Zellia Enjoli - Swing, Lo!

 

I'm in seventh grade. I'm pretty smart. My boyfriend's pretty smart. So, we're like valedictorian, salutatorian couple of the year. I'm pretty popular, but I'm not full of myself. I'm pretty humble. [audience laughter] Seventh grade, seventh Grade. So, I'm at lunch. There's the cool kids club. You have your clique or you sit with them, this is what we do. If you're not part of this clique, you don't sit with us and drink your juice. That's how it goes. So, I'm sitting at lunch, everything's fine. Some kids run in from the playground, running, du, du, du. 

 

So, everybody calls me Z. You're going to call me that too. But my name is Zellia. And so, they run in from the playground, and all I hear is, “Zellia, Zellia.” And so, I'm sitting at the table, I'm like, “What has happened? People never say my name like this. What have I done?” And my heart drops. I'm like, “What's going on? What's going on?” So, I jump up, and they're like, “It's your little sister.” My little sister. She's in second grade. I see her sometimes in passing, but never really during the day. And they're like, “She fell off the swing. She's hurt really bad.” So, I'm freaking out. I know my mom is going to freak, so I'm like, “Oh, gosh.” 

 

So, I get up from the lunch table and I run outside. My little sister's literally crawling out of the dirt like a zombie. There's blood coming from her nose, in her mouth, and her glasses are all twisted and cracked. She's just bawling, walking toward me. I just grab her and I say, “Oh, my gosh, what happened? What happened?” I'm looking at the kids like, “Somebody tell me what happened, damn it.” [audience laughter] And they're like, “She fell off the swing.” And I'm like, “How? How did you fall off the swing?” So, I bend down to her and I'm like, “Tell me what happened. Tell me what happened,” holding her chin. She says, “We had a contest. [sobs]” And I'm like, “Okay, keep going.” I'm looking at the kids, “Support her. What happened?” 

 

“We had a contest, who can go over the top.” And I said, “Over the top of the swing set? We're in seventh grade. We don't even do that.” I said, “That's beastie.” I'm super excited, she's bowling. [audience laughter] And I'm like, “Oh, my gosh.” And I'm like, “So you're obviously hurt. Did you just let go or what happened?” She's like, “I made it over the top.” [audience laughter] So, she's bawling, blood is in her tears. And I'm like, “I have to tell my mom what happened.” Everybody, “Zellia, Zellia, what are you going to do?” So, I take her broken, crumpled up glasses off and stick them in my skirt pocket and super small and then I walk her to the front office. 

 

The kids were laughing and stuff, and I turn around and I'm like, “Shut up. At least she went over. [audience laughter] What did you do?” So, we get to the office and I'm like, “Well, what happened once you got over?” She's like, “Well, I let go.” And I'm like, “Why?” She's like, “Well, in the movies, you let go and then you land on your feet.” [audience laughter] I'm like, “You got more guts than all these kids.” And I'm wiping away the tears and the blood, and I'm like, “It's going to be okay. You're going to be okay.” She's just crying and they call my mom. And of course, my mom freaks, because she's super, just protective. She's like, “Oh, my gosh, are you serious?” “No, mom, I'm kidding.” I'm like, “Yeah, mom. Serious. Her glasses are crushed. She's in bad shape.” 

 

My little sister, she laid on my shoulder. We were affectionate, I think, as young sisters. But it was the first time I felt like I was her protector. I turned around and told those kids to “Shut up, at least my little sister made it over. You little punk. You couldn't even get over the top.” Well, when I got home, my little sister was sitting at the table with my granny doing her homework and she looked up and she was like, “Thank you. Thanks for today.” And my mom was like, “What happened? Just tell me the whole story.” And in retrospect, I'm this older sister, yes, I'm her protector. And at the same time, I was like this coolest kid in class. When I ran to her on the playground, it wasn't really about who I was or who was watching us. It was just like everybody else disappeared, and it was me and my little sister in this spotlight. 

 

And I'm like, “I'm going to be here. I'm still in that spotlight. I'm still here. Whether you're late on a car payment, whether you ran out of gas, whether you broke up with him because he's an idiot and most of you are idiots. [audience laughter] Whatever it is, I'm going to be here and everybody else will disappear, and it'll just be our spotlight and our sister love and I love you.”