Hidden Valley (D. SWING)

VI. Home

"Lord, we thank you for this food..."

All six of us sit at the table hand in hand as the tempting aroma of Southern-Styled Sunday dinner wafts around my nose. Today's first service was at 8:30 down with my mother and father. I went to catch a word. The second service of my day was less authentic on my end. I'd played an impromptu solo with my father, Derek, and Dalvin. Some time around 1:30 is when the Hailey and DeGrate brothers went down to a church frequented by none of us to praise and worship as guests. Three services back to back to back is what my day consisted of. You can't even begin to imagine the smile of relief when I walked in the house at 5:30 to see my second mother pulling a pan of baked mac and cheese out of the oven.

"In Jesus' name we pray, Amen."

Cedric's head rose with a Cheshire grin as JoJo is trying to keep from falling asleep. I, on the other hand, said my wording of gratitude for the lord and found my fork lifting a pork chop from the serving plate the moment I utter my final syllable.

"D look like he bouta' eat a whole cow anda' half," snorts Tiffany. Her brothers joining is what causes my stuffed mouth to tighten at the lips as I glare at the three.

Ms. Anita swats the air in her daughter's direction. "Now you leave my D alone. That boy working day and night while I got to threaten you to wash the dishes. He deserves a good dinner."

"Thank you, Ma," I beam proudly.

Cedric's eyes roll. "Man, you ain't nothing but a suck up."

Cliff points at Cedric's plate that looks nearly identical to my own. He's eaten only a little more than I have while JoJo's quietly gnawing on the fatty exterior of his pork chop. "Same way you be sucking up all that damn food. Take a breath, boy!" The tables turn as Cedric's wormhole eating habits become the topic of discussion. Boy could eat a grocery store down to empty aisles and still be nothing but a buck-twenty. "I don't need you bloated tomorrow. We got to fix the porch."

"Tiffany, how many of your girl friends are coming to spend the night? I need to know because I'm shopping tomorrow afternoon."

Tiffany shrugs at her mother's words. "That depends. Ced, you goin' to be home tomorrow or no?"

"What a bunch of little girls got to do with me," Cedric questions with a stuffed muffle spurting cornbread crumbs out of the corners of his mouth. 

"Because Dawn is blind and thinks you're cute." JoJo and I lock eyes. Our stifled laughter fails to remain between the two of us. "I don't know why you laughing, D. Lauri Mae thinks you're the hottest thing since butter on cornbread but you're never here."

"Ain't you just a little sister magnet," teases Cedric.

That corny try at making a joke tells me he's been hanging around with Dalvin. I liked it better when those two didn't like each other. The uncalled for bitterness in the joke screams Dalvin. He had the same look on his face as Paulette the moment I spoke Cynthia's name and Tasha fell right in line. The way the entire car looked me up and down like I did something wrong left me ticked. It didn't make any sense.

While his brother's comment goes unnoticed by the rest of the table, JoJo asks, "Why'd it matter anyway? D sleeps in the basement and me and Ced are always in the garage."

"Yeah and then all of sudden everybody wants to sit on the back porch while y'all go in and out the side door. They'll find a way— Especially if it's D." Tiffany turns to me. "You think I wanted to sit in that heat while you washed your car last week? No."

I pause, my fork still holding greens before my lips, finally realizing the reason Tiffany and her friends sat on the front porch doing nothing but twiddling their thumbs and giggling as I washed my car last week.