The Other Side of Goodness

If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.

Before Gabrielle and Zachary could get out the door with Jasmine, there was a knock at her door.

“Hello.” A singsong voice came as a head slightly peeked in.

“Hi,” Gabrielle said, walking toward the door to see who was there. “Come on.”

The person came in as did a teenage girl along with her. Gabrielle stopped in her tracks. She couldn’t believe her eyes. It was Paris Simmons-Holyfield (“with a hyphen”). “Hi there,” Paris said, not seeming to notice Gabrielle as she looked past her to Zachary. “I’m sorry. I was looking for—” She looked at Jasmine sitting in a chair. “Would you happen to be Jasmine?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Jasmine said.

“Okay. Then I guess I am in the right place.” Paris looked from Jasmine back to Zachary. “You’re so pretty. You’re absolutely beautiful.” It was then that she must have noticed Gabrielle, since her body literally stiffened as she yanked back.

Jasmine was blushing. “Thank you,” she said to Paris.

The teenager with Paris stepped forward. “Hi.” Her smile was huge, her full attention directed totally toward Jasmine.

“Hi,” Jasmine said, her big brown eyes looking upward as she smiled.

“Oh! Where are my manners?” Paris said to Gabrielle, who stared hard at her now. “This is my little sister, Imani Simmons.”

“Hi, Imani,” everyone said almost in unison.

“Hi, all,” Imani said. “But if you’ve seen any of my father’s political materials, you probably recognize me as Courtney. But I prefer my middle name Imani.”

Zachary went over to Imani and shook her hand. “Well, it’s really nice to meet you, Imani.”

Gabrielle went and stood over Jasmine like an eagle protecting her nest as she tried to figure out what was really going on here.

“I’ve wanted to meet you for months now,” Imani said to Jasmine. “But my daddy wouldn’t let me. He said your immune system could be compromised, so of course, we didn’t want to do anything to set you back in your getting well.”

“Thanks,” Jasmine said. “But I’m doing great now. In fact, I’m going home today!”

“You are?” Paris said it like she was the nicest person around. “Wow. Well, I’m glad we came by today, then. Otherwise, we would have missed you completely.”

“I’m sorry,” Gabrielle said to Paris, deciding she was going to find out what all of this was about. “Do you know Jasmine? I mean, other than from the news.”

Paris smirked. “Well, this is our first time meeting her in person. But I suppose you could sort of say we know her . . . we’ve sort of met. Maybe not as much me as my sister here.” Paris placed both her hands onto Imani’s shoulders.

“What my sister here is trying to say, Jasmine, is that our cells have met,” Imani said. “I’m your bone marrow donor.”

Jasmine grinned really big then. “You are? For real? You are!”

“Yes,” Imani said, matching Jasmine’s grin. “Yes. For real.” Imani went over to Jasmine and the two hugged. “We sort of favor a little. That’s something, huh?”

“Our cells match and we sort of match.” Jasmine giggled. “I look like my mother. I have her eyes. That’s what everybody tells me.”

Imani laughed. “I look like my daddy. I have my daddy’s eyes. That’s what everybody tells me.”

Paris looked at Gabrielle like she’d just eaten a green persimmon before primping her mouth, then forcing the corners of her mouth into a smile. Paris took out her cell phone. “Hey, you two,” she said. “Let me get a picture of the two of you together.” The two girls put their faces side by side and struck a pose. Paris snapped several times with the camera feature of her iPhone. “Beautiful!” she said when she was finished. “Just beautiful.”

“Thank you, Paris,” Imani said, then squeezed Jasmine again. The two of them held each other before releasing and hugging two more times.

“So,” Paris said to Jasmine after Imani and Jasmine stopped their hugging marathon. “You’re going home today. That is so great! Where is your mother? Imani and I were looking forward to meeting her.”

“She’s not here. Miss G and Dr. Z are taking me home.”

“Is that right?” Paris smiled, her cheesy phoniness starting to sicken Gabrielle at this point. “Gabrielle, or Miss G as you call her, and I were once friends. In fact, for a few months, we were even roommates. So how exactly do you know Miss G?”

“Miss G and Dr. Z have been with me pretty much through this whole—”

“Jasmine, are you sure you’ve gotten everything?” Gabrielle said, purposely interrupting her. “We don’t want to end up forgetting anything, you know.”

“I’m pretty sure,” Jasmine said. “I even got all of my messages Dr. Z brought me. But I’ll check one more time and be sure.”

“That’s okay. I’ll check for you,” Gabrielle said. She then turned to Paris. “I know she’s eager to get home. So we’re going to get out of here now. But it was so good of you to come by.” Gabrielle walked over to Imani. Tears began to well up in her eyes as she looked at this young girl who stood tall before her and essentially had saved Jasmine’s life. “It was truly great to meet you, Imani. Your name means faith.”

“Yes, it does.”

Gabrielle nodded and smiled. “Imani: a blessed name of a blessing of a person. On behalf of Jasmine’s mother, I want to thank you for what you did for Jasmine. That was a great and noble thing that you did, it really was. And God is going to reward you greatly for it. I believe that. My pastor’s wife always says that God keeps great records. And He does. He really does.”

Imani smiled. “Thank you for that.” She hugged Gabrielle as Gabrielle tried inconspicuously to wipe away her emergent tears, hoping no one would see that she was crying, particularly not Paris.

“Thanks for coming by,” Zachary said, stepping up and taking Paris by her elbow as he led her toward the door, essentially blocking her line of view to Gabrielle.

“Bye,” Imani said to Jasmine before going over again and giving her one more hug. “Now I want you to take good care of my cells for me. All right? Is that a deal?”

Jasmine laughed. “All right. I will. That’s a deal. You’re really funny.”

“I’ve been told that,” Imani said. “But seriously: I’m so glad you’re okay.”

“Me, too,” Jasmine said.

Imani left with a wave. Paris pulled up the rear, exiting right behind her.

Zachary took Gabrielle in his arms and hugged her tight. “Are you okay?” he whispered directly in her ear so only she would hear.

“Yeah,” Gabrielle whispered back. “I don’t know why, but I have a bad feeling about Paris and what just happened here.”

“You and me both,” he said still whispering. “Her sister seems really nice though.”

“Yeah.”

“Hey, you two!” Jasmine said, almost yelling at them. “Are you going to hug and make goo-goo eyes all day, or are we going to finally break out of this joint?”

Gabrielle wiped her eyes once more, turned to Jasmine, laughed, and said, “Let’s make like a banana and split!”

Jasmine laughed as she took a leap into the air. “Yes!”