—I’M BREAKING EGG SHELLS WITH A PEN

 

 

Balloons

 

 

We were scruff, so we stole on the sly, stupid stuff---sox, Snickers Bars, squirt guns, laxatives, and magic balloons, which were plastic-taped to a board that promised to grow into something gigantic and magical if you blew on them hard enough.

We wanted to be something different, anything different, so we blew and blew, my twin and I. We took turns when one of other was out of gas.

I don’t know if we really believed in magic back then, Sis and I, but after making sure the door was locked, I held her hand while she said a prayer for help.