Quincy affirmed “You missed out on some crazy shit”
“A neighbor called the cops suspecting that the kids were up to no good”
Miriam, still in her work uniform [she managed to get a part time job at a nearby grocery store], decided to go inside to fix a plate to eat.
“That’s my daughter” Yvonne said to Faye “We managed to convince her to come to an outing.”
Inside, she decided to ask “What the hell? I hear the news?”
“Walking, then we see two cop cars behind us, blue lights flashing, sirens going off” Brandi said as she took a sip of punch.
“But they didn’t see Zach or Abe? They’ve seen us on our bikes, Even if they didn’t know the rest of you.”
Miriam was correct, in addition to Zach and Abe riding their bikes, They each had neighborhood friends that would be able to attest to their residing there. Not one to immediately jump to conclusions, she begin to throw out possible suggestions.
“I wonder if it’s the new neighbor that just moved in the house at the corner” Miriam asked. “Were yall in somebody’s yard?”
After everyone left, Yvonne begin to ask Miriam about how job hours and how it was affecting her school schedule.
She then asked her if Miriam was free this weekend? “Yes, sure am mom, and I also asked my boss if I could have my brother’s birthday off, to my surprise, he said yes and he didn’t fire me”. She said with a relief before going to take a shower and ditch the uniform for the night.
While Yvonne was drinking a hot tidy to simmer down Clarissa was in the process of recording her podcast.
[Good evening all, I hope you are all enjoying your Saturday night. I have an incident to talk to you about. I’ll keep it brief as it’s late and I have papers to grade. Anyway…….. my nephew came in for the weekend from college. He’s going to college in San Francisco right now and we have a family get together. My sisters, all of our kids, our husbands, you get the idea. After the kids ate, they decided that they didn’t feel like sitting around and listening to us adults talk. With that in mind, they decided to take a walk. My nephew, going on 19 yrs. old decided he would take them all. Within 15 minutes, we heard the doorbell ringing so my brother-in-law decided to answer the door. The kids were all back in the front yard with two cop cars in the yard. The reason? A neighbor called the cops due to them “looking suspicious”. Next, we began to ask things like “were they vandalizing property?” and “Were they in somebody’s yard?” No. The neighbor just said they were concerned about this large group. Needless to say, they were disappointed. With that being said…..I was glad that the officers were kind enough to allow them to prove the residence. We were glad that they all made it home, but things like this a reminder that no…racism isn’t gone. It’s not a thing of the past. Regardless of what people try to suggest. While glad that they returned home, the kids claim that the officers didn’t get rough with them. It is disappointing that one can be in their own neighborhood with their cousins and have the cops called on them. Now you might argue, “What if they really were criminals?”If you had seen them pass your house multiple times, perhaps that would make you curious, however these kids were gone for about 15 minutes before they were back in our front yard which tells me that they didn’t get far in the neighborhood beforehand. Even at that, 911 should be a last resort because too often, these encounters turn out to be deadly. 911 was for emergencies only and not be used for personal recreation. We were taught not to open the door for those who appeared to be up to something. The officer that spoke to us was polite and I do appreciate that he handled them as kids and not adults.]
The next morning, around 9:00 am, Abe decided to drive out to the beach. He picked up his cousins from Deja's house en route and took them to a gas station for soda and snacks. "So you working up there?" QJ asked
"Got a job on campus" Abe said as he took a sip of his Gold Peak Green Tea. Then he asked what kind of project Deja was working on?
"You know her" Aundrea said. "She always finds herself in something-right now it's a cookbook and a book about reconnecting with family. Guess you could say it's a bio. "
"It seems that I've missed out on a bit these past few months"
"Yeah" Malachi chimed in "Grandma's sister died and they all went down to Louisiana for the funeral."
"You know? Mom used to tell us about their adventures down there as children, and I got to meet our cousins in Long Beach. She's Grandma's niece right?"
"Yep" Junior responded "we didn't know she was out here until about a month ago. Me and Darius have become pretty tight since then"
"And I got to connect with a cousin in Baton Rouge via instant message" said Malachi "Mom won't let us have Facebook yet"
"I think second cousin, it's mom's cousin's daughter"
As he was driving, he received a text from Brandi.
They arrived to the beach where he was able to check his text.
Upon arriving to the beach and finding a spot on the pier to sit down, Abram resumed the text conversation with Brandi. He thought about hard about it. Thinking about the climate that the country was in, he responded by saying He would but neither of them were to wear anything that was too revealing a one piece. “Y’all not gonna have my ass in jail” he said. Additionally, he decided to screenshot the text. He then shared the news about the gathering to his brother and sister. Brandi’s plan was to have the teens get together for a night as have a way to meet guys.
“So who’s putting this together” Amina asked.
“A friend” Brandi said without disclosing too much information.
“Hell no, I told her me and you are having a girls night, teens only. The plan is we leave the house in jeans and evening attire but strip down when we get to the beach”
Amina shook her head as she went to the kitchen to get a can of soda. Being in the eighth grade she rarely went to parties. She had been invited before, however in the three years of Junior High she had only been to two. There was one dance party in the 7th grade and there was a banquet in the sixth grade for her volleyball team. Was she looking forward to the idea of a co-ed beach party? Yes. But she’s not what one would consider to be a whore and didn’t want to give off any impression indicating that she was.
Back at the beach, Abram received a phone call from his mom asking where he was. “Hello’?
“Good morning, where’d you go this morning?” He had breakfast and a cup of coffee near the pier. Having been awake for some time, he did not want to disturb anybody’s sleep, so he decided to take a drive to a coffees hop for some morning java and a breakfast sandwich.
After he ended the phone conversation, they took some time to look at the boats outside. “Yo look at that sail boat over there” Abram said, pointing out ahead.
“There’s a boat race later today” QJ said. “I'll ask mom if we can go later.” Around 10:00 am, they left. “Gotta get you kiddies home”.
After being dropped home, Deja unlocked the door to let the kids in.
After fixing a snack, QJ sat at the kitchen table with Deja and Abe to finish his snack before heading off to his room while Deja disclosed more of what had been going on.
Abram, being relatively new to having being away had already been coached on how to conduct himself, he could hear Phil talking now “no wild parties, no alcohol, I don’t need to hear about your ass being arrested”. Yvonne on the other had would say something along the lines of “We aren’t paying for you to act a fool. You know how many kids go away to college and have to move back home because they flunk out, they lose their scholarships, or they find that they can’t handle the stress”. There were speeches that he’d play in his head over and over. It was as if he had taken a voice recorder and planted it in his brain and the recorder would play any time he was tempted to go to the party down the street vs study for that history test. There was also the scholarship that he was blessed with that covered a portion of his tuition and the dorm. His parent’s paid for his meal plan on campus and went half on his books.
He returned home and put on a pair of shorts and a short sleeved button down and brushed his hair.
“Where’s Miriam?” He asked
“She’s at work. She’s got the evening off, she’s gonna go out with Brandi and Amina this evening.“ Yvonne said.
“Cool deal” he said as he poured himself a cup of Pepsi. As he turned on the TV, Zachariah walked in the living room.
Zach left momentarily and returned with a Captain America t shirt, a pair of blue jeans and a navy blue pair of Perry Ellis shoes before joining Abe to watch TV.
After getting up to make a bathroom run, the two of them headed out the door. “Mom, we’re out!” Zach said
“Be safe!” Yvonne said. “I’ll see you two later.”
They at lunch at the pier before watching the race. It was rare that they went out just the two of them. Zach generally did his own thing, he was busy with sports while Abe was kind of a homebody. If anything, college was a chance for Abe to come out of the shell that he was in.
They finished lunch in time to see the lining up of the boats admiring the designs, the sizes, the styles, etc. “That one over there is dope” Zach said. “I wish I knew someone with boats”
“Word is, our uncles back in Louisiana have boats and they go out to the water almost every weekend” Abe replied. “Some of these people have those boats decked out”
As the race began, they spotted Deja and the kids heading en route. Recognizing them, Zach made a gesture with his hand as to signal them to stand next to them. “Where’s uncle Quincy?” Abe asked.
“At home, he didn’t feel like coming” Deja scoffed.
“I’m looking for Juan” Malachi said “He’s supposed to be in one of the races”
“So there’s more than one?” Deja asked.
“Now you didn’t disclose this, are we going to be able to see him”
“Don’t worry, he’s in one of the earlier races”
“I can bring them home”, Abe interjected, “I’m leaving around four, me and Zach have to get ready for another outing this evening.”
They watched two races prior to the race that Juan was to appear in
“Killer ride, your buddy’s got” Abe said
“Your boy is getting smoked by that boat at the end” Zach said
They witnessed Juan coming in second. After the race ended, Deja decided she was going to head back home, “I’m releasing my cookbook in two weeks, FINALLY!!!!!” “See you later mom” Aundrea said. She paused for a moment to give Deja some time to get near the restaurants nearby before addressing Malachi.
It wasn’t that he had a crush, Malachi was just an affectionate person by nature. Always had been, and he really values his friends. At times, he’s not sure if they value him in the same way. Their friendship could be described as a “bromance”, but more than anything else, Juan just gets Malachi. Second would probably Carson. After the watched one more race, Juan bought them home, and said that he’s catch them later. The pair arrived home as Yvonne was preparing dinner.
“Wow” Abe said as he got up to go to his room. “I’ll be on my laptop for the next couple of hours”
“Good, gives me time to cook”
Zach followed shortly afterwards, to clarify the plan.
Abe paused for a minute and shook his head and said “I can’t believe that I’m going through with this. I’m the adult in the situation. Please be on your best behavior”
Meanwhile, Amina could be seen in her room with her lamp on reading a teen magazine when she heard a knock. “Come in!”, as Brandi opened the door.
Not realizing that their mom was listening to this conversation, they almost spilled the beans about what was going on. They hadn’t told their mother that there were boys at this outing. With no warning, she opened the door and asked plainly about the status of where they were going.
With that, Clarissa returned to the den. “This conversation isn’t over by the way. We will continue it later”
“Guess we need to watch what we talk about in this house. I just hope dad doesn’t find out” Amina said. With that they resumed the conversation.
Deciding the leave at around 7:30, they grabbed a bottle of water and their bags before stepping out.
“Don’t stay out all night” Clarissa said, before waving goodbye. At the beach, they put their clothes in the car and joined the jamboree at the beach. Beach party included a DJ, bottled beverages (alcoholic and non alcoholic), and a fire. Some were in swim attire, while others came dressed casually. “You see our cousin” Amina asked.
Abe and Zach pulled with with Ricky and Vince in the back seat. Miriam arrived and parked on the side of them bringing her coworker with her.
“Y’all got the message too?”
“Looks like a soul train line where the DJ is, let’s get in on the action” Miriam said.
“I’m gonna go find something to drink, I’m parched” Abe said.
At the same time, Brandi and Amina were trying to locate some of Brandi’s friends. She caught up with the party host, Tanner introducing him to her sister.
30 minutes into the party, they ran into the rest of the gang. “Y’all didn’t waste no time” Brandi said.
“Where the hell were you” Abe said.
“By those stairs over there”
They spent the night dancing and enjoying the ocean breeze. The outing was smooth, until around 9:45 when the music was put on hold. “FIVE O FIVE O”
the DJ announced on the microphone.
“Oh SHIT!” Miriam said, noticing blue flashing lights. There were five cop cars on the scene as well as an ambulance.
TO BE CONTINUED WITH EPISODE 23
theartofmadeline
tangentwithtanner
yousharknotpass
origamiaround
gamechangershow
