“Your mom left you locked out?”
If some other boy had asked her that she would have been evasive, not wanting them to know that she was alone. But for some reason she didn’t feel afraid to answer him honestly—and not because she was forming a crush on the older boy but because she could sense that he had no interest in hurting her.
She nodded and he sighed and looked around. He walked over to the front window. “Come here.” He went behind the bush and Vanessa followed catching a scent of his sweat and soap, which was not the least unpleasant. “Watch.”
She thought to herself that he didn’t say much, not even hi, but she watched him intently as he pressed his fingers along the side of the screen, catching the two small tabs that allowed the screen to be raised and lowered. In surprise she watched him raise the screen and then lift the window easily from the outside as opposed to the way it had intended to be opened—from the inside.
“Climb through.”
She grimaced and crossed her legs urgently. “I…I gotta go to the bathroom too bad.” Admitting that she had biological needs such as going to the bathroom was mortifying to her. Scotty looked over his shoulder, she understood that he was ‘scoping the scene’; attempting to do this unseen. He quickly climbed into the apartment and a moment later Vanessa heard him unlocking the door from the inside. She smothered back a whoop of triumph and without picking up her books she ran through the apartment and up the stairs to the bathroom.
She had barely made it. Her eyes watered as she quickly tore down her pants and panties in one movement and then released the tight hold that she had on her bladder muscles. Urine gushed from her with a splash as it hit the toilet and she groaned in pleasure. “Thank you baby Jesus,” she sighed softly.
When she finally returned down the stairs, Scotty had lowered the screen and window and had shut the door. She saw her books on the side table. He was looking around her living room and she was suddenly proud of how fine their house was when she saw the look of admiration in his eyes.
“This is nice.”
Mama had gotten a cool living room set, which was made of soft tan fur. The cocktail and side tables were wooden and surrounded by the same fur. A huge plush white rug was in the middle of the floor and an oversized painting of a half nude African warrior woman took up most of one wall. The wall next to it had a huge mirror that made the already large room look twice as big.
“You want some Kool-Aide?” She asked.
He looked at the door and shook his head. “No. I better go before your mother gets home. Don’t let anyone see you breaking into your house that way. You’ll get in trouble.”
“Why? Its my house.”
“Because little kids aren’t supposed to know how to break into houses.”
“I’m twelve, I’m not little.”
He chuckled. “Okay. Well twelve year olds aren’t supposed to know anything about breaking and entering.”
His words caused her to wonder how much he knew about breaking and entering. “You sure you don’t want some Kool-Aid. You can always go out the back patio if my mama comes home.”
When he hesitated she led the way through to the neat kitchen.
Scotty noted that Vanessa’s house was spotless. It didn’t even seem real that a kitchen wouldn’t have dirty dishes piled into the sink or grease stains all over the stove and dirt and trash on the floor. G’s house was nice compared to his own but even his friend had dirty dishes in the sink and a few roaches running around the kitchen.
He watched Vanessa open a cabinet and retrieve two matching glasses and thought that if his house had glasses like that, the smaller kids would have smashed them just for fun.
She opened the refrigerator and he peeked over her shoulder and saw food, fresh vegetables, and neat plastic containers that held some food, which had been cooked instead of spread across bread.
She grabbed a container and then poured red Kool-Aid into the glasses. She watched him gulp down half of it in one swallow. “You want a peanut butter sandwich?”
He shook his head and placed the empty glass in the sink. “Nah. Catch you later.” He went out the back and after sliding the patio door closed behind him he saw her watching him and winked at her before disappearing.
Vanessa squealed as soon as he was out of sight and then jumped up and down in excitement. She hurried to the phone to call Jalissa to tell her what had happened.
“You are such a liar!” Jalissa kept saying, but the way she said it let Vanessa know that her cousin believed every word. “I can’t believe you let that thief into your house and then you left him alone?! Girl, you better go check to make sure nobody stole Aunt Leelah’s jewelry!”
“What? No! He was just standing there looking around.”
“Hmph,” Jalissa sucked air through her teeth. “Don’t cry when your mama finds out that some of her stuff is missing.”
“I know that he is Tino’s brother but that doesn’t mean that he’s bad.” Being related to a bad person didn’t make you a bad person. Look at Jalissa and Jalissa’s mother. Aunt Callista was…a bitch. She could think the word even if she couldn’t say it out loud.
She heard keys in the front door. “I gotta go,” and then she quickly hung up the phone. “Hi mama.”
Leelah White dropped her purse on the side table in relief. “Oh my God, baby. I was so scared when I didn’t see you out front.” She hugged her daughter in relief. “I am so sorry that I’m late.” She took hold of her daughter’s shoulders and looked at her closely. “But how did you get inside?”
She thought about Scotty’s words but more importantly she thought about how pissed her mama would be if she knew that Scotty knew how to break into their house. “I opened the window from the outside and climbed through.”
Leelah gave her a surprised look and then went over to the window and examined it. Vanessa joined her and pointed out how she had done it—or rather how Scotty had done it.
“Well I’ll be…” she gave Vanessa a worried look. “How did you learn how to do that?”
Vanessa raised her eyebrows. “I…heard kids at school talking about it.”
Instead of looking happy that she had gotten into the house safely, mama seemed more concerned that someone knew how to break into the house. She immediately locked and secured the window and then did the same for all of the windows on the lower level.
For some reason this made Vanessa mad because what if mama left her outside alone again. She’d been over an hour late this time. Vanessa decided that she would just demand that her mother trust her with a key to the house. She wouldn’t lose it and nobody would steal it from her if she kept it on a chain around her neck.
“Mama, I don’t like being locked out the house. I think I should have a key.” She opened her mouth to support her case by proclaiming that she was old enough and responsible when her mother interrupted.
“Yes baby, I know. Come here baby, I want to talk to you about something.” She led Vanessa to the couch and they sat down with mama’s arms around her. Vanessa waited with anticipation and a little nervousness because mama seemed like she was about to say something unpleasant.
“Vanessa, I can’t keep leaving you alone in the evenings like I’ve been doing. It’s wrong and I spend most of the night worrying about you.”
“But, you call me before I go to bed-“
“But that’s not enough. You need an adult with you. So I talked to your aunt Callista and starting tomorrow you’re going to go home with Jalissa everyday after school.”
Vanessa stiffened and pulled back to examine her mother. She’d told her mama a long time ago that she didn’t like Aunt Callista’s house and didn’t want her as a babysitter anymore…although she hadn’t told her the real reason.
Aunt Callista was her mother’s half sister. Mama hadn’t even known that she had a half sister until after her Daddy’s death. Aunt Callista and her mother had showed up at the funeral knowing all about Leelah and her mother. And to Leelah
’s surprise her mother had known about them as well. There had been no love lost between that ‘other’ woman and her bastard—which is what Leelah’s mother considered them. And so even though Leelah was nearly an adult she had never been informed about the existence of another sibling.
But once she found out about her little sister—despite the fact that it meant that her daddy had cheated on her mama, Leelah instantly took to her—welcoming the existence of a sibling, though no two could look less alike. Leelah was tall with a milk chocolate complexion and hair that curled more than kinked. Callista was much shorter, pudgy and light enough that the scattering of raised moles along her face stood out like a witch’s warts. Still, she wasn’t completely unattractive, especially when she covered her thinning hair with a long wig and squeezed her uninteresting shape into a girdle which proportioned her fat to appear as if she had hips and a behind.
The two sisters were nothing alike, at least that was Vanessa’s thoughts. Aunt Callista was fake; always smiling and laughing and cracking jokes with mama but behind her back she said bad things when she thought Vanessa wasn’t in earshot. She also looked at Vanessa with contempt, snapping orders at her and forcing her to do chores that she didn’t make Jalissa do. She twisted her skin instead of whupping her and then she would brag to her mama that she didn’t believe in whuppings—but she knew how to pull hair and pinch and say hurtful things.
Vanessa found herself swallowing dryly at her mother’s revelation.
“Mama you said that I wouldn’t have to go over there anymore-“
“I know but these are special circumstances.”
Vanessa contemplated breaking the promise that she had made to herself long ago. Instead of telling mama that Aunt Callista was too strict, too distracted, no fun…she could tell her the truth; that Aunt Callista secretly hated them both and took every opportunity possible to cut her and her mother down.
But a very adult reasoning stopped her. She knew that her mother loved Callista and Jalissa Cornel and the loss of that family and friendship would hurt her mother. And if her mother was going to be hurt by aunt Callista, then it wouldn’t be orchestrated by her.
“Vanessa I want you to understand that there is a bigger picture.” She gave her daughter an earnest look. “I know I moved us out of the projects so that neither of us would never have to live there again. But what my plans are to get us so far away from this existence that nothing will ever drag us back down to the projects. Baby I work day and night so that I can get us up out of here—”
“But…I thought you liked it here, “ Vanessa said trying to bite back her distress.
“Baby, they call these townhomes but this ain’t nothing but the ghetto. We’re just paying more than those people at the bottom of the hill but we ain’t no different.” Leelah gestured around the room. “This place is not our future. You see I’ve been working long and hard and putting my money in the bank.” She smiled tiredly. “I intend to have your college fund paid for so that you can go to any college that your heart desires without worrying about money. And not just college but when you get old enough you’re going to have enough money so that you never have to struggle. I’ve also been saving for us to have our own house.”
Vanessa perked up. “Like grand mama’s house in Kentucky?”
“Yep. Except not in Kentucky.”
Vanessa grinned. She loved her grandmother’s house. Mama said that it wasn’t the country just because there was a lot of trees and grass around. She called it the suburbs and grand mamma’s house was a pretty ranch style that smelled like cinnamon and cookies. She liked the garden in the back yard where greens, tomatoes and other vegetables grew.
Vanessa hugged her mother in excitement. “When can we buy our own house mama?”
“Well we have to save up enough to make a down payment. Plus we should have enough to buy things for our house, right?”
“Right!” But secretly Vanessa thought that they already had enough nice stuff for a new house. Their stuff was a lot nicer than the floral furniture at grand mama’s, which was covered in stiff plastic.
Mama informed her that she wasn’t allowed to tell Jalissa about any of this and with the promise of a fat college fund and a house in the suburbs Vanessa swallowed her trepidation about spending her evenings with aunt Callista and hoped that it wouldn’t take mama long to get the money for them to move.
Chapter 6
Scotty took the Walnut Hills test the next morning, two brand new twenties and a crisp ten-dollar bill was folded in his sock. By the end of the day Mr. Price had the results. Even though the older man didn’t tell him, Scotty could read it on his face because he kept staring at him as if he was something interesting under a microscope.
“Scotty can you stay after class, please.” He waited for the class to clear out and then went up to Mr. Price’s desk. “Scotty Tremont, you passed the Walnut Hills test.” Scotty nodded. “But you’re not surprised, are you?”
“I felt comfortable with my answers.” The reading was a joke but the arithmetic was harder. It covered some questions that they had never even discussed in class—but he worked it out his own way and it seemed right.
“Scotty…would it surprise you to know that you scored high enough that you qualified for the honors program?”
Scotty shrugged not sure what that was.
Mr. Price folded his hands across his desk. “The top 7th graders are invited to join the honors program for their eighth and ninth grade years.”
“I’m already in the eighth grade…so…”
“So, you’ve been invited to switch schools.”
Scotty rubbed his hand through his hair, surprised. “Walnut Hills is for kids going to college, I mean…even if I don’t drop out of school at sixteen I’m never going to college.”
“Why Scotty?”
“Because it takes money, Mr. Price. And in case you haven’t noticed-“
“Stop. It does take money and there are half a million grants that you could get very easily that would give you a full ride.”
Scotty drew in a deep breath and looked at his teacher in astonishment. “You really want me to go to Walnut Hills High School? I mean…there are probably other kids that want it. I don’t want it.”
“Maybe not this second. But maybe two seconds from now you will. Maybe two years from now you will kick yourself for not taking this opportunity…this free opportunity.” The older man paused, staring deeply into the boy’s eyes. “Free opportunities don’t come your way often, son. I know this from experience. Some people out there wouldn’t give a shit about you. That’s why you have to give a shit about your own damn self.”
Scotty’s throat felt tight and he knew that Mr. Price was one of those people that gave a damn. However, he had no plans of leading a straight life where he slaved away at a job where he barely made enough to get by. He knew how to make big money and he was going to follow in his brother’s footsteps, and when he made enough to get a fine crib—maybe like Vanessa’s and her mother’s, then he’d move out of the ghetto.
“I see you got a plan in your head, Scotty. But it doesn’t have to be like that. And education will get you out of the ghetto! I went to Walnut Hills High School and went on to college and got a degree and with it a career and not just a job.”
Scotty shrugged. “You’re still in the ghetto.” Mr. Price looked like he was going to jump up in belt him. “When I get out of the ghetto, I’m getting out in a Cadillac!”
“Get out of here Scotty.” Mr. Price’s voice was soft. He turned his attention back to his papers and the young boy felt the sudden loss of the teacher’s eyes on him.
Scotty turned to leave, but Mr. Price didn’t stop him. So he stopped on his own. He looked at his teacher over his shoulder.
“What’s Walnut Hills like?”
~***~
When Vanessa saw her cousin at recess Jalissa hugged her in a rare show of joy.
“This is going to be like being sisters.”
/> Vanessa smiled despite her trepidations. “We’re already like sisters.”
Jalissa grinned and nodded and they discussed watching tonight’s episode of Good Times and then Welcome Back Kotter the next night. After school the two girls walked the short way to Jalissa’s house. She’d never had to walk to her cousin’s home from school before and the number of children heading the same route was amazing. Swarms of children played and laughed as they rushed home in order to watch Skipper Ryle on television. After a snack they would go outside to play until it was time for dinner and afterwards would head back out for a few more hours until the streetlights came on. And that was the routine day after day in the projects.
Two boys rough housing soon got into a fight where fists went flying with lightening speed. Jalissa grabbed her arm and dragged her over to watch with the crowd forming a circle around the two fighting boys.
Vanessa watched in fascination at the power of those fists flying. She’d never been in a true fight although she’d hit someone that had hit her. She wondered what would happen if someone tried to beat her up the way these boys were fighting. They were blacking each other’s eyes and noses were bleeding. And then a crossing guard approached and loudly broke up the fight, pulling the more aggressive boy off the loser.
They resumed their march home and Vanessa had to admit that this was much more exciting than driving up the hill with her mama.
When they got home aunt Callista was talking on the telephone in the kitchen and cooking something. She pulled the phone from her face briefly.
“Change your clothes and then go outside and play.” She returned to her phone conversation.
Vanessa looked at Jalissa and whispered. “I thought we were going to watch Skipper Ryle.”
Jalissa rolled her eyes. “Girl, don’t pay no attention to her.” She turned on the television, completely disobeying her mother and Vanessa followed her into the living room and sat down on the sofa with her.
Fifteen minutes later when aunt Callista was done with her phone conversation she bellowed out Jalissa’s name.
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