Akeelah and the Bee - James W. Ellison [38]
“What’s wrong, baby?” she said. “Everything is going so good for you.”
“I don’t wanna do the bee no more, Mama. I’m sick of the whole thing.”
“Not do the bee? But I just don’t understand. You have your heart set on it.”
“Did have. Not anymore.”
Tanya increased the pressure on Akeelah’s back and waited for her to continue.
“’Cause it’s making my brain hurt. It’s drivin’ me crazy. Dr. Larabee won’t coach me no more and Georgia don’t wanna hang with me. My world’s fallin’ apart, Mama. And all those people, people in the streets, they’re expectin’ me to win—and if I don’t win, what then? It’s just too hard. I want it all to stop.”
“But baby—”
“Please, Mama. Try to understand what I’m tellin’ you.” Akeelah hugged her mother and began to sob again. Tanya held her, rocked her, and looked very worried. She made a decision. She would go to Dr. Larabee’s house and confront him. He must have some answers for her. Somebody had to have some answers, and she would dig and dig until she found them.
Dr. Larabee answered the buzzer immediately, as though he had been expecting a visitor. His expression was mildly friendly but she could tell he was surprised to see her.
“Come in my office,” he said. “Would you like coffee? I have some made.”
“No, thank you.”
“I’m having a whiskey. Could I offer you that?”
“I don’t drink.” She sat down and plunged right in to the concerns that had sent her out of the house late at night. “I’m worried about Akeelah,” she said. “She’s talking about quitting the bee.”
“That’s her decision to make, Mrs. Anderson. Akeelah is a very strong-willed girl. She’s going to do what she wants to do.”
“But that’s not what she wants to do. I know my daughter. Right now she’s just very, very upset.” She paused and then added, “Mainly upset with you. She says you won’t go on working with her.”
Dr. Larabee sipped his drink as he stared at Tanya. “Well, I certainly didn’t mean to upset the girl. I actually thought I was doing the best thing for her.”
“How can abandoning her be the best thing for her? I don’t understand that.”
Dr. Larabee shook his head and leaned forward. “I’m not abandoning her. That’s absolutely not the case. I’ve given her all the tools she needs to succeed. And if I may say so, Mrs. Anderson, I was supportive of Akeelah’s spelling endeavors long before many others were.”
Tanya nodded, absorbing his veiled criticism. “I know you were, Dr. Larabee, and I appreciate that. I was too busy earnin’ a living to pay much attention. And that was wrong, I realize that now. And I want to make amends any way I can.”
Dr. Larabee nodded. “I appreciate your candor.”
Drawing in a deep breath, Tanya said, “You know, Dr. Larabee, Akeelah is only eleven. She seems much older in many ways, but that’s because she’s so bright. She’s already been through so much in her life. Her father was killed three years ago. It was a drive-by shooting when he went out to buy a pack of cigarettes.” She grimaced and tried to smile. “That’s the kind of neighborhood we live in.”
“I live in the same neighborhood.”
“Then you can understand. Do you have any idea what it’s like for a young girl to lose a father that way?”
He slowly nodded as his eyes slid away from her. “I can imagine.”
“Well, then, why do you want to cause this child any more grief? Hasn’t she had enough?”
“I feel you’re accusing me, Mrs. Anderson, and that’s unfair.” Suddenly Dr. Larabee, so articulate, was struggling for words. “And I’ve told you…I’ve tried to make it clear that I’m just not in a place where I can be of much help to Akeelah right now.”
“But she needs you.”
“How do you know that?”
“I just know. Call it a mother’s intuition.”
“Well, I beg to differ, Mrs. Anderson. It’s not me who Akeelah needs.”
He looked her straight in the eye. Tanya stared back, fire in her eyes, then angrily got up and stalked out of the house.
Akeelah, watching TV in the living room, looked up expectantly when Tanya returned home.