60 minutes

"I'll give you one hour to clean your room." Mama yelled at me because the floor in my room is unclear. "okay ma" I say looking into her eyes as if she despises me. I turn around and look at the ground. 5 minutes, I've picked up the trash, 10 minutes, I've picked up the clothes, 15 minutes, I've folded the clothes and put them away. 30 more minutes. 5 minutes, I've made my bed, 10 minutes, I've vacuumed. now I sit down on my clean bed and write in my notebook. I neatly fold the note. I won't have to worry about my mama saying I missed a spot, after all, I'll be gone by then. I leave the neatly folded note on the neatly made bed I used to rest my 11 year old head on. mama walks in by the time I'm gone. she looks around and smiles. she looks at the neatly folded note and unfolds it. "Carlos touched me, mama." it said. Mama's tears ran down her cheeks and she collapsed to the floor. now my mama takes pictures of the sky and always asks herself why, she left Carlos for someone else, has a do-over-daughter and made everything right. as if nothing happened. it all felt like in happened within that 60 minutes.