Keysha's Drama by Earl Sewell Read Free Book Online

this class I’m just going to start pointing my finger at you so they’ll see you.”
    I leaned over in my seat and looked directly at her. “If you do that I’ll put superglue on all of your clothes during gym.”
    â€œNo, you wouldn’t,” she said, not believing me.
    â€œTry me,” I said, unafraid of her. She didn’t say anything else to me so I dropped our conversation.

    When I arrived home, I saw Toya’s grandmother standing outside the building. She was wearing a one-size-fits-all flower-print dress, some run-over and worn-out looking brown sandals, her black sunglasses for the blind, and she had her white walking stick with the red tip. When I approached her I spoke.
    â€œHello, Ms. Maze.” She turned to the direction of my voice.
    â€œWho is that?”
    â€œIt’s me, Keysha. Toya’s friend,” I answered her.
    â€œOh, how are you doing, baby?” she inquired.
    â€œI’m okay. I’m just coming home from school.”
    â€œThat’s good, honey. I wish Toya was more like you and stayed in school.” Ms. Maze hung her head low for a moment. “Oh, I don’t know what I’m going to do with that girl.”
    â€œUm, where is she at?” I asked because I hadn’t heard from or seen Toya.
    â€œShe’s gotten herself and the baby into some trouble. I’m going to see what I can do about getting her out of jail.”
    â€œOh,” I said. I wanted to tell her everything but I couldn’t. I just didn’t have the courage. “Is she okay?”
    â€œAs well as to be expected,” she answered me.
    â€œDo you think she’ll be getting out today?” I asked.
    â€œI’m going to do my best to get her out,” she said.
    â€œUm, where is Junior?” I asked as I shifted my weight from one foot to the other.
    â€œOh, baby, I don’t know.” Ms. Maze got choked up and couldn’t speak for a long moment.
    â€œKeysha, are you still there?”
    â€œYeah, I’m here.”
    â€œDo me a favor, and stand here with me until the cab I called comes along. I’d like for you to help me get in the car.”
    â€œOkay,” I said, feeling very bad about her having to go down to the police station to see about Toya. What made me feel even worse was the fact that she didn’t know what had happened to her great-grandson, Junior.

    When the cab arrived I made sure that she got in without any problem. I then turned to head inside. I was hoping that my mother had come home. When I walked up to our apartment I saw there was another eviction notice posted to the door. I snatched it down and walked inside. The notice said that we now had two days to either pay the rent or be put out.
    â€œMama!” I called out even though I knew she wasn’t home. The Murphy bed was still inside the wall and hadn’t been used.
    â€œDamn!” I shouted because I didn’t know what to do. I paced back and forth across the floor trying to figure out where she’d gone and where she could be. It wasn’t uncommon for my mother to disappear for several days at a time. Especially when we lived with my Grandmother Rubylee and my Aunt Estelle. I really didn’t care about her disappearing then because I knew that either Aunt Estelle or Grandmother Rubylee would be around if I needed them. Now our lives were much different, and I had no choice but to worry about where Justine was. I was driving myself crazy trying to figure out what I should do. I finally decided that there wasn’t anything I could do. I could only hope that in my hour of need, my mother wouldn’t leave me hanging. I could only hope that by some miracle she’d manage to keep a roof over our heads.

Chapter 6
    W hen I woke up the following day, I was hoping to discover Justine had come home during the night. To my horror, she hadn’t. I swallowed hard and tried not to panic. It was clear