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Tuesday was buzzing all day at the salon. While the stylists and other staff were distracted, concentrating on their clients for the upcoming Juneteenth festivities, Kami took a chance and called Tango on the salon’s phone.
Her heart pounded with excitement at hearing his voice. That overpowered any anxiety at being caught. Technically, she wasn’t disobeying her aunt, and Miss Pearl never said she couldn’t, she reasoned.
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Do you even know it? God whispered Jeremiah 17:9.
Kami considered the question and believed the answer to be yes. She knew her heart.
Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life, God thundered.
She swallowed. Wisdom from Proverbs. She couldn’t recall the chapter, but it was a book filled with warnings for the wicked and a reminder to others to seek wisdom. Shaking her head, she understood the Scripture, but refused to believe that her Tango was evil and it was a lack of wisdom to want to be with him.
Not when her heart told her Tango cared for her. She glanced over her shoulder to double-check the coast was clear. Nothing seemed to get past Miss Pearl, so she had to make it quick as she tapped in his number.
“Hey. Who this?” Tango answered.
Her heart fluttered. “It’s me.” She smiled, excited to hear his voice.
“Me who?” He seemed annoyed.
Had he forgotten about her already? She pushed back the hurt and identified herself.
“Oh, hey, Kami.” He covered up the phone to hush someone in the background. “How’s Oklahoma City treating you?”
“I’m in Tulsa,” she corrected, irked he didn’t remember her whereabouts.
“I knew you were somewhere in Oklahoma.” He chuckled, then she heard what sounded like giggles in the background.
“Is someone there with you?”
“Yeah, just a friend.”
“Who?” she demanded.
“Listen, I don’t ask you to name your friends. Why you asking me?” he snapped.
Huh? What did she say that made him act rude? She was taking a risk to call him, and he wanted to pick a fight? “I didn’t call to argue. I just missed you and wanted to hear your voice.”
“Yeah. I’ll talk to you later.” Tango disconnected the call.
Kami blinked in disbelief as her vision blurred. She bowed her head to hide her misery and regulate her breathing. His meanness crushed her.
When the bell alerted her that more clients had arrived, she had to do one of her mother’s numbers—regroup and refocus on the task in front of her. Kami greeted them with the biggest smile she could muster, considering her heart was cracking every second, and she was surprised no one heard it. She repeated her performance at the sound of each bell until the last customer walked through the door, then she mentally collapsed.
On the ride back to Gilcease Hills, Queen chatted non-stop about Juneteenth.
Kami had nothing to add. She was still bummed out because of Tango. She hated being moody, and whenever she was down about anything, she could always rely on family to cheer her up. Her aunt asked her a question about June 19th.
“Yeah, Juneteenth is a big deal at home.” Kami coaxed herself to smile. “You know my dad and Papa P commemorate like it’s New Year’s.”
“Our celebration here kicks off on Wednesday with a mixer. It’s sponsored by a group called the young professionals, so you’ll get a chance to meet more people around your age. That should cheer you up.”
I doubt it, she thought, but smiled anyway.
“Besides admiring the colorful attire and dancing to the rhythm of the drums,” Queen chatted away, “I like sampling the African dishes.”
That night, holed up in her bedroom, Kami called Susanna and confided about the conversation she’d had with Tango. Since her new friend didn’t know her boyfriend, she wouldn’t be as biased as her family.
“So what do you think?” Kami asked.
“Hmm, don’t know. Sounds like he doesn’t miss you as much as you miss him.”
Staring at the tattoo, Kami couldn’t bring herself to believe that.
“I would make him jealous if I were as pretty as you.”
The compliment was lost on Kami. “That’s childish. Grown folks don’t do that.”
“I don’t know. I’ve seen it happen.” Susanna changed the subject until they laughed and giggled about other stuff for more than an hour. Only when the call ended did Kami realize Tango’s name never came up again.
Wednesday was a better day. Talking to her new friend and getting on her knees to pray more than sixty seconds helped. That evening she would mingle with the young professionals as part of the pre-Juneteenth events. Susanna said she should flirt with the guys in Tulsa, but Kami couldn’t, even if she was mad at Tango. He was her first boyfriend, and she wanted to be faithful.
On Thursday, she and Queen admired an exhibit of paintings by Black artists and watched a movie in the park. They left early since both had to work the next day.
Crowds turned out in the Greenwood District on Friday, June 19th to celebrate the June 19, 1865, announcement that slavery was abolished and those who were still in bondage in Texas were now free.
“Slavery hadn’t been over sixty years when the tragedy hit Greenwood with a massacre here in 1921,” a speaker told the audience from a makeshift stage in front of the crowd. “The Tulsa race riot is still considered the worst attack on Blacks in U.S. history. When we commemorate this event, it serves as a reminder to the world that cruelty didn’t end with the Emancipation Proclamation.”
Kami shivered. It was different learning about the White mob attack from her family, but to actually stand on the grounds where it happened seemed sacred.
“It was an attack from the ground and by air. Thousands of White folks rampaged through Black neighborhoods, killing men and women, burning and looting stores and homes. When it was over, the mob had succeeded in destroying more than thirty blocks of one of the wealthiest Black communities in the country.” Queen didn’t hide her emotions. “My great aunt lived through it and described it as a form of a Black holocaust.”
Kami had read that ten thousand Black people were left homeless, and there was millions of dollars in property damage. She knew from her family meetings that Blacks were forced out of small towns because of intimidation, making them extinct in a sense.
After a candlelight service, the excitement built for a concert that featured Marcus Anderson, the former saxophonist for the late musician Prince.
There was more musical entertainment on Saturday. Organizers transformed the parking lot on Greenwood Avenue into a huge dance floor. One of the bands was Midnight Star, and it was after midnight when they arrived home. They crashed because they had out danced everybody there.
Kami had invited Susanna to the closing the ceremony on Sunday, which ended with more dancing, poetry reading, and an impromptu praise moment in the park that evening. Her new friend declined, saying Juneteenth was too depressing. Yes and no, Kami thought. Her father drilled into his children the importance of knowing our history and doing everything within our power not to allow the injustice to ever happen again
The following weekend, Kami and her aunt were still recuperating after the Juneteenth celebrations. They had decided to watch silly movies all weekends. The down time gave Kami more time to reflect on Tango, but she dared not call him again. Not that she thought she might get caught. She didn’t know if she was ready for more hurt feelings.
“Have you ever been in love?” Kami asked out of the blue as she hugged a gigantic pillow with her back against the headboard.
She had heard her parents’, aunts’, and uncles’ stories about falling in love and guessed Queen hadn’t because she was still single.
“Yeah, maybe a couple of times,” Queen answered, staring at the flat screen.
Kami frowned and sat up in the bed and crossed her legs Indian style. Grabbing the remote, she paused the movie. “A couple of times? If there’s only one soulmate, how can you be in love more than once?”
Her aunt smiled. “You’ll learn that the first time your heart flutters isn’t always love. Maybe it’s attraction or heartburn.” She chuckled, but Kami didn’t. “It’s puppy love. Fast-forward ten or fifteen years, and the real test comes.”
Ten or fifteen years? Kami didn’t have time to see if Tango was her puppy love, even though his attitude put him in the dog house as her parents said.
“The next guy who comes along is everything you dreamt he would be from all your romantic movies and books, but only on the surface. Once you begin to remove his layers, he turns out to be a decoy.”
Kami’s heart twisted. Tango wasn’t a decoy. He was the real thing.
“A first love is like getting your first car—it’s not new, but it works, and means everything to you. You pamper it until it lets you down, then you have to decide whether it’s worth the investment to keep it running, or you ditch it for something better.”
Huh? “Queen, you’ve lost me.”
“There may come a time when you realize your first love isn’t worth the investment and it’s time for something new that is dependable,” she said with sincerity in her voice. She wasn’t joking.
Rolling her eyes, Kami picked up the remote and resumed the movie. “You are so over my head. I thought I asked a simple question.”
Queen paused the television again. “Love is never simple when you’re willing to put someone else first. Real love puts everyone first.”
I so loved the world that I gave my only begotten son, God whispered.
John 3:16, Kami thought. She knew she had God’s love, but she wanted a love of her own. “So, what kind of car am I supposed to get?” The whole idea of a car and love was stupid.
“The car should be a sedan—classy, stylish on the outside. You have to give it a name—Antwon or something real masculine. It can’t sound girlie. It has to be a masculine name to get your attention. You check the interior for color and comfort. Does it complement your personality? Do you feel safe behind the wheel?” She paused. “Men see me as a flashy car, and why not? I’m the sedan screaming for attention, but no one has yet to appreciate my interior or seems concerned about my comfort. That driver has not checked out my sticker price.”
Although Queen smiled, Kami sensed it was forced. She looked sad. How could someone not love her aunt? That made her sad too. If Kami were a car, would Tango think there was something better than her? Maybe it was worth sneaking another call to him.