Ebony nodded. “That’s good—that’s real good.”
They walked into the small, curtained living room just as Frank was coming through the swinging kitchen doors carrying a tray with sandwiches and sodas. Aisha had only seen him in photos. He was as tall as Ebony, with broad shoulders, a thick chest, and thinning hair. Cute though, she thought, trying to imagine them kissing.
“So you’re the family celebrity! Good to meet you, Aisha,” he said, shaking her hand. “Heard nice things about you.”
Aisha had a million questions: how Ebony got into being a probation officer, why Frank became a cop, what made Ebony move out the projects, if they liked each other as soon as they met …
“Whoa, slow down!” exclaimed Frank. “Maybe you can help me interrogate perps when you’re not making commercials.”
“What’s a perps?”
Ebony laughed. “That’s cop shop talk for perpetrators, Aisha.” She explained how the boys had driven her nuts when she was little with their constant teasing and taunting.
“With Daddy always gone and Mom totally into the twins, I felt dissed and got mad. When a new baby girl was suddenly arriving on the scene—you—I felt like I was being replaced, so I split pretty fast. Joined the Job Corps, where I met this Irish cop guy”—she winked at her husband—“and that’s about it. The PO thing is just about liking kids and trying to keep them out of trouble while they’re on probation.” She glanced at Frank. “From a comfortable distance.”
Aisha told them about herself—dropping out, Kevin, having kids, trying to stay on welfare. The story about Nurse Constantino made Frank turn red from laughing. “I gotta give it to you, kid, you got heart!”
“That’s what Debbie always say.”
Ebony wanted to know all about Debbie Silver and BIGMODELS. “You know, Ai, when I was a teenager, I tried to get into modeling, even went to a couple of agencies. But back then a black girl had to look like a beige white girl. They said my look was too ‘exotic.’”
“Fools,” said Frank, clearing the table.
“It’s cool though. I was too immature to have big money and sudden celebrity. Probably would’ve got caught up in some bad stuff. Now you, you seem to be wearing being all that and more quite well. But you know, Ai, you can’t skate forever. At some point, you might need a skill to fall back on, unless of course, you really blow up. Frank’s brother just opened a computer training academy. You get a nine-month training course and can even do a lot of the work from home. Why not check it out? It might come in handy down the road.”
Aisha said she would. “But you know I’ma be blowin’ it up. Debbie got me a regular commercial where I don’t be skating. I smile at some kinda diet pepper steak I get out the microwave and be like, ‘Why just do chicken right when you got Chinese lite?’”
Ebony frowned.
Aisha laughed. “Whatever. At least nobody can cut off my zidjewels.”
Aisha got home late. Louise was still up. They’d all had a good time at the zoo. Aisha talked with excitement about her visit to Queens and how she felt so close to her sister.
“How come you ain’t told me about Ebony calling?”
Louise heaved a long sigh and looked down.
“I don’t know what to say … your mother’s a scared old fool.”
“You ain’t old.”
“I’m fifty years old, Aisha.”
“Fifty? I thought you was a hundred.” Aisha chuckled. She knew exactly how old her mother was.
Louise continued. “I was afraid Ebbie was gonna take you and the children away … put y’all up in her big house … and I’d be left here alone with nothing …” Tears filled her eyes.
Aisha stared, not knowing what to do. She had never seen her mother cry, although a couple times she thought she’d heard … sounds.
“But Ma,” she said quietly, “you was the one who said—”
“That was just drunk talk, baby. I love you … the children … this family already broke up enough. I woulda never …” She was too choked up to go on.
They sat in silence.
The next morning Aisha was up early. Starlett had awakened her climbing into her bed. No matter what she did, Aisha couldn’t get her daughter used to her own bed. Without fail, Starlett would find her way, sometimes sound asleep, to her mommy.
Noises awoke Louise. She went to the living room. Aisha was humming, surrounded by boxes. Clothes, toys, sneakers, CDs, and skates covered the floor.
“Ai, what in heaven’s name are you doing at this hour?” asked Louise, rubbing her eyes.
“Unpacking.”
A smile spread across Louise’s face. Aisha and her mother stood together hugging for a long time.
Copyright © 2002 by Janet McDonald All rights reserved
Distributed in Canada by Douglas & McIntyre Ltd.
First edition, 2002
Farrar, Straus and Giroux paperback edition, 2006
3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4
eISBN 9781466803152
First eBook Edition : October 2011
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
McDonald, Janet.
Chill wind / Janet McDonald.
p. cm.
Summary: Afraid that she will have nowhere to go when her welfare checks are stopped, nineteen-year-old high school dropout Aisha tries to figure out how she can support herself and her two young children in New York City.
[1. Teenage mothers—Fiction. 2. African Americans—Fiction. 3. Public welfare—Fiction. 4. Mothers and daughters—Fiction. 5. New York (City)—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.M4784178 Ch 2002
[Fic]—dc21
2001054785
Chill Wind Page 10