This Side of Home (22 page)

Just as I gather the last of the debris into the dustpan, a reporter comes up to me. “Mind if we speak to you for a moment?”

He gets the cameraman to come over, and he asks me, “So how does this feel to have the place you work at vandalized?”

“Oh, well, I don't work here,” I explain. I don't plan on saying this next part. It just comes out. “I'm the student body president at Richmond High, and I wanted to come out here and help. And—and I'd, uh, I'd like to invite any other Richmond students—current or alumni—to come down and help. This is our home, and we have to take care of it.”

The cameraman thanks me and goes into the store to speak with the owner. By the time he is out, Tony and Kate have come to help. Charles, Star, and a few students from journalism have come, too. I see a reporter talking with Charles, and one from a different station is talking to Star.

Within an hour, twenty students have arrived, and by hour three, I lose count. Jackson Avenue is full of Richmond volunteers putting our broken neighborhood back together.

A cleansing is taking place. A stitching together of trust.

As we clean, we talk, and as we talk, we learn about one another.

We learn that Joyce, the owner of Soul Food, lost her father because of complications with diabetes. Her passion for healthy eating is her way of honoring her dad, of trying to prevent other families from having to lose someone that way.

I am hesitant to ask her, but I remember Mr. Washington saying how we need them and they need us, so I say, “Would you ever do a workshop or cooking lesson for students from Richmond? Could we maybe come here and learn about healthy eating and get some ideas for recipes?”

“I would love that,” Joyce says. She gets excited and already has a name for it. “Summer Sunday Suppers. I close early on Sundays, but once a month I wouldn't mind staying after hours for a special class.”

After leaving Soul Food, I walk over to meet Star and Charles at the art gallery across the street. I think, if Joyce wants to get involved with Richmond, maybe other businesses do too. By the end of the day, I have talked to as many owners or managers as I could. There were a few who weren't interested, but most were willing to hear me out.

The owner of the gallery offers the back wall of his space to exhibit the artwork of Richmond students. And Mandy from Daily Blend says she'd love to host a summer open mic series for teens. “Maybe we could do one once school starts,” she says. “How does that sound?”

“Good,” I tell her. “Sounds good.”

June.

The flowers are breathing again. The sun lingers, and days last and last. I have packed away winter, spring. Pushed their clothes to the back of my closet. But I keep my umbrella out.

Portland's rain is not gone forever. Even with the bluest of skies I know the rain is just behind the clouds. She will come again, then leave, and come.

She always does.

It's the last day of school. Graduation is next week.

Nikki, Essence, and I are at my locker with Tony and Kate. We each finish cleaning out our lockers and meet up with Ronnie, Devin, and Malachi at the end of the hall so we can all walk together.

When we get to the crosswalk at Jackson Avenue, the red hand flashes, telling us not to walk. Essence looks up and points to the street sign. “Tony,” she says. “Did Maya ever tell you that this street was named after my great-great-grandfather?”

“Really? No. I had no idea.”

We all laugh.

Nikki pats Tony on his shoulder. “She's just playing with you.”

“They don't believe me, Tony. But I'm telling you,
it is,” Essence says. She says it so seriously, he looks like he doesn't know who to believe, but then Essence can't keep her laugh inside. It bursts through her cheeks, and Tony laughs, too.

I see Daily Blend across the street, tell Essence, “I know who would be able to tell us how Jackson Avenue got its name.”

We all cross the street and go inside.

For being the sankofa around my neck and encouraging me to “go back and get it,” thank you, Cheryl Baker, Tokumbo Bodunde, David Ciminello, Ama Codjoe, Domonique Debnam, Cherise Frehner Mahoney, Nanya-Akuki Goodrich, Cydney Gray, Ellen Hagan, Pamela Hooten, Kori Johnson, Julie Just, Jonena Lindsley, Kamilah Moon, Khalil Murrell, Kia Smith, and Robyne Walker-Murphy. You all cheered me on by giving encouraging words or reading early drafts and spending many hours in coffee shops with me for writing dates and work sessions. Thank you.

To my sisters, Trisa and Dyan, I appreciate you so much for offering your homes to be my personal retreat during my visits to Portland. Thank you for hot tea and space to create freely.

A special thank-you to my team at Bloomsbury, Victoria Wells Arms and Laura Whitaker, for your patience and guidance.

Thank you, Portland, Brooklyn, and Harlem for being home at various times in my life. We have changed together. Your brownstones and bungalows, landscapes and skyscrapers, artists and activists, helped shape this story and continue to shape me.

What Momma Left Me

Copyright © 2015 by Renée Watson

All rights reserved.
You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce, or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

First published in the United States of America in February 2015 by Bloomsbury Children's Books
www.bloomsbury.com

Bloomsbury is a registered trademark of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to Permissions, Bloomsbury Children's Books, 1385 Broadway, New York, New York 10018

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Watson, Renée.
This side of home / by Renée Watson.
pages cm

Summary: Twins Nikki and Maya Younger always agreed on most things, but as they head into their senior year they react differently to the gentrification of their Portland, Oregon, neighborhood and the new—white—family that moves in after their best friend and her mother are evicted.
[1. Twins—Fiction. 2. Sisters—Fiction. 3. Best friends—Fiction. 4. Friendship—Fiction. 5. Neighborhoods—Fiction. 6. Urban renewal—Fiction. 7. Dating (Social customs)—Fiction. 8. Portland (Ore.)—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.W32868Thi 2015        [Fic]—dc23        2014013743

eISBN: 978-1-61963-213-4

To find out more about our authors and books visit
www.bloomsbury.com
. Here you will find extracts, author interviews, details of forthcoming events and the option to sign up for our
newsletters
.