She Said, She Said

by Celeste Norfleet

  After thoroughly checking out the attic and going through all of the boxes and relabeling them, she decided to do something different and check out the basement. It definitely wasn’t as interesting as the attic. There was mostly old furniture and a few paintings, rugs and lots of old books. She took a few photos, but not finding much of interest she grabbed her hoard of booty from the attic and went to her bedroom to her laptop.

  Curiously she went online and tried to do some research on some of the things she found. Unable to get much information, she decided to try again later. In the meantime she checked her MySpace. Surprisingly, Sean had responded to her last post. She was just about to write something back when her cell rang. It was Lisa.

  “Hey, what’s up?” Lisa said happily.

  “Don’t ask. Apparently my sentence here has been extended.”

  “You gotta stay longer, huh?”

  “Yep. I think my mom’s having too much fun to even want to think about leaving. For the last two weeks she’s been hanging out like crazy, dressing like she’s a teenager and she even got highlights in her hair now.”

  “What kind of highlights? Where?”

  “All over. They actually look nice but I don’t want to talk about that. What’s up with you?”

  “Girl, wait till you hear…” Lisa went on to tell Tamika about the latest in Boston, which included Drea being pregnant and Lexea’s parents just up and moving away.

  “For real?” Tamika said, smiling.

  “For real, I heard that Lexea knew she was moving way back in April but didn’t say anything to anybody. Since they were renting they just moved, like, overnight. I have no idea what’s up with that.”

  “That’s a trip.”

  “Yep, and about Drea, she actually has a little bump and everything. Word is the father is some old guy she was hanging with that her parents hated. Anyway, they say she was trying to get married but it’s all up in the air right now. I even heard that he was already married.”

  “For real,” Tamika said, not at all surprised.

  “Oh, and get this. Guess who stopped by the store yesterday.”

  “Who?”

  “Justin, talkin’ ’bout where Tamika at.”

  “What?”

  “Yep, so I told him that truthfully I had no idea. ’Cause for real I don’t know where Fraser is, so it’s not like I was lying or anything. Anyway, he was like, he stopped by your house a few times and there was nobody home,” Lisa said in just about one sentence and one breath. Tamika chuckled. “So if you want him back I guess you can have him. He said that if I heard from you to ask you to call him.”

  “Call him?”

  “Yeah, you gonna call?”

  “You know what, I’ve been down here for, like, two weeks and I haven’t even thought about him once until you just said his name. And like I said before, I’m tired of his stupid stuff.”

  “I hear you. The last thing you need is more drama. So, what are you doing down there all day?”

  “On the computer mostly, but guess what. You would not believe all the stuff I just found in the attic and in the basement here. It’s like an antique warehouse in this place.”

  “For real? See, told you,” Lisa said. “What do you think they’re all worth?”

  “I don’t know. I tried to find some of this stuff on eBay, but that didn’t exactly work so I guess I have to get my mom to get it appraised someplace. But for real, it’s old, old. It’s gotta be worth something.”

  “I knew it. So, what’d you find?”

  “Okay, first in the attic there’s this huge rolltop desk like in the old movies and it has all these drawers and secret compartments. I found some old money.”

  “Money, like in cash money?”

  “No, coins. Like dimes, quarters and nickels. They’re old and dated in the twenties and thirties and even before that, like before the turn of the century—the last century. But there are also some huge pennies like the size of half dollars but they’re brown like pennies. The dates are rubbed off.”

  “Well, maybe they can check it some other way.”

  “I don’t know, maybe. I also found stamps and some eyeglasses. Then it has these secret compartments and I found some books with stamps in them like for stamp collecting. They have all kinds of stamps inside.”

  “That sounds promising.”

  “Yeah, maybe. Then in this other compartment I found all these really cool letters wrapped in ribbon. They were in the envelopes and most of them were postmarked in the 1920s.”

  “The 1920s, for real?”

  “Yeah, they were love letters.”

  “For real? Cool.”

  “Yeah, I’ll bring ’em back so you can read them.”

  “Who were they from?”

  “I don’t know, somebody. But wait, these other letters I found in these seriously old ledgers were dated back to the 1870s. That General Fraser I told you about before, well, I think that he was having some kind of argument with his family. ’Cause some of the letters are all about him having his own life away from them.”

  “That’s the guy that owned your ancestors, right?”

  “Yeah, I think.”

  “This is so cool. How many people can actually say they have a town named after them?”

  “The ledgers are records of the slaves his family owned and papers of freedom.”

  “That’s for-real museum stuff. You gotta get that stuff appraised. What else?”

  “Okay, then I went down to the basement. There’s all this seriously old furniture down there and boxes of dishes and tons of books and paintings. It’s like another whole houseful of furniture down there.”

  “Is the stuff old and antique too?”

  “Nah, I don’t think so. I think most of it’s more like retro back to the fifties or the sixties. There’s an old radio and this weird two-sided toaster and even a black-and-white television.”

  “Do they work?”

  “I don’t know, I didn’t try it.”

  Lisa laughed. “I wonder if you’d see all those old black-and-white programs like The Lone Ranger.”

  “Lisa, you do know that the shows aren’t in there, right? I guess if I plugged it in I’d get whatever’s on TV nowadays, except no cable.”

  “Still, that stuff might be worth something. You never know. Definitely check it out.”

  “Yeah, I will. I started taking pictures of everything just in case they want to see some of the pieces.”

  “Good idea.”

  “I just gotta find a place to take it.”

  “Go online.”

  “Good idea.”

  The conversation continued as Lisa told Tamika that her mother was coming in mid-July to get her and that she couldn’t wait.

  “You’re so lucky that your mom’s so cool,” Tamika said.

  “What makes you think she’s cool?”

  “Because she lets you do things you want to do.”

  “That’s only when I’m visiting her. I remember when my parents were married. They argued all the time and neither one let me do anything. When they broke up they loosened up on me. To tell you the truth, I don’t know if I like the trade-in.”

  Tamika thought about her parents. Like Lisa, their breaking up to get freedom wasn’t a trade-in she wanted either. “So what else is happening around the way?” she asked.

  Lisa told her about Justin’s latest party. Tamika seriously wasn’t interested. But it was a flop anyway, so no big deal.

  “How’s Sean?” Lisa asked.

  “I don’t know. He said that he was coming down on the Fourth but I haven’t heard anything yet.”

  “The Fourth—that’s tomorrow.”

  “Yeah, I know.”

  Lisa sighed heavily. “I can’t believe how fast summer is going.”

  “Yeah, me either,” Tamika said.

  “Listen, I gotta get ready to go to work. I’ll call you when I go on my break,” Lisa said.

  “Okay, see ya.”
>
  Tamika hung up thinking about Justin. It was the first time since the party the last day of school. It seemed funny now. They’d hung out all of ninth grade and most of tenth grade, but all that was getting tired and somewhere along the way their interests changed. Either way, she wasn’t all broken up, and that should say something.

  She went back online and immediately got an IM.

  Sean: hey, R U there?

  Tamika: yep

  Sean: how u been?

  Tamika: okay, U

  Sean: working hard

  Tamika: where?

  Sean: @ the state park

  Tamika: u like it?

  Sean: $$’s okay, how do U like Fraser?

  Tamika: haven’t seen it yet

  Sean: y not?

  Sean: u gotta get out

  Tamika: waiting 4 U

  Sean: cool, I’ll give U a tour

  Tamika: promise?

  Sean: yeah. what R U doing on the 4th?

  Tamika: IDK—Y?

  Sean: that’s when I’m coming down.

  Tamika looked at his response. She wasn’t sure if she was happy or what. It just hung there. She finally responded.

  Tamika: ok

  Sean: there’s a big fair, parade & celebration

  Tamika: N Fraser?

  She typed, wondering why she hadn’t heard anything about it yet.

  Sean: no, N the next town over

  Tamika: okay

  Sean: that’s where my grandparents live

  Tamika: how’s Boston?

  Sean: I saw U’R boy

  Tamika: who?

  Sean: Justin

  Of course Tamika knew exactly who he was talking about, but it was strange as she told Lisa that she hadn’t thought about him since she left home.

  Tamika: that’s nice

  Sean: I thought U 2 were tight

  Tamika: we decided 2 chill

  Sean: good idea

  Tamika: u think?

  Sean: DEFINITELY!!

  Tamika: me 2

  Sean: I saw the pictures U put on U’R MySpace—NICE

  Tamika: thanx

  Sean: cemetery?

  Tamika: Yeah, whatever—don’t ask

  Sean: Goth?

  Tamika: my mom’s idea

  Sean: what’s the story?

  Tamika: long & boring

  Tamika: I’ll tell you L8R

  Sean: promise?

  Tamika: yeah.

  Tamika: I gotta go

  Sean: take more pictures, I like seeing ’em

  Tamika: okay, bye

  Chapter 14

  Laura

  The Fourth of July came in with a bang. So, to say that it was just another holiday backyard picnic party would be grossly understating the event held at Grace’s house. First of all, nearly everybody in town showed up. The backyard, front yard, porch and decks were packed. Smoke from the massive grills hovered all around as dozens, maybe hundreds of people hung out having a blast.

  The adults danced, joked around, played cards, screamed, yelled and argued, then played some more. Smaller kids ran around chasing each other, bumping into everybody. Others played badminton or just sat out in lawn chairs in sunglasses and slept.

  Ribs, hot dogs, hamburgers and chicken cooked on the grills constantly. Salads of all kinds sat in the cooler along with chips, dips, vegetables and sodas. Grace was celebrating her birthday again and she was, as usual, doing it in style. As she said, “It’s not every day you turn forty, but it’s every day you can celebrate it.”

  Laura wholeheartedly agreed.

  She’d been partying and helping Grace celebrate since the minute she arrived in town. The food was off-the-chain delicious and the music was real music, from-her-day music, and she was laughing, dancing and having a good old time.

  “Girl, look at you, just taking over the dance floor,” Grace said when she danced up beside Laura. “Reminds you of the good old days, don’t it?” They bumped, closed fists, then hips, then burst out laughing.

  When the song ended Laura walked over and plopped down on the bench next to Tamika, who had been sitting texting. She exhaustedly fanned herself with her fingers. Tamika closed her phone when Laura sat down.

  “Hey, sweetie, how you doing?”

  “Fine,” Tamika said uneasily.

  “Having a good time?”

  “Not really. This is your crowd, remember?”

  “There’re some teenagers around here,” Laura said, looking around but not seeing anyone under the age of twenty-five.

  “Mom, they left ten minutes after they got here and that was four hours ago.”

  “Well, you can still have a good time, can’t you?” Laura asked.

  “No, not really,” Tamika said.

  “Well, did you at least get something to eat?”

  “Yeah, it was good,” she said. “So, when are we leaving? Soon?”

  Before Laura could answer she looked up beyond Tamika to see Keith Tyler walking toward her. She smiled. “Hey.”

  “Hey, we meet again,” he said smoothly.

  “I didn’t know you were coming here today.”

  “I decided at the last minute to crash. So this is why you stood me up,” he said.

  Tamika turned and looked up at him, then to her mother. The words “stood me up” obviously implied that they had had a planned date.

  “I didn’t stand you up, ’cause we didn’t have a date.”

  “All right, you got me there. So who’s this, your daughter?”

  “Yes. Tamika, this is an old friend, Keith Tyler. Keith, my daughter, Tamika.”

  Tamika nodded as he swallowed her hand in his large one and shook. “Nice to meet you, Tamika. Are you having a good time?”

  Laura looked at her sternly, expecting her to be as truthful as she was to her. But instead Tamika smiled politely and nodded. “It’s okay.”

  “Yeah, I get the picture. Not exactly a party at Diddy’s place.”

  “You know him?” she asked skeptically.

  “Oh yeah,” he said, obviously wanting to impress her. “He and I go way back. As a matter of fact, I was just at his place in the Hamptons a few weeks ago. He had a nice little gathering up there, a lot of big names. He’s talking about having his annual white party at his Long Island home this year.”

  “His white party, huh?” Tamika said.

  “By invitation only, and when it reads white he means white, only white, nothing but bleached-to-the-bone white. So heads-up, don’t be steppin’ up in there with no cream, eggshell or ecru, ’cause he will sure nuff bump your behind out of there.”

  Laura laughed but Tamika wasn’t impressed. She could have found out the same information on Google. “Uh-huh,” Tamika said, not really buying it.

  “Listen, I brought my daughter with me, much to her complaining the whole drive over here.”

  “You have a daughter?” Laura asked.

  “Yes,” he said. “Listen, why don’t I introduce you to her, Tamika? I’m sure she’d like to talk to someone closer to her own age.” He looked around, then toward a young girl standing on the back porch talking to the man playing the music. He beckoned to her and she walked over only half smiling.

  “You want me?” she said, standing by his side.

  “Laura, Tamika, this is my daughter, Jaleesa. Jaleesa, this is Laura and her daughter, Tamika.”

  “Hi,” Jaleesa said.

  “See,” Keith said, speaking to his daughter, “I told ya you wouldn’t be the only person under the age of twenty here.”

  Jaleesa smirked without answering.

  “So, why don’t you and Tamika chat while I have the next dance with this lovely young lady, Laura?” He held out his hand and pointed Laura toward the dance area. She went willingly.

  Jaleesa sucked her teeth and rolled her eyes. “My dad’s a trip. He thinks he’s such a player. I hope your mom’s not falling for his crap. So, where y’all from? I know y’all ain’t from no place around here.”

 
“Boston, Massachusetts,” Tamika said. She could tell that Jaleesa was a lot younger than she was. “Actually, just outside of Boston.”

  “For real,” Jaleesa said excitedly. “I was thinking about going to either MIT in Cambridge or to the University of Massachusetts in Boston. How is it up there? They say the winters are brutal. But I really don’t care as long as I’m away from here. You are so lucky. You get to go home away from all this.”

  “Boston’s okay. I had a college tour at the University of Massachusetts. The campus is nice, quiet.”

  “So what, you’re in the ninth grade?” Jaleesa asked.

  “No, I’m going to the eleventh in September.”

  “Oh, wow, I’m going to the eighth grade. But I swear I can’t wait to get out of school and be on my own. My dad’s driving me crazy.”

  “Does he really know Diddy?”

  “Believe it or not, yeah, from back in the day when he played football,” she said.

  “So, what about your mom?” Tamika asked curiously. “Is she here?”

  “My mom’s a nurse. She had to work, so I got stuck hanging out with my dad all day. Boring.”

  “Are they still married?”

  “No, they never got married.”

  “What kind of work does your dad do?” Tamika asked, wondering what Keith did for a living.

  “Real estate. My grandfather had the biggest agency in the area and then my dad took it over after he died. I work there during the day sometimes.”

  “So, what do you do there?” Tamika asked.

  “I just do some computer stuff. Get information, type in things, stuff like that.”

  Tamika nodded.

  “It’s a summer job, no big deal. It’s not like I get paid or anything. He just does it to keep me out of trouble. I accidently broke his car window a few weeks ago, so I’m supposed to be paying for it through slave labor. So, you been around yet?”

  “Around where, town?”

  “Yeah.”

  “No, not yet. How is it?”

  “Pitiful.”

  Tamika’s cell rang and she looked at the number, thankful for the interruption. “I gotta get this, okay?”

  Jaleesa nodded. “A’ight, check you later.” She walked away just as Tamika’s cell rang a second time.