A Necessary Struggle: Fall Semester

Part 55

     Everyone in the living room that wasn't Mr. Monroe retreated outside. Safiya grabbed her book from her purse and sought refuge on the front porch. The Adirondack chair wasn't the most comfortable thing for her back but it was better than being inside while Harmony and her parents partook in a loud discussion. Safiya was especially happy to be outside. The raised voices made the hair on her neck rise and her heart race.

    Early that morning before they piled into Harmony's jeep, Safiya called her mom. Her throat turned dry when she uttered Mamá over the phone, remembering in just one month that was what she was going to be; someone's mom. That one thought threw her day off kilter. She missed a step coming downstairs that morning and if it wasn't for Alyssa standing in front of her she would've planted her face on the floor. On the way to the Houston, Harmony had to pull over so she could spew everything from her gut in the trashcan at a truck stop. She was nervous. Her nerves had been as shaky as the ocean since three days ago, the first day of her eighth month.

     "Homework on the holiday." Cairo handed her a brown bottle. She looked at it conspicuously so he said, "Root beer."

      Safiya took the bottle from him feeling the cold glass chill her hand, "Trying to finish this before she comes." She waved the book at him as he sat in the chair next to her.

      Cairo rose the bottle to his mouth, "What about the father?"

      "What about him." She kept the book open sitting it on her stomach. "He's a non-factor."

       The conversation died as they drank their root beer watching Alyssa and Samuel toss the football in the front yard. Cars were crammed along the curbs of all the homes beside the Monroe's. The Monroe's had a three-car garage allowing everyone enough space to park their vehicles in the driveway.

        Cairo sat his empty bottle on the porch floor that Safiya doubted its validity of being wood since it gleamed like glass. "I'll do it." His voice was clear.

       "Do what?" She tried to suppress a burp but all she did was make it sound like the pop of a bottle cap.

      "Lamaze. Hold your hand during labor." He turned to her, looked at her stomach then back at her. "Be a father figure."

      She exhaled as the burn in her eyes warned her of coming tears. "Thanks, Ro."

       He nodded then refocused his attention back on the front yard, "How is she?" He jutted his chin toward Alyssa as she jumped in the air for the ball that was a foot over her head.

      "Better." Safiya spat out before raising the bottle to her lips again.

******

        Alyssa took her eyes off the football as it hung over her head. Instead, she saw the clouds floating in the sky like giant clumps of marshmallows. She also heard something strange as she fell back on the manicured lawn like a sack of flour. Laughter. The corners of her mouth stretched to her cheek. She wrapped her arms around her stomach feeling the muscles contracting.

      "You suck." Samuel collapsed on the grass next to her. He flipped the ball in the air catching it before it thrashed into his chest. "Don't quit your day job."

       "Too late for that." Alyssa held her rosy cheeks trying to subdue the pain. The muscles seventeen muscles it took to smile have been poorly worked for a couple of months. She was aware of that. "I'm unemployed remember."

      "Sorry!" Samuel rolled to his side with concern laden on his face. "I didn't mean to go there."

      Alyssa's laughter died and her hands dropped to the grass. The tree overhead attracted her eyes; the golden leaves that were seconds away from tumbling to the ground and the branches that didn't quiver during a passing breeze. She combed her boney finger in the grass so deep she felt dirt clump under her nails. "I had this giant tree in my backyard—" She felt Samuel lay back down. "Even though I had a room design with all the things I liked...I felt at home in that tree. Sitting on the branch, hidden by the leaves with just by book, floating above the world...I felt safe."

     "How do you feel now?" Samuel quietly asked.

     "Not safe." She tugged at the grass blinking her eyes as a ray of sun snuck past a cloud. "But this morning when I woke up..." One corner of her mouth rose up. "I didn't wish I was dead."

       A slam of a car door snatched their attention. The Dodge pickup parked by The Monroe's curb made Alyssa stand to her feet. She brushed died leaves off her black shorts. "Be nice." Samuel pleaded, bumping her with his shoulder. Alyssa waited for him to walk around the truck. She thought about what to say but when he came up to the sidewalk with nothing in hand all she could say was, "Wes, You weren't invited."