of side pony tails and doughnuts

[Heartafire]

I was 5 years old
and couldn't hear
my mother's accent.

There we four of us then,
I was the side-pony tailed,
stubborn queen of drama.

Big brother was my idol
how I envied
his striped dinosaur blanket.

How he envied
my room to myself.
(Even if it was pink.)

But I ignored my little brothers
with a toss of my hair.
Anyway, they were boring.

That day we went grocery shopping,
always a delicious adventure
for big brother and me.

Mom pretended not to see
as we littered pistachio shells,
snuck from bulk food bins.

She got us glazed doughnuts
we munched them through the aisles,
forgot to beg for brand-name cereal.

(She paid by showing the cashier
our sticky faces and two
waxy bakery papers, empty.)

Feeling devious that day, we schemed
and under the egg carton, snuck
the new Carmen Sandiego VHS, just out.

Baby brother distracted her at checkout
but our little lying faces told
of an illicit triumph.

We couldn't hear her accent.
But that day,
the whole parking lot did.

Very sweet and well written piece. My favorite:
Baby brother distracted her at checkout
but our little lying faces told
of an illicit triumph.

little lying faces/illicit triumph. Fantastic!