The Change
I stomped away from Lisa, but today she wasn’t being Lisa. She was what I called her when she was
being stupid and snotty…. The Brat. My three year old sister was like all girls in this neighborhood,
careless and dumb. My neighborhood was nothing but white houses and a tree in the in the middle.
That and nothing but dumb old girls.
"Leave me ALONE!" I barked. The Brat tilted up her nose and strut away like a little diva. These were
the times I thanked my lucky stars that I was a boy. To me, girls were stuck up and rotten. Almost on cue
to my thoughts Candy Carls strode into my driveway, texting.
"Sup, twerp," she jeered.
"Whaddya want?" I snapped, angry at her for bullying me at my own house.
"I’m babysitting Lisa, duh! BTW, where is the lil’ brat?" Candy tilted up her nose just like Lisa and set
off to find her.
"Girls," I scowled under my breath. As I ran my fingers through my greasy dark hair I decided I needed
to escape this female chaos so I grabbed my skateboard and began to roll down the street. I thought
about my mom coming home from work soon… She was the only girl I loved. But as soon as I closed my
eyes to take a deep breath I smacked heads with someone and toppled to the ground. I felt whoever it
was get pulled down with me. I heard my board continue to roll down the street. I dared not open my
eyes, afraid to see an angry older kid ready to kick my 13 year old butt.
"Hello?" a small voice questioned.
"Oh, no." I thought. This was even worse than a bully, it was a girl. I sighed and opened my eyes. She
was blonde, wearing a white dress, absolutely plain.
"Oh, thank god! I thought you were dead!" she exhaled with relief. I rolled my eyes.
"Yeah, right! I can’t die just from a skateboard!" I scoffed, pushing onto my feet.
"You’d be surprised," she replied gently, looking as though she were seeing the past. "Anyways, I’m
Sunday… But you can call me Sun." she opened back into reality and held out her hand. I stood there,
waiting. She seemed puzzled.
"Aren’t you going to shake it?" She asked.
"No."
"Oh, okay. Well do you like this neighborhood? I just moved here and I think it’s lovely." Sun put her
hand at her side, but she insisted upon keeping up the conversation. I gave her the honest truth.
"No. I hate it here. And now you’re just one more girl, and one more problem. This dull, white
neighborhood is full with stuck up girls , and you, another girl, are the LAST thing I need." That last part
I admit, was a little harsh. I immediately regretted it as she quickly turned and skated away, nearly
crying. I too, turned and around and glumly slumped home, forgetting my skateboard.
Suddenly I realized that Candy could help me. I slammed the front door shut and scurried throughout
the house in search of her. Finally I found her, rummaging through the cabinets, not even watching Lisa,
in search of a snack.
"Candy? What’s that new girl’s address?" I asked. Candy turned to face me.
"Who? Sunday? That sweet 13 year old?" she asked. I quickly nodded. Candy told me the address and I
sprinted upstairs to my desk and began to write. Here’s what I had before I had got stuck in a jumble of
correct placing and a loss of words to say:
Dear Sun,
I stared at the empty paper in front of me, ready to eat out my feelings and scrap together the remains
into words, I just didn’t have a clue how to start. Yesterday I would think that writing a letter to a girl
would be crazy, but now I felt like she was special, and that this was the right thing to do. Dad would
want me to do that, but he was on a year-long business trip. I began to write everything I was thinking.
Dear Sun,
I met you today and acted rudely. It was not your fault, it was mine. I was in a bad mood. I-well, I am
sorry if I hurt your feelings. I guess that’s all. –Jay (John) Tyler
I placed the letter in her mailbox that very night and found a letter in our mailbox the next day.
Dear Jay (John) Tyler,
I forgive you. Meet me at the big tree trunk in the middle of the cul-de-sac. –Sun
A smile stretched itself across my face and propped up on my cheeks. I hurried out to the tree and
saw her in the distance. When I got closer I saw that she was wearing roller skates and was holding
a black pair out to me.
"Today, I’ll teach you to roller skate!" she squealed. I wasn’t sure about that.
"I don’t know…I’ll fall." I stammered. Sun laughed heartily.
"What does that matter, as long as you get back up and try again, right?" her face seemed to glitter. At that moment I realized that Sunday was different for the better.
"Yeah, you’re right." I replied, taking the skates and plopping them onto my large feet. I was surprised that they fit me.
"I noticed your oversized feet yesterday." Sun explained to me.
"Gee thanks."
"No." she continued with a chuckle, "Lemme finish…when I decided to go roller skating with you today I borrowed my brothers skates."
"You have a brother? Is his name Moon?" I asked, surprised.
"That’s not very funny, and no…his name is Otto, but I call him Ottie. He’s 18." Sun must have not
thought that I was kidding, because she seemed a tad insulted. We began to slowly roll down the
street, and I quickly clutched my pale hand to Suns wrist as she rode beside me. Soon I became
better at keeping my balance. Even later I could talk to her as she did tricks to make me laugh. Soon
I was almost as good as her.
"Where did you come from?" I asked her one day as we glided around the huge tree.
"My mom," she replied.
"No… before you came here."
"Oh…. Well…. Um…. I’ve lived all around the world, so I can’t really say." She sighed. I was
confused.
"If your parents can afford to live all around the world, why would they bring you to boring old Michigan?" I asked.
"They want to settle down, I guess." She shrugged. She told me about running with the bulls in Spain, climbing the steps to the top of the Eifel Tower, and seeing the pyramids.
"That was a LONG car drive." Sun explained.
"Why didn’t you fly to Egypt?"
"My brother’s afraid to… and so am I. So we drove all the way from Nairobi, Kenya."
I was surprised. She had really seen the world.
"Wow," was all that I could mumble out my lips. Another day Candy pushed me away from her, and Sun showed up behind me just as I yelled,
"What did you do that for?!" Candy flashed me her ‘I’m not caring’ stare and turned away. Sun seemed to be dying on the inside.
"Why did you shout?" she questioned.
"Because she PUSHED me!!!" I frowned. I knew that seemed wrong.
"And what good did that do you?" she almost seemed upset, and I think she was.
"Well… It got my anger out." I replied.
"That’s NOT the way to get your anger out… Not at all." She slowly turned away and began to skate
home. It reminded me of the day I had met her. After that, I wasn’t sure why she felt so strongly
about getting mad at people. I mean, Candy deserved it anyways.
The next day she approached my front door, smiling.
"Hello!" I heard by my front lawn. I ran outside and greeted her with a question.
"Why are you here?"I asked. "I thought you were mad at me." Sun laughed.
"I’m never angry… Just hurt sometimes." She explained. I could read the sadness behind her smile.
I wanted to run, far away where she couldn’t see me, all alone so that I could cry. But there was
nowhere to go, so there I was, in my driveway, bursting into tears. My regret of hatred and rudeness
peeled away my last layer of dignity and spilled out my eyes. I couldn’t believe all the times I had
been so mean, it was like a bomb that I had dropped, too take it back, and I watched it explode.
"I’m sorry," I sniffed under wheezing and sobs. Sun looked at me with sympathy and wiped my
face with her sleeve.
"Wait one minute," I told her and went back indoors. I saw Lisa playing with her dolls, seeming
Lonely.
"Let’s play outside today,"
"Really? You wanna play wif me?" she asked once I let her go from my embrace. I hurt me to see
her so surprised.
"Yes, I’ll go get Candy. You go outside and meet Sunday." I smiled. Lisa, excited to meet a new
friend, trotted outside, auburn curls bouncing behind her.
"CAAAAAANNNDYYYYY!" my call echoed throughout the house. Candy hurried downstairs and
yanked out a headphone from her pierced ear.
"Who’s hurt?"
"No one," I replied with a grin. "Lisa, Sun, and I want to play a game of baseball with you." Candy
froze, then smiled as she walked down the steps and next to me.
"I’d love to, twerp." She joked with a light punch in my arm. "Play ball!" Suddenly a large man
strode into the doorway, holding Lisa. I realized who it was behind the blinding light and rushed
toward him.
"Daddy’s home," Lisa whispered with a smile as she clutched his neck. I threw my arms around
him and couldn’t help but grin…
"I love this neighborhood."
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