Not just a diary

TKs quote stayed with me for a while.

“Don’t worry about it. You’ll probably be gone within a year too. Maybe even me. Who knows…? It could be any of us.”

It echoed in my mind. I didn’t want to comprehend the idea of me being someplace else within a year… not yet at least. I immediately shook the idea out of my head and took a chug of my Surge.

“Oh well that’s a lovely thought…” said Lodi.
TK laughed.
I spoke up again, “Then how does this place hold up? Isn’t there like some people who will always be here?”
TK thought, but Michael spoke first.
“There’s Matt…”
Leon and TK agreed, “Yeah, Matt…”
“Who’s Matt?” Lodi and I asked almost at the same time.
TK stood on his skateboard drinking his coke, “Well, Matt’s jist dis guy you know? He’s been here forever…”
“Speaking of ol’ Matt when’s set up?”
TK went wide eyed at Leon as if he had reminded him of something. He then got excited, “Yeah! I don’t know, let’s go ask him…”

I sighed and jumped off my washing machine onto my skateboard, “Whhhatever…”
We were soon in front of a very ragged apartment building on the very very far side of the right section of Prado Grande. TK rapped on the door and stood back. A tall kid answered the door. He was rather normal looking and he wasn’t Hispanic. He looked as if he had just gotten up, “huh? Oh hey…”
“Hey Matt! How’s it going…” TK and him shook hands.
Matt still looked tired, “TK… Leon… Michael…”
“Yep,” said Leon, “We just came by to see when Set up is.”
Matt rubbed his eyes, “I dunno… I guess nobody’s organized it yet.”
Michael shrugged, “Don’t you do that?”
“I guess I will. Come in and we’ll see what needs to be done,” He turned around and slugged over to a couch where we all sat down. It had a computer in front of it. While he was turning it on he looked over at Laury and Me, “Are these new ones?”
“Oh yeah this is my sister Lodi from London and this is Jessin from Australia.”
That woke up Matt, “Are you serious? Damn…”

As I looked a Matt once again I noticed he also appeared to be wearing just his boxers and a Joe-Boxer T-Shirt but he didn’t seem to care about his look.
“Hey TK have you seen Millhouse lately?”
TK shot a look at Leon and Michael, “Uh… Matt… Millhouse’s gone.”
A look of shock went over Matt’s face then he shook his head, “No, stop joking around where is he?”
TK looked at him, “Matt… Millhouse’s gone.”
Matt sat back. He appeared to be quite distressed over this. “Not Millhouse, he would’ve came over and said bye if he were leaving.”
“He’s gone Matt.”
“Face it Matt, Mill’s out.”
“But… when?”
“A long long time ago… like back in January.”
Michael, who was sitting on my right next to Matt leaned over and whispered to me and Lodi while TK and Leon were talking to Matt about it on his other side.
“Millhouse’s been here for about three years. Matt and him were real tight.”
“Oh,” said Lodi, “That’s so sad… I hope Matt is all right.”
“He will be,” and sure enough Matt was fine.
He opened a program on the computer and displayed a few lists. One was of people, one was of supplies, and one was of reminders. Matt explained to us what this was all about.

“Every year since about eight years ago I think, all the youth of Prado Grande has gotten together to make this huge fort thing near the back ally. The back ally is over on the left side against the twenty foot wall separating the old unused apartments from the Jewish Community Center. It’s pretty dark back there but it’s perfect. We can use the power that’s still flowing from the outlets against the unused apartments for power and we even have an abandoned van. It’s kind of like… like a club. Except it sounds gay when you say it like that. The ages aloud are eleven and up on weekdays, twelve and up weekends. It’s just where everybody chills and keeps supplies for the summer wars with Wyoming.

“We also have a schedule. Wednesdays are for working and taking inventory with Exodus at night (I’ll tell you about it later). The schedule is different every summer. I guess we’re organizing it this year. Now, everybody that’s aloud in has to be on the list so we give out cards and whoever wants in signs on the dotted line and returns it to me,” he started typing something out, “You’ll see as we go.”
The cards we finally made were small but they had valuable information on them.

Prado Grande Summer 2000
Set up is June 4th… be there back ally as usual
Everybody who wants to be in must be at setup
And contribute one item to the treasury or cash.
Additional donations are cool!!
If you’re in read the contract and sign on the line.

Contract:
As long as you are with us you will
- Contribute
- Not fight with other members
- Refuse to give out any vital info. To the others
- Respect other members and commander
- Show up at least once a week
X________________________________
-MaTT-
2000 commander

He gave us all cards we broke up into groups. Lauryn and I would go with TK and Leon and Michael would go with Matt while we got the kids. We were also supposed to answer their questions and inform them of the age rule or something.

We walked along since Lauryn didn’t have a skateboard and knocked on the doors of the addresses on our list. We passed out cards to about five eleven year olds in all. They were all extremely excited, especially the ones who had been looking forward to being eleven so they could get in.
After that we all met back in the Laundromat again. Everybody was very excited. Matt was with us. He said he had nowhere else to go considering Millhouse and another one of his friends had gone. Matt was a 7th grader this year, but he had been held back so he was really fourteen. The subject got to the Laundromat.
Matt laughed, “So why do you guys like to hang out in here anyways?”
Everybody sorta laughed too, “Yeah,” I said, “What’s with this place?”
“I don’t know!” said Leon.
“I guess… well we just came here one day for a coke when we were sore and it stuck!”
“Yeah it’s not such a bad place,” said Michael, “I mean its got food… coke… underwear left in the dryers… what more could we ask?”
“Yeah, and nobody’s ever here. We can run around all we want!” Leon was currently hopping from washing machine to washing machine.
“Nobody? Ever? Whoa!” said Matt.
I laughed, “That’s great. I wonder if we just started living here if anybody would notice…”
They laughed too.
“That’d be funny. It be cool too we could just like whoop out some sleeping bags and party in the Laundromat!”
“Party in the Laundromat… now there’s a phrase I thought I’d never hear…”
At that Leon snorted coke through his nose, and we all cracked up over that.
“Nasty man!!”
It was then I noticed TK was sort of in a trance staring in my direction with a little grin on his face. That grin would come back to haunt me.
“ ‘ay TK! Wake up!” I said.
TK woke up but he had a proposition, “Hey guys… what if we did camp out in here?”
We laughed at him, “Ahh yeah get real TK!”
“I’m serious!”
“Man, that’d be tight!”
“No really we should do it! Tonight!”
A silence.
Leon snorted up a bit, “Well okay…”
Michael was ready, “I’m game if you are.”
“Jessin? Matt?”
Matt shrugged, “Whatever…”
“What do you say J-Dawg?” Leon pushed me on the shoulder.
I was silent as I searched all their faces, “…Bring it on…”

Before long we had a few pillows in there and had swept off the floors and stuff. We talked most of the night and Lauryn decided to join us as well. Everybody had told their parents they were spending the night at a friend’s. I didn’t tell my parents jack squat because I had none. Miguel I didn’t think would care if I didn’t come home for a few days. He had no responsibility over me.
At all over-night parties there’s always a contest to see who goes to sleep first so everybody can sabotage them. I was good at that game. I’d stayed up for almost a week strait before back on the streets. We ordered a pizza and had the guy bring it to the Laundromat. It was a wonder he found where it was without going to the front desk. He just laughed and we tipped him big. Before long the two pizzas were gone and we were sitting on some of the blankets on the floor in one of the aisles of washing machines with our backs to them. It was about two in the morning. We began to wobble and doubt if we would really sleep tonight, but somebody had to pass out soon. We were arguing over who it would be when I looked over at Lauryn to my right. I thought she had just been lounging but she had her eyes shut.
“Hey guys…”
“No it’s gonna be Michael… look at his eyes!”
“GUYS!”
“What?”
“Huh?”
“Look…” I motioned with my head to Lodi sitting next to me. She looked so peaceful.
TK looked at us all, “We’re not going to do anything to her guys..”
They all agreed, of course. She was too innocent.
“Yeah, she can’t fall victim to our destruction…”
“She’s good…”
After that things sort of got quiet and sleepy.
“We don’t have to be this quiet you know guys,” TK yawned, “Lodi sleeps like a rock.”
More yawns.
“Contagious.”
“Hey Jessin why you not tired?”
“Dunno? Practice.”
“Heh.”
Leon who was on my other side was the second to go, but we were all to tired to do anything.
“Truce guys.”
“yeah, truce. Peace Bruddas…”
Then out passed Matt.
“He’s out like a light.” Said Michael but soon he was out too.
TK sat across from me, “You tired?”
“No not really… I could sleep but I’m not about to pass out like these guys.”
“Whoa look at Leon…”
Leon had fallen over and was lying on the floor now. Pretty soon Matt and Michael lied down as well. Silence.
“Dude, how can my sister sleep up right like that?” It was true. Lodi’s head was tilted toward me a little bit but other than that she was completely up right.”
“Whoa…”
TK slightly smiled at his sister, “It feels weird having a sister…”
“Does it?”
“Yeah… I always thought if I had a sister… she’d be like not cool or something. Like some little runt totally unpopular and unlike me… that’s how all my friend’s little siblings are… ugly little runts like my step little brother you saw in the apartment…”
“Yeah well Lodi’s your twin too, right? Maybe there’re a difference.”
“Yeah maybe. She is pretty though…”
“Yeah…” I immediately regretted saying that. I didn’t even mean to. I was just half asleep.
TK laughed at me. He was about to say something that I didn’t want to hear when the girl started falling to her right, about to hit the ground. TK saw it to and crawled over just in time to balance her back up. He laughed.
“Okay she’s going to fall over…”
“Just lie her down.”
“How?”
“I don’t know… should we wake her?”
We looked from each other to her and then back, “Nahh…”
TK got up and turned off the light. The bright moon shined through the window, lighting up the room a little bit. When my eyes adjusted I saw TK had gotten himself a pillow and gotten comfortable. We talked a little bit more and then decided to go to sleep.
Just as I had almost fallen into a nice light slumber, perfect for sleeping upright, TK laughed in the dark.
“There she goes…”
I opened my eyes slightly, “Huh… what!” She had slid again this time toward me. She leaned against my arm and TK laughed.
“What should I do?!” I asked.
He tried to scuffle his laughs in the dark.
“Just leave her there! Aww don’t you two make such a cute couple!”
I couldn’t help but laugh.
Considering as how I liked Lauryn, I was perfectly fine with leaving her sleeping on my shoulder, I was just worried about TK. He seemed kind of protective, but I figured that was because he had never had a sister before, and knew everybody recognized her looks.
I looked at her. So peaceful. I think it was about there that I passed out.

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