Gloria and I were in the kitchen. Gloria was making tea when Manny waked into the room, a frown on his face. "Hey." He said in a sad tone.

"Ay," Gloria began as she turned away from the kettle, and looked at Manny, "good morning, papi." She smiled as she placed a red mug in front of me.

"Thanks." I thanked her before sipping on my tea.

"Is it?" Manny asked, making Gloria frown as she poured the tea into her own cup.

"Ah, you're still sad because of that audition?" Gloria asked as she out her cup down.

"That part was mine. I was born to play Tevye." Manny told her, "Instead they give it to Rod Jackson? What dow she know from suffering?" Manny asked as he threw his hands in the air.

"How we doing?" Jay asked as he walked into the kitchen, placing some shopping bags on the counter.

"A little better." Gloria smiled at him before looking down at Manny, "But we're gonna go and throw ice cream at the problem."

"Well," Jay began as he grabbed a picture out of one of the bags, "if that doesn't work, this should do the trick." Jay said as he showed us the picture that said 'What Doesn't Kill Us Makes Us Stronger.'

"'What doesn't kill us makes us stronger." Manny said as he read the writing.

"We can hang this in your room. You can see it every morning, start to internalise it." Jay said as he looked down at the picture, "Pretty soon nothing will keep you down."

"But it's not true." Manny said, raising an eyebrow.

"What are you talking about?" Jay asked him.

"Lots of stuff that doesn't kill you makes you weaker. My friend's grandfather had a heart attack. Now he needs a machine to breathe." Manny said before Gloria topped him on his chest.

"I've seen him — at the supermarket." Gloria said, "Now he needs to drive one of those little, like—" she stopped as she imitated the noises of an engine.

"Oh, I think I know who you're talking about." I said, "That really small middle-aged man — bald spot and that giant mole?" I asked, making Manny nod.

Jay shook his head a little. "That's right. Be negative." He said.

"It's just not a good poster, Jay." Gloria said as she, Manny, and I left the room.

"You're only making me stronger." Jay smiled.

——

Gloria, Manny, And I walked into the house. We had just finished our ice creams when Jay cakes for us.

"Manny? Y/N?" Jay called from the kitchen, "Manny, Y/N, come here a second, kids." Manny And I curiously walked over to Jay, "I got some bad news, buddies."

"What is it?" Manny asked as we both furrowed our eyebrows.

"Well, there's no easy way to say this." Jay said as he looked down at the hardwood floors, "Shel Turtlestein is dead." Jay said as he took off his glasses.

"What?" I furrowed my eyebrows, shaking my head a little.

"How?" Manny asked as Gloria put her hands on our shoulders.

"I was down here reading the paper, and I heard this commotion up in your guys' room." Jay told us, "So- So naturally, I go running up there. And this mangy raccoon had bursted through your screen. He must've scampered up to where Shel was. By the time I walked in... the little bastard had him by the neck and shaking him. Gravel was flying everywhere. He didn't even flinch. He just stared at me with that smug look and then bolted. If only I'd have gotten there earlier.

Manny and I shared glances before running up to our room, Gloria and Jay followed behind. We stood in the doorway of our room: gravel on the table and floor, muddy paw prints on the floors and walls, and the screen of our window was gone.

"May we see the body?" Manny asked Jay as I looked around the room.

"Baby," Gloria began as she looked at Manny, "are you sure that's a good idea?"

"It's something I have to do." Manny said. Jay grabbed a small wooden box and took the lid off, revealing our dead turtle. "That's him." Manny sighed.

"Sorry, kids." Jay frowned.

"It just doesn't make any sense." I said, furrowing my eyebrows as I looked around the room.

"Yep. Only the good die young."

"But raccoons are nocturnal. They sleep during the day." I said, crossing my arms.

"They sure do, and this one must've got up for a midnight snack. You know, we've all done that." Jay said. Manny nodded.

"I don't think I can be in here right now." Manny said, "Too many memories." Manny said before leaving the room, Gloria following him.

"Jay," I said, stopping him from leaving, "If a raccoon entered from outside of the house..." I paused as I walked over to our window, "how come the screen isn't on the inside, but instead, it's on the grass?"

Jay opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. "I-I..." He stammered.

"Just tell me how it happened." I said, "No raccoon. Just the truth."

Jay sighed. "I was hanging up the new poster and it fell on top of him. It was an accident." Jay told me.

"You have to tell him." Gloria said, making us look at her.

"When did you—" Jay began, But was cut off by Gloria.

"Doesn't matter. You have to tell him."

"No." Jay shook his head, "I've been through this before. When Mitchell was nine, I was supposed to take care of his bird. It got out and flew into a fan. It was like a bloody pillow fight."

"Remind me to never get a pet while I'm living in this house." I said.

"How many pets have you killed?" Gloria asked Jay.

"Just the two." Jay said, "I took the heat on the bird. It was a big mistake. To this day, Mitchell looks at me, I see him thinking, 'That's the guy who killed Fliza Minnelli.'"

"And what if he finds out? Then what? You'll be the guy that killed his pet and lied to him." Gloria said, putting her hand on her hip.

"He's not gonna find out because I covered my tracks." Jay said, pointing at the mud and gravel.

"And what if I tell him?" I asked, crossing my arms as I followed the two out of the room.

"Okay, look, ill give you $15 a week of you keep it a secret." Jay said to me.

"Fine." I shrugged, "You really think you'll be able to keep it a secret for more than one week?" I asked him, "I mean, Manny will surely figure out that the poor prints have four toes, not five."

"They have five toes?" Jay asked, turning to look at me.

"Yes." I replied before walking away.

——

"Y/N?" I heard Jay shout from the living room, "Will you come down here a minute?" Jay asked. I waked downstairs and saw Mannh, Gloria, and Jay in the living room.

"What's going on?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at the giant picture of our pet turtle.

"We're having a memorial." Jay said as I sat next to Gloria.

Manny frowned and looked down at the paper in his hands. "Turtle, reptile, pet." Manny said as he read the note, "Shel Turtlestein was many things." Manny stopped as he sighed, "I don't think I can do this without crying. Maybe we should just get to the cold cuts."

"Well, we wanna hear it." Gloria said before looking over to Jay, "Jay, why don't you read it? You were with him at the end. Remember?"

Jay stood up and took the paper from Manny. He put his reading glasses on before reading the paper, "Shel Turtlestein was many things, but above all, he was my friend. When i didn't get a date with Fiona Gunderson, Shel was there. When I didn't get to play the part of Tevye, Shel was there. And when a raccoon broke into my room, unfortunately, Shel was there. I said a lot of things to my friend, but one thing I never got to say was good-bye."

"Stop." Manny interrupted, "I know what really happened." Manny said, looking down at his lap.

"You do?" Jay asked as he looked towards me, making me put my hands up in surrender.

"I left a bag of chips near my bed." Manny said, refusing to look up, "The raccoon must have smelled it. It's my fault he's dead. Sorry, Shel... sorry Y/N." Manny said as tears came to his eyes.

"Jay," Gloria began as she looked away from Manny, "you don't have anything to say to Manny?"

"Yeah." Jay sighed as he sat next to Manny, "Manny. Shel forgives you." Gloria and I both rolled our eyes before walking away.

Later that night, Jay walked into our room and told Manny everything. Manny was really sad and angry that Jay had lied to him, and lead him to believe that he was responsible for Shel's death — but the next day Manny forgave him.

— 𝘼𝙐𝙏𝙃𝙊𝙍'𝙎 𝙉𝙊𝙏𝙀
RIP Chadwick Boseman. ♥️🕊