May 18th, 2001
Flump!
“Shit!” Mariah shouted.
Michael came darting into the bedroom. “Mariah! Are you okay?”
She grimaced, struggling up off the floor. “Yeah- I just- I guess I fell out the bed.”
Michael bit back a chuckle.
“What?” She asked, genuinely curious.
He shook his head ever so slightly. “Nothin’ baby-”
“What's that big ass grin on your face?”
“You fell out of the bed.” He said, cheeks high from grinning. “How you do that?”
She looked down at the floor--her feet unmanicured and body hidden under Bermuda shorts she'd made from old gray sweatpants, and a tye dye t-shirt under a white tank top.
She shrugged.
Michael shook his head, extending his arms to give his homely wife a hug. He kissed her forehead.
“You're so cute.”
She gave a tight lipped smile.
“Yeah, whatever.”
Michael gave her a squeeze before letting go. “You hungry? I'm making the girls something to eat.”
She rubbed her stomach. “Actually, I am. What you making?”
“Pancakes. Nothing too extravagant.”
She raised an eyebrow. “You haven't done that in a while.”
He pushed out a breath, tying his straggly hair into a low ponytail. “Well, I'm in a good mood…”
“What's got you so peppy?”
He shrugged. “Life. My album’s coming together, the girls are behaving, you're a work in progress-”
“A work in progress? What is that supposed to mean?”
Michael took a step back. “I just- I don't mean anything by it. I just mean- you're doing good with the girls. Not asking me anymore questions about-”
Mariah started to zone out, her husband’s voice somehow relaxing, despite the fact that he just described her as a ‘work in progress’. She'd been extremely out of it lately. Not necessarily emotionally--quite the contrary actually--but physically. Some days she didn't even feel like getting out of bed.
Wait a second...
“Babe, shut up for a second!” She exclaimed excitedly. She couldn't think with his random background nonsense. “What day is it?”
“The day that the lord has made-”
Mariah popped him in the stomach.
“Boy!...I'm serious, Michael!”
Michael, stroking his arm in exaggerated pain, pouted. “Friday.”
“Date?”
Michael glanced over her head, presumably at the wall calendar they kept near the bathroom door.
“The eighteenth-”
“Okay! Wow! Where's my cell phone?” She shouted.
He pointed at the nightstand on her side of the bed.
“Look, stay here! I gotta make a phone call!”
Michael was quite obviously confused. “I gotta stay here so you can-”
“Just- Don't leave!”
She ran to the closet to slip on her shoes. At the same time, she put her hair up in a raggedy ponytail and slid a long trench coat over her house clothes.
“I'll be right back!” She shouted, running out of the condo.
She could vaguely hear Michael shouting back from inside.
“Okay!”
“Rachel!” Mariah exclaimed in a harsh whisper.
“Biiiitch! What we doing here? You got me at Duane Reade looking like Sherlicka Holmegirl in these damn trench coats!”
“Shh! You're gonna get us caught, girl!” Mariah whispered.
The two women turned the drugstore aisle just after checking to make sure the coast was clear.
“Shit, why I even gotta be in disguise? You the singer here, not me!”
“Rachel!” Mariah exclaimed. “Shut the fuck up before you get us caught!”
Rachel leered at her friend. “I do not have to take this bullshit!”
Mariah chuckled. “Oh please!”
Rachel rolled her eyes. “I'm serious, girl. What the hell are we doing here?”
“I need you to get me something…”
“Something you can't get yourself?” Rachel asked.
“No!”
Rachel stopped whispering and spoke in her normal tone. “Girl, why did you even come, then? You coulda called me and just told me to pick something up for you but instead you wanna act like Magnum PI and shit. Out here looking dusty and rusty. Alison would be jealous.”
Mariah clicked her tongue, gently shoving the other woman. “Girl, just go over there and get one of those.”
Rachel pulled back. “Uh, girl you know that’s-”
“I know what it is!”
Rachel seemed to reason within herself before a nudge from Mariah sent her on her way.
Mariah shook her head. “Difficult for no reason.”
May 18th, 2001
Whoosh!
Mariah zoomed into the condo just as Michael was helping Elizabeth pick up her pancake pieces with a spork. He felt the spork had to be the worst invention in human history, as it had no useful function.
“Baby, everything okay?” He shouted from the kitchen table, his back turned toward the girls.
“Mommy!” Noelle shouted.
Michael turned back toward her and nodded. “Yes baby, that's Mommy!”
“TT!” Nicole exclaimed, pointing behind Michael.
Michael turned his head to meet eyes with Rachel.
He waved. “Hey, Rach.”
“What y'all eating?”
“Pancakes!” Elizabeth shouted.
“Yes and chocolate syrup and syrup syrup, and baby powder!” Noelle added.
“Baby, I think you mean powdered sugar.” Rachel clarified, barely able to suppress her grin.
Michael smiled. “So how are you? What you doing here?”
Before Rachel could spit it out, Mariah shouted her name.
“Rachel! Come here!”
Rachel rolled her eyes. “Hold on.” She shot up and ran toward the bathroom.
“What's going on, Daddy?” Nicole asked. “Why TT running for?”
Michael shrugged, his eyebrows mimicking his shoulders.
“She had to tinkle!” Elizabeth explained.
Michael giggled. “Maybe. But I think Mommy needed her.”
Elizabeth reached out from her highchair, trying to get her cup.
Michael moved it closer to her. “Here you go, baby.”
The four continued to eat their breakfast in silence--Michael cutting up their food here and there. About five minutes later, Rachel walked back into the kitchen, a sneaky grin on her face.
Michael furrowed his eyebrows. “What?”
Rachel wouldn't say.
Quickly, Mariah came bouncing into the room, holding a pencil-length white stick in her hand.
“Baby, I know why I’ve been feeling a little weird lately…”
Rachel smiled from ear-to-ear.
Mariah walked over to him, her hand extended.
Michael looked down at the stick.
Shit.
He looked back at his wife. “Wow.”
Mariah’s smile slowly faded.
“That’s it? That’s all you have to say?”
I don’t know what you expected…
Michael gave an unconvincing smile.
“Baby?”
“I think it’s great, Mariah. Relax.” Michael responded.
“You don’t seem happy though.”
Then again I wasn’t expecting this.
“I am, baby. I promise. It’s beautiful.” Michael reassured.
He shot up from the table, tilting her chin up.
“It’s beautiful!” Nicole parroted.
Mariah chuckled, placing her hand on her stomach. She moved Michael out of the way to get to her girls.
“It’s a baby!”
Nicole’s eyes lit up.
“Baby!”
May 28th, 2001
Michael was standing on the side of the stage observing, as his Dance Director and longtime Choreographer, Travis, led his dancers through a routine. He was pleased with their quick progress, giving him something to focus on outside of his dysfunctional home life.
“Karrin! Move up.” Travis shouted, gesturing to the leading lady for “You Rock My World” to move up beside him.
She took a place beside Travis, easily keeping up with him as they went through the choreography. Michael was yet again impressed by her fluidity.
“Hold it! Hold it!” Travis yelled, waving his hands around. “One of yall offbeat.”
Travis moved back, turning to look at the group. “Do it again. I'm watching y'all.”
The group went through the moves again and Michael could see a young man in the second row struggling to keep up.
“You!” Travis pointed to the young man. “Step out.”
Travis turned back towards the rest of the group. “Run it again.”
Seeming tired and frustrated, the dancers went through the routine once again. It was still a little off, even more so with the open space left by the male dancer that Travis removed.
Before Travis could direct them any further, Michael stepped out on the stage. “I think that's enough for right now, Travis. Everybody, let’s wrap for lunch.”
Michael picked up his empty plate, took a bite out of his apple and strolled his way over to the dancers’ table.
“Hey, it’s Mr. Jackson!” One of the male dancers announced.
Michael couldn’t help but giggle. After all these years he still felt nervous in front of large, but intimate groups.
The man jumped from his seat and extended a hand. “How are you doing, sir?”
Michael bowed his head in honor. “I’m very good, thank you.”
He glanced around the table, placing his plate at the head of it. “I’m very excited and impressed at the level you guys are working at. Very talented, all of you.”
The table clapped in unison--a few ‘woos!’ sounding off.
Michael pursed his lips into a smile, waiting on his dancers to quiet down. He looked and looked, trying to find one dancer in particular.
“What’s going on?” A female voice inquired from behind. Michael turned around, and there she was, fresh from the restroom.
“Ms. Adams, how are you?” Michael asked.
Karrin smiled. “I’m well. Just wanted to wash my hands before lunch.”
Michael took another bite of his apple. His loud chomping caused an eruption of soft giggles from the table.
“Good, good. What were you thinking of having?”
She took a good look at what everyone else was having: chef’s made to order meals.
“I’ll just take an apple for now.” She replied.
Michael’s face flushed with concern. “You sure? You know my chef can whip you up anything you like.”
She nodded. “Yeah, I’m sure.”
Michael placed his apple on his empty plate and motioned a ‘come hither’ signal for Karrin to make her way over to him.
“Ooooh, you in trouble!” One of the male dancers joked.
Michael smiled--Karrin’s face mirroring his.
“What’s up?” She asked.
He gently grasped her arm and walked her away from the table.
“So I saw you earlier when we first started- Pirouetting around. What’s that? Do you do ballet?”
Karrin shrugged. “It was nothing really. Just something new I was trying out.”
“You looked like an angel.”
She tried to hide her gleaming smile.
“What? I’m serious!” He exclaimed. “You looked so graceful. You know, I was telling my brother I may add a part in, a segment of ‘Earth Song’, maybe. And I could hire a child dancer- And have you and a little girl do a ballet routine or somethin’ like that.”
Karrin raised her eyebrows. “Wow, Mich- I mean Mr. Jac-”
“Call me Michael. Or Mike. Or- you know, whatever.” He chuckled.
She chuckled all the same. “Well, Michael, I am very happy to try it. But I can’t guarantee it would be up to your standards. I haven’t done anything like that, you know? Not professionally at least.”
Michael’s smile shined brightly. He placed a delicate hand on her shoulder. “You’ll be fine. I thought you looked great out there. Your body moves in a way that I don’t think I’ve ever seen. So soft and heavenly.”
Karrin blushed--though she clearly didn’t realize it.
“You know, I’d love that Michael. Even if you guys don’t wanna use it, I’d love to practice that sort of dance. I already study it anyway-”
“You study dance?” Michael interrupted.
“Well yeah. It is my minor.”
“Your minor? Like, college?” He asked.
Karrin nodded.
“Wow, so aren’t you supposed to be in school right now?”
“Well, no. I go to NYU so it’s just around the way from here. I don’t have any classes today.” She explained.
“If you don’t mind me asking, how old are you?”
“Twenty.” She replied. “I’m a Sophomore.”
Michael nodded, his reserve a little more noted. “What else do you study at NYU?”
“Well I’m Pre-Law, so that’s my track. I double minor in Dance and Public Relations. But my major is Psychology. It’s a five-year program so that I can get my masters as well.”
“Wow, how do you have time for all of that?” Michael asked.
“Well, Dance is really straightforward. It’s my passion, so it’s easy. The PR minor doesn’t have a lot of requirements so that’s easy too. Psych is sort of spread out over five years, plus I do summer school. But the Pre-Law part doesn’t have any requirements. It just means that instead of certain Gen-Eds, I take the ‘Law’ version of them. Like last year I was in a First Year Writing course but my emphasis was Legal Writing.” She explained.
“Wow. I hope my girls are as studious as you.” He joked. “I never went to college. My wife didn’t either. I mean, I’ve tried to self-educate. But I suppose that’s different than being in a disciplined environment like NYU.”
Karrin smiled. “Well, I believe that it actually takes more discipline to self educate than to go to a school and learn things. I mean, the concept of college makes more sense in today’s world than it did, say, twenty years ago. Now you almost need a degree to get a decent paying job. And many things you just can’t learn without the classroom environment, like litigation. But there are many other things that have so many books on them that you can just learn it--like history or biology, or even advanced levels of mathematics. I don’t shame anyone for their life path. Learning is learning, no matter how you do it.”
Michael’s eyes lit up from her validation. Though, he simultaneously felt empowered and dwarfed by her presence. He’d never met someone so educated, and it somehow fed into his insecurities about his own schooling.
“But I feel, what you’ve done-” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “-Particularly as a young black woman, is something to be extremely proud of. You’ve gone out into the world and took on something that I could only dream of.”
Karrin twiddled her fingers around. “Well, I don’t mean to make you feel like your academic accomplishments are insignificant.”
Oh trust me, baby, it’s not you that makes me feel this way.
“Oh, no! It’s fine. I just- I’m very proud of you. Hey, maybe, if you’re not too busy, you could even help my daughters. They’re gonna be starting preschool soon and my wife and I want to make sure they’re ready. It would be really nice to have someone who they can look up to around.” Michael suggested.
Karrin nodded. “I’d like that.”
Michael nodded with a grin. “Good, maybe you can come by and meet the girls some day soon.”
“Really?” Karrin seemed to light up.
Michael flashed her a grin. “I should take down your number so I can set that up after I talk to my wife.”
“Oh, uh- okay.” She looked around for a piece of paper, settling for a napkin. “Here you go.”
“Thank you.” He said, a smile begging his lips.
“I'll give you a call.”
May 28th, 2001
Michael was laying in bed, observing Mariah. She was in front of the mirror, tightening the loose fabric of her night dress around her non-existent baby bump. She used her free hand to rub her stomach as if she were imagining what she'd be like when she actually started to show. She let out a sigh and joined him in the bed, resting her head in the crook of his arm.
“You look so happy.” He chuckled.
She smiled, her eyes going back to her stomach. “I am. I wasn't expecting it, but I'm actually really happy about this.”
“As long as you're happy.” Michael said.
She looked over at him, snuggling a little closer to him. “What do you think we're having?”
He shrugged. “I don't know. Maybe another girl?”
“Maybe.” She nodded. “What if it's a boy?”
“It could be.” Michael agreed, his eyes a little distant.
Mariah frowned. “What's wrong?”
“I'm just thinking, we're gonna be really busy. You've got a movie and an album coming out, I'm gonna be touring. How are we gonna do this?”
“I don't care about work. I'm just happy right now.”
That is not an answer.
He rubbed her back. “I'm serious. We really have to think about this.”
“Well, I'm already pregnant.” She pointed out. “Which reminds me, I need to go to the doctor soon to make sure everything's okay.”
He gave a tense nod. “Right.”
“I'm thinking I could fly Dr. Powell out here when she has an opening.” Mariah mused. “By then we could probably find out what we're having-”
“Okay, enough baby talk. Why don’t you just lay back with me--you know, relax.”
She furrowed her eyebrows. “You really don’t wanna have this baby, huh?”
Michael raised a concerned eyebrow. “Is that what you think? I definitely want us to have more kids. It’s just- This baby wasn’t planned. At the rate we’re going, we’re gonna have to add on to Neverland.”
“We have enough rooms.”
“It’s just all happening too fast is what I’m saying. I think we should start being more careful when we do have sex. Let me just pull out.” He replied.
“And do what? Cum in my mouth? Michael, we’re married. It’s not such a bad thing that we have raw sex.”
It is when you’re already having trouble parenting the few you got. He thought.
Mariah laid her leg over his. “Look baby, everything will be fine. But in the meantime...I’m horny.”
“That escalated quickly.”
She gave a toothy grin. “Just like I’m gonna escalate all over you.”
“Welp, ya don’t have to tell me twice!” Michael shouted, as he climbed atop his wife.
Mariah snickered.
“Your ass was horny too, I see.”
June 7th, 2001
Mariah was standing in the the boardroom at Sony New York Headquarters, while her lawyer and Louise discussed the details for ending her recording contract. She wanted to be present just so she could hold her victory over Tommy. He was sitting across from her, eyes dark. She flashed him a bright smile, internally chuckling when he looked away in agitation.
“So you're just gonna switch labels in the middle of recording an album?” Tommy inquired.
Mariah nodded. “Yes, that's exactly what I'm gonna do.”
Louise shot her a glare and Mariah looked down at her hands. Louise was clearly trying to make sure Tommy didn't try to back out of the deal last minute.
Feeling stifled, she fled the room into the hallway. She walked over to the water tank and got some.
She could hear footsteps behind her and she rolled her eyes upon turn around. “Can I help you?”
Tommy stood rigid, arms folded. “You really think you're just gonna walk out of here?”
“You don't want me here anyway.” Mariah said, not making eye contact. “You should be glad I'm leaving.”
“I'd rather get rid of your husband than you.” Tommy muttered. “Think that can be arranged?”
Mariah raised an eyebrow. “What are you talking about?”
“I'm talking about the fact that your husband has been a thorn in my side since-”
“Since I left you for him?” Mariah guessed, trying to move around him.
He blocked her. “Where do you think you're going?”
“Tommy, leave me alone. I'm trying to make this as peaceful as possible.” Mariah said, backing towards the water tank.
He took a slow step forward. “Peaceful? That's real ironic coming from the woman who destroyed a studio because she didn't get her way.”
She rolled her eyes. “You don't know my life.”
Mariah pushed past him, trying to go back to the meeting.
“I don't have to know everything, but I know you wouldn't want anything to happen with your husband.”
She froze in her tracks. “You can hurt me all you want, you leave him out of this. This is between us.”
“He put himself in it the minute he touched what was mine.” Tommy snapped.
Mariah groaned. “I never belonged to you!”
Tommy leaned into her. “Well guess what does belong to me: your husband.”
Beads of sweat collected in the folds of her wrinkled forehead. “Tommy, don't do this. Please-”
“I'll do what the fuck I want. What are you gonna do about it?”
Mariah glanced around the hallway. She couldn't see anybody in their immediate vicinity and her eyes went to the empty conference room a few doors down from where her meeting was taking place. She took a deep breath, preparing herself for what she was about to do next.
She grabbed Tommy's hand and pulled him in the direction of the conference room. She couldn’t just let Tommy continue to control her life. She figured that with Michael’s consistent progress on his album letting her know that he was serious this time, and the extremely low chance of an unwanted pregnancy while already pregnant with she and Michael’s child, she had nothing to lose from what she was about to do.
Hey y'all. Just wanted to let you all know that there are only two chapters left in Remember the Time.