Hidden Valley (D. SWING)

IV. Seeking

Javon screams, "We all splitting into teams, I want Mike!"

I look around assuming that me and Dalvin will be on teams but he got in trouble earlier for wasting food. Apparently, he's still sitting at the table according to his brothers. This means I'm probably not going to play. "Cynthia!" I look up at Derek. "You playing?"

"I don't think so. Dalvin's not her–"

Don leans forward and looks at me as Derek kisses his teeth. "It's other people to partner with besides Dalvin. I don't have a partner yet, neither does Johnny, Ezekiel, Don, or Antoine." Derek's words don't sound tempting at all. Instead, they make me shake my head more than before. Now I really don't want to play. Ezekiel is always too loud, Johnny smells like grass and eggs, Antoine is mean, and Don makes my heart blow up every time I see him.

I shake my head.

"Cynthia, come be my partner!" Don calls out from where he stands. The church's acoustics always make everything we say seem much louder. "Please?" I sigh and get out of my seat. The things we do for love... I'm about to do a scavenger hunt in my church dress. If Dalvin was here, none of this would be happening.

Sighing for a second time, I softly scratch my part between my knocker decorated ponytails. Don already said that he likes my hair so all I have to say is that I feel extra special on this fine Tuesday. I'm happy it's Tuesday because if it were Thursday or Sunday, the DeGrates would be in practice while Javon, Derek, and everybody else would be in the youth service. Then, I'd be alone like I am every Sunday... cleaning the pews with Sister Edna.

"I can't run today," I remind Don as I signal to my attire.

He shrugs my words off. "Slow and steady always wins. That's what my Daddy tells me."

The DeGrate brothers must really look up to their Daddy. I can see why too. The Reverend is probably the coolest man in the room, just like any other reverend. You know, once your're the leader of the church a lot of people look up to you. I never had any talks with Reverend Don but from where I sit, he looks like the man. Don, Derek, and Dalvin always make him sound like a king. You never go one day around them without hearing one of them say, My Daddy always says... That's what my Daddy tells me... My Daddy had said. They look up to the reverend. To me and Javon, the feeling isn't known. I can't really relate on that fatherly bond.

We all split up. Don takes me up stairs to attic. The good thing about this whole thing is that Don knows this church better than any of the other boys. I'm confident that we can win this scavenger hunt. All we have to do is find Kenneth's left shoe and we are all set. Whatever tag team wins gets to make the boss decisions of the group for the rest of the week. With this kind of power, I can have these frog horns slaving for Dalvin as much as possible.

I'm getting tired of how they treat him like a runt until the right moment. It's not fair, you know? It's too much like how Javon treats me and I don't like it. No matter how long Big Mama says the stage is gonna' last, I don't like any of it. I doubt Don would ever do this kind of thing to Dalvin. Whenever I'm around, he's super nice to him.

Don stands on his tippy toes looking at the top of the shelf. I stand a little bit away from him, swinging my arms. He turns to me and says, "Cynthia, you should climb up there..." While talking, he's still half looking on top of the shelf like his view will change and he'll suddenly see something. "I can't really see. It's way too tall."

I look at Don and I look down at my dress and good shoes. "Really?" I look down at my good shoes and dress, I look at Don.

He shrugs at my clothes. "I'll pick you up, come on." Without hesitation, he lifts me up. My hands run to hold my dress in place. Feeling my feet touch a stable platform of the riser. My feet touch base with the fake ground and I almost fall. "Be careful," Don says peeking over the edge to watch me. I look around with my eyes squinted. The lighting in here is not the best but for Don and the sake of beating all of the boys to get Dalvin some kind of upper hand, I'll stick out this sticky wicket I'm in. "You see anything?"