All of the Above by Shelley Pearsall

Author:Shelley Pearsall [PEARSALL, SHELLEY]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: JUV009060
ISBN: 9780316055901
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: 2008-12-21T05:00:00+00:00

AUNT ASIA

Rhondell's mom is my sister, but we are about as alike as hot peppers and sweet potatoes, or lemons and honey—if you know what I mean. Don't get me wrong, I love my sister to death, but we are not the same people. She walks around with the weight of the world on her shoulders, and probably the rest of the planets, too. I just take things as they come. Easier that way, you know?

Anyway, I'm just finishing up my last client at the Style R Us salon—old Mrs. Jenkins, who has hair as coarse and dry as a wire brush—when Rhondell calls. Now, since my sister works at the downtown hospital and taking care of sick folks isn't as simple as rescheduling haircuts, I've always been kinda like a second mom to Rhondell. If she needs to be picked up from school or gets locked out of her house—which Rhondell almost never does, of course, being as smart as she is—she's supposed to call me at the salon. “You just give me a ring, honey,” I'm always telling her. “Any time of day. It don't matter. Poor folks’ hair can wait, but my only living niece can't.”

I'm always pestering her to do something with her hair whenever she calls, too. Rhondell's plain-looking, but that doesn't mean something can't be done to plain. Come on in and let me fix up your hair for you, I try and beg her. We could put it up, or press and curl it—whatever you want, hon. Everybody needs a new look.

But like mother, like daughter, I guess. Rhondell's been wearing the same pulled-back, head-hugging hair as long as I've known her. Still, hope springs eternal. I pick up the phone, thinking maybe this time, maybe she's gonna start growing up and caring about her looks.

“What can I help you with today, Miz Rhondell?” I say, balancing the phone on my shoulder and holding up one finger to tell Mrs. Jenkins to wait just one minute.

“Are you busy?” Rhondell asks in a soft, serious voice, just like her mother. “If you're busy, Aunt Asia, I can call back some other time.”

I squint out the salon window at the falling snow. “You stuck at school? Once I'm done with Mrs. Jenkins, I can come on up there and give you a ride home, hon. You don't need to be wandering around catching cold in this kind of weather.”

But Rhondell says no, she doesn't need a ride, she's calling for advice about a friend of hers. I almost drop the phone, to tell you the truth, because in all the years I've known Rhondell, she has never once called me about any friends, at least none that I can recall. Although I've asked her about friends so many times, I finally gave up and decided to save my breath.

I told my sister that Rhondell's shyness was something she should look into, and my sister said she had enough to do, and shyness was better than some things she could name.

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