mama. Her mama put her arm around D’s shoulder and D grabbed her mama’s hand. Only then did she turn around and nod.
“Yeah, girl,” she said. “Everything.”
Then me and Neeka watched them walk down the street.
“You better call us!” Neeka yelled. “You better write us and stuff.”
“You know I will,” D yelled back. “Three the Hard Way.”
“Three the Hard Way,” me and Neeka said back to her. Then Desiree and her mama turned the corner and walked on out of our lives.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Jayjones’ first college scholarship offer came from a small school in Maryland. And by the end of the week, letters were coming from everywhere—including Georgetown, where, according to Jayjones, Patrick Ewing had played. I didn’t know Patrick Ewing from a can of paint, but Jayjones seemed to think he was something real special because he grabbed Neeka and spun her around their house like he’d lost the very last bit of his mind. Then he picked up Miss Irene and each one of the twins and even Tash. When he went to pick up his daddy, his daddy got there first, picked Jayjones up and spun him around. The whole house was dancing around and laughing and making all kinds of noise.
“Start deciding where y’all want to live,” Jayjones said. “The way I figure it, in four and half years, we’re gonna be moving in!”
Miss Irene invited Mama and some people from church. Tash invited some of his girls from the river and we had a small party that night. Miss Irene had gotten Tash a keyboard as a welcome home present, and when he plugged it in and started moving his fingers over the keys, it was like no time had passed since he was sitting at church making the women dab at their eyes.
Me and Neeka stood beside him.
“Sing ‘By and By,’” Tash said.
“Too churchy,” Neeka said, turning up her lip.
“You need some ‘churchy,’” Tash said, swatting her on the butt. So me and Neeka sang it, and somewhere over the summer, our voices had changed a little bit and grown closer to each other. Her low and my somewhere in between sounded like one voice with a whole lot of different things happening inside it. As we sang, I looked out at everyone and saw my own mama dabbing at her eyes.
“By and by, when the morning comes, You know all saints are bound to come on home . . . We will tell the story of how we’ve overcome and we’ll understand it better by and by. Yes, we’ll understand it better by and by . . .”
Neeka’s voice went down low and I followed up high. We looked at each other and smiled as we sang that song, watching to see where we’d take each other. We had a harmony going, a sad, new familiar harmony that was figuring itself out. Maybe that was our Big Purpose—to figure ourselves on out.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
We got through the first week of school with Miss Irene still taking us and being right there at the end of the day to bring me and Neeka home. I guess since there was other kids getting picked up by their mamas and babysitters and big sisters and brothers and stuff, we didn’t look all that strange, but it felt lame. Here we were, already teenagers, and every day, rain, shine or whatever, there was Miss Irene, standing there outside our school.
“Just keeping you safe,” Mama said when I asked her how come me and Neeka couldn’t just get home on our own. I’d asked the question a lot over the years and each time we had the same old tired dialogue.
“Safe from what? Ain’t nothing out there—” Mama shot me a look. “There isn’t anything out there trying to get us, Ma! This is Queens. Nobody trying to mess with nobody from Queens. They too busy messing with people in Brooklyn and Manhattan and the Bronx. Nobody wants to take two trains and a bus to get out here and bother our sorry behinds.”
“Because Miss Irene’s there waiting for them if they do,” Mama said.
I folded my arms. It was Friday evening and Neeka was at church with her family. And D was gone.
“Yeah, girl,” she said. “Everything.”
Then me and Neeka watched them walk down the street.
“You better call us!” Neeka yelled. “You better write us and stuff.”
“You know I will,” D yelled back. “Three the Hard Way.”
“Three the Hard Way,” me and Neeka said back to her. Then Desiree and her mama turned the corner and walked on out of our lives.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Jayjones’ first college scholarship offer came from a small school in Maryland. And by the end of the week, letters were coming from everywhere—including Georgetown, where, according to Jayjones, Patrick Ewing had played. I didn’t know Patrick Ewing from a can of paint, but Jayjones seemed to think he was something real special because he grabbed Neeka and spun her around their house like he’d lost the very last bit of his mind. Then he picked up Miss Irene and each one of the twins and even Tash. When he went to pick up his daddy, his daddy got there first, picked Jayjones up and spun him around. The whole house was dancing around and laughing and making all kinds of noise.
“Start deciding where y’all want to live,” Jayjones said. “The way I figure it, in four and half years, we’re gonna be moving in!”
Miss Irene invited Mama and some people from church. Tash invited some of his girls from the river and we had a small party that night. Miss Irene had gotten Tash a keyboard as a welcome home present, and when he plugged it in and started moving his fingers over the keys, it was like no time had passed since he was sitting at church making the women dab at their eyes.
Me and Neeka stood beside him.
“Sing ‘By and By,’” Tash said.
“Too churchy,” Neeka said, turning up her lip.
“You need some ‘churchy,’” Tash said, swatting her on the butt. So me and Neeka sang it, and somewhere over the summer, our voices had changed a little bit and grown closer to each other. Her low and my somewhere in between sounded like one voice with a whole lot of different things happening inside it. As we sang, I looked out at everyone and saw my own mama dabbing at her eyes.
“By and by, when the morning comes, You know all saints are bound to come on home . . . We will tell the story of how we’ve overcome and we’ll understand it better by and by. Yes, we’ll understand it better by and by . . .”
Neeka’s voice went down low and I followed up high. We looked at each other and smiled as we sang that song, watching to see where we’d take each other. We had a harmony going, a sad, new familiar harmony that was figuring itself out. Maybe that was our Big Purpose—to figure ourselves on out.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
We got through the first week of school with Miss Irene still taking us and being right there at the end of the day to bring me and Neeka home. I guess since there was other kids getting picked up by their mamas and babysitters and big sisters and brothers and stuff, we didn’t look all that strange, but it felt lame. Here we were, already teenagers, and every day, rain, shine or whatever, there was Miss Irene, standing there outside our school.
“Just keeping you safe,” Mama said when I asked her how come me and Neeka couldn’t just get home on our own. I’d asked the question a lot over the years and each time we had the same old tired dialogue.
“Safe from what? Ain’t nothing out there—” Mama shot me a look. “There isn’t anything out there trying to get us, Ma! This is Queens. Nobody trying to mess with nobody from Queens. They too busy messing with people in Brooklyn and Manhattan and the Bronx. Nobody wants to take two trains and a bus to get out here and bother our sorry behinds.”
“Because Miss Irene’s there waiting for them if they do,” Mama said.
I folded my arms. It was Friday evening and Neeka was at church with her family. And D was gone.
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