LITR 3731: Creative Writing
Student Fiction Submission 2003

Dominique Corpus

Everything Around You

Every morning I am wakened by my screaming alarm clock, which is mom yelling “Donny, get up!” I don’t know why she screams; I’m never late for school.  Anyway, mom and I just moved into SeaSide Terrace some months ago.  She calls it government housing, but my friends Ke and Carey say it is the ghetto.  Whatever that means.

Ke and Carey have lived at SeaSide for some time.  Carey and I are in the fourth grade, but Ke is older.  He goes to the middle school; however, we all ride the same bus. 

            “Donny, please hurry and get dressed” mom says impatiently.  She stresses about being on time to work every morning, but this morning I am procrastinating.

            “Are you listening to me?” she asks hysterically. 

            “Yes”

            “What’s wrong Donny?” she ask seeing that something is bothering me. 

            “Why do I have to go to school?” I replied.  

I could tell mom was not prepared for this question, which meant I was in for a long speech.  My mother loves to turn the littlest issues into something big.  Therefore, I knew she was going to have this long drawn out explanation. 

For a brief moment, mom did not speak, which meant she was preparing to preach.  Now here comes the response, meaning we will both be late. 

            “Well Donny,” she says while carefully choosing her words, “I’ll tell you this.  Pay close attention to everything around you today while going to school.”  Then she leaves. 

I cannot believe it.  After all the speeches and explanations she has given me, this was her response.

When I finished getting dressed I headed to Carey’s house.  Normally, I would rush to get there, but I thought about what mom said and took my time.   First of all, it is the time of year when the mornings are still dark, so I am a little nervous.  The ground and bricks of the apartment units are always wet and it didn’t even rain.  This has always puzzled me, so I playfully assume that SeaSide has been crying.  Why? Well a lot of doors are missing screens, and many of the apartments are empty, yet people still live inside.  SeaSide is not well lit, and it seems to be rundown, which is why I assume it to be crying.  One cannot help but to feel bad for a place like this. 

Once I get past this area, I am at the center of SeaSide. I must pass through the rundown park in order to get to Carey’s unit.  Although we are blessed with a park, no one plays in it.  The equipment is all torn up and will never be fixed.  The basketball court is littered with hundreds of broken beer bottles, so no one plays there either.  Plus, the bums and lady bums sleep on the slides. 

Once I get to Carey’s house, I knock to see if he is ready.  Carey comes out and is dressed in his usual gray jeans.  I am thinking usual because tomorrow it will be black jeans day, and then back to gray.  Everyone teases Carey about his clothes but I don’t.  I feel kind of sorry for him.  His mother is always at home and she never works.  Carey is also not all that bright; he has a hard time learning.

 After paying attention liked mom suggested, I still could not see her point.  Everything around SeaSide is the same as always. 

“Are we going to get Ke?” You see Carey even asks me the same questions.  What was mom trying to say?

Anyway, we walk over to Ke’s, and as always, we run into bums who ask, “are you working?” These people can see that we are way too young to be working, so why ask.  I’ve asked Ke did he know why they ask this, but he just shrugs and says “send them to me.”

Upon arriving at Ke’s porch, his grandmother opens the door and greets us to the smell of breakfast.  She leaves to get Ke, which gives me and Carey time to talk. 

            “You do your homework,” Carey asks rather quickly.

            “Yeah, how about you?” I answer proudly. 

            “Nah I didn’t understand it, Carey says.

Ke’s grandmother returns and lets us inside.  She says she called Ke, but he did not respond which meant Ke is getting dressed.  Ke’s grandmother is very old.  His mother and father have been divorced for years, and he has lived with his grandmother since.  Ke is very smart. I read his name in the Honor Roll section of the paper on many occasions.  Plus, Ke dresses very well, I don’t know how because his grandmother doesn’t work nor does he. 

We sat there for quite sometime because I was able to show Carey how to do his work.  Ke’s Grandmother slowly goes up the stairs to get him? However, to our surprise and dismay, Ke was not there.  Although we were all shocked, Carey and I had to leave or miss the bus. 

We barely made it to the bus and now we are on our way.  I love the rides to school.  Every morning I get to see the sun come up.  Well when it is that time of year anyway.  We also play this game call “Bingo,” which also makes the bus ride fun.  You played the game by pointing to the most beautiful homes and cars seen during the ride.  While pointing, a person had to say “bingo for that,” which meant you would have that home or car when you grow up.  The farther we got from SeaSide the prettier the homes and cars became, which was tight. 

This morning I did not do any of those things except contemplate on what mom said, “pay close attention to everything around you.” I did not understand.  Everything in SeaSide was the same: the bums, the rundown park, and the gloomy darkness.  Nothing was different.  Even the bus ride to school was the same.  The sunrise while riding to school, Carey and I playing “Bingo” for the beautiful homes and cars we saw outside SeaSide; nothing was different.  There was nothing to pay closer attention to that I have not already seen. 

Nevertheless, upon entering the school, I gave it one last try.  I turned around slowly to get one more look about me, and of course everything was the same.  Man, mom has some explaining to do.  I mean school was school, and SeaSide was SeaSide.  This morning I paid attention to everything, yet there was nothing unusual.  I see what I see daily.