“Well,
that’s good. But, we still haven’t done anything!”
“Okay, um, so, I’m not sure we have
enough wood.” I said, looking over at Hana, who was slouched in her chair.
“Wood? What do we need wood for?” Alia
was confused.
“Well, you know, structural supports.”
“What?”
I sighed.
“A mud house isn’t going to stay up
very well without some sort of structure, at least for a basic shape,” Hana
said, her smartness kicking in.
“Oh,” said Alia. “Well that’s boring.”
“I’m pretty sure a hollow mud pile is
more exciting than a filled one,” I said dryly. “I mean, you can go inside a
hollow mud pile much more easily.”
“She’s got a point there, Alia. You
need more wood.”
“Fine,” Alia said stubbornly, “but I’m
not getting it.”
“Awesome!” I said before Hana could get
a word in edgewise. “I’ll take care of that. Oh, and blue is a good color. It
symbolizes freedom.”
And I hung up the phone.
“Yare, that was mean.”
“So? She was getting on my nerves.”
Hana rolled her eyes and got out of her
chair.
“Yo, Hana, where you going?”
“To the kitchen actually. Want to come?
I hear they’re quite interesting places, kitchens.”
I rolled my eyes and followed her out
of the room.
When we got to the kitchen, Hana’s mom
was already in there, along with Britta, Hana’s five-year-old sister.
Mrs. Merisse looked up from her chopping
when we came in. She nodded over at Britta. I smiled at her, and then picked up
her little daughter.
“How are you today, Lil’ Miss? World
spinning right? Wanna make a mud house?”
Britta clapped and Mrs. Merisse glared
at me.
“Sorry, Mrs. Merisse.”
Hana’s mom sighed.
“Call me Lucy, Yariana.”
“Call me Yare, and maybe I’ll think
about it.”
Hana’s mom sighed again.
I grinned and walked out of the room.
Hana came up behind me.
“You are so mean!”
“No I’m not, I’m insanely polite.”
“I’m po-ite. Mommy says so,” Britta
interjected.
“That’s right, Lil’ Miss,” I confirmed.
“You’re so polite, I bet no cannibal would eat you because you’re so nice.”
“Yare!”
“What?” I turned to Hana, acting
innocent.
“That’s exactly what I mean. You say
and do stupid things without thinking, and you get in trouble. But apparently
you haven’t gotten in enough trouble yet, because you’re still being stupid!”
“I don’t understand, Hana, because I’m
pretty sure that I’ve never gotten in trouble, and I must be pretty brilliant
to be able to build houses out of mud, jump from roof to roof without getting
harmed, and ride a wild donkey.”
“No, Yare, you don’t understand. The
fact that you would even try to ride a wild donkey just proves that you’re
stupid. No one in their right mind would.”
“Well, maybe I’m not in my right mind.
Maybe I switched my right mind five years ago for a better one.”
“Oh, I know you’re not in your right
mind. Want to know how I know? Because I’ve been your best friend for years and I’ve had to put up with all
this, and about five years or so ago you all of a sudden turned stupid. You’re
not in your right mind, that’s for sure. You’re in your wrong mind, and there
seems to be nothing I can do about it. Good luck out there, Yare, with Alia and
your mud house, because I’m not helping. I’m not even gonna come. So put down
my sister before she starts worshipping you, and go. I don’t want to see you
around here until you show me some of those brains I know you have in there.
Go.”
I stood, my mouth hanging open,
dumbfounded. I heard a small “ow!” as I, presumably, dropped Britta on the
floor of the Merisses’ living room. I couldn’t believe it. Hana, my best friend was kicking me out of her
house, a place I practically lived,
because I wasn’t acting the way she wanted me to. I didn’t know what to do.
