something i never told my mother...

A strong, black railing outlined my aunt and uncles house in Florida. Soundly standing on their front porch, dividing their house from the yard. The black paint had chipped off in some places, exposing a rusty metal surface beneath its smooth facade. My aunt, uncle, and older cousins had gone to the store to pick up dinner. Upon realizing that we had forgotten our toothbrushes at home, my parents had driven off to the local CVS, leaving my youngest cousin and I alone in the house, with only our grandmother’s snores to keep us company. I was two years older than my cousin Grace, who had just turned four and had taken it upon herself to remind me of this at least three times a minute. She also reminded me how her mom let her hold the spatula and flip the pancakes every morning, and that she was the only person in her family who could count to ten in German, and that she jumped so high on her bed she could touch the ceiling, and a countless number of other facts that I had no interest or desire to hear. I tried to distract myself from her irritating bragging, but was unable to get rid of her annoying voice mumbling every fact about herself into my ear.

She continued, “…and I can fit my head through the railing without getting stuck and-”

“Prove it.” I said finally, hoping I would be able to trap her in a silence long enough to escape to my room.

“Okay.” She said naively, making her way to the front porch. It was not the answer I had hoped for, but at least it would be entertaining. I did try and warn her that she could get stuck, and that she would be in trouble if our parents caught us, but she was completely confident in her abilities.

She grasped two poles on the railing and slid her head through easily, shooting me a triumphant smile from the other side of the fence. Her smile quickly faded when she realized that her head must have suddenly grown larger, and would no longer squeeze through the posts. Pushing against the railings she struggled to free herself, but was unable to squeeze her ears through the solid structure. With our grandmother sound asleep the only option was to wait until our parents returned, hopefully well prepared with a remedy for trapped heads. I sat with Grace on the porch. She was not nearly as annoying now, it seemed being stuck in a fence had quieted her.

When she got hungry, I went into the kitchen to look for a snack and returned with a box of raisins. I took all the raisins out of the box, and lined them up symmetrically on the edge of the porch. I watched mesmerized as a small ant scurried up the side of the porch and found its way onto the wrinkled raisin. I picked up the raisin and examined it, captivated by the ant’s ability to camouflage with its food. I then fed the raisin, ant and all, to Grace. I waited until another ant crawled onto one of the raisins, before feeding it to Grace. She had almost finished the box when my parents got home. I picked up the only remaining raisin and flicked off the ant before popping it in my mouth.