FIFTEEN #2
She shrugs. “Sorta. My mom said something just told her to go get me a pickle that day. But I figured that’s how it worked, right? Just start talking to the people we be missing and maybe they start talking back, in some ways. And you know what, they did! At least with me, that is.”
I raise an eyebrow. “So how you go from that to scamming people out they money?”
Her eyes fall on the sand, lips twitching. The sign of someone who’s feeling guilty, which she should.
“It sort of … happened. I guess I kinda got carried away. My girl Latoya’s dad passed away and she kept saying she wished she could talk to him one last time.
So, I just … tried to help her. Told her what he would have said.
Then … more people started coming. My cousin Dale said people gotta start paying for my services. So … that’s what I did.”
“Ummm … wow?”
“I know, it’s messed up,” she huffs. “But the thing is, every time I did a reading, I could see I was really helping people feel better. And that made me feel better.”
I want to ask her more, but her friends are running up the beach.
“Hey, New York,” one girl says, already giving me a nickname. “What y’all talking about over here? Myah telling you she sees dead people again?”
The girls cackle. Myah squirms, playing with shells in the sand.
I perk up. “Nah. But … y’all don’t believe in ghosts or nothing?”
“Oh nahhhhhh. I ain’t messing with that stuff. My mama would kill me dead.”
“Hey, you ain’t wanna come in the water?” the other girl asks.
“I don’t know how to swim that good,” I admit.
The girls giggle. “Neitha do we!”
“We got beaches in New York too, though.” I grin. “Aaaaand the best food.”
Myah’s friends freeze, holding up their hands. “Oh, now you starting something!” they say.
Myah’s friends and I spend all afternoon on the beach laughing and kicking it. They tell me about their school, the teachers that sucked, the boys they loved/hated, class trips, and cheerleading. It all feels real normal. I don’t think I’ve had a normal day like that since Grandma died.
Myah’s dad drops me off at last.
“So. Tomorrow?” Myah says from the open window, her eyes saying more than her words.
I nod. “Yes. Tomorrow.”
“All right!” She grins as her dad drives off with a wave. A part of me wants to run after them. But … Dad should be at the club tonight. He never misses a gig. He’s played with the flu and a fever. Doubt he’d skip a gig just ’cause I’m mad at him.
I walk up the porch, where Lena sits waiting.
“Hey, Harmony,” Lena says, folding her hands.
“Hey,” I mumble, shouldering my bag.
“You left in a hurry this morning.”
“Uh. Yeah.”
“Well. You mind sitting for a while,” she says, gesturing to the rocking chairs.
All I want to do is sleep and get ready for tomorrow, but this don’t seem like an invitation. More like a demand. I sit.
“Well. Tell me about your day?”
I’m really not in the mood for chitchat, but I play along. ’Cause if she has something to say about my attitude, I can pop right back.
“Went to the beach. With a friend,” I say dryly.
“That girl Myah, right?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“And … you couldn’t bring Robby with you?”
I swallow hard. “There wasn’t any room.”
She crosses her arms but keeps smiling. “I see. It seems that Robby was under the impression y’all two had plans today.
Something about building a robot? So he was pretty upset he couldn’t go with you.
He spent all morning locked up in his room, crying.
He’d never tell me that, but I could hear him through his door. ”
My stomach drops, my mouth so dry I can’t talk.
Lena gives me a long look. She’s about to give me the business.
“I know Robby’s probably just a kid to you …
but he’s had it pretty rough. You see, his father passed away when he was four.
Ever since, it’s really been us two. Not much family left to account for.
Which is why chosen family is so important.
They say, what God takes away, he replaces three times over.
So not only does Robby love having Al around, he loves having you here too.
He’s never had family this close before, and he’s just in heaven.
But you leaving like you did today not only hurt your father, it hurt Robby too. ”
I hold in a groan. I knew she was about to lecture me about Dad. I just knew it.
“So, with your husband gone,” I say, feeling bold, “are you trying to replace him with Dad as your new husband and me as a stepdaughter? Is that why you had Dad get rid of our place?”
She laughs, rocking back. “Girl, I did no such thing! In fact, I told your father he should talk to you about it first, but I think he was scared. The landlord was coming down heavy on him. He didn’t know what to do.
They were working on trying to evict him, throw y’all out in the street.
He didn’t want you to worry about that. Especially after you both lost your whole world. ”
“Oh,” I mumble, thinking of what Truth and Kiki said, how I should take it easy on my dad.
Lena reaches over and holds my hand. “Your dad and I … well, we’ve been friends for a long time, and we’re still figuring things out.
Your father is a really special person, and so are you.
But I don’t want to get in the middle of what you and your father got going on.
All I’m saying is, kids at school teased Robby bad ’cause he’s real smart.
So bad I had to pull him out. He’s used to being left out or blown off, but not by family.
And you are family to us, no matter what happens between me and Al, you understand? ”
I nod with a sigh. “I understand.”
“Now, Robby may think he grown in the head,” Lena says, leaning back, “but his feelings ain’t grown. He’s been through a lot. Lost someone special to him he ain’t been able to replace. And you know all about loss, don’t you?”
I think of Grandma, holding back tears. “Yeah. I do.”
With a deep breath, I knock on Robby’s door. It’s wallpapered with posters and pictures from Robot Magazine. Something I didn’t even know existed.
“Who is it?” a little voice says.
“It’s me.”
I hear a couple of sniffs and a whole two minutes pass before he unlocks the door. Robby’s face is all puffy, his eyes red.
“Hey,” he croaks.
The guilt feels like a heavy stone weighing down my stomach. “Can I come in?”
He shrugs, scurrying back to his desk. I’ve never been inside Robby’s room before. It’s like an equipment warehouse. There are gadgets, robot parts, and wires everywhere. Crazy complicated LEGOs, computers, video game consoles, TVs, tools … You name it, he got it.
“Whoa,” I mutter.
At his desk, he tinkers with a clear plastic ball that looks like the inside of a remote control.
“What’s that?”
“It’s the Sphero Bolt,” he mumbles, hitting some square buttons on his iPad. “I’m programming a new game for a competition.”
“This is fire,” I say, sitting on his plaid bed, grabbing a large Rubik’s Cube off the windowsill. “Hey, I’m sorry I ditched you today. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings like that. I was just … Well, doesn’t matter. I’m sorry.”
He shrugs, keeping his back to me. “It’s okay.”
“Nah. It’s not. Friends don’t do that to each other. Neither do family.”
His back straightens and he whips around quick.
I smile. “Listen, I don’t got a lot of experience being a big sister. But I know I’m not supposed to hurt your feelings. I’mma do better.”
Robby twiddles his thumbs. “Mom said you were upset about moving to Savannah.”
I breathe in deep again, and it pains my chest. “I am. But that don’t mean I should’ve taken it out on you. Just ’cause you’re mad about one thing doesn’t mean you should take it out on anyone. My grandma used to say that.”
Robby nods. “My mom says that too.”
I rub my hands against my shorts. “So … we good?”
Robby blinks, the smallest smile showing. “Yeah.”
I exhale, grateful. “Good. And are we ready for tomorrow?”
“Almost.”
He swivels his chair around and grabs a tank-looking robot off his desk.
“It’s a Yahboom Raspberry Pi tank with a 4B board, camera, and high-power 370 motor.”
I blink. “Uhhh … okay.”
“It has treads instead of wheels so it could go over rough terrain, like debris in the house. I still need to fasten a bracket to hold the thermal meter and program it.”
I nod. “Okay. Let’s do it, then.”
“Really? You want to help?”
“Of course. Youuuuu … just gotta tell me what to do. ‘Cause I didn’t understand one word you just said.”