Who We Are.

A Ride

A few minutes after I woke up, I was fully energized and ready to go. I was chatty and everyone was laughing. This is one of the good moments that rarely happens in my family. After another chunk of laughter, a question hits me. "Mom?" I ask. I can see her head bobble, which means I can go ahead and ask my question. "What did you tell Miracle's and my old school?" She turns around, ready to explain the whole thing. "Actually, Mr. Webber threw you and Miracle out after he heard of the accident. He knew we couldn't pay rent, school fees, and hospital fees, and honestly, he was right. He let you guys go." I was in shock. I thought Mr. Webber was my friend. How did she say that so carefree? I bet she can see the shock on my face so she adds, "But I found a new school for you and Miracle in Dunterham. It's beautiful!" When did Mom go to Dunterham recently?  "Yours and Miracle's stuff is in the back. It came in a few days ago." She adds reclining in her chair, then she glances at the clock on the dashboard. "Chimamanda and Miracle, it's 10 o'clock. Go to bed." she scolds. We readjust our positions, trying to show that we were obeying. I think in my head about how I never go to be around 10, but near 2. Whatever, this will be a long ride anyways. I drift off - thinking about how I won't fit in my new school and how I will be the weird black kid in a wheelchair. Luckily and unluckily for me, coronavirus will fix all my plans about being bullied.

Somewhere along the way, my dad and mom switch off behind the wheel and we arrive at our new neighborhood. They have a fountain in front of every home and I keep wondering and pointing at ones that I hope are ours. We finally reach the one, it looks close to our old apartment. I like it a little bit better. It also has a fountain out front and a sign that reads "SUNSHINE ESTATE" in all caps. I guess this was our new home.

We don't move our luggage inside. We all grab some thin masks from Walmart and my dad runs out of the car to talk to a man with thick black hair and sharp brown eyes. He's also black and has a button-down shirt on - just like Mr. Carmen. Instead, he wore Nike Sneakers. I like him - I hope he's our landlord. After a few moments of sitting in the car, my dad comes running back to us.

"He gave us the keys. Let's head in." My mom picks up Miracle and I grab a bag of what we need for maybe tonight. It's about 12 A.M and I need to brush my teeth and maybe take a shower - I was as sweaty and greasy as a pig. Our car doesn't have any air conditioning - I broke it last summer and we were never bothered enough to get it fixed. I walk inside - amazed. The lobby's lights were on and it looked so clean and white. Miracle would love this - they had a spot for lounging. There were elevators and a map of the floors. Since we decided to unpack tomorrow, it was easy to get in. We lived on the 6th floor and since I was in a wheelchair, people gave even more strange looks. We were probably the only black people in this complex and the wheelchair added about 15 more looks to the ones we already had. People snickered and scooted away - like we were in some high school movie. I could barely move my neck and I see looks in every direction. I just wanted to die on the spot. 

A small boy came up to me and touch my wheelchair. He had bright blue eyes and he looked like he was about 6. Maybe his parents would come and pick him up. Any second now. It didn't happen. My mom looked taken aback and dropped the grips of my chair. He stuck his finger in his nose then put it under the wheel. Does he not know how this worked?

"Um, excuse me? Could you please move?" I asked - pretty annoyed. The little kid gave that look. The look like he wanted to kill me - a cocky grin and began to stand up. Then, very slowly, he reached for his booger finger and yanked. Yanked so hard, I heard a few cracks, then a howl.

"Mom! This monster attacked me!" He began to cry. His tears and howls filled up the whole lobby and in a matter of seconds, everyone in the room was looking at us. This little devil. He will not ruin my chances of finally fitting in. He held up his booger covered hand that was now very red and I could practically see it swelling in front of my eyes. I tried to give my mom a look, because I know she was here the whole time, but I couldn't move my head. "Why did I have to ride my bike on the road?" A lady in bright green stilettos and a tight green dress that looked like it was on the edge of bursting walked up to me - hand in hand with a man with a brown hat and wearing a business suit. Her bright green hat fell off her head and a fat man that was basically running behind her picked it up and tried to keep his pace. She stuck her pale face into mine and said, "Why'd you run over my little boy's finger?" Her breath smelled like Extra's Cool Peppermint flavored gum.

"This little bloodsucker that you call your son, stuck his finger under my wheel!" I spat back - probably spitting in her face about four times. It was time for me to stand up to rude people but like Carmen and this new lady. I knew coming here was a mistake - back in Redwood, you would meet about 3 people who just naturally wanted to cause trouble per month. Here, we had a whole list of people just waiting to walk all over us. I was about to make some enemies and I'm not going to hold back when it comes to dealling with them.