Split Ends by Jacquelin Thomas

Author:Jacquelin Thomas
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pocket Books
Published: 2010-07-08T16:00:00+00:00

“You still haven’t told Marilee the truth?” Miss Lucy asks after I tell her about seeing my mother outside the salon earlier.

“No, ma’am,” I admit. “Miss Lucy, it’s because I don’t want her to think badly of me. I know that she had to see me standing outside the shop talking to her. Do you think she’s gonna ask me about my mama? Like who she is and how I know her?”

Miss Lucy shrugs. “She might, and then again, she might not. I don’t know for sure, but I do think that if you’re so worried about it, you need to sit Marilee down and tell her the truth.”

There is a knock on the door, startling both of us.

Miss Lucy looks at me. “Are you expecting someone, Kylie?”

I shake my head.

“Bring me your bat,” she whispers.

Yet we won’t be needing any bats. I sigh in frustration when I hear my mama’s voice whining, “C’mon, Kylie, open up.”

I walk to the door, opening it. I gasp in surprise at the sight of a man standing beside my mother. This has to be Clyde. He is the same man I saw her with that day at the shops.

“How did you find this place?” I ask. “What are you doing here?”

I cannot believe she actually came back up to my job and followed me home like a spy. Mama brushes past me, along with Clyde, her current flavor of the month.

Mama glances around the apartment. “Kylie, I thought you said that you been living in a shelter. Why you lying to me and trying to be all secretive?”

She eyes Miss Lucy up and down and asks, “Is this your place?”

“I don’t know you, and I don’t owe you any answers.”

I notice the way Miss Lucy is inching over to the sofa. She’ll pull that bat out in a flash if she deems it necessary.

“This is my mama, Serena,” I say to Miss Lucy. “Mama, this is Miss Lucy.”

Mama introduces Clyde, then says, “If my child is living here, you’d better tell me something. Somebody gonna tell me something. I mean that.”

“Mama, leave her alone,” I interject. “Miss Lucy is kind enough to let me stay here with her, and I won’t let you harass her.”

“Why you being all charitable to my daughter? What do you want from her?”

I can tell Miss Lucy is trying hard not to cuss my mama flat out. “She don’t want nothing from me,” I say. “She’s just letting me stay here until I can afford to get my own place.”

“This is nice,” Mama says to Clyde. “It’s on the small side, though.”

“It has a roof and doors,” I respond. “I appreciate it, and I’m happy here.” I start walking toward the door. “You’ve seen where I live, so now you and Clyde can go be happy in your apartment.”

“What you doing about school?”

As if she really cares.

“I don’t go to school.”

Mama folds her arms across her chest. “Oh, so you gonna be a sixteen-year-old dropout now?”

“I’m planning to go back to school in the fall or find an alternative school Miss Marilee was telling me about.

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