Forever This Summer

by Leslie C. Youngblood

She nodded.

  “Can I come in?” Mama said.

  “Mind if we talk out here? I wasn’t expecting company. Haven’t had much help around here lately,” she said.

  “Markie Jean took something that didn’t belong to her. I just wanted you to know that we’ve recovered it and are making things right.”

  “Okay, glad to hear it. So why the house call?”

  “Just thought you’d want to know.”

  Rosella had a tiny nose ring that looked like a speck of gold glitter. “Markie. Unless you want to find yourself at some group home, don’t take what doesn’t belong to you,” then she looked at Mama. “I haven’t had any problems with her like that before. She’s basically a good kid. Are we done here?”

  Mama stepped back. “We are.”

  “In this house before dark, Markie. If not, you better call and let me know where you are,” Rosella said.

  Markie nodded but didn’t speak. Maybe Rosella realized how mean the threat of the group home was. If she said it in front of us, who knows how often she said it to Markie, who didn’t react to it. But maybe Markie was crumbling on the inside.

  As the door clicked, Mama squeezed her eyes shut and reopened them. “Let’s go return the bracelet,” Mama said.

  Nettie’s open light wasn’t on when Mama eased up on the store. There was a car parked out front, which gave me some hope. “We’re all getting out,” Mama said. I’d already unbuckled my seat belt. Mama and I were out of the car before Markie made a move. We waited in front of the car as Markie finally eased out. As soon as she did, Mama opened the door. The store smelled like maple syrup.

  “Nettie?” Mama asked.

  “All day, every day. ’Bout to close but take your time. Never rush a visitor.” She was stacking shelves with bird food. Then she looked at us. “So you two are back, huh?”

  Mama set her purse on the counter, right next to the Koolickles and pickled pig lips. “Think we have something that belongs to you.”

  “What you got to say for yourselves?” she said after nodding to Mama.

  Markie held her head up and spoke out like she does at the diner.

  “Georgie didn’t have anything to do with it.”

  Mama bought us something to drink while Markie told Nettie what happened, starting all the way back to Goldie’s Pawnshop. Afterward, Nettie and Mama worked out a price and Mama wrote her a check for the bracelet.

  Nettie looked at us. “I knew you two were good kids. Didn’t know what was going on but knew it was something. Who’d take a bracelet and not snatch the cash? Had to be more than two hundred dollars in the box.” She wagged her finger at Markie. “Main thing is that I wanted you to confess to it. I called in a favor from an officer friend of mine. I hope I scared you straight,” she said and pointed to Markie. “You grabbed it quick as the dickens, though. Almost didn’t see you.”

  Markie bugged her eyes. “You saw me?”

  “I work with birds mostly,” she said and laughed. “I got an eagle’s eye.”

  “Just glad you gave her a chance,” Mama said.

  “If a small town can’t give nothing else, it can give out chances,” she said.

  “Markie, do you have anything else to say?” Mama said.

  “Sorry I stole the bracelet back. I’m happy that Aunt Vie gets to keep it, though.”

  “I am, too,” Nettie said.

  Thinking back to when Nikki and I rode with Peanut Man, I asked, “Are you a real zoologist?”

  “Yep, first Black one around these parts. I’m an ornithologist who dabbles in entomology.”

  Markie rocked back on her heels. “That’s the study of birds and insects.”

  Mama and I both looked at Markie like we couldn’t believe she could have possibly known what it meant, then I thought about our conversation at the park. I may have shared my bird video with her, but she obviously knew way more about birds than I did.

  “That’s right. Impressive,” Nettie said. Mama nodded. “You two stay out of trouble.”

  “We will,” Markie and I said.

  I eyed the store again. “Where’s your parrot?”

  “Back in her habitat for a while,” Nettie said.

  I opened my purse and pulled out a flier. I unfolded it and handed it to her.

  “Can you please bring your parrot to our talent show?” I took a moment and told her the reason. “People would love to hear your parrot talk,” I said.

  “Sounds like a good cause. If I get back from New Orleans early enough tomorrow. We’re there.”

  We all thanked her again. On our way out, Mama put her hands on both of our shoulders and Markie didn’t shrug it away.

  Nettie waved to us as we were leaving. Mama blew her horn and Markie and I both waved until she went back inside. I was just so happy that Nettie saw the good in us instead of the bad.

  Soon as we were on our way home, I said, “Mama, please drop us back off at the park to meet up with Nikki and the rest of the kids. There’s still tons to do.”

  If I knew Nikki, she was keeping things moving, but it was time the three of us were there, as Daddy would say, “dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s.”

  30

  LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION

  “Are you up?” Nikki asked the morning of the show. She’d slept in her pink satin hair bonnet this time. With the beige blanket wrapped around her, she looked like a strawberry ice cream cone.

  “Yeah. Been up for an hour or two.”

  “Nerves?”

  Last night, once we were ready for bed, I spent time practicing speaking to the crowd with Nikki as my audience. At one point, I went into the bathroom and practiced talking to the crowd in the mirror when I needed a break from Nikki’s critiques. Didn’t matter how much I practiced, I couldn’t shake the emcee jitters.

  “Yeah. Um. Do you think that we can cancel our dance? That way I can concentrate on running the show.”

  “Why not both? I know we haven’t practiced much, but we can do that routine in our sleep.”

  “I want this to be perfect.”

  “You sound like Jada. She’s working me harder than a coach. I thought I was a perfectionist. Sheesh. She’s sorta zapping the fun out of it.”

  “What?! Didn’t think you’d ever feel that way.”

  “Me neither. Her dad works construction in Mississippi. And the mom works at the mill. But both are trying to make it tomorrow. Flip is just as excited. It’ll be the first time his dad sees his magic act. Flip said he was reading about the history of Black magicians and illusionists when I saw him in the library that day.”

  “Cool beans.”

  Nikki took off her cap and shook her braids a bit. “I know the show is all about raising money for Alzheimer’s, but you are helping other people, too.”

  “We’re both helping and need to get up and get going. Or ‘rise and shine’ like my stepdad likes to say.”

  “It’s really happening today. Can you believe it?” Nikki said.

  And that’s when the excitement really kicked in and we grabbed each other and hopped around the room.

  Nikki stopped jumping for a second. “When my parents hear about this and I hit them with all my new vocab, laptop is in the bag.” We danced to celebrate.

  There was a knock on the door and I expected it to fling open. Nikki and I glanced at each other.

  “Come in,” I said. The door opened and there stood Mama. Behind her was Markie.

  She walked in and Mama closed the door.

  “Figured since we had a lot to do, I’d get here early.”

  I got my notebook out to walk us all through a few things. After our meeting, Nikki and I would shower, eat, and the three of us would walk to the park. Then… Lights, camera, action.

  Around ten o’clock, I stood next to the bleachers, stressing to one of the rappers, B. Lusa, that no performances could contain profanity. “We’d have to cut off the microphone,” I emphasized. He told me he understood and I put a checkmark next to his nam
e. I knew someone was behind me and thought it was another performer. When I turned around, it was my stepdad, Frank, and Mama. And behind both of them, with waist-length braids, was Tangie.

  “Heard Bogalusa was the place to be,” Tangie said.

  I couldn’t yet respond for hugging her. “I’m so happy to see you. And wow, look at your hair!” Tangie leaned forward and motioned for me to touch.

  “A little long for my taste,” Frank said. “But I hear it’s the style.” Frank strode up and gave me his light shoulder punch the way Daddy kisses me on the cheek—quick and unexpected.

  I ran my hand along the ends of her hair that tickled my palm. “You look like that poster of Janet Jackson and Tupac in that poetry movie. Beautiful,” I said.

  “That’s Poetic Justice and that movie is way older than me,” Tangie said.

  “Watch it now,” Mama said and laughed. Frank laughed, too.

  Tangie’s braids were thick and got skinnier at the waist. “They’re box braids. My bestie did them. Took about eight hours.”

  I touched my hair and wondered when I’d be able to choose whatever style I wanted. I loved my twists, but when I started middle school, it might be time for a change.

  “Hey, Tangie and Mr. Frank,” Nikki said, sweat rolling from her forehead.

  “You’ve been working hard,” Tangie said and put her arm around Nikki’s shoulder.

  “This show is going to be lit,” Frank said, sounding a little like Daddy when he tries to use a cool word. He let his fingers beat on his air drum. “Let me go get my hands dirty,” Frank said and hustled over to Uncle Dean. There was now a full stage in the middle of McClurie Park. Along with the stage, Uncle Dean and Peanut Man constructed benches that extended around the stage.

  I dug my sandals in the dirt. “Nikki’s moving to California.”

  “All right! A bestie that lives cross-country. How cool is that,” Tangie said. “It doesn’t seem so now, but it will.” Jada called Nikki and she excused herself and left.

  “Think you can do something for the show?” I said to Tangie.

  “Yeah… watch. That’s all you and your crew. I’ll be cheering you on. You know your mama gives my dad the play-by-play and he’s told me some of it. I’m proud of you, Georgie.”

  “Thank you,” I said.

  I didn’t want to tell her how scared I was. When she hugged me, she said, “Do your best. That’s all anyone can ever ask. We already see your heart in this.”

  Seconds later, Markie appeared. She said that Rosella had offered to braid her hair. And she’d outdid herself with a zigzag pattern and her Afro puff. Markie had on jeans and a crisp white blouse. And on her wrist was Aunt Vie’s bracelet.

  “Look what Ms. Essie let me wear for good luck,” she said and held up her wrist.

  “That’s enough good luck for all of us,” I said and introduced her to Tangie. Markie was the first to extend her hand for Tangie to shake.

  That made me smile.

  Hours flew by like minutes. At four in the afternoon the town started coming out. We’d designated a few Sweeting’s regulars to watch the table where we’d set up the steel tubs marked “Donations.” We were able to get hundreds of pamphlets about Alzheimer’s from the Bogalusa Senior Center, including care of patients, as well as additional ways to help with the research. Pastor Douglass, from Aunt Vie and Aunt Essie’s church, Mt. Caramel, stopped by with the donated microphones and amplifiers. Just the thought of a microphone made my palms sweat.

  I gathered the major players for a meeting about an hour before the show: Nikki, Jada, Flip, Markie, and Latasha stood in a tight circle waiting for me to speak. “Thanks to each of you for helping make this happen.” My voice was shaking and I already started to question how I’d speak in front of a few hundred people. “Today we all have a chance to do something we love to make someone we love proud of us. And to raise money for a disease that steals memories that people make. Anyone else want to say something?”

  “Today, it’s showtime,” Nikki said.

  “I feel in spirit that Aunt Vie knows what we’re trying to do,” I said.

  “I believe it, too,” Markie said.

  I stuck my hand out and Markie’s was the first one on top of mine, then Nikki’s.

  “We got this,” I said, and all our hands reached toward the sky like we were throwing confetti.

  “It’s time,” Mama said when the crowd swelled to about two hundred or more. When Frank handed me the microphone, I squeezed it so hard that my knuckles hurt. The local zydeco band volunteered to set up next to the stage so they could play in between acts. The leader of the band said that he’d known Aunt Vie since he was a boy. He gave me a thumbs-up.

  Like Coach Jerilyn taught us, I took a deep breath and let my voice flow out like how Nikki would with a cheer. “Hello, Bogalusa! Thank you for coming out to our Bogalusa Talent Show Alzheimer’s Fundraiser, also known as Bogalusa’s Got Talent.” What I didn’t expect is applause after that. People were eager to cheer me on. And though a lot of the people were a blur due to my nerves, there was Nikki right in the front giving me her encouraging finger snaps.

  “Perhaps every person here has been touched by the kindness of my great-aunt Vie. And maybe we’ve all heard about Alzheimer’s and didn’t think there was a way to help. This talent show is our way.” My voice cracked a little. “Take your time, baby,” someone said. It didn’t matter who it was. The words hugged me. I took another deep breath before continuing. “All the money we raise from the talent show today will go…” I looked around the crowd and there next to Mama was Aunt Vie. She had on her red chef’s coat. “It will go to Alzheimer’s research.” The applause erupted again. And once they quieted, I heard, “That’s my girl,” from the corner of the stage and there was Daddy. I didn’t know he was coming. Peaches had the best seat ever, on top of his shoulders.

  He signaled if it was okay if they came closer. I nodded. When they approached, he kissed my cheek and spoke into the microphone. “As the proud father of these two young ladies, and someone who loves Aunt Vie, Matthews Motors will match what this talent show raises today.”

  My heart soared. Peaches waved to the crowd and people laughed and cheered. Everything was happening at a dizzying pace, but I knew I had to keep moving. I held on to the microphone like an anchor.

  My feet puttered with excitement. “Thank you, Daddy… I mean, Mr. Matthews.”

  Another voice rang out, “I don’t sell peanuts for nothing,” Peanut Man said. “I’ll match it, too.”

  Then Reverend Douglass called out, “Aunt Vie’s church home will match.”

  I started jumping right there on the stage. The money was coming in. I just needed to make sure that the show earned it.

  I was just about to speak again when the neigh of a horse drew the crowd’s attention. Everyone turned toward the park’s entrance. Ms. Hannah, holding on to Bessie’s rhinestone-studded reins, walked toward the stage. But stopped. I was thankful for the cordless microphones. I signaled to the volunteer audio lady to get a microphone to Ms. Hannah. Static crackled before Ms. Hannah’s voice was clear.

  “I know most people in this town know the evils associated with the Guidry name. From talking to Aunt Vie’s sisters, I’ve recognized that I haven’t done enough to speak out against those evils and work to right what I can.” Soon as she said that, a few people in the audience shouted, “Justice for O’Neal.” Ms. Hannah continued. “As someone who dearly loves Vie, my first obligation is to support this fundraiser fight against Alzheimer’s. At Spirit Farms, I rent out my stables to other horse owners. All I’ve earned over the past six months is in this satchel.” She unhooked the satchel from Bessie. “Every penny is going to these efforts. And I’m offering rides on Bessie here to those who make donations today.”

  The applause was like a thunderstorm. I was so happy that Aunt Vie was there under the sound of Ms. Hannah’s voice. Aunt Vie was clapping and there was nothing that could convince me that she didn’t
feel Ms. Hannah’s presence.

  “Whoa! Thank you, Ms. Hannah… and Bessie,” I said. Kids were already circling around them. “Now, Bogalusa, let’s get this show underway!” The microphone pulsated in my hands. “Our first act is going to amaze you. I hope you’re ready for uh… amazement. Uhm. Without further ado. Here is the Magnificent Flip and his lovely assistant, Latasha.” Fantastic Flip. Right before his music queued, I said the right name.

  Jada fluffed the tulle of Latasha’s skirt so she was spotlight ready. Latasha bowed as soon as she took the stage and her sequin leotard glistened. A lady stood up and started snapping pictures. The man next to her was still in work clothes and there were two bouquets of carnations next to him.

  Flip had on his top hat and his long black cape with red satin lining. He swirled the cape before completing magic tricks like finding coins behind someone’s ear and making smoke rise from his top hat.

  His showstopper, that I didn’t even know about, was when he pulled a real-life rabbit from his hat. If Nikki knew that was happening, she’d kept it a secret. The oohs and aahs from the crowd circled around like a gust of wind.

  All throughout his performance, people were making their way to drop money into the bins. It was transformed from a talent show to a true festival. There was the mobile library setup letting kids check out books. The grown-ups had worked behind the scenes and got the city to bring out a few Porta Potties and put up temporary lighting in the park.

  Markie bobbed over to me and said, “We’re not even at the first act and we’ve raised more than five hundred dollars, not including Ms. Hannah’s funds.” The excitement in her voice matched mine.

  Butterflies were swirling in my stomach. “Just want everything to continue to go well,” I said.

  As Flip and Latasha took their bows, I had to search my notepad to see what we’d scheduled next. My stomach felt like the inside of a washing machine as I walked back to the stage. With all the good news and a great turnout, I knew the jitters could take over anytime.

  I waved to Daddy, who hustled over. Peaches was at his side now.