I couldn’t tell where one ended and another began. They included everything from me running up and down the streets with blacksnakes hanging off the top of my head like Medusa, to me receiving bombs in the mail hidden inside cute little pink boxes.
I woke up the next day with such a start I almost rolled off the queen-size bed in Rhoda’s guestroom. I was stretched out on my back like a seal, with the silky sheets and fluffy white goose-down comforter wrapped around my legs like a single vine. It took me a while to realize where I was and why I was there.
I glanced at a clock on the nightstand and was surprised to see that it was almost noon. I had never slept this late on a Sunday. I went to church only about every two months, dragging Pee Wee with me. But I got Charlotte to go every week with my mother—whom I affectionately referred to as Muh’Dear—and Daddy. Anyway, even on the Sundays that I didn’t plan to go to church, I always woke up at the crack of dawn to get Charlotte ready. Even without an alarm clock. This was the first Sunday in years that I had slept so late, and I didn’t like it. I hated the fact that my tormentor had disrupted my normal routine. The fact that she hid her identity made her actions seem especially cruel. I felt totally helpless and defenseless. How could I prepare myself for something that I didn’t understand and with an enemy that I couldn’t see? It was beginning to feel like I was doing battle with a ghost.
I sat bolt upright in bed when I looked to the side of the room toward the door and saw Jade standing there, holding a breakfast tray that contained a plate and a cup of coffee. I will never forget the look on her face, because it was one that I had never seen before. She seemed to be looking at nothing in particular, like a statue. Her eyes reminded me of the eyes I’d seen on a dead woman once; the soul had departed.
“Jade? What?” I tried to untangle the bedding with my legs, but all I managed to do was tangle myself up even more. I rubbed my eyes and cleared my throat because for a moment I thought I was dreaming. The Jade standing across the room did not look or act like the Jade I knew.
She handed me the tray. When she smiled, her face looked like it was going to crack. “You need to eat, Auntie,” she told me, rubbing the side of my face. “You had a rough day yesterday.”
“Tell me about it,” I said, taking a sip of the black coffee. I usually took cream and sugar, but this was one morning that I needed my coffee to be as potent as possible. “Where’s your mom?” I asked, sniffing as I snapped off a piece of bacon. I blinked at the steam rising from the plate. There was enough food in front of me for three people. Even a glutton like me couldn’t consume eight strips of bacon slathered with redeye gravy, six slices of wheat toast, a dollop of grape jelly as big as my fist, a stack of pancakes, and a mountain of grits with a puddle of butter. As if all of that wasn’t enough to kill me, a saucer with about half a dozen thick link sausages that looked like a pile of logs sat on the edge of the tray. With an incredulous look on my face, my mouth hanging open, I looked from the feast in front of me to Jade, then back to the food.
“Is all this for me?” I asked dumbly.
“Uh-huh. I fixed it all myself,” Jade said with a nod. “I know how big people like you love to eat.”
“Oh. Well, I’m not really that hungry, but I appreciate you doing this for me, baby.” I cleared my throat and sat up straighter. “Jade, let me tell you a little something. And I don’t want you to take this the wrong way, because it’s not really a complaint. Uh, it’s more of an observation, but it’s something I’ve been meaning to bring up.”
“What?” Jade asked with a worried look.
I could see a pout forming on her face.
“Honey, you are almost grown. Some of the things you say now, you won’t be able to say and get away with in a few years.”
Jade gave me a surprised look, tilting her head to the side and looking at me out of the corner of her eye. “Huh?”
“It doesn’t really bother me what you say to me. But sooner or later, you are going to say the wrong thing to the wrong person, and you will regret it,” I said as gently as I could. But an angry look still appeared on Jade’s face.
“I don’t know what you are talking about, Auntie! I am one of the nicest people I know!” Jade yelled, waving her arms.
Her pouts were a powerful tool that she often used—and it always worked with me. I immediately regretted chastising her.
I nodded. “Yes, you are a nice person. But you say some crazy stuff sometimes.” I smiled.
Jade shook her head and waved her arms some more. “Look, Auntie, you need to get some more rest. You are the one talking crazy right now. I gave up a trip to the mall with Debbie Bronson and Kim Jones so I could stay here and be with you. Now you eat! After that, you can use some of my bubble bath. Then, we’ll get you back into your muumuu. Which, I washed myself last night after we put you to bed.” Jade gave me a wide grin and a quick peck on my cheek.
She wore a tight denim jumpsuit that emphasized her tiny waist, which was smaller than one of my thighs. It was times like these that made me feel like somebody from another planet.
“And another thing, you don’t have to worry about…you know,” Jade assured me. She sat on the side of the bed and touched my arm. I gave her a guarded look. “What I mean is, we are behind you one hundred percent. Me and Mama. The person who sent you that mean note and stuff, she fucks with you, she’s fucking with me and Mama.”
“Jade, you shouldn’t be using words like that,” I scolded.
“I know, and I don’t use them in front of Mama or Daddy. They know you spoil me and let me get away with all kinds of sh—stuff. If you hadn’t talked them into it, they never would have let me intern for you at the collection agency.”
“Well, I only agreed to that because it was just for the summer. You’ll be leaving for college soon, and I wanted to spend as much time with you as I could.” I smiled and raked my hand through Jade’s hair. I loved how soft and silky her hair felt. I gave Jade a pensive look and pulled my hand away, rubbing the balls of my fingers together.
“Uh.” Jade paused and patted her hair.
“Uh, what?” I asked, giving her a guarded look.
“I’ve changed my mind.” Jade rose and started pacing the floor, munching on a piece of the toast that she’d prepared for me. “Um, I plan to tell Mama and Daddy that you want me to keep interning for you for a few more months. Well, until next year, at least. A lot of kids are going to spend at least a year doing other stuff before they start college. Backpack through Europe, Asia, Africa. My best friend, Cheryl Combs, she’s going to hitchhike all over India. Isn’t that the coolest thing you ever heard? And you wouldn’t believe how many kids from my graduating class decided to do a few years in the military first and then come back to go to college.”
“Jade, this is between you and your parents. But if you want to know what I think, I think you should go on off to college now. You’ve been accepted, and your folks can more than afford to send you; don’t pass up this golden opportunity. I wish my mother had been able to send me to Spelman when I got out of school,” I said with a sad sigh.
“Well, that’s another thing. You and Mama didn’t go to college and look how well you two turned out,” Jade argued, standing over me like a sentinel.
“Things were different back then, honey. Your mother had it a lot better than me, but she didn’t want to go college. She was pregnant with your big brother, and all she wanted to do was get married. Me, I had to get a job and start working to help my mother pay bills. I didn’t have the choices you have.”
“You mean you won’t talk to Mama?” Jade whined.
“I didn’t say that. But I don’t have a good argument to work with.”
“Will you at least give it a try? Oh, Auntie, I don’t ask you for much. Please do this one thing for me. If you do, and Mama and Daddy say no anyway, I can live with that. And I promise you I won’t ask for