For Tuesdays program, we have Bs going away party. It starts with the typical crashing around the yard, dodging basketballs, chasing each other and getting braided. The boy who tried to drown me at the pool joins forces with the boy who called me wolfrum, and one will distract me as the other tickles me from behind. I name them Sneaky 1 and Sneaky 2, and they cackle and tell me I am Sneaky 3.

For the story, M tells The Wreck of the Zephyr. The kids are riveted, except for one. I sit next to a little girl who looks like my cousin Pip, and I tickle her back as M talks. I am two people away from M, and on her other side is the girl who told me I am not konjo. The Honest Girl leans behind M and raises her eyebrows at me in the way that Ethiopians do, as a greeting. Unlike the people on the street, Honest Girl raises them repeatedly, over and over, and I try not to fall off my chair laughing. I look across the room, and T shoots me a look like the ones I used to get in high school for talking too much. Theres nothing I can do, though, because every time I look at M, Honest Girl is behind her, eyebrows twitching.

For Bs going away, there are songs and the kids present her with a card. B gives the kids a speech about how much the kids mean to her, and how sad she is to be leaving. M tells B how much she will miss her, and I silently agree. T always says that B is so young and energetic, and I wonder what things will be like without her exuberance. I can tell the kids are wondering too.