Note that this isn't the guaranteed first chapter...it could change
But just what I'm working with at the moment...
Chapter 1
”Y’all kids gonna miss the bus if you don’t get up”, mama shouts.
Every morning with the same old thing from mama. Were always on time to get ready for the bus. Well, at least I am. Yet she still feels the need to yell at us from the kitchen. It’s the same routine every day: at 6:30 a.m. I wake up, stretch my arms and exercise for 10 minutes because I read you become lazy and stiff when you get older if you don’t. I put on my school uniform I ironed last night. I sit them by the radiator so they still feel warm on my butt when I put them on. It like putting on fresh underwear that’s just gotten out of the dryer. After I brush my teeth, I read a chapter from A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle. I really like the Sherlock Holmes books; since I started, I tend to pay attention to peoples body language just as Sherlock does. When people fold their arms in certain situations, small biting on their nail’s and much more. Francis and I went to the barbershop once because he needed his hair cut. Mama insisted that he take me with him so I can get out the house a little while. At the barbershop, a lady and three boys sat in front of us also waiting to get their hair cut. A large man knocks on the window, and the lady steps outside to see him. I thought the large man was their father, but I noticed from two of the boys expression in the barbers mirror they didn’t like the man very much. They sat with their arms folded and a scolding look on their faces. The youngest looking boy sat playing with a power ranger toy without a care in the world. She stood there talking to him with her arms folded and a disgruntled look on her face. They talk for a couple minutes and he hands her some money. She still has a sad look on her face despite him giving her money.
“Mama I’m hungry. When can we go home?” the youngest boy pleads as she walks back into the barbershop.
“Just be quiet and get your hair cut. We going home and eat once y’all finished. You can’t just go outside looking any kinda way. And Jason and Eli straighten your faces up before I do it for you. I don’t know what either of y’all got an attitude for.” she says to the older boys.
I’ve seen that same look and body language on mama many times. We’ve driven across the city in pouring rain to see her friend Orlando.
“Damn bro how much longer we got to sit out her?” Francis says from the front seat.
My younger sister, Adara is sleeping beside me in the backseat. She always does when it rains. She can’t help it, it’s as if the rain is singing her a lullaby. I can see mama and Orlando standing at an office building entrance and mama looking as if she wants to cry. Her and the lady at the barbershop have the exact same “body language” as Sherlock calls it. From the look on her face: her eyes are dim and sleepy like. She’s fatigued with her shoulders hunched over as she stands leaning up against the wall. I always wondered was it a thing single black mothers did collectively? Do they all have a meeting to discuss their problems and cry together? Moments later, we can see mama running back in the rain from a short distance. “Fucking finally”, Francis mutters.
“You done talking to your boyfriend or do we wait to go home some more?” Francis says.
“Mind your damn business and put your seat belt on.” Mama responds.
“You always got something to say.”
“All I ask was can we go home, all that yelling not even necessary”, he says.
“Again, stop talking and put your seat belt on so we can go.”
Thank You for reading if you've made it this far...
Not certain of a final release date, or publishing, or anything of that nature. I'm just writitng.
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If you have a question specifically for me and are too lazy to email just send me a message on Facebook.