The Countdown to Thirty

by Nefertiti Faraj

  “Locked and loaded.” Nina added in between laughs before making some useful commentary. “It’s like the longer you wait to start a business Sonya you’ll get stuck in your ways and never do it. Get started on something,” Nina added supportively.

  “What about you Kaia? How many years until your countdown?”

  Finishing off my glass of wine then helping myself to another I delayed my response, “Two. So time is not really on my side when it comes to my big ticket items.”

  “Big ticket items?” Sonya inquired.

  “Kids and marriage. Well marriage first then kids. They’re still sitting on my to-do list unchecked. Does that really count?”

  “Well you never know who you’re going to meet. Believe me if I could I would have made a point NOT to meet my ex. But maybe the way you approach your goal of marriage and children would apply.”

  “I think that with age the chances of marriage and children go down and since finding a qualified mate only gets harder with age I’d have to sadly say it counts.” I added.

  Sonya shrugged her shoulders then for the hell of it splashed Nina with another round of hot water.

  As the night progressed and the liquor poured Sonya – who I was learning cursed like a sailor but was extremely smart and genuine - confessed she hears me from time-to-time in the bed with Malcolm, so I told her a little about my baby. When she confessed she was a serial non-dater and that she wanted to attend Chateau Oasis’ Resident Safety Program next week I agreed to meet here there.

  After everyone else left the pool the three of us decided to jump in. We were good and buzzed and I realized just how hard, but fun it is to swim intoxicated. Although Nina complained, she was satisfied with her life as an Assistant Bank Manager, mother of three and her high-school sweetheart as her boyfriend. But I admired Sonya for being strong enough to be single and satisfied with that. Not many women including myself see things that way. Actually not many men either truth be told. Just look at Christian and his out of order love life.

  When it came down to it, Sonya and I had different desires yet we understood each other at the same time.

  Five

  Sonya

  At a quarter to six the property manager finally unlocked the large castle like doors that led into Chateau Oasis’ finely decorated clubhouse. To the left was a computer room that offered six desktop computers and was fully functional with a printer, scanner and fax machine. It was sealed off by a large door engineered with pretty crackle glass which was also featured throughout the clubhouse. As I walked along the red and brown swirly stripes that flowed throughout the carpet I was led into the main sitting area. A large gas fireplace acted as the focal point. The mantle was ornamented with various shades of light and brown jagged rock then housed a large 60” flat screen TV. On the adjacent wall of the fireplace was a nicely set-up table with a variety of refreshments including chocolate chip and oatmeal cookies, donuts a few veggie trays and an assortment of grapes, strawberries and sliced pineapple.

  After grabbing a plate of pineapple and strawberries then a bottle of water I took a seat on a plush tan sectional that was strewn with decorative throw pillows and curved elegantly into a half moon shape.

  “I’ve got to get the name of their decorator,” I said to myself appreciating the expertise of said designer.

  I realized the meeting was supposed to get started in another seven minutes or so but there were only about a dozen residents including myself silently chewing on our refreshments and sipping on our miniature bottles of water. Everyone in attendance so far were women except for the one man who just so happened to be the old peeping Tom from the pool. I frowned then shifted my position towards the woman sitting to my left when he winked at me.

  Kaia still hadn’t managed to make it in yet but I figured she was probably held up at work. I truly looked forward to seeing her for some strange reason. After all the times we’ve said “hi” or “good morning” to each other while heading off to work in the morning I never imagined she’d be so laid back.

  In mid chew I realized I must have been too preoccupied with the delightful flavor of the fruit because I barely took notice of the red haired woman next to me until she began profusely tapping at my shoulder. I was deep in thought savoring the sweet flavor of strawberries when I realized she was speaking to me.

  “Excuse me?” I said asking her to repeat her question.

  “I said I heard they arranged this program because of the rash of break-ins in the area. It’s just crazy isn’t it?”

  I quickly finished chewing what was left of my fruit and forced a hard swallow so I could respond, “Yes it is. It’s ridiculous.”

  I knew what she was referring to. Lately within the few minutes in the morning that I briefly watched the news there have been reports about break-ins and home invasions. It’s like robbery season officially started and every vulnerable person was a target.

  “Can you believe people would stoop so low? Go out and get your own stuff. People work hard for what they have and these punks just kick in doors and take it!” She vented with chewed up chunks of her glaze donut in her mouth.

  Even though her demeanor was a little more excitable than mines I could understand every bit of her anger. I’d be devastated if someone broke into my home, scared me half to death then took my possessions I’d worked hard to get. There was nothing fair about it.

  “Man I’d like to be on that jury if they ever catch these devils.” I added.

  “Oh let me tell you sister, I’d throw the book at ‘em. And did you hear about the latest one last night? Just about ten minutes from here. They broke into the house of a poor pregnant woman and she must have startled them because the heartless bastards shot her. It’s all over the news.”

  While gasping I placed my hand over my heart and asked, “Is she okay? Did she die?”

  “No not yet. She’s at UMC fighting for her life. She’s listed in critical but serious condition.”

  I’d been too busy submitting job applications and fooling around with my closet today to watch anything more than ten minutes of TV. But now that I was informed of the latest breaking news I went from concerned citizen to pissed-off-bitch ready to amp this meeting up from a Resident Safety Program to an angry lynch mob ready to attack.

  I shook my head in disgust, “What is this world coming to.”

  A few minutes passed by as more residents came in and grabbed refreshments and took their seating waiting for the meeting to commence. Finally the property manager began the meeting by handing out print-outs displaying a map with red circles indicating all the areas where the recent outbreak of robberies have been. It alarmed me that that most had been in apartment buildings but I was somewhat grateful that they had all been downstairs apartments. Kaia and I lived upstairs.

  Lucas – the property manager – introduced two police officers from Metro as they stood to give us detailed information on how to be safe. They talked in depth about knowing you’re surroundings, if you see anything suspicious report it and the safety of walking with another person if you can help it. They even suggested that we install alarm systems in our homes. While looking around the room I saw Kaia sneak in in the back. When we met eyes I waived her over to me then excused myself as I squeezed closer to the red haired woman to make room on the sectional.

  “Thanks,” Kaia whispered as she made it to my side of the room and sat down, “Did I miss a lot?”

  “I’ll fill you in when it’s over.”

  “I got caught up at work. My new boss is killing me!” She silently shouted.

  “Shhh!” The red haired woman hissed letting us know she didn’t appreciate our whispers. Kaia and I gave each other the “whatever” look then focused our attention back to the police officers.

  After they finished Lucas announced the property was starting a twenty-four hour patrol. Judging by the grateful sighs this relieved a lot of the worry from the residents, myself included.

  “We’ve contracted with
a security company to get twenty-four hour patrol for the property starting tomorrow. Now, they’ll be on bikes and monitoring the property throughout the day,” Lucas proclaimed.

  “Will they be armed? There’s no point if they’re not armed,” A resident shouted from somewhere in the back.

  “I’m glad you asked that, yes they will be properly armed and they’ve had many years of training. They know what to look for and how to spot suspicious activity such as the home monitoring that Officer Gonzalez pointed out.

  “I’m not comfortable with that.” An elderly looking woman broadcasted, “This place is going to look like some sort of military compound if you let them in here with guns. I’m absolutely opposed to it.”

  “Me to,” another resident declared.

  This time it was coming from an Asian woman standing near the front of the room, “If you guys can’t keep this place safe as it is now I want out of my lease. I never agreed to guys on bikes with guns when I moved-in.”

  The clubhouse began to come alive with the sounds of whispering between residents including me and Kaia’s.

  “What do you think?” she asked me, “I don’t mind the guns, I think it’s better that way don’t you?”

  “Hell yes I do, these people are crazy.”

  Then leaning her body into mine and butting into our conversation without invitation the red haired woman offered her input, “I’ll guarantee you if their house is burglarized while they’re at work they’ll wish they had armed patrol around this place sister.”

  Kaia whispered in my ear, “Wasn’t she just the one who wanted us to shut up a few minutes ago?”

  “Exactly what I was thinking,” I said ignoring the woman’s comment.

  When she realized we weren’t going to entertain her she huffed, tooted her nose in the air and redirected her attention back to the property manager who was trying to gain back control of the conversation.

  “Excuse me everyone, if I can have everyone’s attention please!” He said, “If you have any specific questions regarding your lease agreement please contact me during regular business hours. However I can tell you now that we won’t be letting anyone out of their lease because of this. You can refer to section seventeen of your rental contract,” he added looking in the direction of the Asian woman.

  She rolled her eyes as I watched her mouth, “We’ll see about that.”

  Before the meeting wrapped up Lucas gave everyone the contact information for the new on-site security and left the floor open for questions for the officers. He quickly retreated back to his seat to avoid further opposition on the armed guard subject.

  When the meeting finally came to a close and Lucas and the assistant manager locked up the clubhouse, a few residents including Kaia and I meandered outside for a while.

  “So, what do you think?” I asked.

  “I don’t know. I’m not sure how much it’s going to help but I’m going to get a security system like they suggested,” She answered.

  To be honest, I was a little envious. I wanted a security system to but between my monthly bills and only my unemployment check I knew I had to kick that suggestion right out of my mind. Whoop-tee-do, something else I couldn’t afford.

  “Yea you should, definitely,” I replied.

  “I’ll call ADT tomorrow, maybe they have some sort of package deal or something we can go in on,” she kindly suggested.

  My insides perked back up and I eagerly replied, “Okay. That’s cool, let me know.”

  “Will do,” She said as she headed for her car, “Did you walk over? Hop in, we’ll ride back together.”

  Opening the door to Kaia’s Toyota Avalon I noticed her good taste when my eyes were met with her sleek black leather interior and light brown wood grain dash. The night at the pool she mentioned she was a graphic designer for a media company and I could see they clearly paid her well.

  It all got me thinking about the Countdown to Thirty talk show and how to make up for lost time. If menial jobs and bills were going to be the not so iconic legacy I left, once again you could just kill me now.

  Kaia brought me up-to-date on the season premiere of Scandal tonight and insisted I stay to watch it. So I did. I’ve never watched Scandal but I wasn’t ignorant to all the hype that was going on about it. So in order to do it right I insisted we run to Smith’s and buy popcorn and root beer floats…and we did.

  As we graced the isles of the grocery store in search of extra buttery popcorn Kaia mentioned she was house hunting.

  “I haven’t found the right one yet but each one I see I’m hoping it’s nice enough so that Malcolm will want to move-in with me.”

  “Well why wouldn’t he?”

  “He just wants to take things slow because of his past relationship but it’s been two years now,” She confided, “Any slower and we’ll be moving backwards.” She said laughing off the notion but I could sense the worry in her voice.

  I didn’t want to say anything. In fact at this point I forbid myself from saying anything negative about her boyfriend because I didn’t know her that well. But he just seems, kind of, he seems pretty trifling to me. I mean if I catch you ogling my ass and you don’t even try to conceal it as I’m walking upstairs and you’re following behind headed to your girlfriend’s house, something’s wrong.

  “Have you told him how you feel? Have you actually talked to him about it?”

  “He knows how I feel. Every single sign says I’m ready for more. I don’t want to be an old mom. I’ll already be old enough I don’t want to wait another three, four years. I don’t want to be forty when my kid is going to Kindergarten. That’s not cute. That’s not right.”

  “Hmm,” I said realizing this was a messed up situation he had her in. It was classic in my opinion though. Guy meets girl. Guy makes girl fall in love. Guy leads girl on then finally guy dumps girl and leaves her crying with a whole bunch of time she can never get back.

  “Popcorn! Found it!” I said changing the subject and throwing the Otis Spunkmeyer extra buttery popcorn in the basket.

  On the ride back home I had to remember to silence my anti-men campaign. Besides, who was I to give anyone advice? I needed to focus on the upcoming job fair and how I was going to get my finances and non-existent career straightened out…before thirty.

  v

  The next day I broke my own rule and went to the complex pool in the middle of the afternoon. In the heat of the moment, I grabbed my novel – the murder/mystery one - and a bottle of Smart Water and got ready for some fun in the sun…well fun in the shade I wasn’t that crazy. 116 degree sun rays hurt like hell, I’m just grateful for my natural chocolate tan. No tanning beds, spray on tans or roasting like a sweaty pot roast for me.

  When I got there I was happy to see that the pervy old man from before was nowhere in sight. It was possible that this amount of heat could cause him to stroke out. He already looked like he was on his last leg anyway.

  “Smart choice,” I thought as I spread my towel along my nicely shaded pool chair.

  Not only did I not want to be discreet about wearing my curve flattering bikini at the pool (I mean that’s why we buy them right?) because some old man couldn’t keep his hormones in check, but I also wanted peace and quiet away from my apartment, away from the library or anywhere else that wasn’t the pool right now. I was the only one there since it was the middle of the week and I imagined that when I became successful I could do this multiple times throughout the year, but instead on somebody’s tropical island with a mojito in hand as opposed to the community watering hole with a plastic bottle of aqua…however, this works for now.

  Within a few shakes I was laughing and nearly crying tears while I read my unconventional and hilarious easy-read of a novel. It was about a no nonsense African American detective who secretly juggles her full-time job on the force along with her side gig as a successful supermodel. I think it was categorized as “fluffy stuff” by the bookstore cashier. But anyway, I’m well aware it’s not
my girl Terry McMillan or some other famous writer like Eric Jerome Dickey or Stephen King but it was funny, witty and light-hearted. I can totally appreciate a comedic mystery over a gruesome thriller right now.

  Nearly an hour into my book the shade umbrella didn’t seem to matter anymore, it was just too hot and dry. There wasn’t a single breeze, not even a searing one and I was beginning to bake like that sweaty pot roast anyway, sun rays or not.

  I lifted my black shades to get a good look at the sparkling blue pool. It looked cold and inviting with its steady crystal like waters and I began to imagine my hot skin sheathed in the middle of it. I didn’t hesitate a moment longer. I opened my book widely, separating the pages of where I was leaving off, and placed it face down on the table so I didn’t lose my place.

  I flip-flopped my way over to the shallow end of the pool and got ready to cool off. As I stepped out of my matching purple sandals I could feel those deathly rays of heat against my back creating deep unsightly tan lines by the second. I didn’t waste any more time and planted my first leg in the pool, nearly ready to plant the other when I experienced pain similar to millions of tiny sharp pricks against flesh.

  “Oww!” I screamed pulling my burning leg out of the water. The sun was so hot it’d turned my refreshing pool water into boiling volcano lava. I’d be lucky if I didn’t have first degree burns.

  “This is ridiculous.” I declared shaking my head back and forth. “I knew it was too good to be true.” I said thinking of the seducing appeal of the pool before I got in.

  By this time I’d had my fair share of sauna-like heat and headed back to collect my things. But not before I was approached by a black man in his early fifties or maybe mid-to-late forties. Judging by his getup; black creased nylon shorts, bright yellow polo shirt, black shades and a bulky revolver resting in his holster, I assumed he was our new controversial security guard.