“HERE YOU GO MS. Joi.”
I sat at the kitchen table eating my grilled cheese sandwich when Willow comes in and hands my mom a garbage bag.
"Oh, thank you, sweetie.” My mom sounded so fake. "Amber tell Willow thank you."
"For what?” I said with as much attitude that wouldn't cause me to get backhanded.
"For giving you all these clothes, that's for what."
I suck my teeth. "Please! I ain't about to be thankful for nobody's garbage! I ain't wearing that!” My mom had a lot of nerves. Willow do have some nice stuff but please... I ain't about to take nothing from no snitch. Plus, she trying to be funny by putting it in a garbage bag! She needs to roll with all that! She just mad because I ain’t kiss her butt. I kept rolling my eyes at her every time she looked my way.
"It’s ok Ms. Joi... I don't need a thank you."
"Well, Amber can be ungrateful all she wants to. I sure thank you for this. Hey, why don't you take Amber to the mall with you? Maybe you guys can talk and get rid of all this animosity."
"Sure. I don't mind. If she wants to. We were just going to the mall to do a little shopping and find me a dress for Winter Formal."
"Yeah right! I ain't going nowhere with that snitch!” Now this heffa wants to throw it in my face she’s going to Winter Formal and I'm not because I'm on punishment.
"Don't make me come over there and yank ya little ass up! It’s time for all that sassiness to seize and desist. Do you understand me?”
“Yeah.” I say with more attitude than I meant to.
My mom comes all up in my face. “Yeah? Since when do you answer me with yeah?”
“Yes…”
“Yes, what?”
“Yes, ma’am.” I felt like I was in the army and she was my drill Sargent instead of my mother.
♥♥♥
I feel like a dang fool at the mall being Willow's tag along. It felt like her and her mom was being a little too extra. All of a sudden, her mom took my so-called best friend. They were walking together and laughing, talking, running in and out of stores.
When we get into Macy’s, I ditch the new BFF’s and find myself drifting into the MAC section. It was so many people in there, it was nuts. I browse around the store looking at all the different make-up and colors. I wonder if I could find that troublemaker lipstick and see how much it cost. Thirty-five dollars!? And that’s supposed to be a sale? I almost ran out of there.
As I turn to go back down the aisle to leave, the same little white boy with red hair and freckles kept tugging on my purse straps. “Where’s your mother?” I whisper to him. I figure he must be lost. Ever since I first came in the store, he’s been following and bumping into me… dang near walking on my heels. So annoying. Anyway, he didn’t say anything. Just keeps looking at me. My eyes roam the store looking for any woman with red hair that may resemble the little redhead boy.
I almost didn’t want to leave the store without finding who his mother was. Maybe if I browse a little more, he might walk away and attach himself to somebody else. I browse the foundation stuff some more wondering which shade was my shade. It was so many. Different shades and shades that dang near looked the same. I would pick some up, read the color, and put it back. BUMP… OMG! Where is this kid’s mom? Everywhere I go he follows me, bumping me.
“Samuel there you are! Get over here!”
It’s about time. He waves bye to me and run to his mother. I guess that was her over there getting a free makeover the whole time. I need to come here and get my make-up done for free. I wonder how many times they let you do that? People can come here every day without even buying this make-up. I see Willow and her mom waving me over. I take one glance around as I leave. I love this store. I will be back someday.
I was getting bored and tired walking around and watching her buy clothes and trying on this and that. I ain’t never bought anything from the mall. I browse around the racks and look at the prices. Now I see why my mother never brings me here to buy stuff, these prices are outrageous!
“Oh come on Amber! Try on some of this with me.” I look at Willow as if she lost her mind. “Come on… lighten up and have some fun.”
How the heck she figures this is fun for me? She stuffs like three dresses in my hand. Fine. I browse the racks and found a cute fuchsia color short strapless dress with diamonds all over it. All the dresses that Willow handed me where all big and bulky and fell all the way to the floor like something a princess would wear. The tags on the dresses were over a hundred dollars. Except the one, I picked. It was on the clearance rack and was marked down like three times, all the way to twenty-five dollars.
I wonder why nobody wants this dress? It was cute to me. I felt sorry for the dress. It was weird because it was a dress. It didn’t have any feelings. But still. Somehow, I compared the dress to me. I sympathized with it. Understood how it was unwanted. Unloved. Lonely. Reduced down multiple times to nothing. Yet and still it never stood a chance next to all these bigger more extravagant dresses. The dress, like me, was an outcast.
The changing room sections says, “Limit 3,” I want to put one of the dresses that Willow gave me back so I could as least try the little pink dress on. Let it know that someone did care about it. But Willow was looking at me. I slide the pink dress in-between the other bigger dresses and it disappears.
The first dress I try on is the little lonely pink dress. It fits perfectly. It was beautiful. I stay in there the whole time admiring myself in the mirror with it on. O well. I take it off and toss it to the side with my purse. The dang thing was so thin, it darn near slipped inside. I go over to hang it back on the hanger.
Removing the dress from my purse, I peer in and find out it wasn’t the only thing that had slipped in there. Mr. Baby Bumps was hooking me up the whole time! I had dang near a bag full of MAC cosmetics. My heart dropped when I had seen this. I didn’t know whether to go back to the store and tell them what happened, or take my blessings and run.
Wait, was that a blessing? On the other hand, was it stealing? At this point, I was confused on what side of the commandments I was on. Maybe it was a sign. Maybe God wanted me to have these things. Why not? I look at the little pink dress in my hands. It didn’t even have one of those detector thingies. Before I knew it, I snatch the tag off and slide the little pink dress into my bag. I didn’t even bother to try on any of the other ones. Still confused on how wrong I was, I prayed to God to get me out of the store safe and sound.
“You didn’t like any of the dresses Amber?” Willow’s mom ask me as she was fiddling around with the dress that Willow was trying on.
What do you care if I liked any of the dresses or not! It wasn’t like I was going to Winter Formal or as if you were going to buy me a dress! That’s what I wanted to say, but instead, I just said, “No ma’am.” I didn’t want to be in this store any more. I didn’t even want to be in the mall! The stuff I had in my purse was so hot it was burning a hole in the bottom. I try to keep myself from thinking the worse. From me going out the door and the alarm going off. “May I have the keys to the car, Ms. Kathy, I’m not feeling too well.”
She feels my forehead like I was a toddler or something and she was checking for a fever. Really! I wanted to say. She gives me the keys and tells me how to turn the key enough to roll the windows down but to make sure I take them out right after and not to turn the car on. Duh! I think to myself.
I felt like I was taking a walk on the wild side. The closer I approach the exit my heart thumps a little louder… harder… faster. I was fighting with my legs not to run. No no no! Slow down! You’re drawing attention to yourself. You’re doing like a walk jog now… that’s still too fast… you’re making it look like your’re limping… stop it! Remember… slow and steady wins the race… come on girl! Where’s your confidence? You own this store! Yeah… this is your business, you were just coming to check on your employees… yeah there ya go… slow it down… easy…. easy…. I say a quick prayer to the Lord that if He gets me out of t
his, I’d never steal again in my life. I take a step over the threshold… that’s one foot…. Two feet…. Now bring the purse around…. YES! You did it! You’re out the door and on your way out the mall!!! Once you’re in the car, you're home scot-free!
26 CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Dear karma, I have a list of people you forgot.