“Thank you,” Mia said, blushing.
Jean gave Pam a big hug.
“How’s your mom doing today?” Jean asked.
“Very well. She’s in the kitchen. Go on in. I’ll get Taylor,” Pam said.
“That’s why I brought Mia. I know they’re going to hit it off. My other grandkids have their friends, and Jim is jealous already.”
“Mr. Jim is so sweet,” Pam said, laughing. “Come on, let’s go get Taylor, Mia.”
Taylor was in her room reading.
“Taylor, this is Mia. Mia, this is Taylor. Your grandmothers have been very dear friends most of their lives, and Mia’s mother, Nikki, and I have been friends since we were little girls. Mia is here visiting her grandparents for the summer. We were thinking you girls could probably have some fun together while she’s here,” Pam said.
“Hello,” Taylor said, closing her book.
“Hi. What are you reading?” Mia asked as Pam slipped out the door.
“
The Royal Diaries of Cleopatra
,” Taylor said, handing Mia the book.
“Is it good?” Mia asked, flipping through the pages. “I had to do a report on Egypt and learned about Cleopatra, but not the stuff that would be in her diaries.”
“It’s interesting. Do you like to read?” Taylor asked.
“I love reading novels. I’m going to be an actress. What are you going to be?”
“An attorney, like my mom.”
“Cool.”
A little while later, Jean and Bea came into Taylor’s room.
Mia jumped up, ran over, and gave Bea a hug. Her grandmother had told her that she hadn’t been feeling well.
“Hi, Ms. Bea, I hope you are having a good day today,” Mia said, gently squeezing her.
“Aw, I am now, darling. How sweet.”
“Gives Jim cavities,” Jean said, and they both laughed, knowing that Mia had her granddaddy wrapped around her pinkie. “How’re you, Taylor?”
“Fine, Ms. Jean, and you?”
“Wonderful, baby. There’s some fruit and juice downstairs if you girls get hungry.”
“Okay, Grandma,” Mia said.
As Jean and Bea sat and sipped tea, they decided to have Jean and Jim’s first pool party the following weekend. The children were hitting it off wonderfully, yet they were all scattered from house to house, office to office. The ladies thought it would be great to have all three generations together. Bea and Jean had been friends since they were young, their children had been friends since childhood, and now the grandchildren were establishing their own friendships.
They called Grace Mitchell to come over to help with the planning. Their friend Alexis Wilkes still worked during the day, by choice. Her son, Zach, wanted her to stop working and spend her days doing what she wanted, but Alexis was used to working. Grace’s husband had left her in decent financial condition. That, in addition to her small pension from the school system and the supplement for her grandchildren, was sufficient. She came right over and joined in the planning.
“This pool party is going to be such a blessing,” Grace said. “I’m thankful to God for the opportunity to have Damon and LaKisha around some positive youth, considering the neighborhood they were brought up in before I got custody. The influences from their old neighborhood took their toll on them as well as their mother.”
“They’re sweet kids, and this party will be great for them all to get better acquainted with each other and maybe get something as wonderful as we have established,” Bea said.
“Then Saturday it is. We’ll call and make sure everyone is available,” Jean said.
“Sounds absolutely wonderful,” Grace agreed.
P
rofessional party planners would envy the grandmothers’ organization of the pool party cookout. The middle-generation men had three grills smoking, but Jim had the huge open-pit barbecue with marinated ribs and T-bone steaks sizzling. Zakia’s husband, Jay Carter, worked the seafood grill with fish, jumbo shrimp, and scallops. Eli had chicken on his grill, while Zach had burgers and hot dogs with the little lines grilled to perfection.
There were two picnic tables filled to capacity with food, one with bowls of beans, pastas, and salads, the other with bread, chips, cakes, cookies, and pies. Coolers were all over the yard and were filled with juice, bottled water, soft drinks, and flavored iced tea.
Micah was standing beside Zach at his grill discussing Jaron’s trial when Pam appeared. It was the first time he had seen her since she left Richmond after high school graduation. She was stunning, and he was speechless. To her, Micah looked mature, not old, still handsome, although burdened. Micah suddenly had an unfamiliar feeling in his stomach. Seeing Pam seemed to alleviate a bit of the burden. Or was that feeling the added burden of regret? He couldn’t tell as he watched her approach.
“Micah, long time no see,” she said as she embraced him with all the compassion and empathy of a true and dear friend. She had only been back a couple of months, but was up-to-date on Jaron’s case thanks to the grandma grapevine. She had been a tough prosecutor, yet she hadn’t felt led to contact Micah or Zach about the case.
“Pam—you—you—how are you?” Micah stuttered.
“Steady, man,” Zach whispered in his ear.
“I’m fine, thanks. Hey, Zack,” Pam said, smiling as she kissed Zach’s cheek.
“Hey, Ms. DA,” Zach said, turning his other cheek for her to kiss as well.
“You look great,” Micah finally managed.
“Thanks. So do you. Look, if there is anything I can do,” Pam began.
“Thanks, Pam,” Micah said, cutting her off, feeling somewhat uncomfortable talking to her about the son that broke them up. “Zach here has furnished me with the best team of attorneys on the East Coast.”
“Well, I would expect nothing less from Mr. Black Enterprise.”
“As long as we aren’t facing you, my dear, we’ll be okay,” Zach said.
“I’m always on your side,” she said before turning to Micah. “Don’t hesitate to call me, even if you just want to talk. What’s done is done. We’re still all family and will always be there for one another. I mean, the way Mamalexis, Ms. Jean, and Ms. Grace pitched in and took care of my mother after her heart attack until I could close up shop and get back to take care of her myself—well, they just taught us so well how to be there,” Pam said.
“You said it,” Zach agreed.
“I appreciate that, Pam,” Micah said, finally feeling forgiven.
The youngest generation was told stories of yesteryear. Zakia, Eboni, and Pam even did some of their old high school cheers while LaKisha, Shay, Mia, and Taylor tried to copy their moves. As the Execs told stories of their childhood business club, one could see the wheels turning in JJ’s and Taj’s heads. They soaked up every word and were nonverbally communicating with each other. The only type of club seven-year-old Damon knew of was the street gangs from his old neighborhood. He didn’t really understand all of what was being said, but he felt he wanted to be a part of a club too. He watched JJ and Taj go off together and followed them.
“What are you talking about?” Damon asked.
“Business. We are going to form our own club, the Junior Executives,” JJ answered. “Why don’t you go play with Ahmad?”
“Can I join your club?” Damon asked.
JJ looked at Taj. They both looked Damon up and down and burst into laughter.
“Like I said, go play with Ahmad,” JJ said as he turned to Taj and they went on like Damon had already walked away.
Offended, Damon stormed off. He thought the look they had given him meant he wasn’t good enough. He had received it numerous times when he transferred to the new school in Grace’s neighborhood. He felt rejected. He sat by himself brooding until Ahmad found him and snapped him out of it.
“Come on, let’s have a diving contest,” Ahmad said.
Damon had a better idea.
“Let’s start our own club,” he said.
“Okay,” Ahmad said, and ran and jumped in the pool.
Damon was deep in thought. He spotted Mia, and his heart skipped a beat. He had been influenced by the guys he had seen around his mother. He even remembered his sister laughing and enjoying her old boyfriend grabbing her and putting his hands all over her. He went over to where Mia was standing talking to Taylor and patted her on the behind. She jerked around and slapped him as hard as she could. Instinctively, he punched her back, and they started fighting. Zakia’s oldest son, Zeke, who witnessed the whole scene, ran over and snatched up Damon. Eli and Eboni’s daughter, Essence, who had been deep in conversation with Zeke at the time, ran over and grabbed Mia, who was almost hysterical. JJ and Taj looked up to see what the commotion was about. They really didn’t want to be disturbed, so they decided that the grown-ups could handle whatever was going on and went back to their strategy.
By the time the grandmothers were made aware of what had happened, everybody had been calmed down and the situation was under control. Jim could barely hear what was going on above the music and the sizzling of the steaks. Jean rushed over to him to make sure he didn’t find out what had happened, since he was so overprotective of his grandchildren. She would tell him later, but definitely not while Damon was still there.
Due to the resiliency of children, everything was back to normal, except Mia now despised Damon and rolled her eyes at him when she caught him looking at her from across the yard. Zeke had instructed Damon to stay away from her for the time being. Grace was embarrassed to tears by her grandson’s behavior. It took all the grandmothers to restrain her from tearing her grandson’s behind completely off his body.
“Man! Has the whole world gone mad?” Zeke asked Essence as they resumed their conversation.
“I’m telling you, man. Look at that frisky LaKisha parading her fast behind in front of you. Keep ignoring her. Maybe she’ll sit her ghetto self down,” Essence said to Zeke, not at all trying to hide the fact that she did not like LaKisha.
“Aw, give her a break or I’ll call you Essie,” Zeke said, laughing.
Essence playfully hit him in the chest. “You better not call me no Essie! Besides, this is our time. With me away at college, we only have the summer to catch up and hang out like we used to. Now with Jaron’s situation, it’s just us, so we have to stick together. And ain’t no hoochie mama going to distract us,” she informed him.
Essence had just completed her freshman year at Manna State University, where she was a cheerleader. She laughed at her mom and her friends when they did their old-school cheers. Nowadays, cheerleaders were more like gymnasts with all the running, jumping, flipping, mounting, and throwing that had replaced the old-fashioned stomping and yelling. To Essence, the hoochie mamas at her school with their distinct style had no class. With their loose morals and values, they made it hard to gain respect for the women who displayed class, sophistication, and home training. Even though just as many of the classy women were loose too, they didn’t flaunt it. Essence, being heavily influenced by her mother and her Auntie Zakia, was focused and truly strove to maintain her morals and values. It was a challenge, and she often talked to Zakia’s sister, Raquie, who came to MSU to recruit for her New York entertainment firm. Raquie was a big help to Essence, and she could talk to her about things she couldn’t talk to her mother and Zakia about. One powerful thing about the villagers, these generations of neighbors, was that they stuck together and were there for each other no matter how many miles separated them.
Dusk turned to dark, and the mosquitoes began to bite. That was the signal for cleanup to begin. The adults pitched in while the youngest boys and girls played and watched videos. Zeke and Essence supervised, keeping Mia and Damon far apart. After the cleanup, everyone left within minutes of one another and arrived home safely. Damon wished they had had an accident on the way to Grace’s house to avoid his punishment.
T
he morning after the party, Shay overheard her grandparents talking about what happened between Damon and Mia. Jean assured Jim that the boy was appropriately punished, and after much soothing, she was finally able to calm him. However, Shay was worried about Damon; Jean had made it sound like he would surely end up in the hospital. Shay called LaKisha to fiind out.
“Hello, LaKisha. This is Shay. How is Damon?”
“Girl, Gramma tore his butt up. When he tried to run, I caught him for her this time. That was the worst beating he ever got. It was great.”
“Oh wow. Taj got one of those kinds of beatings before. One was all it took.”
“But, girl, I dreamed about Zeke all night. He is so fine and so built,” LaKisha said.
“You dreamed about Zeke? He’s nice. Fine and built are okay, but nice is important. You see how he handled your little brother? He sounded like a preacher or something.”
“Oh girl, I know. The way he came in and broke up that mess and calmed my brother down . . . I just fell in love with him then because nobody but Gramma can calm that little monster down, but Zeke did it.”
“Yes, he did.”
“But, girl, that skank Essence ain’t trying to let him nowhere near me. She acts like he’s her man. I always heard they were tight like family calling themselves cousins. Why is she all up on him and rolling her eyes at me? Is she doing him or what?”
“Doing what to him?” Shay asked.
“You know,” LaKisha said.
“No, I don’t. What?”
“Sexing him.”
“Oh no. They aren’t married.”
“What?”
“They aren’t married,” Shay repeated.
“So?” LaKisha responded.
“So they can’t be doing that.”
“Are you for real?” LaKisha asked.
“Yeah, why?”
“You’re serious?
“About what?”
“Girl, you done lost me. Look, help me figure out how we are going to get Zeke away from Essence. We don’t have long because he’s going away to college at the end of the summer. And I want to get with him before he leaves, put something on him so that he will come looking for me when he comes back next summer,” LaKisha said.
“Something like what?”
“Shay, girl, what is it that I’m saying that you don’t understand?”
“None of it.”