leaper

His mother always said he was unreliable, laughed. It was a family joke
and there were years when he was young that he feared there would be no birthday, cake, or presents, or anything at all. This is how his older brothers teased him. Do you see a date here, they would point to the end of February, with its white space, the number 28 like the last step on a pool ladder
that plunged into nothingness. The Titanic sank on a leap year, they would chant. This went on for uncounted years until his mother amended each new calendar.