November
1990: After
going to the shops to get some strawberries, bananas and apples, Abel and I
prep for the smoothie making. Aunt Geegee and Aunt Cece go next door to a
neighbor’s for a chat and whatever else adults do (Funny how back in the 90’s
it was deemed okay and safe to leave children alone next door, without having
to worry about them getting abducted). Pealing the banana skins back, using a
potato skinner to skin the apples and taking the leaves off the strawberries we
do so in silence. The kitchen isn’t exactly spotless having newspapers piled on
the table next to a bowl of oranges that look like they’ve been there for
months, the blinds on the windows that led out to the garden were busted and
hanging in a slopped fashion, the chairs had folded clothes on them and some
one really needed to sort out the cork wall as there were too many pictures and
pieces of art work up there, it looked untidy even if it was a nice thing to
see all of our stuff up there (My mom just put my stuff in a red leather
suitcase, she never had them on show.)
“Oh
my…” I beginning sing the lyrics to the song ‘Unchained melody’ as I fondle the
bananas and break them up in my hands, placing them on the work top surface. Both
of us aren’t even tall enough to reach properly so we’ve taken two chairs from
the table that sits in the middle of the room like a casket waiting for some
poor soul to fill it.
Name:
Abel
Sex:
Male
Description:
Abel is well built, I would swear blind that he was using Elvin’s weights and
those weird hard to bend hand thingy-ma-jigs. His arms were twice the size of
my stick like legs and his legs were like bloody bulls thighs. I often wondered
what his mum was feeding him when I wasn’t around as she cooked the foods my
mum made, not so nice tasting but the same nonetheless. It’s was like she was
giving him some odd magically power food to turn him into a fast sprouting man.
His hair short back and sides filled with patterns mum had refused to let me have.
Swirls and letters darted across his head like a shaved in hair tattoo. He was
very much like Rio in the sense that girls around him, girls around the area
would practically give their left leg to be in his circle. Very well know in
the area not only for being Elvin’s younger brother but being who he was. Gift
of the gab he could get anyone to do almost anything without hesitation. I
remember once he got this little white boy on the second block of where he
lived to give him his ‘Sega Master system’ and we would play Alex Kidd on it
until he would buy games for it. The boy did eventually brave up to asking for
it back after a few days however Abel laughed at him and called him an idiot
for giving it to him in the first place and that when he had completed the game
he’d get it back. Abel’s mum never did question as to where he got it though.
He wasn’t a thief don’t get me wrong he hated the idea of people being labeled
as bad and doing bad, I guess more fool the boy for even giving him the console
that time, which Abel did give back in good condition and the games he had got
his mum to buy of some junky for like £2 a game. I could go to the shops in the
ghetto attitude filled area and feel safe with him, not my cousin but my
sisters, but that how we’ve grown up to call each other (Funny I don’t have any
extended family of my own). He was as spoilt as Ramona and me but even more so.
His mother treated him like he could do no bad, little did she know, what he
was like.
“Get
the blending things.” He directs me to the top of the work surface on top of
the cupboard. Yeah I’m tall but damn. I’m now starting to scale the mountain
known as the work top surface of the kitchen, everything is a dark brown, the
cupboards made from real wood. Climbing up, Abel just watches me and doesn’t
even attempt to steady the chair I’m climbing off of. Feet up and standing up,
I open the cupboard and look inside, yum pink wafers and other confectionaries
I will be devouring later on during my stay.
“Got
it.” Holding it above me head after taking it from on top of the cupboard I
look down only to notice he has gone, the bastard wants me to kill myself up
here I swear. The flush of the toilet unsettles me and I begin to wobble and my
knees quake. The shadow growing from the passages swells and blurs. It’s him
and he nods.
“Lets
do it then.” He says with a grin on his face. Plugged it in, we throw the
fruits in, some milk next and he throws in more than enough, half way to the
top. He counts to three and turn the blender on. The noise of the blender
awakens our excitement and we spinning in circles. Pinks and chunks of thick
yellows stir and the black seeds of the apples say “Hello” with every spin. If
only that was all. I can smell the sweet smell of strawberries in the air they
overwhelm the smell of the apples and the bananas, my warm and excited skin
become cool and moist. Abel has forgotten to put the lid on so the entire work
surface, clothes and all had been cover with the blended colors. We are going
to be in deep shit. We start to clean up using the kitchen towels on the
heater, however the spinning mechanical noise is still going, dashing towards
it we both bump into each other and crash to the floor, the creak of the front
door stops us from continuing. Aunt Geegee walks in, he face full of shock and
disbelief. Pause, stare out as if we all have guns in holsters at our side, my
right hand creeps up onto the chair, and pulls my body up slowly, climbing onto
the chair like a snake still watching Aunt Geegee, I turn of the blender. A pink
and wet gush over the stern face amuses me but I have to control my laughter, I
have to be careful not to laugh at the state of Aunt Cece’s face behind Aunt G,
“God where is the house your suppose to drop on them right now?” I whisper in
my head, hoping the Aunts of Eastwick won’t hear my thoughts. Aunt Cece bursts
out in laughter, Aunt Geegee doesn’t.
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