(based on The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros)
By William Grossman IV
I always have to sit in the backseat of our car. The car that seems to be on the verge of dying every time we roll out of the driveway. The car that suffocates me and my poor legs. I want to sit in the front, but Carlos says that whoever gets to the car first gets to sit in the front, but that’s not fair because I’m the slowest. Whenever we ride together, Carlos and Kiki take the middle seats and Nenny and I have to sit in the back. The back is the worst. All the seats in the back have tiny holes in them. Mama says that they’re from the adventures that the old owner had. When it’s my turn to have adventures, I want to have them in the front seat. But for now, I put up with the tiny backseat and the holes and the stupid races.
When I’m in the car, I like to hang my head back and look out the back window upside down. I watch the birds sitting on the telephone lines. The birds balancing on the thin line like a tightrope. It’s beautiful how birds can glide so gracefully in the air. In some ways, I wish I was a bird. The tiny birds with the round red bellies that sit on the telephone lines don’t have to listen to anyone. When they want to leave they just start flying. They can see any place in the city, and never have to get smushed into our tiny Honda. Birds are free. When I’m older, I want to be like the birds. I want to travel all over and see the Empire State Building and the Golden Gate Bridge, and all the other buildings that make people stop and stare. But, the best thing about birds is that wherever they go, they always end up back home in the end.
A few months ago, a truck came and took the car away. Papa told me that it was because it was too old and we were going to get a new one. I was excited then, but it still hasn’t come. I know now that, without the car, I’m even less free than the round-belly birds, because I have to take the train everywhere. But I know that my chance for adventure is coming and then I’ll soar off to see all the birds.