The Weight of Blood (61)

Michael: Wow. Just wow. Tanya, say something!

Tanya: I don’t know where to begin. How do you even prove something like this?

Caleb: Power like that is something you’re born with. Definitely an inherited trait. I’d suggest tracing her lineage.

Michael: Well, no way could it be the father’s side. They were devout Protestants.

Kit: What about her mother?

Michael: DNA samples from medical records trace her roots back to Haiti and Ghana. So, maybe we start there?

May 29, 2014

Maddy had waited until the last possible moment to shop for a dress, afraid that Kenny would change his mind and she would’ve wasted her meager savings on something she’d never wear. But now, prom was in two days, and nonstop thoughts of Kenny pulsed through her bloodstream. She stood in front of Able’s Consignment Shop, next to the pharmacy. There used to be a drinking fountain beside this building, with a Whites Only sign hanging above it. She remembered the picture well.

Maddy had never been clothes shopping before. Everything she wore Papa bought for her, or she altered from her grandmother’s old wardrobe. Including her sweater.

I’m wearing his dead mother’s clothes, she thought bitterly.

Maddy considered making a dress out of curtains like Scarlett O’Hara did in Gone with the Wind. But she wasn’t an expert seamstress. Her skills were in the kitchen. So she took her pitiful savings of fifteen dollars she’d squirreled away over the years to Able’s, hoping to find something worthy of prom. Something nice. Something that Kenny would like and be proud to be seen with her in. The thought of going to the dance with him made a smile bloom on her face. She imagined them spinning around the dance floor like Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire in The Gay Divorcee.

She gazed at the mannequin in the front window, wearing a pink satin slip dress with spaghetti straps. It was beautiful. But would Kenny like it?

“Maddy?”

To her left, a Black girl stood outside the pharmacy, blank poster boards in her hands. Maddy didn’t know her, but she recognized her from school.

“Kali. I’m Kenny’s sister.”

“Oh,” she mouthed, and flushed red.

“You okay?” she asked, glancing at the mannequin.

“Yes,” she said.

They stood awkwardly, Maddy stealing glances at the window display. Something about Kali felt off. Maddy couldn’t pinpoint it but didn’t want to feel it either. She wanted to continue savoring the way Kenny felt flowing through her.

“Heard he’s taking you to prom.”

“Yes,” she said with a growing grin. She was actually happy. Giddy. Excited. Emotions so foreign they gave her goose bumps. She turned to his sister. “Do you know your brother’s favorite color?”

Kali frowned. “Red. Why?”

“I have to buy a dress,” she admitted. “For prom.”

“Oh. Ohhhh. Well, you should get a dress that you like! The dance ain’t all about him and his big head, you know? You should buy the dress of your dreams.”

Maddy bit her lip. She’d never dreamed of herself in a prom dress. What if Kenny didn’t like what she liked?

Kali read her mind. “Seems like your whole life you’ve been doing what other people want you to do. But what do you want? You’re going to the prom because you want to, so buy the dress you want to wear. Girl, be your own person for a change.”

She swallowed. “I . . . don’t know who that person is yet.”

Kali nodded, then blew out some air. “Come on. I’ll help you pick one out.”

Is this some sort of trick? Why would she help me?

Maddy hesitated, feeling guilty for thinking the worst of every person she came in contact with.

“Um. Okay.”

A bell chimed as they walked inside the shop. The older white woman sitting behind the counter put down her paper and smiled. Able’s smelled like her father’s store, except music vibrated out of wireless speakers, the place full of light, the walls painted candy pink.

Maddy walked around as Kali dug into the nearest dress rack.

“Hm . . . okay, how about this one? Oh naw, this green is nasty. What about this one?”

A hum of energy flooded the small, stale space, threads tugging at her fingers. Maddy stopped her browsing and faced Kali.

“I’m sorry,” Maddy said.

Kali whipped around, frowning. “For what?”

Her smile wavered. “For not knowing . . . how to be Black.”

Kali chuckled nervously, glancing at the saleswoman. “Yeah. And? A bunch of people don’t. You expect me to teach you or something?”

“No. I just don’t want you to think I don’t understand because I don’t want to understand.”

Kali paused, her face expressionless. “You gotta crawl before you walk, I guess. But you better start crawling quick. No more excuses.”

Maddy nodded.

Kali pulled three dresses off the rack. “I’m doing this for Kenny.”

In a way, so was Maddy.

Maddy followed Kali to the back fitting room, and just as she reached the counter, she spotted a dress hanging off the register.

“Is that one . . . for sale?” she asked.

The saleswomen came around the counter. “Oh yeah. That just came in yesterday. Haven’t even had a chance to price it yet. It has a small rip, so I can cut you a deal.”