Each Tiny Spark: List 3

I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I remember, I’m groggy and my phone is buzzing.

He flashes an uneasy smile at Abuela, but Abuela seems oblivious to what’s going on.

The commotion across the restaurant is a bunch of servers gathered around a table singing the most obnoxious rendition of “Happy Birthday” in the world.

“Jay is doing it on the football season, where I am doing it on the actual football stadium. Mine is an architectural ode to the gridiron!”

Lacey’s guide is about the town’s movie house and how it used to be a vaudeville theater in the 1920s.

“Sweetie, I’m a librarian. My one job is to make sure my patrons have access to the information they need to educate themselves.”

“Nothing makes me happier than feeding an inquisitive mind!”
I’m not sure what she means. I start to go, but I think of one more question to ask.

She kept telling us that we were going to get pneumonia. Whenever the temperature drops, Abuela insists I wear the warmest clothes to avoid getting sick.

“America was indebted to immigration for her settlement and prosperity. That part of America which had encouraged them most had advanced most rapidly in population, agriculture and the arts.”

“America was indebted to immigration for her settlement and prosperity. That part of America which had encouraged them most had advanced most rapidly in population, agriculture and the arts.”

“America was indebted to immigration for her settlement and prosperity. That part of America which had encouraged them most had advanced most rapidly in population, agriculture and the arts.”

My head is like one of those centrifuges where astronauts train that I saw in a movie. Around and around and around it goes until...

“I think I found two axles for the Green Hornet at an auto shop in Cartersville,” my dad says.

It’s the best costume and trinket store around.

I grab a feathered quill and parchment paper that appears ancient and point it at my dad.

The jewelry section is my next stop, and I find a few cool bracelets and necklaces. Abuela browses the gold-plated ones with saint pendants. I like the metallic necklaces with thick chain mail. I end up buying one with a pendant of a dragon curled around a black ball.

Papi rubs the inside of the hood with one hand and inspects the grooves in the metal.

“You know the word resilience was originally a metallurgical term?” he says, gently dropping the hood closed.

“When you bang metal with, say, a hammer, or even melt it with a welder, resilient metal shifts around and bends to absorb the force and the heat.”

“I want to help, Abuela.” I try to sound defiant, but I don’t do a good job.

I didn’t like some of the tactical decisions he made either, but I listened. That’s a chain of command.

Mom called him a while ago and they talked for a little bit. I could hear snippets of the conversation from my dad’s responses.

It feels like she has just poured every ounce of guilt she could muster over me, like clumpy oil.

I tune in to what’s happening at the lectern and, in Spanish, the lector says what psalm we’re supposed to sing.

Abuela relents and agrees to host a barbeque after church next weekend.

“I’m sure you’ll continue to find things within the parameters of my rules, right?”

“Anybody else have addendums to their projects or other expansive updates like Miss Torres?”

I didn’t know that. I think I want to add a musical component for my visitors too.

She sounds like a dusty old car muffler. And like a muffler, her words leave a cloud of noxious gas in the air.

Clarissa’s words electrocute me. It’s a fast, hot jolt to the skin followed by an intense sting.