What We Learned Along the Way by Nadirah Angail

but someone kept saying ‘Wait til
I get my curtains. Wait til I get my walls painted.’ You’ve been
working harder than Martha Stewart,” Malikah joked.
    “I just want everything to be perfect. I’ve
been waiting on this forever.”
    Jaime managed to get her party planned in two
days. It was a lot of work, but everything came together nicely.
Still, she was nervous.
    “Relax, Jaime,” Joseph said as he made the
punch.
    “Do you think I have enough food? What about
games? I knew I should have gotten a few more.”
    “Everything is fine. The food is great and
you have more than enough games.”
    The doorbell rang. It was Malikah, Isaiah and
Mariam.
    “Congratulations?” Malikah said. She wasn’t
sure what one was supposed to say to person that had just gotten
their first apartment. They put their gifts on the coffee
table.
    “The place looks great,” Mariam said as she
looked around. “Rashad couldn’t make it. He wasn’t feeling
well.”
    “Looks like you’ve been eating good,” Malikah
said. Jaime was still thin as always, but she looked a little
hippier than Malikah remembered, and her stomach had filled out
some.
    “Yea, I see your curves peeping out,” Mariam
added.
    “I wonder how Joseph feels about your banging
body,” Malikah joked
    “I think she looks like a respectable young
woman,” Joseph said in a nervous voice as he came out of the
bedroom.
    “Um, excuse us,” said Malikah. She was
surprised to see Joseph coming out of Jaime’s bedroom. Jaime was so
uptight that they always joked that she would make her husband
sleep in the living room. Joseph could read the looks on both
girls’ faces and felt the need to explain himself.
    “I only stepped into the bedroom to make
prayer.”
    “Sure you did.” Malikah and Mariam said
together. They loved making Joseph squirm.
    Aliya and the crew showed up about thirty
minutes later. Jaime hadn’t seen Aliya in a while and she looked
different. She wore a pair of pinstriped pants with a white
tailored blouse and a pair of red suspenders. She still looked
great, but she didn’t look like the usual, wild Aliya. This was the
first time in years Jaime had seen her in a pair of pants that
didn’t look painted on.
    “You must be Harlem,” Jaime said to the
little girl. “I’ve heard so much about you. I’m Jaime.”
    “Hi,” the little girl spoke in a tiny voice,
peeking out from behind her father’s leg.
    “Give her about ten minutes. She’ll talk your
ear off,” Langston said. “You’ve got a beautiful place here.”
    “Yea, I’m really impressed. Girl, I might
need you to help me redecorate,” Aliya said as she gave Jaime a
hug. The eight of them spent the rest of the night eating,
laughing, and playing games. Around ten, Harlem started
whining.
    “She’s probably ready for bed. You want to
leave, Langston?” Aliya asked.
    “One more minute, babe. I’m ‘bout to win,” he
said as he slapped a card down on the table. Langston loved playing
Poker.
    “You all don’t have to leave,” Jaime said.
“Give her to me. I can put her to sleep in my bed. You all finish
your game.”
    “Are you sure?” Aliya asked. She had never
seen Jaime be this nice to anyone. She usually didn’t have enough
patience for adults, let alone whiney toddlers.
    “It’s no problem at all,” Jaime said as she
picked up the girl. “You’re sleepy? Yea, me too. Let’s go lay
down,” she said in a relaxing voice as she carried Harlem to the
bedroom.
    Harlem only cried for a few minutes. Jaime
put her on her lap and rocked her slowly. Then she put on a CD of
Quranic recitation. The melodic sounds of the CD put Harlem right
to sleep. She lay her down in the bed and then laid down beside
her. Langston peeked his head in to make sure everything was going
alright.
    “I can’t even put her to sleep that fast,” he
said.
    “It’s the CD,” she said. “The recitation is
so calming. Babies love it.”
    “What is this?” he asked, picking up the