The Home That Ranked Me Below Ten Pets, I Don't Want It

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The day my sister's ten pets each got their own private air conditioner, I thought my turn had finally come.

But the new unit installed today got hooked up to Amelia Fox's figurine cabinet instead.

In a hundred and four degrees, I broke.

"I bought that air conditioner with money I earned working!"

Mom couldn't have cared less.

"Mia's figurines can't take the heat. You wait for the next one."

I couldn't stand it anymore, so I curled up beside the figurine cabinet.

Half of me freezing, half of me burning, but at least it was cool.

Dad, though, got worked up and told me to get out.

"You're stealing the cold air and ruining the cooling. If Mia's figurines get heat-damaged, are you going to pay for it?"

Furious, he locked every room with an air conditioner in it.

I retreated to the room they'd converted from the balcony and watched the ancient, creaking fan finally give out completely.

I accepted the offer for the overseas assignment in East Africa.

This air conditioner I'd waited twelve years for, I didn't want to wait any longer.

...

Drifting in and out of sleep in the heat, I heard laughter from the living room.

"Mia, slow down. I just juiced that watermelon for you, and I chilled it too."

The crisp clink of ice against the glass made my thirst unbearable.

Dizzy and reeling, I walked out, and Mom shot me a look.

"Sleeping till the sun's high in the sky. How did you get so lazy?"

Lazy?

I wanted to wake up fresh and clear every day too.

But every night I tossed and turned in the heat, unable to sleep.

Until at the end I'd almost passed out from it.

I didn't have the strength to say anything.

I just stared at what was left of my sister's watermelon juice, unable to look away.

The ice, clear and glittering.

Wisps of cold rising off it.

But Mom picked it up and poured it straight into the dog's bowl.

"It's so hot out, we can't let Mia's babies overheat."

All that was left in front of me was a bowl of spoiled leftovers.

In front of my sister was a bowl of freshly made seafood chowder.

The leftovers reeked, sour and rank, and my sister pinched her nose in disgust.

"If you like eating garbage, fine, but can't you keep it away from people instead of grossing everyone out on purpose?"

Without a word, I dumped the leftovers into the trash.

Mom saw it and flew into a rage. "How can you waste food like that? Do you have any idea how hard we work for our money?"

And yet every month they bought the freshest imported fruit and vegetables for Mia's guinea pigs.

Ten pets, thousands of dollars a month just to feed them.

Beside me, my sister dumped out her chowder too.

"So gross."

The second Mom saw it, her face switched to tenderness.

"You don't want this, Mia? Then Mom will buy you something new. What do you want?"

My sister rattled off a whole list.

"I want shrimp dumplings, and crab cakes, and a mango pudding."

"Okay, okay, Mom will order it right now."

My head splitting, I choked back tears and held out my hand to Mom.

"Mom, give me ten dollars. I want to go buy some heatstroke medicine."

Mom rolled her eyes.

"What sickness are you faking? Didn't you just earn money working? Now you're squeezing the family for cash. You really know how to work an angle!"

But my money had all gone toward the air conditioner.

Back then Mom and Dad said they wanted to buy the best one.

It burned through every cent I'd saved.

I thought they were doing it because they cared about me.

Turned out they cared about my sister's figurines.

Off to the side, Dad wiped his mouth and stood up, impatient.

"Since you're going down anyway, stop by the pickup point and haul up Mia's new figurine. It weighs a good forty pounds. Don't make her go stand out in the sun."

He fished five dollars out of his pocket and tossed it on the table.

"For your trouble."

I looked at the five dollars, my voice dry. "That's not enough for the medicine."

"Are you stupid? Just tell the pharmacy you only want one bottle!"

He shoved me out the door and told me to hurry my legs up and not waste my sister's time.

The forty-pound package wouldn't fit in the elevator.

Gritting my teeth, I dragged it up the stairs one step at a time.

Sweat blurred my sight, and all four of my limbs were shaking.

I finally reached the door and used the last of my strength to push it open.

And stepped straight into the bubble tea my sister had just tossed out.

My foot slid, and the huge box crashed down hard on top of me.

Mom and Dad both cried out at the same moment.

A faint warmth rose in my chest. So they did still worry about me after all.

But they went around me where I lay on the floor and rushed straight for the box.

"Oh my God! The box isn't broken, is it?"

"Mia's new limited-edition figurine! Please let it be okay!"

They lifted the box with painstaking care, checking every corner and edge.

From start to finish, not one of them so much as glanced at me.

I lay on the floor, the pain at the back of my head slowly going numb.

And that ridiculous little scrap of hope at the bottom of my heart finally shattered for good.