Actually

I am 17 painting
Baseboards with
Oil-based paint while
My sister Sarah who is 15
Uses a roller brush to apply
Latex paint on walls in our
Dad’s rent house in San Antonio when we
Hear a knock on the front door closer to me so I check it out and
Am facing a woman in her twenties
Who looks at me and then asks if
So and so lives here and I
Try not to stutter or fall
Flat casually replying
Well, actually …, no
One lives here
At this time
While we
Are
Painting …
She squints
At me as the sun
Is cruelty bright then
Realizes I am a big kid
Thanks me and drives off.
Sarah who has been listening
Out of sight saunters onto
The front porch where I
Am standing looks at
Me like I am a piece
Of bruised fruit in
A grocery shelf
And casually
Mimics me
Saying
Well,
Actually …
I laugh and
Tell her I was just
Trying not to slobber
Or break wind and she
Laughs as well then
We go back to our
Painting chores
Closer as sibs
Than ever
Before,
We are
Beginning
To like each
Other after the
Great Orc and Goblin
Wars we fought in
As little kids and
Teens but now
Sibs forever
Unlearning
Take no
Prisoners
Give no
Second
Chances,
Actually ...