The Realest Ever - By Keith Thomas Walker Page 0,20
called the police over to her mama’s house? Got yourself in all that mess! You were in the 8 grade then.”
“You just said it,” Donovan noted. “I called the police over there. Kyra didn’t tell me to do that. And I didn’t get in trouble for calling the police.”
“And what about when you got in a fight with that man over there?”
“Again that was something I chose to do, Mama. You can’t blame Kyra for that.”
“How come I can’t? Your name wouldn’t have been in no police reports if it wasn’t for her. Her whole family was all messed up, and you was right in the middle of it. Wasn’t nothing I could tell you to get you to leave that girl alone.”
“I always wondered why you weren’t proud of me for trying to help somebody.”
“How can a little boy help somebody?” Beverly wanted to know. “That’s what I was trying to tell you, way back then. The only thing that can happen is you get pulled down right along with her.”
“But I didn’t get pulled down, Mama. As you can see, I’m not on drugs or in prison.”
“Did you tell Brianna about her?” Beverly asked.
“Of course I did,” Donovan said. “You think I’d go see another woman without telling my girlfriend?”
“And she’s okay with it?”
“Well, she ain’t great,” Donovan admitted. “But she does trust me.”
“Did you tell her why I put Kyra out my house?”
Donovan’s smile slipped. “I, uh…”
“Yeah.” Beverly nodded fiercely. “That’s what I thought.”
“I told her everything else, though.”
“If you didn’t tell her you was fixing to have sex with that girl, then you lied,” Beverly accused.
“All we did was kiss,” Donovan said.
His mother’s mouth fell open, and she got upset all over again. “Boy, don’t sit there and tell me that bull! I saw it, Donovan! Did you forget that? I saw it with my own eyes!”
Donovan pulled into the driveway of his childhood home. He didn’t kill the engine right away. He turned and looked at his mother.
“You saw us kissing,” he said. “Not getting ready to–”
“In my house,” Beverly nearly shouted. “Y’all played me like a fool. Whew!” She fanned herself. “I don’t know why you got me thinking about that girl again. Gon’ have my blood pressure up.”
“We didn’t play you, Mama.”
“Yes you did. Told me y’all was just friends. She’s like my little sister,” she mocked. “I knew it wasn’t no way a boy and a girl could live together like that, but I believed you. And y’all stabbed me in the back! Both of you!”
“It was just one kiss,” Donovan reasoned. “That was the first time we ever did that. And it wasn’t planned. We didn’t lie to you. I didn’t know that was gonna happen.”
“It wasn’t just a kiss,” Beverly growled. “Y’all were touching on each other, tongue all in each other’s mouths!” She grimaced. “If I didn’t come home from work early that day, I’d have my grandbaby by now. She’d be fourteen years old already.”
Beverly leaned back in her seat and fanned herself. It was already chilly in the vehicle, but Donovan reached to turn his AC up more.
“I swear I feel my pressure rising,” Beverly said.
Donovan shook his head, not sure how to respond to her. He knew the kiss was bad, but he didn’t think his mother would harbor this much resentment after so much time.
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The incident occurred on October 7, 1999. Donovan was a junior at Finley High. Kyra was in the 10 grade at the same school. She’d been living with Donovan’s family for five months, since the day her mother went to prison for her 4 forgery conviction. At school Donovan and Kyra referred to each other as brother and sister or cousins. The other students didn’t know what to make of them. They knew Donovan and Kyra lived together, and they never saw the best buds hugging or holding hands or showing any sexual interest whatsoever. Whatever they were, boyfriend and girlfriend wasn’t it.
At that point, Kyra and Donovan had been friends for seven years. They were both on cloud nine, since Beverly trusted them enough to take Kyra in. She didn’t have to move all the way to Arkansas, and Kyra was now safe from her neglectful and sometimes dangerous home environment. With Donovan’s family, Kyra was happier than she had ever been.
When they got home from school that day, nothing was out of the ordinary. Kyra had developed most of her womanly features by then. But Donovan seemed uninterested. His