Page 43 of Ghost in the Night

Dad stares down at his folded hands. My stomach tenses, and I can’t shake the feeling of wanting to run from whatever is about to come my way.

“Dad? What’s wrong?” Oh God, is he dying too?

He sighs. “Baby, I have to tell you something. You’re not going to like it. But … if you just give it a chance, well, you’ll grow to like it. Maybe.”

“What are you talking about?” I snap. Only because it sounds like he’s talking in circles.

He takes a deep breath. “We’re not going back to Harlem. We’re moving here. To Savannah.”

I blink, thinking I’m hearing things. “Huh? No. I’m saying we have to go back home.”

Dad rubs his head. “Mony. We can’t move back, ’cause the apartment is gone.”

Once again, I swear I’m hearing things, so I try not to overreact. But my heart must have heard him right, because it’s racing and skipping beats.

“Gone? What do you mean gone? What happened?”

Dad swallows before he goes on to explain. “The apartment was in Ma’s name, paid for with her Social Security. And once she died, the landlords came after it. It was one of the last rent-stabilized spots in the building, they weren’t gonna let that go. It was gonna cost more money to fightthem than we had. I couldn’t afford the new rent so … I had no choice but to give it up.”

I’m listening, but my mind is back in the apartment, picturing it empty. Picturing Grandma’s ghost standing there, wondering where everyone went. Picturing her watching another family live there. Picturing her heartbroken, missing us, the way we miss her. Tears start to bubble, my hands shaking so hard I have trouble holding my phone. I don’t understand, and even if I ask him to explain another dozen times, I still won’t get it.

“Why …why didn’t you tell me?” I ask, my voice cracking.

He shrugs. “I … couldn’t. We had already lost so much. First your mother, then Ma … I was waiting for the right time to break the news.”

The room grows hot, like the whole house is on fire. How could he keep this from me? We talk about everything. He should have told me. Given me time to say goodbye and pack my own room …

I gasp. “Wait, what about all our stuff?”

“Peggy packed up everything and put it in a storage spot,”he says, like he’s trying to reassure me that everything is fine. But it’s not fine. Aunt Peggy was in on this too?

Once again, my mind is not in Savannah, it’s in Harlem, taking a mental inventory of every inch of the apartment. My clothes, my coats, my skates, my TV, my favorite books …

Suddenly my lungs stop working as a dark thought slips in.

“What did you do with all of Grandma’s albums?!” I’m shouting now.

Dad holds up his hands. “Peggy got them at her place!” he insists. “Don’t worry, they’re safe.”

“I wasn’t worrying before because they were safe in our home!” I scream, tears falling down on my shirt.

Dad tries reaching for me, and I back away. “Mony, I’m sorry. I didn’t want it to go down like this.”

“You knew the whole time, didn’t you?” I ask with a sniff. “That’s why you were okay with me coming on this tour with you. You wanted to get me out of the house, so you could get rid of our spot and shack up with your new girlfriend in Savannah!”

Dad shakes his head. “Nah. It ain’t like that at all, Iswear. This opportunity to come to Savannah came up while we were on the road. I promise, I was gonna tell you. I was just waiting for the right time.”

“How could you lie to me? Why did you lie to me? We’re supposed to be a team!”

Dad sighs. “But … we got a good thing going here, in Savannah. The bar is going to give me a standing gig. We’ll have enough to buy our own home. I mean, look at all this fresh air, trees, quiet … It’s something your mother really wanted for you. Schools are pretty good too. And you already made a new friend.”

New home? New school? New friends?

I don’t hear anything else he has to say. I walk past him, out the front door, down the porch steps. The sky is dark pink and blue, the sun fading, the air still hot as ever as I sprint away, tears blinding me.

My home is gone.

That’s all I keep thinking as I drift farther from Lena’s place with no real direction and no goal in mind.Wandering through the streets, down the cracked sidewalks as the night bugs come out, replacing the silence, seeming almost louder than the passing cars. I’m low-key surprised Dad ain’t come after me. But maybe he knows I need some space.