in trouble this morning, and I panicked.”
“You panicked for EIGHT HOURS?”
“Yes?” cringed Emerald, only peeking at Nora through one eye. Nora was naturally loud, but she’d cracked the boarding house paint that night. Emerald cleared her throat and looked at her aunt hopefully.
“I don’t want to keep messing up. I promise you, I will try harder. Please don’t be mad,” she pleaded.
“Don’t make promises just so you can figure out a way not to keep them, Emerald. You always say one thing and do another and I’m just so disappointed ,” said Nora, shaking her head.
At those words Emerald looked down at the grass, and her eyes filled with tears. There was nothing she could do to stop them now. ‘I’m disappointed’, ranks really high up in the worst things anyone can hear from their parents.
Nora put her hand under Emerald’s chin and lifted her face up. She was not used to seeing her niece cry.
“Hey,” she said with a slight smile, “I’m disappointed that I didn’t get to spend your birthday with you. That you didn’t at least let me know you were okay. I’m not disappointed in you.”
“But the senior prank,” said Emerald wiping her tears with her jacket sleeve. It smelled like pizza.
“You think I didn’t know you were planning that? Come on, kid, I know you better than that. Why do you think I told your principal to buzz off?”
Emerald laughed through her tears. Her entire face was red like it always was when she cried, and Nora was reminded of when Emerald was a little girl. Her own eyes now filled with tears.
Nora pressed all ten of her fingers together and closed her eyes briefly, throwing a protective shield over their home. With a wink, the lights were back, and she reached for her niece, who was already falling into her arms.
The two hugged each other tightly as Nora whispered, “Just for tonight, Emmy,” into a sobbing Emerald’s ear. It was the first time Emerald had ever seen her aunt use her own magic, and it made her feel like for once, she wasn’t alone.
“You’re all I got, kid, and I’m all you got. We gotta make the best of it,” Aunt Nora said, and the two stayed that way for a long, long time.
***
It had been a long day, and Emerald was finally back in her room. As she took her army jacket off, one of her safety pins caught on her t-shirt and she yanked it, ripping a hole through the white fabric. She put her finger through the hole of the shirt and sighed, shaking her head. Serves me right, she thought. She slid one sneaker off with her right foot and kicked it in the air, then did the same with the other, not bothering to check where it landed. They’d put themselves away, she thought. Since her room was the only place she could use magic, she used it freely, enchanting every last thing from her socks to her wallpaper. Her walls were covered with posters of her favorite bands, and they all came to life as she entered the room. One drummer in a black and white poster twirled his drumsticks in an infinite loop, while the guitarist shredded his guitar midair, legs splayed out to his sides. The little wallpaper that was showing from underneath her posters, swayed as if the flowers were in a breezy meadow instead of an apartment in downtown Manhattan. Her mint-colored robe laid lazily on her bed, its fluffy sleeves turning the pages of her precious Vive Le Rock magazine as if it could actually read, or see for that matter. Emerald shook her head and smiled, just as her slippers plodded out from underneath her bed, stopping at her feet.
“Not yet,” she dismissed the slippers, and they shuffled back into the darkness underneath her wrought iron bed. Records lined the shelf to the right of her bed, and a record player sat on the sill of the bay window that looked out into her backyard.
She looked at her record collection and twisted her mouth in thought. Before she could make up her mind what to play, a record flew off the shelf, slipping out of
“You panicked for EIGHT HOURS?”
“Yes?” cringed Emerald, only peeking at Nora through one eye. Nora was naturally loud, but she’d cracked the boarding house paint that night. Emerald cleared her throat and looked at her aunt hopefully.
“I don’t want to keep messing up. I promise you, I will try harder. Please don’t be mad,” she pleaded.
“Don’t make promises just so you can figure out a way not to keep them, Emerald. You always say one thing and do another and I’m just so disappointed ,” said Nora, shaking her head.
At those words Emerald looked down at the grass, and her eyes filled with tears. There was nothing she could do to stop them now. ‘I’m disappointed’, ranks really high up in the worst things anyone can hear from their parents.
Nora put her hand under Emerald’s chin and lifted her face up. She was not used to seeing her niece cry.
“Hey,” she said with a slight smile, “I’m disappointed that I didn’t get to spend your birthday with you. That you didn’t at least let me know you were okay. I’m not disappointed in you.”
“But the senior prank,” said Emerald wiping her tears with her jacket sleeve. It smelled like pizza.
“You think I didn’t know you were planning that? Come on, kid, I know you better than that. Why do you think I told your principal to buzz off?”
Emerald laughed through her tears. Her entire face was red like it always was when she cried, and Nora was reminded of when Emerald was a little girl. Her own eyes now filled with tears.
Nora pressed all ten of her fingers together and closed her eyes briefly, throwing a protective shield over their home. With a wink, the lights were back, and she reached for her niece, who was already falling into her arms.
The two hugged each other tightly as Nora whispered, “Just for tonight, Emmy,” into a sobbing Emerald’s ear. It was the first time Emerald had ever seen her aunt use her own magic, and it made her feel like for once, she wasn’t alone.
“You’re all I got, kid, and I’m all you got. We gotta make the best of it,” Aunt Nora said, and the two stayed that way for a long, long time.
***
It had been a long day, and Emerald was finally back in her room. As she took her army jacket off, one of her safety pins caught on her t-shirt and she yanked it, ripping a hole through the white fabric. She put her finger through the hole of the shirt and sighed, shaking her head. Serves me right, she thought. She slid one sneaker off with her right foot and kicked it in the air, then did the same with the other, not bothering to check where it landed. They’d put themselves away, she thought. Since her room was the only place she could use magic, she used it freely, enchanting every last thing from her socks to her wallpaper. Her walls were covered with posters of her favorite bands, and they all came to life as she entered the room. One drummer in a black and white poster twirled his drumsticks in an infinite loop, while the guitarist shredded his guitar midair, legs splayed out to his sides. The little wallpaper that was showing from underneath her posters, swayed as if the flowers were in a breezy meadow instead of an apartment in downtown Manhattan. Her mint-colored robe laid lazily on her bed, its fluffy sleeves turning the pages of her precious Vive Le Rock magazine as if it could actually read, or see for that matter. Emerald shook her head and smiled, just as her slippers plodded out from underneath her bed, stopping at her feet.
“Not yet,” she dismissed the slippers, and they shuffled back into the darkness underneath her wrought iron bed. Records lined the shelf to the right of her bed, and a record player sat on the sill of the bay window that looked out into her backyard.
She looked at her record collection and twisted her mouth in thought. Before she could make up her mind what to play, a record flew off the shelf, slipping out of
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