The Necessary Hunger by Nina Revoyr

Author:Nina Revoyr
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: Akashic Books
Published: 2019-02-19T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 12

The future that Raina so desired was rapidly closing in. We'd both played several games by then, and I no longer noticed anything that wasn't directly related to basketball. Once the season began every year, it was like I entered a time warp until it ended four or five months later. During that period the world rolled along without my knowledge of it, and I was always amazed at how quickly the time had passed when I emerged to discover that seasons had changed, books had been written, revolutions had occurred in my absence. My senior season was speeding by even faster than usual because I didn't want it to end. Once it was over, I'd only have a few more weeks to make the decision about college. I did what I could to put the brakes on the passage of time. I tried to hold on to the individual moments but they slipped through my hands like water.

After Christmas, as she'd promised, Raina began preparing for her tournament. She claimed to have gained four pounds on Christmas Day—which, of course, no one else could detect—and she did a combination of sprints and longer runs in order to burn them off. Both of our teams were practicing, and afterward, Raina would hang out with her teammates, so I didn't see her much the next couple of days. My father's friends brought our parents home the night of the twenty-seventh; they both looked rested, tan, and happy. We sat on the floor of their room while they unpacked.

"We didn't miss you in the least," my father said. "Did you miss us?"

Raina and I both said, "No."

He grinned. "Then why are you in here watching us put our clothes away?"

I rolled my eyes. "Because we're bored."

Claudia picked up a handful of clothes, threatened to throw them at us, but then dropped them in the laundry basket. "Well, what have you been doing?" she asked.

"Nothing," I said.

"Playing basketball," Raina said. "And hanging out a lot." She fiddled with her shoelace, looked up at her mother. "I saw Paula today."

Claudia looked at her, quickly, and so did I—she hadn't told me this.

"Really?" said Claudia. "Where?"

Raina clasped her hands over her knees. "At Barry's Chicken & Waffles," she said. "I went there with Stacy after practice, right? 'Cos Kim'll feed us sometimes for free. And Paula was there too, eating lunch."

Claudia pretended to be very interested by something in her bag, and when she spoke, her voice was noticeably subdued. "How is she?" she asked.

"Good," Raina answered. "It was great to see her. She sat with us while we ate, and then Stacy and I went over to her place and just chilled on her balcony. It was a perfect day to do it too—the sky was real clear. I'd forgotten how nice the view is in Baldwin Hills."

Claudia didn't say anything; she just looked down at her clothes.

"She's all excited about the conference," Raina continued, and I thought her mother flinched a little. "You know Paula—she's the happiest when she's got a big project to work on.

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