Chapter 28: John Tyler’s Little Shadow

Rosa was the perfect addition to the Milito-Paz family.

Ari, Marisol, and Rosa have breakfast together on the balcony.

She was not particularly talented, but she was sweet and funny, and had a wonderful imagination. She loved to play with dolls and dress up in costumes.  But there was nothing she loved more than to hang out with her big brother, John Tyler.

At first, John Tyler resented Rosa’s attention. “Can’t you make her stop following me around?” he complained to his parents. “She’s like a shadow!”

“It’s just something that little brothers and sisters do,” Marisol explained with a shrug. “You’ll just have to get used to it.”

Eventually, by the time John Tyler became a teenager, he did grow used to it. In fact, he began to enjoy having a little sister to boss around and teach about the world. Of course, not everything he taught her was accurate, but Rosa didn’t know any better.

“You see, if women eat sushi, then they can turn into mermaids.”

“So, if I don’t do your chores for you sometimes, then the gypsies will sneak in during the night and take me away?”

“If you’re a good girl, then Santa will bring you presents for Christmas. But if you’re bad, then Santa will eat you. That’s why he’s so fat, from eating the bad kids.”

 

John Tyler also made a very useful discovery – having a little sister took his parents’ attention off of him, so that now he could do pretty much whatever he wanted, without getting caught. For example, his parents did not know that he smoked an occasional cigarette when hanging out with his friends. Nor did they know that, whenever they were out watching Rosa’s soccer games and ballet recitals, John Tyler usually invited over his girlfriend, Wendy, for makeout sessions in the jacuzzi. They also did not notice that John Tyler and Wendy had grown pretty serious about each other.

John Tyler and his girlfriend, Wendy

And John Tyler preferred to keep things that way.