A Chance For Growth II

Can't Get Right

JUNE 2008

Taraji sat on the couch, sipping on a glass of wine. It was quiet moments like this that she enjoyed more than anything. She was waiting on Ashunta to come over. Over time the two started to become relatively close. Having Ashunta as her makeup artist while doing the reshoots for A Family that Preys showed her the values of having a black makeup artist in your corner. Such a rarity shouldn't be passed up. Raji figured it was time to see if Ashunta was willing to be her full time makeup artist. As she continued to think about how she was going to present this offer, Cyrus came walking down the stairs.

She watched her 3 year old carry Cel's old backpack, struggling to hold it on his small arms. Raji giggled to herself, seeing how determined he was to walk over to her. "What are you doing?" She asked him. "Nothin," he said, rocking on his heels with his hands behind his back. Taraji looked closely, seeing the red candy stuck around his mouth. "Are you eating fruit roll ups?" She questioned him. He looked at her silently before pulling the wrapper from his back. "What did I tell you about climbing my pantry shelves? If you fall and break something then I gotta take you to the hospital and I don't feel like doing all that right now. So no more climbing on everything," she told him.

"Yes ma'am," he said, getting on the couch next to her. "I wanna go to school," he told her, not acknowledging all the fruit snacks falling out of the open backpack. "Are you sure?" She stared at him in shock. Cyrus kept to himself, that was no secret. She wasn't even sure that she would put him in an actual school because no matter who he met, he always shied away from them, often hiding behind someone in the family. "Mhmm. I'm a big boy," he mumbled to her. Her heart warmed as she looked at her precious boy. "Alright. I'll look into some school for you. In the meantime, I think you should let me pack your lunch because 20 fruit snacks are not gonna fly," she said, tickling him.

"Okay Mama!" Cyrus screamed out as he laughed. The doorbell rang, interrupting their moment. Taraji went to answer it while Cy turned his focus onto the tv. "Hey girl," Raji greeted Ashunta. "I swear I can't stand niggas," Ashunta voiced as she walked unside. "What happened?" Raji asked, pouring her a glass of wine. "Okay so first it starts with my daughter needing a white poster board that she just remembered when I dropped her off at school. So I rush to go get it and bring it back to her. I drive to my big appointment and everything is cool right? No the fuck it's not.

So I'm about halfway through with this appointment. My phone rings. It's the fucking school. Apparently little miss Nami forgot her lunch annnnndddd there's no money left on her account. So by this point I'm pissed. I can't leave in the middle of my appointment and seem as unprofessional. But I also can't let my baby starve, so I call her daddy. This nigga argued with me for about 20 minutes because he feels like he shouldn't have to leave work to go feed his child when that's my only job according to him. In that time, I could've been damn near to the school!" Ashunta ranted.

"Girl I understand that shit. I used to hate having to make Terrence do something for Marcel," Raji said. "Then he calls back and says I just took her out for the day. It's the last week of school anyways. How the hell would he know what she has to do in the last week of school? Obviously she had something to do because she needed a damn poster board!" Shunta snapped. Raji raised her arm so the wine glass was in her face. "Maybe I can help you with that. I want you as my full time makeup artist," Taraji blurted. Ashunta put the glass down, looking for the joke she thought was being played on her.