Her Last Memory

by C. A. Wittman

  The door to the office suddenly opened and Barbara jumped, swiveling around in the rolling chair. Dora stood in the doorway, looking pale and tired.

  "Sorry," she said softly and started to turn away.

  "Come in. I was just going over the accounts and then got distracted." Barbara pointed at the computer and Dora's eyes followed her gesture to the enlarged image on the screen.

  "I found that in one of the folders," Barbara said.

  Dora stepped into the room and bent down to get a closer look. She nodded. "That's at Lanesha's."

  "Oh, wow." Barbara pointed at the girl with glasses. "So that's Erica?"

  Dora nodded again. Barbara had only seen Erica's older sister twice. Lanesha moved to Georgia some years ago––Savannah, specifically, where the Jones family uprooted from in the fifties, moving west to California in search of better opportunities. The young woman in the picture was a long way from the Lanesha Barbara knew: an older woman in her fifties, obese with arthritic knees, needing a cane to walk.

  "Kanani." Dora pointed at the girl singing. "And that's Sweetness and Baby Sweetness," she said of the two young men. "I remember that day. We were listening to that song “Whoomp” by Tag Team. Kanani, that girl was crazy over that song."

  Barbara stared at Dora, wondering at the sudden change of her accent. Her mother's face lit up in a way Barbara hadn't seen since before Dora fainted and lost her memory. "You've probably never heard of them," Dora trailed off wistfully.

  Barbara shrugged. "They don't sound familiar."

  "Oh." The light in Dora's eyes died out.

  "I can pull them up," Barbara offered.

  The excitement was back. "Yeah?"

  "Absolutely," Barbara opened YouTube. "What was the song?"

  “‘Whoomp’ by Tag Team.”

  As soon as the dance beat kicked in, Barbara recognized the song. She moved her head in time with the beat. "Oh, yeah. I've heard this. It's… I think it gets played a lot in Zumba and hip hop classes." She glanced at her mother and then stared, mesmerized. Dora moved her shoulders in a fast-paced popping motion from side to side, working herself into a squat and back up before moving into a cross-step with a little kick.

  "I didn't know you could dance."

  Dora gave her a look, but her body kept going, keeping time with the music. It was so bizarre to see her mother performing hip hop moves effortlessly. Barbara had only ever known Dora to be a somewhat reluctant dancer, shy of footwork. Mostly, she preferred to halfheartedly move her upper body from side to side and call it dancing. Erica was the one who could dance, really dance. As soon as Barbara had that thought, Erica poked their head through the gap of the door. Their eyes widened when they saw Dora, and they stepped into the tiny office space, joining their wife, matching her footwork. The two looked like practiced professionals. Barbara watched them, her mouth hanging open. When the song ended, Erica laughed.

  "Let's go into the living room. There's more space," they said.

  For once, Dora appeared enthusiastic about something.

  "I'll get the kids and Cuppa," Barbara offered.

  Erica shook their head. "I took them to your dad's, and Cuppa went to meet a friend for dinner."

  "Oh." Barbara wanted to ask why Sara and Jesse were back at Dad's, but Erica already had their phone out, pulling up more music from Spotify, connecting it to the speakers in the living room.

  "Lil’ Kim!" Dora yelled out to Erica. “Girl, put on ‘Crush On You.’”

  "No, wait." Erica held out their hand like a stop sign, laughing. "I just realized there's all this good music you don't remember. You've got to take a listen to Public Enemy."

  "Okay, okay. Whoop it up."

  The first part of “Harder Than You Think” blared through the speakers, and Dora waited, listening, head nodding to the lyrics. When the beat came in hard and pulsing with the horn ensemble, Dora broke into swift, crisp moves, keeping perfect time. Erica watched, stunned for some seconds before jumping in and joining Dora. The two of them moved too quickly for Barbara to follow. Dora stopped after a bit and let out a full hearty laugh. "Yo, this song be banging." She waved Barbara over. "Come on, girl, get in here."

  Barbara stepped up to her mother. "I can't even begin to do what you guys are doing," she said with a small shake of her head.

  "That's okay. I'm gonna show you. Do you know the butterfly?"

  Barbara shook her head no.

  "You've gotta take a stance like this."

  Erica paused the music as Dora opened her feet, hips-width apart. Barbara copied her mom.

  "Now, bring your knees in and out."

  Barbara tried to copy, but she felt clumsy and stiff.

  "Come up on your toes a little," Erica added.

  "Yeah, yeah, you're gettin’ it," Dora chimed in, keeping up the movement with Barbara.

  "Use your pelvis to push your legs out, and get the arms in there. You want to scoop," Erica said.

  Barbara felt a small burn in her legs, repeating the movement over and over. Her arms seemed like they were doing their own thing, not really in sync. Erica started the music again. It was a little easier to keep time with a beat. Both Erica and Serene joined Barbara.

  * * *

  “These simple lines be good for your health

  To keep them crime rhymes on the shelf

  Live love life like you just don't care”

  * * *

  Dora moved her hips back and forth, butt jiggling as Erica came up behind and matched her movements, placing their palm on the small of Dora's back. Dora jumped as if she'd been burned and spun around, eyes wide, doing that hair-behind-the-ear tucking thing. She stepped back, chest heaving, skin glistening with perspiration. Sweat dripped down the sides of Erica's face and beaded on their forehead. They reached out a hand to Dora as if to calm a cornered animal, but Dora's hand flew to her mouth, clamping tightly.

  * * *

  “Throw your hands in the air

  Get up, and show no fear

  Get up, if y'all really care”

  * * *

  Barbara turned off the music on Erica's phone.

  "I'm sorry," Erica said. "I shouldn't have come up on you like that."

  "Mom." Barbara tried to put her arms around her. Comfort her. But she jerked back and ran from the living room, hand still on her mouth, skirting into her office bedroom. Erica's arms dangled at their sides, dark eyes jumping, glittering with tears.

  36

  Serene - June 1996

  * * *

  "Twerk it, girl." Lanesha threw back her head and laughed, watching her little sister pop her booty, Sweetness and his sidekick doing the cat daddy. Erica worked her way into the splits and sprung back up, one hand on hip, the other behind her head, going into the LL Cool J up groove. Sweetness and Baby Sweetness matched her moves. Kanani, in her baggy jean shorts, was doing some weird version of the D-Mac, singing her heart out to “Shut Em Down.” She pushed her face into Serene's, who sat while Lanesha braided her hair, and the two sang out the next set of lyrics to each other.

  * * *

  Hear go the sound of the wreckin’ ball

  Boom and pound

  When I shut em down

  * * *

  "Go on, Wheels," Sweetness called out to Serene. "Burn it up, baby, let’s see what you got."

  She didn't have to be asked twice. Flying out of the chair, she joined Kanani in the D-Mac and took it into the Dougie. Sweetness held out his fist to her and she rapped her knuckles against his. Lanesha joined them, swiveling her hips and taking the movement low. Kanani switched over to hula, dipping into a squat with Lanesha, which made them all explode with laughter.

  "Show ‘em what you got, Hawaii," Baby Sweetness called out.

  Serene felt a rush of pleasure, dancing. Lately, she'd been practicing different moves, getting better and better. Dancing was another outlet Serene had discovered. At Lanesha's, though, Serene was known more for her tricks on the skateboard. Kanani was no slouch herself
when it came to skating. In the past week, since her friend had come to stay, they'd skated around town with Steve and Dylan, sometimes going to Hollywood, the Santa Monica courthouse or Venice Beach.

  "Alright, we're back to work," Lanesha said when the song finished.

  "Aight," Sweetness took himself to the kitchen. "Y'all want Kool-Aid?"

  "Nah, man, I'm fixing to roll," Baby Sweetness said and gave them all fist bumps before heading out the door. Erica blinked behind her big glasses at Serene, who had taken her seat. Lanesha lifted a thin section of extension hair with one long nail off the back of the other chair she'd pulled in from the kitchen.

  "Girl, your hair's long," Lanesha said. "If I stretch it, it go almost all the way here."

  "Where?" Serene asked.

  Kanani walked over to take a look. "Sis, your hair's long as mine when Lanesha stretch it out like that."

  "Down to my butt?"

  "Yeah, girl,” Lanesha said. “Next time you should let me flat iron it out. You be lookin’ fly."

  "She got that good hair," Sweetness said, sauntering back in, pinching two plastic cups of strawberry Kool-Aid in one hand and holding a third with the other.

  "Um-hum." Lanesha's fingers flew, long orange nails clicking with a precision and swiftness that came with years of braiding.

  Sweetness handed her a cup, but she shook her head. "Give it to them. I got to finish this one first."

  Erica took her drink and gulped it down, leaving a swath of red on her upper lip. When she was done, she stood before Serene, eyeing her. "Can I sit next to you?"

  Lanesha pulled her neck in and gave her sister a look. "Girl."

  Erica's eyes fell to the floor.

  "You betta go sit your little butt down over there." She pointed at the sofa. "What did we talk about?"

  Erica scurried over to the sofa and sat quickly, bringing her legs up and crossing them, eyes jumping, face darkening with a blush. Lanesha sucked through her teeth and muttered, "It ain't right. Lord have mercy on that girl's soul." Then, over it already, she ordered, "Kanani, grab that remote over there and turn on the TV. Got to see what's happening on my program."

  Moments later, the theme music of One Life To Live blared through the house, and Sweetness plopped down on an easy chair that had seen better days, the vinyl cracked in the center.

  "Yo, Lanesha, when you want me to take these girls home?" Sweetness asked twenty minutes into the show, his eyes hooded with fatigue.

  "Shh," Lanesha said, irritated over his interruption during a pivotal scene of revelation––an affair that had been going on for months. Sweetness leaned his head back and closed his eyes. In seconds he was asleep, breathing deeply, Serene not far behind him.

  She woke to the sound of Crystal, Lanesha and Erica's mom, coming through the barred screen door in her scrubs, face drawn with exhaustion.

  "You still doing that?" Crystal asked of Lanesha's braiding. Serene and Kanani had arrived at their house yesterday morning and spent the night.

  "I just got this last bit of her crown," Lanesha said. Her mother walked over to them, looking at the braids admiringly.

  "You framed her face nice this time."

  Serene smiled sleepily up at Crystal.

  "How you doin’, baby?" She asked, smiling warmly back.

  "Fine," Serene replied shyly.

  "Hi, Aunty," Kanani called. She lay belly down on the floor, elbows propped up as she leaned her head in her hands. Crystal's smile broadened. Kanani and Serene's immediate use of the word aunty when referring to Crystal, had garnered a soft spot in Lanesha and Erica's mom's heart.

  "Hi, baby." She set her purse down, scanning the room. "Where's Erica?"

  "She in her room," Lanesha said, "probably reading. That girl would live in a book if she could."

  Crystal laughed. "That's not a bad thing, Lee Lee."

  Lanesha grunted and picked up the dense mass of Serene's braids, running her fingers through. "Okay, we're done here. Just got to dip your ends, and then you can be on your way. Where Sweetness at?"

  "He said to call when you're done, remember?" Kanani said.

  "Oh yeah." Lanesha headed into the kitchen to start a pot of water boiling for Serene's ends. Serene dug out the hundred-dollar bill from her back pocket to pay Lanesha for her work.

  * * *

  It was three in the afternoon when they piled into Sweetness' Chevrolet Impala, a boat of a car set low to the ground, Erica joining them at the last minute. Lanesha gave Sweetness a lingering kiss before he got behind the wheel and pulled out onto the sun-dappled street. They cruised along the palm tree-lined neighborhood. Kids rode their bikes, weaving on and off the sidewalk, a group of girls jumped rope and clusters of young men stood around talking, laughing, some looking tough. The languid slow tempo beat of “Me and My Bitch” washed over them, the bass vibrating so hard from the speakers that Serene could feel it between her legs and up into her chest. Erica sat next to her in the back seat and sighed.

  "This music is derogatory toward women."

  Serene laughed. "How do you know that word, derogatory?"

  "I dunno." Erica glanced down at her hands in her lap, and Serene gave her shoulder a shove.

  "Girl, you're something else."

  Lanesha's little sister rewarded her with a huge smile and shoved Serene back with her shoulder. They slowed down so Sweetness could talk to a man loping up to them, shirtless and in a black do-rag. Sweetness turned down the music as the man leaned in.

  "What up, dog?"

  "What up, Marcus?"

  His eyes roamed over the car. "Ooh, boy, that's a whole lotta cheddar. How many Benjamins this set you back?"

  "Don't worry about it," Sweetness said out of the side of his mouth. Marcus straightened back up, his eye landing on Serene. His voice turned syrupy. "Hello, lovely lady."

  Serene felt her face grow hot and she looked away, but not before catching his wink.

  "It's dope," Marcus said of the car, stroking the hood. Sweetness made the car bounce a few times before they drove away.

  "Brah, that's bad," Kanani gushed and turned to grin at Serene. "Fuck, I wish I lived out here." Her remark got a belly laugh from Sweetness.

  "You'd trade in tropical paradise for this shit hole?"

  "Hawaii isn't all that," Kanani retorted.

  "No?" Sweetness laughed again and turned the music back up.

  It wasn't a far drive to Culver City. They turned off of Rodeo, making a right on La Cienega, passing through the ugly industrial area that hugged that part of town. On Washington, they cruised past the old Helms Bakery, the building next to it tagged by graffiti. Sweetness turned down the music and pointed it out.

  "Y'all got the fucking Mexican mafia up in here. You see that?"

  "Eighteenth Street," Erica read the big black spray-painted numbers on the wall, pushing her glasses back up her nose.

  "Eighteenth Street Gang," Sweetness said. There was more graffiti as they rolled along. "Yeah, these mother fuckers are infiltrating this whole area."

  In downtown Culver, Sweetness turned the music back up and Kanani danced in her seat to “I Wish” by Skee-Lo.

  Just as they passed the post office, Kanani pointed ahead. "Hey, it's that chick, Taylor."

  Taylor was making her way toward Jackson. She wore high-waisted jean shorts, the half-moons of her butt cheeks exposed and winking invitingly with every step.

  "Damn!" Sweetness said and slowed the car as they got closer to her. She turned to look over her shoulder, frowning slightly, not recognizing Serene and Kanani at first in the unfamiliar lowrider car.

  A squawk of a police siren had Sweetness cursing under his breath.

  Kanani glanced back. "Oh, shit, the Five-O."

  Sweetness pulled over and Taylor took a step back as the cop spoke through his bullhorn, “Step out of the car.” Sweetness got out and slowly put his hands up in the air.

  Drivers rubbernecked as they went by.

  The cop walked over to them.
"Put your hands up on the car, legs open."

  Sweetness did as he was told.

  "Was this man harassing you?" The cop asked Taylor.

  She frowned. "What?"

  Kanani leaned out of the window. "Taylor, it's us, Serene and me."

  Taylor's expression cleared.

  "Get back in the car," the cop roared.

  Taylor flinched at the anger.

  "Yo, Kanani, sit back, girl," Sweetness said. From where Serene sat, she could see the veins bulging in his arms as he held them straight out and taut, hands against the roof. The cop patted him down.

  "I know them," Taylor said, moving toward the car.

  "You can be on your way," the cop snapped. Taylor halted, hesitating.

  "Hey, what did we do?" Kanani yelled through the window. Serene stiffened. She could hear the belligerence in Kanani's tone and knew she was about to lose it.

  "Shit," Sweetness said under his breath. "Kanani, shut up."

  But Kanani had had it. "What did we do?" She yelled out again.