Secret Saturdays (13 page)

The rhyme ended. Wow! I knew Sean was hiding a secret and it had to do with his father.

“Find another rap!” Vanessa nudged my side.

I flipped the page and scanned. Nothing. I flipped again. A title said “Justin.”

“This one's about you,” Kyle said, and bumped his elbow against mine. All thirsty, he started reading the rhyme to us before I had a chance to check the verses for disses on me.

I wanted to take Sean's rhymebook and rip it in half. He said I was on him like I was his girlfriend. Dang, son. How come he had to write that in his book? What if Sean had another, even more hard-core verse on me?

“Give me that,” Vanessa said, grabbing Sean's book from Kyle. She searched for another important rhyme. She found it. Sean called it “Let the Hands Do the Talking.”

“Yo!” Kyle said. “He just wrote this rhyme. That fight with Manny just happened.”

Vanessa shoved me. “See? I told you I was stupid to take this book.”

I shook my head at Vanessa. “It just means you need to return this book real quick. That's it. He won't know it was gone. Watch.”

Her face was mad tense. I didn't think she believed me.

I flipped backward to a few pages before and found a rhyme called “Ma.”

We read it quietly.

“Wow!” Kyle said real long. “This explains a lot.”

We went through the rest of Sean's book, but there was nothing else about his father or the trips.

Vanessa jumped in. “Whatever's happening with his dad did make Sean flip. Sounds like he doesn't even want to follow his mom's advice no more. Now what?”

I looked at Vanessa holding Sean's rhymebook. “You need to sneak that back into the pile where you got it from as soon as possible.”

“How?” Kyle asked. “She can't say she bringing him homework again. She used that excuse already.”

Then, Vanessa bit her lip and thought.

“You bringing it back?” I asked.

Then Vanessa's face lit up and she smiled like she'd found money. “Yep. Right now.”

“How?” Kyle asked.

“Don't worry.” She got up, grabbed her coat, and headed for the door. “I got this.”

 

Vanessa had bounced an hour ago. Not hearing from her made me a little nervous.

“Vanessa'll probably call in a minute,” Kyle said. He was at my CD player looking for music to put on.

“Yeah,” I said.

I took my cell out of my pocket and checked for missed calls. Maybe Vanessa had tried me but my cell hadn't rung. Nope.

Kyle picked an Old School joint to play. It was those two rappers who used to wear big, thick rope gold chains. The beat was hot.

“Turn the volume up,” I said.

“You think Vanessa could do it?” Kyle asked, twisting the dial and making the music louder.

“I don't know. She tricked Sean once. I hope she can do it twice.”

Suddenly, my cell sang my favorite hip-hop song. Kyle quickly lowered the music. The caller ID glowed bright red, “VANESSA.” I scooped it up.

“Hello?”

“Done,” Vanessa said.

“Word?”

“Never doubt me. I went to Sean's and asked him if I'd left my cell in his house. I turned my cell off in case Sean said, ‘Let's call your cell and wherever it rings, there it is.' I'm glad I did, because that was the first thing he said. When he didn't hear anything, I said, ‘I think I left it in your room.'

“His mom wasn't there. She had gone to the store. So me and him looked almost everywhere in his room. Finally, he said what I was wishing he would say. ‘Vanessa, let me check the living room. You was in there talking with my mom before you came into my room, right?' So Sean went into the living room. That's when I snuck his rhymebook back mad fast into that pile. Guess what.”

“What?”

“He didn't miss it because those textbooks were in the same place. Same positions. When Sean came back into his room, I stood there holding my cell and said, ‘Found it. It was under your beanbag.' And he believed me because it was the one spot we didn't check.”

“Nice. Where you at now?” I asked.

“My place. I'll catch you tomorrow. I'm going to the movies with my mom.”

“All right. Tomorrow.”

“You know,” Vanessa said, “it would've been a wrap if he'd caught me.”

“Yeah.”

“You and Kyle owe me.”

“For real.”

I closed my cell. “She did it.”

Vanessa gave us what Sean was thinking but not saying. Still, there were some things we needed to know. Like in Sean's raps, what was “the place” Sean's dad was in? And why was his dad ill? Was he ill, sick? Ill, in a messed-up situation?

Kyle got hyped probably for the same reason I was happy. We didn't need to deal with Sean knowing we took his book.

Kyle turned up my radio and rapped to that Old School song.

 

“Make it louder.” I jumped in and beatboxed.

On Christmas morning I woke up, hyped, and ran in the living room to open my gifts. Ma always got up before me, put on Christmas music, and made breakfast. She sat on the sofa, waiting for me. The smell of her pancakes, eggs, and sausages had our whole apartment smelling good. Ma worked hard for days hooking up our Christmas tree. It was covered in rainbow-colored lights that blinked on and off. Shiny bells hung from every branch. Different-sized gifts were wrapped real neat with bows on them and stacked on the floor underneath. I didn't know what to open first.

“Ma, which gift should I start with?”

“You choose.” Ma smiled back at me. But she was rubbing and massaging her leg, so I knew she was hurt even though she was trying to look happy. It pissed me off that she had to be in pain on Christmas.

I picked up a square package and read Ma's handwriting. “To my Little Man, Stick with it and you might become famous for your words. Love, Ma.”

I tore off the wrapping. It was a brand-new rhyme book. One hundred times nicer than the one I had. Soft brown leather with gold corners. Good, crisp, thick paper inside. It looked like it should belong to a rich person.

“Ma, this is cool.” I wondered how much it cost.

“I thought you'd like it.” She winked.

I kept opening gift after gift until nothing was left. I got most of what I wanted, but not some other expensive stuff I fiended for. Like an iPhone or a new video game system. I didn't beef. Ma looked at me like she hoped I was happy. I bum-rushed her with mad kisses and she started laughing and crying a little.

After Ma stopped crying, we ate breakfast and she told me the same old funny stories of Christmases from when she was growing up. Then I took my empty gift boxes and ripped wrapping papers to the garbage chute to help keep the apartment clean for Ma.

Christmas calmed my projects down. Less drama on the streets and even rude, troublemaking kids smiled and said hi to old folks. In our buildings, halls had less heads hanging out. Holiday songs played from behind doors. People were more peaceful but not cleaner.

Near the trash chute there was a humongous pile of crumpled gift-wrapping papers and mad empty toy boxes. The chute door was wide open with a full bag of garbage sticking out. Some nasty neighbor didn't shove their Christmas morning trash all the way down the chute. Seeing that made me feel like tossing my junk on the messy floor like them, but Ma taught me better. I pushed whoever's garbage down. Something wet leaked on my hands. I smelled it. Sour milk mixed with something that looked and smelled like baby poop. Dang, I hated inconsiderate people. I cursed in my head and rammed my garbage into the incinerator. Pissed.

Later in the day, me, Vanessa, and Kyle were supposed to meet at Kyle's to see what presents we got.

At twelve o'clock, I knocked on Kyle's door. While I waited for him to answer, this kid Omar who lived next door came out of his apartment with a man who had his arm wrapped around Omar's shoulders. The dude had Omar's same-shaped face and everything, so I guessed it was his pops. Every now and then, usually holidays, birthdays, or for graduations, fathers of kids in Red Hook would suddenly pop up. These dads be gone all year and then they come out of nowhere. I figured that was why Omar had a stank face on. Who wants a father once a year? Kyle opened his door right as Omar and his dad passed by me.

“You got good stuff?” Kyle asked.

“Yeah,” I said, lifting my shopping bag. “It's in here. Vanessa show up?”

“Ten minutes ago.” In Kyle's room, Vanessa was at his TV, messing with his DVD player.

She stood to say what up to me and a new gold chain with her name on it swung on her neck.

“Ouch,” I said, covering my eyes. “Watch your bling. It's blinding me.”

“Stop being stupid.” Vanessa laughed. She showed me her other gifts. A nice coat and a DVD box set of AND 1 basketball games. That was what she was messing with when I came in. “What you guys get?”

“This new skateboard,” Kyle said, grabbing it off the floor. “I already showed Vanessa that. But she hasn't seen this.” Kyle went to his closet, opened it slowly, and said, “Wait for it, wait for it. . . . Bam! This Rock Band game!”

“Son, we need to play that,” I said, pulling my gifts out my bag, fast. “I got this new hip-hop CD, this rhyme book, two new Tech Decks with a half-pipe ramp.” I pointed to my kicks. “And these sneakers.”

“Oh snap!” Vanessa said, grabbing my CD. “Burn me a copy.”

“All right,” I said.

“Let me see that Tech Deck,” Kyle said, taking one. “I'll teach you this new flip and some grinds I just learned. Oh, Vanessa, you want to still play that DVD?”