A Boy's Life: Alexis Oyola

Alexis, a seventh-grader at General Johnnie Wilson Middle School, is learning how to skateboard and wants to be a baseball player in the major leagues. He currently lives with his 13-year-old brother and 18-year-old sister, his mom and his stepdad in a four-bedroom house in Lorain. The family has moved to a larger three-bedroom house in the West Side city, but he hopes to maintain strong relationships with distant family members.

Sometimes, I get worried and my stomach starts to hurt real bad. I don’t want anybody to get hurt. On the news, there are a lot of people who get shot every day in Cleveland. My mom said she might move to Cleveland, but I don’t know why. Sometimes, they say that Cleveland people go to jail in Lorain, so sometimes I’m worried they’ll get out and come to our place.

I’m really happy when all of my family comes together. We have a lot of fun. I have six or seven brothers. I don’t see my aunt or my cousins a lot. I try to call them but they never answer.

I really don’t talk to my stepdad. I just hang out with my brother and play video games. I usually can’t talk to my sister much because she has a lot of work to do for her job.

My mom inspires me. She cooks a lot and she makes me things every day. Sometimes, I get scared of fires. Yesterday, my mom put out a fire on the stove when she used the wrong stove. She took off my pants and tried to use my pants to put it out, but then she used salt to take the fire down.

I barely see my dad. On New Year’s, we always tell our resolutions that we’re going to do for the new year. My New Year’s resolution this year was to get closer to my dad. He texted me on New Year’s, but I didn’t get the text because my phone is messed up. After a couple of weeks, it showed up, and it said, “Happy New Year!” So I just called him and said, "Happy New Year’s" to him. In the summer, I want to spend more time with him. I want to help him out with cars — he has four of them. — as told to James Bigley II

[Editor’s Note: As an extension of the “A Boy’s Life” feature in Cleveland Magazine’s March issue, we will be publishing additional boys' stories on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays throughout the month. For all these stories, click on the “A Boy's Life” tag.]