Can't Stop the Shine

by Joyce E. Davis

  “Yes, little lady. It is,” said Malcolm, standing up.

  “I’ve got to find my sister right now. We’ve got to go. We were supposed to be…” She cut herself off, not wanting to let Malcolm know about her curfew.

  “Who’s your sister? Oh wait, you said your name is Kalia, right? That was your sister on the mic. She gave you a shout-out.”

  “Yeah, that’s her. Did you see her when you went to get the water?” she asked, dialing Mari’s cell phone, which went directly to voice mail.

  “No, but I saw her and her girls talking to these two dudes in the poolroom about an hour ago. You want me to show you where it is?”

  “Please,” said Kalia, walking out of the room.

  The rush of hot-bodied air almost knocked Kalia over as they reentered the party, which was in full homecoming-night rage. People were wilding out. Arms and behinds were flying everywhere in a frenetic crunkfest. There were some funny smells in the air, which Kalia decided came from marijuana, liquor and sweat. Holding her around the waist, Malcolm steered her from behind, his body heat making the scene that much hotter. Kalia didn’t mind the extra warmth at all. When they got to the poolroom, Mari and her girls were nowhere to be found, but they did see Dewayne with a cue stick in his hand, holding court with several mature-looking ladies.

  “Hey, where’ve you been all night?” she asked Dewayne, tapping him on the shoulder.

  Turning around to see a guy holding her hand, Dewayne grimaced and said, “Well, where have you been?”

  Kalia looked from Dewayne to Malcolm and back to Dewayne.

  “Dewayne, this is Malcolm. Malcolm, this is my neighbor Dewayne,” she said.

  “What’s up?” and pounds were exchanged.

  Dewayne leaned over to Kalia. “I see you’ve made a new friend.”

  “I see you’ve made several,” Kalia shot back, eyeing his tipsy-looking female friends who seemed to be splitting one outfit between them. “Look, have you seen Mari? We need to be getting out of here.”

  “Last time I saw her she and her gang were across the room. That was at least an hour ago. I think they were headed outside or something. I heard Shauntae talking about going somewhere with some dude.”

  “And you let them go?” demanded Kalia.

  “Well, the Chosen One was kinda tied up rescuing distressed damsels, ahight?” he whispered, nodding to his lady friends.

  “Well if the Chosen One doesn’t help me find Mari, he’s gonna be walking his butt home tonight.”

  “All right. All right,” said Dewayne. After saying goodbye to his groupies, he followed Malcolm and Kalia to the front of the club.

  “There she is,” said Dewayne, pointing toward the glass door. Kalia could see her sister arguing with Shauntae, who was being held from behind by a huge guy. He was rubbing his hands up and down her sides.

  “Something is going on,” said Kalia. They were trying to make their way to the door, but the crowd was thick and their going was slow. They saw Shauntae pointing her finger at Mari and Mari with her hands on her hips. Their mouths were moving so fast, it was clear they were pissed with each other. Then all of the sudden, Shauntae flipped her hand in the air at Mari, turned and said something in the ear of guy who was mauling her, and walked off with him. As they burst through the door, Mari was just standing there looking after them.

  “Hey, is everything okay?” asked Kalia, running up to her sister.

  Mari turned and looked at Kalia to say something, then changed her mind when she saw Dewayne and Malcolm. “I guess. No. Whatever.”

  “Where’s Shauntae going?”

  “Off with that guy,” said Mari, motioning to the couple, who’d just made it to his truck.

  “Oh, that’s Rafael King,” said Malcolm. “She’d better watch out. He’s kinda rough.”

  “I could tell,” said Mari, “and I tried to tell her. He was high and drunk and everything. Talking about how he wanted to give her a taste of something.”

  They watched Rafael kiss Shauntae really hard, then pick her up like a rag doll and deposit her in the passenger seat of his black chromed-out Ford Explorer.

  “Was she drinking, too?” asked Kalia.

  “Yeah. She had a couple of something he bought her. She wouldn’t listen to me. I told her that I saw him earlier grinding on some other chick, but she didn’t care. She’s just stupid. I mean how can you leave with a dude you just met?”

  “Hey, where’s Colby?” Dewayne asked.

  “Oh, you won’t believe this, but Sean showed up, and they left like two hours ago. She probably called him. I think that girl got a man,” said Mari.

  “Well, good for her,” said Kalia. “Look, we gotta break out. It’s like one in the morning.”

  “For real?” said Mari. “Ooh, we better call home. You call.”

  “I already did.”

  “And?”

  “We’re in trouble,” Kalia whispered in her sister’s ear before slowing up to walk with Malcolm.

  “Oh well, whatcha gonna do?” Mari shrugged, walking with Dewayne toward the car. She looked back over her shoulder at her sister smiling up at the deejay.

  “What’s going on with them?” she asked, nudging Dewayne.

  “I don’t know. I’m not back there in their conversation,” said Dewayne, a bit annoyed.

  “Ooh wee, somebody is jealous,” sang Mari.

  “Well, at least I got some play tonight. It seems that everybody else did, too. Can you say the same?” spit Dewayne, speeding up, leaving Mari to walk by herself just as Kalia caught up to her. She turned to see Malcolm heading back toward the club.

  “I know you didn’t pull the deejay,” she teased. “My sister came to the party and kicked it to the deejay! You’re like my idol.”

  “Shut up, silly,” said Kalia, a bit embarrassed.

  “I won’t,” Mari protested. “I really needed a camera phone tonight. You need to see how you looked grinding all up on the deejay.”

  “I was not grinding.” Kalia chuckled.

  “So, did you get the digits?”

  “Absolutely.” Kalia grinned.

  “You got his, or did he get yours?”

  “I gave him my cell number. Why?”

  Mari stopped in her tracks. “Whaaat? Not my sister, giving out the cell number. Now you’re joining the rest of us in the twenty-first century.” She giggled. “I’ma have to teach you how to text message pretty soon.”

  “I know how to text message. Shut up,” Kalia said. “Listen, I’m really glad that you’re okay. I mean, I can’t believe that Shauntae left with that guy. He looked kinda hard.”

  “Yeah. I think he’s a real thug, and I’m scared for her, but I did what I could. She just wouldn’t listen. I’ll call her when we get in the car. Maybe she’ll answer her cell,” said Mari, rubbing her eyes. “Really though, I’m sick of her. She’s getting on my last nerve.”

  “I hope she’s all right.”

  They’d reached the corner of the street on which the Camry was parked. “Look at that fool,” said Mari. Dewayne was leaning against the car, arms folded across his chest, scowl etched on his face.

  “What’s wrong with him?” Kalia asked.

  “What do you mean? He saw you and Malcolm, duh.”

  “Oh, please. You can’t be serious.”

  “K, you know that Dewayne has liked you since forever, and you’ve never given him the time of day.”

  “Well, if he ever got out of that damned fantasy world—”

  “You wouldn’t pay him any attention then, either.”

  “I don’t know what to do about Dewayne,” said Kalia.

  “I know what you’re about to do.”

  “What?”

  “Break his heart.”

  Chapter

  7

  Mari was sick of being on punishment. It had been almost two weeks since her father dropped the hammer on the sisters—no telephone, no television, no going out with friends, no nothing. He’d all but
nixed letting her drive anywhere with him.

  I’ll never get enough hours to drive by myself now, she thought, lying in her bed. Thank God for cross-country, or else she’d never get out of the house except for school. She stared at the clock as she had for the past few nights. Once again it was only a little after midnight, and she couldn’t get back to sleep. She’d been going to bed at 9:30 every night because after she ate and finished her homework, there was nothing left for her to do but chores, and she’d finished those up early in the week. Sitting up on the edge of the bed, Mari surveyed her room. It was clean as a whistle. Not one item of clothing was on the floor. She’d gotten so bored that she’d even cleaned up. This was ridiculous, she thought, but then she remembered how much fun she’d had homecoming weekend and decided two weeks of severe restriction was worth it.

  Not going back to sleep, she walked out of her room to go downstairs for a midnight snack. She passed by her sister’s room and heard the radio playing softly, but she thought she heard some stirring as she walked by the guest room. Standing in the doorway, Mari was surprised to find her father sleeping soundly. Something drew her into the room. On the dresser lay his keys, his brush, his cologne and his wedding ring. Some of his underwear and T-shirts peeked out of an open drawer. Turning to look in the closet, she saw several of her father’s suits, shirts, pants and ties. Four pairs of shoes were lined across the closet floor. He even had a couple belts hanging behind the door.

  Her father turned over, and Mari froze like a cat burglar. As soon as he stopped moving, she tiptoed out of the room and padded downstairs to the kitchen. What the hell was going on? she wondered, staring into the refrigerator. Why did it look like her father had moved into the guest room? She decided on cookies and milk. Not even dipping Oreos into ice-cold milk helped stave off the fear that something was very, very wrong in the Jefferson household.

  The next day Mari spotted Colby and Shauntae rolling up to East Moreland as she was walking from her last class to the gym for cross-country practice.

  “What’s happening?” said Shauntae, slamming the car door.

  “What are y’all doing up here?” Mari said to Colby. She was still a bit sore at Shauntae for her homecoming shenanigans. Everybody knows the rules, she thought. You leave the club with the same people you came with.

  “We hadn’t seen your butt in so long,” said Colby, “we had to come up here to make sure you were still alive.”

  Mari noticed something different about Colby. She was glowing or something.

  “Well, what’s up with you, Miss Thang? You’re looking all happy.”

  “Not too much,” said Colby. “Just Sean. Girl, he’s great. I love me some Sean.”

  “Oh, Lord, young love,” Mari teased. “I’m so happy for you, Colby. You deserve it.”

  Shauntae rolled her eyes, sucked her teeth and sat down on the steps.

  “What is your problem?” Mari asked Shauntae as she and Colby joined their salty friend on the steps.

  “Nobody wants to hear about that corny love shit,” said Shauntae. She turned to Colby. “Has that fool given you anything yet? Some gear? Some jewelry? Have you met anybody famous at Fire?”

  “He doesn’t have to do any of that stuff,” said Colby. “We just spend time with each other and have great conversations.”

  “I bet that’s not all y’all have. He’s around all those video girls at Fire. I know if you ain’t givin’ him some, he’s getting it from somewhere,” said Shauntae.

  “It’s none of your business what Colby and Sean are doing,” said Mari, jumping in.

  “Was I talking to you?” Shauntae threw at Mari.

  “You don’t have to for me to answer,” Mari shot right back.

  “Shut up.”

  “You shut up.”

  “Both of you shut up,” said Colby, turning to Mari. “We’re supposed to be cool. We came up here to see how you were doing.”

  “I’m surprised you even care,” said Mari directly to Shauntae. “The last time I saw you, King Kong was putting you in his truck, and you weren’t giving me one thought. You just left me alone at the club.”

  “I knew your sister was there. You were fine, right? I see you made it home all right.”

  “The question is, did you make it home at all?” Mari smirked. “I hope you and Rafael had a good ole time.”

  “How did you know his name?” Shauntae demanded.

  “Don’t you worry about it. I heard a lot about Mr. King. Could you handle it?”

  “I’m grown,” assured Shauntae. “I can handle anything, and let me tell you, Rafael was not disappointed.”

  “I’m sure,” said Mari. “Have you seen him again?”

  “Yeah. I’ve been to his dorm room a couple of times. You don’t know nuthin’ about this college thing. It’s all that.”

  “You don’t know anything either, except what a dorm bed feels like,” said Mari.

  “What are you trying to say?” said Shauntae, glaring at Mari.

  “All right, ladies,” Colby broke in. “We didn’t come here to discuss our sex lives. Like I said, Mari, we came here to see what was up with you. We haven’t seen you in a minute. When do you get off punishment?”

  “Just a few more days.”

  “They were serious this time, huh?” said Colby. “No time off for good behavior?”

  “I’ll be lucky if they don’t extend it. I haven’t seen my daddy that mad in a minute.”

  “I just don’t understand this punishment deal,” said Shauntae. “How can they keep you from going anywhere?”

  “What are you talking about?” asked Mari.

  “You can drive. You’re sharing a car with your sister. If you wanted to, you could get in the car right now and roll out with us.”

  “But Mari wouldn’t do that,” said Colby.

  “You’re right about that,” added Mari. “I can’t imagine what they would do to me if I like just broke out while I was on punishment. I probably wouldn’t see daylight until I graduated.”

  “Girl, my mama tried that punishment mess on me a couple of years ago, and I just walked out of the house,” said Shauntae.

  Mari and Colby looked at her like she was crazy.

  Shauntae continued, “They can’t really do anything to you. They love you, so they’re not going to keep food from you or kick you out the house, and if they try to, you can just call social services on ’em. They have to take care of you until you’re like eighteen. That’s the law.”

  Mari and Colby were still looking at Shauntae as if she was someone they didn’t know.

  “What?” she said, looking back at them. “Y’all better get with the program. Old heads always think they know what’s better for you. They don’t know shit. They just wish they were young like you. They’re really jealous that you can go out, party and kick it like they used to. They have to go to work and are always complaining about bills and stupid stuff like that. I ain’t got time for their sad asses. I’m young. I got my life to live, and my mama gotta take care of me until I graduate.”

  “Well, what are you gonna do when you graduate?” asked Mari.

  “Shoot, I don’t know,” Shauntae said, leaning back, looking at the sky, then she sat straight up and grinned, an idea hitting her like a lightning bolt. “By that time I’m gonna have me a college all-star, like Carmelo Anthony, who’s gonna go pro early.”

  “Well, what’s gonna happen if some other chick has the same groupie plan as you and gets your man?” asked Colby.

  “Girl, my man is only gonna have eyes for me. How can he have all this,” she asked, smiling and rubbing her hands across her breasts, “and want anything else?”

  “You better get another plan, in case those things start drooping.” Mari laughed. “You know gravity is gonna take control of those babies soon, and those of us with perky small ones are gonna rule the world.”

  Colby giggled and Shauntae frowned, looking down at her chest like the thought had never occurred to h
er.

  “I think I wanna be a nurse or go to medical school when I graduate,” said Colby quietly, playing with a piece of grass.

  “You wanna wipe people’s butts and put Band-Aids on their boo-boos?” asked Shauntae. “I don’t know how you could want to be around sick people all the time.”

  “Well, I don’t know,” said Colby. “I just know that I want to help people.”

  “I think that’s great, Colby,” said Mari. “What made you want to be a nurse?”

  “Well, you know my grandparents are kinda old, and they’re always complaining about some aches and pains and stuff. So I started going on the Internet in the school library and looking up some of the stuff they were complaining about and kinda helping them to see what kind of conditions they could be suffering from.”

  “For real?” said Shauntae. “I’ve never seen you at no library.”

  “You probably don’t even know where it is. We may go to the same school, but we ain’t together all the time,” said Colby.

  “Whatever,” said Shauntae, scraping one long nail back and forth against the cement.

  “So were you able to help your grandparents?” asked Mari.

  “I sorta helped my grandmother. One time we went to the clinic after she had a bad reaction to the new blood pressure pills she was taking, so I was able to describe to the nurse better what the symptoms of her reactions were, and it turned out they had been giving her the wrong type of medication.”

  “That is so cool,” said Mari.

  “Yeah, and when she got on the right medication, she was feeling so much better. She was able to get around better without feeling sick and dizzy and everything,” said Colby. “I felt great, like I had really helped somebody, made their life a little better.”

  “Sounds like you’ve found your calling, Dr. Gresham.”

  “So what? You think you and Sean are gonna have that bourgeois life?” asked Shauntae. “He’s gonna be like P. Diddy in the Hamptons and you’re gonna be some big-time doctor on Oprah or something? Plueeeeeze.”

  “Well, why can’t she be a doctor?” asked Mari.

  “Yeah, why can’t I? At least I won’t be dependent on someone else to take care of me. I can do it for myself,” said Colby.