Page 90 - Reason To Sing by Kelita Haverland

Reason To Sing

just the same. Look at YOUR face? It’s just like mine, only way
bigger.”
“Shhhhh, not so loud. We’re going to wake everyone up.”
“I know but I can’t help it.”
Both of us are trying so hard to be quiet. But that’s a difficult
thing to do. Our faces are distorted beyond recognition. It’s
pretty freaky and funny and we cannot contain ourselves. We
hold our stomachs with one hand and try to muffle our laughter
with the other, as we bend over in complete hysterics.
We’re hopeless now. Tears are running down our faces as
we howl like hyenas.
Then, in a flash, the laughter is gone. The happy tears
suddenly turn to tears of distress. We are both overcome with
pain because of poor Vian’s newly acquired, pre-pubescent face.
It is full of acne. Devastating! So many zits, everywhere. We
spend what feels like hours in front of this bathroom mirror as
I console my sweet little sister.
Finally, we make our way into the kitchen, very guarded
because the patterns on the linoleum floor are breathing up
and down at us. This is totally crazy! Up and down. Up and
down. All of the black areas look like they are going to suck
our feet right from under us. Oh, the horror of it all! This is
frightening!
Eventually we find our bed and huddle together for the rest
of the night. Early morning arrives. Vian and I are completely
exhausted. Our minds and bodies are begging to come down
from this horrifying ledge. This “trip” we’ve been on feels like it
is going to last forever. We just want it to end. We just want to
be back to our normal selves. The way we were, before we took
the little yellow dot.
Such a tiny little thing. But wow, so powerful. How could
we have known what it would do to us? But Jimmy knew. He

76