While I am two years younger than my sister, Lita, I am also three feet taller than her because she has achondroplasia. In short (no pun intended), my sister is a little person. Like most siblings, we argued when we were younger, but once we both reached adulthood, we left all that childish crap behind. We actually got to the point where we would engage each other in serious, meaningful discussions about everything, be it our futures, dating, or what have you.
Lita was home for the summer as she attended college in Fall and Spring Semesters only. Mom and Dad were home the first couple of weeks upon her initial return, but soon found their way back into their lives of socializing and doing whatever else it is they do—I didn't know, and I really didn't want to, although for some time now I have suspected them to be swingers.
I was in the garage building a computer for a new client—I had begun this business almost a year ago, and word-of-mouth advertising had made me the go-to guy—when Lita walked in. "Watcha doing?"
I waved my hand in front of the computer and gave her a look that suggested "What the fuck does it look like?"
She hopped onto the couch and just sat there. Finally, she said, "I'm bored."
I looked up, smiled, and said, "Okay, give me a sec," and then finished installing the motherboard. I wiped my hands, then went to a file cabinet, grabbed a bottle of Crown Royal and a couple of glasses, and joined her on the couch.
"Do Mama and Daddy know you have that?"
"I'm of legal age," I told her, "but yeah, they know. Say when."
"When," she said when the glass was about an eighth of an inch from being filled.
"Better watch out," I cautioned her. "That much liquor in someone your size can't be a recipe for much good."
"I bet I could drink
you
under the table," she boasted as she stuck her tiny chest out.
"Okay-okay. I concede," I laughed as I filled my glass halfway. I took a sip, then said, "Okay, so you're bored. What do you want to do?"
She thought, then said, "Oh, I know. Let's play
Truth or Truth
. It's been a while since we last played that."
Truth or Truth
was a variation on
Truth or Dare
. The object of this game was to be completely honest in answering whatever question may come your way. Sometimes it was fun, sometimes it was frightening, but it was always exhilarating.
"Mmmmm, I don't know," I teased.
"Oh, come on. You can even go first."
"One condition," I said. "Anything goes."
"Anything goes," she agreed.
"Okay. Why do little people hate the term 'Midget' so much?"
She laughed, then took a big gulp of the Crown. "Wanna know a secret? We don't. We really don't give a damn one way or the other. There was just this faction of little people who wanted something to argue about, so they chose that, much the way an atheist argues over pointless shit like a cross being in the desert."
"No shit."
"No shit. Now, my turn." She finished off the remainder of her drink, then asked, "How come you never wanted to go to college?"
"Whoa, you weren't kidding about drinking me under the table, were you?" I gulped down what remained in my glass as well, then filled both again.
"You'll be out before I will," she warned. "If there's one thing I've managed to do these past few years, it's build a tolerance to alcohol. Now, answer my question."
"Okay, I never said I
didn't
want to go, I just said it was pointless. When it comes to computers, I'm a veritable prodigy. I don't need a degree to tell me that, and the success of my business tells me the same. I stand to make about eighty thousand this year,
hermana
. How many college graduates can say the same?"
I downed half my glass and waited. She finally did the same, so I asked, "Okay, how many of your BFFs from high school do you still have contact with?"
"Just one. Gennifer Wills. What about you?"
"A lot of my clients are people I went to school with, but Wesley is the only true friend I ever had, and still have."
