Chapter 4

The baby had gotten big. Hayvn, 20 months, no longer remembered her Uncle Isa, Uncle Wi, and Auntie No but friendly as ever she jumped up and down in her playpen when she saw the three of them approaching the house through the big bay window, reddish brown corkscrew curls bouncing like springs. She loved people, especially when they visited her grandmother's home. "Hi! Hi!" She chimed loudly as they walked up on the porch, wrenched open the storm door, and came inside the house without ringing the doorbell. 

"Hayvy, who are you....."

"We're here, Ma!" Isaac answered picking up Hayvn from her playpen and tossing her into the air to make her giggle.

Amaris stepped on the toes of her shoes to take them off without needing to stoop down then padded upstairs to her old bedroom, where undoubtedly she would spend most of the visit.  Machlon made a beeline for the kitchen not caring if he tracked dirt and mud throughout the house. Isaac, fascinated baby in arms tugging at the chain around his neck and examining the Playboy bunny tattooed behind one of his ears , followed right behind. 

"Mommy, I'm home." Machlon said loudly to insure he was heard over the roar of the electric mixer. 

His mouth watered as he took notice of the red colored batter in the mixer's heavy glass bowl knowing soon there would be one of her moist and rich red velvet cakes to devour. Everyone said their mother was a good cook and baker, but Dorinda Lewis really was and not only according to her child either. She had learned to be a good southern cook from her grandmothers and aunts and spent her decade or so in the Army in what she called 'Food Service', which included attending a professional chef school. Baking and cooking were her passions and anyone who tasted her creations could tell that she loved what she did. 

"Mommy!" He said louder.

"I heard you!" She snapped. "But you know I have to keep this going for 10 minutes. Get one of them devil eggs or something and go on back out of here." 

Grinning, Machlon did as he was told. Pickle relish was sacrilege to her therefore her deviled eggs and potato salad contained crunchy Mt.Olive sweet salad cubes. The sweet and salty contrast was like an orgasm in your mouth. He took three and tromped upstairs to see if any of his stuff had been disturbed.

"Gimme those!" Mouth full of egg, Machlon was dismayed to find his little sister sitting crosslegged on her bed with his collection of Yu-Gi-Oh cards spread out in front of her. 

She paid him no mind, arranging and rearranging the cards. The holographic cards are her favorites and so those are the ones she has lined up neatly in the very first row. On her nightstand ,was the collector's tin Machlon had been given sometime around his 12th birthday over a year earlier, still specked with her blood. 

"Didn't you learn anything last time?" Machlon swallowed and paused before popping the third egg into his mouth.

"No, because I already knew you wanted me dead." Amaris kept her voice even and didn't look up from what she was doing. "Everybody knows that."

Machlon looked all around him to be certain that they were alone, particularly up and down the hallway, and started to step in the room.

"Shoes." She reminded him. 

One of his gray Fila runners barely missed her head and left a partial print of red clay above her bed. 

Brother and sister coexisted in tense silence in their childhood bedroom, her playing a two person games contently by herself and him on his own bed sulking at the wall. This is what it felt like to be home again after 7 long months. It was a major disappointment to say the least although he knew a lot better than to say or show that he thought so. 

"Are ya'll sleep already?" 

Karisma threw open the door without knocking. She looked like her usual self with hand planted firmly on ample hip acting as if she stood every bit of seven feet all when she had not even managed to crack five and a half. Her thick bushy hair was separated out into some kind of twists and gathered in a bun atop her head. Her almond colored skin had an unnatural bronzeness.

"Ain't you black enough already, Miss Celie? Keep this up you're gonna be burnt!" Machlon couldn't resist and couldn't hide the wide grin breaking out across his face. 

Evidently you're the one who hasn't learned anything. 

Amaris watched emotionlessly as her brother sprung up from his bed and dashed out their bedroom door with their sister hot on his heels shrieking her outrage at his audacity. She too wondered why Karisma insisted on going tanning when she was already brown naturally, however she kept her opinions to herself and minded her own business, unlike Wisdom, who put his name to shame. Machlon like Amaris was not known by his first name among family. He was Wisdom and rarely if ever answered to Machlon. When she judged by the distance of their voices that they had reached the bottom of the stairs, she got up and closed the door, turned on the TV, and began looking through the drawers to see if any of her old clothes still fit her. 

3,2,1......

She counted the hurried footsteps coming up the stairs.

"You're not coming to eat with us?" 

"No, thanks. I'm not hungry." She made her voice carry so the person didn't need to open the door to hear her.

"But Mama made your favorite.....macaroni and cheese!"

"I'm not hungry!" She said again more forcefully gritting her teeth involuntarily.

It wasn't a secret that Amaris's favorite food, in all its' many forms, was cheese. Family lore held that when as a toddler she would ask her mother for some and her mother would tell her there was none, whenever the refrigerator was opened again she would scrounge around until she found what she wanted, usually a block of Kraft or package of singles. At that point there would be no choice except to give it to her, which would she walk off munching contentedly. The only reason her mother fixed a baked macaroni and cheese casserole as a part of larger southern meals is because she knew how much her youngest child loved cheese. The rest of the family could take it or leave it. Finding a mismatched t--shirt and pair of drawstring waist shorts that weren't too big, Amaris waited for the person to retreat back downstairs then locked herself in her mother's bathroom for a long hot shower.

Three of the usual pills waited on her bed when she returned to the bedroom, sweating profusely and long black hair dripping 10 minutes later. A green solo cup sat on her nightstand, smelling suspiciously of bourbon but looking like ginger-ale, her favorite soda. 

She swallowed it all, took a moment to get her bearings and when she was sure she had passed the lightheadedness stage, climbed into bed with the remote controller and flipped absentmindedly through TV channels. A heaviness settled over her, slowing her breathing and fogging her mind. This was the second stage, made more intense by the nightcap. 

"Say goodnight to the baby." 

Someone hovered Hayvn, dressed in festive red and gold pyjamas, overhead. The baby kissed her face repeatedly babbling something that she could not quite make out. Then another set of lips, devoid of lipstick albeit glossy with cocoa butter, brushed the side of her face.

"Welcome home and sleep good, Mama's Baby. Mommy loves you."

Something told Amaris she would never hear those words again.

A weight off her shoulders.

Author's Note

please be brutally honest

Reviews

[SweetNutmeg]

Wow, Amaris and Machlon are really getting the short end of the stick here. You're doing fabulous with characters and plot. You're using dialogue effectively. Switching between the two of them is working well. And none of those confusing sentence constructions and word usages. Excellent work.