Jason had seen the movie multiple times.
“Well, you’re already Juliet. You could play Maria.”
She nodded, glancing at him now. He felt called on to amuse her, to perform. Before he could overthink it, he launched into song, in what he hoped sounded like a Puerto Rican accent.
“I like to be in America! Okay by me in America!”
“Everything free in America!” she sang back. “For a small fee in America!”
They laughed, and might have continued, but Mr. Youdelman clapped for the class’s attention. Jason felt his chest turn into a cage of pigeons, and he knew that if someone broke the lock, they would flap out and cover the entire auditorium.
After that day, he could no longer stand to watch Elaine andCaleb onstage, for he feared they would forget the boundary between character and self. He asked First Watchman to come get him whenever his one line was coming up and spent almost entire rehearsals buried in the prop closet, refining his iambic pentameter.
He was readingThe Scarlet Letterwhen his bedroom window was attacked by a barrage of stuffed animals.
“Chinny Chin Chin!” He heard Macon calling from outside. “Chinny Chinny Choo Choo…”
Jason opened the window and looked down.
“You want to play?” Macon called. He dribbled a handball.
“Nah, I suck.” Jason smiled and put his elbows on the windowsill. It was nice to be wanted, but he had reached the part where Dimmesdale and Hester reunite in the woods. Here was a book about made-up people from the 1600s, but they understood his suffocation better than anyone.
“Come on. I never see you anymore.”
Jason sighed, grabbed a jacket, and headed down to the porch to meet his friend.
“How come you’re always so busy now?” Macon complained, rolling the Spalding between his palms. Jason sat down on the stoop, wondering whether Macon was old enough to understand what he was feeling.
“Hey, you ever liked a girl before?” Jason mumbled.
Macon froze. Something like fear flickered in his eyes.
“You got a girlfriend?” he accused.
“What? No!” Jason laughed. “My sisters aren’t even allowed to have boyfriends.”
“You’re always staring at some girl. Who is it now?”
“Elaine McIntosh.”
“Never heard of her,” Macon said, as if this decided the matter.
“She wants to be an actress.”
“Little boy!” Macon put on a high voice in imitation of Jason’smother. “No time for girl! One day you grow up, find nice nice Chinese girl, okay?”
“Shut up, Whopper-head,” Jason returned. “There’s no Chinese girls in East Flatbush. And you didn’t answer the question. Did you ever like a girl?”
“Yeah,” Macon said, shrugging, like this was obvious. “Of course.”
“Who?”
“Diana Ross. She’s gorgeous. Especially when she’s singing ‘Baby Love.’?”
“She’s not a kid.”
“I like myself some older women.”
