Chapter One
Daltrey
“What’s your name?”
I look up from the stick I’ve been trailing through the dirt. The girl standing in front of me appears to be around my age. I decide I like her right away. Her hair is brown and twists around and around like tiny Slinkies. There’s a word for the way her hair looks, but I can’t remember. I like the way it seems so messy and different from mine. Curly, that’s the word. No one in my family has curly hair. And she’s wearing a Batman shirt. I love Batman.
“I’m Daltrey,” I tell her.
She sits on the edge of the broken sandbox. “Dal-trey,” she sounds out, nodding a little. “I’m Daisy.”
“Like a flower?”
She laughs. “Yup. My momma named me after her favorite flowers.”
Momma. I duck my head, not wanting her to see me cry. My brothers always tell me boys shouldn’t cry.
I must not have done it fast enough because she pats my hand and asks, “Whatcha crying for?”
I turn away, looking at the sandbox. There’s not much sand in it. It’s mostly filled with sticks and rocks. I don’t think anyone has played here in a long time.
Daisy follows my gaze. “The people who lived here before didn’t have kids. And my daddy wouldn’t ever let me play in here.”
“My dad said there was a sandbox. Before we moved. He said there was a nice big yard, and we’d have fun playing here.”
“I bet he could fix it up,” she says, picking up her own stick to twirl in the dirt. “Maybe there’s a place where you can buy sand.”
I nod. I bet there is.
“You got any sisters?” she asks.
“Nope. Just three brothers. I’m the littlest.”
Her face lights up, and I decide she’s very pretty. “Four brothers? Wow. I don’t have any brothers. Are they bigger than us? What’re their names?”
“Yeah, they’re all bigger. Lennon is six, Cash is eight, and Reed is nine.”
“How old are you?”
“I’m five.”
“Me too! You’re so lucky to have brothers. I just have my dad, and he’s not home very much.” She nods toward the house next door. “I have a new babysitter today. She’s been on the phone forever.”
“You don’t got no mom?”
She turns back to me, her face serious. “No. She’s in heaven.”
I don’t know much about heaven, but Daisy looks pretty sad about it, so I’m not certain it’s a good place. I decide I can tell her about my mom. “My mom’s gone, too.”
Daisy nods solemnly. “Did she die? My mom died when I was three.”
“No. She’s just… gone.”
Daisy wrinkles up her nose. “What do you mean? Where is she?”
I shrug. “Dunno. She left a few months ago. Dad says she didn’t want to be a mom anymore, so she just left.”
Daisy’s mouth drops open a little. “You can decide not to be a mom anymore? That sounds crazy.”
I shrug again. It sounded pretty crazy when they told me about it, but Reed said I should shut up and stop asking so many questions.
“She doesn’t want us anymore, dummy,” he told me, punching my arm.
Then we had to move so my dad’s sister could help out. I wasn’t sure what we needed help with, but Dad said it was important.
I miss my old room. I’m crying again, but this time I don’t try to hide it. I think Daisy knows how it feels to be so sad.
“I’m sorry your momma is gone, Daltrey,” she says, her voice soft and close to my ear.
“I’m sorry your momma is gone, too.”
We sit like quietly for a few minutes. It’s a sunny day, and pretty soon, I don’t feel so sad anymore. “You wanna play something?”
She sits up straight, giving me another of her pretty smiles. “Yeah. What should we play?”
I think for a minute. Most of my toys are still packed. “You got a bike?”
She juts out her chin and does something with her eyes that Cash is always doing when he thinks I’m being dumb. “Of course. Who doesn’t have a bike?”
I jump up. “Last one to the stop sign is a rotten egg!” I take off, running to the garage.
“Cheater,” she yells, but she’s laughing.
When I get to the garage, I stop short. My dad is standing next to his car, keys in his hand.
“Hey, little man,” he says. “Time for practice.”
“Aw, Dad. Now?”
He nods, shaking his keys a little. “Aren’t you excited to meet your new teacher?”
I want to stamp my feet on the concrete. I don’t want a new piano teacher. I liked Miss Carol, my teacher back in our old town, just fine. In fact, I liked everything about our old town. Why’d we have to move to this stupid place anyhow? And now I can’t even play with Daisy.