princejez

I turned to see a young guy about Mateo’s age, which is twenty. He was dressed in black sweatpants and a blue t-shirt.

“Okay, we’ve both seen him, now can we look for my suitcase,” I said as I returned to the conveyer belt to look for my suitcase. After chasing my suitcase to the end of the conveyer belt, we then headed for the entrance where dad had rented a van to carry our luggage and another one to take us. Lisa and Lola sat with their faces pressed against the window, marvelling at the different sights, like Time Square and Central Park. The van dropped us at a hotel called Fifth Avenue. When we got out of the van, a man dressed in a red tailcoat and black pants came from the hotel door and took all our suitcases from the van onto a carrier.

“Dad, how are we able to afford to stay here,” I asked as we walked through the revolving doors of the hotel.

“Well, when I got promoted, the company decided a move like this would be a bit hectic, so they’re paying for our stay here. Since our family is a bit bigger than the average American family, finding accommodation to cater for all of us is a bit tricky,” He said before he went to the reception to check us in. As we were waiting to be shown to our rooms, Nina and I decided to take a look around the hotel. When we passed the breakfast area and were returning to the reception. I saw the lady who was seated behind me and the guy Nina was obsessing over. The lady turned, saw me, and smiled as she checked in. Soon dad called us to meet him in the hall.

“Okay, I’ve checked us into four rooms near each other. Room 1209, that’s Sierra and Nina, here you go. “He said before handing us our key cards.

“Who are we staying with?“ Lilly asked as she reached for Lola’s hand and a key card at the same time.

“You two are staying with Abuela in room 1210.” He said moving the key card out of her reach and handing it over to Abuela.

“Bedtime is nine sharp for you two, clear?” Abuela said pointing to the twins after putting the key card in her bag.

“Ohh, man.” The twins sighed as they followed Abuela to the elevator. Dad chuckled at the sight.

“Then that leaves us, gents, here are your key cards. Our room is 1211. Curfew is eleven-thirty. If you roll in later than that, questions will be asked, clear?” Dad said while his gaze shifted towards Mateo.

“Crystal,” Mateo said as he walked off to catch up with us. Dad’s gaze then shifted to Leo.

“Why are you looking at me? I’m not even awake at that time,” He said with a half-smile as he headed for the elevator before it closed.

“I’m watching you, Señor,” Dad said before following the carrier who was taking our luggage.

Later dad sent a text saying that we had the opportunity to go sightseeing and that we should meet him in the lobby in an hour.

We entered the room to find two luxuriously soft beds, in a wide spacious room and an incredible view of the city lights.

“Oh my gosh, Sierra, our bathroom has a grand showerhead and a bathtub,” Nina said leaving her suitcases at the door blocking me from entering.

“I can’t see it cause of your three colossal suitcases that are blocking the door. Did you pack your entire wardrobe in here?”

“Oh, sorry. Let me remove them.”

“Wow, your room is huge!” Lilly said as she burst into our room with Lola tailing her.

“What are you talking about, aren’t they the same?” I asked.

“Maybe, but our suitcases took up a bit of space.”

“You guys made dad pay for an extra suitcase because y’all decided to pack a full suitcase of stuffed animals.

“But those were our gifts from Abuela Julie,” Lilly and Lola said with puppy dog eyes.

“Correction,” Grandma interrupted as she also entered the room in her sandals and her floral caftan dress, “She’s grandma Julie, not Abuela. I’m Abuela.”

“Oh wow, I mean wow. Abuela you look amazingly beautiful in that dress, who are you going to see?”

“Does there necessarily have to be a reason for me to look nice,” Abuela asked with a slight smile before she twirled around.

“Yes!” The twins exclaimed. “The last time you dressed up this nice was for our school play because Antonio’s grandpa was in town for the show.”

“Oh, I did no such thing,” Abuela immediately retorted.

“Oh really,” The twins said with sly smiles and squinting eyes.

“Even if I was going to meet someone, it would be none of your businesses.”

“Ooh, so you are going to meet someone, ha, we knew it, didn’t we Lola?” Lilly said clapping her hands in the air and giving a high-five to Lola.

“But who is it?” Lola asked.

“Wait, we only know one person who stays in New York. Isn’t it Nina’s late Abuelito’s American friend?

“Yeah, it could be. Mr. Jack Smith still lives in New York and we’re going to be staying with him during the holidays.” Nina said rolling her suitcase near the drawers on the side of the room near the forty-inch screen TV.

“Okay fine, I may have recently reached out to him through something the twins put me on called Twitter ever since I knew we were coming to New York.”

“Ooh-la-la, does dad know?” I asked dodging one of the tires of Nina’s suitcase.

“Oh please, I’m his mother and I don’t need to tell him everything.”

Nina started opening one of her gigantic suitcases to reveal all sorts of hair and makeup creams, combs, and other apparatus. “At least let me do your hair and makeup.”

After Abuela had been all dolled up by Nina, we remembered that the rest of us had to get changed from travel clothes to meet dad in an hour for the sightseeing tour. So the twins decided to get their clothes and change in our room. The twins wore matching blue rompers, Nina and I both wore denim, damaged jeans, except she wore a pink shirt and mine was blue. The twins raced down the grand stairs to beat Abuela who had taken the elevator. By the time they reached down the twelve flights of stairs, they could barely walk and flopped down in the cream yellow couch near the reception.

To be continued…

High pitched squeals filled the room, mine being the loudest. I wanted to scream, dance, and cry all at the same time. That night I could barely sleep from all the excitement. Three days later I was looking out the plane window as we were preparing for take-off.

Dad and the twins were seated together, and Abuela and I were seated in the aisle seats next to an elderly gentleman slightly over sixty. By chance, Leo and Mateo were seated next to each other, and Nina was seated right behind them. Soon the gentleman and Abuela began to talk to each other and it’s like she forgot that I was there. Tired of listening to their reminiscences of the ‘70s, I decided to plug in my earphones and started to watch five-minute hacks on YouTube.

Thinking of ways to nullify the dullness of the eight–hour flight, I decided to text Nina.

Me: Hey, how is your end of the plane?

Nina: What are you talking about?

I can see your Abuela’s bright red scarf from here.

Me: Ha, how are Leo and Mateo doing?

Nina: Red alert!

There is a pretty boujee girl talking to Leo.

Me: Tell her to get her manicured nails away from him.

Nina: Haha

Me: What’s funny?

Nina: Wait, are you serious?

Me: Of course not

Haha.

I put down my phone to charge and decided to watch a movie on the screen of the chair in front of me. When the seatbelt light went off, dad came to check on me.

“Sierra, are you okay? I know the take-off was a bit rough.”

“Yeah, I am. I’m pretty sure Abuela slept through all of it.”

“The twins thought we were going to die when the plane started moving.”

“Ha, that bad?”

“Yeah, to calm them down we all prayed for the pilot.”

After my dad went back to his seat, I got a text from Mateo as I was checking how many hours of the flight we had left.

Mateo: Hey how r u doing

Me: I’m g u?

Mateo: Same

Me: How far is Pennsylvania from New York?

Mateo: Only a few hours

Me: So you can visit me and Nina almost every weekend.

Mateo: Yeah

Me: Anyway, we have like 4 more hours till the plane lands.

Mateo: I miss you.

Me: We’re on the same plane dummy.

Mateo: I know that

But I wish you were seated next to me.

Me: Ha-ha, boohoo

What, my brother’s too much to handle

Mateo: Your brother is in his world.

Me: Ok, I’m going to sleep for like two hours

Mateo: Oh ok I should probably do the same

Me: I’m so exhausted 

Mateo: Good night, luv u

Me: It’s like four in the morning.

Mateo: Wow really you can’t let a guy be just a little romantic

Me: Ha-ha not when you’re wrong, luv u too

Mateo: And good morning to you as well

Me: Just sleep

After I put my phone down I turned to the passenger behind me to ask if I could recline my chair. The young black American lady, probably mid-thirties dressed in a red silk blouse and a dark blue skirt and blazer, looked up from her computer and unplugged her earphones.

“Excuse me, is it okay if I recline my chair a bit?” I asked in the sweetest voice I didn’t even know my mouth could produce.

“Dear, just don’t recline it too far otherwise you will crush my computer.”

“Thank you, most people wouldn’t be as nice as to let me even lean back.”

“Well, I’m not exactly most people.” She said with a beautiful smile.

“I’m Sierra, Sierra Armente,” I said as I stretched out my hand to shake hers.

“Tori, Tori Johnson.” She replied as she shook my hand and then extended a bit behind for me to recline my chair. I put my head down and without any effort, my eyelids slammed shut. In what felt like thirty minutes, Abuela tapped me to wake up.

“Please just ten minutes.”

“We don’t have ten minutes, put on your seatbelt. The light is on.” She said reorganizing the red scarf that sat lopsided on her head. As she removed the red scarf, her beautiful black hair with silver streaks rolled down her blue blouse.

“Wait, why the light is on?” I asked setting my chair straight.

Before Abuela could respond the pilot’s voice drowned hers.

Good morning, this is your pilot speaking. We are beginning our descent into New York. All passengers please fasten your seatbelts and straighten your chairs. Thank you. 

“Well, you heard him. Put on your seatbelt before you get flung out of the plane.”

“How can it be that were already landing I only slept for thirty minutes, we should have like an hour left.”

“I think you must have been extremely exhausted because you slept for,” She paused to look at her button phone, “about three and a half hours.”

“What? How?!”

“I don’t know, now put on your seatbelt before you fly out of your seat.” She said.

Soon after I put on my seatbelt the plane began to descend and my eardrums felt like bursting. As soon as we landed the brilliance of the airport struck me. Compared to JFK, our simple airport looked like a toothpick. Soon the air hostess told us to get up and head for the door. After going down the stairs we had to wait for a bus to come and pick us up to take us to the main entrance. “Ooh look at him,” Nina said as she turned from the conveyer belt. We were in baggage claim waiting for our suitcases, Nina and I, because everyone else had gotten theirs.

“We’re supposed to be looking for my suitcase, not at boys.”

“Oh sorry, but damn he is fine.”

“Will you stop it, that’s not funny?” I said turning around to see who she was looking at.

“Who? Him?” I asked pointing to a man, in his early fifties, dressed in an army green pair of pants and a black shirt.

“Are you mad, that guy is old enough to be my grandpa, yuck?” She said with a look of disgust on her face. “Turn to the left a bit.”

To be continued…

• 

“Abuela, should we get you to the hospital,” Dad asked worriedly.

“Relax, no need for such a fuss, I just need water and my medicine.” She said getting a glass from the cupboard, “Leo please get my medicine from my room, thank you.”

As soon as Leo brought the medicine dad said, “The hospitals in New York are better for your Abuela because they’re more advanced.”

“Dad, New York is one of the most air-polluted cities in the world and that is where you want to take our already sick grandmother, wow!” Leo exclaimed.

“Leo, don’t talk that way to your father, he is only thinking of what is best for you,” Abuela said as she swallowed what seemed to be the fifth pill.

Leo stood and stormed off to his room and slammed the door.

“Ooh, that boy,” Lola said.

“Mmm, Papa do you need my belt because that boy needs a good swing at hi- “Lilly tried to say before she was interrupted.

“Thank you, Lilly and Lola, but that won’t be necessary. He will come around,” Dad said as he smiled, stood up and headed upstairs.  Everything was moving too fast in two months. Our house was empty because we had to ship our things before we left. It was Saturday evening, three days before our flight. At that point, we were practically living out of our suitcases, whatever we used we put back in. I was in the sitting room in Abuela’s rocking chair with Pedro, the dog, checking Nina’s Instagram stories when I got a text from Mateo.

Come outside.

For what?

Just come outside.

Ok.

I walked to the front door and peeped through the folds to see a black Mercedes with Mateo and Nina in front of it holding sodas, snacks, and ice-cream. I almost wanted to cry. I opened the front door and run down the stairs into the driveway to hug Nina.

“Eh, careful otherwise we will end up with Dorito crumbs all over us,” Nina said as I almost crushed the packets she was holding.

“Oh my goodness you guys, I can’t even! You guys are the best.” I said as I took some of the packets that were about to fall out of Nina’s arms.

“We thought that we should celebrate our last week in the great city of Flores,” Mateo said as I opened the front door for them to enter.

“New York, here we come,” Nina said as she put the snacks on the table.

“You and Nina are lucky you’re going to the same university,” Mateo said as he went to the kitchen to get glasses for the sodas.

“Don’t be so sad, Philadelphia is only a few hours away from our university,” I told him as I opened the cupboard to get paper plates.

“Yeah, you can come to visit us anytime,” Nina said as she opened the 1liter sprite bottle and picked a bowl to put the Doritos.

“That’s if we get in,” I said reminding Nina that I hadn’t yet gotten my acceptance letter.

“Oh please, Juilliard will be lucky to have you, don’t sweat it.” Mateo said kissing me on the forehead.

“If you say so.”

At that moment, I heard my dad’s car back into the driveway, and in what seemed like five seconds the twins run in screaming.

“Ninnaa!”

“Well, it seems like they’ve forgotten me,” Mateo said as he moved away from Nina who had been toppled to the floor as a result of the twin’s hugs.

“Nah, they’re just overly excited, they would do the same if it was Pedro,” Leo said as he carried in a few shopping bags into the house.

“Excited about what?” I asked. But just then a strong delicious aroma wafted through the door as dad approached.

“Hey kids, I brought –,” But before he could finish the twins chorused.

“Pizzaa!”

As soon as dad put down the boxes of pizza, Leo and the twins went through the first box faster than a formula one car on an oiled track.

“Lola, slow down the pizza isn’t going to fly from your plate.” Said dad as he put a slice on his paper plate and poured himself a glass of soda.

“With Leo seated next to me, it just might,” Lola said with a mischievous smile on her face.

We all burst out into laughter at Lola’s remark.

“Ah, la chiaremba what’s all the noise about?” Abuela asked as she came down the stairs, “You better not be having a party without me.”

“Unfortunately, the answer to that question is no, because the party doesn’t start without you, Nana.” Said Nina who gave Abuela a plate of Doritos and a slice of Pizza.

“Oh, thank you my Amira,” Abuela said as she squeezed one of Nina’s cheeks. “Oh and Sierra, a letter came for you.” She continued trying to hide a smile on the corner of her lips.

“Yes, from who,” I asked between mouthfuls of pizza.

“It’s from Juilliard,” Abuela said excitedly.

“Sierra, your acceptance letter,” Lilly exclaimed almost jumping out of her chair.

“What if it’s not an acceptance letter? I mean that envelope is way too small to be a good news-letter.” I said panicking.

“You’re just being overly dramatic. Nina, tell her she’s being dramatic,” Mateo said as he took the envelope out of Abuela’s hand.

“Mine was a bit bigger,” Nina said putting her soda down.

“Oh gosh!” I exclaimed.

“Nina, you’re not helping,” Mateo said giving her a disappointed look.

“You know what, maybe I won’t open it, so I’ll never get rejected,” I said grabbing the letter from Mateo almost out of hope.

“Okay, then I will open it,” Abuela said snatching the letter out of my hand and ripping it open.

“Careful Abuela or else you’ll also rip the letter,” Dad said jokingly.

“Sheesh, trust me a little.”

“Abuela read the letter!” Lilly shouted.

“Ok, ok, I’m reading. Dear Miss Armente,” She began, “we would love to inform you that your application has been accepted.”

To be continued…

“I will be fine, we should remember her even if it is in tears,” I said to him as I went to help Aunt Cecilia in the kitchen prepare evening tea.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

By morning there were over twenty people in our house. Most of them were dad’s relatives because mom’s relatives were living in Sierra Leone and couldn’t visit till the next month. I was so busy making sure everyone had eaten that I probably didn’t eat myself. If it wasn’t for my Abuela I probably wouldn’t have made it through the day. She was my shoulder to cry on. The day went by like a flash, let alone the week. Before I knew it, it was the end of the week. We had been so busy with burial arrangements we hadn’t celebrated the twin’s birthdays. We bought them presents and cake but nothing was the same without mom. There will always be a big hole she has left in our hearts

Present Day…

It has been two years since my mother passed away and a lot is still changing. I mean, I am now eighteen and about to go to college, Leo is now a sophomore, and the twins are going through the hormonal roller-coaster of being a preteen. I recently just went shopping with Nina for graduation dresses. For some reason she wanted me to pick some big fancy gown that I am pretty sure was a wedding dress. Anyway, I ended up leaving with a champagne-coloured mermaid dress. We had so much fun and before you ask about him, yes, Mateo and I are still together. That sweet ball of cuteness asked me out last year. Took him long enough as Nina would have said. I got home to find my dad seated on the couch as usual, but when I entered the front door, he stood and welcomed me home with a hug, something he had never done since we were kids.

“Dad, what’s going on?

“What do you mean?”

“You have never hugged me apart from when we were kids and on my graduation.”

“Well, I need to talk to you about something.”

“If it’s about Lilly and Lola’s school incident, I already talked it out with the principal and she’s willing to take them back.”

“What school incident?”

“Oh, umm, nothing.”

“Why didn’t I know about this, what did they do?”

“We didn’t want to worry you.”

“Lilly and Lola Armente, come down this instance!”

Soon the girls came down in their sweaters as it was quite windy.

“Yes papa,” they both chorused.

“What is this I hear about you getting into trouble at school,” Dad said while shaking his head, “I thought me and your mom raised you better than this?”

“Well, some girl at school, Eliana Caballero, likes picking on Lola so I told her to leave her alone and stop being a meanie.”

At that time Lola began to sob and Lily sniffled.

“What happened, what did she do?” My dad asked with concern.

“It’s okay, you can tell him,” I assured them.

“She called mom a blind pig that got knocked and didn’t know how to drive,” she said with a sniffle, “So we pushed her backward into the sandpit from the top of the slide,” Lilly said with her face held up.

“Then why are you the ones in trouble, shouldn’t it be the other girl Eliana?” Dad asked.

“The Caballero’s are the principal’s daughters.”

“Wait, isn’t Caballero the girl who used to bully you, Sierra, I never liked her.”

“Yap.”

“Those girls are very undisciplined and uncultured; all they need is a good swing to their backsides.”

The girls cackled at their dad’s statement.

“Anyway, I need to talk to all of you. Where’s your brother?”

“Hey,” Leo said as he came in through the front door.

“Leo, just the man, not boy, I was looking for.”

“Dad, I get it. I’m sixteen; you don’t have to shove adulthood in my face.”

“I’m just messing with you, have a seat, family meeting,” Dad said motioning him to sit down with his sisters.

“Hey princesses,” Leo said as he hugged the twins and planted a kiss on my cheek.

“Hey bro,” the twins said while snickering.

“Settle down, it’s important. Life-changing possibly!” Dad said as his voice changed into the deep tone that he only used on special occasions.

“Dad, what’s going on?” I said kind of getting uneasy.

“I got a promotion.”

With that said we all jumped out of our chairs and cheered. I carried Lola and swung her around.

“Does that mean we will be able to fix that old leaky ceiling in me and Lola’s room?” Inquired Lily.

“Actually, no.”

“Why not?” Lola enquired.

“Since you won’t have that room for long because we’re moving.”

“Moving, as in to another neighbourhood?”

Dad sighed and said, “No we’re moving to New York.”

“What!” I exclaimed.

“Yay, we’re moving.” Shrieked the twins who were jumping up and down around their father.”

“Wait, dad, what about our lives here?” I asked.

“Yeah, our family is here, and Abuela? Asked Leo.

“We can always come to visit now that the promotion will be bringing in more money.”

“But what about our friends here,” Leo asked with an agitated face.

“You can make new friends there and your sister’s university will be closer to home.” Dad tried to explain.

“But this is our home!” I yelled half frustrated and in tears, “Mom is here!”

“What is all this commotion about?” Abuela said as she walked into the living room supported by a cane.

“We’re moving, Abuela,” the twins exclaimed ecstatically as they swathed their grandmother in hugs and kisses.

“That’s great,” Abuela said as she sat down in the wooden rocking chair in the corner of the living room next to my chair.

“You knew?” I asked utterly shocked, “I thought you of all people would be the last to agree to this.”

“Sierra, change is good for all of us right now, and your mama will always be in our hearts, she is not tied to any building,” Abuela said as she put her hand on my shoulder to steady herself as she stood up from the chair. As she was walking to the kitchen though, she started coughing rather violently.

To be continued…

• 

“Your mother’s right arteries collapsed which caused a hemorrhage bleeding in her chest causing heart failure.”

Nina clasped her hands over her mouth, and my dad gasped with grief.

“What is he saying, what does that mean?!” The twins asked frantically looking at their father and back to the doctor whose face now depicted sadness.

My dad tried to speak but only tears flowed down his cheeks.

My head began to spin; my heart felt like someone was crushing it into a thousand pieces. My mind was caught between the shrieks of my sisters, the sound of sirens from incoming ambulances, and against the thunderous beating of my heart. Soon everything went black. Pictures and memories of my mother flooded my mind. I remembered the funny faces we used to make when I was a kid on picture day, and all the times we held dance competitions against each other. Would all these times be gone forever?

“Sierra, Sierra.”

I could hear faint voices in the background calling my name. I opened my eyes to find myself on the floor, my dad and Mateo standing over me.

“Dad, tell me it’s not true, tell me she’s still here,” I begged.

“I’m sorry darling, I can’t.”

I breathed in deeply trying to control the tears that threatened to choke me. Nina had her arm around me as Mateo lifted me from the ground and supported me to the waiting room chair next to my dad. I sniffled as I asked my father.

“What do we do now?”

“Honestly darling, I don’t know but the mortuary said we should find clothes for her so I think we should start with that.”

“Okay, let me get the girls.”

I stood up from where I was seated and went to where Leo and the twins were. Lola and Lilly’s hysterical shrieks had quieted into soft sobs. Leo was comforting them but I could see the visible pain in his eyes. I wrapped my arms around all of them as tears of my own began to run down my face.

“Come guys, we need to go home and pick some nice clothes for mom to wear.”

“It’s so hard to imagine that she’s gone,” Leo said.

“She’s not gone forever, Leo, she’s in Heaven,” Lilly said with a confidence I wish I had.

“Yes, she is,” Nina said as she came and knelt where we were.

“She’s very happy with Jesus, and all the angels.” Said Mateo who had joined our conversation.

“Yes, and she is wearing a nice pretty white dress, right Lilly?” Lola said with a little smile on her lips.

“Yes, just like Auntie May from church said,” Lilly replied.

We soon left the hospital with Nina and Mateo and reluctantly went home.

“When we reached home, we went to my parent’s room and opened all the closets and drawers looking for clothes she loved.

“I am no expert in clothing so I will let you guys pick the things,” Leo said as he walked out of the room.

“Sierra, what about this shiny pink dress?” Lilly said pulling a pink sequined mermaid dress out of the closet.

“Pink isn’t, I mean wasn’t her favourite colour, it was green.”

“Yeah,” I said wiping a tear off my cheeks. “Remember the beautiful half tulle, half silk dress she always used to wear on special occasions?”

“Yes, your mother loved that one,” Abuela said as she entered the room. “Your papa bought it for her, and she never wanted to take it off. She vowed she would wear it to all your quinceañeras.”

“She did at mine,” I said as I walked toward my mom’s oak wood closet which had engravings of flowers. “I just wish she had gotten the chance to be at yours.”

We found the dress and decided to add a gold necklace with a heart ornament to it to complete the outfit for her. Around about that time, dad came, took the clothes, and headed toward the car. As I watched him drive away through the blue folds in the living room, I sighed with uneasiness. Tonight had changed our lives for good, I couldn’t let my dad raise all of us, so I would have to step up and be there for my siblings. I had just turned around to go to the kitchen when I heard a car pull-up in our driveway. I looked out the kitchen window to see my Aunt Cecilia, Uncle Chris, and grandma get out of a red Subaru. I ran out to them through the kitchen door. By the time I reached my grandma’s arms she was already crying and had to be supported by her son.

“Wamawe, my Sheila, noooo!!! Why did you leave me?” My grandma cried as we carried her into the house.

Her tears broke my heart and I couldn’t help crying. As soon as we entered the house, Nina and the girls came running down the stairs to see where all the screaming and wailing was coming from. The twins ran and wrapped their arms around their grandma who was seated in the living room. Her wailing subsided into soft sobs. I was being held by Aunt Cecilia when Leo came down the stairs. I could tell he was desperately trying to keep back the tears but I could see he was hurting inside. I left my aunt comforting my grandma as I moved closer to him.

“Even boys are allowed to cry,” I said with my arm around his shoulder. He started to sob softly.

“I miss her, Sierra,” He said as he pulled away from my arms.

“I know, we all do,” I said trying not to cry. “Meanwhile, where is Abuela?”

“She is in her room resting for a bit, she’s kind of overwhelmed, she told me to wake her up in about 15 minutes. She said she still has to cook now because of the vigil.”

“Oh right, a lot of family and friends will be coming by today and tomorrow.”

“With lots of stories to tell about mom, are you going to be able to sit there without breaking down?”

To be continued…

“Look, it’s already midnight. I just want to order a cab and go home, I have a lot to do tomorrow.”

“I could drop you, it is much safer than taking a taxi at this time,” Ricardo suggested.

“Sierra, he kinda has a point. It’s not exactly safe to take a taxi,” Nina said as she began to head for the hall.

“Nina, who’s side are you on? I think I’ll be just fine.”

“You two need to sort yourselves out,” Nina said.

“Well, I kinda had to promise your father that I would bring you back safe,” he said as we walked towards the entrance of the building.

Before I had time to answer, my phone started ringing. It was my Dad.

“Hey dad, look I know it’s past my curfew and I am so sor-.”

“Sierra, I need you to come to the hospital now.” My dad tried to say in between small frantic sobs.”

“Dad, what’s going on? You’re scaring me.”

“It’s your mother.”

“What do you mean?” I asked frightened. At that moment the signal began to break and I couldn’t hear any of the words he was saying. That very second my heart dropped and all the background noises faded away.

Why was dad sobbing? What’s wrong with mom? Are the twins ok? All sorts of thoughts filled my head as I felt my heart hammering across my chest.

NINA:

I saw her shoulders drop after she answered her father’s call. I knew something was wrong. I ran towards her when I saw her break down and cry on the steps.

“Sierra, what’s wrong?”

“Um Ricardo, could you take me to the hospital on Unrenta Lane?” She said in between tears.

I sensed the panic in her voice so I did as I was told. As I was driving I could see she was practically shaking and silently whispering to herself. I slipped my hand around hers and offered her what I hoped was a pleasant smile, but her mind was far off. I still didn’t know what was going on, but I had never seen Sierra this scared and I was worried.

“Sierra, what’s going on?” I asked.

“I don’t know but my dad said something about my mom, and I jus-,” she said trying not to cry.

“Hey-hey, look at me. Don’t cry. It’s going to be ok.”

As soon we reached the hospital, Sierra flew out of the car and run towards the reception. I locked the car and followed her inside.

SIERRA’S FATHER:

I saw my daughter running from a car in the parking towards the entrance of the hospital. I battled back tears as I contemplated how I would tell her.

“Dad, what’s going on? Where’s mom?” She asked.

“You see… um, Sierra.”

A nurse came from the lobby.

“Mr. Aramente.”

“Yes, that’s me,” I said as I turned to the nurse.

“Would you please follow me into the waiting room?”

“Umm excuse me, ma’am, how is my wife?” I asked.

“Sir, she is still in surgery.”

As the nurse walked away I turned to my frantic daughter.

“Dad, why is mom in surgery? What happened?”

Before I had time to answer, I saw my other kids running through the doors of the hospital followed by their grandma.

“Daddy, where’s mama?” The twins cried as they wrapped themselves around my waist. I could see the fear in their eyes and it tore my heart to shreds.

“Come sit down,” I said trying to fight the lump in my throat that threatened to choke me.

……………………………………………………………………………

SIERRA:

I could see my dad was trying his best to be strong for us, but I knew he was worried.

“Well, this evening your mom went over to Nina’s to pick up your sister, Sierra. Mr. Martinez said you weren’t back so she drove to Protea to pick you up, but on the way she was hit by a drunk driver,” my dad tried to say without breaking down into tears. After wiping them, he continued, “The hospital called me when she was already in surgery.”

“What happened to the driver?“ Leo asked.

“After the collision, he was brought in an ambulance, but he didn’t make it,” dad said clutching his fist with visible anger.

“This is all my fault,” I said as tears slid down my cheeks like a river. “If I had come home at the time I was supposed to, mom wouldn’t have been in that accident.”

“Sierra, it’s not your fau-,“

“Yes it is.”

“It’s going to be okay, Sierra,” Lilly said resting her small hands on my face.

Abuela was seated next to me, holding Lola who was sobbing.

Lilly soon left me and went and sat with Leo who was seated across me with dad.

I realized Ricardo was still here. I stood and walked over to him. The cold floor stung my feet with every step because I had removed my heels.

“Ricardo, thank you for driving me here.”

“No problem.”

“It’s ok if you want to go back to the party.”

“No, I’ll stay here with you.”

“Thank you,” I said with a faint smile on my lips.

He wrapped his arms around me and enveloped me in a warm hug.

I thanked God for giving me friends who were always there for me.

I soon saw Nina run from the reception to the waiting area holding up her dress with one hand and holding her shoes with the other. She ran towards me with open arms. I ran into her hug and all the tears I had been fighting back opened like flood gates.

“Listen it’s going to be okay. She is going to be fine,” Nina said trying to comfort me.

A doctor walked into the room.

“The Aramente family.”

“Yes, we are here. How is she?” My dad asked.

“She’s alright, right?” Lola asked staring up at the doctor with her red puffy tear-soaked eyes.

In my mind, everything was so quiet you could have heard a mouse sneeze. My heart stopped as if in anticipation of what the doctor would say.

“The surgery was difficult.”

“But my mother is fine, right?” Lilly said with a determined hopefulness.

To be continued…

“Gosh no.” Ricardo said getting up and reaching for Nina’s phone, “Delete it now.”

“No,” Nina said trying to run away in her heels, “It’s way too cute for me to part with, plus I’ll need it for your wedding photos, he-he.”

“What? That doesn’t even make sense.” Ricardo who was faster and not in heels ran in front of her and stopped her, “Either you delete it or I am not driving you.”

“And you think Sierra is going to allow that? Plus I posted it as I was running. You have two hundred likes in ten seconds.”

“Really? Let me see… damn.”

“Nina, Ricardo, it’s 7:30PM, can we go?” I called from the living room.

“Ya sure, let me get the car round to the front,” he said as he headed out of the house.

Soon a black Rolls-Royce came round the corner.

“Ooh, sweet ride,” I called out from the door.

“And I call shotgun on Sierra’s behalf.” Nina said excitedly as she frolicked toward the car and opened the back door.

“Well ok,” I said as I opened the front passenger door.

The drive was quiet and in about forty-five minutes we had arrived. The venue was a beautiful, seven-story hotel called Pretoria.

Ricardo handed me out of the car, as Manuel, who was dressed in a white Claviorere exclusive suit which matched Nina’s white-gold dress walked towards the car from the reception and opened the door for Nina.

“Well, hello handsome,” Nina said as she gave him her hand.

“Wow, Nina you look, uhm, stunning.”

“Thank you.”

Soon we all walked towards the reception through the parking where a whole range of cars were stationed.

After a few turns from the grand lobby, we entered the hall which was heavily decorated with sequined streamers, illuminated ribbons, and brightly colored lights.

In the corner of the huge room was a photo booth and pictures of all the previous best-dressed winners. Best dressed is like the equivalent for prom queen and king of our school.

I don’t quite see the logic in it if you ask me, I mean it’s just a plastic crown, nothing more, to me it was the stupidest thing our school had ever come up with.

“Uh, hello, earth to Sierra.”

“What?”

“I’m off to get some punch, do you want some?” Ricardo asked.

“Ya sure.”

“Ok, I’ll be right back.”

Soon I was left to myself since Manuel and Nina had already gone to the photo booth. I got bored of looking at other girl’s dresses and matchmaking different people who had come alone and I wasn’t much of a social person, so I decided to go find my date.

As I approached the punch bar, I found him talking to my arch-nemesis.

Adriana sat on the stool nearest to him and was doing the only thing she knew best, twirling her sesame colored hair and smiling and laughing like a cat on cocaine. She made me want to throw up.

“I guess it’s very easy for you to forget things?” I asked as I approached the bar.

“Don’t get all your feathers ruffled, Sierra, we were only talking,” Adriana said with a mischievous glint in her eye.

“Hey, Sierra, look I’m sorry I forgot about your drink.”

“That’s not what I meant,” I said.

“Oh umm, do you want to go to the photo booth?”

“No. I think I’ll just go outside for a bit and leave you and your date to it.” And with that, I walked off looking for the exit of the hall.

“Sierra come on,” Ricardo said as he tried to follow me through the crowds but he got caught up with one of the chaperons.

I was soon out of the hall and was walking through the lobby only to check the time seeing it was already past my curfew. For once I wanted to go home.

Please all of you come back into the hall we will be announcing our best dressed for tonight. Please come in.

I could hear the announcer and I didn’t want to go back, but I had promised Nina I would watch it because she was so convinced she and Manuel would be the best dressed for this year’s dance.

As soon as I entered back into the hall I was met with the most bewildering sight. There standing next to the announcer was Ricardo with a crown on his head and the look of confusion and shock written all over his face and standing next to him was Adriana wearing a white tiara doing a queen wave to everyone and saying garbage like, “I just want to say how surprised I am for being chosen.”

At that moment I just wanted to be swallowed by the ground.

Soon Nina walked up to me with so much sympathy in her eyes it could have made a bull cry.

“Nina, don’t look at me like that.”

“Like what, this is what I look like normally.”

“You’re looking at me like I am the most pitiful creature in the entire universe, most likely because I am.”

“Oh, hun. I’m so sorry.” Nina said wrapping her arms around me as we walked out of the hall into the lobby.

“Why would Ricardo ask me out and then spend the night with Adriana?”

“Well, my brother may be a little kuku sometimes, but he knows what he wants and I saw the way he looks at you.”

“Ha, I probably just had something in my teeth.”

“Oh please, you practically had him gawking with his mouth open when you came down in this blue dress.”

“That must have been a great source of amusement for you,” I said giggling.

“Absolutely hilarious,” Nina said in between fits of laughter.

At that moment Ricardo came out of the hall and started walking towards us.

“Sierra, can I talk to you?”

“Sierra doesn’t want to talk to you right now Ricardo,” Nina said shaking her head with a disappointed look on her face.

“Please just give me one minute,” He begged with a trace of anxiety in his voice.

To be continued…

I mean one moment we were like best friends then she would just annoy me.

“Ting!” It was my phone, the screen read three messages from laugh buddy# Nina.

“Hey, did u get home b4 curfew? Will I need 2 send u bail money, ha-ha.”

“No, bt I wouldn’t need it.”

“Did ur mom allow you to come for the after-party?”

“No, she refused.”

“Oh, my gorrsshh!”

“Why? I am going to be so bored.”

“She said something about our neighborhood. And how it isn’t safe.”

“Bt can’t she allow u if I dropped u off.”

“Cuz that maggot, Adriana, is going to be there.”

“What! Who in their right mind invited her?”

“That doesn’t matter.”

“She will try to steal ur date.”

“Don’t worry, I will find a way to be at that party.”

After I put my phone on charge in the living room, I went into the kitchen to find Grandma fixing lunch.

“What’s for lunch?” I asked as delicious aromas tortured my rumbling stomach.

“Don’t ‘what’s for lunch’ me when I heard you disrespect your mother half an hour ago, and I’m not joking when I say, you will not see your lunch until you apologize.”

“Aargh, where is she?”

“She went to the store with the twins to get me some butter for the twin’s birthday cake.”

“Oh.” I started to walk away from her when she continued, “I hope you’re helping us tonight because cooking for all those people is going to require more than 12 hours.”

“I had kinda wanted to go to a party.”

“So after the party.”

“It ends at 11:00PM,” I said with caution trying to quieten the words.”

“Eleven, what madness is that?”

“Ahh just like mom.”

Soon mom and the girls came back with Leo whom they had found on the way. They ate their lunch in silence and went their separate ways, mom and Abuela started on most of the food which needed to be cooked.

Leo and the twins watched TV and I prepared to leave for Nina’s house.

“Abuela, I am going now.”

“Okay, have you packed your dress and all you need?” Mom asked.

“Yah,” I said quickly and headed out the door, and just as I had reached the curb of our driveway the door swung open.

I turned around to see mom at the door and the twins running towards me. With open arms, they embraced me in a hug.

“Have fun at your dance.” They said with ear-to-ear grins.

“Sierra. I’ll pick you from Nina’s at 10:00PM,” Mom who was still standing at the door said.

I quickly let go of the twins and headed to Nina’s massive house. By the time I arrived, it was coming to 6:30PM.

“You’re late”, Nina said as she opened the door for me.

“Well hello to you as well.”

“Where is your dress, I need to see it.”

Once we entered her room, I changed into a round, long turquoise off-shoulder tulle, evening gown.

“Wow!” Nina exclaimed, “Talk about a modern Cinderella, damn!”

“Compared to you, I think you’re the Cinderella,” I said admiring her white floral-patterned mermaid dress that had a white-to-gold trail.

“I doubt it and speaking of Cinderella, your Prince Charming is downstairs in the living room getting the car keys from my dad.”

“Oh okay,” I said calmly trying not to blush but failing miserably.

“Anyway, enough blushing, come and sit down so I can work on your hair and make-up.”

In about forty minutes I was all shimmering and glimmering. We headed out of Nina’s room and downstairs to get our shoes.

As I was heading down my legs stopped moving.

There he was with a confident, sweet smile looking at me coming down, standing tall and clad in a handsome black tuxedo. My skin started to get goosebumps, I felt my heartbeat had quickened and my main panic was that I would sweat off all the layers of makeup Nina had put on me.

“Sierra, what are you waiting for, an alarm bell? If you don’t put on your shoes now I will throw them out the window,” said Nina who already had her shoes on and was going to check herself in the mirror.

“Now Nina, that is no way to treat a guest, Sierra I do apologize for my daughter’s behavior.” Said her father who had handed Ricardo the keys to their Mercedes.

“It’s perfectly fine Mr. Martinez, I’m used to it.”

“But that shouldn’t have to be the case, Nina, come and apologize.”

“Sorry, Papa,” Nina said as she walked back into the living room. She walked over to her brother and whispered in his ear, “You better stop gawking at her and close your mouth lest a fly enter it.”

“Very funny,” he said closing his mouth and trying to recover his calm-collected demeanor which had been disrupted by the gorgeous angel who was seated on the staircase.

Nina laughed as she walked from the living room towards me who was still trying to put on shoes I couldn’t see from behind the dress.

“Do you need help fitting the glass slipper, Cinderella?” Nina said bursting into another fit of laughter.

“Actually, yes I kind of need help, I can’t even see my feet.”

“Oh okay, Ricardo come help Nina put on her shoes.”

“Why can’t you do it?”

“Firstly, I can’t breathe in this dress not even mentioning sitting, so to bend in this dress would be excruciatingly painful, and second of all it would allow you time to bond with your date.”

“You summoned me, your highness,” Ricardo said with a little bow and a mischievous smile.

“Don’t be silly, this is a serious matter.”

“What’s the problem? Your lip gloss isn’t the right color?”

“No, Dumbo Sierra can’t see her shoes from behind her tulle dress.”

“And how am I supposed to help.”

“By helping tie the strap of her shoes.”

“Oh okay,” He said bending down on one knee to tie my shoes.

I avoided all eye contact even though I felt him staring at me, in the awkward silence.

“Chhkkk,” went Nina’s phone. “Oh so cute, I’m so posting this on Insta.”

To be continued…

As she was still talking my dad walked in, and this time mom couldn’t contain the twins.

They squirmed off their seats and sprinted toward their father.

“Daddy,” they chorused.

“Hey my little dumplings,” said my dad as he swallowed them in a hug.

“Hey dad,” I said.

“Hey Muchacho, hey princess,” my dad said attempting to give Leo a high five but being iced as always.

“Welcome home sweetheart,” my mom said.

“Thank you beautiful,” he greeted my mom and planted a kiss on her cheek. “Hello, mama.”

“Welcome home my mieamore. Sit and eat before all the food gets cold.”

The week went by so fast, that by the time I realized, it was already Friday night. I was so excited, I couldn’t believe that I was going to the dance with Ricardo.

Mom and I spent the whole of Friday shopping for my dress and also since the twin’s birthday was that Sunday.

“Sierra, look, I really want you to have fun and enjoy the dance but I need you back by 10:30pm,” Mom said as we were trying to fit all the shopping bags into our grey Subaru Forester.

“Wait, why?”

“Well, Abuela I and are not going to be able to do all the cooking by ourselves considering that all five of your father’s siblings are coming for the twins 10^th birthday,” Mom paused as she looked for the car keys in her bag, once she found them she continued, “Then there is your Aunt Cecilia. Grandma Julie is also flying in with Chris, my brother, so that’s a lot of people.”

“How come we have never met Uncle Chris?” I asked as we drove home.

“Well, Uhm, Uncle Chris had occupations that made him unable to come visit for a while.”

“You don’t have to sugarcoat it.”

“Okay, fine, three weeks after he had graduated, he was arrested for possession of illegal drugs.”

“Damn.”

“He was supposed to come for your first birthday but mom called and told me he had just been arrested by the cops,” Mom said while her voice became a bit shaky.

I was afraid she was going to burst into tears when she continued. “I remember I was so angry because he had made me a promise that he would never do drugs again since he came out of rehab, and how he was so excited to be an uncle.”

“I’m so sorry mom.”

“It’s okay dear,” she said wiping a tear from her cheek, “I’m just a bit scared about tomorrow cause I haven’t seen him since he went to jail and even though I would always send messages asking how he was, he never replied a single one.”

“Remember when Uncle Antonio, dad’s eldest brother, got arrested because he was drunk and disorderly at Aunt Cecilia’s wedding. “I said in an attempt to brighten the already dark mood.”

“Yah,” Mom said as she laughed at the recollection, “And Abuela was not happy because she believed it was betrayal to call the cops on family.”

“She almost beat the officer who was handcuffing Uncle Antonio.”

We both laughed so hard that when we pulled into the driveway we barely had enough energy to carry all the shopping bags up, so Leo was summoned to help us carry the rest of the shopping bags.

The next day Mom and I got up early for dance class as we had always done for the past 3 years.

Our dance teacher Solome, a thin average height Ugandan lady usually only had her dance classes from 8:00 am – 10:30 am, so I always had to wake up early. I loved her long natural hair that she would usually tie into cornrows or twists. I would ask her to tie cornrows with my hair cause she also part timed at a hair salon near my house.

After dance class, mom and I were heading home when I decided to bring up the issue of my curfew.

“Mom, is it in any way possible that I can extend my curfew to midnight?”

“Why, when the one I set seems perfectly agreeable?”

“Some of my friends are having an after-party and I want to go.”

“No, honey we agreed 10:30pm.”

“You said it. I didn’t necessarily agree.”

“Our streets are not safe at 11:00pm, you know with all the gang violence.” Mom said while we pulled back into the driveway.

“Come on, your not fair all my friends’ moms allowed them to go, why can’t you be normal like them?” I said as I slammed the door of the car and headed for my room and slammed the door again.

MOM:

Leo came out of the house to find me still seated in the car with my head on the steering wheel.

“Mom, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing dear, it’s just your sister is just… a bit.”

“Overdramatic and extremely insensitive.” With that, he walked past the car.

“Leo, where do you think you’re going?”

“I’m going to meet some friends.”

“None of whom are the ones we said you shouldn’t be around?” I asked with a trace of anxiety.

“They’re all good so you can relax.”

“Ok but be back before lunch,”

SIERRA:

I couldn’t understand why mom wouldn’t let me go to the party. All my friends were going to be there and I didn’t want to end up that weirdo who’s just standing there as guys talk about what happened.

I soon heard a knock on my door.

“Sierra, it’s mom, look I know that you’re mad at me but I’m doing this for your protection. I mean three kids your age were shot on Friday last week. I don’t want that to be you. I hope you understand,” she said and paused for an answer but nothing was said so she with a sigh went away from the door.

I couldn’t understand why she had to be so old school.

To be continued…

“Mommy!” They both chorused.

“Hello my little priendas,” Mom said as she tickled them.

“Lilly, Lola, did you and Leo finish setting the table as I asked you to?” Abuela said motioning to her slipper with her eyes.

“Yes, although Leo dropped one of the plates and it broke,” said Lola. “He is now trying to sweep it away before you go inside,” Lilly continued.

These girls are such snitches, it was even worse for Leo who is always getting into trouble.

Mom rushed into the house so quickly, you could have thought she was the flash. “Leo, what the heck happened here!” mom exclaimed.

“Umm it was a very small accident.”

“No, it wasn’t.” The twins said with an evil smile as they entered the dining room.

I could barely contain my laughter as I saw tears of anger when Leo glowered at his sisters.

“Let me even tell you the whole story,” Lilly said as she pulled my mother towards the kitchen away from the glass.

“Lola come.”

“So, it all started when Abuela told us to set the table with Leo and—,” said Lilly.

“And then he went to get the plates even though we are not allowed to carry them cause they are too heavy,” Lola interrupted.

“Don’t interrupt me Lola, I am trying to tell the story.”

“I am also telling the story, Lilly, because I was also there,” Lola said sticking her tongue out at Lilly.

“Girls stop fighting, now is most definitely not the time.”

“Look, mom, I’m so sorry I broke one of the plates but it was really an accident.”

“It’s okay Leo, next time you should be more careful,” Mom said.

“Anyway, the past is the past and let’s get another plate and have dinner,” Abuela said as she reached for the cupboard to get another one.

“Wait, wait, and wait, so you’re not going to punish him?” Lilly asked.

“Lilly, let me ask, why do you so badly want Leo punished,” I asked.

“Sierra, no one is talking to you, silly,” Lilly snapped.

“Lilly, no, they don’t say such words in this house,” said Abuela, “Or else I will beat your behind until you can’t sit.”

I saw a gulp go down Lilly’s throat as she regretted saying what she said.

“Lilly, don’t ever talk that way to your elder sister,” said Mom who was trying to be as equally mad as Abuela, “You better apologize this moment lest I allow Abuela to cane you.”

“Okay, I’m sorry that I shouted at you Sierra, it’s just that I wanted Leo to get in trouble because he stepped on my doll Karis’s arm and—.”

“Wait,” Leo interrupted, “You were mad at me because I stepped on a dolls arm?”

I hit him in the stomach, “And he is very sorry, right?”

“Yah, absolutely,” he said as he wallowed in pain.

Mom just laughed at us.

As we were eating dinner, Lola asked, “Where is dad?”

“He said he had to work a little late, but he should be home soon,” Mom replied.

At that moment they heard a car pulling into the driveway.

“Yay, daddy is home.” The twins cried almost forgetting the food on their plates and trying to rush off the table.

“Girls, relax and first eat your food or you’ll end up breaking another plate, or in your case two,” Mom said.

To be continued…