Chapter 3, Acceptance
March 9, 2002
Today is the day I go over to Periklis for a playdate. I’ve already told him I’m going to have a baby sister, he thinks it’s pretty cool. While we’re on the way to his house, I ask my mom a question
“Hey mom?” I say
She looks at me through the rear view window and says, “Yes Kenny?”
“Do you think it’s possible for girls to basically be like boys?” I reply, though I say it nervously as I think it’s just a silly question.
“They’re called tomboys dear, why do you ask?” My mom says in an upbeat, happy voice.
“I don’t know, just asking”
We continued to drive, until arriving at Periklis’ house. Once we park, my mom walks me to the entrance before I knock on his door. Mrs. Spiros opens the door and greets both of us.
“Hi Ken! Hi Mrs. Pop, congrats on the baby!” she says as she hugs my mom before giving her a gift.
“Thanks Mrs. Spiros! We will definitely use it!” My mom says exactly, before she turns to me and says, “Well Ken, I hope you have a good time!”
She gives me a kiss and a hug before I enter the house and she returns to the car. I greet Mr. Spiros.
“Good morning Mr. Spiros”
“Oh! Good Morning Ken!” A little startled as he returned from the bathroom, “Periklis is still asleep, maybe in a few minutes he’ll wake up.”
“Yeah, it is the weekend after all!” I reply
I wait in the living room when Mrs. Spiros brings out Yianna, who’s two and just starting to phrase and talk. I watch the tv, which is currently playing the news. I want to change it to cartoons since I think the news is boring. After a bit, Periklis wakes up and goes downstairs.
“What’s up Ken?” He says, though while he yawns, he’s clearly tired.
“I’m good, ready for breakfast?” I say, though I already ate since I woke up early for this.
He pours himself some cereal, and begins to eat it. After a bit, I wait for him to finish his morning routine, so we can have time to play! After a bit, he yells my name
“Ken! I’m ready now!”
“Alright!” I start to walk upstairs to Periklis’ room.
I enter his room, it’s like a normal boys room with the toy chest and sports posters on the wall. I went over to his bed and sat on it. I wanted to tell him something which my mom gave me the answer to on the car trip here. At least I know a term for those characters in the cartoons I watch.
“Hey Periklis” I say, “You know of tomboys, right?”
“Yeah, of course I do, I watch cartoons like you!”
“Do you think my baby sister is going to be one?”
“Depends, maybe if she’s raised under the right stuff. Then again I don’t know.”
I think about his words, “Maybe if she’s raised under the right stuff.” What does that mean exactly? I just have to wait a bit to see, and hopefully it ends up like that. Either way, I started to play with Periklis’ Lego minifigures. I’ve tried my best to recreate myself using the pieces he has, and I think I did a pretty good job! So, we continue to play in the room; then we go outside when Mrs. Spiros tells us we have to play outside. I really enjoyed lunch, Mrs. Spiros makes pretty good Greek sandwiches called Gyros, they taste amazing! After a fun day at Periklis’ house, it was time to go home, the saddest part about playdates. My dad picks me up, he has a quick chat with the Spiros; thanking them for the gift they gave my mom. We enter the car and start driving home. I can’t wait to tell my brothers what I just learned earlier today.
I enter Brenden’s room, I see him and Lorenzo already inside.
“Hey guys!” I say.
“What up Kenny?” Brenden replied.
“Guess what I learned today!” I say, excited.
“What is it?” Lorenzo said, knowing him he’ll probably know.
“Tomboys!” I shout excitedly.
Lorenzo sighs, it’s his sign that he’s going to go on a rant about a topic he knows. He’s about to say the first word when Brenden holds his mouth shut. He rolls his eyes, and Brenden lets go of his mouth. I started to get the controller ready, my parents for Lorezno’s birthday gave him a Gamecube. It’s fun! Though that one mansion game is scary, I do not like it. Anyhow I can’t wait for our baby sister to finally play with us when she’s around my age.
“Hey guys” I say, “What do you think about our future baby sister?”
“Yeah, it’ll be fun,” Brenden replies.
“I think she’ll have fun making her be smart,” Lorenzo replies.
“Knowing you, you’re going to make her smarty pants!” Brenden says while teasing Lorenzo. Which causes him to roll his eyes again, he likes to do that a lot. While we play, I have the same thought I had from 5 months ago, having our younger sister play games with us. Though I don’t know what game system is going to release when she’s around my age or even if she’s going to like it. All I know is that I’m going to have fun with her as we both grow up and finally do whatever we want when we’re adults! I mean Brenden is about to enter middle school in a year or so, and Lorenzo is going his way through 3rd. Time flies, I think. My aunts and uncles who still live in Italy or far from San Mateo say that to Brenden when they visit us. Though Brenden finds it annoying, mom always says that they last saw him since he was a toddler or even as a baby. I wouldn’t be surprised if Lorenzo, me, and the baby sister are constantly told that every family gathering. It’s just an interesting thought I had, though I think I might keep that to myself as I don’t want Lorezno to enter into a rant over time and aging. While I was pondering, my character fell off the stage, causing Lorenzo and Brenden to start laughing at me. This just causes me to snap out of my daydreaming, and finally focus back into the present.