Chelsea Nelthropp
*Ok guys. So this is a short story based on the characters from the book "Miguel Street" by vs naipaul. If you haven't read the book, some of the characters may not make much sense, but try reading it anyhow! Enjoy*
When Alexis moved into our street, every man and boy couldn’t keep they eyes off of she. The moment she and she mother move into our street, everyone was star-struck, staring at the beauteous thing that flowed instead of walked into her new home with such beauty you never wanted to look away. Hat tell me a few days after they move in that the girl’s father died and that they used to be rich rich but the father gambled and left them barely any money. “It’s a shame yuh know? Such a ting of beauty be left with no fatha and no money” said Hat.
The next day Boyee, Errol, and I decide to go spy on the girl. We get real real close to she house and go hide behind the bougainvillea bush pushing each other over fighting over the best view of she house. Then all of a sudden we hear soft laughter coming from behind we backs. We turn around real real slow to see the beauteous girl looking like heaven standing behind us. “Hey there” she say real real sweet. Boyee and Errol already ran away when they heard she coming, but I was so mesmerized by her I didn’t notice. We just stare at each other, until I remember she already had said hi and that I needed to respond. “Oh ey uh….i was just getting meh mama some bougainvillea flowers behind this here bush..uhm…” I say, sounding real real stupid. She just laugh and say “Nice to meet you, I’m Alexis.”
Day after day go by, and Alexis and I was inseparable. She decide to call me “bouga” because of the bougavillea flowers I was picking in she yard when we met. Boyee and Errol got real real jealous of me. They say real mean like “Wah she like you for? You ain’t even as tall as she.” It was true, I was about an inch shorter than her, but she didn’t seem to mind. I took Alexis all around Miguel Street, introducing her to my Uncle Backhu and to Mrs.Hereria even though I don’t like her very much. She even got to meet mama who looked at she beauteous self and was almost as mesmerized as me. “Well boy,” she say to me, “this be the prettiest friend you’ve ever had.”
Hat and all the men was proud proud of me for being so close with such a pretty girl. They all make fun and jokes that she Beauty and I the beast, but I didn’t mind. I knew that all the men was proud of me for befriending such a beauty. Even though Hat was proud like everyone else, he still warn me to be real cautious about she. “You better watch out” Hat warned, “its them pretty girls that break men’s hearts the quickest. Don’t get too attached to she because girls like that don’t stay on islands like this for long.”
One day Alexis and I was out on the sidewalk across the street from where Popo sat with his rum. We just lay there for the longest time looking up at the blue blue sky, trying to make things of the clouds. Her light light skin look even lighter in the sun, and I couldn’t help but think how dark I was compared to her. She look at me with her blue eyes that were so observant you’d think she could read your thoughts. “Yuh wanna come meet my motha? You can come to dinner tonight. I’ll tell she that you coming!” said Alexis real excited like, tapping her fingers on the pavement as was her habit when she was excited. Alexis had talked proper like a queen till she come to Miguel Street. When she start being friends with Boyee, Errol and I she get talking like us. I like the way she try to talk like us, even though you could tell it didn’t come natural like it did for the rest of us. “Sure, I’ll come to dinner” I say bringing my mind back to the present, looking up at the clouds to see one shaped like a heart broke into two.
I went home that night and got dressed like a true gentleman. I get my dark skin to shine by cleaning it real real nice, and my mother even let me wear one of the few nice shirts that had been left from my father. She stare at me when I finish getting dressed and say real real quiet “You look just like you father.” Her dark eyes looked at me kinda proud, kinda sad, but I had no time to bother with my mother, I would be late for dinner. I kiss she on her dark cheek and walk out the house as fast as I could without running. Boyee and Errol heard about my dinner and were sitting outside of me house, waiting for me to come outside. “You ready to meet her mother? I hear she a real proud lady. She might not like a boy like you going after she daughter.” Mocked Errol, standing as tall as he can trying to remind me that I still shorter than Alexis. Boyee just smile at me dumbly, putting an arm through mine as if he escorting me to a ball. When we reach Alexis’s yellow house, Boyee and Errol both bow as if they princes or something, and run off. I knock on they door and Alexis opens it, looking pretty as a picture. She looks at me real nice as she pink lips curl into a smile, then she says politely “Please come in!”
