Keeping Up With the Wind: A 'Burban Tale by Suleyma Moon

16.

Whisper woke me up around 11:30 the next morning. "You were giggling in your sleep," she teased. "I hope it was somebody your own age this time."

            She was referring to a dream I'd had once in the eighth grade. I couldn't ever remember the dream, exactly, but allegedly I kept calling out Li'l Jay's name.

            I smiled drowsily up at her. "Go to hell," and then I went back to sleep. She woke me up again shortly after noon.

            "Get up. You're wasting my last day here and the movers are on their way.

            This time I got up. After going home to get dressed, I came back to the sound of Whisper's "Hey, hey! Be careful with that!" and "No, no! That goes with us!" Finally, after about four hours of this, she said, "Ok. Thanks guys. You remember how to get there, right? We're not leaving until tomorrow." I had to laugh. After closing the door, she flopped down on the floor beside me. "You know, New York isn't that far away. I can come back and visit sometimes."

            I looked at her. "How about next weekend?" She laughed, but didn't answer. I laughed too, even though I wasn't joking. "Aren't you worried about living there?"

            "No, not really. Don't forget, that's where we used to live. And all of my family is still there. Everybody lives in the South Bronx. We got that whole block on lock, and besides," she smiled confidently, "nobody would mess with me. My family is huge, and all of my cousins are mean as hell."

            "Well, maybe I'll come visit you, then." I grinned. "Does your one cousin that I had a crush on still live up there?"

            "Yeah, he liked you, too." She was suddenly excited. "It took years for him to stop asking about you. You guys can all come. If you...ever see Shadow again, will you bring him?"

            "Of course," I answered, but I knew that he'd never be able to come with me. I also knew that I would probably never get to go, myself.  

            "...Faith," she said, cutting into my thoughts.

            "What?"

            "I have to go say goodbye to Faith. Blaze said she's too sick to come tonight."

            "Oh." I stood up and stretched. "Then let's go."

            We walked together, one last time, to the twins' house. When we got there, Blaze opened the door. "Hey...!" I knew right away he was high.

            "Hey." From her expression, I could tell that Whisper noticed it, too. "Where's Faith?" Her voice always got even wispier when she was talking to Blaze.

            "Hospital." Blaze swayed a little and caught himself on the doorframe.

            Whisper's face fell. "Well, let's go see her."

             "Can't"

            "Why not?" she demanded.

            "Because." Blaze stepped back to let us in, but Whisper stayed where she was. "She's just a little sick." He pinched his fingers together.

            I went inside and sat down. Whisper reluctantly followed. Blaze sat down in a chair across from me and looked at the coffee table that separated us. Spotting what I had begun to reach for, he sat forwards and tried to grab it first.