Mr. Tan

Chapter 5: Summer Of Love

 It was now July the 6th, a day after my 14th birthday. I was a tad bit taller and my boobs came in a little more. A girl named Latoya Fischer that was the same age as me, that I recently befriended taught me how to hot comb my hair and keep it straight. She was short, chubby with thick hair she always wore in cornrows that came to her shoulders. She wore thick red framed glasses and had coco brown skin, almost like my mamma's. She moved into the house across the street from me a month ago along with her recently divorced mamma Natalie and her 20 year old openly gay brother Rodney. We were polar opposites, were I was pathologically shy and usually quiet, she was sassy and outspoken. Her mom was tall, thin and coco brown like her. I think she was a janitor who cleaned office buildings downtown. She wore a light blue work shirt with her last name patch sewed on the right side. She worked from Monday to Saturday and while she was at work Latoya's older brother Rodney was in charge. It felt good to get out of my house away from my mamma's constant drinking and crying spells and Clyde's verbal abuse. Rodney was a huge hulk of a man, maybe "6'5". He was built like a mountain and had huge muscles. He had caramel colored skin and wore his hair in a small but curly and neat afro with short sideburns. His eyes were brown and as expressive as a puppy's. His face was always clean shaven and his voice was kind of soft yet strong at the same time. When he was in charge, he usually let us do whatever we wanted as long as we weren't too loud while he lifted weights in the basement or watched boxing on TV. Most of the time we were upstairs in her room dancing and singing along to pop music, or watching the small TV in her room that was connected to a VCR. Sometimes Rodney would give us money and we'd go to the corner store to play the arcade games and buy junk. It felt so good to have a friend, someone that I could forget my troubles with for a few hours. Clyde, I could never bring myself to call him dad, he recently got a job painting houses for a middle aged white man named Mr. Edwards who owned some property on the other side of town, the side of town where white folks lived. He worked Monday through Thursday from 10:00 in the morning to 5:00 in the afternoon. Mr. Edwards paid him in cash. So at lease that meant he'd be gone for awhile so I wouldn't have to hear him insulting me or mamma. While he was gone, mamma either spent all day watching soap operas and sitcoms while she drank or took long naps. When I wasn't hanging out with Latoya I picked up most of the slack around the house by doing laundry or trying my best to cook or taking the occasional trips to the corner store, usually to buy mom some cigarettes or a loaf of bread so we can have sandwiches. We couldn't afford an air conditioner so during the summer we relied on box fans and keeping windows open. Most of the time it was too hot in the house to cook anyway. So I guess things were starting to look up.....I guess.

 I didn't have much of a birthday celebration, so you can guess how surprised I was when my mamma gave me 40 dollars to spend however I like. I was ecstatic so I decided to walk the two mile trip to Fancie's Records to buy some CD's. I wanted to treat Latoya to something, too. Fancie's Records is a mom and pop owned record store that is owned by an older woman in mid 50's named Francine Wilcox. Mrs. Wilcox was a light skinned black woman with a head full of curly honey blonde hair piled high on top of her head and always decorated with a elaborate and colorful silk scarf. She was a tiny woman with long press on nails polished red and each finger adorned with bejeweled rings and a big voice. She always wore bright colored blouses or polo shirts with the collar turned up and long skirts. She spoke with a mild French accent. Mrs. Wilcox and her 21 year old niece Lisa took turns operating the only check out counter in the store. Lisa was a college student and a well known stoner. Anyway, I took it upon myself to change out of my sweaty over sized yellow t-shirt and green panties that I slept in and took a shower. Afterwards I combed my now straightened hair into a ponytail, put on a black and gold basketball jersey and some faded blue denim cut off shorts that seemed clean and purple flip flops. I tucked the 40 bucks my mamma gave me into my shorts pocket and headed out into the mid morning sun. I went across the street to give my new best friend a wake up call. When I rang the bell three times her older brother Rodney answered the door. It was 11:30 in the morning and Rodney answered the door shirtless and in a pair of black pajama bottoms. One side of his afro was smashed in to the side of his head, so I assume I must have woke him up. He answered the door rubbing his eyes and yawning. He looked at me with a half smile shielding his eyes with his huge hand from the mid morning sun.