The Straysider's Dream Journal: The First Strayside Novel by Stephanie Tsikrikas

Author:Stephanie Tsikrikas [Tsikrikas, Stephanie]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Literature & Fiction, United States, African American, Romance, Multicultural, Science Fiction, Multicultural & Interracial
Amazon: B00VJ51QXK
Publisher: Stephanie S. Tsikrikas
Published: 2015-04-02T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

It was Saturday, and Amari and Peanut had gone to visit family for the three-day weekend. I was happy to have the apartment to myself. Well, almost to myself. Since Bug and I always spent the majority of our time working at his house, I thought it would be nice for us to spend a few days at my place. I had also planned to talk to my parents this afternoon about him. Honestly, I was hesitant about him meeting my family. They are a nutty bunch, and I was afraid they would scare him off.

As I lit an incense stick, I heard Bug knocking at the door. At first I considered running to the door butt naked, but I decided against it – I wanted to ease into all the fun. I put my red and white Betty Boop t-shirt and black skinny jeans back on, skipping to the door and smiling all the way.

I was not prepared to see what was on the other side of the door: Mama, Dad, my sister Moonie and my brother Jimmy. What the hell? They looked like a posse who had found the subject of their search. I decided to play it cool and see what this was about, although I already had an idea. “Hey guys…What are you doing here?”

“We came to see you, sis!” Moonie exclaimed, hugging me as if I had just come back from Afghanistan. She tossed her long, silky, blonde hair to her back, put her hands on her hips and started in on me as the rest of them filed in the apartment. “Look at you, you’re so skinny! You barely talk to us anymore. Amari told me you’ve been brainwashed by some Indian man with a big –”

“– Moonie!” I interjected.

“A big bank account. She tells me you fell for some rich city slicker who seduced you and dragged you out west to the desert a few days later. Did you smoke some crazy stuff or something?” She moved her hands to each of my shoulders and gave me the look of a concerned older sister.

“No. You’ve got it all wrong.”

My father, “Brother Carl” Cannonier, a patriarch of the small community I grew up in, stood up straight beside me. His arms were folded, his dreadlocks hung down to the middle of his dashiki. Dad’s expression made me feel like a six-year-old version of myself who got caught picking flowers out of the neighbor’s garden. “Amir said you quit working at his firm to go work for this guy. Amir and his family have been our friends for years. How can you just up and leave your job for this man? This behavior is so unlike you.”

Jimmy, my twenty-year-old brother, sat on the couch. He picked up a magazine with his only arm, put it on his lap and thumbed through it. “I told ‘em all not to come over here, Celeste. You gonna be a’ight. They all need to mind their own business. You grown.

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