State University, Northridge
Untitled - ScholarWorks Home - California State University, Northridge
Untitled - ScholarWorks Home - California State University, Northridge
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The television in the living room barks sports announcements. Michael<br />
grumbles in his sleep, and drools on the cushions. He doesn't sleep as peacefully<br />
anymore. The cat clock on the wall reads 8:37. It's another three hours before<br />
Julianne is home. They will be wide awake and you will need to be asleep before<br />
then. You pour yourself another glass and sit in the living room.<br />
You pry the remote from your brother's sleeping fist and wonder about<br />
genetics. What other sorts of things are passed down? As kids, you were mis<br />
taken as twins, despite the five years between you. He had your father's height,<br />
and you your mother's tired face. You had the same light hair and dark eyes.<br />
Though you flip through the channels, you are looking out the window. Did he<br />
have dreams like you did? Did he, when he got older, crawl into your bed for<br />
comfort? Funny that, as close as you thought you were, you never discussed<br />
this. He'd put on weight in the last few years. You'd lost more weight than what<br />
was healthy. You only remotely bore any resemblance to each other anymore.<br />
The little girl in the guest room had your coloring, his coloring. She had her<br />
mother's nose. Your dreams.<br />
Angela will grow up. Her hair will get longer, and so will her face. She<br />
will grow into her mother's nose. She will not be as concerned with her past as<br />
her aunt once was. She will not focus on how different she is from other children.<br />
She will not ignore her nature, and she will not forget her dreams.<br />
Her parents will separate. Her sixth birthday will mark the last day she<br />
spends with her father. Her mother will not speak of him. She and her mother<br />
will live in a small apartment in Hollywood. Her father will think of her daily<br />
for a few years. Then he will try to forget her because it hurts. Angela will<br />
remember him vaguely, for a few years. She will forget him as well. One day,<br />
she will buy groceries from him; they will not recognize each other.<br />
She will be a bright student, with an eager<br />
ness for learning. Angela will play handball and teth<br />
erball. She will wish her mother could put her on the<br />
soccer team. She is good at running, and in high school<br />
will join track. She will attribute it to the wind in her<br />
bones. She will teach herself to paint, but will prefer<br />
her sketches. She will prefer black and white to color.<br />
She will prefer landscapes to human figures. This she will<br />
also attribute to the wind.<br />
Angela will have friends who think she has a beautiful voice. In chorus,<br />
she will be picked to sing solo. Her mother will wonder where it came from.<br />
Angela will only know it's another one of those things she can mysteriously do.<br />
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