"THE LOOK"

           VAAIGAOMATA!!!! Once I heard my first name I just knew I did something wrong. I remember the sound of my mom yelling at the top of her lungs as if she were trying to let the heavens know what was going on. As soon as I heard her I knew that I had better get my little behind to her in record time. I knew exactly why I was in trouble.
          It was a hot Saturday afternoon. It was so hot I swear we could’ve fried eggs on the GRASS! The only cool place my siblings and I could think of to play our daily “House” game was under the porch. My brother Safune was the youngest and sneakiest. My sister Phelicia was the skinniest and went with everything I did. Now my cousin Arasi was the tallest and second oldest. She was my partner in crime. We did EVERYTHING together and we both went down together. The day before my mom had just spoken to us and told us that we were not to play under the porch no matter what. Even after we asked her she would just say those two words that meant business, “ONE WORD.” Once those words left her lips we knew we were to forever hold our peace. The words, “ONE WORD” meant that, once my mom says something you were to keep your mouth shut and not ask any questions. Now you must understand that when you’re young and someone tells you not to do something, you get that urge to do it anyways just to see what’ll happen if you did do it.
           Well my siblings looked at me and gave me “the look”. All brothers and sisters share a secret look that lets each other know what the other one is thinking without saying it out loud. My brother was the first one to give “the look”, and then my brother passed it to my sister, who passed it to my cousin, who finally let me in on the “secret”. We made our way to the back of the house.
           My brother put on his whole act “Let’s go play in the backyard and see how much grasshoppers we can catch!”
           As he said that I thought, that sneaky buggah, where does he get it from? So as we walked to the backyard I lay out the game plan.
           “Ok this is how it’s going to work. Arasi you come with me, Phelicia and Safune you make your way under the porch and in 5 minutes we’ll be on our way to join you guys. Got it. Get it. Good.”
           As they nodded their heads in unison I knew if we were to get into trouble I’d get the blame. We played house under the porch for the first time. I played the “single mom” role, my brother was my youngest child, Phelicia was the social worker, and Arasi was my crazy best friend that gave the social worker the hardest time of her life.
           “I don’t know how come u no stick yo nose in some addah lady’s business. Wat u no believe dat my friend ovah hea can raise one behbeh?”
           Arasi tried so hard to speak pidgin but always failed epically. She even had the whole neck bobbing move that looked more like a turkey with a tweaked neck. Every time we started to laugh we tried to muffle our sounds so it wouldn’t echo into the house. We were playing for a good 30 minutes until, “AHAHAHAHAHA”! Phelicia, Arasi and I turned to look at Safune in time to see his hand shoot up to his mouth faster than light itself. That’s when I knew that in the next 5 seconds I would hear…and as if she were reading my thoughts it came out clearer than day,
          “VAAIGAOMATA”!
           We moved so fast we could have been posted in Guinness Book of World Records for “Fastest Human.” As I look back at that day I feel like it was just yesterday. Even though we got lickens that day we had the most fun ever. I know that I will never forget that hot Saturday afternoon.
           I asked my sister if she still remembered the time we got in trouble and she asked, “Which time?”
           All I said was, “Under the porch.”
           Her whole face lit up as if she experienced her first Christmas.
          Her only answer was, “How could I forget?” and then she gave me one of those “secret” looks.