by Zane
“Nothing, Bryce,” Lucky replied. “We heard it through the grapevine that Troy was going out of town on business, and we knew you would be lonely and over here pouting so we decided to come cheer you up.”
“Aww, how sweet.” Bryce gleamed. “I do miss my Boo. I was about to do something stupid like call Colette and tell her to ride back out to Raoul’s with me so I could slap some midgets with my knee.”
“Silly ass.” Harmony gave Bryce a love slap on her arm. “Well, I’m about to go cook. You guys throw a movie in.”
“Which one?” Lucky asked.
“Damn, that’s a hard choice. Since I was so head over heels in love with Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs back in the day, let’s put in Cooley High first.”
Harmony chuckled. “Yeah, I clearly remember when you were fantasizing about his ass. I used to be crazy about Michael Jackson until he turned into a white man.”
Bryce and Lucky fell out laughing.
“It’s beyond me why someone would want to get all that plastic surgery when everyone in the whole damn world already knows what they look like. That is defeating the damn purpose.”
“Well, the whole Jackson family must’ve gotten a group deal. They all got nose jobs,” Bryce added. “Shame on it all!”
“You’re crazy.” Lucky walked over to the VCR. “Let me go ahead and throw this movie in. Bryce, you have any microwave popcorn? That’s the one thing we forgot.”
“Yeah, I keep some Pop-Secret in the pantry ever since Troy bought me that Jerry Springer Too Hot for TV tape. I watch that bad boy two or three times a week.”
“You have that tape?” Lucky asked excitedly.
“Yeah, gurl. That shit is the bomb, too!”
“Let’s watch that first then!”
“Aiight, let me run upstairs and get it.”
“Harmony, I have to give you mad props.” Bryce was laid out on the couch, rubbing her belly. “That chicken pot pie was all that and then some.”
“Yes, it was.” Lucky nodded in agreement. “I must admit I was shocked. I thought it was going to turn out messed da hell up.”
“O ye of little faith.” Harmony chuckled. “I told ya’ll I could throw down in the kitchen.”
Bryce started sniffling and blowing out her nose with a Kleenex.
“What’s wrong with you, Bryce?” Harmony was concerned. “You miss Troy?”
“I do miss him a whole lot, but that’s not it. I’m still thinking about Cooley High. The ending always fucks me up emotionally.”
“Me, too,” Lucky concurred.
Harmony laughed. “You act like you’ve never seen it before. I can’t really talk though. Imitation of Life has the same effect on me.”
“On a softer note, I want to thank you two for coming over here to cheer me up.” Bryce was overwhelmed by her sisters’ thoughtfulness. “I realize you both have men of your own and they’re probably somewhere feeling neglected right about now.”
“Naw, Robbie and Zachary went to an Orioles game today,” Lucky informed Bryce. “Besides, blood before dick. You know that’s the Whitfield girl motto.”
“Amen to that.” Harmony nodded. “By the way, Zachary and I are having a cookout next weekend so make sure you both come and bring the fellas.”
“What’s the occasion?” Bryce asked.
“There’s no occasion. We have cookouts every summer and here it is going into fall. You know that.”
“Well, you haven’t had one this summer!”
“Because things have been hectic, but Zachary loves to entertain so both your asses better be there.”
“Aiight, no problemo.”
“Robbie and I will be there, too,” Lucky added.
“Cool.” Harmony reached for another tape. “Now, let’s throw on Fame so I can feel sorry for Irene Cara’s ass when she meets up with that leech of a photographer.”
“Yeah, that’s the bomb-ass flick.”
32
One Last Party before Lights Out
“Zachary, can you bring some more steaks out!” Troy yelled.
Bryce walked up behind him at the gas grill. “Baby, are you sure you know what you’re doing? We want the steaks well done, not blackened.”
“Very funny.” He chuckled, then popped her on the ass. “I know what the heck I’m doing, woman. I’ve been cooking steaks since 1964.”
“Hmph! That’s amazing considering your ass wasn’t born until 1968.”
“Smart-ass.” He chuckled. “Go back in the house with your sisters and friends and let the men handle this.”
“Whatever!” Bryce gave him a peck on the lips and went back inside, almost knocking over the pan of steaks Zachary was taking outside.
“Umm, Robbie, you need to go outside with the fellas,” Fatima said sarcastically. “We’re trying to gossip around here.”
“Yeah, female talk.” Colette giggled.
“Damn, why ya’ll trying to kick my baby out of the house?” Lucky asked. “I want my Boo right here beside me.”
Robbie leaned over and kissed her cheek. “It’s cool. I’ll just go out there with Zachary and the other men so we can discuss politics or something.”
“Sho you right,” Harmony interjected. “The only thing you men are going to discuss is booty clubs and hoochies on music videos.”
All the women started laughing.
“Don’t forget sports,” Fatima added.
“Damn, you all sure have a low opinion of men,” Robbie protested. Robbie looked out into the yard, where Hakim was twirling a basketball on his index finger. “Fatima, you have a lot of nerve anyway. Your man plays sports, so of course it’ll come up, but still. We do talk about other things.”
“Whatever,” Bryce said, pointing at the patio door leading out to the deck. “Just get to steppin’ and make sure my baby doesn’t set himself or his Kiss the Cook apron on fire.”
They all giggled while Robbie sulked out of the house to join the other three men.
“So what are we going to do today besides feeding our faces and sitting around?” Lucky asked.
“Well, we could always drive out to Raoul’s place and stomp on some midgets.” Bryce chuckled.
“You’re sick, gurl.” Colette giggled. “That was cold the way you guys left Mandingo out there to fend for himself.”
“I know you’re not even going there!” Harmony exclaimed. “You just need to be thankful we came and rescued your ass, and I do mean ass literally.”
“I know that’s right,” Bryce agreed. “We went through all that shit to get you out of there and now you’re talking trash? By the way, I do mean shit literally, too.”
Everyone busted out laughing, except Colette. “Enough of the anal jokes, damn! You guys have been teasing me ever since.”
“That’s because it’s funny as hell.” Lucky giggled. “Had us out on a mission way over in the morning to get a nucca’s dick dislodged from the black hole.”
“Aiight, aiight, damn!” Colette rolled her eyes. “I do appreciate ya’ll helping a sistah out, for real though!”
“Colette, I just want to say one thing to you,” Harmony said. “It’s no big secret that, at first, I couldn’t stand the ground you walked on.”
“You’re right.” Bryce jumped all up in the mix. “It definitely wasn’t a secret.”
“Bryce, shaddup and let me finish!” Harmony snapped. “N-E-Way, I just wanted to say that since you’ve been working with the agency and since I’ve gotten to spend more time with you hanging out and such, my opinion of you has drastically changed.”
“Hold up, is this an apology?” Bryce asked. “If so, I need to break out a camcorder or something because this happens less often than leap years.”
“Bryce, stuff it.” Harmony threw a seedless grape at her over the coffee table.
“Harmony, my opinion of you has changed a lot, too,” Colette responded. “I used to think you were the biggest bitch on earth!”
“How delightful,” Harmony replied, and they
all laughed nervously, hoping she wouldn’t take her apology back and kick Colette’s ass. “Don’t get me wrong. I still think you’re a hoochie, but I guess we all are in a sense. You are just more comfortable with your hoochiness.”
“Thanks for the compliment. If that was a compliment?” Colette chuckled.
“Yes, it was a compliment and I meant it, too.” Harmony smiled at her. “On a serious tip though, I misjudged you and for that I apologize.”
Harmony got up and gave Colette a hug for the very first time.
“Aw, I’m so happy, I could break-dance,” Bryce said sarcastically.
“In fact, I wanted to tell all of you something,” Harmony continued.
They all stared at her intently.
“Damn, you’re pregnant,” Bryce poised more as a statement than a question. “’Bout damn time you’re gonna make me an auntie.”
“No, no babies in the oven. I wanted to thank all of you for giving me the most wonderful summer of my entire life.”
“I’ve had fun, too.” Bryce got up and gave her a hug. “Every summer has been great, but there was something about this summer that was extraspecial. The whole female-bonding thing. Fatima and I even stopped cussing each other out all the time.”
“Fuck ya.” Fatima chuckled and threw her the finger.
“Oh, well, I may have spoken too soon.” Bryce laughed and threw the finger right back at her.
“I think it’s because we’ve all been there for each other when the shit hit the fan this summer,” Lucky added. “Think about it. I had my ordeal with the dean, Bryce had her ordeal with George, Fatima had her ordeal with Javon, and Colette had her ordeal with a mammoth, elephantine dick.”
“That’s toooooooooo funny,” Colette snidely remarked. “But you’re right. We’ve all been through something traumatic this summer and everyone had everyone else’s back. I love and appreciate you guys so much for that.”
“True that,” Bryce said. “The only one who hasn’t been through anything traumatic is Harmony. There was the little breakup with Zachary, but they’re closer than ever now.”
“Harmony never goes through anything she can’t handle,” Fatima said. “That’s my gurl. She’s a survivor. Always has been.”
Harmony jumped up from the couch and walked over to the wet bar. Her fingers trembled as she poured herself another glass of iced tea. “I’m so proud of all of you guys for standing up for what you believe in.” She turned around and looked at Bryce. “Even you, Bryce. Just because all you really believe in is freaky sex, it doesn’t mean I’m any less proud of you.”
They all giggled.
“Harmony, I’m going to let that one slide just because I don’t want to act a fool in your house.”
“Chile please, you’ve been acting a fool in my house since I moved in here.”
Bryce rolled her eyes.
“Next summer, I think we should all take a cruise to an island. Maybe the Bahamas or Jamaica,” Lucky suggested.
“I’ve always wanted to go to Cozumel,” Fatima concurred.
“Sounds good to me.” Bryce stated.
“You know I’m down,” added Colette. She’d never been out of the MD/DC area and was willing to travel to Cozumel, even though she had no damn idea where it was.
“Harmony, what about you?” Fatima asked. “What island do you want to go to next summer?”
“I say we hit all of them bad boys,” Harmony replied.
“I heard that,” Fatima said. “I’m down for whatever.”
Harmony kept her back to them as she stood by the wet bar with her eyes clamped shut, trying to prevent the tears from coming out. “Excuse me for a second. I need to go upstairs to get something.”
Zachary saw Harmony running up the hallway steps. He had been in the kitchen the entire time preparing the tossed salad, unbeknownst to them, and had overheard the whole conversation.
He didn’t hold his tears back because he knew what Harmony was doing. She was saying good-bye to all of them in her own subtle way. However, the topic of vacationing the next summer had been too much for her to handle. They both knew she wouldn’t be around long enough to even see Christmas.
He debated about whether to go upstairs to comfort her and decided against it. He didn’t want to turn their cookout into an emotional afternoon, and he knew she would come back down in a few minutes, smiling like she was never upset in the first place.
Zachary went into the downstairs guest bathroom, sat down on the toilet seat lid, and wept in silence.
“Little girl, you dropped your candy!” Harmony yelled out, holding up the piece of peppermint she’d witnessed fall out the overalls of the youngster when she’d climbed on the jungle gym.
The girl briskly ran her petite hands over her pockets, searching for the piece of candy that was no longer there. Harmony approached her and knelt down, holding it out toward her. The girl hesitated, bit her bottom lip, and twisted her hips back and forth as if an invisible Hula-Hoop were around her waist.
“You’re a stranger lady,” she whispered, still twisting her hips.
Harmony couldn’t get over how much the little girl resembled herself as a child. Tall and skinny, long, curly brown hair in ponytails, big brown eyes.
“Yes, I’m a stranger. You’re a very good girl. I bet your mother told you never to take candy from strangers.”
The girl nodded her head.
“Even if the candy is your own?”
A perplexed expression came over the little girl’s face while she analyzed the question the way most six-or seven-year-olds do. Then she grabbed the candy and ran off to play, whispering, “Thank you,” as she climbed the wooden steps that led to the slide.
Harmony found an empty wooden bench and sat down. The discomfort in her side was getting worse by the second and the pain pills no longer worked. She sat there for a long time and thought about all the things she was going to miss. Her sisters, Zachary, her parents, Fatima, even Colette’s crazy ass. Watching the sun rise in the morning and set at night. Running barefoot through the sandy beaches of the Eastern Shore. Hanging out with the gurls. Making love.
She thought about all the things she would never get to do or experience. Her thirtieth birthday, motherhood, married life, vacationing on a tropical island, turning her temporary agency into a large corporation, Lucky’s graduation from medical school. There were so many things she didn’t get to fit into twenty-nine years. So many, many things.
“Agnes, is Fatima home?”
“Yes, Miss Whitfield.” Fatima’s maid held the front door wide open so Harmony could enter the foyer. “I’ll go get her for you. Would you like to wait in the living room?”
“No, I’m fine here. I can only stay for a couple of minutes.”
Agnes stared at Harmony, noticing the dark circles around her eyes and the paleness of her skin.
“Are you okay, Miss Whitfield? Would you like me to get you a glass of water?”
“I’m fine. Just a little under the weather. Probably a twenty-four-hour virus or something.”
Agnes reluctantly left Harmony in the foyer, going into the kitchen to get Fatima.
A couple of moments later, Fatima started yelling out her good news before she even turned the corner. “Harmony, guess what. Hakim’s moving in with me and Javon’s ass finally agreed to give me a di—”
It took a few seconds for Fatima to register that Harmony was sprawled out on the marble floor and not moving. Then Fatima’s screams began.
33
The Homegoing
“Troy, can you set the dining room table for dinner?” Bryce yelled from the kitchen.
“Sure, Baby!” he yelled back from the living room. “What are we having? Smells damn delicious!”
“Spaghetti.” Bryce chuckled, glancing toward the kitchen wastebasket to make sure the lid was securely fastened. I hope this voodoo shit works, she thought.
The phone started ringing. Troy said he would get it. Bryce put the finishing
touches on her tossed salad, then picked up the enormous bowl labeled PASTA that was filled to the brim with her special recipe. She planned on faking stomach cramps the second she finished her salad and letting Troy eat the whole bowl of spaghetti by himself.
Troy came dashing into the kitchen, taking the corner in his white athletic socks like he was Chuck Berry sliding across a dance floor. As soon as Bryce saw the expression on his face, she knew something terrible had happened.
“Go throw on some shoes and a jacket, Baby,” he said frantically, headed toward the stove to turn off all the burners. “We have to go!”
“What is it, Troy? What’s wrong?” The bowl in Bryce’s hands started trembling, a direct reflection of her fingers.
“That was Lucky on the phone.” He paused like he was dreading saying whatever came next. “It’s Harmony.”
No other words were necessary. Bryce started panicking and the bowl hit the floor, shattering into bits and splashing her secret recipe everywhere as she ran toward the door.
Troy couldn’t drive to the Washington Hospital Center fast enough for Bryce. She blew the horn at several people, motioning for them to get out of their way and even tried to grab the steering wheel from the passenger’s seat a couple of times. She kept bombarding Troy with questions he couldn’t possibly answer.
“Lucky was so upset on the phone that she barely managed to get out the few words she did” was all he could say.
The thirty or so minutes it took them to get there seemed more like three hundred. As Troy pulled up to the emergency room, Bryce had the door open and jumped out while the car was still in motion.
They didn’t say a word to each other. Bryce slammed the door and ran inside while Troy went to locate a parking space in the visitors’ lot.
Bryce rapped impatiently on the counter of the nurses’ station. The only nurse anywhere in sight was trying to play a game of charades with an older Hispanic woman. The nurse didn’t speak Spanish and the woman didn’t speak English, so they were using hand signals to communicate about how to fill out the admission forms.