On the second day of summer break 1997, Arvin Gupta\u2019s best friend in the world, Tucky Sinkowa, showed Arvin his fabulous, sparkling magic.<\/p>\n
The silence that followed Tucky\u2019s illuminating pink display, which had lit the entire basement and the brightly colored borders of the yellow vintage movie posters Tucky\u2019s father hung defiantly during the divorce proceedings, was a silence that came only after moments of great revelation. It was not unlike the time Tucky told Arvin in confidence of his first wet dream. Then they were huddled in mummy bags beneath the massive wooden entertainment center in Arvin\u2019s living room. The credits of \u2018Life of Brian\u2019 rolled above them as Eric Idle sang, hung high above the desert sands, an ornament dangling in the idyllic blues of the television sky, his whistles filling the awkward spaces between the boys\u2019 uncomfortable pre-teen breaths. Then, Arvin knew what to say.<\/p>\n
But that was weeks ago. And this wasn\u2019t a wet dream. <\/p>\n
An itch crept up Arvin\u2019s leg brace. He dug at it with a pencil, eager to return attentions to his magical friend. \u201cSo you\u2019re like a fairy,\u201d Arvin said finally. <\/p>\n
\u201cNo, idiot,\u201d Tucky said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWell, I don\u2019t get it,\u201d Arvin said. He thought for a moment. More scratching. \u201cJust to confirm. You\u2019re not gay?\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know. You acted like you had this big secret. I just thought–\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cJust shut up, Arvin. This is serious,\u201d Tucky said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, but I just want you to know it\u2019s totally fine if you are. I mean my mom, she had a gay friend before–\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDude, really. Just shut up. This isn\u2019t about you,\u201d Tucky said. His sweaty palms ran through his greasy mop-top as he began to pace the room, bouncing from corner to corner like a trapped fly while Arvin sat motionless and watched.<\/p>\n
\u201cSorry,\u201d Tucky said. \u201cI didn\u2019t mean to cut you off. I know how hard it is for you to talk about her.\u201d Smells of Fourth of July picnics wafted through the room. \u201cBut really, Arv, you can\u2019t tell anyone.\u201d His high-pitched voice was hushed and urgent, clearly sore. The ask was unnecessary because the boys both knew Arvin didn\u2019t have anyone to tell. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re a superhero,\u201d Arvin said. \u201cCan you imagine what Becky would do if she saw this? She might actually notice you.\u201d She was all Tucky talked about lately, unattainable, pretty and popular.<\/p>\n
\u201cCool it, okay? Becky can\u2019t know. No one can. I know you think this is cool, but it isn\u2019t. It hurts. My throat and eyes burn, my hands sting, and it, it just sucks, okay?\u201d His voice cracked. He wiped his brow. Yellow sweat stains from generously applied anti-perspirant clung to his tee and resembled melted butter on rice. \u201cI\u2019m like Jubilee, the lamest X-Man ever. Who gives a damn about Jubilee? No, I\u2019m even worse than her. I can\u2019t even control this… this thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d Arvin asked as he tucked his bad leg beneath his blanket. His brace caught on its thick fibers. <\/p>\n
\u201cLike, sometimes, stuff just comes out,\u201d Tucky said.<\/p>\n
Before Arvin could ask from where \u2018stuff comes out,\u2019 the stairwell lit up. A shadow bent and crawled down the steps, finally resting on Tucky\u2019s bony shoulder. \u201cBoys,\u201d Tucky\u2019s father, Red Sinkowa, said from above.
\n\u201cLights out.\u201d He paused. \u201cWhat is that ungodly smell? Christ, are you two lighting firecrackers in the house again?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, Dad,\u201d Tucky said. He shuffled to the window and cracked it open. \u201cJust burned some popcorn. We\u2019ll be quiet.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t be quiet. Go to bed.\u201d Red had a woman over, Janelle. Janelle reeked of hairspray and cotton candy. Her nails were long and blue. Family dinners with her were strained conversations between bites of rubbery pizza and lukewarm breadsticks. She was not bookish and kind like Tucky\u2019s mother, Alice, the elementary school librarian. <\/p>\n
Alice would have let them stay up.<\/p>\n
And so they went to bed. Arvin spread out on the floor in a tangle of patchwork blankets and old bed pillows beneath the lumpy couch that Tucky occupied. The putrid after smell from Tucky\u2019s display had faded into something more pleasant. Something like jello. Arvin looked up at Tucky\u2019s feet hanging over him, periscoping out from a moldy blue blanket, and he thought of his friend, the guy attached to those little feet. This magic, curse though Tucky thought it was, was the best thing that had ever happened to Tucky whether he knew it or not. It was a way out of dingy basements and torn families. A path to recognition. <\/p>\n
Arvin\u2019s heart pounded with excitement. Before Tucky\u2019s powers, it had only been a matter of time before Tucky moved on to greener pastures rife with better friends, friends who could go out, run and play sports, friends who weren\u2019t afraid of cars and had the shiny new learner’s permits to prove it. But now, overnight, Tucky had become a freak like Arvin, and Arvin felt a profound and moral obligation to help Tucky weather this crisis by honing his sudden and mysterious powers. <\/p>\n
\u201cArv?\u201d Tucky whispered. <\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, Tuck?\u201d Arvin said.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo you ever think about them?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYour mom and sister,\u201d Tucky said. <\/p>\n
\u201cAll the time,\u201d Arvin said, scratching at his brace.<\/p>\n
\u201cArv?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease don\u2019t tell anyone,\u201d Tucky said. \u201cI want to make it go away before we go back to school.\u201d<\/p>\n
In sixth grade, Arvin learned to practice active listening in Ms. Gilroy\u2019s social studies class. It was a few weeks after his mom and sister were buried, and he had only recently returned to school. None of his peers seemed to know how to act around him, so they reached some sort of unspoken consensus to ignore him. His tragedy followed him with every limping step, leaving silence in his creaking wake. <\/p>\n
Arvin\u2019s therapist had told him to open up, to put himself out there and show his friends that he was stronger than his bad leg, but he had no friends because they had abandoned him. And he was weak. So he stood in the back of the room and watched alone as rows of his classmates, pubescent pre-teens in tiny desks, partnered up to rephrase and regurgitate key terms from mindless conversations. He had given up on participating in the activity and had started a slow, shameful walk to the front of the room to notify Ms. Gilroy. <\/p>\n
Then Tucky came over and asked to be his partner. <\/p>\n
Now sensing the distress in his friend\u2019s muffled voice, Arvin sat up and looked Tucky square in the eyes. \u201cYou want to make it go away before we go back to school?\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what I just said,\u201d Tucky said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut why would you want that?\u201d<\/p>\n
Tucky didn\u2019t answer. <\/p>\n
Cool summer air crept in from the open window and filled their lungs with sleep.
\n<\/p>\n
The boys spent most of the summer together after that night. Arvin\u2019s dad had to be away to attend the trial, and Red, who worked from home, offered to let Arvin stay with him and Tucky. Before Arvin\u2019s dad left, he warned Arvin that Arvin may have to tell the court how the man sped away after the accident. The mere thought of a drive to the courthouse made Arvin\u2019s head spin. <\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Tucky wasn\u2019t doing well. Like an unforgiving histamine rash, Tucky\u2019s magic worsened as summer grew hotter. Calamine ointments failed to relieve his oversized, peroxide-doused pores that sparked when he got excited. As he had earlier attested to Arvin, symptoms and their appearances were totally random. The slightest sneeze would have Tucky spewing glamorous, charring streams of glittery mucus into his father\u2019s kerchief, staining it with tie-dye randomness that appeared intentional and hip like a slap bracelet. As a result, by mid-summer, Tucky had developed a reputation as a sneezing and dashing wonder, a boy with an inexplicably sparkly mouth. To keep Tucky\u2019s powers secret, Arvin instructed Tucky to tell inquirers that he habitually ingested pop rocks and coke, a daring act that every teen and pre-teen knew had potentially deadly ramifications. <\/p>\n
Numerous backyard experiments proved that Tucky couldn\u2019t control his powers, but Arvin was convinced that this was a result of a mental roadblock, a hang-up that Tucky could overcome if he simply stepped up and owned his gift. What they needed was a public display of Tucky\u2019s powers, a way to let the world in on their secret, a high pressure moment that could give them a karate kid challenge, something to overcome. <\/p>\n
Because Arvin\u2019s nascent phobias prevented him from getting into cars except in cases of extreme emergency, the boys\u2019 options for public appearances were practically limited to the grocery store, a small ice-cream shop, and the neighborhood pool. Tucky hesitantly opted for the pool, which was a few blocks away from his home and a bit more public than Arvin would have liked for Tucky\u2019s first outing as a real wizard. But the risk was worth it. If Arvin\u2019s plan worked, Tucky would become Tucky the Magical, Tucky the Incredible, Tucky the Stupendous. Maybe even Tucky the guy with a girlfriend. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou know it\u2019s 95 degrees out, right?\u201d Tucky said to Arvin at the pool, interrupting day dreams. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you don\u2019t have to wear jeans to the pool,\u201d Tucky said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh yeah, I know.\u201d Arvin said. He rubbed his brace and the scars on his leg that he wished to keep hidden. With each touch, memories of the last ride with his mom and sister coursed through him and left him tingling. \u201cMy swimsuit is in the wash,\u201d he said. \u201cLook, I was doing some research about your powers, and I was thinking. The more we know about how you got them, the more we can control them.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cReading comics doesn\u2019t count as research,\u201d Tucky said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not like I have anything else to go off,\u201d Arvin said. His nose crinkled. \u201cI was thinking how people get their powers. They\u2019re either born with them or they acquire them later in life by accident like Peter Parker. But you weren\u2019t bitten by any spiders or anything, were you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo,\u201d Tucky said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOkay, so we can rule that out. My next guess is that you were born with them. Like a mutant. But something must have triggered it. Like how Magneto\u2019s family being torn away from him triggered his abilities. What was your trigger?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is weird, Arvin.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTell me,\u201d Arvin said.<\/p>\n
\u201cDude, no. You\u2019re being weird,\u201d Tucky said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just need to know. Was it your parents? Their divorce?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cArvin, let\u2019s just get on with this, okay? You\u2019re acting obsessive.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, I\u2019m not,\u201d Arvin said. \u201cI\u2019m trying to help you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tucky reached for a water bottle. \u201cWe came here to impress people,\u201d he said. He took a long sip. \u201cNot to talk about my parents splitting up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arvin sighed. \u201cYou\u2019re still going to do it, right?\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know, man. The whole thing seems like a bad idea,\u201d Tucky said. He touched the crater of a freshly popped pimple on his chin.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you have to,\u201d Arvin said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cBecause if you pull this off, you\u2019re going to blow everyone\u2019s mind. See Becky over there?\u201d Arvin pointed to a brunette in a striped one-piece who looked twice their age. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not ready,\u201d Tucky said. \u201cI can\u2019t control this.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can. Just be positive. This will be good for you. Stop thinking so much,\u201d Arvin said.<\/p>\n
There was an uncomfortable squish when Tucky rose from his beach chair and wiped his hands on his shorts. A faint and familiar smell of BO trailed him. Then he tied his towel around his neck to make a cape and walked to the opposite end of the pool.<\/p>\n
This was their moment. Arvin giggled in anticipation. Tucky cleared his throat and began to yell over White Town\u2019s \u201cI Could Never Be Your Woman,\u201d which blared from speakers on the lifeguard\u2019s stand. His voice was bold, confident, that of a trained thespian, totally void of the immaturity that otherwise plagued his rapidly fluctuating intonations. Rehearsal paid off, Arvin thought. This was a man\u2019s voice.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am Tucky Sinkowa,\u201d he said. \u201cGather round, and open your minds. You will be amazed.\u201d He flung the cape aside and lifted his long arms toward the heavens nervously as if channeling a force so massive that his entire being risked emulsification.<\/p>\n
A small crowd congregated in front of the lifeguard station, and swimmers clung to the hot metal pool gutters. Hidden in the shade across the pool, Arvin sat on the edge of his rickety lawn chair and nodded to Tucky when he looked to him for support. <\/p>\n
\u201cOkay,\u201d Tucky said. \u201cHere goes.\u201d He exhaled and threw his arms to the sky and began to dance. Suddenly, blinding pink flashes shot from his every orifice. Silence followed. Then screams. <\/p>\n
After the pool, Tucky\u2019s mom and dad, in a rare show of teamsmanship, called Tucky up from the basement to have family dinner. Tucky trudged up the stairs, a dead man walking in front of Arvin. \u201cThis is your fault,\u201d he said. \u201cI never should have listened to you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was just trying to help,\u201d Arvin said. \u201cThey\u2019re your powers.\u201d The boys continued their upward movement. \u201cLook, for what it\u2019s worth, I think we\u2019re onto something. We\u2019ll get it, Tuck. I know we will. We just need to work a bit more before we do that again.\u201d <\/p>\n
Tucky huffed. \u201cThere won\u2019t be an \u2018again,\u2019\u201d he said. He turned and opened the door to the kitchen where his parents had taken seats at opposite ends of the dining table.<\/p>\n
As usual, Red\u2019s father had set a place for both boys. <\/p>\n
Alice had only recently arrived at her old home on Grant Street. Her cheeks were red, swollen, no doubt irritated by the wool sleeves that covered her hands and repeatedly rubbed at her tear-streaked face.
\n\u201cHey guys,\u201d Red said. \u201cArv, I just got off the phone with your dad. He says he\u2019s doing fine. Still with the lawyers. He\u2019ll probably need to stay in Topeka for another few nights, so I checked, and he said you can stay with us for the weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOkay, great. Thanks, Mr. S,\u201d Arvin said. Red smiled. <\/p>\n
\u201cTucky,\u201d Alice said between sniffles. \u201cWe need to talk about something personal.\u201d She looked at Red. <\/p>\n
\u201cOh come out with it, Al,\u201d Red said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, Tuck, Becky\u2019s mother called us today,\u201d Alice said. <\/p>\n
\u201cAbout the pool?\u201d Tucky said, staring at his plate.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, about the pool,\u201d Red said. He pressed his hands together beneath his nose and covered his pursed mouth. <\/p>\n
\u201cWell,\u201d Alice said. \u201cShe was there. And she saw what you…what you…\u201d she struggled to find the word. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhat you produced.\u201d Tucky blushed. His off-white skin turned milky-red and pink drops began to seep and fizzle from his tear ducts.<\/p>\n
\u201cSee there he goes,\u201d Red said. \u201cI can\u2019t believe you did something like that, Tucky. What the hell were you thinking?\u201d Arvin wanted to be Tucky\u2019s shield, but he didn\u2019t want to upset Red, so he bit his tongue. \u201cDo you have any idea how disgusting…?\u201d Red thrust an accusatory finger at Alice. \u201cThis abomination is on you. If you had told me what you–\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou stop it right now,\u201d Alice said. \u201cI\u2019m not the issue here. I had no idea Tucky would be like this. Or that he would do such horrible things.\u201d She focused on Tucky. \u201cBecky\u2019s mom said that you may have blinded the lifeguard with your… display.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople thought it was funny,\u201d Arvin blurted out. \u201cIt really was hilarious. You should\u2019ve seen it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cArv, please don\u2019t take this the wrong way, but you need to stay out of this for a minute,\u201d Red said. <\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s take a few steps back,\u201d Alice said. \u201cWe can all calm down a bit. You know, count to ten or something,\u201d she said. Arvin counted to ten in his head. \u201cTucky,\u201d she said, placing her hands on Tucky\u2019s long fingers. \u201cWe always knew you were a special, special boy. And, lately, we\u2019ve had suspicions that maybe you were different. Maybe you were feeling like you didn\u2019t fit in.\u201d She stifled tears. \u201cMaybe your father and I weren\u2019t paying enough attention to you. We didn\u2019t see the warning signs.\u201d She began to cry. \u201cOh, Red, it\u2019s all our fault.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it\u2019s anyone\u2019s fault it\u2019s yours, Al. He gets this from you, you know.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, would you give it rest? I\u2019m not the one bringing home women from downtown for dinner, Red. He\u2019s acting out! He needs his mother.\u201d She fiddled with the glasses that hung from a string on her neck. <\/p>\n
\u201cNo, he needs anything but you. You caused this. And if you had just told me your little secret earlier, I would have known. I would have seen this whole damn thing coming a mile away. This is why I left you. You, your family, a whole bunch of freaks and liars, you know that?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, you left me because you\u2019re scared and weak. And besides that, it\u2019s not too late for Tucky. We caught it early,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Ten more seconds passed in silence.<\/p>\n
\u201cWait, what?\u201d Tucky said. \u201cYou mean you know what this is? You knew this was going to happen to me?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t know that you would be able to dazzle,\u201d Alice said. \u201cSome of my family, your uncle, your grandpa, they can do it, too. But they had great careers as magicians.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOh god,\u201d Tucky said. \u201cThis is permanent?\u201d<\/p>\n
Arvin\u2019s chest fluttered with hope.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot exactly,\u201d Red said. \u201cBecky\u2019s mom says that Becky was like you, too. She said she sent Becky to a camp for young boys and girls to… fix it.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cShe said it made her better,\u201d Alice added. \u201cYou want to be better, don\u2019t you? You want to get rid of this stuff inside you, whatever it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, I do,\u201d Tucky said. Arvin\u2019s heart cried out. <\/p>\n
\u201cOkay, Tuck,\u201d his mother said. \u201cYou leave on Monday, and we\u2019ll have you back just before school. Does that sound good?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt does,\u201d Tucky said in the voice he makes when he\u2019s trying to sound brave. \u201cIt really does.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arvin stayed at Tucky\u2019s every night that final weekend. Red let them have their run of the house as they shirked the outdoors and stayed in to play the latest edition of Magic the Gathering. Arvin hated that they played at magic when the real thing was a mere sneeze or irritable bowel movement away. But Tucky refused to perform.<\/p>\n
When Tucky left for camp, Arvin felt like he did when movies end. Soon Arvin\u2019s dad came and escorted him home to a dusty, lifeless house. Their freezer was overflowing with frozen casseroles, which Arvin dutifully defrosted for meals consumed in silence. <\/p>\n
A week later, Arvin and his dad took a trip to Topeka for Arvin\u2019s testimony. Arvin wore a blindfold and tried to sleep in the back of the car, trembling the whole way there. At the trial, he was unable to verbalize what happened, so the prosecutor had Arvin read the statement he made immediately after the accident when he was in the hospital having his leg mended. It was difficult, reading the statement, seeing the man\u2019s face, recounting the impact and coming to in the destruction with his leg pinioned between the console and backseat, how he cried out to his mom and sister who, upfront, had stopped breathing. How the broken car that hit them drove away and left them to rot in the road like dead animals. <\/p>\n
After the trial, Arvin spent the remainder of the hot, dry months alone, counting the days until Tucky\u2019s return and biding his time with the dialup. Tucky had gone MIA on messenger and AWOL from battle.net. Without means to connect, Arvin feared the worst. He prayed every night that Tucky would return unchanged.<\/p>\n
Interrupting the pixelated monotony of Arvin\u2019s solo diablo runs and endless cans of pringles that his weeks had become, Red came by and delivered a letter to the Guptas. The address block was smudged, and the envelope\u2019s edges were crumpled due to the hasty folding of the letter inside. Arvin unfolded it and found a brief note from Tucky. Camp was great, he said. He was making a lot of friends and was excited about the new school year.<\/p>\n
Beneath the hollow words, a goodbye lurked. Arvin didn\u2019t eat for two days after that. Only threats of a forced return to therapy could get him seated at the table again. <\/p>\n
On the first day of school, Arvin pushed through the double doors and shambled to first period. His brace dragged and scraped on the teal linoleum. It left black scuffs on the freshly polished floors. The noise drew his classmates\u2019 ire, but Arvin was undeterred by the negative attention. Maybe Tucky would be the same, maybe they would still be friends. <\/p>\n
Minutes before the bell, Tucky burst into their first period science class donning a new haircut and tan. He looked like he\u2019d spent his absent days rowing on a pristine lake. Tucky grinned as he looked around the room and made his way to the back for roll call. His braces were gone, and his shoulders were broader. When the teacher reached his name, he said, \u201cIt\u2019s Tucker now, Ms. Metzler,\u201d in a voice that had dropped at least two octaves.<\/p>\n
Second period was uneventful until Tucky sneezed before lunch. <\/p>\n
Arvin whipped his head around, anxious to see Tucky\u2019s notorious, mucusy spectacle unfold. He prayed for sparkles. But Tucky hardly flinched. He wiped his nose with a tissue and catapulted the refuse across the room. The snot-filled wad, free of the pinkish phlegm Arvin had anticipated, spiraled and landed with a deafening splash in the trashcan beside him, un-singed.<\/p>\n
When class ended, Arvin packed his books and pushed through the small crowd clamoring around Tucky. In his haste, Arvin\u2019s shoulder brushed Tucky\u2019s. A static shock punched through him, and Arvin spun out into the open hallway, dizzy from the collision, his books scattering like pieces of broken fenders.<\/p>\n
Tucky glided over to his new group of friends who festooned the short blue hallway lockers. One boy pulled out his velcro wallet triumphantly to show proof of his learner\u2019s permit, giving rise to cheers and celebratory handshakes, fast and full of intricate movements. Arvin collected himself and began to put books his books away. <\/p>\n
Soon Tucky crossed the hall and approached him. \u201cHey, Arv,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHey, Tuck,\u201d Arvin said.<\/p>\n
Tucky looked over his shoulder. A sense of urgency befell the conversation. \u201cSo I heard about the trial. You okay?\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, I guess,\u201d Arvin said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy dad says that the guy can\u2019t hurt anyone now that he\u2019s locked up. So that\u2019s good… Also, hey, I didn\u2019t tell you. I\u2019m saving up for a car now. Dad thought it would be a good idea. I even sold off my Magic cards for some extra cash. I didn\u2019t know they\u2019d be worth anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, yeah, man, that\u2019s like totally cool. I get it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAlright, well, see you later,\u201d Tucky said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah,\u201d Arvin said.<\/p>\n
Tucky walked on with his new friends. Their perfect silhouettes were blinding beneath the bright fluorescent lights. Soon they faded into the walls, disappeared like shooting stars. Arvin shut his locker and hobbled to the bathroom, a struck deer with a flushed face and burning cheeks. Beneath the smoky mirror, cool water ran over his splayed fingers from the automatic wash. His tingling hands felt different, warmer and getting hotter. His shoulder throbbed beneath what felt like repetitive stabs with a dull knife. Then, without warning, sparkles of day-glo pink began to trickle from his ducts and cast a strange neon aura around his throbbing head. Arvin wept shining tears like fireworks. <\/p>\n
The feeling was magical. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On the second day of summer break 1997, Arvin Gupta\u2019s best friend in the world, Tucky Sinkowa, showed Arvin his fabulous, sparkling magic. The silence that followed Tucky\u2019s illuminating pink display, which had lit the entire basement and the brightly colored borders of the yellow vintage movie posters Tucky\u2019s father hung defiantly during the divorce …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2489,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1449],"tags":[1450],"class_list":["post-53451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction","category-tcl-19-spring-2016","tag-the-colored-lens-19-spring-2016","entry entry-center"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2489"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=53451"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53451\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":139534,"href":"http:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53451\/revisions\/139534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=53451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=53451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thecoloredlens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=53451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}