Twelve Twelve Twelve

a.) When I was twelve, I lived on the grounds of a mental asylum. b). My Filipino mother was a psychiatrist, so that meant we lived in the doctor’s quarters— one of the three big brick houses that edged the institute. c). My younger sister and I practiced Herkies— our favorite cheerleading jumps— off the patients’ bleachers near the softball field. d). When I was twelve, I aced the experiments with celery and food coloring; they let me skip a whole grade and get right to The Dissections. e). I secretly wished my supply of grape Bubble Yum would never run out but I couldn’t figure out how to blow bubbles and snap the lavender gum like Sara could. f). We sold gift wrap and crystals for a junior high fund-raiser and my mom still asks Where are all the crystals I bought? and Why don’t you display them in your house? g). When I was twelve, I worried about the darkening hair on my legs. My mother bought me my first training bra— no cup, just little triangle pieces stitched together— and then a slice of New York-style cheesecake to bring home. h). Home. i). When I was twelve, our house always smelled of fried lumpia or ginger. j). We had zinnias as wide as my outstretched hand nodding at us in our garden. k). My school had to create a whole new bus stop just for my sister and me, and everyone stopped talking and stared when we stepped onto the bus each morning, smelling of grape gum and ginger roots. l.) Just who are these girls?