Fast Forward (9 page)

Common Ground

“Who
was that?”

“Hey, Grandmom,” I said walking up the path. She’d just come out of the house and sat down in her chair on the front porch. She was holding a glass of something with ice in it. “I don’t know, some guy. He stopped to talk.”

“What did some guy want?” she asked, suspiciously.

“What every guy wants,” I said cynically, sitting down in the chair beside her. “But don’t worry, I have no intention of doing anything with anybody—and that includes lawn mower guy. I’m not ready.”

“Uh-huh. Many a young lady said that exact same thing. And many a young lady turned into a young
mother. Saying you’re not ready and a boy hearing it are two different things. They needle you, they beg, they plead and they cry. They say they’re going to be there if anything happens. But two minutes of bliss isn’t worth the rest of your life, especially these days. Sex is just too dangerous. Do you know about sex?”

“Yes, Grandmom.”

“In my day, we didn’t talk so openly about such things. Good girls kept their legs closed until they got married. And even then, good girls got in trouble. Do you know about sexually transmitted diseases?”

“Yes, Grandmom.”

“Good, but I can always get you a book from the library or from the bookstore in town.”

“I know about STDs,” I said dryly, hoping to end the conversation as soon as possible.

“In my day, we feared getting pregnant. Nowadays you need to fear getting dead. Having sex is like playing Russian roulette. You never know what you’ll get when that trigger is pulled.”

“Isn’t that a game?” I asked, not sure exactly what it was but knowing that I heard it mentioned before.

“It’s definitely not a game. It’s when you put one bullet in a revolver and spin the chamber. You put the gun to your temple. The trigger is pulled, and you have a one in six chance of the bullet splitting your head open.”

“Grandmom,” I said, completely stunned by her out-spoken bluntness. “I can’t believe you just said that.”

“Believe it. Sex is no joke, and it can get ugly fast.”

“I know. Chili’s pregnant by LaVon. He used to be
trying to get me to have sex with him all the time. But I wasn’t ready, so I didn’t. Then when Mom died, I guess I just gave in. I was going to do it. I was over at his house in his bedroom when I found out that Chili was having his baby,” I said. I was waiting to hear her yell, but she didn’t. “I’m so glad I didn’t do anything. But at school now, just because I used to go out with LaVon, some of the guys think I did.”

“You can’t change what people think, Kenisha. As long as you know what’s true, then that’s all that matters. So what about you and Terrence?” she asked.

“Lawn mower guy? I like him a lot. He makes me laugh, and he makes me feel good even when I don’t feel like it. He tells me the truth, especially when I don’t want to hear it.”

“He’s a good kid. He has his head on straight, always has. He’s been in trouble before, but that’s in the past.”

“You don’t have to worry about me and Terrence, either, Grandmom. I’m still not ready, and he’s never even said anything to me about us being together like that. Truth is, I’m sure there are enough girls at Howard who would be happy to take care of him that way.”

“Men can make a woman weak. They can turn her head completely around—and not for the better. I’m not saying they do it on purpose. Some do and some don’t. I’m saying that all in all, they do what they have to do. I wouldn’t worry about Terrence and the girls at Howard right now. He has a good heart. He’ll be all right.”

“A good heart? Is that how Granddad was?”

“Your grandfather was a good man, yes, and in his way
he was faithful. He was a preacher, a man of God, but he had a weakness for fast women.”

“You mean he was a player?” I asked, stunned.

“Is that what you call it now, a player?” she asked.

“Yes, it means that they like playing around a lot.”

“Then I guess that’s what he was. A player.”

“But he was a preacher. How could he do that? I mean isn’t that against the Bible and God and everything?”

“Man isn’t perfect, that’s for sure. I’m talking about men in general, all men, but that includes women as well. Your grandfather was a good preacher, but he was also a man with weaknesses. We all have weaknesses. The point is not to let them lead us down the wrong path.”

“Another recipe for life?” I asked.

She nodded and smiled. “Speaking of recipes, when are you going to start dinner? It’s getting late and I’m getting hungry.”

My mouth dropped open. When I started staying with my grandmother after my mom died, we made a deal that I would cook dinner on Friday nights. It all started because I was complaining about always cleaning up the kitchen after dinner. I challenged her to clean up once in a while, so she made me the deal and I gave my word. “But I thought since I was out at Freeman so late you’d cook tonight.”

“Where’d you get that idea?” she chuckled.

“Fine,” I said, then stood up picking up by dance bag. “Why don’t we have pizza tonight? I’ll order from the pizza place,” I suggested, hoping to not deal with all that kitchen stuff tonight.

“You already asked me to defrost pork chops. I did.
They’re in the refrigerator. I think I’d like corn and some leftover green beans with that, if you don’t mind.”

“Okay,” I said dryly, knowing that I wasn’t going to get away with not cooking a full meal tonight. “I’m gonna go clean up first, then I’ll be right down.” She nodded and I went in the house.

My grandmother was a trip. She had rules for just about everything, but her number one rule was keeping your word. If I said I was going to do something, she expected that it would be done. I guess that was an okay way to be. I knew I could always depend on her word no matter what because of it.

So I cooked dinner, we ate and she cleaned up the kitchen. It was worth it to be sitting watching her clean everything up, plus I was actually learning how to cook. A few weeks ago she gave me an empty notebook to write down all my recipes. I also started writing down her recipes for life. I don’t know why. I guess it seemed like a good idea. And now I just kind of liked it. So I was just finished writing down how she told me to make pork chops when my cell rang. I answered even though I didn’t recognize the number.

“Kenisha.”

“Who’s this?”

“This is Darien.”

“Who?” I asked, having no idea who it was. I was just about to click off when he continued.

“Don’t play with me, girl. You know who this is. I know you were waiting for me to call.”

“Look, I don’t know who this is, and I know I didn’t
give you my number. So please don’t call me again.” I closed my cell. I figured it was one of those stupid guys at school trying to be funny.

“Problems?” my grandmom asked. I told her about what was going on at school and what happened after I left Freeman. I could see she was angry, but she still remained calm. “I’ll take care of it,” she affirmed.

“Grandmom, don’t. Let me handle this. If I can’t, then I’ll let you know. But I can’t come running to you every time I have a problem. How am I supposed to be my own woman like that?”

She walked over to me and smiled with kindness in her eyes now. “Know this, I’m always here to listen and to help. Never forget that.” I nodded. She walked out and went into the living room.

I stayed in the kitchen a while. I glanced down at my cell trying to figure out who’d just called. But my thoughts were interrupted when my cell rang again. I knew the number. It was lawnmower guy. We talked for about an hour. He wasn’t coming home this weekend because he was still on line for the fraternity and schoolwork was getting harder. We talked about me at Penn Hall, but I didn’t tell him all that other stuff going on. I didn’t want him to worry. He already had a lot going on.

It was late when we hung up. I’d gone upstairs and was sitting at my laptop playing online. Terrence sent me an instant message, so we started typing back and forth while. We signed off around one o’clock in the morning. Talking to him, then IM-ing was the perfect ending to my crazy day.

Saturday, the next morning, my dad showed up early.
I was still in my room when my grandmother called me down. “Good morning, Grandmom,” I said, having taken the back stairs directly to the pantry off the kitchen. “Hey, Dad, what are you doing here so early?” I asked.

“Hey, baby girl,” he said, standing and kissing my forehead. “I have something for you.”

“What?”

“It’s in the living room. I just got them in and thought you’d like one.”

We walked into the living room and there were two identical boxes sitting on the coffee table. I immediately took them off and set them on the floor. In each box was a computer conference call system. “Get out, for me? Thank you,” I said.

“You’re welcome. I bought five. I dropped two off to your friends Jalisa and Diamond. You are still friends this week, right?” He chuckled. I laughed and swatted at him. “I just wanted to make sure. So you go on and put it together. The instructions are easy enough. Enjoy.”

“Wait, there are two of them. Who’s the other one for?”

“You mentioned that you made a friend at Penn Hall.”

“Oh, Cassie, right, okay.” I shrugged not even thinking about her. She was okay and we walked home from school every day and all, but she was acting strange lately, like she was jealous or something. She reminded me a lot of Chili, two-faced. There was no way I was giving her this. But I knew exactly who I was giving it to.

“Listen, I gotta get to work.” I smirked. He must have seen my expression ’cause he called me on it. “I’m doing right,” he whispered as he kissed my forehead.

“Thanks, Dad, for real, and before you ask, I’m on top of my studies at Penn Hall and at Hazelhurst. Jalisa and Diamond have been helping me out with the assignments.”

“Good girl. I’ll talk to you next week. Stay out of trouble.”

“I will.” I walked him to the front door and watched as he got to his car. That’s when it hit me. “Dad, wait,” I called out and ran to him. “Wait, you said you got five. Who’s the other one for?”

“I thought you might want to chat with your sister. But your grandmother told me that Jade already had something like that. So I thought I’d keep one at the house, just in case you might want to see your old man or the boys.”

“Good idea.” I hugged him hard, “Thanks, Dad.” I stood watching as he drove off. Then, coming from the opposite direction, I saw the same car from the guy last night in front of Ursula’s house. It was her brother. It hit me that he was the one who called me.
Merde
. How the hell did he get my cell phone number?

He stopped the car, and Ursula hopped out. “Hey,” she said, closing the car door and walking over to me.

“Hi,” I said, and then looked at her brother. He eyed me and nodded. I shrugged indifferently. “What’s up?”

“Nothing,” she said starting to walk toward my house like we were best friends or something. I walked with her. She was obviously pissed about something. “Sorry, he was getting on my nerves, and I was just tired of hearing his crap. I saw you standing there, so I told him I was going to hang out with you.”

We walked up onto my front porch and stood looking
down the street. His car was long gone, but we kind of looked anyway. “You don’t get along with your older brother?” I asked.

“Half brother,” she noted emphatically. “We have the same mother, that’s all. He gets on my nerves. He just got back and already he’s into something. I told my mom, but she thinks the sun shines on his ass daily. They’re both a trip. I swear I can’t wait to go to college and get away from them.”

“Sounds like fun,” I said, sarcastically.

“Tell me about it,” she said, equally sarcastic.

“I think he called me last night.”

“You gave him your phone number? Don’t tell me you’re thinking about hanging with him now,” she said, looking at me like I’d just killed a dozen puppies.

“No, for real no. I don’t even know how he got my cell number. Nobody around here has it except Cassie.”

“Then that’s how he got it.”

“Cassie gave him my cell number? Why? For what?”

“Probably ’cause he made her. He makes the girls around here do all kinds of things for him. He’s a serious straight-up user, and I’m not saying that ’cause I can’t stand his ass. For real, he’s bad.”

“Well, when he called I had no idea who he was. I didn’t remember when he told me his name. So I kind of hung up on him.”

Ursula burst out laughing. “Ohhh, I love it. You are a trip. I bet that’s the first time any girl ever hung up on his ass.” She continued laughing. I just smiled and looked down the street.

“Kenisha, are you ready for breakfast?” my grandmother said as she opened the screen door to the front porch. “Oh, I didn’t realize you had company.”

“Grandmom, this is Ursula. She lives down the street.”

“Hi, Mrs. King,” Ursula said.

“Good morning, dear. Would you like to join us for breakfast?”

“Um, uh-huh, yeah,” Ursula said, quickly.

“Um, uh-huh, yeah?” my grandmother repeated sternly.