The Jacket with Three Names

The Jacket with Three Names

1My sister's green jacket came down to me
on the first cold morning of October,
folded on my bed like a tired flag.
I wanted the silver one in the store window,
the one with stiff tags and a new-coat smell.

2The sleeves hung past my fingertips.
A brown patch covered one elbow,
and the zipper stuck halfway up
unless I wiggled it just right.
Marisol got it from our cousin Benji first,
so it wasn't even a hand-me-down.
It was a hand-me-down-me-down.

3Inside the collar, on a little white tag,
two names were written in marker:
BENJI in fat blue letters, faded almost gray,
and MARISOL in neat purple ones underneath.
Below them was an empty space,
as if the jacket were waiting.

4At the bus stop, Theo pointed at my elbow.
"Did your jacket lose a fight?" he asked.
I laughed along, but my cheeks burned,
and I kept that arm behind my back
all the way to school.

5That night, Mom saw me frowning at the patch.
"Benji tore that elbow," she said,
"the day he slid into second base
and won the game for his team.
And Marisol wore this jacket
on her first day at a brand-new school,
when she didn't know a single name."

6I reached into the pocket and found
a smooth gray stone and a folded note
in my sister's loopy handwriting:
"For whoever wears this next.
Hold the stone when you feel nervous.
This jacket is braver than it looks."

7The next morning, the wind came sharp and fast.
At recess, Theo shivered in his thin new coat,
his hands pulled up inside his sleeves.
I wiggled my zipper just right,
pulled it all the way to my chin,
and hardly felt the wind at all.

8I used to think new
was the best thing a jacket could be.
But new things don't have stories yet.
Mine holds a slide into second base,
a first day at a strange school,
and now one windy recess, too.

9That night I uncapped a green marker
and wrote my name in the empty space
right under Marisol's and Benji's.
I left a little room at the bottom.
My brother Leo is only five,
but someday this jacket will fit him,
and I'll tuck a note in the pocket for him.