Uninvited by April Bell

Uninvited

When I was 11

I was uninvited to a birthday party

Uninvited because when I was invited

The plan wasn’t to go to the movies

This was back when you checked the

papers for movie times with fingers

crossed your movie would be

captioned

And since the right movie wasn’t

captioned on the right day

His mom called my mom

to uninvite me

I know now the kind of grownup who

chooses to exclude a child, is

The kind of adult who chooses

what is easy, over what is right

But as a child, I thought he didn’t

want me there, his mom

made him invite me, no one

liked me or wanted me, forever

At his birthday party the following year, I pretended

last year didn’t happen, as if it wasn’t a moment

I will remember

forever