[First Homecoming] I s a b e l l a
B o n i f a c i o - S u d n i k
I wake up to the morning fog pressing into the windows. The smell of fading incense and coffee drifts through the air. The house is cold and dark, but the setting being my mom’s house, the lack of warmth and light doesn’t affect the comforting welcoming feel. The rooms are a friend who, even when cold, will give me a loving embrace. Tonight I will leave my home and dance in neon lights with girls I barely know, thinking of it all, excitement fills me. I lounge about in my pajamas reading and watching TV until late in the day when the sun covers the banana tree leaves and they glow gold, and yet a vibrant green. I get dressed up hours before my leaving time. I put on my mom’s dress and jewelry that she gives me. A black shiny dress, with hints of red and white. I like it because it looks fun and formal enough. I wear a prism cut crystal necklace with the opacity of snow, one I wear frequently, and red-droppedshaped earrings of bloody pearl shine. I clip my dark hair with plastic teeth. My eyes are outlined with fully black powder. I look pretty, but I wonder how long my youthful beauty will last. I do all this, only to revert to my pajamas and flat hair. I should have prepared later and saved myself the trouble of dressing up twice, always too captivated with the future to live in the present as usual. I leave at four and drive to drivers ed for my in-person driver training. We practice parking, which I’m not great at, sadly. I drive around a neighborhood near the driver’s ed building. Fiery leaves drift down from autumn trees, the falling silhouettes switch shapes with masses of crows. Plastic ghosts and inflated black cats watch as I steer. The spherical moon stands still in the darkening blue sky as the hours tick, always ticking and never stopping for me to pause in the moments I want to live in. When I met my mom at 6:30 pm the sky is black as rich velvet. I drive down the 205, or rather up for north. The video game-like dancing lights of hurrying cars stretch on for miles. 108
