Fifth grade drew to a close. As summer vacation started, Millicent and I looked forward to our birthdays. Hers was the last day of June. Mine was July 1.
Our parents threw a joint party for us every summer and invited all the neighborhood kids our age and their parents to come. For our eleventh birthday, we had a special guest. My mother started dating Officer Martin after the start of the school year, and they were still dating when my birthday came around.
“Baldwin, how would you feel if I invited Travis to your birthday party?” my mother asked one day about a week before the big event. “He’s off duty that day, and I’m sure he’d like to come.”
“Why would Officer Martin want to come to a kids’ birthday party?” I couldn’t imagine him wanting to.
My mother’s lips curled into one of those smiles a mother shows her child when she’s not sure her child will like what she’s about to say next.
“I think Travis would like to spend some more time with you. He and I have been seeing each other for a while now, and we’ve talked and think it would be nice if the three of us started doing things together now and then.”
“More than us three will be at the party,” I reminded her. “All me and Millicent’s friends and their moms and dads will be there, too. Plus Grandma and Grandpa Delagraza.”
“With all those people there, it will be less awkward for you and for Travis, don’t you think? You can get used to him being around but only spend as much time talking to him as you want.”
I knew my mother wanted me to say yes to Officer Martin coming to the party. Part of me was sad, though. If she had a boyfriend, did that mean she didn’t miss my father anymore? Was I supposed to stop missing my dad, too, if Officer Martin and my mom stayed together?
“If I say it’s okay if he comes, does this mean he’s your boyfriend now? Have you forgotten about my dad? Do I have to forget about my dad?”
My throat tightened up so much that I could barely get the last words out. My face grew hot, and I felt tears trickle down my cheeks.
My mother reached out and wrapped her arms around me.
“No, honey. I haven’t forgotten your dad, and I never will. I still love him and miss him every day. Whatever happens between me and Travis, it won’t change how we feel about your father. We’ll love him just as much as we ever did. But that’s the great thing about love, Baldwin. No matter how much you love someone, God makes sure there’s more love in your heart to give to someone new.”
I didn’t fully understand what my mother meant then, but I trusted her enough to believe what she was saying.
One of the guests my mother invited to the party was a new girl in the neighborhood named Leanne. Her parents bought Mr. Quigley’s house and spent a lot of time fixing it up. They didn’t move in until after the end of the school year.
Leanne Johnson was older than Millicent and me. She was also two inches taller than Millicent, who was an inch taller than me.
My mom had gotten to know Leanne’s mom and dad when they’d come to do work on Mr. Quigley’s house. She and Abigail Johnson became friends. I also suspected my mother had a crush on Leanne’s dad, Chester. Chet was a firefighter with the city fire department.
“Baldwin, I think we should invite our new neighbors to your birthday party. Millicent’s mom thinks it would be a good idea. It will give you and Millie a chance to get to know Leanne. She’s your age and will be in your class at school next year. What do you think?”
“I’m okay with it if Millicent is.”
Now that she was eleven, Millicent asked to be called Millie. Her mother reluctantly went along with her. I didn’t. She would always be Millicent to me.
Millicent never called me Baldy, though every other kid I knew did. Even some teachers would slip up and use the nickname. My mother cringed every time she heard it. Having been called Baldy my whole life, it didn’t bother me, and it was accurate.
Leanne took one look at me when she came to our party and blurted out, “You really are bald!”
My retort? “You really are tall.”
The blush that had been creeping up her neck exploded onto her face. She glowered at me.
“I’d rather be tall than bald.”
I laughed. “So would I.”
Millicent snorted and laughed.
Leanne’s head tilted like a Corgi who didn’t understand what its human just said.
“My dad was tall,” I continued, “so I may get half my wish.”
Leanne blinked several times before taking a step back, turning, and walking away.
I looked at Millicent. She shrugged and rubbed my head.
“I think she got embarrassed. Her mother probably told her not to say anything about your baldness.”
I sighed. “It’s kind of hard not to notice. Maybe I ought to wear a hat.”
Officer Martin came over to Millicent and me.
“Your moms asked me to get you. The cakes are ready.”
“Goodie,” Millicent said, taking off at a trot toward the picnic table her dad had moved to straddle the property line between their house and ours.
I looked up at Officer Martin. He was wearing a lightweight yellow and white plaid shirt, jeans, sunglasses, and a Red Sox hat.
“Are you going to have a piece of cake, Officer?”
He rubbed the side of his nose.
“Baldwin, we need to talk about what you’re going to call me. Saying ‘Officer’ every time will start to sound weird, don’t you think?”
I didn’t have a problem calling him Officer. I just knew he’d better not ask me to start calling him Dad.
What he said was, “Would you be okay calling me Travis when I’m not in uniform?”
Being allowed to call a grownup by their first name was like - I don’t even know what it was like. I had never imagined being given such a chance.
“Uh, sure, uh, Travis. I don’t know if my mom will like it though. She’s big on me respecting my elders.”
Travis smiled and gripped my shoulder. “We already discussed it. She’s cool with the idea.”
Millicent’s voice cut across the yard. “Hey, Baldwin, get over here so our moms can light the candles.”
Travis removed his hand from my shoulder. “I guess we’d better get over there. Good thing we’ve got a fireman around. Between you and Millie, that’s a lot of candles.”
Millicent’s mom and mine began lighting the candles on the cakes as Travis and I walked toward the table.
Behind my mom, I saw my Grandma and Grandpa Delagraza watching her light the candles. Grandma was smiling one second and the next, her eyes squinted shut and she clutched at her chest. Grandpa grabbed her as she fell and lowered her to the ground.
“Estella, what’s wrong?” my grandpa cried.
My mother turned around, the candles forgotten.
“Gerardo, what’s happening?”
She saw my grandmother on the ground.
“Oh, God, Estella!”
I’d started running when I saw my grandmother fall. Fear filled my heart. I went around the picnic table, pushed my way past the adults, and stopped beside my grandfather. He was on his knees, his head near hers, praying in Spanish.
Mr. Johnson shouted for someone to call an ambulance before kneeling down opposite my grandfather.
“Does she have a history of heart trouble?” he asked my distraught grandfather.
I paid no attention to what they were saying. I reached my hand out and placed it on my grandmother’s forehead. Then, with all my heart, I said, “Be okay.”
Grandma’s eyes fluttered. I pulled my hand away. She cleared her throat.
“What’s going on here? How did I wind up on the ground?”
Grandpa and Mr. Johnson turned and looked at her. Mr. Johnson was holding her wrist.
Grandma sat up and Grandpa put his arms around her.
“You scared me out of my wits,” he said. “What was the big idea?”
“Did you push me down?” she asked him.
“What? No! Of course not.”
“Are you going to help me up?”
Mr. Johnson let go of her wrist. “You really should wait for the ambulance.”
Grandma fixed him with a scathing stare. “I most certainly don’t need an ambulance. I’m fine. Now, someone help me up.”
She looked at me.
“Baldwin, help your grandma get up off the ground.”
I wasn’t sure what to do. I looked at Mr. Johnson. We both looked up at the sound of an ambulance siren in the distance growing closer.
“She’s breathing. Her pulse is steady. Her color is good. Darndest thing I’ve ever seen.”
My mother took my arm and gently moved me away from my grandma. Then, she and Travis helped her up. My grandpa dusted the grass off the back of her dress.
“Oh, goodness, look at those candles,” my grandmother said as she straightened her dress. “They’ve burned down to a nub.”
The ambulance siren got loud and then stopped. Seconds later, two attendants ran into the back yard.
Travis and Mr. Johnson met them. After a short conversation, the older of the two attendants approached my grandmother.
“Ma’am, are you sure you don’t want us to check you out?”
“Since you came all this way,” she said, smiling sweetly at the man, “I’ll let you take my temperature and check my pulse, but I won’t be going with you to the hospital.”
My mother told the rest of us to stay put while she and my grandfather went with my grandmother to the ambulance to be checked out.
Millicent appeared at my side and pointed at the picnic table.
“The candles burned all the way down and there’s wax all over the cakes.”
Millicent’s mom said, “We can scrape the wax off the cakes.”
Leanne sauntered up to me. “It’s a good thing my dad was here. He saved your grandmother’s life.”
“Baldwin saved her life,” Millicent told the girl. “All your dad did was take her pulse.”
Leanne sniffed and went back standing next to her mom.
“Why did you say I saved my grandmother?”
Millicent’s brows rose and her lips pressed into a thin line.
“I didn’t do anything,” I insisted.
Millicent punched my arm. “I saw you. You put your hand on her head and told her to be okay. Suddenly, she was okay.”
“Yeah, but not because of what I did.”
Millicent cast her eyes heavenward. “He doesn’t get it.”
She tugged me away from the others and into her yard.
“What?” I whined, rubbing my arm.
“How can you not know?” Millicent said through clenched teeth. “There’s something weird about you, Baldwin.”
I rubbed my bald head. “No kidding.”
“Not that. Something else. Something hidden. It’s like a secret power you have.”
I started laughing. “A secret power. You’re -” I was about to say crazy but was laughing too hard.
Millicent took me by the shoulders and shook me. “Think about it. First, Leland. Then, Sister Nelson. What about Percy? And now, your grandmother.”
My laughter ceased. “I didn’t do anything to hurt my grandma. Those other things weren’t my fault either.”
“I didn’t say you hurt your grandmother. You saved her. Whatever your power is, you can use it to hurt or help.”
As I thought about what Millicent said, I started feeling sick. I clamped my jaw shut and forced myself not to puke.
“If what you’re saying is true, then I’m a killer. I killed Leland. I killed Leland, crippled Sister Nelson, and hurt Percy.”
Millicent touched her chin with her finger and closed her eyes. When she opened them, she said, “They can’t count it against you if you didn’t know you were doing it.”
I kicked the ground, stubbing a toe in the process. Barefeet and kicking are not a good combination.
“Ouch!” I hopped up and down, holding my injured toe.
“Kicking the planet is not a good move, Baldwin,” Millicent deadpanned.
“It’s not funny. It hurts.”
She pointed at my foot. “Tell it to stop hurting.”
I snorted. “I think it’s broken.”
Millicent shook her head. “Tell it to stop hurting, right now, Baldwin!”
Hoping it would shut her up, I looked at my foot and commanded it to stop hurting. I lost my balance and landed flat on my back.
Millicent hovered over me. “How does your toe feel?”
“What do you think? It still -,”
But the toe didn’t hurt. I stared at it. Nothing. No pain. No redness. The toe felt fine.
“No way,” I whispered.
“Your toe is better, isn’t it?”
I hopped to my feet and took a few steps in a circle around my friend.
“It doesn’t hurt at all. It’s like I never stubbed it.”
Millicent waggled her shoulders and shot me a satisfied smirk.
Beyond her, I saw my grandmother and the others, without the ambulance team, returning to the back yard.
“Come on. Let’s see what they found out.”
The ambulance attendants had taken my grandmother’s temperature, pulse, blood pressure, monitored her breathing, tested her blood sugar, and could find nothing wrong. On the contrary, every measure was in the optimal range for her size and age.
Millicent’s mom and my mom did manage to scrape most of the candle wax from the cakes and the cakes were delicious. The ice cream could not be salvaged.
Millicent and I made a pact not to talk about my secret power to anyone else. We did plan to spend time in the library that summer trying to find an explanation.
We also decided that I needed to practice being careful about what I said and how I said things.
Next Chapter →
©2025 DW Davis All Rights Reserved
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