"Her life was turning, turning,

In mazes of heat and sound.

But for peace her soul was yearning,

And now peace laps her round."

-Matthew Arnold

There was a buzz of warmth radiating throughout the tiny apartment of one Maritza Mendez, indicating an incoming day of festivities, in which Maritza hoped to make some new friends and welcome her new neighbors for some snacks, cake and cheap soda.

She had noticed her children were still a bit sad about living in a new city, so she thought that this would be a nice way for them to be more sociable with their new neighbors.

She invited everyone on her floor, with everyone but apartment D4 accepting the invite.

Apartment D4 was occupied by a crotchety old lady named Cassie Meliskewitz, A woman OBSESSED with making sure there was absolutely no noise in HER hallway at all times. She had angrily yelled obscenities at many children who had dared roam her halls during her decades of fascistic residency at the 4^th floor of this particular apartment building.

She did tell Maritza three days prior that she could HAVE her little party, but she also told her that she would be checking her clock consistently, and if Maritza dared to pass the 10:00 PM curfew, she would DEFINITELY inform the police and building security of this curfew infraction.

Crotchety indeed.

So Maritza feigned the best smile she could muster and agreed to Cassie’s terms.

When the day of the party arrived, so did her cousin Sierra, bright and early with bags full of decorations (much to the chagrin of Maritza, who adored her weekend rest) to help Maritza decorate, and to gossip about what had occurred just days prior. Sierra had recently been “Hanging out” with her old friend Lamar, and they have recently decided on possibly reconciling an old, almost forgotten flame.

So naturally, Sierra was eager to talk.

“Yo!” Sierra yelled through the door, “Let’s get this decoratin’ started! Open up, ya lazy bones!”

Maritza got up, looked at the alarm clock next to her bed that read 8:56AM, and threw herself back on the bed, groaning quiet obscenities to herself as she rubbed her eyes.

“I’m coming Titi!” Yelled an excited Zekito as he got up from staring at the TV he was watching and headed towards the door.

Zekito opened the five or so locks that held the door shut and then briskly opened the door. Zekito had grown to admire his ‘aunt’ (really second cousin) a lot in these past few weeks that they had been in New York, since his second home after school had been hanging out at his Auntie Sierra’s bodega, looking at the people coming in and out of the store.

He had learned to admire his auntie’s nice but stern attitude towards her regulars, along with her respectful but also semi sardonic tone towards her more magically inclined customers, which made him chuckle to himself constantly as they coyly alluded to wanting her more “Spiritual services”.

Plus it didn’t hurt that she paid him fifteen dollars a week to sweep up after the store closed.

Zekito jumped on his auntie Sierra and gave her a huge hug as she hugged right back and “Hey lokito, let me get in here, I got bags of stuff I gotta put in here!”

They walked in to see both Maritza and Flora yawning collectively and heading towards the living room from their respective bedrooms.

“Hey flora…” Sierra started to say as she saw Flora zip right past her and head towards the bathroom.

“meh,” Zekito retorted, “She’s always cranky in the morning. So, what did you bring us?”

Sierra opened the bag and showed her little nephew a banner showing a nice tropical theme, along with a bag of balloons that need inflating, and a few other things to brighten the place up.

They got to work quick.

As the room filled with the décor of island vibes and ocean waves, the normally droll apartment brimmed with a more lively ambiance that seemed to say “Welcome, come and vibe!”

“Soo…” Sierra said to Maritza as the kids went to their auntie’s bodega for a quick snack break, “Guess who I’ve been talking too?”

“Who?” responded Maritza as she blew up another balloon with her trusty balloon pump.

“Do you remember back in like, 1999?” She asked her cousin, as she took the balloon and stuck it to the ceiling with tape.

“Y.. yes.” Maritza responded more sullen and less enthusiastic now.

Sierra noticed her cousin’s face had turned a bit sour at the mere mention of that year, and apologized for having mentioned it at all.

“no, no it’s Okay,” Maritza said to her, “I just… I always go back to that night whenever I think of that year… you know, at the hospital.”

“Oh yeah, can’t really forget something like that,” Sierra said as she sat down on a nearby chair, “I still think about that time in my life a lot. I remember the news called it "The Orlando Regional medical center incident"...That little girl, what she did to her mother, I mean to turn her against you like that... Ugh I rememeber my friends Lamar… Liv… Vir…”

“Don’t even say his damn name.” Maritza interrupted as her eyes Glimmered blue for just a second.

Their talk was interrupted by a knock at the door.

“Mami,” Flora shouted as Zekito knocked again loudly, “There’s a girl here with us, she said we’re related or something and she wanted to see you.”