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Summer was only a week old but Amber thought it was passing too fast. She lay in her bed in a t-shirt and gym shorts listening to her iPhone and brooding. Private school wasn’t her idea. Julian High School was a great school, one of the best in the Metro Area. She researched it for days then presented her argument to her parents, once again trying to secure a happy and rewarding future outside the confines of private school. She got the same response.
“We know Julian High is a great school,” Mama would say. “That’s the reason we moved here.”
“But Clifton Academy offers so much more,” Daddy would finish. “You’ll have the chance to attend an Ivy League prep school and their soccer program is first rate. It’s a win-win, baby girl.”
“Your father and I have worked hard for this opportunity,” Mama would finish. “We only want the best for you.”
What was best for her was Julian High with her friends.
The bedroom door opened and Mama entered with a frown on her face. Amber took off her earphones.
“The world would come to an end and you wouldn’t know until you saw wings on your back.”
“You’re assuming I’d be in Heaven,” Amber replied with a wink.
“You got that smart attitude from your Daddy. It’s going to get you time out just like him. Jasmine’s here.”
Amber tumbled off the bed, and then followed Mama downstairs into the kitchen. Jasmine sat at the kitchen table with a Julian High Tigers t-shirt on, a big grin on her face.
“You’re so mean!” Amber exclaimed. “You’re not my friend anymore. I hate you.”
Mama laughed. “Y’all take that upstairs.”
Amber turned up her nose as she walked back upstairs. Jasmine followed.
“And Jasmine, talk your friend into fixing her hair. She looks a mess.”
“I agree, Mrs. Greene. She does look a mess. I’ll do my best.”
Amber snarled at Jasmine then trotted upstairs. She flopped onto her bed; Jasmine grabbed the desk chair then rolled it beside the bed.
“I wish I’d seen you,” Amber said. “I wouldn’t have let you in.”
“Even for this?” Jasmine held up another Julian High t-shirt.
Amber squealed then snatched the t-shirt out of Jasmine’s fingers. She took off her t-shirt and donned Jasmine’s gift.
“Now that’s what’s up!” she said.
She plugged her iPhone into the speaker system on her dresser, filling the room with smooth soul sounds.
“You want to go swimming?” Jasmine asked.
“No.” Amber fell back onto her bed.
“Come on, girl. Stop sulking. It is what it is. We might as well enjoy the summer. Donny’s going to be there.”
“So?”
“Donny is fine. We can look at him.”
“You’re so boy crazy. Donny is a jerk.”
“That’s true, but he’s still fine. We don’t have to talk to him.”
Her phone buzzed on her desk. Amber had no idea who would call her this time of day except Jasmine and she was already in her room. She trudged to the desk and looked at the number.
“Grandma!” she exclaimed. She snatched up the phone then answered. “Hey Grandma!”
“Hey Amber. How’s my favorite grandchild doing?”
“I’m okay,” she answered.
“You still sulking about private school?”
Amber frowned. “Yeah, but I’ll be okay.”
“Well, I have a remedy for that. How about you come down and spend a few weeks with me? We’ll swim, shop and do a little traveling nearby.”
Amber bounced around the room.
“What?” Jasmine asked. “What?”
“Yes!” Amber said. “No, wait a minute. We’re supposed to go visit Daddy’s family this summer.”
“The whole summer?” Grandma asked.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Let me talk to your Mama.”
Amber covered the phone. “I’ll be right back.”
She hurried downstairs to the kitchen. Mama was making lunch, slicing apples and arranging them on a plate.
“Mama, it’s Grandma. She wants me to visit.”
Mama frowned. “She knows we’re going to Martha’s Vineyard this summer. Give me the phone.”
Amber handed the phone to Mama.
“Hey Mama...Amber just told me. You know we’re going to visit Sam’s folks...yes, in July, but Amber needs to spend some time at home...”
Amber shook her head vigorously. “I want to go to see Grandma!” she whispered.
Mama held up her hand and Amber fell silent.
“Mama...don’t do that Mama, that’s not fair...I know I said I was coming...okay Mama, I’ll talk to Sam. Love you, too Mama. Bye.”
Mama handed her phone back then huffed.
“That woman makes me so mad sometimes,” Mama said. She looked at Amber. “You didn’t hear that.”
Amber didn’t care. “Can I go?”
“You sure you don’t want to stay here until we go visit?”
“I want to go see Grandma,” she said. “I need to relax before we go up north. You know how Daddy’s folks are.”
Mama looked disappointed. “What do you have against your father’s family?”
“Nothing, except they think they’re better that everyone else because they happen to trace their family back to some Pullman porter who had a good job back then and for some odd reason that’s supposed to give them some kind of status.”
“Okay, so they’re stuck up,” Mama replied. “They’re good people and they’re crazy about you.”
Amber decided to play her trump card. She gazed into her mother’s eyes, pouting her lips as she swayed from side to side.
“Can I go to Grandma’s? Please?”
“I’ll talk to your Daddy tonight. Now go back upstairs. Jasmine came to see you.”
Daddy wasn’t happy but he relented, succumbing to Amber’s sad, watery eyes. Grandma sent her first-class airline tickets the following week, sending Amber into a joy dance. She’d never flown first class before, so she was looking forward to an additional new experience. She was set to leave a week after Grandma’s call, her suitcases packed to capacity. The plan was that she would spend two weeks with Grandma then fly to Martha’s Vineyard. Grandma wasn’t happy about it, but Daddy could be pushed only so much.
Jasmine came to see her the night before she left for Grandma’s. They sat on her bed, sharing Jasmine’s iPhone through a pair of earphones. For a while smooth neo soul sounds flowed into their ears as they bobbed from side to side. The video games and books that normally cluttered her dresser top were packed away, the piles of clothes usually filling her chairs packed into her royal blue suitcases standing at the foot of her bed. Jasmine took off her earphones and waved for Amber to do the same.
“I wish you were staying home,” she said. “I’m going to miss you.”
“I wish I was staying, too. But I’d rather go to Grandma’s than go up north. I can’t stand those people.”
“I wish I was going with you,” Jasmine lay beside her. “A whole two weeks on the beach!”
“It’s not that cool. It’s muggy and the mosquitoes can be murderous. I’m just going to be with Grandma. My Grandpa died a few years ago so it’s just her and Bean.”
Jasmine laughed. “You got an uncle named Bean?”
“No, that’s the dog,” Amber said as she smiled. “My Grandma is cool. She doesn’t care about all this money and stuff. She just loves to be with family.”
“Is she poor?”
“Naw, she’s got plenty money. She and Grandpa made good money selling their house in Darien then moved into one of those fancy retirement villages on Hilton Head Island.”
“What time is your flight leaving?”
“Eight o’clock. Hilton Head doesn’t have an airport so I’m flying into Savannah. Javan’s going to pick me up there.”
Jasmine sat up. “Who’s Javan?”
Amber rolled her eyes. “There you go again! Javan is a concierge at the resort where Grandma lives. He’s nice.”
“I don’t care if he’s nice; is he fine?”
“Shoot, girl. Javan is a grown man.”
“Is he a fine grown man?”
Amber let the smile she’d been holding back emerge. “Mmm hmm! He’s chocolate like a Hershey bar with the prettiest eyes I’ve ever seen on a man.”
“What about his body? Does he have a six pack?”
Before Amber could answer, her mother rapped on the door then stuck her head into the room.
“Are you girls in here talking about boys?”
“No Mama, we’re talking about men.”
Mama frowned. “I bet Jasmine doesn’t get smart with her mother, do you Jasmine?”
“No Mrs. Robinson, I don’t.” Jasmine winked at Amber and Amber sucked her teeth.
“Maybe you can help Amber pack,” Mama said.
“Mama!”
Mama held up her hands. “Okay, okay. I’m leaving.”
The girls spent the rest of the evening talking. Amber felt melancholy; she and Jasmine would probably never be this close again. She was looking forward to visiting Grandma, but she would miss Jasmine. Then the incident in the bathroom interrupted her thoughts. Her hand went to her necklace. It was cool; unlike the heat she felt when she pinned the goalie to the wall. She dared not talk to Mama about it; she would look at her like she was crazy. But Grandma would understand, or at least she would pretend to. She might even have an answer.
That night Amber didn’t dream of hard pack beaches and crashing waves, nor did she dream of her friends and the high school she’d never attend. Instead she dreamed of a gleaming city in the desert, a kingdom nestled in the middle of a lush oasis surrounded by strong and beautiful walls. She dreamed of handsome brown skinned statuesque people; women in loose fitting dresses that fluttered around their athletic bodies, their hands and necks decorated with gold and jewels; men wearing large cotton shirts which covered their loose pants and sporting blue turbans that rested on their heads like crowns, their strong faces bearded and solemn. They lined the edge of a broad avenue which ended before a huge palace occupying the center of the city, its shining towers piercing the azure sky, the pinnacles crowned with indigo flags etched with white woven lions. The people looked at her then to the palace. Amber obeyed their gesture, walking between them to the citadel. She entered the tower to the left where a young girl played among plush rugs with a straw doll, singing a tune that was familiar to Amber’s ears. The girl turned then looked at Amber, her face recognizable despite its youth. It was Grandma.
A man entered the room, tall and regal like the people of the streets. A robe fell from his narrow shoulders, the golden fabric filled with sepia colored symbols that moved on their own accord. A single gold band encircled his bald head, its centerpiece a large amber jewel set in gold and surrounded by diamonds. He too, looked at Amber and smiled gently.
“Will you come?” he said. “Will you help us?”
Amber sat up suddenly, flinging her comforter to the floor. She jumped out of bed and ran to the mirror, touching her face. She was real, this was real, but the dream seemed more than real. She searched her memory, wondering why she would dream such a scene. It came back to her slowly; the city was the one that Grandma described to her when she was a child, the city in her stories. She remembered the people as well, strong, beautiful and proud. But Grandma was never in the stories, and neither was the man who spoke to her so clearly. The dream reminded her of the incident in the restroom at the pizzeria. She started to call her mother but stopped. She was a teenager now, thirteen years old. She would handle this herself. She found her iPhone, put on her headphones and listened to Neo. His soulful voice eventually drowned out the images and sang her to sleep.