e t h e l t r e v o r - d i x o n |future|
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Not here.
Nope.
This one too.
"I could've sworn I put that damn toy in this box-"
"Mummy I can't find Echo!" I turn to my distressed daughter, hands still busy digging through the box on the kitchen counter. The five year old has fat tears running down her cheeks, staining her already somewhat dirty clothes, and she looks at me with large glassy eyes. It's honestly scary sometimes how much she looks like her ema. (Amharic translation: mother)
My heart squeezes at the sight and I can't offer much other than a sympathetic look, "I know babylove. See, I checked every box in here," I gesture towards the packed up kitchen, "and I still can't find him."
She's now full on sobbing over her lost stuffed octopus and this causes me to kick into some serious mommy mode. I pick her up, wiping some tears away, and hastily moving around the house to search for a box that wasn't already opened or labeled. Meanwhile, the movers are due to come in twenty minutes and I still have more packing to do. Not to mention my hormones are driving me crazy. My back hurts because of this growing baby boy inside me, this is most-likely going to be the tenth time I need to pee this hour - without any privacy might I add, my feet are swollen, and my wife isn't here to console me with her annoying ass sweet words of comfort.
sigh.
After countless minutes wasted searching, I still can't find that thing so I plop down with her on the couch, exhausted. "How about I get you a new toy-"
"No!"
"M'ap pop ou oui"(translation: I will pop you). I look at her like she's lost her mind. She sniffs, wiping under her snotty nose before hugging me with those same dirty fingers.
"Noooo, mummy." she wines against my neck.
"How you gonna scream at me one minute and then want me to hold you the next?"
"I sorry."
I want to ignore her but this my baby, so of course I give her one more stern look before caving in. "Don't do that again, kay?"
"Kaykay..." She fiddles with my hair, "But we find Echo right?"
I give her a long blink, "I'm not sur-"
The doorbell cuts me off and I stand with a frustrated groan, waddling towards the entrance with a equally stressed child trailing behind me.
I open the door to reveal the woman of the hour. Slightly out of breath, most likely from running up the driveway, I conclude after seeing her car parked across the street.
"Ema'ma!"(Amharic translation: mommy or mom)
Before she can lean in to kiss me, Opal braces herself quick and stoops down to pick up an eager Mariah. "Hey princess-"
"I can't find Echo!"
I smack my lips, rolling my eyes at the one phrase that's been haunting me since nine a.m. this morning. Opal must gauge my mood from my body language quick because next thing I know, she's placing a bag of takeout in my hand, locking the door behind her as she leads us to the living room with a hand at the small of my back.
When I tell you its the little shit that keeps me falling in love with this woman again and again over these past eighteen years. But still, I keep my attitude even after she seats me on the couch, rubbing my shoulders while animatedly holding a conversation with our daughter like she understands most of the things coming out of that kid's mouth.
I don't even bother to join in, humming softly in contentment as I enjoy my fritaille and free massage.
"...-what are you talking about princess, you left echo in the car after I picked you up from ballet practice yesterday remember?"
See, crying over nothing - wait a fucking minute!
I immediately sit up, causing her to stop what she was doing and give me a confused look. "What?"
"So you're telling me this whole time I was being terrorized over a octopus you had with you?"
"Wiff you?!"
"Calm down princess, I'm sorry. And I'm sorry to you too baby." She now looks at me apologetically, leaning over from the back of the couch to softly kiss my temple before going back to rubbing my shoulders as a peace offering. I glare back as she continues to avoid my gaze, promising a fussy Mariah who tugs on her pant leg that she'll "get Echo once she's done dealing with mummy". Whatever the fuck that means.
Me and Mariah both huff now with an attitude, neither one of us satisfied at the moment despite my wife finding amusement in this. Mini Opal then storms off to her old room down the hall, slamming the door behind her.
"Aye! veye kò-w!" (translation: watch yourself)
I hear her open the door abruptly, shouting "No!". And right when I'm getting up, Opal wanna hold me back, muffling her laugh against the crook of my neck.
"I really wanna know what's so funny?"
"You always say how she's the spitting picture of me, but she acts just like you." she shares in between giggles.
I move away, mugging her, "And how do I act?"
She knows better too because promptly, she's sitting down and placing me on her lap, stealing a small kiss before mumbling, "Like an angel."
"Mmm," I cuddle further into her on the couch getting ready to complain, "Why you took so long though?"
"Well if you must know," she sighs taking a bite from the fried plantain I offered her, "I was busy dealing with our parents who were arguing over baby names, baby-proofing the house, who gets who over the summers, and whether or not not the nursery should be painted yellow or blue, -and this is only the surface of what they covered by the way."
I look to her to see if she's serious and she nods, trying yet failing to hold back a fond smile. No matter how much she complains, deep down there's always been that unwavering admiration she has for our parents. She's so patient and gentle with them, sometimes letting them take advantage of this and that's when my so-called "mean ass" has to but in. In the end, I can't help to find this quality of hers to be cute. And maybe a tad bit sexy.
"Don't think you slick, why couldn't you pick up the phone?"
She makes a pained face, "I didn't realize it was on vibration until I was getting your food love."
"Wow genius, if only you'd thought to check." She groans into my neck and I shift a little on her lap, trying to calm myself down.
"Mummy I 'ant some?" I look down to see Mariah with her small palms outstretched to me. I don't know when she sneaked her little butt back here.
"Oh so now you wanna be nice to me?"
"I love you?" She stares at me with that innocent doe-eyed look. I glance back at her carbon-copy, communicating with her through my facial expressions. Opal in response laughs and I roll my eyes, wiping a small crumb from the corner of her mouth with a smile.
"Wow, you pulling that card-" Before I can even finish, Mariah steals a piece of chicken from my plate before hopping onto Opal's other available thigh.
"Yeah this is definitely all you." Opal says while checking her phone. She tells me the movers are waiting outside before settling Mariah on my lap and going to answer the door. And the little gremlin continues to steal my food and pretend like she doesn't see me looking at her.
"'Ant some mummy?"
Awwwwe.
My baby offers me a plantain she's already slobbered over but I gently tell her no, "it's okay babylove, you can have it." She shrugs, scarfing down the rest.
The execution may have been lacking but it's the thought that counts.
After a good five hours of going back and fourth from our old home to our new one, I settle at the dinning room table with Opal, our parents and a sleeping Mariah on my dad's shoulder. We left a few things back at the old house but tomorrow's the weekend so Opal will just pick them up in the morning with our brothers, who'd left earlier.
Everyone enjoys the nice meal of Somali rice and chicken Opal's parents prepared. Our moms converse of meaningless gossip such as church-related things, new African and Haitian boutiques to check out, healthy recipes they found online, and cute pictures they took with Mariah. Meanwhile popi and aba share what they've heard from cable news - one of the two nodding seriously every once in a while-, before transitioning over to wrestling matches they plan to watch together, and fishing trips they hope to take my and Opal's kiddies on soon.
In our own conversation, I tell Opal to feel the baby kicking in my stomach since she didn't get the chance when he first kicked yesterday. As a college professor, her mornings are pretty hectic and busy, but she makes sure that afternoons and weekends are cleared up for moments like this.
She smiles at me, leaning down to talk to my bump, "Hey there little guy..."
Our moms look on fondly, "I'm so happy we're getting another baby. This one's going to be ours since your dads take little Miah away from us." My mom jokes in her thick Haitian accent, her nose scrunching in my father's direction teasingly.
Popi doesn't even bother to argue with her over this since her point is proven even further with his favorite granddaughter snoring comfortably in his arms. "Ah, Josey." He raises a hand as if to say "what can I do?". Aba's eyes in turn squint from his content smile and his weird, single huff laugh causes me and Opal to share our amusement between ourselves.
"Aaaiii, all this talk makes me think how far you two come from when you first meet."
"Oh you mean when they were practically trying to tear each other heads off?"
"Oui!"Mummy playfully hits her shoulder and they both laugh like they just told the funniest joke.
"Ema," Opal starts at Marjani with a fake betrayed look, "now you know I was never like that." Her mother just waves her off, standing up to get something out of her purse on the kitchen island. I give aba a questioning look but he shrugs in response. Either he knows and he doesn't want to tell me or he doesn't know and he doesn't want to tell me.
Marji comes back a minute later with what looks like a worn photo-album. "Look what I found back at the house." She holds it out to us with a giddy expression.
Opal clears a few dishes aside, planting the book at the center of the table so everyone can see. She flips the cover decorated with all kinds of stickers and crayon marks, the very bottom of it reading, "to the Mrs Trevor-Dixons". Opal reads it aloud and our fathers can't help to gush with a awe.
She flips through photos of our wedding day, Mariah's baby shower and first ultrasound, holiday get-togethers, vacations, college graduation, all our siblings and in-laws at family functions, etc. I laugh when we turn to my cheer uniform that popi would practically crucify me over back in high school.
"I never like det one." He comments under his breath and mummy laughs at him.
"Oh be quiet popi, you never like anything."
Aba showcases a proud smile when we get to a picture of Opal winning in debate club during senior year. "I'm so proud of you my little Opal."
I can tell she's a bit embarrassed by the compliment but she grins at him nonetheless, "thank you aba."
"What about me aba?" I but in with a fake pout.
He playfully flicks my chin, "you too little Ethel." Meanwhile my mother shakes her head at Marji with an "aye-ya-yaye".
By the time we get halfway through the book Mariah has already woken up, looking on with curious eyes. Occasionally, she would look at a photo of me or Opal and then she would stare back at us like she couldn't believe we were that young once.
It isn't until we get to the blurry photo of me and Opal working together on a chemistry project junior year that I bust out laughing. Mariah mocks me and I stop, look at her, and we both start up again.
I remember this day so vividly in my mind. I'd invited Opal over at a time when we weren't on the best speaking terms. She came with her dorky, wholeheartedly sweet self and even back then, despite my attitude she was still patient with me. I didn't know it then but now looking back, I can see that this was probably when I started falling for her.
My mom interrupts my reminiscing and like always, she has a story to go with this picture:
"Everyday after school Ethel come to me and Renaldo," she nods at popi, "mummy this girl at school, mummy she make me angry, mummy tomorrow-eh-eh-tomorrow we will fight. And I say, 'Ethil maybe you like this girl with the way you talk about her so much'. and she say to me, 'don't insult me like that mummy'. But after that day," she taps on the picture, "every time I ask Ethel 'so what happen to that girl?', she can't look in my eyes and she get eeh, how the American say?...tongue-tied."
Of course she exaggerates what actually happened, and I have to hold back from hiding the goofy smile on my warm face when Opal teasingly pokes my cheek. "So you was crazy about me from the start love?"
"Eeeh, I wouldn't put it like that."
"You crazy from start mummy?" Mariah boldly keeps eye-contact with me.
"Girl hush 'fore I make you go to sleep." I mush her head away. She giggles as Opal tickles her, bringing a smile to everyone's face.
We then flip over to the next page, being thrown back down memory lane. Back to where it all started....
©neuttt