Yesterday, I Cried_ Celebrating the Lessons of Living and Loving - Iyanla Vanzant [48]
Saturdays became an even lonelier time for Rhonda with Aunt Nadine off playing bid whist and Beanie at dance classes all day. Ray would be at football practice most of the day, and Uncle Leroy—drunk or sober—was no company at all. Rhonda would fill the empty hours sewing, reading, watching television, or playing with her dolls while she waited for someone, anyone, to come home.
On one rainy Saturday afternoon, Rhonda found herself home and virtually alone with Ray, who had banished her from his room twice already, and Uncle Leroy, who had gotten drunk and passed out in the basement hours ago. Rhonda wanted to sew something, an apron, perhaps, but couldn’t find any material. She had already gotten into trouble with Aunt Nadine for cutting up one of her good sheets. She quickly became bored with television, then with reading a Nancy Drew mystery, and had no new comics to read. Rhonda decided she would go down to the basement and play some records and dance, but the music disturbed Uncle Leroy, and he told her to get back upstairs. He rolled over on his side, drooling on the sofa cushions and snoring loudly. Rhonda saw a wad of bills sticking out of his back pants pocket. She crept over to the sofa and slowly pulled a five-dollar bill from the roll. She backed away from the sofa, then tiptoed back up the stairs.
An hour later, Rhonda was drying off her rain gear and convincing herself that it was okay to take Uncle Leroy’s money. After all, he’d give her money anyway when he was drunk. She sat on the floor of her bedroom, surveying her loot: a long-necked bottle of Pepsi, five new Archie comics, five candy bars, and a half-gallon bottle of Nett’s favorite bubble bath. Rhonda lined her comics up in a neat row on the floor near her bed. She put the Pepsi and the bubble bath on either end of the row and placed a candy bar beside each comic book. Her plan was to first drink the Pepsi, then read a comic, then eat a candy bar, and so on until she got to the bubble bath; then she’d take a nice long soak in the tub. By then, Beanie or Aunt Nadine should be home.
She had barely savored the last sweet swallow of soda, when she heard a loud crashing noise from the kitchen. Quickly, she shoved her comics, candy, and bubble bath under the bed and went to see what all the commotion was about. Uncle Leroy was falling down drunk. He had tripped over a chair and lay spread-eagle on the floor, against the refrigerator. He was trying desperately to right himself and the chair, when Rhonda came running into the kitchen. She placed the chair back at the table and pulled Uncle Leroy to his unsteady feet.
“Where’s everybody?” Uncle Leroy slurred, holding onto the wall.
“Aunt Nadine’s gone to play cards,” Rhonda said. Uncle Leroy was trying to focus his gaze and figure out why he was in the kitchen.
“Your brother home?” he asked.
“He’s watching TV upstairs,” Rhonda answered, anxious to get back to her own room.
“You doin’ some reading?”
“Yes, Uncle Leroy.” There was a long pause while Uncle Leroy tried to think of something else to ask. Rhonda fidgeted with the buttons on her blouse and waited politely for an opportunity to escape back to her comics and candy. Finally, Uncle Leroy mumbled something under his breath, then turned and left the kitchen.
Halfway through her first comic, Rhonda heard Uncle Leroy calling her name. Exasperated, she went to the top of the steps leading down to the basement and saw Uncle Leroy sprawled