Keysha's Drama

by Earl Sewell

  “To place such a heavy blame on my stepdaughter would be unfair. Let’s keep in mind that what you’ve heard are only allegations. She has not and never has been convicted of a crime.”

  “So are you saying that she didn’t have the drugs in her locker?” The woman pressed the issue.

  “No, what I’m saying is you’re asking me about a personal situation with my family that I feel is inappropriate to bring up at this meeting.”

  “Get her, Momma,” Mike shouted out. It was the first time that I realized just how strong Barbara was.

  “However, to ease your concerns I will tell you that I believe my stepdaughter has been wrongly accused and that I do not believe she has or ever did intend to become a dope pusher. My family and I stand united with her, and we will have our day in court where her innocence will be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt.”

  “That’s right, Mama, you tell them. They just can’t push us around.” Mike continued to taunt the television. My jaw hit the floor. I couldn’t believe Barbara actually defended me. I was speechless and didn’t know what to think. I looked at Mike, who pressed the mute button on the television.

  “So do you believe me?” I asked him.

  “My mom went through your bedroom like a mad woman. She thought for sure she’d find a hidden stash of something, but she didn’t. This morning on my way to school she shared a family secret that I never knew about. Her older sister used to be on drugs, and she watched how it destroyed her and my grandparents. Eventually she got help, but not until after a whole lot of emotional damage. Anyway, she was glad that she didn’t find anything. The fact that she didn’t gave you credibility in her eyes. You have to understand something, Keysha. I may have been mean to you but I never wanted any harm to come to you. Even after you hit me with the broomstick, I wasn’t mad at you because I knew that I had it coming. When I saw you at the dance club I knew something wasn’t right. You weren’t yourself at all. After you left me I tried to find Liz because I wanted to know what the deal was. I wanted to know why you were acting so differently. When I couldn’t find her I started searching for you again. One of the guys on the football team told me you were out in the parking lot and several guys were taunting you. By the time I got back out there with the guys, you had fallen to the ground and they were about to have their way with you. That just wasn’t cool. Even if I did fight with you all the time, I wasn’t going to stand by and watch them violate you.”

  Mike paused in thought and I suddenly saw him as a completely different person. He’d actually come to my rescue when I needed help. Now that I was thinking clearly, I saw that the entire family was standing by my side. No one was going to leave me hanging.

  “Thank you,” I said and remained quiet for a moment. “What about you? Do you believe me?” I held my breath as I awaited his answer.

  “Yeah, I believe you,” he said as he turned the volume back up. I wanted to hug him. I wanted him to know that it meant a great deal to me to have his support.

  “I’m so lucky to have a kid brother like you,” I said. I draped my arm over his shoulder and gave him a big hug. It felt so good to have a family who cared about me. I wanted to cry again, but I didn’t because I knew Mike would think that I was way too emotional. I enjoyed that moment we had with each other and looked forward to having more of them because I knew that I’d need them, especially once the trial began.

  Chapter 26

  Shortly after dinner I went upstairs to my bedroom, which was still messed up from Barbara’s tirade. I started picking up a few of my belongings but stopped because the clean-up job was overwhelming. Instead, I rested on my bed, which wasn’t very comfortable but I still tried to find a good position that didn’t feel too awkward. As I relaxed on my back with my eyes closed, the image of being handcuffed and taken to jail kept flashing in my mind. I thought I’d fall asleep easily but that just wasn’t the case because my mind wouldn’t shut off. Another image of a judge slamming down a gavel and saying, “You’re guilty,” kept replaying itself. Even though I knew I was innocent I felt that I was hexed and everything that could go wrong would go wrong during the trial and I would be hauled off to jail for a crime I didn’t commit. I attempted to calm my nerves by taking several deep breaths but it had no impact whatsoever on my paranoia.

  After tossing around and slapping my forehead with the palm of my hands a few times, I developed a headache and concluded that no matter how hard I tried, my bed just wasn’t going to feel right. I decided to go into the spare room and sleep on Grandmother Katie’s bed. Once I entered her bedroom, I relaxed my tortured body on her soft bed. I know that this is going to sound strange, but as soon as I rested my head on the pillow I felt very relaxed and my headache faded away. I think it was because the pillow coverings still had a hint of her scent, which for some reason had a soothing effect on me. I think Grandmother Katie has a presence, which lingers long after she’s left. I know that sounds strange but it’s true, at least in my mind it is. I closed my eyes and a short time thereafter, I drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

  When I opened my eyes again it was morning. I was surprised I slept all through the night without waking up. As I became more alert I could hear the sound of raindrops splashing against the windowpane.

  “It’s raining pretty hard. The wind is rather high, too.” The unexpected sound of Barbara’s voice made me jump out of my skin. Once again she was sitting in a chair positioned in front of me waiting for me to wake up. I assumed she was waiting so that we could get into another catfight first thing in the morning. The fact that Barbara got some sort of twisted pleasure out of watching me sleep was very creepy and it made my skin feel as if there were a thousand ants crawling all over it. It was unsettling the way she could sneak up on me without my being aware of it. She was like a cat stalking a mouse. I sat up on the bed and looked at her. I didn’t say anything because I didn’t know what to say. I wasn’t sure if I should thank her for standing up for me or prepare myself for a vicious exchange of words. Lord knows I didn’t feel like fighting, but if she was looking for a confrontation, I was ready to do battle with her.

  “This isn’t easy for me.” Barbara finally shattered the silence. “I like to have order in my life. I don’t like a lot of drama and I have a difficult time dealing with change. I don’t tolerate ignorance or attempts to destroy the life I’ve worked so hard to build and protect.” Her calm tone of voice caught me off guard. I wasn’t expecting her to be civil. I coiled my knees up to my chest and listened. “I destroyed your bedroom because I was certain that I’d find a stash of pills or something that would indicate you had a problem. I was also determined to prove that you were on a crusade to destroy everything I’ve worked so hard for.”

  “I’m not like that,” I whispered to her.

  “My heart knows that but my mind and logic are overriding what my heart knows to be true. You have to give me a little more time to adjust.” There was another long and awkward moment of silence before she spoke again.

  “I owe you an apology, Keysha.”

  “You do?” I asked, surprised.

  “I judged you before I got to know you. I’m sorry I did that to you. You see, I’ve lived in a home with a drug user before. I know all about how abusers play tricks and how deceitful they can be.”

  “I’m not a drug user or a drug seller,” I said, wanting to reassure her.

  “I know you’re not. Because if you were, by now I would have stumbled across your supply somewhere in this house or been able to detect your addiction problem.” Barbara stood up and drew back the curtain and watched the raindrops fall before she spoke again. “During my freshman year of high school I looked up to my older sister, who was a junior. She was one of the most popular girls on campus. She was the party-girl type and I was pretty much a tomboy who loved sports. We had a pretty decent life. Our parents loved us, we lived in a good suburban neighborhood and we did well in school. All of our normality changed the summer before my sister was to
become a senior. During that summer, she met this college guy who was attending the university that was near our home. My sister loved to brag about dating a college boy.” Barbara cleared her throat. I could tell that what she was telling me was something deep and very emotional. “Anyway, my sister started hanging out at frat parties with this guy and sneaking out of the house at night to be with him. It wasn’t long before he introduced her to drugs.”

  “Why did she take them?” I asked. “If you guys had cool parents, a nice home and weren’t struggling to make ends meet, why would she want to do drugs?”

  “Peer pressure I suppose. I think she really wanted to fit in with the college crowd. She started off with pills and when that wouldn’t get her high enough she began using harder drugs. It got to the point where she began stealing money from my parents in order to supply her habit. When my parents discovered the awful truth, it changed everything. They placed my sister in rehab and became overprotective of me.”

  “Did your sister ever get clean?” I asked, wanting to know what happened.

  “Eventually, but not before damaging our relationship to the point that I refused to speak to her for one full year.”

  “What did she do?” I asked.

  “The night before my junior prom, my sister had somehow gotten out of the rehab center and came home. She arrived at our door and began begging for money. When my father refused to give her money she became irate but eventually calmed down and pleaded with my parents to let her sleep in her own bed. She begged them to let her stay and not send her back to the rehab facility. She won their trust along with mine and she was allowed to stay. The following morning when I woke, I discovered that she’d stolen my mother’s car along with other things she thought she could sell, including my prom dress.”

  “She stole your prom dress?” I asked, completely shocked.

  “Yes.” Barbara exhaled loudly.

  I didn’t know what to say after hearing that. I could only imagine how she must have felt.

  “Anyway, there were other times that my sister conned her way back into the house. I eventually picked up on her tricks and where she hid her drugs.”

  “So when did she stop?” I asked.

  “Around the age of twenty when she almost died from an overdose,” said Barbara. “That was her wakeup call. She eventually got the help she wanted and needed but she took the family down a difficult road that I never want to go down again.”

  I took in everything that she’d just shared and concluded that perhaps she and I aren’t so different in the sense that we’ve both been deeply wounded by people we love.

  “Can I ask you a question?”

  Barbara looked at me. “Yeah,” she answered.

  “If you had discovered that I had a problem, would you have kicked me out of the house?” I swallowed hard as I awaited her answer. She didn’t take her eyes off me, not even for one second. As I read her expression I knew what her answer was before she gave it.

  “No. I would have worked with Jordan to find help for you.” I exhaled. It was such a relief to know that she wasn’t as evil as she first appeared to be.

  “I’m sorry, too,” I said. “I only lashed out at you because you always seemed to be out to get me. I also want to say thank you for standing up for me in front of all those parents who were at the school board meeting. No one has ever stood up for me like that.” Barbara smiled.

  “Well, I think it’s about time that you start benefiting from the strength of a family that cares and sticks together. We’re also going to prevail in court and get to the bottom of who is trying to destroy our happy family.” I swallowed hard because my heart was doing something weird. It was filling my body up with an emotion that was foreign to me.

  “Um,” I paused because my voice was shaking. “So you’re saying that you consider me to be a part of the family?”

  “Yes, I do,” Barbara answered. I put my face in my hands and started crying tears of joy. Barbara came over and draped her arm around me and held on to me until I pulled myself back together.

  “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be so emotional.”

  “It’s okay to cry. Listen, I’ve brought up some cleaning supplies and trash bags so that we can clean up your room.”

  “You mean you’re going to help me?” I asked, wanting to be sure I heard her correctly.

  “Yes,” she said with a smile.

  It took a good portion of the morning for Barbara and I to get my bedroom back in order. We had to use the mattress from Grandmother Katie’s room temporarily until my mattress could be replaced, but I didn’t mind one bit. When we were finished I fell in love with my room all over again.

  Chapter 27

  Later that afternoon I went to the garage and upstairs to the workout room. Jordan was just finishing his run on the treadmill. I sat down on one of the weight machines and watched him as he wiped sweat from his face with a towel.

  “Can I ask you a question?”

  “Yeah,” Jordan said as he stepped down from the treadmill and took a seat at another weight-lifting machine, which was next to me.

  “When the results came back and they told you that I was your daughter, why did you come for me? Why didn’t you just let a judge sign me over to the group home permanently and leave me there?”

  “Sweetie, when I learned that you were my baby there was no question in my mind as to what my next step would be. I couldn’t turn my back on you. You are my responsibility.” Jordan paused for a moment and then placed his hand over mine.

  “I feel cheated, Keysha. I’ve been cheated out of watching you enter the world, cheated out of your first steps and your first birthday. My heart is hurting about this in ways that are unimaginable. Trust me, had I known about you, believe me when I say that life for you would have been very different.” I swallowed hard because my next question was a real tough one to ask. I glanced down at the floor.

  “Do you—” My words got trapped in my throat. “I mean—what I’m trying to ask is, even though all this crazy stuff is going on, do you think you’ll ever be able to love me?” Jordan got up from his seat and kneeled down before me.

  “Look at me. Look into my eyes,” he said. “I don’t want you to ever think for one minute that I don’t love you or that I will stop loving you.”

  “But I’ve screwed up so badly. I didn’t mean to but somehow everything just went crazy,” I said. I was trying to tell him how sorry I was for causing so much drama.

  “You are my daughter and nothing on this earth will ever change that or the way I feel about you. Do you understand?”

  “But what if we don’t get a chance to really get to know each other?” I asked nervously. My worst fear was that I’d be convicted and end up in prison. “I mean, this entire drug thing doesn’t make me feel good at all.”

  “This family is going to get through this and no matter what happens, I’m going to be there for you.” I don’t know why his words went directly to my heart but they did. I leaned forward, rested my head on his shoulders and hugged him.

  “I love you, Daddy,” I said.

  “I love you, too,” he answered, and hearing him say those words to me made me feel more loved and cared for than I ever had before.

  READING GUIDE

  QUESTIONS

  1) What does Keysha want the most?

  2) What are Keysha’s flaws and how do you think she got them?

  3) What are Keysha’s strengths?

  4) Is Keysha a leader or a follower?

  5) What is Toya’s motivation for trying to pressure Keysha to consider dropping out of school?

  6) Why does Keysha still care about her mother, Justine, even after she’s left her in a desperate situation?

  7) While in the group home, Keysha hears stories from teen kids who were homeless and living on the streets. Discuss what you think it would be like to live on the street without food, shelter or someone to love you.

  8) Discuss why you think Mike wanted to be vi
ewed as a hard-core gangster as opposed to a clean-cut young man.

  9) Discuss how and why Liz was able to connect with Keysha and get her to trust her.

  10) Why do you think Jordan is willing to risk everything for a daughter he didn’t know he had?

  TEXT ME LIST

  Favorite female artist: Alicia Keys

  Favorite female group: Pussycat Dolls

  Favorite female rapper: Missy Elliott

  Favorite young female actress: Julia Stiles

  Favorite Teen Movie: Take the Lead

  Favorite Song on my iPod by a female artist: Hips Don’t Lie by Shakira

  Favorite female track and field athlete: Florence Griffith Joyner

  Favorite male artist: Usher

  Favorite male rapper: Yung Joc

  Favorite young male actor: Mark Wahlberg

  Favorite guy movie: Four Brothers

  Favorite male athlete: Muhammad Ali (the greatest of all time)

  Favorite Song on my iPod by a male artist: Justin Timberlake (SexyBack)

  Favorite online site I’m hooked on for the moment: www.myspace.com/earlsewell

  Most interesting and informative Web site: www.americaslibrary.gov

  Favorite cartoon: The Simpsons

  Favorite food: Banana Pudding

  Favorite football team: Da Chicago Bears

  Favorite basketball team: Da Bulls

  Favorite baseball team: Da White Sox

  Favorite season: The Fall

  Favorite city to visit: Miami, FL

  Favorite romantic DVD: The Piano

  Keysha’s Drama

  ISBN: 978-1-4268-0099-3

  Copyright © 2007 by Earl Sewell

  All rights reserved. The reproduction, transmission or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without written permission. For permission please contact Kimani Press, Editorial Office, 233 Broadway, New York, NY 10279 U.S.A.