Chapter 3 #2
Richie’s voice came from somewhere off camera. “Auntie, I just sat down.”
“You can sit down when you come back.”
I heard Richie groan before he came into view. Richie was in his forties with a belly, a fadin’ hairline, and the same mischievous face he had when I was a kid. He looked at the phone and saw me, then smirked.
“Look at Hollywood over there in Trill-Land,” he said. “You too rich to come home now?”
“Boy, bye,” I said, liftin’ my brow. “I ain’t rich. I’m just near rich people, and that still don’t mean I’m finna loan you nothin’.”
He laughed. “You still owe me ten dollars anyway.”
“I sat up a lil’. Nigga, I’on owe you a damn thing. You still owe me ten dollars from back in the day. Don’t play with me.’”
“I’on know nothin’ ’bout that.”
“Uh huh,” I said, rollin’ my eyes.
Grandma Glo waved her hand while my mama kept oilin’ her scalp. “Both of y’all hush. Richie, go play my numbers. I need 415, 722, 906, and play 333 straight.”
Richie frowned. “Auntie, you play 333 every week, and it don’t never come out.”
“It came in my dream.”
“You dream that every week too. At this point, it’s delusion.”
I pointed at the screen quick. “Hold up, potna. You better watch how you talk to my grandma. If she say that number came in a dream, then that number came in a dream. Don’t block her blessin’ with yo’ negative spirit and that dry ass beard.”
My mama busted out laughin’, and Grandma Glo covered her mouth like she was tryin’ not to encourage me.
Richie looked offended. “My beard ain’t dry.”
“It look thirsty from here.”
“Sha’Nelle, you got jokes now?”
“I been had jokes. You just been too slow to catch ’em.”
He leaned closer to the screen. “That’s why I don’t fool with you. You get over there around them palace people and start actin’ brand new.”
“Richie, I was actin’ brand new when I was broke. Hell, I’m still broke.”
Grandma Glo laughed again, and that sound made me smile before I could stop myself. This was the part of home I missed. Not the drama, the family pickin’ sides and everybody havin’ somethin’ to say about Toni and Kay’Lo, but this right here.
Grandma Glo reached for the plastic bag beside her and pulled out a few scratch offs. “And get me two of them Golden 7 tickets too. Not from the front of the roll either. Tell Peaches to go in the middle.”
Richie shook his head. “Auntie, Peaches not finna let me pick from the middle of the roll.”
“Tell her it’s for me.”
Richie grabbed his keys off the table. “A’ight, I’m gone, but Sha’Nelle, don’t think I forgot about my ten dollars.”
“I hope you forget where you parked.”
“See, that’s why yo’ phone always cracked.”
“Nigga, my phone not cracked.”
“Yo’ spirit cracked.”
I gasped dramatically. “Mama, you hear him?”
My mama looked into the camera. “I heard y’all, and y’all both need to shut up.”
Grandma Glo started to say somethin’, but the words came out wrong.
“I need you to get the… get the… the…” She paused and blinked a few times like she was tryna grab the rest of the sentence out the air. “The numbers, the paper, the… the…”
My smile faded…
At first, I thought maybe she had just lost her train of thought ’cause Grandma Glo did that sometimes when too many people was talkin’ at the same time. But then her face changed in a way I ain’t like. Her mouth moved again, but the words ain’t come out clean.
“Mama?” my mama said, her voice changin’ fast. “You okay?”
Grandma Glo blinked again, her eyes unfocused. “I… I was… I was…”
I sat up fully, grabbin’ the phone. “Grandma?”
Richie stopped by the doorway. “Auntie?”
My mama moved around the chair and came into the screen better, the oil bottle still in her hand. “Mama, look at me. What’s wrong?”
Grandma Glo’s hand lifted a lil’, then dropped back into her lap. Her mouth pulled weird on one side for just a second, but it was enough to make my whole body go cold. She tried to speak again, but nothin’ came out except a small, broken sound.
“Grandma,” I said louder, my voice crackin’ before I could control it. “Grandma, say somethin’.”
Then she went quiet. Her body leaned to the side like all the strength had slipped out of her, and my mama caught her before she could fall completely out the chair.
“Mama!” my mama screamed, droppin’ the phone for a second.
The screen blurred and moved wild, and all I could hear was my mama panickin’, Richie cussin’, and furniture scrapin’ across the floor.
“Mama!” I yelled into the phone, even though I knew nobody was listenin’ to me now. “Mama, what’s happenin’? Pick the phone up!”
My mama’s face came back into view for half a second, and I had never seen her look that scared in my life.
“‘Nelle, I gotta call the ambulance,” she said, breathin’ hard. “I gotta go.”
“No, wait! Mama, what happened? Is she breathin’? Mama!”
My mama hung up in my face…
I sat frozen for one second with the phone still in my hand, starin’ at my reflection on the black screen like my mind was tryna catch up to what my eyes had just seen. Then everything hit me at the same time, and I jumped off the bed so fast I almost tripped over my own slides.
“No, no, no,” I kept sayin’ rushin’ toward the door. “Not Grandma. Not my Grandma Glo.”
I ran down the hallway, my heart beatin’ so hard I could feel it in my back.
The house felt too big, and the distance from my room to the backyard felt longer than it ever had before.
I could hear Toni outside laughin’ with My’Love, that sweet baby laugh floatin’ through the glass doors, and it made my stomach twist ’cause I was about to walk out there and snatch every bit of peace out the moment.
When I got to the back doors, Toni was in the pool with ’Lo’Lo, holdin’ her under the arms while she kicked her legs and splashed water everywhere.
Toni had her hair tied up, big sunglasses on her face, and a smile so soft it almost made me break before I even said somethin’.
My’Love squealed when Toni bounced her through the water, and for half a second, I hated that I had to be the one to bring fear into this.
“Toni,” I called, pushin’ the door open.
She looked over at me, still smilin’ at first. “What?”
I walked closer, and the second she saw my face, her smile dropped.
“What’s wrong?”
I swallowed, tryna get the words out without fallin’ apart. “Somethin’ wrong with Grandma Glo.”
Toni went still, and My’Love slapped the water with both hands, mad that the playin’ had stopped.
“What you mean somethin’ wrong?” Toni asked.
“I don’t know,” I said, shakin’ my head while tears started burnin’ in my eyes.
“I was on FaceTime with my mama while she was over there oilin’ Grandma scalp, and Grandma started stutterin’ like she couldn’t get her words out.
Then she just went quiet and almost fell out the chair. Mama hung up to call the ambulance.”
Toni stared at me for a second like she was tryna understand the words, then she moved.
“Shit,” she said, grabbin’ My’Love and liftin’ her out the pool.
My’Love immediately started hollerin’ like Toni had ruined her entire life. Her face balled up, and she kicked her feet while Toni wrapped a towel around her wet body and held her tight against her chest.
“I know, baby, I know,” Toni said, but her voice was already shakin’. “Hold on.”
She hurried toward the lounge chair where her phone was, and I stood there with my hands pressed together, tryna stay calm even though my mind was already goin’ to the worst place. I kept seein’ Grandma Glo’s face, the way her words got stuck, the way her body leaned, and the way my mama screamed.
Please God, I thought, blinkin’ fast while Toni grabbed her phone with wet hands. Please don’t let that be the last time I heard my grandma talk.
Toni looked at me while My’Love cried against her shoulder, and… we ain’t have nothin’ to say.
It was just fear sittin’ between us while the phone started ringin’ in Toni’s hand.
Later that night…
Tonight, me and Kelli was just vibin’ in his car with the top pushed all the way back.
He had found this spot earlier and ain’t say too much about it but just told me to come ride with him and trust him.
I should’ve known it was gon’ be somethin’ like this, though, ’cause Kelli always had a way of findin’ spots that made you forget everything else for a minute.
We was parked up high, damn near sittin’ on the edge of the world, lookin’ out over the city while the lights blinked below us like somebody scattered diamonds across the dark.
The sky above us was wide open with stars all through it, and the music played low through the speakers, real smooth, settin’ a vibe that had me sittin’ back for once instead of feelin’ like I had to say somethin’ just to fill the space.
Kelli cracked the windows just enough to let the breeze come through, and I leaned my head back against the seat while we passed the blunt back and forth.
“I ain’t gon’ lie,” I said after a minute, lookin’ up at the sky, “you snapped with this one.”
Kelli glanced at me with a smile like he wasn’t tryna make a big deal out of it. “You like it?”
“I do,” I said, turnin’ my head toward him. “It’s calm out here. I needed this.”
He nodded like he already knew that before I said it.
That was the thing about Kelli. He listened in a way that made you feel like you ain’t have to explain yourself twice. He wasn’t the type to interrupt you or try to fix everything you said. He just sat there, took it in, and when he did speak, it actually meant somethin’.
I reached over and took the blunt from his hand, lettin’ my fingers brush his for a second before I brought it to my lips. “You always know where to go when somebody need to breathe.”
“I pay attention,” he said real simple.
I exhaled slowly, watchin’ the smoke disappear in the night. “Yeah… you do.”