Free Towelhead by Alicia Erian Page B

“All that blood stays in your uterus to keep the baby cushioned.”
    â€œOh.”
    â€œWhy?” she said. “Do you need a tampon?”
    â€œNot right now,” I said. “But I will soon.”
    â€œCan’t your parents buy you some?”
    â€œIt’s just Daddy,” I said. “That’s who I live with.”
    â€œWell,” she said, “can’t you ask him?”
    I shook my head. “No.”
    â€œNo?”
    â€œI’m not allowed to wear them,” I said. “Not until I’m married.”
    â€œHuh,” she said. “I guess I never really heard of that.”
    â€œThat’s Daddy’s rule,” I told her.
    â€œWhere’s he from?” Melina asked.
    â€œLebanon,” I said, and for the first time, I didn’t feel so embarrassed about it.
    â€œHuh,” she said again. Then she said, “What’s with the flag?”
    â€œExcuse me?” I said.
    â€œYou guys live on the other side of the Vuosos, right?”
    I nodded.
    â€œSo why does your father fly the flag?”
    â€œDaddy hates Saddam,” I said.
    She looked at me like she didn’t really understand.
    â€œMr. Vuoso thinks Daddy loves Saddam,” I tried to explain, “but Daddy doesn’t. That’s why he put the flag up. To prove it.”
    â€œWhy does your father care what that guy thinks?”
    I thought for a second, then said, “I don’t know.”
    â€œBecause that guy is a pig,” Melina said.
    â€œWho?” I said.
    â€œVuoso,” she said. “He reads Playboy .”
    â€œHe does?” I said. Suddenly it seemed like something I should keep a secret.
    Melina nodded. “We got some of his mail on accident yesterday.”
    â€œDid you give it back?”
    â€œHell no,” she said. “I threw it out.”
    â€œYou threw out his Playboy ?”
    â€œWhy shouldn’t I?” she said.
    I didn’t answer.
    â€œI’ll throw out whatever I want.”
    I felt really upset then. Not just because Melina had thrown out a Playboy , but because she seemed to think it was such a bad thing to like. I didn’t want her to think that way. I wanted her to like it as much as I did. I wanted us to think the same way about everything. “Well,” I said, “I guess I better go.”
    â€œAll right.”
    â€œSorry about the birdies,” I said.
    â€œDon’t worry about it.”
    It was a short walk back to the Vuosos’, but I slowed it down by not cutting across their front lawn. When I walked in the door, Zack said, “What took you so long?”
    â€œI was only gone ten minutes,” I said.
    â€œYou were gone fifteen minutes,” he said. “That means you lose fifty cents.”
    â€œWhatever,” I said. I didn’t really care. Mostly, I just wanted to think about Melina. How you could see the nub of her belly button poking through her T-shirt.
    When Mr. Vuoso got home, Zack tried to tattle on me for having left him alone. “You can’t stay by yourself for fifteen minutes?” his father asked, and Zack said he could, and Mr. Vuoso said that he didn’t see what the problem was then. After his dad went in the kitchen, Zack gave me the finger and whispered that I was a dirty towelhead, and I whispered back never to call me that again.
    Later that night, Daddy made me translate Grandma’s letter for him. When I finished, he told me I’d done a very good job, then asked how much Madame Madigan had had to help me. I thought about telling him that the kids at school had called me names, but then I didn’t. I just couldn’t bring myself to say those words out loud. Somehow, I thought Daddy would think I was talking about him.
    The next afternoon at the Vuosos’, I hit four birdies in a row into Melina’s backyard. “You suck!” Zack screamed.
    â€œSorry,” I said. “I’ll go get