Chapter 15 - Fun

Leo

“Are we going out again? This is the second time we’ve gone out this month. I like that.” Mina declares when we get on the bus. We find a seat and get comfortable; we have a two-bus ride ahead of us to get to Zach’s house. This first one is the shortest and the second one will get us a short distance from his house so we’ll have to walk there. And if I remember correctly is a long way, hopefully these two stay excited enough to not notice the distance.

I know Mina will be fine; it’s Jon I’m nervous about. He isn’t a great traveler. He gets cranky and wants to go home.

“I guess you could say this is an outing. We’re going to Zach’s birthday party.” I say explaining to them where we’re going.  I didn’t tell them why we had to wake up early today, because we had to take the bus we had to leave earlier than usual. Mina seems to be game for the unknown.

Since the trip we took with Zach and Golden Mina has demanded we go out at least once a month. I know I could have said no to her demand but that day with them made me realize I need to give them opportunities to be kids. They need to get out of that apartment complex and see the outside world. My life is all about, school, work, and raising them. Sometimes I forget to have fun. So I said yes to one outing a month with them.

It doesn’t have to be anything expensive or over the top. A simple day in the park does the trick.

Now I can’t see it’s been easy to balance this new agreement with Mina and my schedule but I try to make it work. That means I take fewer overtime shifts and I have to watch my spending but it’s worth it if it means they get to have a great time

I’m not happy that I had to give up a shift to go to Zach’s birthday but I know it’s worth it. He’s a great friend and if my being there makes him happy, then I will do that. And besides the kids get to play around with other kids, eat cake, and have fun. Everyone wins; I’ll pick up an extra shift another time.

“Here’s our stop,” I tell them when the first stop comes up; we get up and get off the bus. I start walking us to the next stop up the road and Jon stops walking suddenly.

“How far are we going?” Jon asks already over the idea of travelling. Where Mina takes all of this like an adventure, Jon just doesn’t like it. He would much rather stay home and play in the apartment play area.

“We have to walk up there to that stop and then ride another bus for about 35 minutes,” I say and he makes a tortured face. I know exactly what he feels like. When I said yes to going to Zach’s shindig I dreaded this exact moment.

I hate riding the bus if I’m not going to work or coming back from school but we already left the house. Everyone is committed now; I just hope he doesn’t start crying.

“35 minutes? That’s my whole life.” He says whining. I smile at him trying to give him comfort. I know he’ll be fine as soon as we get to the party but I feel his frustration. Taking the bus is not his idea of a good time.

“I have an idea. How about you sleep through the whole ride there? That way when you get there you won’t feel so tired.” I say and watch him think it over. His little face scrunching as he really thinks about it.

“Can I put my head on your arm?” He asks and I nod yes. “Okay.” He says and starts walking to the bus stop. Mina and I walk behind him silently grateful he’s willing to power through the trip.

We take the last bus to Zach’s house without any event. Once we’re on the bus Jon is so excited he doesn’t even sleep. He and Mina look out the window the whole time, watching cars zoom by. I sigh grateful he decided not to cry, He doesn’t have meltdowns often but when he does they are epic.

And thankfully the walk from the bus stop to Zach’s house is shorter than I remember. I haven’t been here in over seven years. I would visit him almost every weekend; we would play, eat, and have fun together from morning until late afternoon.

My mother was never home most of the time so I would stay until I had to take the last bus home. But when Mina was born all of that changed. My mother would make me babysit her most of the day when I wasn’t in school, so I couldn’t go out and be with my friends.

And then one day when I was 12 she left and never came back. I looked for her for a whole year. Mr Brown helped me out with my daily upkeep and looking for her. She did come back though, but she didn’t stay long. She gave birth to Jon and then left 11 months later.

Overnight I had two babies to take care of. There have been so many people who helped me out in my life. I don’t think my siblings would be alive today if it wasn’t for Mr Brown and Sofia.

  

Sometimes I wonder how I survived those days, I was so young. I was barely a teenager myself but here we are surviving I guess.

“We’re here,”Jon says when he sees all the balloons at Zach’s gate. His smile says it all. I open the gate for them and they go in, in awe of all the decorations.

“Please don’t run,” I say when I see the front door open and Mina almost bolting toward Zach’s mom.

“Hi Leo, it’s so good to see you. You’re all grown up. Wow.” Zach’s mother says smiling at me when we get to the door.

“Hi, it’s good to see you too. Thank you for having us.” I say pointing to my siblings. I’m nervous, I don’t know if they’ll be welcome or not. I don’t like taking them to people’s houses because not everyone is kind. I know Zach’s mom is cool but I haven’t seen her in a long time. People change.

“Oh yes, of’ course, we’re happy to have you here. I’m Zach’s mom.”  She says to Jon and I watch them introduce themselves to her with no fear.

She lets us into the house and out the back where I find Zach in the bouncy house playing with a whole lot of kids. He screams and waves at me when he sees me. I wave back at him smiling like a kid. He looks so happy in that bouncy thing.  I guess getting older does that to some people.

“Can we go play?” Mina asks me beaming too. I nod yes and they take off their shoes heading for the bouncy house too.

I have to admit I want to get in there too but I think I’ll wait until there is a little less traffic.

I watch My siblings get in and bounce around laughing. Jon waves at me and I wave back so proud of him. I’m glad he braved the two bus rides. It was all so worth it. He’s having the time of his life.

“They look like they’re having a great time,” Golden says standing next to me. I didn’t hear her walk next to me. My heart is doing that thing it does whenever she’s near.

 I curse Zach for not telling me He’s inviting her, I would have been better prepared to see her and talk to her. You what if he had told me I wouldn’t have shown up, that would have been great too.