Tempest Rising - Diane Mckinney-whetstone [68]
She rolled the shades all the way up in the kitchen, trying to get some natural sunlight in there; she even went into the living room and dining room to roll up shades. Then she remembered the shed door right off the kitchen was closed. Her dose of morning light came through that window in the shed. But now Addison was sleeping there.
She pushed the door open anyhow and tugged on the shade string and let it go quickly. The shade unwrapped to the top of the window with a bang. The noise and the sudden onslaught of light woke Addison, and he sat up, his face fixed in a confused scowl. “Whoa, cuz, what’s your problems, why you gonna insult me with such a rude wake-up? I mean, damn, cuz, I ain’t been here but a week, and this is how you gonna treat me.”
“Time for anything big and dumb as you to have his lazy ass up.” Ramona went back and sat at the kitchen table and tilted her face to catch the light streaming in from the shed. “If you not interested in any kind of school, the least you can do is get up and go out and try to find a piece of a job to help pay for your room and board around here.”
“You mean, I gots to pay for this shit.” He wrapped his torso in the sheet he had slept under and picked his Wranglers up from the floor. He rifled in his pocket and lifted out a rumpled soft pack of Winston filter tips. He leaned back after he had lit one and inhaled and smiled.
Ramona ignored him and sipped at her coffee and thanked God she had her job to go to.
“Aren’t you gonna ask me what I’m smiling ’bout, cuz?” Addison’s voice cut into her thoughts.
“I’m not asking you shit,” she said, and turned her back on the shed and sipped at her coffee.
“I’ll tell you anyhow. I was just thinking ’bout the hot time I had last night with this foxy little chick from Sayre school.”
“Sayre’s a junior high school, you stupid asshole.” She said it in an unaffected voice and got up to set out cereal bowls for those three.
“So?”
“So, that means she can’t be more than thirteen or fourteen.”
“Hmh. STP all right.”
“What?”
“STP. You know sweet tender pus—”
“I’m not listening to this.” Ramona banged the last bowl on the table and turned her AM radio up high. “You’re a cruel imitation of a human being. I hope somebody’s father really does shoot you right through the balls.”
“Well, it won’t be yours, huh, cuz? Seeing as how you don’t even know who he is.”
Ramona cringed when he said that and started running tap water full blast in her coffee cup, trying to blot out Addison’s voice. “I can’t hear you, fool.” She shouted it over and over as she sponged out her cup and set it on the drainer next to the sink. She snatched open the silverware drawer and picked up a handful of forks and spoons and threw them back down, once, twice, before she took out three spoons to set on the table next to the bowls. That’s when she turned around and saw Mae standing there just watching her with a steady expression like she was waiting for a traffic light to turn green.
“Cut the foolishness, and bring me my coffee, would you, please?” Mae said as she plopped in the chair at the head of the table. “And turn that radio down. That dumb DJ Georgie Woods can’t find nothing better to say than ‘Ladies, y’all got your girdles on?’”
Addison came out of the shed laughing. He had his Wranglers on now, and he went to Mae and kissed her cheek. “Morning, aunts,” he said. Then he turned to Ramona as she set a cup of coffee down in front of Mae. “I’ll have one of those, cuz.”
“You’ll get it yourself,” Ramona said, her voice markedly lower. She went back to the cabinet and took down a box of shredded wheat and tore open the white waxy pouch with her teeth. She placed a biscuit in each bowl, taking her time. She knew Mae was watching her, the way she always did after they had a blowup, studying her, waiting to see if she acted differently. She never had. She didn’t now.
“Oh, so you gonna leave me hanging on the coffee, cuz,” Addison said, oblivious to the tension