On the Come Up(73)

Twenty hours and no response.

Only thing that distracts me a little bit are the Uno cards Jay pulls out after dinner. With no TV and no internet, there’s nothing else to do, so she suggested we have a family game tournament. She and Trey are so not acting like family though.

“Bam!” Trey slaps a card onto the kitchen table. The sun’s still out, giving us all the light we need to play. “Wild card, baby! We making this thing as green as y’all gon’ be when I whoop them behinds.”

“That’s a lie,” I say, and put a green card down.

“Boy, sit your li’l narrow behind down somewhere,” Jay says. “You ain’t did nothing, ’cause, bam!” She slaps a card down, too. “I got a wild card, and I say we’re going back to mellow yellow, baby.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll let you have that one,” Trey says. “You gon’ regret it though.”

They’re both gonna regret it. See, I’m letting them do all the trash talk. They don’t know I got two draw fours, a wild card, a yellow skip, and a red reverse. I’m ready for whatever.

This is our third game, and miraculously we’re still on speaking terms. The first game got so heated that Jay walked away from the table and disowned both of us. She’s the definition of a sore loser.

Exhibit A? I put down that yellow skip and Jay flashes me the glare of death.

“You’re really gonna skip your own momma?” she asks.

“Um, you’re not my momma. Right now, you’re simply some chick I gotta beat.”

Trey goes, “Ha!”

“You mean nothing to me as well, sir.”

“Ha!” Jay mimics him.

“Well, since I mean nothing.” Trey slowly lifts a card, going, “Ahhhhhh,” like a heavenly choir, then, “Bam! Draw two, boo.”

Ooh, I can’t wait to pull that draw four on his ass.

I draw my two, and there is a God. I got another wild card plus a skip. In the words of the late, great philosopher Tupac Shakur: “I ain’t a killer, but don’t push me.”

It’s kinda messed up that I’m enjoying this. We don’t have lights, and Aunt Pooh could be—

Several loud knocks at the front door startle me.

Trey gets up to answer. “Chill, Bri. It’s just the door.”

Time slows, and my heart slams against my chest.

“Shit,” Trey hisses.

I’m gonna puke.

“Who is it?” Jay asks.

“Grandma and Granddaddy,” he says.

Thank God.

But my mom goes, “Dammit!” She holds her brow. “Let them in, Trey.”

The door has barely creaked open when Grandma says, “Where in the world y’all been?”

She lets herself in the house, peeking in every room like she’s looking for something. Sniffing. Knowing Grandma, she’s searching for drugs.

Granddaddy lumbers into the kitchen behind Trey. He and Grandma wear matching Adidas tracksuits. “We happened to be over this way and wanted to check on y’all,” he says. “Y’all wasn’t at church yesterday.”

“Don’t lie!” Grandma says as she joins us in the kitchen. “We purposely stopped by! I had to check on my grandbabies.”

Figures.

“We’re fine, Mr. Jackson,” Jay says, to Granddaddy and Granddaddy alone. “We just decided to stay home yesterday, that’s all.”

“We barely in the house and you already lying,” Grandma says. “Y’all ain’t fine. What’s this about Brianna making vulgar songs?”

God, not now.

“First Lady came to me yesterday after service, said her and Pastor’s grandchildren been listening to some ol’ garbage that Brianna recorded,” Grandma says. “Said it’s so bad that it was on the news. Liked to embarrass the hell out of me!”

“Can’t nothing get the hell out of you,” Jay mumbles.

Grandma narrows her eyes and sets her hand on her hip. “If you got something to say to me, say it.”

“You know what? Actually, I do—”

“We already know about the song,” Trey says before World War III can break out. “Ma addressed it with Bri. It’s fine.”

“No, it ain’t,” Grandma says. “Now, I done bit my tongue when it comes to a lot of stuff with you and your sister—”

Um, she hasn’t bit her tongue about anything.

“But this? This the final straw. Brianna wasn’t acting like that when y’all lived with us. Making vulgar songs and getting suspended. Got everybody in the church talking ’bout her. Some mess!”

Granddaddy fiddles with the button on the oven clock, as if Grandma hasn’t said a word. He’s a pro at tuning her out. “Jayda, when this here clock stop working?”

If Granddaddy sees a problem, he’s gonna try to fix it. Once, we were at my pediatrician when I was younger, and a light in the waiting room kept flickering. True story, Granddaddy asked the nurse if they had a ladder. He got up there and fixed it.

Jay closes her eyes. If she’s about to tell them what I think she’s about to tell them, we’re about to have a blowup. “The lights are off, Mr. Jackson.”

“What?” Grandma shrieks.