The next morning I woke up to Sherrie shaking my arm lightly.
“I need a favor.” She said when she saw my eyes flutter open.
“Okay.” I answered, hesitantly.
“Can you drop off the kids at school and bring them home?”
I laid still without saying a word. Maybe she would think that I fell back to sleep if I closed my eyes, I thought, shutting my eyes ever so slowly. No sooner did they close, than she began to shake my arm.
“It’s important.” Sherrie said.
“Don’t you work today?” I asked, as I stretched out.
She worked at the school, there was no reason that she had to bother me.
“Not today, I’m off.”
She paused as she studied my reaction. Had I made it that obvious that I wasn’t happy that she was waking me up for this favor?
“I’m going to see your brother.” She said hesitantly.
“On a Thursday?” I asked.
She nodded without saying a word. I sighed as I looked at the clock on the wall of my room. It was already seven in the morning. My mother had left for work, why in the world did she wait to ask me. My mother would have suggested asking my aunt, knowing that I didn’t care for children.
“Alright.” I agreed, slowly sitting up bed.
Sherrie thanked me and headed to the door.
“Wait.” I called after her. “Do I have to get them ready too?”
“Yes, I’m sorry.” Sherrie replied. “I’m in a rush.”
With that, she walked out the front door, leaving me in a state of shock. Her four children were still asleep.
“Come on, get dressed.” I called to them, as I reluctantly stood up.
Not one of them moved, so I walked into the living room nudging each of them with my foot. They groaned as they sat up on the floor.
“Where’s Mom?” Evelyn, the youngest of the four asked.
“She went to see your dad.”
Immediately both of the boys began to whine because she didn’t take them. Adrienne, the oldest of the four, yelled at them to shut up, obviously not a morning person and suddenly there was so much noise in the room from the children arguing that I had to walk away.
“Come on guys, get ready.” I yelled. “We’re leaving in fifteen minutes and you better be ready to go.”
They whined but began to get ready as I watched them from the other room and tried to figure out how to work the coffee maker. After several tries, I decided to forget about the coffee and headed out to take the four of them to school.
“We have a half day today and then we’re out for Christmas.” Adrienne said.
“Oh that’s great.” I said as we walked down the salt covered sidewalk, suddenly realizing that I may have to come back sooner for them than I thought.
I’d have to get my aunt to come over. There was no way that I could handle the four of them until my mom or sister-in-law came home. I became irritated with Sherrie as we walked through slush. Ugh, I thought to myself. I could feel my toes begin to wrinkle up, the further we walked. I almost hated when the snow began to melt, more than I hated the snow. Isaiah and Israel, my nephews, were stopping every ten steps to throw snowballs at each other, disregarding my pleas with them to stop. One of the mothers walking her kids to school ahead of us turned around and shot me a dirty look as one of the snowballs Israel threw narrowly missed her child’s backpack.
“Sorry!” I exclaimed.
I turned and looked at the boys, but they just laughed.
“You guys need to stop.” I hissed through gritted teeth.
I couldn’t take this, how their mother controlled them, I did not know. I shot all of the kids a dirty look as we got to the school, walking away without saying a word. They were safe inside the school yard, which was all that was asked of me. I headed back home.
When I was about to turn into my house, Emmanuel tapped me on my shoulder, causing me to jump as I turned to stare at him.
“Hey beautiful.” He said
I sighed lightly as I smiled at him. I quickly told him about Sherrie disappearing to see my brother and how I thought she was up to no good.
Emmanuel didn’t say anything, he just stared at me and smiled.
“What?” I questioned him as I leaned against the gate in the front of my house.
He shrugged his shoulders, continuing to smile at me.
“Don’t tell me, I already know what you’re going to say.” I said, smiling back at him. “Have faith, right?”
We both laughed.
“You’re just so beautiful.” Emmanuel replied. “Sometimes I wish...”
His voice trailed off, as he seemed to look through me.
“What?” I asked.
“Never mind.” He answered, changing the subject. “Yasmin, it’s just been really good to get to know you these last few days.”
I sighed.
“What’s wrong? Are you thinking about that job again?” He asked.
I nodded.
“There’s no need to worry, I know they are going to pick you.” Emmanuel said.
I smiled and looked away, Emmanuel seemed nervous about something and it made me feel nervous.
“Listen, Yasmin, I just wanted to come see you because my schedule is going to be crazy for a while.” He said. “They have me going here, they have me going there, you know.”
I studied his expression and wondered what it was that I was missing.
“Okay.” I said raising my eyebrows at him. “What is it that you’re trying to tell me?”
“I’ll see you at Church on Sunday okay? I have a feeling that you’ll figure it out by then.”
I stepped back in confusion. Was he breaking our relationship off? He kissed me on my right cheek before turning and leaving abruptly.