AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Girl, where you’re at is a cakewalk compared to when we all lived in Memphis!” Blue narrowed her eyes and snorted.
“That’s true, but I had gotten accustomed to livin’ here that year, and then after Lily went and did what she did, I had to move. I need to bring Ayanna on over here, regardless if her mama like it or not. I like my job, the folks are nice, but it doesn’t pay enough, so that’s a problem, too. Also, I want to open a boutique, just like I told you.”
Blue nodded and slid a diamond ring down her finger.
“Don’t you give up on that dream, girl. You were always good at that sort of thing. Ya mama gave up on her dreams, and look where it got her? The family made fun of me for never getting married and havin’ children, but that was my choice. I love men, I love bein’ in love, I love kids, but I knew that wasn’t somethin’ I needed to mess with twenty-four-seven. Know thyself, baby. You know what you want—pursue it with everything in you!”
“I am, Aunt Blue. I just wish it was happening sooner.”
“All in God’s time, honey, all in God’s time. I ain’t rich, but I told you I’d help you when the time came.”
Iris appreciated how much Blue wanted her to succeed. She’d always been so supportive. She was the type of woman that if you told her you wanted to go to the moon, and she saw you studying for years for that, she’d buy you a ladder and purchase stock in NASA.
“Your mama ain’t have sometimes but a couple of dollars to spare, and you’d go somewhere and buy a cheap scarf or throw, a shawl or hat, some plastic belt, little of nothin’, and before we knew it, you’d totally revamped an old outfit on your sewin’ machine, or used paints and stuff, and made it look like something a fashion model would wear.”
Iris felt heat on her cheeks at the complement. “At that time, I think I liked people’s reaction more than the actual clothes. That’s another reason why I may need to move. I was thinking I could help the women where I am now, but they’re not as open-minded and progressive as the folks in Memphis, or hell, even here. Some of ’em are real nice, don’t get me wrong, but it’s like so many of them have lost all hope, including my friend at work, Lark. She’s come a long way in life, but she can’t seem to see that she can do more, if she just believes she can. She thinks I’m in a fairytale land about this boutique, but I feel like, hell, if I don’t even try, that’s all it’ll be for certain. A fairytale.”
Blue slipped a sheer, long black tunic type top over her bra and camisole. “I told you a long time ago I ain’t want you living there. It’s depressing, too. When I drove over last month to visit you and Ayanna, people just seemed down in the dumps, but that’s what all that poverty will do to you. All them White folk over there are crazy, too.”
“Blue, that’s not true! Come on now.” Iris laughed.
“It’s true. Every bit of it. I’ve been around a lot longer than you and have seen enough. I have no idea why Lily moved ’round those parts. And now here you are, stuck there, too.”
“Remember, Blue? She’d gotten that job offer at that restaurant, but instead of staying and workin’ her way up the ranks to head chef, she started missing days and cussin’ her coworkers out. Lily crazy. That’s who’s crazy, and last I checked, she was Black like me, so it ain’t just the White people.”
Blue sat down at her vanity and applied a bright red shade of lipstick.
“It’s an admirable thing you’ve done, though. Taking poor Ayanna in. That girl is so damn smart, and instead of Lily being grateful, she tryna tell the family you stole that girl clean up from under her. You didn’t do no such thing. She was about to enter the city childcare system, and the judge made it so. I set ’em straight.”
“I didn’t steal Ayanna and she knows it. She isn’t that far gone from reality. I had Ayanna with me more than her own mother had her, and when Lily left her job, she lost track of reality and became paranoid again. Her neighbor said she think Lily got anxiety problems.”
“Anxiety problems? Shiiiid.” Blue sucked her teeth then motioned for her to help with the clasp on her necklace. “That child don’t know what anxiety is! Lily ain’t got the sense God gave her! It must’ve fallen out of her head when she was doin’ cartwheels butt naked in Mrs. Frankie’s yard that one time. She got some nerve getting her butt on her back with you. She tried to put her mouth on me one time, too… and believe me, it was just one damn time! She forgot who she was fuckin’ with.”
Iris sighed and shook her head. “When she’s done being mad again, I guess she’ll call me back. Where are you going tonight, Auntie? Get yo’ life! Lookin’ all jazzy!” She cackled.
“I met a new man. He’s takin’ me out to eat at some fancy Chinese spot. I’m glad, ’cause I spent too much money online shopping this month. Girl, it’s addictive!”
“I know, I limit myself, too. Money is always tight for me though, but hopefully that’ll change after I make some adjustments, and keep working towards my goals… Speakin’ of which, guess what?”
“What?”
Iris stood behind her aunt as the woman began to comb her shoulder length, relaxed hair, with bits of silver threaded through it. The clear comb with gold embellishments glided through the bone straight tresses. Blue was old school. She never embraced her natural curls, but Iris had to admit the woman’s hair was healthy and bouncy, all the same.
“Some White, black haired, bearded tall drink of somethin’ dangerous and off-putting, offered me a job. I could use the money, and it seems easy enough, but I don’t know…”
“What does it involve?” Blue asked as she spritzed herself with a bottle of fancy perfume.
“It would be part time, just a few hours a week. Said he’d give me fifty dollars an hour, plus money for food and recreation. He comes in my store all the time, has been for a while now, but we ain’t never really spoke. Then one day, out of the blue, this man asked me if I wanted to basically babysit his friend, an adult with some sort of developmental problems.”
“That’s different, now ain’t it? ’Specially since you two are practically strangers, but I guess you made him feel comfortable. You just never know. Some folks don’t have bad intentions, baby. They just good judges of character.”
“It’s funny you say that,” Iris laughed, “because he said as much. Someone recognized him in the store one time and called him Judge. Must be his nickname.” She shrugged.
“Judge, huh? Maybe he works in law enforcement, is a bounty hunter or something like that. Anyway, I wouldn’t scoff at that money he offered you though. Seems easy to make… just to sit around with someone. Hold up, maybe you’d earn every dollar ’cause one thing I refused to do when you was a baby, and now with any kids or handicapped adults, is change a damn diaper. Can this adult wipe his own ass? That’s the million-dollar question.”
“Yeah. The man is only twenty-eight, he said. I’m not sure what his specific disability is though. Jude—that’s the name of the guy who wants to hire me—said this person can bathe himself, and he’s clean, can tidy up all by himself, and nice. He talks, but his speech ain’t always real clear, so you gotta listen closely. He can read, too, and feed himself or get dressed. Just lonely.”
“Well, that sounds like it might be easy as pie. I’d wanna know though, why is he willing to throw down that kind of money with a random person? Why doesn’t he just hire a nurse?”
