GWEH (Go Away)

6. Go Suck Yuh Mada

"Are you going to wait on them, or you a go and come back?" I asked Moni.

Monica aka Moni is one of my regular customers. She usually comes for me to modify her clothing whenever she has a special event and doesn't want to look like everyone else. This time, she brought a pair of jeans pants, which she had bought downtown, and a yellow jacket that she had bought online. She asked me to take up the pants to fit her like gloves, and she brought gold-stimulated pearls for me to add design to the otherwise plain clothing. She had told me that she would wear the jacket open with the pearl and sequence bra I made for her months prior.

I remember that job well since I put days into the design and was sad to see it go, but after people saw her wearing it at parties, I got some more customers with unique requests, like the seashell-inspired bra.

"Mi will come back. Mi affi go link mi man."

"Martin came back from the cruise ship already?" I asked because her baby's father works on a cruise and is usually gone for weeks and even months. What is more interesting is that just recently, I heard her say he had gone back to sea.

"No."

"Oh," I said, realizing what that meant. Bun fi days.

Martin seems to be a good youth, but let me mind my own business. I'm a child, after all, and grown folks affair.

"How yuh face set suh? Tammy, just open your mouth and say what yuh have to say," Moni said, a little heated. By her tone, I knew she had figured out what I was thinking.

"Nothing, go and come back then nuh." When it's not my mouth getting me into problems, it's my face. My face never fails to give way, whatever I think.

Moni's phone rang, and she accepted the call while I tuned her out. I began setting up my sewing machine. I found the four threads that would blend with the fabrics. Then I began searching for my glue gun, but then I recalled that it was on my desk, where I had last used it.

Today, I am working on the tiny varender since the inside is too hot.

"How much it ago cost?" I heard Moni ask and I looked up to see that she was no longer on the phone.

"If you want me to have patterns in the pants too, it's going to be forty-five," I replied, upping the cost because my time is precious, and I need to start saving for rainy days.

"So much last time it was 2500."

"Yeah, that's because last time it was a simple design; the one I have in mind is going to be even better. You can give me twenty-five if it is another simple design you want," I baited.

Moni hissed her teeth. "Do the 45 one, after me nuh want to look regular fi mi round robin," she said just like I knew she would. Moni loves attention so I  knew she would have paid extra to be the center of attention. To be honest, it should cost her more, but for the mean time, I am going to stay modest.

She paid half of the money and left, promising to pick up her clothing later in the evening. I had some more stuff to sew, like graduation gowns and tunics, but those are not due until a little over two weeks from now. So, I started on Moni's fashion statement first, which took me a few hours. When I finished, I took pictures since I liked how the jeans and jacket turned out. I could already see that they would go well with her pearl bra.

After that, I took another cold shower for the second time today. It was about one in the afternoon, and I felt like I was in a sauna even though I was on the tiny varender. You can just imagine how hot the inside is. Both me and mommy's fans quit working simultaneously, so I'll need to purchase a replacement using the funds from Moni's job to make up. See what I mean? I don't even have the money yet, and it is finished.

I just want to have enough to be comfortable and stop living from arm to mouth. Anything else is extra Lord.

I hydrated my skin and added deodorant, then got dressed. I even went as far as to put on some power on my chest. Then I made some cornflakes and milk because there was no way I was lighting the stove to cook in this heat.

When I finished, I resumed sewing, working on the first of the two graduation gowns. It was simple. Easy money, but it did not allow for creativity, so I was not too eager to begin it. But hey, money is money.

I had just finished the second gown when Moni came with a neck full of hickeys as if attacked by a swarm of bees. I bit my tongue and showed her the items, allowing her to change inside my bathroom.

"Rayyy! Them dead now," she said, coming out of the bathroom in the pants and jacket with no top inside. " Mi bad seamstress, you out done yourself. Thank you!"

I nodded my head, agreeing with her, admiring my handiwork. Honestly, the suit looked good on her and is not fully accessorized. She looked expensive, but nobody could tell it was the regular downtown cheap and clean that I upgraded to this masterpiece.

"It doesn't even need the bra or a top. You know what? I am going to wear titty patches instead," Moni revealed.

"No, why?" I ask, shocked, because I added the extra designs with the bra in mind. It's supposed to complement the outfit.

"You nuh see say the clothes look fabulous by itself it nuh need nothing else, plus a titty patch a wear," Moni said.

I wanted to say it would make her look cheap and regular, so there was no point in paying me to modify the clothing only for her to dress it down like a street walker. But you know me—a coward. Once again, I bite my tongue and collect my money. She tipped me an extra five bills.

I had one tunic to sew, but I sat too long for one day, so I put that off until tomorrow. I started packing up my tools when Johncrow dragged Nieko and came to drop him at my foot. He was smiling from ear to ear.

I rolled my eyes, directed my attention back to what I was doing, and started to haste up my action, and I heard him hissing his teeth. I look back up to see him screwing up his face.

"A so you a treat man?"

"Excuse me?"

"Aht, look a one pant mi bring fi yuh take up."

"Ok, put it down, and I will do it tomorrow."

"Tonight, I want it for tonight," he said.

"Sorry, I am finished for the day. Maybe check—"

"Look, just do it for me. Mi will pay you double," he said, showing me five hundred.

"Maybe include a tip, and I would consider it. Otherwise, I'm going to study," I said, putting my hands on my side in akimbo.

"Babes, you're not easy," Neiko smiled, showing me his dimple, and then he took out another five hundred dollar bill.

"Okay, so how much do you want me to take up?" I said, reaching for his money and the pants.

"I was hoping you would invite me inside so I could put it on, and you decide how much to take up," he said with a genial smile. I knew what he wanted all along. As if it was not enough that people were already spreading rumors that Nieko and I were in dealing. I would be mad to invite him into my mother's house.

"Not a chance...keep your money," I said, taking up my packed tools and entering the apartment, shutting the door behind me.

"Tammy!"

I opened the door partially and looked at him.

"Just take up the pants fi mi nuh. take up about an inch or so," He said.

"Shop lock. Make Walter do it," I said. Walter is a well-known tailor in our neighborhood.

"Bae yuh nah fi a gwaan so enuh."

"Tammy, not bae, and no means no."

"Alright, look, yah. You a come to the party later with me?"

I hissed my teeth and closed the door.

"This yah bloodclaat fat gyal yah nuh have no manners enuh!"

"Go suck yuh mada!" I yelled. I was only being brave because I had a closed door between me and him.

(1447 Words)