Becoming Naomi Leon

I quickly reached up and coralled a triangle of hair hanging in my eyes. I was trying to let my hair grow all one length, but in order to keep my bangs pinned back I needed three clips on each side. Gram had taken to calling me ‘brown shaggy dog’ because of my wild mop and my predisposition to brown-ness (eyes, hair and skin). I took after the Mexican side of the family, or so I’ve been told, and even though Owen was my full-blooded brother, he took after the Oklahoma lot. He did have brown eyes like me, but with fair skin and blonde hair in a bowl haircut that Gram called a Dutch boy. Due to my coloring, Owen called me the center of a peanut butter sandwich between two pieces of white bread, meaning him and Gram.

When Owen and I first came to live with Gram, I had slipped into being silent, and my hands shook all the time. I was too young to remember what caused it all, but Gram’s practical solution was to keep my mind and hands busy. Soap carving had been Bernardo’s idea, and he said I was born to it. ….And I would sit next to him with a bar of soap and a carving tool. Gram was nervous to death about me using a knife, so Bernardo started me out with a paper clip. As I proved my worth, I graduated to a plastic knife, a butter knife and finally, a paring knife.