One week later
"Hey!"
"Boy get your hands off of that cake! Mama just took it out of the oven and it's still hot. Move it." Donald's sternly voice boomed throughout the spacious kitchen area, his tall lanky frame stood over the threshold as he secretly watched his youngest brother, the crybaby, Dalvin trying to stick his fingers in the icing of the red velvet cake their mother baked. Dalvin jumped and gasped at the sound of his eldest brother's voice, he stuck his thumb in his mouth to lick the sweet icing off of it.
"I know it's hot, I was just coolin' it off, who wants to eat a hot cake?" Dalvin stammered, trying to justify his actions with a quick excuse, he hid his hands behind his back. Donald scoffed with a wry laugh as he failed to be fooled by Dalvin's foolery. He stepped farther into the kitchen, bumping shoulders with Dalvin's growing lanky frame as he stood in front of the sweet tasty dessert.
"Coolin' it off my ass! You ain't foolin' me or nobody else. Didn't mama tell you and four eyes not to touch the cake, she made it for Michael since she forgot to give him a gift for his birthday." Donald scolded his brother.
"His birthday was on Wednesday and they already had him a birthday party on Saturday with a big double flavored cake. Why is she just now baking him a cake a week later? What if he doesn't like red velvet cake, what if he doesn't like cake at all?" Derek's voice startled both boys as he popped up in the kitchen, coming from God knows where, like he always did, his hand reached for a swipe of the icing, but Don quickly popped it away with his left.
"Hands. Off."
"Who are these people anyway? We only see Michael comin' out of that house." Dalvin inquired, his arched eyebrows raised out of curiosity.
"It's Michael's family, remember? It's his pretty mama, and his big scary daddy, lookin like he belongs in a seventies movie with Pam Grier." Derek chuckled teasingly, Mocking Mr. Bobby's Afro that he refused to let go of, he wouldn't even drop it for a Jheri curl.
"Y'all know he has a little sister right?"
"He does!?! Is she pretty like Teena Marie, or ugly like Maureen from down the street?" Dalvin questioned his brother eagerly, Derek scrunched his nose, cringing at how desperate his little brother sounded at the moment, especially over a girl he never knew existed until now.
"She's who she is, scooby- and I know you ain't callin' Maureen ugly when you was sweet as hell on her when you were in the third grade." Don teased his younger brother, Dalvin's bronze skin turned red as he glared at his older brother with fury.
"So what, It was only for the first two weeks of school, and when she first talked to me her-her breath was stank, so I dropped her". Dalvin shrugged, Derek scoffed, shaking his head left to right as he watched his brother lie Pinocchio.
"Hmph, last thing I remember, Maureen ended up breakin' your heart at the Valentine's Day dance when she showed up with Eric Jackson, the boy who always wore the teashades, and the bright clothes that didn't match, lookin' like a freakin' clown." Derek says with a loud cackle, crossing his arms over his flat chest, Don giggled, deciding to add along to the teasing.
"Yeah, and you ran out of the gym, and boo-hoo cried like a little baby to mama and dad, talkin' bout you ripped your tight ass pants- knowin' doggone well that girl straight up played you." Don added, a deep chuckle erupted from his throat, Dalvin rolled his eyes, waving his brother's off.
"Yeah whatever, Eric ain't like her like that anyway."
"Shut up crybaby, now go take a shower and put on some freakin' clothes, the both of y'all. 'Round here lookin' like a bunch of hobos and smellin' like a garbage can," Don commanded, he stared at their indoor attire that contained a t-shirt with Mickey Mouse on it, a pair of blue plaid pajama pants and dirty white socks. He started shooing his brothers off, but neither one of them moved a muscle in their bodies, they remained in their places in the kitchen as they stared at their eldest brother skeptically.
"Wait a minute... why you ain't goin' next door with us? Whatchu' in a rush to do?" Derek smirked mischievously as Don's eyes got big, he stammered as he quickly tried to come up with a lie.
"Nothing! I-I'm on punishment... remember? I gotta study all day."
"Nuh-uh! Mama and daddy said you just got off of punishment last week, that's why you were at Mike's party, you better not be going up there to that recor-" Don slammed the plate down on the counter and sprinted towards Dalvin, his big hand harshly pressed against Dalvin's plump lips to shush him up from revealing his secret.
"If you don't shut up I'll tell mama you still pee in the bed." He quietly threatens him, through his gritted teeth. Dalvin shakes his head left to right to snatch his lips out of Don's grasp.
"I don't pee in the bed!"
"Shut up Scooby. My whereabouts ain't none of ya' business, y'all just focus on brushing your teeth and gettin' good grades, now go get dressed before Dad comes in here and whips your butt!" Don commanded, once again as he stretched his long slim arm out, pointing to the nearest exit of the kitchen. The duo sucked their teeth and mumbled rude remarks under their breaths as they stormed out of the kitchen and disappearing up the stairs, leaving Donald all by himself in the kitchen.
——
Rudy's Record factory is one of the most popular record shops in Queen City, it has been up and running since the seventies, this is where all the people from around the town would stand in a long line and wait for hours to get their hands on the cassette or vinyl of the hottest song out at the moment once they got word that the store finally had it. It was current owned by Rudy Frazier, a 50-something- year- old black man who sits on his butt on a wooden stool, reading old newspapers from the fifties and sixties.
He claimed to be a close cousin to Don Cornelius and dated one of the female dancers on Soul train back in the day and that's how he got the shop, but truth be told that story was a myth. Anyone who was born and raised in Charlotte long enough has enough common sense to know that he built the shop from ground up with the money he got from pimping back in the sixties. He was just a grumpy walnut-skinned old man that looked like a bootleg Richard Roundtree.
"Did you see the rump on that girl. It was bigger than two watermelons combined- just swinging and jiggling in those shorts... man." Don's friend, Joel spoke loudly and ignorantly as the two wandered through the spacious organized store, Earth, Wind, and Fire's "Reasons" played quietly on the store's radio system to satisfy the customers as they shopped for their items.
Joel Hailey is his good friend from Sugar Creek, and a fellow Charlotte native. The boys had been glued to the hip since they were in the eighth grade, they would sneak around down to the neighborhood record shop, listening to the songs that were popular at the moment, but absolutely forbidden from their households, and they had been writing and recording the love ballads Don put together on his father's old synthesizer whenever they were home alone.
He had been using his special notebook ever since he first turned thirteen to write gospel songs for his father, Reverend Don Sr's small gospel band, The Don Delegation. Writing music for his father's group thrilled Don, he finally got the chance to work for his father and see what it was like in the music business, he had always looked up to his father, and once wanted to be like him. As he grew older, his attention started to shift elsewhere. He never took it serious though, it was just a hobby to keep him occupied during the summer, his parents would never let him take any kind of music other than gospel, no matter how much praying and convincing it took, so he just stuck to writing songs here and there to better his skill.
"Joe, shut up with all'at, man. It was thirty minutes ago and that girl was not feelin' you. She probably like boys who skip school and smoke weed all day." Don quietly shushed and fussed at his friend, careful to not cause a scene and gain unwanted attention from the bystanders who were also in the record shop.
Joel grimaced at Don as his back was turned towards him, "If it was that lightskin nasty girl you so sweet on, you wouldn't be sayin' all'at."
Donald's eyes rolled uncontrollably as he forced himself to ignore Joel's rude comment about the special girl in his life, well... the soon to be special girl in his life- if he makes the right move. Don peeked over his shoulder and his eyes bounced over to Mr. Rudy, who sat on that same stool, reading a Jet magazine all the way from February of 1967, with Carol Cole on the cover, holding up a telephone to her ear, looking as beautiful as she can be. Mr. Rudy nodded his head as The O'Jays "Back Stabbers" started to play, not paying the young teens any mind. Meanwhile Joel was stuck gawking over Vanity 6 in the cover of their 1982 self-titled album, he had a special secret crush on Susan Moonsie, and had a poster of her on the inside of his closet door, Don's favorite was Vanity.
Joel stole a glance from Donald, who was too busy gliding through a box of Vinyls. Joel snatched the Cassette tape from its slot, and shoved it deep into his Burgundy jacket pocket. Don's hazel-green eyes ran across the posters Rudy had stapled on his ivory white walls, he had The Jackson 5, Earth, Wind, & Fire, The Commodores, Little Richard, Ray Charles, The Supremes, and The Ronettes.
The shop was like Donald's comfort zone, his second home, the thing he loved most was located in this building, music. The only issue was Donald didn't appreciate how Mr. Rudy deceived the hot artist out now like Michael Jackon, Rick James, Prince, Teena Marie, Morris Day & The time. He deceived them because he felt like they didn't have a lot of talent, they sang "nonsense" and they couldn't compare to "his generation of music".
"Just no respect for prince," Donald thought to himself, sucking his teeth as he continued to lead the way around the shop, eventually making his way over to the "R&B" section where he figured some of Prince's vinyl's would be located. His curved fingers glided across the wooden slots, and his eyes trailed behind and soon came across what he was looking for, his eyes sparkled under the fluorescent lighting as he stared at the cassette in awe, biting his plump bottom lip and nodding his head approvingly at achieving his goal.
He was thrilled to finally get his hand on the prize... again. Back when he was in the 8th grade, he got the vinyl as a birthday gift to himself with some of his allowance money, and he was just about to start listening to it, but Dalvin cracked it once he accidentally stepped on it with the bottom of his high top converses, all because he wanted to come in Donald's room and mess with him like he always did. After that incident, he would've gotten another sooner, but with his mother and father being so suspicious and inquisitive about his whereabouts after learning about his academic progress in school, he never got the chance to do it.
Reaching to grab onto it, his eyes could've popped out of his head as he saw another small hand grab onto the vinyl at the same time as he did, their hands lightly brushing against each other. His grin soon turned straight as his eyes bounced up from the vinyl and at the disembodies hand, which belonged to a young girl, that young girl being the Maureen Donovan from down the street.
Her long black curls were pulled up into a side ponytail, with a pastel pink hair tie, the bounced with every movement she made with her head. Her slim short frame that was an estimate of five feet and two inches was covered in a pastel blue striped sweater, a matching pleated skirt and a pair of L.A. Gear tennis shoes, the expensive designer perfume fragrance lingered its way into Don's nostrils, making his scrunch up his nose and gag, almost wanting to puke due to how loud and horrible it smelt, it smelled like a bunch of old ladies gathered in one small room for bible study, and that wasn't a good smell, it almost made him lightheaded.
"Maureen, l-look i don't have time for your shenanigans, okay? Jus-Just let the thing go and we both can go on about our day." Don spoke softly, trying to reason with her. The last thing he wanted was some more bad blood with Maureen, for some reason she always had it out for Don, ever since they first met eachother back in the sixth and seventh grade, she despised him for some reason. Always calling him names like 'Dumbo' or 'Donald Duck' or 'hideous wop-sided tree branch', starting unnecessary drama and arguments with him just to get him in trouble with his parents for bothering a girl. Donald figured maybe it was the fact that she secretly liked him, or that he probably rejected one of her friends who had a bit of a crush on him and she was out for his head.
"Excuse me!? I was here first, I touched it first. Therefore it is mine, let it go Don." Maureen's soft country accent uttered loudly as she gave him a toothless grin, the same grin she gave him when she was about to start some drama with someone, everyone knew that Maureen was trouble, so they stayed away, except for Birdie, who for some reason just couldn't see the evil in Maureen.
"No it's mine, let it go Maureen," Donald gritted, trying to hold back the frustration he was feeling, he snatched the Vinyl out of Maureen's hands.
"Don, just give it to her man and let's get goin'. I don't feel like hearin' Rudy's mouth about us startin' shit with this girl." Joel whispered to his friend, placing his hand on Don's shoulder, he quickly shrugged his hand off, and glared at him.
"Who gives a rat's ass, Joe? I have been waiting too damn long to get this Vinyl after all the shit that happened back on my birthday I don't even care about all of that no more, I just want my vinyl and I'll be damned if I let her have it!" Donald's nasally deepening voice boomed across the store as he felt his blood start to boil under his skin, gaining the attention of Mr. Rudy, he slammed his newspaper shut, shaking his head with shame as he stood up from the stool and glared at the trio. He had had enough of the Charlotte adolescent's shenanigans. It's been the same cycle with the children who came into his store every day, he was so close to making it an eighteen years or older record shop.
"DeGrate! Hailey! Let that young lady have the doggone thang. She was here first and had her eyes on it first, come back some time next week, and I'll have more up there. Go on now, I don't wanna have'ta call the Reverend on y'all." Mr. Rudy demanded, jerking his head towards the entrance door, and shooing the boys off.
Donald exhaled sharply through his nostrils, taking the vinyl and shoving it against Maureen's small Breast under her shirt. She giggled, gripping the vinyl into the palm of her hands, "I ain't want it anyway, I'm sure yo' groupie ass would probably—"
Before Donald would even let another word slip right out of his mouth, his right cheek was met with a harsh warm welcome from the back of Maureen's heavy hand, backhanding him right in the face, on the imaginary bullseye on his right cheek. He grunted in agony as his head jerked to the side harshly, bumping into the wooden tables that held the crates of records, causing the vinyls and crates to clack and clash against each other. The loud noises of commotion gained the attention of bystanders in the store, and Mr. Rudy's head shot up from the newspaper, about to come from behind the counter and throw the children out himself.
"Oh shoot!" Joel gasped, covering his mouth that fell ajar out of shock with his hand as he almost failed to contain his heavy laughter of hysteria.
"That crazy little brat. She just slapped me!" Donald thought to himself, as he held his aching cheek, glaring at the young girl who stood in front of him with consternation and rage, if looks could kill, Maureen would drop dead on the floor right this instant.
"Hey! What in the hell do y'all got goin' on over here!?!"
"Damnit..." Joel whispered, scratching his neck awkwardly, avoiding eye contact with the tall boy who soon appeared in the aisle.
Duane Doyle, was a well-known basketball player on the boy's basketball team at James Baldwin high school back 1981 before he graduated in at the top of his senior class in 1982, kudos to his tutor. Most kids in Charlotte knew Duane was one of those popular dudes who got all the girls and attention from anyone, and he was also known as Maureen's Uncle- her mother's younger brother, so he knew of Joel and Donald from Hidden Valley.
The last time they seen Duane, Maureen's young uncle was when he graduated high school and was sent off to Duke University on a free basketball scholarship, they figured he was possibly back in his hometown for summer break like most of the college students. Clearing his throat to release the tension and break the silence, Joel grinned at Duane awkwardly, which he didn't return- he just remained behind Maureen with his big hand on her small shoulder.
"O-Oh wassup Duane didn't expect to see you 'round here with her, you here for the summer?" Joel inquired, jerking his head, gesturing towards an furious Maureen, who scrunched her nose with disgust, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Yeah man, just out here spendin' time with my family. Whatcha' messin' with Reenie for? I thought y'all was cool when y'all were little before I left." Duane inquired curiously, the base in his voice deepened as he spoke sternly. If only he knew the trouble his little precious niece was causing when he wasn't around, she was considered the devil of Hidden Valley.
"Her crazy ass put her hands on me!" Donald blurted furiously, pointing his finger at the girl and never taking his other hand off of his aching and burning cheek, biting down on his bottom lip to hold back a hiss of agony that was pleading to be released, he bit it so hard he could feel the blood slowly seeping out from his plump sets and onto his tongue. He knew he was gonna have a huge red hand mark on his face for at least a week and a half the way she slapped the taste out of his mouth, he could've sworn he saw a little bit of his salvia shoot out of his mouth.
" 'Cause you disrespected the hell outta' me! You don't just go around and call no girl a damn groupie and expect them not to knock yo' jaw loose. Oooo you're very lucky that's all I did. If I wasn't raised with class and elegance- unlike you, I woulda' whooped yo'-"
"Maureen Geraldine Donovan! Watch your doggone mouth, lil' girl before I tell ya' mama you out here actin' like'a fool. Look y'all, that's my bad, I shoulda kept an eye on her- knowing she ain't that friendly to people. And you shouldn't be callin' no girl no groupie, kid. You definitely ain't gone get none of the girls 'round here talkin' trash like that. Don't ever let it happen again. Got it?" Duane apologized, pointing at the young boys, the stern, blank facial expression never disappearing from his structured face, Joel nodded quickly as Donald rolled his eyes, shrugging his shoulders as a form of agreement.
Duane sighed quietly, looking down at the young girl with disappointment, he gently pushed her shoulder, guiding her over to the counter, she snickered, giggling at Donald before turning her head and walking away, muttering 'ha-ha' quietly enough to where she and Donald could hear her.
"Shit man... she slapped the black off of you. Now it's really war with her. Just wait 'til school starts again." Joel whispered, twisting his lips to the side to hold back his snickers as he stared at the small pink hand mark on Donald's golden brown skin slowly starting to appear and become very visible to others. He felt embarrassed that he'd have to walk around Queen City with a hoodie on to cover his face, and avoid conflict from his parents.
"Man shut that shit up! That mole cricket lookin' ass girl just slapped me. My damn face is literally turning red like a freakin' stop sign, and that shit hurts..." Donald grumbled, gently patting and caressing his cheek to soothe the pain, only to hiss at the delicate touch of his finger tips.
"Don... you shoulda known that girl was gone getcha' narrow behind eventually. Maybe she's worth a lil' phone call after all. I like mines a lil' feisty." Joel prattled as he stared at the round rump on the back of the girl as she and Duane grabbed their items off of the counter from Rudy's hands and walked out of the record shop, the duo quietly fussing with eachother once the door closed.
"Will. You. Shut. The. Hell. Up!? You droolin' all on the floor, she took the last Prince vinyl in the freakin' store, and ain't no tellin' when Rudy's old expired ass gone have some more. That girl ain't nothin' but trouble." Donald frowned, running his hand over his face, huffing with frustration.
"You actin' like a baby ain't gone bring it back either, take it like a man, Don. It'll be back before you know it, now let's get outta here before the street lights come on."
——
New Edition's "Candy Girl" could be heard from near their destination, the boys stared at the Red 1972 Cadillac Eldorado parked in the driveway of the Hayes's house, signaling that they were indeed home. The music crooned out of her small pink radio that sat up on the stoop next to her. She sat down on one of the porch steps, her knees pressed to her chest as she held a purple notebook on top of them, she scribbled down on the page with her pink feathered pen, similar to what Donald would be doing on his free time if it hadn't been for Dalvin in his shenanigans when he broke his black walkman device, he and Derek were always breaking his things, which is why he kept his door locked when he had a chance. Monica nodded her head along to the hot track, she sung quietly to herself, but unaware that both boys were able to hear her. She wasn't the best singer, but her voice was pretty decent, kind of squeaky and high pitched.
The cool summer breeze blew down in the children, causing her long pressed hair to blow out backwards, letting the golden afternoon sun shine on her beautiful golden sand brown skin. Her small hands picked up red velvet cake with white icing and pecan crumbles on top of it, it looked like it had already been bitten into, she took a small bite from it before sitting it back down on the small saucer dish, she licked the icing off of her thumb pad as the icing started to melt due to the hot summer heat. Don grinned at her enjoying his mother's baked red velvet cake, he wanted to ask her how his brothers behaved when they first met her, he hoped they weren't embarrassing and made her uncomfortable. Then she'd probably would never want to be his friend.
His eyes then trailed down to the attire she sported this afternoon. She wore a burgundy polo jacket, similar to Joel's, a pink camisole top under it as it hugged the upper half of her small body perfectly, a pair of blue Guess bell bottoms on her small thighs, and a pair of pink converses. He continued to hear her soft voice sing to herself, like she was afraid of anyone hearing her it, which he could understand because he wasn't that good of a singer either.
She furrowed her eyebrows once she felt someone staring at her, she abruptly stopped singing as she looked up from the journal in her lap, and her eyes met with Donald's hazel-green specs. She felt a wave of shock and embarrassment rush through her small body, she grimaced at him, quickly closing her journal, picking up her small radio, the saucer plate and marching back into her home, kicking the door closed behind her with the sole of her tennis shoe. Donald's eyes got big as he left Joel standing on the sidewalk In front of the house, and quickly jogged up to her front porch, softly knocking on the glass window of the door.
"Monica? It's me, Don, if you didn't know already. Look- if you want me to, I can pretend like I didn't hear your voice, even thought it's actually not that bad. I-I see you liked my mama's cake." Don spoke through the door, hoping she'd open up the door and talk to him, he was just trying to be a friend to her. Even though he wasn't always the most friendliest person to come upon, he was willing to try for her, especially since he was cordial with her brother, he knew the Hayes family were good people, why not return the favor.
His eyes got big as he heard both of the locks on the door turn, the doorknob rattled before it slowly opened, she peaked her small head out, staring at him with those big brown eyes, "the cake was nice. Mikey likes it."
Don giggles with a goofy grin, "Glad you like it, I hope my brothers didn't bother you too much. They always get a little excited about girls a lot."
"What brothers? You have brothers too, like me? Well... I only have one but, you know what I mean."
Donald's eyebrows began to knit with confusion as he stepped back, allowing Monica to step outside of the house and quietly close the door behind her. He didn't know that his brothers decided not to take along with their mother like they always did whenever there as a new neighbor in the neighborhood.
"Uh.. yeah I told you that at Mike's party remember? My mama was supposed to bring them to meet you." Don stammered,
"Well no she didn't, it was just her and the cake, she was nice, pretty too. Maybe I'll meet your brothers one day. But uh... what's that on your face? It looks like a huge red hand mark or somethin'." She questioned as her eyes suddenly landed on the hand mark plastered on the side of his face, standing out like a sore thumb.
Don touches his cheek, chuckling awkwardly to hide the sudden burning sensation he delicately caressed the wound, "oh I just- I just got into a little mishap, but I'm fine- I'm totally... fine."
"Oh alright." Monica nodded with a toothless grin.
"Um... so- are you guys coming to church tomorrow?" Donald inquired. Not only because he wanted to spark up a conversation to get her out of her shell, but out of his genuine curiosity, he wondered if her parents were heavy Christians and believers like his parents were, maybe if they were, they would have that in common it would start them off somewhere in their friendship.
"Yeah, my mama already picked out this stupid navy blue ruffle dress with flower designs all on it- I thought I hid it far away though, and my daddy got me a new pair of Mary Janes since my old ones are too small for my feet. Mikey's suit was a little dirty so it's at the dry cleaners, I hope it shrinks too-" She continued to ramble on, Don mentally cheesed as she finally got out of her shell and talked up a storm like she usually did, he didn't even care about the insults she threw at Michael, he was just glad they were getting somewhere in their friendship and she was finally starting to open up.
"Well... I hope to see you guys tomorrow, I gotta scram on home before the street lights come on and I get in trouble, you should too, I'll see you around, Monica." Don spoke suddenly, dismissing himself as he saw the street light flicker on in his peripheral vision, leaving Monica clueless to he and his friend's sudden disappearance, until she glanced up at the tall street light in front of her house.
"Bye Don." She waved before stepping back into the house, closing the door behind her.