Chapter 6
“Domino”
The week went by fast… too damn fast.
Laughter still echoed in my head from Thanksgiving.
Cousins arguing over spades and Mama yelling at somebody to stop touching her pots.
The house was packed, loud, and alive. While I was there, I wasn’t Domino; I was just Damari.
Mama stood next to me with her arms folded, studying me the way she always did before I left, while I loaded my bag into the back of the black truck waiting to take me to the airstrip.
“You can’t stayonemore day?” she asked, even though she already knew the answer.
I shook my head. “You know I can’t, Ma.”
She sighed. “This week felt normal.”
“Toonormal if you ask me,” I said. “But you say that every time I get ready to leave.”
“Because every time it’s true. I enjoyed having you here, though. That Thanksgiving dinner was a mess, huh? Your uncle Ray-Ray still owes me a new damn chair.”
I laughed. “He ain’t break it on purpose. That man big, Ma.”
She laughed too, shaking her head. Then the smile slowly softened.
“Well, I know you gotta go. Bring it in.” Mama pulled me into a hug, squeezing tighter than usual. “You be careful out there,” she said, in a cautious, motherly tone.
“I always am.”
“Damari, you’re still my baby no matter how big and important you think you are.”
“I know.”
When we stepped back, she wiped the corner of her eye like she hadn’t almost gotten emotional.
“I gotta go, Ma. I’ll call you when I land.”
“You better. And don’t text me no ‘I made it’ either. I want to hear your voice.”
“I got you.”
She nodded. “Well, go on. Let me get in this house so I can cry, eat my butter pecan ice cream, and watchSnappedlike a normal grieving mother.”
I chuckled. “Ma, stop it. I ain’t dead.”
“You’re leaving the country without me, that’s go ‘head before I change my mind and come with you.”
I gave her a kiss on her cheek. “I love you, Ma. I’ll talk to you soon.”
I closed the trunk, and right before I climbed in the SUV she shouted, “And when you come back, you better have some pretty girl on your arm… possibly pregnant!”
I shook my head and grinned. “I’ll see what I can do, Ma. But if I come back with a girl, and she run off after meeting you, that’s on you. And if she’s pregnant, you better not start acting brand new when the baby starts callingyouthe built-in babysitter.”
“Boy, ain’t nobody running from me. And if she does, she wasn’t strong enough for this family anyway. As for the baby?Don’t put me on babysitting duty like I ain’t got a life. I’ll be grandma, not daycare. Don’t get it twisted.”
I hopped into the back seat. “Aight, Ma. Now gon’ in the house. I’ll call you when I make it.”