Every Time a Rainbow Dies by Rita Williams-Garcia

Author:Rita Williams-Garcia
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780061923111
Publisher: HarperCollins

They strolled toward Franklin, her street. There was still warmth in the mid-October air. It was a beautiful night. Even more beautiful than those summer nights when he lay on his rooftop, dreaming of a faceless girl. A beautiful night was walking slowly with someone whose hand he could not yet take. And having the air smell so good.

Thulani was careful of how he pointed to the black case; he didn’t extend his arm fully. He was afraid she would run away if he touched her by accident. “YB?” he asked. “What’s the B?”

“Baptiste,” she said. “My, uh, name.”

“So that makes you Haitian.”

“How do you know what I am?” she snapped.

“That accent,” he told Ysa and Rape Girl.

“You don’t know my island,” she sang. Rape Girl had stepped aside. It was just Ysa.

He said, “I can guess.”

“Hmp.” She tossed her head and took a few steps ahead of him. “My island’s small, but not poor.”

He caught up. “Do you parlez Français?”

“Creole,” she corrected with pride. “Not like you think. A different Creole.”

“French Guyana?”

“Ha. French Guyana’s not an island.”

They were at her brownstone. It was time to say good-night, but he didn’t want the night to end, and he had run out of French-speaking countries.

“Before you go,” he said, “can I see you again?”

“I’m too busy,” she said. “School. Work. Study.”

He was not discouraged. The playfulness in her voice was still there. He asked, “Can I walk you to school?”

“I take the train.”

Not a no, he told himself. “I’ll ride with you.”

“You crazy? You’ll be late for your school.”

The curtains opened. Tant Rosie stood behind the windows, but this time she did not close the curtains.

He shrugged. So.

“I leave too early for you.”

“Like six-thirty?” he asked.

“Yes. Like six-thirty. And Tulani,” she said sternly, “I don’t like to wait. I wait, I’m gone.”

“I’ll see you in the morning,” he said.

She told him again that he was crazy.

He waited for her to go inside, then listened for a slap or a scolding from the other side of the door. He heard nothing. Then he went home.

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