Eight
EIGHT
Trinidad
T here was nothing like landing in Florida and being greeted by the beautiful palm trees and sunshine. Now if Florida could keep the excessive humidity that seeped in as I walked down the Jetway into the airport. Already beads of perspiration traveled the middle of my back as I maneuvered the packed small-town airport.
This cheerleading competition must be a big deal. I still didn’t understand how it wasn’t in the original planning schedule of the season, but I was glad it was happening in a Black town with a beautiful history.
There were rumors that a lot of maroons from the Caribbean, the south, and other areas of the continent came and settled here. They took ownership of this little piece of paradise by the water and were mostly left unbothered by, well, everyone else. It was a feat to be able to have a town like this that had been almost untouched by time. A space where Black people had prospered and created a tight community that welcomed others like them every year for a vacation. It was a blessing of peace and tranquility, a land to be ourselves.
Ofele Town had been on my bucket list for years, and I had yearned to come and bring the boys to visit. There were so many historical locations here, as well. Many luminaries had either lived here or come to create in this area.
To be in Ofele felt serendipitous. While standing at a crossroads in my life, without planning, I ended up here. Work had not been feeling as fulfilling as before. Maybe it was this douchebag changing the date, but I missed working on bigger events like this cheerleading town-wide event, where I was the head BAC calling the shots for big festivals.
A faraway thread of concern popped into my mind, like when you’re trying to remember if you locked your front door or not. What was the thing I wanted to look into right before falling asleep? As hard as I tried, my brain refused to give the deets. It served me right for always keeping it filled with overanalysis, endless to-do lists, and worries. At this point, my brain was considering joining a union for mistreatment. Giving up, I left the faraway thread alone, hoping it would voluntarily return to me later.
All around me, people my age or younger wandered around, looking fine in sundresses and hooch daddy shorts. Now, I know my generation was the flyest to exist, but this didn’t look quite like parents coming to see a cheerleading conference.
I had yet to see a teenager. That faraway thread vibrated in the back of my brain, still teasing me.
The sliding doors opened and closed, letting the humid heat creep into the cool airport as I finally approached the exit.
A banner hung on the top of the doorway leading to the rental car area.
Welcome, revelers, to Ofele Carnival .
Ofele Carnival? Was that supposed to be this weekend? It explained the people in the plane and all around me right now. My mommy sense tingled, my breath hitched, and just to be certain, I took stock of my surroundings. I still didn’t see any kids—only adults, all beautiful Black people.
A quiet dread seeped into my pores as I took all this information in. The rental area brimmed with travelers; navigating through the space, I stood in line to wait to get my car.
Once I saw the twins I would get to the bottom of whatever hell was happening.
* * *
“Sorry, ma’am. Well, you know, today we got swamped with everything happening with the carnival. Everybody has come to get cars. I don’t know how the town will manage all this traffic.” A frazzled older woman stood at the counter with a look of inpatient pity.
This was the fourth counter I’d tried.
“Oh, I can imagine with all this activity happening in the town…is there another branch close to here?”
“Oh, no, no, no, no, we’re too small for that. All of the rental companies are located here in our airport. I think there’s only one in town and it’s one of our branches. And by looking at it really quickly, they’re equally as sold-out. Most people made reservations a month ago, at least. But you never know there might be some cancellations.”
“Oh my God. Are you serious?” I really did not like depending on rides to be able to navigate this little town. Maybe walking would be the way to go. “Is it too far from here to the Ofele Resort and Spa?”
“Oh yes. That will probably be a twenty-minute drive. The airport is on the outskirts of the town. But there are a lot of rides, sure drivers. My brother is one. Would you like him to pick you up?”
“Oh well, if you don’t mind, that’s really nice of you.”
“Of course. Of course. I would love to assist. I’m telling you. It is so exciting to host carnival every year. I get to see the most wonderful people. I love working these dates because I just sit here and like people’s gaze.”
“Oh yeah, I can only imagine. I’m guessing, you know, having the cheerleader tournament and carnival at the same time must be a lot.”
“Cheerleading tournament? I haven’t heard anything about a cheerleading competition happening but again, I don’t have all the details of everything happening in the town. But if anybody knows what’s happening in Ofele and its nearby towns, it is my brother.”
My stomach twisted, and I pressed my hand over it to calm it down.
Something must be off.
Something must be wrong.
Maybe the cheerleading competition happened on the outskirts of Ofele. Maybe they called it the Ofele Cheerleading Competition, but it wasn’t exactly there. The twins showed me a website when I asked them for more details about the event. It looked pretty straightforward.
I pulled out my phone and walked out of the airport with instructions on where to wait for the lady’s brother. While I waited, I searched for the cheerleading competition.
Nothing came up in the Google search. Not even the website the boys showed that night when they made all my bookings for the hotel and flight.
Jesus Alabao . There was no way. No way. This was not happening. My breath caught in my throat as my chest accelerated its heartrate. I needed a course of action. Yes. I needed to get to the hotel; once I was situated, I’d think of a plan. These boys don’t even know what they are thinking.
But no, no, no. This couldn’t be, it couldn’t be because Miranda was coming to Ofele, as well. Sweet air rushed through my lungs, accompanied by pure relaxation. It must be something like that. The competition had to be happening. It had to, there was no other explanation.
“Hey, are you Trinitty?”
“Ehh, No my name is Trinidad. Hello, John.”
“Yeah. My sister asked me if I could give you a ride. You’re going to the Ofele Resort and Spa, right?”
“Yes, that’s exactly where I’m going. Thank you so much, John. You’re amazing.”
“It’s my pleasure.”
John had the AC blasting, and thank God for the man because he understood the assignment. The amount of humidity that hit me the moment that I walked out of those sliding doors was unbearable. Already, my locs were losing inches, curling to the top of my crown and holding on to all the moisture in the air. Putting them up in a ponytail to keep them off my neck, I settled in the back of John’s car, my mind whirling with details and all the conversations I’ve had with Miranda and the boys in the past few days. Everything I remembered made sense, but they were the only three people I had talked to about the cheerleading competition and the whole world trip.
None of the other parents have mentioned anything in any of the pickups. The coach hadn’t said anything the last day they saw me when I picked the boys up from practice. I had been so focused on getting everything situated for this event for work that I missed the signs, but I really was hoping I was wrong.
I wasn’t wrong.
* * *
“Ma’am, we do not have a reservation for you. I’ve looked everywhere. I’ve looked at all the name combinations you’ve provided me, and none of them are in our system.” The front desk agent couldn’t be more exasperated if she tried.
“That doesn’t make sense. My son made the reservation. I gave you a confirmation number.”
“Yes, yes, you did. But as I explained, that doesn’t sound like our confirmation numbers. That is not a valid confirmation number; ours starts with eight, and yours starts with a three. Seems like your sons might have been missing a number. Why don’t you go ahead and call them?” the agent said. I’d put her through a wild goose chase for fifteen minutes. She had a line behind me waiting to check in. Everybody was sighing and irritated because I was holding up their fun, but I currently didn’t have a space or a place to stay.
“And you said you’re sold out?”
“Ma’am…the entire town is sold out. It is carnival. Have you not heard of Ofele Carnival? I know that we’re new. We’re just starting to grow. But yeah, the popularity kind of went from zero to ten overnight, so the town is full. I don’t know what to tell you. I really want to help, but there’s really nothing that I can do.” The agent finally thawed out, probably seeing the frustration seeping out of my sweaty pores.
“Please, please could check one more time. I’m gonna call my twins, and I’m gonna try to see if I can find that confirmation number, but in the meantime, can you just check one more time? They made it under Velasquez, please.”
“Sorry. Okay, sure, ma’am. I will check one more time, but it would really help if you had the correct confirmation.”
“Of course, I’m gonna pull over there, and why don’t you take care of these fine folks?” I gestured to the line, my chest tight at the potential reality that I didn’t have a place to stay. “I am so sorry. You know, my kids, they made the reservation,” I explained.
A lady, two persons down, stared at me as if I had grown an extra leg.
“You let your kids make a reservation? How old are they?” I filled my lungs before answering, because if not my temper would escalate and they were not responsible for my predicament.
“They are fifteen years old, but they’re very, very responsible.” I couldn’t keep the frustration from my tone.
“Oh, you brave girl, that decision wasn’t smart. Now it looks like you won’t be able to stay for carnival,” the woman said. At this point I was frankly over with the conversation.
“I’m not here for carnival. That’s the whole thing. I’m here for a cheerleading competition.”
“Cheerleading competition?” the front desk agent asked while checking in another guest. “No way there is a competition, I would know.”
“Yes, there is.” I breathed for patience. “I think it’s probably somewhere on the outskirts of Ofele. I think they call it an Ofele competition, you know how it is sometimes? You’ll have something like a little rinky-dink town, like close to like a bigger town. And you know, they want to make themselves a name, but they want to be able to pull people in, so they call it something else.” At this point I was explaining myself to the line and I had no need for that. Or maybe I was trying to convince myself.
“Ma’am. My two girls are both in the best cheerleading team in the county. Trust me. If there was anything cheerleading happening in this town, I would know even if it was in a hundred-mile radius.”
I decided to move forward because this could not be happening right now. This could not be happening. So I just nodded as the other guests stared at me and pretended I had my shit together. I didn’t.
“I hear you. I hear you. It must be something else. You know how it goes?” Ugh, enough explaining. “But go ahead and carry on with your work.”
A lounge area served as the perfect location to make this call. I had never hit the keypad of my phone as hard as I was doing now. I don’t know how I didn’t break a nail.
“Ah, what’s up, Ma? You good,” Brandon greeted me. His surroundings were too quiet. Would a bus full of teenagers be this chill? Or were the technology companies getting that good at isolating noise?
“Am I good? No, no, no, no, I’m absolutely not good. Estoy bien enfadada ahora mismo. I’m standing here in the Ofele Resort and Spa, which, by the way, is a beautiful hotel. And they’re telling me that they do not have a delegation from Basquiat High. And of course, they don’t, because look at this hotel. It’s like five stars. Of course, Basquiat wouldn’t be able to afford this. And then I say, oh, maybe the boys are trying to, you know, give me a little bit of treat. And I’m not staying in the same hotel as they are. And I asked for the confirmation number you put on my notes application, and they cannot find the room.
“Brian and Brandon, what did you do?” My voice rose in volume until I exploded on a crescendo at the end of my soliloquy.
“Mom, listen…what happened was,” Brian interjected, probably standing right next to his brother.
“No, no, no, no. No, ‘ what happened was .’ Do not even start. Tell me. Tell me, dimelo, don’t give me the runaround. Tell me what’s going on,” I said through clenched teeth. People were starting to really stare now. The shiny marble floor reflected back my frazzled face.
“Well, we thought you needed a vacation…” Brandon said.
“What do you mean?!” Two men in suits appeared in the middle of the lobby. They must have teleported. A glimpse of a white earpiece gave me the information I needed to avoid being kicked out. This was hotel security. I walked away from the lounge area and settled beside a large column that covered me from the rest of the lobby.
“I really don’t understand how this happened. How did this happen? What do you mean you want me to have a vacation? I don’t have time for a vacation. That event is happening in a month. I don’t have the time to be playing games in no, you know, paradise. Not right now.”
Not during carnival. Because that type of vacation was not for the new me. The old me though? She’d be ready to party.
“Mom. We wanted you to have a fun weekend. You haven’t stopped working in a long time. But both of us can tell that you need a break. So we planned to surprise you. And this was the only way to surprise you,” Brian said sweetly. Such a deceptive little devil! My palm slapped the marble column next to me, the burst of anger demanding outlet.
“This was not the only way to surprise me! You know how you could have? You could have had a conversation with me and explained to me that you were concerned about me not having time to rest. And then I would have told you that I was planning some trips soon and Milton and I had been planning to go to the Poconos this weekend. And you know what? I don’t need you both to be parenting me. I am the mother!” The two men in suits stared at me, then each other. Then one touched his ear. Shit. I needed to lower my voice. I searched around for a quieter area but the lobby buzzed with so many travelers ready for their carnival weekend. You would think my voice would get lost in the hubbub, but my vocal cords were somehow competition for the quiet excitement filling the space.
“Ma, we you would have dragged and not done it anytime soon. And that weekend trip, wasn’t Milton taking you to a work event?”
These children knew too much about my personal life. New boundaries needed to be set as soon as possible. Grabbing my bag, I gestured peace to the security guards, my two fingers awkwardly bending away from my phone. Nodding along with my peace gesture I speed walked across the polished marble searching for the nearest exit.
“Brandon Miguel and Brian Rodrigo, you both are in so much trouble, you know—never mind. We can discuss the consequences of your actions once I am back. I’m gonna try to get back home. I can’t believe you did this!”
“Oh no, Ma, you won’t be able to get back. You know, the city is packed with carnival goers and everything.”
“Oh, now you are worried? I’ll find my way, and the two of you are going to help me. Find me a way to get back home ASAP. Put your tía on the line.” I was about to give Miranda a big piece of my mind.
“Hi, girl,” Miranda said as if this was a normal call. The nearest exit felt miles away as my stomach knotted at what was to come next.
“Hey, girl?! What is going on? Why am I here?” Maybe if I approached this with the same calm I used when emergencies went off at events at work, I would get quicker answers. If I screamed at Miranda like I wanted to do, she’d tell me to fix my attitude and hang up on me.
Damned the healed hussy.
“I tried to plant some seeds to see if you were paying any attention to what these two boys were doing. They dragged me along in the plan. I said to them, look, your mom is too smart for that. She’s gonna catch on. And then, lo and behold, they’re telling me that you let them use your laptop for your arrangements. They made fake reservations for you and everything. So I said you know what, girl, if you’re that busy, you really truly need some time off. So… I kind of let it roll. You know that they’re safe with me.”
“Miranda, this is ridiculous.” My breath quickened at my sprint avoiding the security officers. The doors slid open and the fresh air quieted my thoughts.
“I need to be real with you. We tell each other like it is, and we support each other. The Poconos on a work trip is not a romantic getaway; you deserve better, girl. Just…why don’t you enjoy your time there? And why don’t you let loose for a minute?” Miranda asked.
“Why is everyone thinking I’m not enjoying my time??” I groaned.
“Because you are always a busy, girl. You don’t rest, so you don’t even realize you’re tired. You keep on going and going and going. How many hours of sleep have you been getting lately?”
“Oh, five, that’s enough.” I waved my hand away.
“That is not enough, girl. Look. Why don’t you just stay there for the weekend?” A place to sit would be a lovely reprieve from the drama I’d walked into without paying any attention. The boardwalk brimmed with excited revelers but a few steps ahead an empty wooden bench awaited me.
“I cannot stay this weekend. I need to be at the Poconos.” My exasperation made way to despair. If my own friend helped my twins set me up, what did that say of my control of my own life? And what did that say about my loved ones’ feelings for the man I wanted to get serious with?
“I tried to plant my seeds, but you let yourself be trapped, so deal with it now,” Miranda said, and we ended the call before I cussed her out.
Before I could walk far, a discrete cough stopped me in my tracks.
“Hey, you need a ride?” Luckily, John was still sitting idly outside with a friendly smile.
“I had a feeling something like this was gonna happen.” John grinned and opened the car door.
The cobblestone road merged into the smooth pavement as the mellow tunes in John’s car helped me reset my thoughts. For a few minutes, I took in the stunning views outside the car. The palm trees waiving in the bright blue sky, the shimmering sea moistening the boardwalk’s rocky and rugged edges. The flashing-by resorts and restaurants filled with smiling faces all different beautiful shades of Black.
Ofele might be gorgeous, but I had no intention of staying on this island.
“Okay, I don’t even know where I’m going. I actually need to go back to the airport to see if I can get a flight back. Would you be able to help me to do that?”
“I doubt there will be any flights, darlin’. Everything is booked from here until the end of carnival coming and going. A lot of the locals end up leaving because they want to be able to have, you know, peace and quiet. Some people come for different amounts of days. We don’t usually have a lot of flights to service this area. It’s a very small town.” John shrugged, extending his hand toward the window as we transitioned from the touristy area to the quieter outskirts of Ofele.
“So we usually only have a flight every three days.” John kept going. Clearly, he didn’t need much help from me to. “They’ve added a couple more today so that they could bring more people in and a couple more out, but the ones out are honestly very scarce until Monday when the carnival ends.”
“No, no, no, no, no. I need to be able to get out of here. There must be an airport other than the Ofele?”
“I mean, there’s the Jacksonville airport. It’s about three hours.” John chuckled and stayed on a local road. “If you are okay I won’t get on the highway till you make a final decision. This here road is the older local road and will take us to the airport but the scenic route.”
The search for a flight from Jacksonville to New York didn’t provide a thing but more of a headache. I scrolled through all the booking engines I could think of, while John whistled and drove along the Florida coast, not a worry in the world. Well, good for John. I was about to start evacuating bricks as every possible way to get out of here quickly kept shutting down.
“Again, how are you going to get there? The buses are also all full. And there are no rentals,” John asked, too relaxed for my liking.
“I cannot be stranded in this town. For four days. This cannot be, today was Thursday. I needed to be back. If I made it tomorrow, I could go to the Poconos, with Milton.”
I should have listened to my brain instead of my instinct regarding this weekend, especially about Milton. A quiet dread pointed at the last possible worst scenario: staying in Ofele for the weekend. I texted the twins to see if they had any luck.
Brian: Hey, Mom, no, we’re looking at Jacksonville. It’s not looking good. We don’t see anything. I mean, a lot of the flights just leave on either Sunday or Monday.
Brandon: Mom? Why don’t you enjoy yourself?
Me: Where am I supposed to stay? How can I enjoy myself without a room?
Brandon: Well, there’s somebody there that you know, maybe you can stay with them.
Me: Honey, I don’t know a soul in this town.
Brian: Yes, you do. Orlando is there… Orlando.