Gold Hill (15 page)

Laughing, Aden went to get
Sissy to take her to dance practice.

~~~~~~~~

Thursday evening — 5:10
p.m.

“
Why are we here?” Sissy
asked. She was wearing what she called her dance uniform – black
tights, a lycra top, sports bra, and a heavy gray cable sweater.
“I’m not supposed to be here.”

“
Ivan called to ask if
you’d meet him here,” Aden said.

“
We’re
supposed
to go to the Castle,” Sissy
said. “We’re
supposed
to dance today. I have to dance today. I’m way behind
and . . . ”

Aden pulled up to the
loading zone on Fourteenth Avenue.

“
Why are you stopping?”
Sissy’s voice screeched with anxiety. “Why are you
stopping?”

“
Because Ivan is standing
right there?” Aden asked. “Next to the building.”

“
Why are we here?” Sissy’s
face was a mask of panic.

Aden put his hands on her
shoulders.

“
Listen to me,” Aden said.
“Sissy, look at me.”

With her mind spinning
stories of her worst fears, Sissy’s eyes glazed over.

“
Did you eat your lunch?”
Aden asked.

Sissy nodded.

“
Snack?”

“
I have it with me,” Sissy
said.

“
Let’s have it now,” Aden
said. “We’ll eat our snack, take a few breaths, and go meet our
friend Ivan.”

Aden leaned across her and
opened the glove box. He nodded his head toward the box. Sissy
looked over at the glove box. There was a pink napkin wrapped
around something in the box. Sissy took it out and opened the
napkin. Inside, there was a sugar cookie in the shape of a
ballerina. Sissy smiled and bit the head off the girl.

“
Good luck cookie from
Sandy,” Sissy said. Flecks of crumbs flew out of her mouth. Aden
held out a carton of milk. “Thanks.”

Sissy ate the ballerina’s
feet and then her arms.

“
I can never resist these.
Sandy’s made them for me all my life. But, wait.” Sissy finished
the last bite. “Why do I need luck?”

Aden held out the protein
bar that was her snack. Sissy opened it and took a bite.

“
Ivan will tell you,” Aden
said.

“
I hope it’s not anything
bad,” Sissy opened her mouth to show Aden she’d eaten her protein
bar. Aden nodded.

“
It’s something really
neat,” Aden said. “Sandy will be here as soon as she
finishes.”

“
And everybody else?”
Sissy asked.

“
They’re waiting for you
at home,” Aden said. “Sandy thought you might like it if she came
alone.”

“
Ok,” Sissy hugged Aden.
“Thanks for the ride and the cookie
and . . . ”

Sissy turned to open the
door.

“
Do I have to go?” Panic
returned to Sissy’s voice.

“
No, you don’t have to
go,” Aden said. “But, as scary as it is, you’ll be really glad you
did.”

“
Are you sure?”

“
I’m sure,” Aden
said.

“
Okay,” Sissy said. “Can
you come with me?”

“
Sure,” Aden said. “But we
talked it over and Sandy and I think you’ll want Ivan to be there
with you.”

“
Okay,” Sissy
said.

She hugged him again and
got out of the car. She waved and he drove off. Ivan met her near
the stairs.

“
Did you eat?” Ivan
asked.

“
I just had my snack,”
Sissy said.

“
Good,” Ivan said. “That’s
good. Come on. We have a very special treat.”

Ivan took Sissy’s elbow and
they went up the stairs.

“
You will be polite,” Ivan
said in her ear. “You will do exactly what you’re asked to
do.”

Having heard this speech
before, Sissy nodded.

“
You will do your very
best no matter what,” Ivan said.

“
And I won’t embarrass
you,” Sissy smiled at him.

“
You never do,” Ivan said.
“Come on.”

They entered the Ellie
Caukins Opera House. Sissy was so nervous that she had to focus on
putting one foot in front of the other. Ivan opened the door to the
auditorium and Sissy stepped inside. Terrified he would leave her,
she flipped around. He smiled and came in after her. He touched her
shoulder and took her arm again.

Sissy turned and looked up
at the stage. A woman was standing under a stage light. She was
small, short really, and had darkish skin as if she was Hispanic or
maybe African American. She wore her long hair in a
ponytail.

“
Who’s that?” Sissy
whispered.

Ivan nodded toward the
stage and Sissy turned back. The woman was muscular and curvy. Self
conscious, Sissy put her hand to her own growing breasts. The woman
went through a few warm up dance moves.

“
She’s really good,” Sissy
said. “But . . .
she . . . ”

“
She’s a soloist,” Ivan
said. “She came all this way to dance with you, Sissy.”

“
But she’s not tall or
skinny and she has big . . . ” Sissy pointed to
her chest.

“
Doesn’t seem like that
mattered to the American Ballet Theater,” Ivan said. “Your friend
Tanesha’s father arranged all of this. This dancer is here to see
you.”

Ivan took her arm and
escorted her to the steps leading to the stage.

“
Go, little bird,” Ivan
said. “This is your chance to fly.”

He gave Sissy a little push
and she went up the stairs.

“
Hi,” Sissy was so nervous
her voice came out as a croak. “I’m Sissy.”

“
Misty,” the woman turned
and gave her a big smile. “Would you like to dance?”

~~~~~~~~

Thursday evening — 6:10
p.m.

“
Tanesha?” Gran opened the
front door.

Tanesha’s eyes were swollen
from crying. Her lips were dry and red. The clothing Jeraine had
forced on her was slightly twisted and her hair wasn’t
combed.

“
Oh Gran,” Tanesha walked
into her Grandmother’s arms and began to cry.

“
What did you do?” Gran
asked Jeraine over her shoulder.

“
Wasn’t me,” Jeraine
said.

Her Gran gave him a
dangerous, angry look.

“
I swear,” Jeraine said.
“It wasn’t me.”

Tanesha’s grandmother
guided Tanesha into the living room. Tanesha never lifted her head
from her grandmother’s shoulder. They sat her down on the
couch.

“
Get us some water,” Gran
commanded.

“
Yes, ma’am,” Jeraine
said.

He trotted into the kitchen
to get a couple of glasses of water. When he returned, Tanesha was
weeping with her head on her grandmother’s lap. Gran took the
glasses. She set hers down on the side table and convinced Tanesha
to drink some water. Tanesha had a drink and buried herself in her
grandmother’s lap again.

“
What is it that you
didn’t do that has my baby so upset?” Gran gave Jeraine a hard
look.

“
It wasn’t me,” Jeraine
said.

“
Right,” Gran said. “This
one time in all the billions of times she’s cried her eyes out over
you; this time you didn’t do anything.”

“
It was you.”

“
You better watch
yourself,” Gran said. “I don’t have any problem throwing your
behind on the street and changing the locks.”

“
Tell her, Tanesha,” he
said.

“
Tell me what?”

“
Tell her what you see
when you close your eyes,” Jeraine said.

“
What’s that fool talking
about?” Gran smoothed Tanesha’s hair away from her face.

“
Tell her what you see,”
Jeraine said.

“
Would you shut up?” Gran
said to Jeraine. “The girl needs some air.”

He held up his hands and
backed into the dining room.

“
What is it, baby?” Gran
said.

“
I
see . . . I see . . .
blood . . . everywhere . . . and this
tattoo.” Tanesha sat up and made a crescent around her belly
button. “It says Forever, in green script, but I think it says
Forever Miss T. And someone’s crying
and . . . ”

“
Oh.” Gran
said.

“
That’s it? That’s all you
got?” Jeraine asked. “Your baby’s been crying her eyes out since
last night. She barely makes sense. She won’t eat or sleep
or . . . And all you can say is ‘Oh’?”

Gran gave Jeraine a dark
look and Tanesha lay back down with her head in her lap.

“
Tell me again,” Gran
said. “What do you see?”

“
I see
blood . . . ”

“
Everywhere,” Rodney Smith
stepped into the living room. “And a crescent tattoo that says
Forever.”

Tanesha and Gran looked up
at him. He nodded to Jeraine.

“
It’s time,” Rodney Smith
said.

“
But . . . ” Gran said.

“
No more buts,” Rodney
Smith said. “It’s time to tell Tanesha the truth.”

Chapter One Hundred and
Ninety-Seven
Yesterday

Thursday evening — 6:25
p.m.

“
Go ahead,” Gran raised an
eyebrow in challenge. “You tell her the truth.”

“
It’s your story,” Rodney
Smith said. “I wasn’t even there.”

“
This is private
business,” Gran said. “If we have to tell the story, then we tell
Tanesha alone.”

“
Oh no.” Jeraine walked to
stand between Rodney Smith and Gran. “You are not doing this. Not
today. Uh huh. No way.”

Shocked by his tone of
voice, they stared at him. Tanesha sat up from her Gran’s
lap.

“
What are you talking
about?” Gran asked.

“
All this mess, all of it,
Tanesha has had to live with it festering inside her,” Jeraine
said. “While you’ve kept your secrets locked behind your closed
lips, the rest of us have to deal with it like it’s a member of the
family.”

Gran flushed. She looked
away from him.

“
You want to tell your
story. Good for you,” Jeraine said. “But you’re going to tell her
where she’s safe and surrounded by the people who have lived with
your secrets, the people who’ve loved her through it.”

“
Are you saying I don’t
love my daughter?” Rodney Smith asked.

“
He’s a fool,” Gran
said.

“
No,” Tanesha’s voice
cracked. She swallowed hard. “He’s right. He and
I . . . We live with this, whatever it is, every
day. I can’t believe him, commit to him; he feels betrayed and acts
out. We live with your secrets like they’re precious antique
figurines we step around so we won’t break.”

Her father and grandmother
turned to look at her. Tanesha was watching Jeraine.

“
Miss T’s girls are
waiting for my call,” Jeraine said. “You want to lay out your
bullshit? This time you do it when Tanesha has her support team
with her.”

“
I appreciate your
concern, child, but this is not your business,” Gran
said.

“
I’ll be damned if it’s
not,” Jeraine said. “She’s a tiny three year old when this stuff
comes up. I’m not going to leave her surrounded by all this toxic
waste. I won’t leave that little girl alone with you. There’s no
storytelling unless she has us.”

Gran gave him a dark look
and looked away. Rodney Smith looked him up and down. The room was
painfully quiet. Jeraine caught Tanesha’s eyes and she gave him a
soft smile. He was just about to tell her it was time to leave when
Rodney Smith shifted in place.

“
He’s right,” Rodney Smith
stepped back. “Call the girls.”

“
Rodney . . . ”

“
He’s right and you know
it,” Rodney Smith said to Gran.

“
You want to spread our
private business . . . ” Gran
started.

“
Gran . . . ” Tanesha started.

“
They already know,”
Rodney Smith said. “They might not know the specifics. They might
not know the whens and wheres, but he’s right. They have lived with
this as long as they’ve known her. We owe them the truth for being
there for Tanesha this whole time.”

Gran scowled and shook her
head. Rodney Smith gave her a firm look.

“
I’ll do all the talking,”
Rodney Smith said.

Gran began to
cry.

~~~~~~~~

Thursday evening — 6:25
p.m.

“
One, two,
three . . . that’s right Sissy,” Ivan said. “Turn,
bow . . . yes, Misty, but remember
to . . . yes, that’s right.”

Dancing to Ivan’s
specifications, Misty and Sissy worked on point. Ivan had put them
through an hour of the hardest ballet work Sissy had ever done. She
had known this workout would be hard. With Misty here, he made it
that much harder.