Crystallized Minds For Harlyn Starr

Simple World of a Mouse

Seriously - what kind of a name is Harlyn Star? My mother named me Harlyn because it was unique and beautiful - to her. To me, it's annoying. Everyone at school, except for Claire and Ivy, calls me Marlin. It's something I think about, late at night, with my sheets weighing me down and my pillow too cold. I try to understand why they think that Marlin - a type of fish - is funny. Maybe it's because the marlin has a long snout - or nose, whatever - and I have a long nose. Or maybe it's because the marlin has a dorsal fin, and I have a backpack that's always so full of stuff that it looks like a fin. But whatever the reason, I get teased so often that even I am starting to think of myself as Marlin.
My mom, in case you're wondering, is named Evelyn Faye Starr, and my father is named Peter Richard Starr. I have a brother, Liam, but he's only about six and spends most of his time in swim trunks running around outside and climbing trees. Sometimes, Liam scares me - I go outside, and he's literally hanging upside down from a tree branch - twenty three feet off of the ground - by one knee. Whenever I try to coax him down, he just drops - to my horror - and runs off, perfectly fine. He is the total opposite of my mice, Hensley and Larkin - they spend their days quietly running on their wheel, sitting in my lap, eating, or sleeping. To them, the world is made up of only four things - love, exercise, food, and sleep. Their lives are so much less complicated than mine.
Liam has pets, too, but they're only a few worms. He also has a goldfish, Ian, but Mom has to feed him most of the time. His worms, by the way, are named in a language only he and his monkey friends can understand - one is named Gug, one they call Pov, and one is Hib. I tried starting a worm farm, too, but it took only three minutes for Liam to steal them and add them to his collection. When I complained to Mom, Liam dumped the can of worms on my head - which, by the way, is why he now has to keep his "pets" outside.
This is yet another reason why I envy Hensley and Larkin. Every night when I try to fall asleep, I always end up pulling my beanbag over to their cage and watching them peacefully twitch in their sleep. Oh, the simple world of a mouse.