SHOUT - Adopted by Lin Manuel Miranda

THE S.S. SEBASTIAN

That's what Sebastian names the toy boat Lin buys him as a reward for being in the talent show. We didn't win. The comedian who went on before us took home first prize, but Sebastian didn't seem too bummed. After the show, Luis took us all out to Villarinos for cake and smoothies and told Sebastian he was the star of the stage. Lin thought so too, I guess, because a few weeks later he took Sebastian to Toys R Us and let him pick whatever he wanted. The S.S Sebastian was his first choice. It's a small, plastic vessel painted with shiny silver paint made to look like metal. Sebastian shakes me awake at 3:00 p.m. to tell me he and Lin are going to the river to test it out in the water. He wants me to come.

I grunt and roll over. "Sebas--"

"No-o-o, Viddie!" He climbs up on the bed and pumps his hands against my chest, like he's doing CPR. "Please, please, please, please, PLEEEEAAASE!"

It's a warm, lazy Sunday, the type of day you can roll up your sleeves. We leave after lunch and take the long way to the Harlem River. Most of the trees have sprouted leaves. Cherry blossoms cover branches like snow once did, white as that, but puffier. The people of the city have woken from hibernation and crawled out from their burrows. We've shed our turtlenecks and emerged from Winter with pale skin and short sleeved shirts, and plastic toy boats to sail.

When we make it to the river path, Sebastian dashes down the hill and to the bank. He crouches close to the water and waits until Lin and I get closer to the fence to set the boat off into the stream.

He yells to us over his shoulder. "Are you watching?"

Lin rests his hand against his forehead in a salute to shield his eyes from the sun. "Yeah, bud, we are. Go ahead!"

Sebastian turns back around and slowly sets the boat off into the water. It wavers against the bank for a moment before wobbling out with the current. Lin gives me a look like, oh please, as the waves carry the boat to the center of the river. The S.S. Sebastian wasn't made to be played with in water. But of course we didn't tell him that.

"How shallow do you think that is?" Lin asks.

I lean against the fence. "Five feet, maybe."

"You think the it'll sink?"

"No."

I don't know what made me say that, but I'm right. Moments pass and the boat stays afloat. It capsizes momentarily, but flips back around and follows the current upstream. Sebastian jumps up and jogs along the bank to follow it.

Lin cups his hand around his mouth. "Don't go too far, buddy!" He turns to me. "Think he could run track one day?"

"Maybe."

He rests his elbows against the top of the fence. "You ever do a sport besides basketball?"

"I skateboarded once, but it wasn't like, my thing. Some girl back in The Bronx taught me."

"I can picture that." His eyes follow Sebastian as he jogs up the path. "You with one of those backwards hats, some baggy pants..."

I look down at the grass. "Guess so."

We turn our heads to watch Sebastian. He's stopped running. The boat wobbles in place for a moment before spinning around and bobbing sideways with the current. Sebastian crouches down and palms the grass to view the boat at eye-level.

"Yeah, I..." Lin clears his throat. "I was never big into sports. My thing was always music."

"You're not too bad at basketball," I tell him. "Remember that one time, in the Winter..."

"Yeah, I'm not half bad," he chuckles. "But I never played in high school, or anything."

"Did you write songs?"