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July 14, 1990.Rafael sat on the porch steps, curiously looking at the car that just pulled up at his neighbor's curb. He'd never seen it before and it looked too nice to belong to someone from his neighborhood. He looked on as the back door sprung open before the car had even parked properly, and a flash of blue caught his eye. Even more curious now, Rafael stood up to get an even better view. From here, he could see more of the boy who practically jumped out of the car and onto the grass; he was scrambling to put his blue cap back on before standing and running into his neighbor's yard.”Mijo, ¿quién llego?” his mother asked from inside, following the closing of the car door.”No one, mami. Someone’s at la vecina’s house.”La vecina, his neighbor, was a woman in her mid-sixties who rarely had visitors. Rafael really only saw her early in the mornings when he was eating breakfast and she was watering her lawn.After watching everyone else in the car emerge and make their way into the house, Rafael went inside to watch whatever channel his mother already had the TV set on.
He went back outside hours later to find the car gone, but the boy in the blue cap was standing on one side of the yard, throwing a baseball through a tire that was set up across from him.
July 30, 1990.Rafael had spent the past few weeks observing the boy who seemed to be staying next door. Every day he would spot him outside, wearing the same blue cap, throwing a baseball onto the roof and attempting to catch it when it rolled off.Rafael wasn't a social kid. While most kids his age spent their summer with friends or cousins within their age group, he spent his summer alone, with the exception of his mami and abuelita. He spent his summer alone, up until the new kid next door accidentally threw his baseball over the fence separating Rafael’s yard from his neighbor’s.Rafael eyed the ball as it rolled towards the gate. A look of confusion set on his face, he looked at the fence only to see the boy next door already peering at him from over the top of it. A grin took over the other boy’s expression as soon as Rafael looked back at him.”Hi! My name is Sonny. My ball went into your yard by accident, ” he called out, pointing at the baseball that has settled in the grass. Rafael didn't move, just looked at him, and noticed he was missing one of his front teeth. All that proved was that Sonny was around his age.After a few seconds of silence, Sonny furrowed his eyebrows and decided he may as well get the ball on his own. Instead of walking around to enter the adjoining yard from the gate, he just climbed up the fence, threw his legs over the top, and jumped into Rafael’s yard. He retrieved his ball, but instead of jumping the fence again, he just stared at Rafael. Sonny, who probably could have won the award for most friendly first grader, stepped towards him and introduced himself for a second time.”I’m Sonny. My ma tells me it's rude not to answer someone. What's your name?”Rafael also noticed that Sonny didn’t pronounce his r’s properly.”I’m Rafael. Sonny is a baby’s name.””Is not. My nana says it's a perfect name for me. Rafael sounds too grown up.”Given Sonny’s apparent incapability to roll his r’s, Rafael corrected him on the pronunciation of his name.”Rafael.””I said that!””You said it wrong.”Giving up, Sonny tossed his ball back and forth between his hands.”Do y’wanna be friends? I don't have any here.” he asked, sitting criss-cross on the ground in front of Rafael, who was sitting on the last porch step. Rafael studied him for a brief second before nodding. Sonny brightened and scrambled to get onto his knees, moving forwards to pull Rafael into a bone-crushing hug. Then, in an instant, Sonny was up and running back towards the fence, climbing over it and calling for his nana to break the news that he made friends with the boy next door. Rafael was confused by how weird Sonny is, standing up and walking inside to tell his mami everything that just happened with the weird kid staying with la vecina.”At least you have a friend now, mijo, ” is what his mother told him after he rambled for minutes about Sonny. ”Go play with him. Invite him over, les preparo algo de comer.” With that, she shooed him out the door, leaving him with no other choice but to go next door and ask his new friend of twenty minutes if he wanted to come over.Rafael didn't even have to wait ten seconds for the door to open once he rang the doorbell. Sonny eagerly opened the door and didn't miss a beat to accept Rafael’s invitation to come over. He said goodbye to his nana and the two were off, running back to Rafael’s house as soon as Rafael had said, ”race you there.”Racing up the porch steps was dangerous, both boys nearly tripping over a step. They touched the door at the same time, stopping to argue over who won. Rafael’s mother opened the door to reveal her son pointing a finger at his friend and insisting he’d won as the other boy swatted his hand away. They walked inside, Sonny ceasing the argument to introduce himself to Rafael’s mother.”Hi! My name is Sonny. My ball landed in your yard by accident earlier. I forgot it when I left.””Rafi told me! My name is Lucia. There's some sandwiches in the kitchen if you're hungry, Sonny.” Lucia was thrilled for Rafael to have a friend come over; it was a thing that never happened. Sonny was the first to step into the kitchen, Rafael following close behind.They sat at the table together, eating their sandwiches in silence. They made a compromise about halfway through: Rafael gave Sonny his crusts, and Sonny gave Rafael his slices of tomato.Once they were done eating, they went upstairs to Rafael’s room. Sonny immediately took an interest in the vast amount of toy cars he had in a box, insisting they make them race along every surface of the bedroom. The afternoon consisted of racing different cars at a time, making vroom vroom noises, and making a mess of Rafael’s room as they moved things out of their place for a new surface to race on.”Rafa, you cheated! You're not supposed to drive on the bed!” Sonny exclaimed as Rafael drove his car along the headboard.”I didn't cheat! It's my room, I can make rules. I can drive my car on the bed.””But you said it was cheating when I did it!””Because it's not your room.””But that isn't fair. Let me drive my car on the bed!” Sonny was now standing, jumping on an empty spot of the bed. Instead of arguing with him, Rafael took his car from his grip and threw it on the floor.”You can't race a car up here if you don't have a car, Sonny.”Sonny, now visibly annoyed, practically pounced on Rafael in an attempt to take his car away. Rafael held it as far away from his body as possible, his upper body nearly hanging over the edge of the bed. Sonny saw his stretched arm as an advantage and started to tickle him, causing Rafael to curl into himself and eventually, the two of them fell off the bed, now laughing hysterically because Sonny had initiated a tickle war.Before they knew it, the sun was setting, and Lucia had let them know that Sonny had to go back to his nana’s before it got too dark.“Tomorrow you can come over to my nana’s, Rafa! She has a lot of old stuff she lets me play with. She’s really happy I have a friend now!” Sonny announced a little too loudly as Lucia walked them both next door to get Sonny home safely, Rafael insisting he tag along so he could say goodnight. He looked up at his mother for permission and grinned when she gave him a nod in response.“Goodnight, Sonny!” Rafael called as Sonny entered the house.“Night, Rafa! Don’t forget to come over tomorrow!” Sonny called back before finally closing the door, leaving Rafael and Lucia to head back home.