Coldhearted & Crazy (4 page)

Graduation day had finally arrived and both of the girls were dressed to kill. The girls' uncle had taken both of them on a shopping spree to New York to get them gear to look perfect for their special day. The twins respectfully had on pink Armani tailored cut suits. The buttons were gold and trimmed in the same pink that was in the fabric. They each had open-toed gator sandals with a small heel on them. London and Kenya, for the first time since they were small children, wore their hair in the exact same style. It was in a French roll tightly tucked with soft sandy-brown curls cascading down across the sides of their faces. Each had also gotten their nails manicured and a pedicure the day before.

Gran, proud as any grandmother could be, had let them sleep in an extra thirty minutes while she made them a breakfast fit for a queen. Lovingly, she helped London get dressed and ready, and tried her best to keep an always-hyper Kenya still. The girls then left Gran at home to get herself together for one of the biggest days of all of their lives.

“I love you two very, very much and I'll see you at the school. I'm proud of you both and promise me you'll never ever forget that.” Gran hugged both of her grandchildren tightly and kissed them, before letting the two leave out the door.

The twins made their grand entrance into the packed auditorium, and all eyes were definitely on them. Both were getting mad crazy attention. Everyone, students, teachers, and counselors were all confused as to which twin was London and which twin was Kenya. The girls, each being who they were meant to be, quickly removed all doubt when they opened their mouths and began to speak. That was always a dead giveaway with the twins.

Kenya was loud and off the chain and her sister was noticeably quiet when it came to anything other than schoolwork. London was more than a little nervous about the speech she was slated to deliver. She had worked hard all four years and rightly deserved to be rewarded standing behind that podium. All of the late nights she spent lying awake reading and the days she stayed in the house studying were all getting ready to pay off for her. London was proud of herself. She had a wide smile plastered on her face and a nervousness shaking inside. The dedicated teen knew her next step was college, then acquiring a degree, making all her dreams come true.

All the graduating seniors scrambled around posing for pictures with their classmates and parents and signing yearbooks. Kenya, vain as always, broke free from the excited, energized crowd, posting up in front of the wall-length mirror backstage. Turning from side to side, she kept adjusting her cap and checking her makeup. There was no one in the world Kenya admired more than herself. She was stuck on herself and knew that she was a straight-up dime. She was feeling herself, even in a cap and gown.

The girls' uncle, his girlfriend, and a few of their distant cousins were seated in the far back row. The twins weren't cordial with their cousins at all. In fact, they barely spoke to them even if they saw each other in passing inside the mall. The girls knew their uncle probably had to strong-arm them into coming to represent, but they really didn't care if they were there one way or another. Everyone, their uncle included, was a sidebar to them today. The twins had saved Gran, the most important person in both their lives, a seat front and center. With love, respect, and devotion they placed two single pink roses on it for her. Gran had fought hard and sacrificed a lot to get them to this point. They wanted her to know when she arrived in the auditorium that this was her day also.

Time was ticking. It was close to eleven o'clock and the principal was yelling for everyone to get in line so that they could march in and begin the sure-to-be long, drawn-out commencement ceremony. It was time to start what the entire senior class had been anticipating for four years ever since they were freshmen.

“I still don't see her, do you?” London held her sister's hand, shaking, still extremely nervous about giving a speech in front of all the boisterous people.

“No, but you know Gran. She probably couldn't find the right outfit to wear.” Kenya chuckled while trying to conceal her equal worry for their grandmother's tardiness.

Everyone backstage was hyped, anxious to get underway; however, the girls continued to peek out from behind the burgundy and gold curtains every few seconds, but still no Gran. Trying to find excuses for her absence, each started to think of what could be possibly keeping her, especially on this day.

“The telephone must have rung and, you know Gran, she was probably too polite to rush one of her church lady friends having a problem off the phone. She's almost here, I bet.” London shrugged her shoulders. She was almost in tears.

Kenya continued to hold her sister's hand trying her absolute best to calm London down. Little did the distraught twins know that at that very moment in time the phone did ring. Sadly it was God and He had decided to call Gran home. Up in age, the devoted mother and grandmother never completely recovered from the heart attack that she'd suffered the previous year. With the determination of a lion, the elderly God-fearing senior citizen's weak heart barely held on until London and Kenya were both grown. Gran fought a hard fight but was truly tired.

“Ms. Roberts and Ms. Roberts would you two like to join the rest of us, so that we may begin?” snarled the frazzled-minded principal. He was running around on edge trying to stay on schedule but it was not happening. The girls peeked out in the crowd one last time before the ceremony started. They were still holding hands. They both still felt uneasy.

“Well, this is it,” they both said in unison, staring at one another for comfort and moral support while each wondered where Gran was at.

“I love you, London.”

“I love you too, Kenya.”

“
Say U Promise
!” They each laughed as they dropped hands.

Kenya walked over to the line that was forming and took her spot in line with the other Rs; and London, of course, took her place on stage so that she could make her speech and receive her honors scholarships declarations and hard-earned certificates of merit. The girls smiled at each other from opposite sides of the room. They were overjoyed at the occasion, but solemnly knew this would be the beginning of being their own individual selves, not a twin, as they had been since conception. As the ceremony started each twin wondered constantly throughout,
Where is Gran?

A day filled with the extreme promise of the future was also a day filled with sadness for the twins. They had struggled relentlessly through guest speakers, awards, and the seemingly endless roll call of the senior graduates, and still no Gran. Dry mouthed, London could barely get through her speech without stumbling over the same words repeatedly that she had practiced for weeks. The haunting sight of Gran's empty seat with the two pink roses lying alone on the chair made her nauseated and sick to her stomach.

At the end of the ceremony, the girls weren't interested in taking pictures. They had no desire to hug everyone and pretend like they would really miss one another. All of the crowd fanfare was of no consequence to either of them. No sooner than they found their uncle did they jump in his SUV and make him drive them home as quickly as possible. They pulled up in the driveway and before the truck could come to a complete stop the two were jumping out and running up toward the door.

When the Kenya and London got the door unlocked, they bolted inside. That's when they received the pain of ten lifetimes combined. They laid eyes on Gran. She was fully dressed and sitting back in her favorite chair. There were two letters lying in her lap. Each had one of the girls' names written on the white envelope.

After all the initial pandemonium broke loose and the paramedics, police, and the morgue had left with the body, each twin, feeling totally lost and in denial, sat quietly in a daze halfway reading the letters their beloved Gran had written. The letters told each of them to always trust, depend on, and rely on one other no matter what the circumstances would be.

Both of the twins wept uncontrollably at Gran's Home Going Service, even having to be ushered out to get some air and a chance to recompose themselves. Gran in all her glory truly looked like an angel. The sometimes-tormented, but always-spiritual loyal woman was finally at peace. She'd left the house fifty-fifty jointly to both London and Kenya. Each girl would receive two acres of land down South in Jackson, Alabama. That was where their grandmother and mother were originally born before relocating to Detroit. They also were to receive $20,000 each in life insurance money. Gran, loving her girls to the end, made sure each would have a fair start at life.

 

 

It had been a little more than two and a half months since Gran had gone and London and Kenya often spent nights lying awake missing her in their own special way. September rolled around quickly and London, who had wrestled with the idea of accepting the scholarship from State University, was getting ready for college. Sure the school was also located in Michigan, but it was up north. It was almost a two hour car ride from home, and away from Kenya, her twin. London would have to stay on campus which meant she couldn't keep tabs on her often out-of-control sister. Miss Kenya, now living with a little bit of pocket money and no real adult supervision, had gotten a little wild and untamable, to say the least. Yet, despite her shortcomings, and most, if not all, of Kenya's recent decisions and behavior, London could hardly fathom being apart from her.

“I've got to do this. I've worked much too hard not to push on.” London was talking to Gran's picture as she packed it in her bag.

Amber somberly came over to help her best friend pack. She was going to miss her homegirl and confidante. “Dang, I wish I was going with you, so that way we could both get out this tired hood. You are so lucky.”

“I wished you were going too, so I wouldn't be so lonely up there with all those strangers.”

Both Amber and London looked at each other and sighed. Amber, not the smartest person London knew, barely graduated and felt like in all probability she would forever be stuck working in the beauty supply on Dexter Boulevard. They sadly exchanged their good-byes and Amber left, heading up toward Dexter to work.

Everything was all packed and London's uncle was on the way with his pickup truck. As she sat on the front stairs looking around at her surroundings, trying to remember all the flowers and rocks in the street, London closed her eyes. She wanted to make sure she didn't forget the neighborhood. Squeezing them tightly shut, she locked the memory in her brain. London would miss the hood and all the foolish antics that went along with living in it. Crime infested or not, it was her home, and no matter where she went, who she met, or what great things in life she ever accomplished, she'd never forget where she came from or the ethics Gran had instilled in her. Opening her eyes, she soon heard the blasting sounds of jazz music coming down the street and London knew that it had to be her uncle.

Damn near pulling the truck up on the porch with the huge rimmed tires he jumped out. “Hey, baby girl.” He beamed with pride of where they were headed and what London was sure to succeed in. “You's about ready to go get this family some higher learning going on or what?” He grabbed London off her feet and started swinging her around. He was so proud of her; everyone who knew Gran was.

“Dang, Uncle, I can hardly breathe, put me down!” she begged as her feet dangled trying to touch the ground.

“Okay, baby girl! Are you all packed? Do you have enough clothes? Do you need to go get more supplies?” He was talking so fast, on a ten, that London had to tell him to calm down.

“Yes, I'm fine, so don't worry.” She playfully pushed his arm, smiling. “I have everything I need and what I don't have I can buy up there in the next few days, so stop worrying about me. I'm gonna be good. I promise!”

London had a full ride scholarship: room, board, and books completely paid for. Whatever else London would need, she could easily take from the money that Gran had left to her. Unlike Kenya, she'd saved more than the majority of the life insurance money that Gran blessed her and her sister with. She'd basically purchased a laptop, a new cell phone, some much-needed and wanted books, and banked the rest for the future.

“Well, London, where is your sister?” her uncle suspiciously questioned. “Why ain't her fast, wannabe-grown-ass out on this porch helping you with your stuff?”

No sooner, seemingly seconds, had the words left out his mouth, than they heard the annoying screech of tires turn the corner. Uncle, instinctively from living the street life, reached under his shirt and put his hand on his thriller. He didn't know who was coming down the block driving like a bat outta hell, yet he did know that any clown-ass fool who wanted to get his “big shot on” was gonna catch a few hot ones real quick, fast, and in a hurry. As the car finally came into focus, he and London both shared an expression of disgust. It was Kenya, riding with that foul-ass Ty, nine outta ten in a stolen vehicle.