ANOTHER KIND OF DIAMOND (2 page)

And what difference does it make? Carissa asked.

Baby! That’s when I’ll be free to do as I please, oh yeah! Sweet freedom! I can’t wait! And then I’m gonna take care of my shit the way I want ‘cause nobody got the right to get in my business unless I let them. Oh! I wonder how the days after that almighty initiation will turn out. I just can’t wait!

We started kind of early then ‘cause I just turned seventeen and you in three weeks. But see how we take care of business ourselves. Like share the rent for our apartment, buy our own cloths and shit. I mean we do everything we want to do ourselves and we carry on so well. That’s really fantastic, Carissa continued.

May be we’re some kind of rebellious kids or wired, I don’t know. I still can’t wait to turn eighteen though ‘cause I can’t even do half of all the shit I want to do on my own, get what I’m saying? Sometimes they are like, “adult consent required” and that’s it! Isabel added, chuckling.

I know! Carissa responded chuckling too as usual. Anyways I think we are doing just great. Re-be-li-us. What does that shit mean?

Quit acting dumb roommate ‘cause we need to step up or we miss our bus. It’ll be here in ten minutes, so we need walk faster, Isabel retorted.

Oh come-on! We’ve got a long time to while away babe! The bus stop isn’t that far!

Oops! Watch out Carissa! You almost got ran over by that car.

Damned stupid driver! He probably wants what I got, Carissa said and continued giggling.

May be you want what he’s got, okay? Isabel started yelling again. You need come over here and walk with me on the side walk ‘cause I don’t understanding why you keep getting in the way of the traffic and making it like fun business. Wow! Did you see that? He almost ran into another car. He’s in such a rush that I couldn’t even get to catch a good look at him. You know, I wanted to check him out babe and see if he is good looking, you know! Just for admiration thing.

He is running so wild ‘cause he wanna catch up with some date ‘cause that’s all they think about these days and can’t do any good stuff anymore like them grandfathers. Isabel! I just remembered something!

What?

Denyse!

What about Denyse? Isabel asked.

Is she coming to the party?

Carissa which of the Denyse are you talking about?

Denyse Goldman. Are you gonna let her come?

I don’t even wanna talk about that bitch! Isabel responded. Know what? It’s probably better not to let her ‘cause she’s been acting funny lately. Since she came back from some sort of camping stuff she said she went last June she’s been carrying herself like some kind of princess or something and I don’t like that.

Yes! Carissa picked up from where her roommate stopped. You’re right! You’re right! I saw her at the Movies some time ago and she was telling me about this girl she met at a camp and she said the girl’s name is Elisa and was saying all the nicest things in this world about this new girl. And then I noticed how she totally changed and acting kind of strange and I said in my mind is because of this new girl she is acting like that. She couldn’t even look me straight in the face, get what I mean. And she was in a hurry to get away from me so I did her the favor by taking myself out of her sight fast.

I don’t even care. She can meet whosoever she wants. I don’t give a damn! Isabel continued.

Remember how we all used to hang out, get high and be happy together? Carissa said. But these days she doesn’t even talk to anybody. I even went out of my style and called her several times sometime last month to see how she is doing but she neither picked my calls nor returned them.

Don’t even bother yourself about that idiot any more. Isabel picked it up again. I too ran into her on Wall Mart about two weeks ago but she pretended she didn’t see me. Anyways, I still went ahead and tried to be nice to her. You know, tried talking with her and all that but she kept on putting up this weird behavior like someone who embraced a new kind of religion or something. “I went back to school you know” she told me like she has become one of those movie stars, get what I am saying? She was really acting funny and that kinda pissed me off. One thing she doesn’t understand though is that I ain’t got patient for that bullshit she is hawking all over the place. No, not Isabel! And then she was with this tall girl who was standing by her like a hulk and since I didn’t wanna be eaten raw, I walked away while I’m still alive.

That must be Elisa right there! Carissa exclaimed.

I don’t give a damn! Isabel insisted. Anyways I’ve quit trying to be nice to her and all that shit and moved on. I never even try wasting my minutes on that bitch anymore. Come to think of it, we don’t really need her.

Yeah! Good riddance to bad rubbish! Carissa continued. All she did was force herself on us anyways ‘cause we never considered her a real friend, get what I’m saying! She didn’t blend with our juice real good, right?

Oh sure! She was way off the mark! Yet we still tried to be nice and all that. But with the way she is acting now, she is gone for good. We‘re never gonna mess with her again, ever!

Elizabeth Highlands is coming for sure, right? Carissa asked giggling again.

You mean the Doctor’s kid? Isabel asked jovially.

Yeah!

Oh sure! Isabel said with some giggle too.

She is one hell of a quire kid you know. Her dad is a medical doctor and I heard he works twenty four seven in one of those hospital and you know what that means, right? Carissa said.

Lots of money for sure! And she spends it too! She bought Anita a whole set of suitcase from one of those expensive stores for a birth day gift, Isabel added.

She buys for everybody, get what I’m saying? Laughter from both girls followed before Carissa continued. You remember those gold earrings she gave me for a sung? We were all hanging out and I saw this beautiful pair of gold on her ears, you know? All I did was say how nice they looked and bam! Carissa became the owner of gold earrings for the first time in my life. She was like, do you want them? And I screamed, yes! And she took them off right away and gave them to me. Just like that!

I Know! She is wired. Her mom is home all the time trying to help out but she never gives a damn Isabel pressed on.

That’s true. If I had that kinda dad with lots of dough and a mom like hers I’ll probably be in school still.

Oh my God, the bus is almost here! Look behind you! Isabel shouted!

Baby, you’ve got one of a kind pair of eyes! We need to run for it this time or we miss it! Carissa said.

I warned you we needed to step up but you wouldn’t listen, now you want me to start running and I don’t know how fast we gonna run to catch up with a moving bus. Look the fool you made of yourself Carissa!

Isabel we can give it a try! So keep running!

I’m doing what I can, okay? Don’t even try making me go any faster than I’m doing already, alright? Oh no! Is no use! It is already on its stand and there is no way we can catch up with it now, so I quit, Isabel said and slowed down.

Babe, don’t do that! Carissa persisted. We can still make it! Keep running! We are almost there! See, I almost touched the big thing. Yeah!

But those who have the mind to know the right time to leave their homes and get to the bus stop on time already got in and the bus full, ok? Babe look at the damn thing with your blind eyes and you’ll see it’s slowly moving away. It is not gonna stay there waiting for Carissa ‘cause that’s what you call public transportation, okay? It is leaving!

Yeah! You’re damned right. We missed it alright. Let’s wait for another one, okay?

Is gonna take about an hour before the next bus gets here Carissa!

We got no choice babe? It’s either we choose to wait or we take another long walk back home. Anyways, it is up to you Isabel, ‘cause I’m not going to the store to shop for my own stuff and you know that. The only reason I’m out here right now is ‘cause of you, don’t you forget that, Carissa said.

And how are you helping me out now, ah? Isabel responded.

We ain’t got to the store yet! Carissa continued.

And you already sat down without even thinking how I’m feeling about this whole shit! Anyways, since is gonna take a while before the bus gets here, I wanna take out my ear piece and listen to some tunes, okay? So go ahead and pretend I don’t exist. Still searching for the piece, Isabel heard Carissa shout out, I kinda sat on something!

I know you won’t let me alone, Isabel bellowed. What is it you sat on that is so bad you can’t bear?

I don’t know. May be a kinda book or something, Carissa said and took out whatever it is and began flipping through some pages of a magazine until she got to a particular spot and tried reading out some names. D.r Jos…Jos…lyn Je…far..son. An..to..ny Mar..great Will..son………

Give me that, Isabel said snatching the so called book off Carissa’s hand. This is no book roommate. It’s what you call a Magazine, understand? How come you can’t even read a damn thing? What’s wrong with you Carissa, are you dumb or something?

You don’t have to scream at me, okay? Carissa who hardly gets mad with her roommate reacted this time with a slight hint of self-defense.

Let me see! Oh! Dr. Joslyn Jefferson, Attorney Margret Wilson. What’s this shit talking about anyways? Isabel said and looked up the caption. Oh! “One Hundred Great American Women Achievers” Good! Sounds kind of cute!

What’s that?

Something about some babes that did something they wanna talk about in a magazine.

Something like what?

Here you start asking dumb ass questions again Carissa. Anyways, they kind of became Doctors, Attorneys, Music babes and stuffs like that. They did some good.

How do they do all that? I mean get to do all those kind of shit and stuff, Carissa asked.

They stay in school and study so hard. That’s how they do it, dumb fool!

That must be kinda miserable life, ha? You know what I think? Isabel you are one of them ‘cause you are so smart! See how you do every damn thing better than I do! Tell me something! Did you get to finish high school or something?

I don’t wanna talk about it! Isabel retorted.

How come you never say a thing about yourself, eh? Ok, if you must know I dropped out, what about you? Carissa continued.

Didn’t you hear me say I don’t wanna talk about it damned fool?

It doesn’t matter! It doesn’t matter, Carissa added. But tell me some, how do people get to stay in school and all that, study hard and get to be called some kind of quire sounding names and stuff? I mean they gonna miss out in all the fun we’ll be getting. I don’t get it! And what are they gonna do with all that funny sounding names. I can’t do myself like that! Damn! Now listen to this! There is this old Aunt of mine who lives in New Port Beach.

Oh yeah!

Yeah! Nice place, big house, cozy furniture, clean neighborhood, green fields. And babe when I say green grass? I mean green! That mama sure lives the life!

For real!!

Yeah! She is a retired what they call RN, Carissa continued. She said it’s short for a Registered Nurse and she always told me how hard she worked in her time to earn all she got. And from all I heard her say, she worked so hard that sometimes I wept for her. A whole lot of shit that Mama used to feed into my fucking brain anyways! It was always, Child this or Child that and she would go on and on. Sometimes when she gets into one of those happy moments she gets into for no reason, she will be like, “child! Life is like a package handed to you right from your mama’s womb but it begins to unwrap the moment you are born. It is a secret package though, so you never know what is inside but then it opens in very tiny, tiny bits as you go along. But the thing is that each of the tiny bits that open right before your eyes is a whole lot of jigsaw puzzle that you got to figure out. Child, that’s what life is all about, solving puzzles. And you got to be real smart, you got to be wise and need lots of sense to do that! That means watch, listen, and discipline yourself to search and learn”. Yeah! She said that shit to me every time and I guess that was to make Carissa work her butt off but I wasn’t even thinking about anything like that.

Hum! Interesting Isabel reacted!

And there is this other little something she talked about every damned day. I don’t even remember a day that went by without her saying this same shit to me. “Child, always remember this, I don’t want you to wind up like your mama” she will say and I’ll go never! And she’ll be like, “remember how she abandoned you and ran off with that low down, God forsaken, good for nothing, miserable, damned old boy friend of hers to Maryland and your grand ma had to work her ass to raise you? Thanks to that good man the good Lord gave to mother that saw her through those difficult days. My dad was a good man and I loved them both very much. Oh yes! I did! May the good Lord continue to bless their souls in their resting places? Give me Old- School anytime, oh yeah! And then, I heard that mother fucking bastard of a man latter abandoned your mom and walked away, just like that? I always want you to remember all that. Child I want you to go back to school, stay there until you graduate. I’ll see to it that you get all the help you need if you decide to do the right thing so don’t worry about the fees ‘cause I’ll take care of that from start to finish. Then after that you settle down and decide what you wanna do”. I guess that was another of her style of trying to get me does what she wants. She always tells me about this thing she calls CNA.