Dime Read Online Free Page B

to school, because I liked school.
    â€œAll right,” Janelle said. “Come on home in a couple days.”
    I gave the phone back to him, trying to pretend I didn’t care that Janelle didn’t even ask to speak to any mother. Trying not to worry about whether L.A. would lend me clothes and if so, how foolish I might look in them.
    â€œYou know how to cook?” he asked me as he tapped off the phone.
    â€œI can do some.”
    â€œYou going to help L.A.,” he said. “We having company tonight.”
    We roasted a chicken and made rice and green beans.
    â€œThat back burner gets stuck on.” L.A. showed me. “You got to keep a eye on it.”
    I did the rice, keeping my eye on the back burner, turning the dial this way and that, until I got the feel of how it was broken but could still be made to work at the same time.
    I met Brandy that night. They said she was L.A.’s cousin. I didn’t understand how that could be, since she was white. Which was different all on its own. She skipped me serving the beans. I wasn’t going to say anything, but Daddy did.
    â€œYou forgot Dime,” he told her. She spooned beans onto my plate silently.
    Later she took the last of the rice just after Daddy asked if I wanted seconds. I hadn’t even answered him yet, but he picked up her plate, tilted it, and used his knife to slide her rice onto mine. I never had a father or an uncle before—Janelle’s men moved in and out and she barely let them talk to us kids—so I thought he was doing what fathers and uncles did. Just looking out for me. Taking care of me. I liked that. It felt good.

Chapter Seven
    THAT ONE WITH the gold D played the girl they call L.A. per fect, Sex would explain. Brandy was a good storyteller. She told me L.A.’s story as if she had been right there, watching the whole thing. Sex would know just how to tell it again. “Her?” D acted like the other female was nothing. “Satin? That there ain’t nobody. She ain’t nobody important. Here. Take her sweater. It look better on you. You look like a queen now. What? Nah. She won’t care. I bought that sweater. That’s mine. Not hers. She leaving soon, anyway. She won’t even know it’s gone. Turn around now. Whoooo. Beautiful. You look beautiful.” That’s what these dudes do. They play the girls like nobody’s business. “What? I’m not worried about nothing. Nothing. Just the rent. I’m a little behind, but don’t you worry. Help? How you going to help? That’s real sweet of you, Beautiful. I’ll think about it.”
    I hadn’t understood it at all before. But now it seems so obvious, it’s embarrassing.
    It’s a game of the mind, and that’s the problem. These young girls, they don’t understand anything except false promises, love lies, new clothes, and a meal. Their fathers and uncles and mama’s boyfriends and cousins and brothers and boys around the block made these girls confused. So confused they don’t know which way is straight.

Chapter Eight
    THE FIRST TIME I stayed there almost two weeks. My fever broke the second night, and even though I still didn’t feel too well, I went to school just like always. L.A. and him worked all the time. I thought L.A. worked selling clothes in the day. I thought she worked at a restaurant at night. I thought she switched from being like a friendly big sister to a bitch because she was working so hard. He drove her to work in his gold Honda, but she always took the bus or walked home. So she was tired. That’s how ignorant I was. I thought he worked for the phone company. I don’t know why I thought that, but I did. That’s how even more ignorant I was.
    In the beginning I slept on the couch and never noticed when L.A. came in, passed right by me, and went to her room. I slept hard. The blankets and sheets were clean from an old mini-refrigerator