Maya's Choice

by Earl Sewell

  “Don’t play dumb with me, Maya. I’ve had feelings like that, too, and I know everything you’re thinking. You’re confused and you don’t know what to do.” I wanted to deny that she was right but I couldn’t. I glanced at Anna, who still had her eyes focused on Carlo as he entered the locker room.

  “You need to talk to Anna,” I said, throwing her in front of a train so that my mother wouldn’t focus on me so hard. “I think she’s trying to date.”

  “I am not!” My words got Anna’s attention.

  “Oh, God. Don’t tell me that you both like the same boy?” My mother sounded disappointed.

  “I don’t like Carlo,” I quickly said. My mother gave me a look that said she didn’t believe a word I’d just said.

  “You need to talk to Maya about all of the secret rendezvous she’s been having with Misalo. She’s not staying away from him like you and Dad have asked,” Anna said. I looked at her and lowered my eyes to slits. That was to let her know that at some point I was going to get even with her for mentioning that.

  When we arrived back home, my father and brother were in the family room listening to music. My brother, Paul, had made the mistake of asking my father how to slow dance. This was something he should’ve asked my mother.

  “Raven, come down here so we can show this boy how to dance the right way,” my father yelled up the staircase from the basement.

  “Herman, I’m tired,” my mother answered back as she walked into the kitchen.

  “It will only take a minute. He has some girl he’s trying to impress,” my father said. Both Anna and I found that to be humorous and laughed loudly. Our little brother was such a video game nerd. The last thing that Anna or I ever thought we’d see him with was a girl.

  “Oh, you guys think that’s funny?” my mother asked as she removed a chilled bottle of water from the refrigerator.

  “Yes,” Anna and I both said as we kept laughing and making fun of our little brother.

  “Come on. Everyone downstairs.” My mother directed us toward the basement and family room. When we came down, our father had moved all of the furniture against the walls so there was plenty of space to dance. He and Paul were in the center of the floor, where Dad was trying to teach him how to move his feet.

  “Come on, Paul. You’re moving like you have two left feet,” Dad complained.

  “I’m trying, but my feet don’t work that way,” Paul said. Anna and I snickered as we found a place to sit.

  “Herman, your girls also need a birds-and-bees lesson,” my mother said.

  “Huh?” Dad asked. I immediately stopped laughing, because the last thing I wanted was to have a conversation like that as a group activity.

  “It appears as if all of our children are suddenly interested in romance,” my mother announced.

  “I only wanted to know how to dance and look cool,” my brother quickly said.

  “And why do you want to look cool?” my mother asked.

  Paul shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. Just to look cool.”

  “No. It’s because you want to get attention from girls.” My mother didn’t buy Paul’s line of bull for even an instant. My mother took a seat on the love chair. “So, tell our children what romance is like.” My father opened his mouth but no words came out. I could tell that he was searching for what he should say.

  “Wow, I’m really on the spot, aren’t I?” my father said.

  “Yes, you are. Tell them how you romanced me. Why don’t you start there,” my mother said. Although I’d heard the story before, I never grew tired of hearing it.

  “Well, I met your mother when I was twenty-four years old and she was twenty. We were both in our second year of college and I was the most handsome man on campus,” Dad boasted, but everyone knew that wasn’t true. My mother laughed.

  “You were cute, but you needed the touch of a woman.” Mom laughed.

  “Don’t listen to your mother, girls. I was a suave man fresh out of the military, and I had the moves, the looks and—”

  My mother interrupted him. “No money and no car. Your father was a disciplined man and he—”

  “Do you want to tell this story or are you going to let me tell it?” My father broke up my mother’s version of events.

  “Go on.” She waved him off.

  “True, I didn’t have much money or a car, but I had heart.”

  “So, get to the part about how you guys met,” said my little brother as he sat on the floor next to my mother.

  “Well, your mother was a cheerleader and was the best dancer on the squad. She could move like no other girl on the team. Whenever she danced she stood out from the crowd. She was whipping her hair back and forth long before Willow Smith was born. I went to all of the basketball and football games just to watch her perform.”

  “Your father and his friends made a habit of hanging around begging girls for their phone numbers like sailors on shore leave. The only reason they were near us was because of our revealing outfits. We showed a lot of skin,” my mother added.

  My father laughed. “Oh, yeah, because she had this one white outfit that hugged her body like a glove and—”

  “Herman, they get the picture.” My mother caught him before he got too caught up in the memory.

  My father smiled again. “Anyway, at the time she was dating one of the football players, and I was doing my best to steal her away from him.”

  “Wait, you mean that Mom had a boyfriend and you took her from him?” asked Paul, who seemed to believe that this was an important historical news flash he’d missed.

  “He was no good for her, son. She didn’t know it at the time, but I did. She was my woman, my soul mate, and I wasn’t going to allow her to get away from me,” my father said with pride.

  “So, how did you take her from the other guy?” Paul continued with his questions.

  “Well, as luck would have it, the following semester your mom and I ended up in the same chemistry class. I made sure that she wound up being my lab partner.”

  “Your father insisted that I become his partner,” my mother once again interjected.

  “I knew a lot about chemistry and didn’t want to see her struggling with the class, so I offered to help her with her studies. We ended up spending a lot of time together.” Dad smiled at the memory.

  “Well, what about her boyfriend? Didn’t he get mad?” Paul asked.

  “Oh, yes, he got very angry and extremely jealous if I remember correctly,” my father said, glancing over at my mother.

  “Yes, he was,” she admitted.

  “Anyway, she didn’t know it, but I was secretly talking to her girlfriends who didn’t like the guy she was dating. They were telling me all of the things that she liked and didn’t like. So by having the inside scoop, I knew I’d be able to win her over.”

  “Wow, that is so special,” I said as I tucked my legs beneath me.

  “But, Dad, wasn’t that disrespectful?” Paul asked.

  “All is fair in love and war,” said my Dad.

  “Huh?” Paul was completely clueless.

  “I didn’t take her, son. I was a total gentleman during those days. I treated your mother like a queen. Her boyfriend, on the other hand, well, that’s another story.” My father turned to my mother.

  “Yes. The guy I was dating and thought I was in love with turned out to be a real monster,” said my mother.

  “What did he do?” asked Paul.

  “He was an abusive guy. At the beginning of our relationship he would tell me that his jealousy was a sign of his love for me. Then he started questioning who I was with during the day and who I had been talking to.”

  “Then his suspicions were right, because you were talking to Dad,” Paul pointed out.

  “At that time your father and I weren’t romantically involved at all. We were just friends. But my boyfriend at the time had been acting this way long before your father came around. He’d accuse me of flirting with other men when we’
d go out, which of course, I wasn’t. Then it got to the point that he didn’t want me to ever leave his side because he feared that I’d meet someone and leave him. He’d call all of the time and come to my dorm unannounced. He was very insecure and I stupidly tried to change him.”

  “So, you guys kept dating?” asked Paul.

  “Yes,” my mother answered.

  “I’d hoped they’d break up, but your mother hung in there with him. I think she believed he was going to get drafted into the NFL and she’d marry him and live a life of luxury.”

  “No, I didn’t,” my mother disputed that claim.

  “That’s not what your girlfriends told me,” Dad countered.

  “They were just nosy gossip girls,” Mom said, not giving any weight or validity to their perception of her during that time period.

  “Right after our graduation ceremony in spring of 1990, I got her alone and told her how I truly felt about her,” said my father.

  “By that time your father had become a very dear friend. I had feelings for him, but I was torn because I also had feelings for my boyfriend, in spite of all his flaws,” Mom said.

  “Your mother left me holding my heart in my hand,” said my father. “And, Paul, let me tell you. It’s not easy for a guy to watch the woman he loves walk away.”

  “Why did you break his heart, Mom?” Paul turned to look at her.

  “His heart wasn’t that broken,” she said.

  “Yes, it was,” my father said. “A few weeks later I was called up for duty.”

  “That’s when you went to the Gulf War, right?” I asked.

  “Yup. I was shipped off to Texas, where I did some specialized training with chemical weapons. I had to do another two years in the military before I was able to get out. When I finally got out, I moved to Chicago and stayed with relatives until I got a job and my own place.”

  “Oh, here comes the good part,” Anna said.

  My father chuckled. “I was out one night with some military buddies who had taken me to a dance club where bachata dance competitions were held. Of all the places your mother could have walked into, that night she walked into that one. She was with her sister, Salena, and they were both dressed to kill. Once they sat down, I sent a drink over to their table. When the waitress pointed to me to show your mother who the drink had come from, she couldn’t believe that I was there. When I looked into her eyes they sparkled like diamonds.”

  “That is so romantic.” I sighed.

  “Your father surprised me,” my mother said, picking up the story. “I never expected to see him again. The first thing I asked him when he came over was if he was still single. I was happy beyond words when he said that he was.”

  “So, the guy from college, what happened to him?” Paul asked.

  “She’d broken up with him—duh!” Anna said, poking fun at Paul.

  “A bachata song came on and I asked your mother to dance with me,” my dad explained.

  “I was very nervous, because the Herman that I knew in college did not know how to dance at all. So I told him that he shouldn’t embarrass himself.”

  “Oh, I got your mother real good that night. I pulled her out of her seat and walked her onto the dance floor. I told her to make sure she kept up.” My father met my mother’s gaze, and I could still see the love in his eyes that he had for her.

  “Your father didn’t tell me that while he was in Texas he’d learned a lot about Mexican culture, dance, music and everything.”

  “Your mother forgot that before I was in college I spent four years in the military traveling around the world. I’d been to Spain, Japan and Africa. I learned as much about other cultures as I could.”

  “So there I was, standing on the dance floor with my sister, Salena, glaring at me as if I’d lost my mind,” said my mother.

  “Come here, baby. Let’s show them how to bachata,” said my father.

  “My feet hurt,” my mother whined.

  “I’ll rub them when we’re done.”

  “Go on and do it,” I said, getting up and placing their favorite dance CD, which contained the song they danced to, in the stereo. I pressed Play and took a seat. My father slowly grooved to the rhythm of the melody being played by a Spanish guitar. My mother joined him. They took each other’s hands and began to dance. Their bachata dance was filled with spins, turns and lots of hip movement by both partners. I enjoyed watching my parents dance with each other. They’d been together for so long that they knew each other’s moves. Even though they hadn’t practiced, they moved with flawless precision. They smiled at each other, they laughed with each other and they enjoyed each other. My heart started to swell. I wanted to have a romantic marriage just like theirs.

  Later that evening I ran an errand with my mother. While we walked around the grocery store she got a phone call from my grandmother.

  “What do you mean Salena has disappeared?” my mother said as I stood near her and listened with great interest.

  “Viviana has no idea where she could be?” she asked.

  I could hear my grandmother’s muffled voice say, “No.”

  “Why would Salena just leave like that? It doesn’t make any sense,” my mother said. She was clearly getting upset as we moved down the aisle where all the bread was shelved.

  “Who got into a fight?” my mother asked. I glanced over at her because I wanted to know, as well.

  “What do you mean you got into a fight?” She stopped walking and so did I.

  “Mama, you should’ve called the police. You can’t allow Viviana to drag you into her drama.” My mother paused as my grandmother spoke. “I know you’re too old to be fighting.” My mother paused again as my grandmother spoke to her.

  “Mom, I’ll have to talk to Herman about having Viviana stay with us. I just can’t spring this on him all of a sudden.” I got involved at that moment. I stood in front of my mother and got her attention and whispered loudly.

  “I don’t want Viviana to come live with us,” I said with a grave sense of urgency before she agreed to do anything.

  “Mom, Viviana has a reputation and she…” My mother paused yet again. “I know your health isn’t the best and I know you’re on a fixed income. You don’t have to remind me.

  “I’ll talk to Herman tonight about it,” my mother said. I walked away at that moment, because I knew that Grandmother Esmeralda was going to win and Viviana was coming to stay with us for an indefinite length of time.

  fifteen

  VIVIANA

  My life really sucks. Not only has my own mother walked out on me, but now my grandmother is shipping me off to live under the same roof with the one person I can hardly get along with—Maya. My grandmother had somehow convinced my aunt Raven to take me in until my mother decided to surface. Although I would be staying with family who had known me all of my life, I still felt as if I were intruding. I also knew that the only reason I was being taken in was because my grandmother wasn’t going to have it any other way.

  When I arrived back at Maya’s house and Aunt Raven met me at the door, she gave me a kiss on the cheek and a big hug.

  “You’re welcome to stay for as long as necessary,” she said. Although her words were kind and probably genuine, I still felt like the pile of steaming dinosaur crap that had suddenly materialized in the middle of the room.

  “Where will I be sleeping, the garage?” I asked sarcastically.

  “No, honey, why would you think we’d place you out in the cold garage?” Aunt Raven asked.

  “I don’t know,” I said, feeling really vulnerable.

  “Anna insisted that you sleep in her bedroom with her,” she informed me. I perked up a little. I really liked that girl. “She has a queen-size bed that you guys can share until we can figure out what’s going on.”

  “Is Anna here?” I asked.

  “Yes. Just go on upstairs. You know where to find her.” I gave my aunt another hug before I headed up to Anna’s room.

  Grandmot
her Esmeralda decided to stay for a few days until I got settled in. If the truth were to be told, she only stayed because she knew that my being there was putting a lot of pressure on Aunt Raven. It was an unsettling feeling knowing that I was the cause of underlying tension in the house.

  While Aunt Raven and Uncle Herman were at work, Grandmother Esmeralda took it upon herself to make sure no major fallouts happened. Anna and I got along well, Maya stayed to herself and Paul got lost in his video games. Although Aunt Raven told her not to, Grandmother Esmeralda did all the laundry, cleaning and cooking for several days. Coming home to a clean house and a hot meal was something that went over well with Uncle Herman.

  I received a text message from an old friend who lived in my old neighborhood. He made money on the side as a DJ at parties and said that he was throwing a summer bash and was inviting everyone he knew. I got the address from him, but was a little disappointed when I realized that it was in the city.

  “Damn,” I whispered to myself as I stood in the bathroom and read his text. If I were still living with my mother and Martin I could come and go at will. I knew that in order to go I’d have to get really creative and do a lot of scheming to pull it off without getting caught. After thinking about it for a day, I came up with a plan. It was a risky one, but I was willing to give it a try, because I totally needed to blow off some steam and have some fun for once in my life. I decided that it was best to keep my plans all to myself. The less everyone knew, the better. I figured I’d just sneak out of the house for a few hours and come back in. Aunt Raven had already given me a spare door key and the alarm code for the house. I could exit the house through a side door in the basement, where Grandmother Esmeralda was sleeping on the sofa bed. She slept like a corpse so I knew she wouldn’t hear anything. I figured I’d take her car keys and drive myself down to the party. I’d see some old friends, have a good time and be back before anyone noticed that I was gone.

  On the night of the party I placed the clothes I’d change into in the trunk of Grandmother Esmeralda’s car. I waited until 11:30 p.m. when everyone was sound asleep. Once I got out of the house, I was about to get into Grandmother Esmeralda’s car, which was parked in the driveway, when I heard someone say, “Where the hell are you going?”