But some like it here. Like daddie. Mommie called him John but he doesnt talk anymore. He just sits in his chair all day and night long with his sunglasses on.

Even at night!

I don’t know why he doesnt talk any more. Last time he did, Mommie and daddie were arguing about something. They told me to go play outside with Dida. Then there was lots of yelling and this loud banging sound but not like a crash or if something fell or got knocked over but like a big thing like if your door slammed really fast only louder. Maybe daddie’s mad at Mommie but then hed still talk to me and Dida right? Well maybe not Dida cuz she’s just a stupid lil baby and babies don’t talk but me still right?

Sometimes at night when Mommie isn’t watching I go and hug daddie and sing songs Lah Lah Lah to him so he wont stay mad anymore. But I stopped that cuz daddie started to smell real bad. Maybe he’s starting to smell like this place. Or the place is starting to smell like daddie…

Dida likes it here too I think. She likes the pretty colours in the sky now. They’re new. They’re different ones every day. Like red and green and only sometimes blue. I miss blue things.

The water isn’t blue anymore. Its orange and yucky and Mommie says don’t drink it unless its clear but it never is so I don’t drink the water. We drink Pepsi and ice cream and chicken soup from lotsa cans. Dida drinks Mommies milk. Im too old for Mommies milk but Dida likes it. She likes everything except loud noises and strangers.

But she’s just a stupid baby.

Mommie doesn’t like it here either. She never smiles any more. So I asked her why we still stay here. Mommie says because. I ask because why and she says really loud Cecelia not now! and she’s really angry cuz Mommie always calls me Cece, daddie calls me Celia, and they only say my whole name if they get angry or when she wants me to do something important like watch Dida even tho I watch Dida all the time for Mommie.

Sometimes they say it when they cuss. They think I dunno what they mean when they cuss but Billy from next door told me the meanings. Grown ups don’t tell kids anything so you haveta listen hard and think a lot to know what they mean.

Billy isn’t never home anymore cuz I think he moved with his family when the big lights came. A lot of people moved. Maybe they left cuz they can’t see the stars any more..

I wish they would come back. The stars I miss them. I think maybe they don’t like me any more. So each night I sing to them Lah Lah Lah, so they’ll come back and make us happy again.

I think that’s why Mommie cries a lot too. She started smoking again. But not around Dida and me. She goes outside down to near Billy’s old house and where the yucky water is. I asked Mommie why she smokes so much. And she says mind your business Cece.

And I asked her if we could move like Billy’s family. And Mommie says no and I started asking why Mommie why? And Mommie says that if I ask too many questions that I won’t get any more ice cream. So I start crying. Then Mommie tells me to stop crying and she takes out a big coin. Its shiny and I asked Mommie if I could have it cuz its pretty but Mommie said she wants to “make fair.” Mommie confuses me sometimes but I said okay. She says that she flips a coin every day and if its tails then we can move. And she flipped the coin and it was heads and she said too bad maybe we can move tomorrow. So we flipped the coin for a lot of days. And every day it was heads and I asked Mommie can we change it to if it lands on heads? and Mommie said no that’s not how the game works honey and we can play again tomorrow.

And one day there was a loud noise and another big light in the sky. But it wasn’t as big as the big lights from before from the first time. It was smaller but still big. Mommie said to stay inside and not make a sound and make sure Dida didn’t cry. So I fed Dida cuz thats the only time she doesnt cry cuz she’s a stupid baby. And Mommie went outside to check the big noise and the big light. And there was a lot of yelling and screaming and I think some of it was Mommie screaming too. But I told Dida to not cry cuz Mommie would get mad if she did.

Then Mommie came back and there were big men with her and they looked mean. And Dida started crying even tho I told her not to cuz she’s a stupid baby. The men said they needed food and Mommie said we didn’t have food but I knew she was lying. I was going to ask Mommie why she was lying any more but I was too scared even tho I thought I was too old to be scared like Dida any more. So the big men said that they wanted the baby instead but Mommie said no.

And then one of the big men came over to take Dida but I wouldn’t let go so one of the other big men said take the kid too she’ll go for as much as the baby. At first Mommie said no no don’t take my babies but the big men didn’t listen. Then she said everything’s gonna be alright honey everything’s gonna be alright Cece and Mommie was really scaring me. And I was wondering why was Mommie leaving me? Why was Mommie letting the big men take Dida and me? Maybe Mommie doesnt love me anymore. And I felt like crying even more.

Then just when we went to the door with the big men I heard a lot of those loud bangs like a door slamming but the men just fell over and Mommie took me and Dida in her arms and hugged us and kissed us and we were all crying. Then Mommie wiped off our tears and Dida was still crying.

Then she says that we have to go and we have to hurry and I said shouldn’t we get daddie? But Mommie said that daddie would be fine and he would find us when he’s ready or well find him when were ready. Then we started running for a long time away from the noises and the bad place that smells and the yucky water and the big bad men. And all the places around us were just as bad with cracked houses and lots of people lying on the ground.

Then I told Mommie to stop cuz I remembered our game and I told her we had to flip the coin before we could move. And Mommie said that it isn’t the time for that now Cece but I said that I wanted to. So Mommie took out the coin and flipped it into the air and caught it in her hand and looked at it but wouldn’t let me look. She said that it was tails. Then we went off running for a long long time until we were too tired. And even Dida was tired and sleepy but she wasn’t even running cuz she’s still a stupid baby.

Then we stopped at a lake away from the place that wasn’t very nice away from the bad men. And it was such a pretty lake. And Mommie said we can call it Cece’s Lake. But I said that we should call it Celia’s Lake cuz then daddie can find it better. And Mommie smiled for the first time. At night I could see the stars again. I was happy cuz they came back cuz it meant that the stars like us again.


Aaron Yeung won first prize in the Youth Short Story contest as part of the Words Alive Literary Festival. He won $200.00 plus publication in Existere, York University's Journal of Arts and Literature, as well as publication in the YorkRegion.com Pen & Pixel and Words Alive web sites.