The Neighborhood Kids

This story may contain a sensitive topic including the death of a child.

Diego lived at 2301 Fairfax Avenue, Unit 111. That was two doors down from me at 2301 Fairfax Avenue, Unit 113. It was just him and his brother Marco every day. Early in the morning, I’d sit by the dining room window. There they’d be at exactly 7:08 AM walking side by side to school. That’s when I knew to grab my backpack, my mom Linette, a single mom of three, would have packed and ready for me. They were my visual alarm clock.

My older brother and older sister were already gone by then. Lena was housed against my mom’s will at her high school sweetheart’s loft downtown. Bruno was working a full-time job as a temp while working a second job two evenings during the week on top of shifts on the weekend as a bartender. He was trying to put himself through school. Next semester, he planned on taking some classes at the community college. 

So, when mom went to work, she left me in charge of myself. Sometimes, I’d even feed the dog, a stray named Banjo that Bruno inherited from his ex-girlfriend. I knew to get up, shower, and eat breakfast. I knew the Puerto Rican brothers two doors down always walked to school at the same time. So, when Diego and Marco walked out the door, it was time to get going myself.

Outside, the wind hit my face like taking off a fresh bandaid too fast. I wasn’t dressed for the chill fall weather. I heard the sounds of soft footsteps behind me. I didn’t bother to look, I knew whose steps those belonged. 

“Hi, Lila,” I whispered. 

I always talked low to Lila. She was my age but acted so much younger.

“Hi,” I heard her mumble back. 

She never addressed me by name. In fact, I don’t think she even knew my name, despite living in the circle for as long as I did. She was the middle child of the Taiwanese family that lived in the adjoining corner between me and the brothers. She had a dog too. The dog’s name was Luna, another stray. Everyone in the neighborhood knew them as the Two L’s. Most people would only call out to Luna when they were out walking. I don’t think anyone else besides me, Diego, and Marco knew Lila’s name. 

Lila was always outside with her dog. Most of the time, she did nothing. Just hung around the porch, playing ball with the dog. I didn’t blame her. Her family was always arguing inside the apartment. They at least had the decency to put her outside when a screaming match would arise and they’d put the dog out too. 

I guess I was Lila’s visual alarm. I quickened my pace and caught up to Diego and Marco.

“What’s up?” Diego, the older of the two, greeted me.

Marco and I nodded at each other. Behind us, Lila hurried her steps, then slowed down. She didn’t have the bravery today to join us. She liked walking close enough to us that she looked like she was walking with a group, but left a gap large enough so she didn’t have to talk to us.

Diego waved back at her.

“Good morning, Lila!” Diego was always super nice to Lila.

“Anything going on?” I asked. 

I’d seen a lot of family members from out of town go in and out of their place lately.

Marco’s mood darkened. He looked off to the side, pretending to see something interesting.

“Well,” Diego began, drawing in a big sigh. “It’s heavy, dude. I got this thing called leukemia. It’s got my mom worried. She’s worried about hospital bills.”

Marco shook his head.

“It’s more than that,” Marco offered in his raspy pre-adolescent voice.

“Whoa,” I said. 

I didn’t really understand what leukemia was, but I knew it was bad. I had heard my mom talking about it with Bruno a few times over dinner. They had talked sadly about it.

“It’s all good,” Diego reassured us. “I’m a tough guy. I’m going to beat this.”

If there was ever a tough guy, Diego looked the part. He was darker-skinned than Marco and a lot bigger. Both in reference to up and down and side to side. We lived in a neighborhood in which not everyone’s siblings shared the same father. So that could have been the discrepancy with looks. Diego also had an intimidating, booming voice for a kid. But inside, I knew what a softy he could be. He was the one that found Lila’s dog, Luna, as a stray. He knew she always wanted a dog, especially after Bruno brought home Banjo. Her looks of longing and inadequacy were at their peak the summer Banjo entered our lives. Diego encountered a mutt at the creek. He asked Lila’s mom if it was ok for Lila to have Luna. Lila’s mom felt so bad about Lila not having any friends and all the yelling at home that she said it was ok.

Thinking about Lila, I glanced back at her. I knew she was listening to our conversation. She didn’t express any emotion, but I really couldn’t see her face. She walked with her head hanging low.

The school year happened and summer came around. I didn’t see Diego much towards the end of the school year and never at all during summer. I helped Lila out of a playground fight where she was about to get pummeled by an older, bigger girl when she didn’t let them play with Luna. Usually, that was Diego’s job. He appointed himself the neighborhood protector against bullies, but he wasn’t around and neither was Marco for that matter.

The next school year started again in the fall. On the first day of school, to my relief, the boys were out and walking to school again at 7:08 AM. Quickly, I ran out the door almost forgetting to lock it.

“Diego!” I yelled. 

His big, friendly face broke out with a big smile. He was completely bald now. And he had lost weight, a lot of weight. But it didn’t look good. There was little muscle and extra skin where the fat used to be. I didn’t care about any of it. I was just glad to see my friend. Our families didn’t talk to each other much. Everybody’s families everywhere were always working. We were always on our own. That’s why I didn’t know what was going on with Diego. The few times I had knocked on his door, no one was ever home or they weren’t answering.

“What’s up?” Diego beamed. 

He was still a warm light of caring energy. We caught each other up with the mundane happenings of our lives. I told him how Bruno quit his job, but he didn’t start school as he wanted. He ended up buying a car for my mom so she didn’t have to take the bus to work anymore. The good news was, that he got a promotion at his day job and was able to quit the restaurant job.

Diego had a lot of updates as well. Marco ended up staying at a cousin’s house over the summer so their family could take Diego to treatments more easily. Diego’s white and red blood cell counts were looking good. They were hopeful about things.

Behind us, I heard the familiar scuffle of quiet feet.

“Hey, Lila!” Diego called out, welcomingly.

This time, Lila joined us. I was very surprised, but Diego and even Marco acted like she hung out with us all the time. I moved over so Lila could walk comfortably with us and still have her space.

“Hi Diego,” Lila began in a much more confident voice than I’d ever heard her speak in. “I’m so glad to see you. I was wondering where you’ve been...”

Lila informed him of my heroics of the summer and how I helped her out on the playground. The conversation went on like that. Pretty soon, we just started talking about “normal” kid things. Marco wanted the latest video game on Playstation. I was talking about how much I practiced basketball on the court, but I didn’t think I’d ever make a team. Even Lila shared. She was teaching a lot of tricks to Luna and thinking how she was kind of like those dog trainers on Youtube and TV. Diego drank in all of our words. He said a lot, but never about himself. 

The years went on. Eventually, Lila and her family moved away. Her mom had divorced her abusive dad and found another husband. Lila’s stepdad was a lot nicer to both her and her mother. They moved into his townhome, in a much nicer neighborhood. 

Bruno and my mom pulled their money together and we also moved from the neighborhood. We moved into a single-family house just a five-minute drive away from Fairfax Avenue. It’s amazing how far a five-minute drive is when it comes to neighborhood areas. My new house was situated in a different school district and everyone was a happy middle-class type. 

I don’t know when was the last time I saw Diego. When my family moved, we didn’t even exchange phone numbers. My excuse was, that I didn’t have a phone of my own. I did, however, see Marco once more.

Even though we lived in different school districts, sometimes, I’d catch a glimpse of him at school sporting events. I put in a lot of practice and eventually made the high school varsity basketball team. I saw him at one of our games, sitting in a big puffy jacket on the bleachers. 

At halftime, I walked over to him.

Marco nodded, acknowledging me.

“Hey, man,” I smiled in greeting. “Long time, no see.”

Marco smiled his expression far off. I sat with him for a few minutes. We laughed about the characters in our old neighborhood, exchanging updates on who we knew. I had known that Diego passed away a couple of years ago. There had been no fanfare farewell. No school announcements, no big neighborhood vigil, and no funeral that friends could attend. Diego was just gone. I didn’t know if Marco wanted me to bring up Diego. I didn’t how raw it was for him. 

“Hey,” Marco started. “You know what happened to Lila?”

I nodded. 

“She’s okay now,” I said, recalling the last time I encountered her. “She’s getting good grades. I think she had a boyfriend. I don’t know if they’re still together. But yeah, she’s ok…Heard her dog ran away though.”

“I’m thinking about giving her a call,” Marco stated. “I always wanted to talk to her more.”

I smiled at that in encouragement. We shook hands and parted. After the game, I looked for Marco, but his spot was empty. I never ran into him again, but when I think about my first neighborhood, I’ll always think of Marco, Lila, and Diego.