“There has to be a reason,” Sydney whispered to herself over and over as she lay motionless on her bed facing the slowly rotating ceiling fan. She had stopped feeling the breeze on the stream of salty tears running down the side of her face hours ago. In fact, she had pretty much stopped feeling anything at all since she ran out of her Aunt Lorraine’s house the day before. Sydney flipped over on her stomach and reached for the picture frame on her nightstand. Inside was a photo of the twins when they were just three years old. The two girls sat on either side of their mother unwrapping gifts under the Christmas tree. It was one of the few keepsakes from the years before Keisha married Altimus that she actually allowed the girls to keep out in plain sight.
As she slowly fingered the frame, Sydney examined the old photo closely. As often as she’d looked at this picture over the years, she’d never really thought about just how many gifts were actually under and around the tree. For a so-called dead-ass-broke family in the hood, there seemed to be way too many gift boxes. Dice’s words rang in her ears: “You need to be careful and pay attention.” Counting as many as twenty big gift boxes in this photo alone, it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that her parents weren’t living quite as broke down as Keisha loved to assert. The sound of her bedroom door opening interrupted Sydney’s train of thought. She hurriedly put the photo back down on the nightstand and wiped her face with the back of her hand.
“What did I tell you about closing doors in my house?” Mrs. Duke questioned as Sydney silently stared at her.
“Sorry,” she finally uttered from between clenched teeth.
“We’re meeting your stepfather at Justin’s for dinner tonight,” Keisha stated as she cut her eyes suspiciously back and forth between Sydney’s flush and tear-stained face and the turned-over picture frame. “You coming?”
“No,” Sydney stated sourly.
“Excuse you? And who do you think you’re talking to in that tone?”
“I meant, no, ma’am,” Sydney grudgingly corrected herself.
“Humph, that’s what I thought. Well, suit yourself. I guess you can let Edwina know what you feel like eating for dinner. We won’t be long,” she said as she turned to walk out the door. Mrs. Duke paused with her back facing Sydney. “Dice Jackson ain’t never been worth all that crying. He really ain’t.” And with that, she proceeded to walk out, pushing the door open even wider behind her.
“Ugh, I hate you!” Sydney said vehemently as soon as she was certain that her mother was out of earshot. Frustrated, she hurled one of her pillows across the room.
A short time later, Sydney could hear the sounds of Lauren and Mrs. Duke leaving the house and getting into Keisha’s new CLK. The two of them chatted away about Lauren’s chances at Homecoming Queen like it was real news. It seemed like even when she was on punishment, Lauren still had something to talk about with Keisha. Her mom and her sister were like two identical peas in the pod—both beyond trifling.
The persistent knot in Sydney’s stomach tightened. She hadn’t eaten a bite in almost thirty-six hours. If nothing else, at least I’ll lose a couple of pounds from all this freaking stress, she thought. As Sydney glanced over at the Gala committee binder sitting next to her chemistry book, she stuck out her tongue. The last thing she felt like doing was reviewing the outstanding-ticket-sales numbers or preparing for what was sure to be another impossible chem chapter test. Sighing loudly, she dragged herself up from her bed and stretched her arms above her head to try to relieve some of the tightness in her muscles. Missing out on her weekly spa appointments was definitely taking its toll. As she closed her eyes and slowly tilted her head to the side, Dice’s ominous words continued to haunt her: “I made a lot of enemies, apparently even among those people who were the closest to me.” Sydney’s eyes snapped open. Her father never once named those people who were closest to him. Why?
Sydney’s first instinct was to pick up the nearest phone and call her Aunt Lorraine’s house. Then she would definitely know who Dice’s friends were back in the day. But placing a call on the Duke landline was too risky. Since Sydney was only allowed to make school-related calls, Keisha was monitoring all outgoing numbers on the landline like a hawk. Sydney then considered waiting till the morning to ask Marcus to borrow his car again, but in addition to the chemistry exam making tomorrow’s attendance mandatory, Marcus was slightly suspicious of how long she’d been gone the last time she borrowed his car. He kept insinuating that he didn’t necessarily believe her story about going home for note cards. At her wit’s end, Sydney was ready to throw herself back on the bed like a five-year-old having a temper tantrum when she remembered the old Christmas photo.
While that might be one of the few mementos from their earlier childhood that Mrs. Duke actually allowed her to display in the house, there had to be more stuff in the storage boxes downstairs in the basement. If there was anything to be learned about her family’s past, it was somewhere in the boxes. Filled with renewed hope, Sydney quickly slipped on her fuzzy slippers and headed downstairs.
“What would you like for dinner, Ms. Sydney?” Edwina asked as Sydney passed through the kitchen on her way to the door beside the pantry that concealed the basement staircase.
“Oh, I’m not hungry, Edwina,” Sydney said, barely pausing to flip the light switch as she headed down the steps.
“Okay. Do you need any help looking for something down there, miss?” Edwina inquired as she wiped down the already immaculate stovetop.
“It’s okay, I’m good,” Sydney called back up from the foot of the stairs. For years, Altimus had been threatening to clear everything out and renovate the basement into a game and workout room for himself. “Pay attention, pay attention,” Sydney mumbled as she looked around the huge and cluttered space. Sydney noticed her old ten-speed with the same flat tire that put it out of commission over seven years ago next to a pair of beat-up roller skates; a pile of board games; lots of old luggage sets; the huge teddy bears that Altimus had won each of the girls at the State Fair so many years ago; and garbage bags full of clothes that were probably Salvation Army bound at some point.
Sydney slowly walked around the perimeter of the basement. She spotted an old bag of kitty litter from the time Lauren rescued a stray kitten. Li’l Tigger barely lived in the house for forty-eight hours before Keisha caught him inside her closet scratching her full-length llama-hair sweater. She promptly dropped the poor thing off at the nearest no-kill shelter.
Moving along slowly, Sydney passed an old VCR with countless Billy Blank’s Tae Bo tapes piled on top. Next to that was a dusty stationary bike and small, green plastic dumbbell weights from Keisha’s fanatical healthy-living stage. Sydney smiled slightly as she remembered the horrible faces her mom used to make as she forced herself to drink a rawegg-and-protein shake every morning.
Finally, a small pile of dusty brown moving boxes behind several old metal lawn chairs and a huge beach umbrella caught Sydney’s attention. She immediately picked her way through and pulled the boxes out into the limited free space. From the looks of the layers of dust, half of the boxes had remained completely untouched since the day they moved into this house.
Sydney struggled to open the first box. Using the edge of a stray wire hanger she found on the floor, she was able to tear the masking tape that securely held the edges. When she finally pulled back the flaps, a faded red-and-white bib with a huge red-and-black ladybug embroidered on the corner was the first item to emerge. Sydney fought to hold back the tears as she stroked the edges of the ancient item. Pulling herself together, she continued to dig through to the bottom of the box. There were a whole bunch of baby clothes but no concrete clues. Stashing the bib in the back pocket of her Joe’s Jeans, Sydney quickly threw the rest of the stuff back in and closed the lids. “One down and three to go,” she grunted, still feeling hopeful as she ripped open the tape on the next box.
The second box was filled with Mrs. Duke’s belongings. An old-school pair of Lee jeans with the big brown logo patch on the back sat at the very top of the meticulously folded pile. Sydney snorted at the idea of Keisha’s pretentious butt squeezing into the pair of cheesy acid-washed jeans. As she delved deeper, Sydney found more outdated clothes and shoes, including a pair of white Keds with pink laces. Just before she reached the bottom, her hand hit what felt like an old leather-bound journal. After struggling to pull it out from under the weight of the clothes, Sydney anxiously opened it to the middle pages. Lo and behold, staring right back at her was a huge 9 x 11 photo of the twins with Keisha and Dice taken at the local swap meet. “Wow,” she breathed softly.
Sydney reached back in the box to make sure that there weren’t any more albums in the bottom and closed it back up. Feeling like she may have found what she was looking for, Sydney carefully pushed all the boxes back to the corner and placed everything back in its prior position as best she could. Then she hauled butt outta there.
“You find everything you need, Ms. Sydney?” Edwina asked as Sydney hurriedly closed the staircase door behind her.
“Mmm-hmm, I’m good, thanks. I’m just gonna go do some studying,” she reassured the old lady as she headed back to the safe confines of her room.
Taking the steps two at a time, Sydney’s heart pounded painfully by the time she reached her bedroom. She considered hiding out in her walk-in closet but settled on her bathroom—it was the only door in the house the girls were allowed to close without their paranoid mother busting in like a federal agent. Just to be safe, Sydney grabbed her chemistry book and placed it on her bed as a decoy. Then she took a deep breath for courage and headed into the bathroom.
This time Sydney started from the very beginning. There were several pictures of a very pregnant Keisha at her baby shower, surrounded by a lot of women. The only person Sydney recognized was her Aunt Lorraine. She couldn’t believe how many people her mother, the ultimate loner, used to be cool with. Next there were pictures of Keisha and Dice with the girls shortly after the delivery. Both of her parents looked exhausted but overjoyed. Even though the photo was taken no more than a few minutes after the delivery, Keisha still managed to rock a huge pair of gold hoops and hot-pink lipstick. Sydney smirked as she imagined her mother demanding time to freshen up before having the photo taken.
Sydney flipped slowly through countless pages of the girls as newborns and toddlers wearing various matching outfits, including those annoying frilly underpants that mothers with too much time on their hands tend to put on their little girls. With each page turn, Sydney longed for the years before they moved into the big house, when her real family was still intact and the twins were still totally inseparable. She took her time and slowly examined each photo, trying desperately to memorize each one.
Sydney was almost three-quarters of the way through when a candid shot of her father and a friend relaxing on the red leather couch, drinking Heinekens, and watching the television caught her attention. Where do I know this guy from? she wondered as she pulled the grainy photo from the page to get a better look. Unable to put her finger on the answer, she replaced the photo and kept flipping. She flipped through several more pages filled with candid pictures of Keisha, her grandparents, and a guy who looked so much like Keisha, Sydney just assumed it was her Uncle Laurence. And then there were a bunch of Dice and the familiar-looking stranger. In one, the tall, dark stranger rocked a serious Jheri curl and posed with Dice in front of a pimped-out black Cadillac with gold rims. They were wearing the exact same outfit from head to toe. “I know him,” she muttered under her breath as she tried to imagine what the two men might have been about to get into when the photo was taken.
Suddenly, Sydney heard the front door slam. Startled, she jumped up from her perch on the closed toilet and a large professional photo fell out from the back page. “Stop! You play too much, Altimus,” Lauren whined dramatically as Sydney listened to the group heading up the stairs. She quickly bent down to retrieve the picture. However, as soon as she turned it over she froze. It was her parents’ official wedding photo: Keisha, Dice, and their entire twelve-person bridal party in all their tacky eighties fashion glory. Once again, the tall, dark stranger was standing right next to Dice. But this time, thanks to the clarity of a professional photo, it was perfectly clear: The stranger—and best man—was Altimus.
Sydney’s heartbeat roared in her ears. “Oh, my God…” she wheezed. She didn’t know whether to run, hide, scream, or just faint. Mom married Dad’s best man. Altimus was my father’s best friend!
“Say it, say it,” Altimus commanded playfully from down the hall. “Who loves you more than me, Lauren?” Just the sound of his voice made Sydney break out in a cold sweat.
“Ain’t nobody love her more than her damn mother,” Keisha interjected.
“Whatever, you’re both crazy,” Lauren quipped.
Sydney involuntarily dry-heaved. As soon as she regained her composure, she shoved the album under the sink behind the countless bottles of shampoo and conditioner and turned on the faucet. I’ve got to talk to Lauren. But she’ll never believe me. She’s got to know. She’ll just sell me out again. Sydney wrestled with her thoughts as she feverishly rinsed her hands over and over. When she finally got herself together, Sydney turned off the water and dried her hand on the fluffy, white, monogrammed hand towel. It was decided: She definitely had to tell Lauren. All she had to do now was figure out how.