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Skip to Kimo's first birthday. The party involves Sina, her kids and husband, Samuel, Janet, the crew and Jess.

The party is on the site because the site is the place Kimo knows and the knowing is the thing that says this is his home the way the balcony is Lena's. The second house on the east-side development is framed and the framing is done and the done is the thing that gave them the pad — swept, clean, the concrete that Kimo walks on every day. Walt strung lights across the open studs and the lights are the thing that makes the frame look like something else and the something else is the place where a birthday happens. Marco brought a sheet cake from the bakery on Tenth and the cake is chocolate and the chocolate is the thing Kimo eats with both hands. Frank built a table from scrap lumber — eight feet, level, plumb, the kind of table you build when building is the thing you do.

Sina drove down from Gainesville with her husband Tomasi and the three kids and the driving is four hours and the four hours is the thing Sina does because Sina is the thing that shows up. The ten-year-old girl — Sosefina — is carrying Kimo on her hip and Kimo is 135 pounds and the 135 is the thing Sosefina holds because Sosefina is twelve and tall for her age and the tall is the thing that runs in Sina's family. The seven-year-old boy — Aleki Junior, named for the brother — is running the pad in bare feet and the bare feet are the thing he took off within five minutes of arriving because the pad is concrete and the concrete is the thing you run on without shoes. The three-year-old is sitting on Lena's lap and the sitting is the thing that happens when a small child finds the biggest person in the room and climbs.

Janet is taking photos with her phone and the photos are the thing Janet takes because Janet is the thing that records. She has the word list on her phone — updated this morning to one hundred and forty-one words, the number Kimo reached on his birthday, the number that is the thing that makes Janet's hand shake when she types it. Samuel is standing at the edge of the pad with his hands in his pockets and the pockets are the thing Samuel does with his hands when his hands don't have a tool. He is watching Kimo and the watching is the thing Samuel has been doing since the first visit to the site and the doing is the thing that is the same and the same is the thing that is Samuel's way of being here. He is wearing boots and a pressed shirt and the boots and the pressed shirt are the thing he wears to a construction site and the construction site is the thing his grandson's birthday party is on.

Jess showed up with ink on her fingers and the ink is the thing that is always on Jess's fingers. She brought Kimo a set of chunky crayons — twelve colors, the kind that fit a hand that is still learning the motor — and the crayons are the thing Kimo opens and the opening is immediate. He pulls out the blue and puts it on the scrap lumber table and makes a mark and the mark is a line and the line is the thing he has been doing since the red circle on yellow grid paper. Jess watches him grip the crayon and the watching is the watching of a woman who works with hands and the hands are the thing she reads.

"He's got the grip," Jess says. "Thumb and forefinger. That's not a one-year grip. That's a two-year grip, maybe older. You want me to bring him something to work on?"

"Like what?" Lena says.

"Like a surface that's his. A board, sanded smooth. Something he can mark up that isn't Ray's grid paper."

The crew is around the table and the around is the thing the crew does because the crew is the thing that is here. Walt is cutting cake with a utility knife because the utility knife is the thing Walt has. Daryl and Ray are arguing about the Jaguars' offensive line and the arguing is the thing they do every Monday and today is Saturday but the arguing doesn't care what day it is. Tuki is sitting on a stack of studs eating cake with his hands and Frank is standing behind him with a beer and the beer is the thing Frank brings to Saturdays. Marco is taking photos too — not the kind Janet takes, the kind that are blurry and close and the close is the thing that is Marco's way.

Lena lifts Kimo onto the table because the table is where the cake is and the cake is the thing Kimo wants. He is 135 pounds and 49 inches and the 135 and the 49 are the numbers that are one year — one year since the seventeen hours of labor and the 18 pounds 7 ounces and the 24 inches. He is standing on the table and the standing is the thing he does and the crew is looking up at him and the looking up is the thing a crew does when a one-year-old is standing on a table they built. Janet's hand is over her mouth and the hand is the thing that covers the sound and the sound is the thing that is not a word.

Kimo looks at the cake. He looks at the crew. He looks at Lena.

"Good," he says. The word is the word he has said a thousand times — at the site when a wall goes plumb, at the balcony when the bar hits the rack, at the trailhead when the run is done. He says it now about the cake and the lights and the people and the saying is the thing that is the word and the word is the thing that is the day.

Samuel steps forward from the edge of the pad. The stepping is the thing Samuel does when Samuel moves from watching to being in. He walks to the table and the walking is ten steps and the ten steps are the thing that brings him to his grandson. He puts his hand on the table — the table Frank built from scrap — and the hand is the hand of a man who built things and the building is the thing he recognizes in the wood.

"Happy birthday, Kimo," Samuel says. The saying is four words and the four words are the thing Samuel gives and the giving is the thing that is the first time Samuel has said his grandson's name out loud at a gathering and the gathering is the thing that hears it.

Kimo looks at Samuel. He points at him the way he pointed at Lena on the trail — finger extended, arm straight, the pointing that is not random.

"Samuel," he says.

The pad is quiet and the quiet is the thing that holds the name and the name is the thing that a one-year-old said to a man who has been watching him from the edge of the concrete and the concrete is the thing that is the floor. Samuel's jaw tightens and the tightening is the thing that holds and the holding is the thing that is not breaking. His eyes are wet and the wet is the thing he does not wipe because wiping is the thing that says it happened and the happening is the thing he will not deny.

Lena puts her hand on Samuel's shoulder and the hand is 730 pounds of tattooed skin on a pressed shirt and the pressed shirt is the thing that is Samuel. The crew is quiet and the quiet is the thing the crew gives because the crew knows what they are seeing even if they don't know what they are seeing. Sina is standing by the studs with Tomasi and her hand is on his arm and the hand is the thing that says she is thinking about Aleki and Aleki is the thing that is in the name and the name is the boy who is running on the pad and the boy is named for the brother who died.

Kimo eats the cake. He eats it with both hands and the eating is the thing that is the party and the party is the thing that is the day and the day is the thing that is one year.