“Mom, she’s just upset.”
“Elizabeth, where is she?”
“She spent the night over Kayla’s house,” she finally admitted. “That’s why I wanted to go over there this morning. She really needed me to be there for her.”
I groaned. Kayla was a fast-tail girl that neither Paula nor I liked our daughters hanging around.
“What is she doing with— You know what, never mind. Call her and tell her I’m on my way over to get her right now.”
I didn’t think as I made a U-turn in the middle of the street. I called Charlene back to tell her I was going to get Tahiry and would be to their house in a half hour.
Less than ten minutes later, I was knocking on the door to the home Kayla shared with her six siblings and her grandmother.
The older woman, complete with pink hair rollers and a bent cigarette dangling from her mouth, answered the door.
“Who you is?”
I fought the urge to correct her English. “I’m looking for Tahiry. I’m her godmother.”
The woman looked me up and down as if she was trying to gauge whether I was telling the truth. As if some random woman would show up claiming a teenage girl. I wanted to berate this old woman for letting Tahiry stay here in the first place, but I held my tongue until she let me in.
“She back in the back.” The woman stepped aside.
Once I was in the tiny, dirty living room, I couldn’t help complaining. “You didn’t think to call her mom?”
The woman’s hands went to her hips. “Look, I got a hard enough time keeping up with that hot granddaughter of mine and her little crumb-snatcher brothers. I’m watching Wheel of Fortune and Family Feud, and I ain’t got no time to be asking her who she bringing in and out her room!”
I decided it would be useless to have a conversation with this woman. Just get Tahiry and get out of here.
She turned toward the TV show and screamed, “Drinks and food! How you not gon’ say drinks and food? Chimney?” she shouted. “Now, that’s the dumbest question ever!” She turned to me. “The question was, name something that’s on the house. A chimney, really? Look! Even Steve thinks it’s crazy! Look at him rolling his eyes!” she said, pointing at the TV. Then she had the nerve to lick her lips. “Mmm, mmm, mmm, I tell you, if I was a few years younger, back in my heyday I woulda had that man. But now I’m waiting on them to invent some Viagra for women before I get back on the dating scene.” She cackled.
“Tahiry, please?”
She rolled her eyes, annoyed that I didn’t find her humor entertaining.
“Kayla!” she screamed. “Someone is here for your friend.”
After a teenage minute, Kayla finally walked in, Tahiry lagging behind her. Kayla was wearing a pair of Daisy Duke shorts and a fishnet tank top with her bra showing. She looked like a cheap hooker, especially the way she was smacking on her gum. I couldn’t for the life of me understand why Tahiry or my daughter hung around this girl.
“Tahiry, your mother’s worried sick,” I said.
“She ain’t worried about nobody but herself,” Tahiry said, her eyes betraying her sadness.
I took a deep breath. “Tahiry, this is hard on everyone.”
“You think it’s not hard on me?” Tahiry cried, like she was bursting out of a shell. “My daddy’s gone! And I can’t talk to my momma or my granny! I’m just supposed to deal with this by myself!”
I took her into my arms and hugged her. “I am so sorry, honey. But you know you can always come to me.”
She sobbed as she clutched me for dear life. “What am I going to do, Nana?” she said as I stroked her hair. “What am I supposed to do without my daddy?”
“Excuse me?” Kayla’s grandmother said. “They ’bout to do the lightning round. Can you take her on home and y’all finish that conversation in the car?”
Kayla actually laughed.
I took Tahiry’s hand. “Gladly,” I said, leading her to the door.
“Bye, Kayla,” Tahiry said, sniffing as she followed behind me.
“I’ll call you, girl,” Kayla said as she blew a big bubble.
When Tahiry and I were settled in the car, I said, “What are you doin’, honey? Don’t ever do that again. You had us all worried to death.”
“Liz told you where I was?” she said.
“Yeah,” I said gently, “and the fact that you told her must have meant that you wanted me to know.”
She looked away, and I knew that had been the case.
“Why did my daddy have to die?” Her tears had subsided to a slow trickle.
I didn’t know what to say, so I just took her hand and said, “I don’t know, but you can rest assured that he’s in Heaven right now looking down on you.” I touched her chest. “And he’s going to live on right there in your heart forever.”