“Not really. So far we’ve stopped at two cemeteries. I can’t wait until tomorrow. My mom probably has us lined up to stop at a haunted house or something.”
He laughed. “Okay, so what you doing hanging out at cemeteries? I didn’t think you were into the goth thing.”
“I’m not. My mom’s straight trippin’, that’s all.”
“So you’ll be there tomorrow, right?”
“Yeah, I think so. Why?” she asked.
“’Cause I want to see you when I get there.”
“So, for real, you’re actually coming down here?”
“Yeah, told ya that’s where my family’s from.”
“A’ight, call me when you get down there.”
“I probably won’t be there until July.”
“Oh well, hopefully I’ll be back in Boston by then.”
“I thought you were staying longer.”
“I hope not,” she said.
“So what’s so important here in Boston? Justin?”
“No,” she said quickly.
“So, y’all two together or what?”
She sighed loudly. “I don’t know. I guess I’ll pick the or what.”
“Good,” he said.
“Why you say it like that? You got beef with Justin?”
“Nah, I just think you could do better.”
“Oh, really? Got anyone better in mind?”
“I got a few ideas. I’ll let you know,” he said playfully.
“Okay, you do that,” she said sweetly.
“A’ight. So I’ll check you later.”
“Okay.”
“Bye.”
Tamika hung up smiling. Sean was nice and she liked talking to him. First it was out of necessity ’cause at the party Justin was all up in somebody else’s face and she wasn’t about to be standing there looking all stupid. So when Sean started talking she just hung with it. But now she kinda liked talking to him. He had a nice voice and he was interesting. He made her laugh.
She picked up her camera and began going through the photos she’d taken earlier. Some of them strangely enough were pretty nice. She’d gotten some real good ones at the cemetery in Washington. There was even a nice one with her mother walking through the one in Alexandria. The sun was perfect and the color washed through rich and vibrant. She wondered what she’d be doing if she’d gone to the photo camp internship. Definitely not taking pictures of cemeteries.
A few minutes later she got up, grabbed her small overnight case, pulled out some clothes, popped out her contacts and went into the bathroom. Twenty minutes later she was feeling great. She dressed and sat outside on the small balcony texting Lisa.
Tamika: Hey!
Lisa: wassup?
Tamika: noth-N U
Lisa: jst chill-N
Lisa: how’s the drive?
Tamika: don’t ask
Lisa: 4 real that bad?
Tamika: worse
Lisa: LOL R U there?
Tamika: no
Lisa: where R U?
Tamika: VA B&B
Lisa: nice?
Tamika: okay—Sean called
Lisa: I was gonna tell U bout that
Tamika: Uh-huh
Lisa: I know—sorry—y’all talk?
Tamika: Yeah, he’s cool
Lisa: C
Tamika: he’s coming down
Lisa: nice
Tamika: I’ll let U know
Lisa: Stop—he’s nice
Tamika: I know
Lisa: Give him a chance
Tamika: We’ll C
“Tamika, you ready for dinner?” her mother asked, stepping out onto the balcony after taking her shower and changing her clothes too.
“Yeah, I’ll be right there,” she called out behind her.
Tamika: GTG
Lisa: K CUL8R
Lisa: have fun
Tamika: Grrr!
Lisa: LOL
They left the bed-and-breakfast and walked a block and a half to the restaurant. It was empty so they got seated quickly and ordered. Dinner was surprisingly good. They ate and chatted a bit, then just walked around before heading back to the bed-and-breakfast.
“So, did you enjoy yourself today?” Laura asked.
“It wasn’t as bad as I thought it was gonna be.”
“So you enjoyed yourself, then, huh?”
“I ain’t say all that. It was interesting, I admit that. But I seriously would not say that I enjoyed myself.”
“Fine, agreed.”
Laura smiled. It was the first time since the beginning of the drive that the two of them had agreed on anything.
“Okay, so why the cemetery tour?” Tamika asked.
“I did the same thing with my mother when I was just about your age.”
“And you liked it?” Tamika asked. Laura didn’t reply right away. “Uh-huh, see that? Same as me, right?” she said, pointing and laughing at her mother.
Laura laughed too. “Okay, okay, let’s just say it wasn’t my cup of tea at the time but I appreciated it. It was my history, my family. And that’s always important,” she said. She looked over to Tamika, trying to gauge her receptiveness. “It was something we shared and it kind of brought us together, made us closer. So I hoped I could share it with you like she shared it with me.” Tamika just nodded. Laura considered that the best she was going to get.
“You said that it was our family. How so? I mean, I get the names and all but what else?”
Laura told Tamika about her great-grandmother’s grandmother who was a slave and the mistress of her master. She had several kids with him when his white wife died. When he died he freed her and their children together, then gave her the land in Fraser, his family land.
They walked and talked a bit more as Laura answered questions and listened to Tamika. After a while they turned to go back. “Okay, now how do we get out of here?” Laura asked.
“You don’t know?”
“I have no idea. Wait, there’s the river that’s behind the bed-and-breakfast. Let’s go that way.”
They walked along the river path beside the Potomac and within a few minutes they were back in front of the bed-and-breakfast. “So, how much longer before Fraser?” Tamika asked.
“About ten hours or so.”
When they got back to their rooms they each said good-night and headed for bed. Tamika crawled in and lay waiting for sleep to come. It didn’t, not for a long while.
Chapter 6
Laura
After a pleasant enough evening and a good night’s sleep, Laura was back to finding her peace.
They’d eaten a filling meal at the bed-and-breakfast, then got on the road sooner than expected. She filled up the gas tank and they were back on the highway in the now usual position—Laura driving, enjoying the ride, and Tamika plugged into her music and texting her friends from time to time.
A few miles out Tamika pulled out her earbuds. “So, where are we stopping today? Ghost house, chamber of horrors, or are we gonna cut to the chase and witness a good old-fashioned hanging or beheading?”
“Very funny,” Laura said sarcastically.
Tamika chuckled aloud. “I thought so.”
“No, today I thought we’d do some shopping.”
“Shoppin’ for real?” Tamika said, brightening up.
“For real,” Laura said.
“Cool, it’s about time.”
“I thought you’d like that idea.”
Tamika nodded and smiled. She could get into that. She plugged her earbuds back in, relaxed back and waited to do some serious shopping.
Laura smiled and silently chuckled over that joy that mothers got when they told the truth but not the whole truth. What was said and what was assumed were two different things. A few hours into the drive Laura pulled off.
“Are we here?” Tamika asked after nodding off the past hour or so. She looked around. “Wait. What is this place?”
“Shopping,” Laura said simply.
&n
bsp; “This isn’t shopping. When you said we were going to shop I thought you meant for-real shopping at a mall or something, not this stuff. What is this place?”
“It’s an antique and open flea market.”
“You’re kidding me, right?”
“Nope,” Laura said happily.
“Mom,” Tamika said, obviously disappointed, “never mind.”
There were hundreds, maybe thousands, of people already milling around open stalls and dozens of tables that ringed the perimeter of the massive outdoor space.
Laura drove a bit, then luckily found a parking space close to the opening. She pulled in quickly and got out. She turned, seeing Tamika still sitting there with her arms folded across her chest. Without a word Laura turned and started walking away. She was determined not to let Tamika ruin her day.
She stopped at the first booth she came to and quickly looked over the myriad gadgets on display. She walked to the next booth, then the next and eventually fell into a rhythm as she quickly glanced over the offered wares and either kept on walking or paused to take a closer look.
By the time she’d rounded several corners she was completely immersed in the overwhelming sense of joy. She was having fun. She’d forgotten how much she used to enjoy rummaging through antique shops and early-morning flea markets. She passed a small booth, quickly scanned it, then continued but stopped a few feet away and retraced her footsteps. She stood at the table examining a box of old Victrola vinyl.
“What are they, albums?”
She turned, recognizing the voice. Tamika stood beside her, looking at the table, peeking into the box. She reached over and pulled out a black disc and examined it closer. “Isn’t it too thick to play on y’all’s old record player?”
“It’s not an album for a record player. These are for a Victrola.”
“What’s a Victrola?”
“It’s something like the first record player but it was called a talking machine back then.”
“A talking machine?”
Laura nodded as she picked up another record and examined it. “Your grandmother had, or rather, has, a Victor Victrola Cabinet phonograph. I think these might play on it. It’s a beautiful old machine made out of mahogany with I think twenty or thirty cylinders or something. It used to work great.”
“It still works? How old is it?”
“About a hundred years old, give or take a few.”
Laura smiled as Tamika’s jaw dropped. “We got something that old at the house?”
“Sweetie, we got a lot of things that old at the house. Some much, much older.”
“Are they worth anything?”
“Maybe. I guess we’ll have to check and possibly have a few things appraised.”
“So, what are we gonna do with them?”
“I don’t know yet, we’ll see.”
Laura bought several of the records, then took the seller’s card in case she decided to purchase more. Tamika lagged back for a few booths as Laura continued walking.
A few stalls later Laura was talking to a woman about a lamp when Tamika came over hurriedly. “Mom, come here. You gotta see this.”
And just like that the day had changed. They walked side by side laughing and talking about the strange, the weird and the unusual finds surrounding them. They stopped and ate hot dogs at a vendor, then slowly strolled back to the car. With the roof up they loaded their surprising number of purchases into the trunk and headed back to the highway.
Somewhere along the way Tamika had fallen asleep again, ’cause when she woke up the top was down and Laura was singing and nearly dancing out of her seat. Tamika half smiled; she had no idea who this woman was.
Laura glanced over. “Hey, sleepyhead, welcome back.”
“What are you doing?” she asked, looking at her mother.
“What do you mean?” Laura asked between bouts of off-key singing.
“I mean, what are you doing?” she repeated.
“I’m singing. Duh,” Laura said.
“But this isn’t your music.”
“Why not?”
“’Cause it’s a Chris Brown remix.”
“A Chris Brown what? Remix?”
“Yeah, a remix. So how do you know the words?”
“’Cause this song, Miss Remix, was out when I was in high school and I used to love it. I used to dance to it all the time. I haven’t heard it in forever, like twenty years or so. I forgot all about it.”
“Get out! No way, this ain’t no twenty years old.”
“Oh yeah, way,” she said, trying to sound equally cool. “My dear, this was my jam,” she said, then hollered along with the song to make her point.
“Your what?” Tamika asked. “What’s a jam?”
“My jam. You know, my song. This was a hit back then,” she said, then reached over and turned the radio up, blasting Chris Brown from the car speakers.
Tamika burst out laughing. Her mother was a trip sometimes when she was trying to act all cool.
“Come on, sing with me, baby,” Laura said, grabbing Tamika’s hand and holding it up in the air. Tamika shrugged. They sang and sang and sang some more. Cars and trucks passed as they continued singing. Some blew their horns, smiled and laughed as others just drove by thinking that they were probably nuts. But it didn’t matter because for the first time in a long while mother and daughter were having a ball.
“That was nice. What else does he sing?” Laura asked.
Tamika unplugged the earbuds from her MP3 and connected it to the car jack on the dash. She pushed a few buttons on the small device and music blasted out through the car speakers.
Laura started boppin’ her head. “Heeey,” she said, and as her shoulders got into the mix, in a few seconds they were right back at it again.
“Is this Chris Brown again? What’s it called?” Laura asked.
“It’s the ‘Run It’ remix with Chris Brown, Bow Wow, and Jermaine Dupri. It’s old, from a few years back, from his first CD,” Tamika said.
Laura listened a few seconds as her head continued bopping. “I like it, I like it,” she yelled as she reached over and turned up the speakers, blasting the music even louder. “It’s cool.”
“No, Mom, it’s hot,” Tamika corrected.
“Oh, okay. I like it. It’s hot, then. We should get it.”
“Get what?”
“Get this.”
“Mom, I already have it,” Tamika said as she laughed at her mother.
“Heeeyyy.”
Tamika cracked up laughing as she watched her mother listening to her music and liking it. Apparently hell had just frozen over.
“Heeeyyy.”
Tamika still laughed as her head started boppin’, her shoulders started rocking and she raised her arms, letting the wind blow her hands in a constant wave.
A car came driving up alongside them, and the passenger, hearing their music, leaned out and started smiling and waving and bopping her head to the music from their car.
“Heeeyyy.” Laura glanced over and smiled as everybody in the car started rocking to the remix looping all over again. Tamika cracked up as both cars rocked past the next two exits.
So with the top down and still rockin’, boppin’ and singing at the top of their lungs, Tamika and Laura arrived in Fraser, Georgia, just before dusk, still pumped up and enjoying their music.
It had rained earlier and the streets were still damp. A mugginess hung heavily in the air, and a thin layer of mist surrounded them, dusting the streets and threatening to roll in as fog.
“So, this is it?” Tamika asked, sounding more disappointed than excited.
“You’ve been here before.”
“Yeah, when I was nine. I don’t remember all this.”
“Nine? What about—Oh, that’s right. You and Dad didn’t come to the funeral, did you?”
“No, remember we had the flu and a bad cold? I thought I was gonna die,” she quipped, then paused and looked at her mother. “Sorry.”
“Saying that.”
“Saying what?”
“That I thought I was gonna die, since your mom and dad actually did die.”
“Sweetie, it’s okay, don’t worry about it.” Tamika nodded. Laura smiled. Her daughter had actually apologized for the possibility of upsetting her feelings. She considered that a good sign, that maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea after all. “You hungry?” she asked.
“Yeah, a little,” Tamika said, realizing that they hadn’t stopped since their early lunch at the flea market.
“Well, I’m starved. Let’s get something to eat before we head in. What do you feel like?”
“I don’t know, whatever.”
“You know what, there used to be this incredible barbecue place about a mile or so down the road. Feel like some ribs?”
“Sure.”
Laura kept driving as she started checking the place out. “Wow, look at this place. It’s like going through a time warp. Everything looks exactly the same,” she said as she pulled off the road and parked on a gravel lot in front of the barbecue restaurant. She turned the engine off and they got out.
“This is it?” Tamika asked, thinking that the place looked like a run-down dive.
“Yep, this is it,” Laura said. “The best barbecue in the world, except for mine, of course.”
“It looks like it’s closed.”
“It always looks that way. Come on, let’s go inside.”
Laura led, walking the gravel path to the front door. She opened it and stepped inside. Tamika followed. As soon as they walked in, the aroma of mouthwatering smoked ribs and sauce made their stomachs growl. “Umm, this place smells incredible,” Laura said.
Tamika hated to admit it but her mother was right. It smelled like heaven and the place was packed thick. It looked as if half the Georgia population was inside the small restaurant.
A young woman with a clipboard walked up to them smiling. “Two? Y’all want a booth or a table?” she asked, her Southern accent thick. “It’s gonna be at least a forty-five-minute wait either way.”
“We’re getting takeout,” Laura said.
“Y’all call it in already?”
“No.”
“’Kay, here’s the menus,” she said, handing them two laminated folders. “Y’all can place your order at the counter over there.”
She Said, She Said Page 6
