“I told you six thirty, Merle,” Mom continued to argue. “We were gonna eat at six thirty. Didn't I say that? Six thirty! And here you come pulling up at a quarter to eight. What's that perfume you're wearing?”
“You like?” Aunt Marie asked with a big grin.
“It's okay. What is it?”
“I'll take the name of this perfume to my grave,” Aunt Marie teased.
“Yeah, well, take it, then,” Mom said. “And take that dress you're wearing, too. Where's Allen?” Mom asked, referring to Aunt Marie's husband.
“He's running an errand. He'll be here shortly. And this dress is a Stella McCartney, thank you very much.”
Aunt Marie twirled in a circle to show off the dress that hugged her figure.
Mom turned up her nose at Marie's snootiness, and Marie turned up her nose at Mom's crassness. Their personalities couldn't have been more different. The similarities came in their physical appearance only. They both had wide hips and big butts. Mom was thicker and curvier by about four sizes because Marie worked out religiously. But although one was thinner, their shapes were basically the same. They also had the same big, brown eyes, brown hair, and (originally) the same nose.
Aunt Deb chuckled at the two of them going at each other. I was used to it, so it wasn't so funny to me.
“Hey, Auntie Nita,” Adam said as he walked back into the kitchen and gave Mom a big hug. Mom hugged him, too, and gave him a big kiss on the cheek.
“Hey, boy! Where you been?” she asked, rubbing his head.
“I've been going to school and just chillin',” he said.
“Chillin', huh? Yeah, okay. Chillin' is fine, but you make sure you call your Auntie sometimes. You hear me? You know your mama won't let you and Amber come around family like she should.”
Aunt Marie made a face, but she didn't say anything.
“Yeah, I hear you, Auntie,” Adam said. “Did you make greens? I've been dying to get some of your greens!” He rubbed his hands together.
“I sure did. I have some right over there in that plastic container for you to take home. You know Auntie is gonna look out for her baby.”
“All right!” he said with a big smile, and walked out of the kitchen.
Aunt Marie swirled over to Mom.
“Anita, why on Earth would you make greens when you knew I was bringing cabbage?”
“It doesn't matter, Merle. Whatever's left over, you can take home with you. Those kids are tired of eating Chinese takeout. Feed them some
real
food.”
Aunt Marie looked thoroughly confused.
“Chinese takeout? Anita, that has
nothing
to do with the fact that you made greens when you
knew
I was bringing cabbage. You are so rude!”
“Rude? Well maybe I'm rude, but at least I'm not a prude,” Mom gave her a dirty look.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Aunt Marie asked.
“You know what I mean,” Mom said. “You sent my niece and nephew to that all-white school.”
Aunt Marie sighed. “Not this again, Anita. What exactly is wrong with giving my kids a better life and putting them in a good school? I would love for the students at the Academy to be more diverse, but unfortunately I don't have any control over that. What should I do, Anita? Put them in the local public school, so they can be inducted into a gang?”
“First of all,” Mom said, “you don't get
inducted
into a gangâ you get jumped into a gang. Get with the program, Merle, you have pre-teens in the house. Second, if you had your preference, your children wouldn't interact with any Black people besides yourself and Allen.” Mom pointed her finger at Aunt Marie. “I'm surprised,” Mom hissed, “that you even let them come around us.”
“And I'm surprised,” Aunt Marie countered, “that Roscoe has been hanging in there with you for so long. You are so closed minded and old school, Anita. We were raised in a different generation. Get over it already. You're intimidated by people who are intellectually superior to you. It's pretty sad, Anita.”
Uh-oh.
“Intellectually superior? Sad?” Mom exploded. “Just because you picked up that European diction from God-knows-where doesn't make you better than me, Merle. I graduated from college, just like you, and I even went back to graduate school, which you
still
haven't done.” She tossed a spoon into the sink with a clunk. “I don't know where along the way you felt like our upbringing was beneath you, and you were above us. You were embarrassed about the family nose, so you pulled a Michael Jackson. You were embarrassed about our great-grandmother's name, so you pulled a Tina Turner. You're a phony, Merle, nothing but a phony, with a phony nose and a phony name.”
Aunt Marie's new nostrils flared.
“What's wrong with changing what you don't like about yourself, Anita? Who says you have to accept what life throws you and just deal with it? I always hated my nose, even when we were kids. And it was
not
the family nose.” Aunt Marie gestured what its former length was like. “It was twice the size of everybody else's. You know that, because you used to tease me mercilessly about it. And the name
Merle
, Anita?
Merle?
Give me a break. I'm not walking around with that name. I've asked you a thousand times to stop calling me that. I changed my name over twenty years ago!”
“Whatever,
Merle
. I don't have time for this.”
“Yeah, let it go.” Aunt Deb chimed in.
“I'm over it already,” Aunt Marie said.
Uncle Allen walked into the kitchen with a case of beer.
“Hey, girl!” he called to Mom. “You got it smelling
good
up in here!”
His voice boomed. Uncle Allen had the deepest bass voice I've ever heard. It was like James Earl Jones and Barry White mixed together.
“Hey, boy!” Mom said, giving him a big hug. “I wouldn't have it smelling any other way up in here.”
“You make any of them greens to go, Anita?” Uncle Allen asked, rubbing his hands together exactly as his son had just done. He always tried to get as many leftovers as he could when he came over. Aunt Marie did a lot of things, but cooking was not one of them.
“You
know
it!” Mom said, and they both laughed.
Aunt Deb got up and gave Uncle Allen a long hug.
“You sure are looking good, girl,” he said to her.
“Thank you, Allen. You're looking good, too. No wonder Marie's keeping herself together. She's got to.”
She winked at Uncle Allen, and we all laughed.
“So, how was Palm Springs, Deb?” Uncle Allen asked. “You were just down there on business, weren't you?”
“Allen,” Mom interjected, “take this macaroni salad and put it on the table for me, will you?”
I guess she didn't want to hear any more financial freedom speeches from Aunt Deb.
“Sure, I'll take it,” Allen said. “I'm gonna check out that game with Roscoe while I'm at it.”
“Hey, Anaya,” Adam said, peeking his head in the kitchen door, “Can I hang out in your room?”
“Adam,” Aunt Marie said, “don't eat any more of those cookies. We're gonna be eating dinner soon.”
He just nodded.
“I don't care,” I said. “Just don't make a mess in there.”
Whenever he came over, Adam liked to go to my room, look at pictures from Terry Beat's parties, and use my computer. There had been two parties since the last time he had come over, so I had new photos for him. He flashed me the peace sign and walked out of the kitchen.
I heard Roscoe and Uncle Allen in the living room, laughing and talking. The two of them had no issues with each other. They were debating which sport Blacks were going to dominate next. Uncle Allen said hockey, and Roscoe said swimming.
Uncle Allen chuckled. “Black folks,” he explained, “worry too much about their hair and ashy skin to be swimming all the time.”
“Maybe so,” said Roscoe, “but we'd rather be a little ashy and throw a hot oil treatment in our hair than be skating on that damn ice. You know we don't like to be cold, man!”
Ava walked into the kitchen. She walked over and gave Mom and Aunt Marie a kiss.
“Hi, Mom. Hello, Aunt Marie. It's been a long time since I've seen you.”
“Well, hello, Ava,” Aunt Marie said. “How have you been? You sure are growing up.”
Aunt Marie still greeted Ava as if she were twelve years old.
“I'm good, Aunt Marie, the toils of life will not defeat me,” Ava replied.
I rolled my eyes.
“Mom, you need help with anything?” Ava asked.
“No, thank you, baby. Anaya's been helping me out. How was Bible study?”
“It was enlightening. When will dinner be ready? Are you making greens?”
Aunt Marie frowned. “Your mom claimed that dinner was ready over an hour ago,” she said, “and everybody was just waiting for me. But the funny thing is, I'm standing right here, and she's still putting cheese on the macaroni.”
“The macaroni and cheese is done,” Mom announced. “I'm just adding Velveeta for extra flavor. It'll take three minutes. But you don't know much about extra flavor, do you, Merle? All that bland food you cook. Do you still season your meals with only salt and pepper?”
Everybody laughed except Ava, who apparently didn't think it was very funny. She was wearing nothing noticeableâa long, black skirt; black turtleneck; and black-and-white Pumas. No makeup or earrings, and her hair was piled on top of her head in a tight ponytail. But dare I say that my sister still looked beautiful?
“How have you been, Ava?” Aunt Deb asked. Aunt Deb was sitting at the small table near the door, so Ava hadn't seen her yet. Or, at least, Ava
acted
as if she hadn't seen Aunt Deb.
Ava turned to Deb with a pause that was just a few seconds too long.
Rude!
“I'm good, Aunt Deb,” she responded. It was no secret that Ava disapproved of Aunt Deb's belief in astrology. She called it sacrilege.
“Let me know when the grub's ready, Mom,” Ava said. “Oh, hi, Ny,” she said my way, pretending she had just noticed that I was in the room.
She left without waiting for my response.
Ava had been doing some bizarre things since joining her new church. To begin with, she was always protesting something. It was strange to me.
Ava and I weren't close, but we were cordial, and I figured that was as good as it was ever going to be between us. Whenever I talked to her for more than five minutes, I had to fight the urge to pin her down and pluck her eyebrows. I loved her, but sometimes I wished she were a little more normal. She was a great student and never got in any trouble, but there was no doubt that she was a head case.
Sometimes it was hard to believe we were related. I liked clothes, music, shopping, and hanging out with my friends. Ava never shopped, she only wore black, and she went to prayer meetings for fun. I accepted her, though. We were definitely different, and sometimes I wished we were closer and had been able to work together through losing our brother, Andrew.
“Is that girl okay, Anita?” Aunt Deb asked Mom.
Aunt Marie looked over at me, and then at Aunt Deb.
“Yeah, she's fine,” Mom said. “Just on the quiet side. Why do you ask?”
This was the first time I had ever seen Mom play dumb.
“Her rising sign is Venus, Anita. It's awfully strange she takes so little care in her appearance.”
“So?” Mom asked, putting her hands on her hips.
“People born under her sign tend to be weak-willed and easily led,” Deb said in a hushed voice. “Doesn't that worry you?”
“What are you trying to say, Deborah?”
“I'm not trying to say anything. I'm saying you should keep a closer eye on that girl and find out what kind of church she's going to. Even the strongest people can get caught up with the wrong thing.”
“Deborah, my child is not a part of some cult, if that's what you're thinking. I taught my kids to be strong. Ava loves God. She's not a part of some cult. You hear me?” Mom was shaking a spatula and raising her voice.
“Who said anything about a cult?” Deb asked.
The doorbell rang, and both Mom and Aunt Deb looked at me to get it.
Shoot!
I didn't want to miss anything, so I ran to the door as fast as I could. It was my Uncle Riley and some super-tall woman I had never seen before. I thought it was going to be Wanda, who had been his girlfriend for the past three years, but this woman was definitely not Wanda.
“Hey, Ny! How you doing, baby?”
“Hey, Uncle Riley!”
I gave him a quick hug and held my breath, because if I didn't, the Cool Water cologne would have made me faint. When I stepped back to let him into the house, he let his friend go first. It was nice to see that Uncle Riley had picked up manners from somewhere.
Aunt Marie came out of the kitchen and gave Riley a big hug.
He eyed Aunt Marie up and down, saying, “Hey, girl, you looking
good!
”
She put her hands on her hips and gave him a quick pose. “Well,” she said, “I certainly can't complain, Riley.” She looked up at Riley's date.
“Marie, this is my friend, Troy. Troy, this is my sister, Marie.”
“It's a pleasure,” Aunt Marie said, extending her hand.
“You, too,” Troy said, offering a limp hand that looked more like a dead fish. Then Troy leaned into Uncle Riley, who put his arm protectively around her waist.
I didn't know what was more shockingâthe fact that Troy was an entire head taller than my uncle, or that she sounded like Darth Vader.
“You two make yourselves comfortable,” Aunt Marie said, pointing to the living room. “Dinner will be ready shortly.”
Uncle Riley and Troy went into the living room, where Roscoe and Uncle Allen were watching TV.