Seth and Samona Read Online Free Page A

Jean-Claude must have a good reason not to like Jerome. They call Jean-Claude “the savior” out on the streets ’cause he’s always the one to step in and stop a fight or if he hearsabout something going down, he’ll go and try to talk people out of making trouble. Everybody trusts Jean-Claude.
    I tiptoed down the hallway past the living room to Granmè’s room. I almost tripped on the vinyl that protects the carpet from dirt but nobody saw me. The door to Granmè’s room was cracked open and I peeked inside.
    Granmè was lying in bed asleep. One of her hands was under her head, trapping her rosary beads against her cheek and the pillow.
    She looks okay, I told myself, and then I looked up at Manmi, who was sitting on the rocking chair beside the bed. She still had on her white hospital uniform and her eyes were closed like she was asleep too. I wondered if Matant Margaret’s death had made her forget about her new hairstyle. It was cut short and fell around her face. It used to be very long, longer than Chantal’s. It was Samona’s mother who told Manmi that her hair was too old-fashioned and that she should get something more contemporary. I told Mrs. Gemini that Haitians
like
to be old-fashioned. When Jean-Claude had gotten his hair cut into a fade, like the other guys at school, all the family and all our relatives talked about it for weeks before they got used to it. That’s what Manmi was going through now. In spite of all the talk, though, I could tell Manmi liked her new haircut.
    “Seth.”

    I jumped ’cause Manmi hadn’t even opened her eyes, but somehow she’d known that I was there. Manmi can be spooky like that. She can always tell when one of us is lying, which makes it pretty hard to get away with anything.
    I edged inside the room and went to kiss Manmi on the cheek. I was glad she smelled like her flowery perfume and not like ammonia. I turned back to look at Granmè again. Coming home and seeing everybody in the living room like that had really scared me.
    “Dou-dou?”
Manmi said, using her own special nickname for me. I guess she wanted to know what I was doing here, but I didn’t say anything.
    “Granmè is fine,” Manmi said quietly. She took my hand and shook it gently like she always does when she wants me to loosen up.
    “Then why’s she in bed?” I asked, leaning back against her knees.
    “It’s always a shock, you know, when you first hear.” Manmi’s voice had a soft Kreyol accent. It was so subtle most people didn’t notice it. “Such a serious boy God gave me. Everything is good here. Go back to your room.”
    I looked at Manmi and her eyes started to close again. I could tell she was really sad but she didn’t want to show it in front of me. “Okay.”
    When I got into the hallway, I heard a loud,
“Assez! Bay tèt mwe lapé!”
which basically meant “cut it out now!” and I knew that Papi had come home and wasmad with Jean-Claude and Chantal for arguing. I hurried back into the room.
    Jean-Claude and Chantal were quiet. When Papi speaks to us in Kreyol, he means business. He stepped into the room, bending his head so as not to hit the doorframe. Papi was so tall I always had to bend my head way back just to look him in the eye.
    “You have to be quieter so Granmè can get some sleep,” Papi sighed, switching to English. He looked tired too and he changed into his blue uniform for work at the airport. Papi works on the ground crew for Air France. He likes his job ’cause he can be close to all the airplanes and learn more about them. Before he married Manmi, he wanted to be a pilot but he couldn’t join the air force ’cause he wasn’t a U.S. citizen and flying lessons were too expensive. I think he still dreams about being a pilot someday ’cause he drags us to every flying exhibition that comes into town. Once he took a trip on the train to Washington, D.C., all by himself to go to the Museum of Flying. He spent the whole day there and when he got back