I'll wait for you

Chapter 1: The Block Party

It was a hot and sunny day and Jasmine was sitting on her front porch eating her favorite ice cream, cookies and cream, along with four chocolate chip cookies and whipped cream. It was Saturday and her neighborhood was packed full of people for the annual neighborhood block party. You could hear the loud music playing from blocks away and smell the BBQ in the air. Kids were playing and dancing everywhere while the adults were playing cards and dominoes. Everyone was having a good time.

Jasmine's dad, Jackie, and his friends were on the sidewalk in front of their home shooting dice. Jackie was having a good day. Today, he was on a roll and couldn't miss. He was up seven hundred dollars. Jasmine's mother, Michelle, hated when Jackie would gamble because he would normally lose all of their money.

Michelle pulled up to their driveway from work and wasn't happy with what she saw. Jasmine could see the frustration all over her mom's face. She quickly put down her bowl of ice cream and ran to her mother's car to cheer her up and put a smile on her face. She gave her mom a hug and asked, "Mama, how was your day?"

Michelle looked at Jasmine and embraced her with a hug. "It was okay, baby, but how long has your dad been outside gambling?" Jasmine shrugged her shoulders and said, "A couple of hours, I guess." Michelle raised her eyebrows and yelled out, "REALLY, Jackie!" Jackie was still shooting dice and wasn't paying attention to his wife.

Michelle waited a couple of seconds to see if her husband would respond, but he didn't. So Michelle yelled again, "JACKIE DESHAWN LIVINGS!" That caught his attention. He knew his wife meant business when she yelled his whole name.

Jackie picked up his money and put the dice down. He told his friends he would be right back. Jackie walked up to Jasmine first and whispered, "Daddy did good today," and winked at her before giving her twenty dollars. Jasmine smiled and walked back to her ice cream, twenty dollars richer.

Jackie walked up to his wife trying to give her a hug, but he could tell she wasn't happy with him. Jackie stated cheerfully, "Baby, what's wrong? Why are you so upset?" Michelle, feeling exhausted, stated, "Jackie, you said that you were going to stop gambling."

Jackie ignored his wife's concerned demeanor. He gave her a kiss on the cheek and said, "How was work, baby?" Michelle angrily yelled, "Don't baby me and ask how was work! Jackie, you said you were done gambling!"

Jackie laughed and sarcastically stated, "Baby, I said I was done losing!" With a huge smile on his face showing all his teeth, he rubbed his hands together and said, "I hit good today, baby!" Michelle looked at Jackie and rolled her eyes. Jackie could tell she wasn't trying to hear any of that junk he was telling her.

Jasmine sat on her front porch listening to her parents. She hated to hear her parents fight, but she understood why her mom would get upset when her dad would gamble. He had a bad habit of losing all his money. In the past six months, he lost half of the rent money. His gambling caused her mom to work overtime to pay the rent and other bills around the house.

Michelle was tired of coming home to no lights, no water, and seeing eviction notices on their front door. She was on her last straw and wasn't going to keep dealing with Jackie's games. Jackie knew his wife was fed up, so he went into his pocket and pulled out five hundred dollars. "Here, baby, this is enough for the water and lights this month, and I'll give you my half of the rent money tomorrow. You can keep the change, put some gas in your car, and get yourself a bottle of wine." Jackie kissed his wife on the forehead.

Michelle sternly stated, "Jackie!" She looked him in his eyes and said, "Thank you, but I still want you to stop gambling. Yeah, you probably did well today, but what about the next time you have a bad day? You won't be able to fix the issue. We are so behind in debt, we can't afford for you to have another bad day. I'm tired of working all these extra hours at work just to barely make ends meet."

Jackie looked at his wife and said, "Okay, baby, I understand. Things are going to change and get better. You've got to trust me!" Michelle dropped her head in frustration and said, "Okay, Jackie," before walking into their house.

Jackie returned to his friends to continue playing a game of craps. Meanwhile, Jasmine decided to walk up the street to visit her friend Keke to distract herself from her parents. Upon arriving, she found Keke and Shay practicing the latest dance moves from their favorite R&B group.

Jasmine was not a good dancer but enjoyed watching Keke and Shay. Keke playfully teased, "My girl with two left feet, what have you been doing?" Shay quickly defended Jasmine, "Don't do my friend like that, Keke." Jasmine laughed it off and replied, "I don't care that I can't dance. I love listening to music and eating ice cream outside."

Keke then jokingly said, "Girl, you can't be a supermodel eating ice cream every day!" Jasmine rebutted, "You want to bet? I love sitting on my front porch while enjoying music and eating ice cream. Besides, I'll burn it off helping you guys do these corny dances." She tried to spin on her toes but almost lost her balance.

Shay and Keke laughed and called her clumsy. Shay said, "You just proved that you can't dance." Jasmine laughed and admitted, "You might be right." Suddenly, their favorite song started playing from the DJ booth. The girls ran to the middle of the street to join the rest of the people at the block party. They danced and laughed while enjoying the music.