Sinclair Summer

by Beth Bowland

  “I think she likes him, I think she likes him,” Kiara sung softly.

  I threw a pillow toward her.

  Ivelisse scooted closer to where I was lying. “Well?” she whispered.

  “Dang, I can’t believe this is happening,” I whispered back. “My life is ruined.” I rolled over and had a vision of Mom marrying Dr. Jackson. That would make Andre and I brother and sister. Ugh!

  Chapter 9

  WHEN I WOKE UP, everyone had already gone downstairs. I was in no hurry to hear Kiara talk to Mom about her fabulous date. I went to the edge of the stairs and listened to see if I could hear any of the conversation. Mrs. Sanchez had arrived, and she was laughing. It was more of a cackle, loud and obnoxious. When I could tell they were getting ready to leave, I went downstairs, pretending that I’d just woken up.

  “Hello, everyone,” I said.

  “Well, hey, sleepyhead,” Mom said.

  The crew was finishing breakfast. I went over to the counter and helped myself to blueberry pancakes and turkey bacon. I caught Ivelisse looking at me from the corner of her eye. I looked at her, and she started grinning. I gave her the stink-eye.

  “Let’s head on home,” Mrs. Sanchez said.

  We said our goodbyes.

  “Wanna meet up at the park later?” Ivelisse said.

  I gave her a quick nod. “Sure.”

  I went back inside and finished my breakfast. When Kiara and Mom walked back in, both were laughing. I didn’t say a word when Kiara went over and smelled the rose that Mom had received. She’d put it in a little vase and placed it on top of the counter.

  “So, how was dinner?” Kiara asked.

  Couldn’t that girl see I was eating?

  Mom sighed a happy little sigh. “It was really nice. I had a great time. Dr. Jackson is quite the gentleman.” Mom began humming a tune to herself as she loaded plates in the dishwasher. “You girls start getting ready for church.”

  “Is Dr. Jackson coming to church with us?” I asked, being the smarty-pants that I am.

  “Hmm, well, I didn’t invite him. I would guess he’s going to his own church. Perhaps I’ll invite him next week.” Mom continued humming as she went to her room.

  “Ugh,” I said under my breath.

  Kiara glared at me. “You know it’s a sin to act like a cow’s butt on Sunday morning.”

  I put Kiara on ignore mode.

  After church, I changed clothes and headed to the park to find Ivelisse. I needed some away time from my twin. She’d irritated me to the nth degree at church. Each time Bishop Davis said something that she could somehow relate to me, she was sure to say a hearty Amen. Then she’d nudge me and say, “Bishop sure is preachin’, ain’t he?” So we were on official time-out away from each other.

  I spotted my man right away. Andre was wearing a new Michael Jordan jogging suit, white with a red stripe down the arms and legs, a red Nike baseball hat, and that stupid white doo-rag under it. I walked up to him, and he turned and smiled at me. His dimples were so deep, I bet rain could get caught in them.

  “S’up, Kat woman?”

  “Not too much, wassup with you?”

  “Chillin’.” Andre continued smiling at me. “It looks like there may be a possibility that we’ll become step-siblings in the future.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, what makes you think that?”

  “Pops was whistling to himself this morning. He said he enjoyed the date with your mother. I’m just sayin’.” Andre stared intently at me, but I didn’t return the look.

  I waved to Ivelisse as she approached, then turned my attention back to Andre. “How do you feel about them going out?”

  “It’s cool with me. I wouldn’t mind having you and Kiara as younger siblings,” he said.

  Thud! That was me hitting the floor like a ton of bricks. I re-wound what he’d just said in my mind and played it back in slow motion. Thud! That’s the sound of a giant boulder falling on top of me, like in the cartoons. I was speechless, and guess who was walking up? Porsche Remington. Lovely.

  “Hey, Dre,” she said as she playfully tugged on the rim of his hat.

  Porsche was as near to perfection as anyone could get. I hated her. Andre nodded and grinned.

  Dre? Oh. No. She. Didn’t refer to my man using my nickname for him. Okay, so maybe I’m not the only one who calls him that. Still, something about the way she said it irked me.

  “Hi, Porsche,” I said quickly in order to break their eye contact before she hypnotized him.

  Porsche didn’t break her gaze. “Hi, Katrina.”

  I was happy when Ivelisse got up to us.

  “Hey, everyone,” she said.

  “Ready, Dre?” Porsche said.

  Ivelisse looked at me as if anticipating my response, but she beat me to it. “Where are you guys headed?” she asked.

  “Dre is going to come down to the studio with me and watch me cut my new demo,” Porsche said.

  “Oh, really,” Ivelisse said.

  “Yeah, he’s going to be my personal cheerleader.” Porsche playfully tugged on Andre’s ear, and his grin got goofier. Well, ain’t she just the touchy one.

  “Let’s go,” he said, and off they went.

  “Are you feeling okay?” Ivelisse said.

  I nodded, but my mind was still replaying the sibling comment.

  “I can’t believe you didn’t have a comeback for the cheerleader thing,” she said.

  I shrugged. I was still speechless and sad that Andre did not mention our future together.

  “Smells like something is on fire,” Ivelisse said.

  I approached Chu’s patio door, and the closer Ivelisse and I got, the stronger the smell became. We’d decided to go and check on Chu since I’d not heard from him since his grandmother arrived.

  “Phew, it’s cigarette smoke,” I said as I tapped on the door.

  Grandma Thuy shuffled to the door, cigarette in hand, and stared at us. She looked us up and down, not saying a word. I’m guessing she was under five feet tall. Placing the cigarette up to her mouth, she inhaled deeply. Her long, red-painted fingernails accented her small, wrinkled hands. Dressed in a decorative red tunic with matching pants, she ran her other hand across the back of her upswept hair. At least twenty bangle bracelets jingled around her wrist.

  She removed the cigarette, blew the smoke out through her small nose, and pursed her red lips. Grandma Thuy henceforth would be known as the Dragon Lady. She slid the patio door open, and smoke enveloped us.

  “Yes? What do you want little girls?” the Dragon Lady said, still staring at us. She spoke with a thick Vietnamese accent.

  “Is Chu in?” I asked.

  “What is this Chu?” she replied.

  “Chuong,” Ivelisse said.

  The Dragon Lady took another long drag on her cigarette and held it in. I was sure her lungs were having seizures. Fortunately, she finally exhaled. Unfortunately, it was directly in our faces. She turned around and yelled something in Vietnamese. Shortly thereafter, Chu came out the door.

  “Hello, dear friends,” Chu said.

  What the heck? Dear friends? I tried not to bust out laughing. Ivelisse was not so subtle. Chu didn’t crack a smile.

  “Grandmother, these are dear friends of mine, Katrina and Ivelisse.” He pointed in our direction.

  “Nice to meet you,” I said.

  “Hello,” Ivelisse said.

  “Humph…” Grandma Thuy said and shuffled back into the kitchen.

  Ivelisse and I just stared at each other. Chu slid the patio door shut.

  “Thanks for rescuing me,” he whispered. “Let’s move away from the house.”

  He motioned to the back window. There stood Grandma Thuy still staring at us. Once we were out in the alley, we stopped.

  “Dear friends?” I said.

  Chu slapped his forehead. “It’s only been one day, and she’s already torturing me. Anything I say is critiqued or something. She’s been yelling at me since she arrived.�
��

  “She’s not exactly the granny-in-the-kitchen-making-apple-pie type, huh?” Ivelisse said.

  “No, she’s not. And she smokes like a chimney, so our entire house is one huge cloud. I think she’s trying to suffocate us.” Chu sighed.

  “How long does she plan on staying?” I asked.

  “I asked her that very question, and she went off on me. She asked if the American that my mother married turned me against her.” Chu hung his head.

  “Geez, Chu, I’m sorry you gotta deal with that,” I said as I put my arm around his shoulder. “Let’s go for a walk so you can clear out your lungs.”

  “I’m going to head home and check in on what Mom is doing,” Ivelisse said. “We’re supposed to go shopping this morning. I’ll catch up with you a little later.”

  Chu and I started walking in the direction of Keith and Veronica’s house. As we passed Mr. Maxwell’s place, I peered through the open gate, but there was no sign of him. We neared the Rosenthals just as they were pulling out of the garage. We waved to them.

  Mrs. Rosenthal rolled down her window. “Say, you kids stay out of our yard, or we’ll tell your parents.”

  Mr. Rosenthal leaned toward his wife. “Next time we see you kids in the yard, we’re calling the cops.”

  “What are you talking about?” I asked.

  “Don’t pretend you don’t know what we’re talking about. Just what were you kids doing outside that time of night anyway?” Mr. Rosenthal said.

  “Mischief! Nothing but mischief.” Mrs. Rosenthal shook her finger at us. “Well, maybe if your mother was home instead of hanging out ’til all hours of the morning with her boyfriend, she could keep an eye on you.”

  “Dr. Jackson is not her boyfriend,” I said and squinted my eyes at them so they knew I was serious.

  “Of course not, dear,” Mrs. Rosenthal said as she peered down her nose at me.

  “And we were not in your yard,” I said.

  “Of course not, dear. Maybe it was gophers that were digging in the yard.” Mrs. Rosenthal rolled up her window. As they drove off, she shook her finger at me again.

  “Wassup with that?” Chu said.

  “I don’t know what that crazy lady is talking about.”

  Someone yelled something not recognizable from down the alley. It was Grandma Thuy standing in the middle of the alley staring at us.

  Chu sighed. “I gotta go.”

  “What is that word she yelled?”

  Chu repeated the word. “It’s my first name. Chuong is my middle name.”

  “You never told us that.”

  “That’s because I knew no one would ever get it right.”

  Chu started jogging back down the alley and continued toward home.

  All this time and I didn’t know my best friend’s secret first name. I glanced toward my crazy neighbor’s house. I betcha Mr. Maxwell had some secrets of his own, and I planned on finding them out.

  Chapter 10

  “THE CATS DID WHAT?” I asked.

  Several days later, Kiara and I sat listening while Farkas retold the previous night’s events.

  Farkas placed a chubby elbow on the table. “I was sitting on the back patio, and Prancer was sitting in my lap, when Mr. Maxwell walked up.”

  Prancer was one of the gazillion cats the Istvans had.

  Farkas continued, his breath wheezing as usual. “All of a sudden Prancer jumped up and started acting all crazy. I mean, she went nuts.”

  “That’s strange because Prancer is usually such a sweet kitty,” Kiara said.

  Farkas shoved another cookie into his mouth. Crumbs clung to his chin. “Then two of the other cats, Comet and Rudolph, came toward Mr. Maxwell and started running in circles around him. It’s as if Maxwell cast a spell on them or something. When Grandma came to the door, Dasher ran outside. Dasher never makes a peep. He’s usually very calm, but not when he saw Mr. Maxwell. Grandma tried to calm them down, but they weren’t having it. I tried to pick up Dasher, and he scratched me.”

  “Where?” I asked.

  Farkas lifted his T-shirt, exposing his massive belly. “Here.” He pointed.

  There were two bright red lines crisscrossing over the rolls of skin.

  “What happened next?” Kiara asked.

  “Well, Mr. Maxwell got real nervous and left without saying anything. Once he was gone, the cats settled down. We’re not sure what he wanted. It was weird,” Farkas said.

  “Saturn Maxwell is a loony-toon,” Kiara said.

  “The other night we saw him snooping around in his yard—although I suspect he started out in our yard.” I paused. “Dang, I betcha he was the one in the Rosenthals’ yard.”

  “Huh?” Kiara said.

  “I forgot to tell you. Earlier Chu and I were walking, and the Rosenthals stopped and accused us of being in their yard late at night. Apparently someone was doing some digging.”

  “Hey, where’s Mr. Maxwell’s wife? I’ve not seen her around lately,” Farkas said.

  That got our attention. He was right. Mrs. Maxwell had been making herself pretty scarce.

  “The next time I see him, I think I’ll ask,” I said.

  “Maybe he stuck her in one of those coffins in his basement,” Kiara said.

  “I gotta find a way to see what he has down there,” I said.

  The next day, Mom decided not to go into the office. It was Friday and she said she had no appointments scheduled, so she decided to get up early and hit the mall. One of her favorite department stores sent out a flyer about a secret sale. Apparently, she and the doctor man were going to some snooty fundraiser at some country club, and she wanted a new dress for the event.

  As we approached the mall, I realized that my mother wasn’t the only one who wanted to get a jump on the crowd. The parking lots were already pretty full for a weekday. My mother got pumped up about sales. I was sure this morning she’d carefully laid out her shopping strategy. Everything planned, from which floor to start on to the stores she would go into first. Kiara wasn’t much of a shopper and rarely followed our mother into any of the stores. Today the shopping bug was not with me either, but it was good to get out.

  Usually I’d go into the arcade, then I’d visit the bookstore to look at magazines, or I’d stop by the Apple store to check out the latest gadgets. That’s usually where I’d bump into kids from school.

  “How’s about we meet up in the food court around noon?” Mom asked.

  “Sounds good to me,” Kiara said. I nodded in agreement.

  “I’m going to head over to Nordstrom first,” Mom said, checking her watch and looking in her purse to make sure she had her cell phone with her. She was a woman with a mission. I could almost hear that old Rocky song “Eye of the Tiger” playing in the background.

  “Happy shopping,” I said.

  As the clock neared eleven, the corridors of the mall started filling up. Swarms of people made their way in and out of stores. These were serious shoppers. You couldn’t get in their way, or you’d be trampled. Like wild animals on the prowl for food, these people were on the prowl for deals. Kiara and I were trying on sunglasses at one of kiosks that sat in the middle of mall. We tried to outdo each other with the most outrageous-looking pair we could find.

  From the distance, I saw Porsche and, right beside her, Andre headed in our direction. They were both laughing. I pretended not to see them.

  “Is that Porsche and Andre?” Kiara said and pointed toward the Old Navy store.

  “Um, I don’t see them,” I lied as I put on a pair of extra dark sunglasses.

  Kiara waved at them.

  “Rats,” I muttered under my breath.

  “Cool shades, Katrina,” Andre said with a grin. “You look all Hollywood-ish.”

  Porsche studied me for a moment before speaking. “They sorta look like the pair Mary J. Blige gave me for my birthday, from her designer line.”

  I felt fierce and kept them on.

  “You’ve met Mary J.?” Kia
ra said. “Whoa!”

  “Yeah, a few times. She’s a really nice person.” Porsche reached up near my ear and grabbed the price tag. “The real ones are more than ten dollars though.”

  Good thing the lenses were really dark or else she would’ve noticed me rolling my eyes at her ever since she walked up.

  “What are you guys up to,” Kiara asked.

  “I’m going to walk in the fashion show that Old Navy is having next weekend. Today I have to meet with one of the stylists,” Porsche answered. “Andre was sweet enough to come with me to let me know what he thinks of my outfit.”

  Andre grinned.

  “And,” Porsche continued. “I think once they see Andre they will want him in the show along with me.”

  “Yeah, whatever!” Andre said. “Let’s get going.”

  They waved goodbye and headed back to the Old Navy store.

  “Let’s go get a Cinnabon,” I suggested before Kiara could say anything more about them.

  Kiara’s eyes lit up. I returned the sunshades to the rack and headed toward the food court to get a Cinnabon with extra frosting and then made a beeline to Starbucks for a double chocolate-chip Frappuccino with whipped cream to wash it down. I’d totally obliterated the recommended fat grams per day with this combo. With all this sugar, I’d probably have sleep problems for a month. But it still wouldn’t wipe out the vision of Andre walking with Porsche in the mall. Maybe the arcade would help.

  Hailey’s Arcade wasn’t the only hangout at the mall, but it was the most popular and remained open only because of nostalgia. Several parents had complained to the owner about it being so dark in there. It had a reputation as a hotspot for teens to go and make out. Many a parent had come in looking for their kids and found them in a corner kissing.

  The extra lights were never installed, but they did hire a “security guard” to watch for this type of behavior. This lasted only a few weeks. It was reported that the guy they hired was a college kid, and he was caught fooling around with one of the high school girls behind an old Pac-Man machine. The next guy they hired was around a hundred years old, and he only sat near the front desk and nodded from time to time.