Seth and Samona Read Online Free Page B

home he talked about everything he saw until he drove us crazy.
    “Now, you’ve all heard about Matant Margaret.” Papi looked at us with steady brown eyes. “Is there anything you want to talk about or ask me?”
    “How’s Granmè?” Chantal asked first.
    “So-so.” Papi smiled a little and moved a hand up to scratch his chin. “She’ll be cooking your favorite
pen patat
by next week. She knew this was coming.”
    “When’s the funeral?” Jean-Claude asked softly.
    “In two days. You miss school on Friday and—”
    “What about tomorrow?” I interrupted, shocked. I had been looking forward to not seeing Samona tomorrow. “Shouldn’t we stay home and wear black or something?”
    “No. School tomorrow like normal. Your manmi’s taking the day off from work.” He stopped at the sound of rising voices from the living room. It sounded like Tant Renee and Monnonk Roddie were about to get into it.
    “Jean-Claude, go give your uncle some help. And you two put your shoes on. We’re going out to eat so your manmi can have some rest.”
    Chantal and I looked at each other in surprise after Jean-Claude and Papi left the room. We hardly ever get out to eat—not even to McDonald’s. Manmi can’t stand for us to eat junk food. Soon my mind was so full of the thought of french fries and apple pie that it wasn’t until late that night that I realized I still didn’t know what this wake thing was that we were going to.

I t was Samona who finally let me in on what a wake was. All the way to school the next day my cousin Enrie and I had been talking about it and getting nowhere. Enrie was a grade lower than me and he knew even less than I did. We were just about to give up on the whole thing when I was nearly blinded for life by the sight of Samona coming into the schoolyard in one of those bright neon green sweat suits with matching socks. Just looking at her gave me a headache.
    “Something wrong?” Samona asked, standing about five feet away from us with a funny look on her face. It was probably giving her shocks that I wasn’t running in the other direction. But I decided right then and there that Samona might be the best person to ask about this wake thing. She was always telling me all sorts of strange things that I never even heard of and most of the time didn’t want to hear about. Now maybe I could get some information out of her.
    “Come here, Samona.” I put on my friendliest smile and waved her over.
    Samona lifted one of her black eyebrows and stood her ground. “What for?”
    “I want to ask you a question,” I said.
    Samona moved forward slowly. The normal tone of my voice must have put her at ease. Enrie’s eyes widened as he took in the way she was dressed but he didn’t say anything. Sometimes I think Samona scared the wits out of him, with her loud talk and wild manners. As for me, I wanted to ask her if that outfit glowed in the dark but I knew that was no way to get information out of her.
    “What’s a wake?” I asked when she finally reached us.
    “Whatcha wanta know for?” Samona said, running her words together.
    “I just do, okay?”
    “Well, what for?”
    Enrie interrupted us. “W-We have to go to a wake, Samona.”
    Samona put her hands on her hips in concern. “Well, who’s gone to meet the Lord?”
    “Matant Margaret,” I answered, squinting so I could make out Samona’s face over the glare of her clothes. I was glad to see her hair was back in cornrows instead of its fried hairdo from yesterday.
    Samona’s eyes bugged and her mouth dropped wide open. “And y’all are going to a real, bona fide wake?”
    Enrie moved closer to me at Samona’s reaction. “Yeah, is—is it bad?”
    Samona nodded gravely. “And you don’t even know what it is?”
    “I got an idea,” I mumbled, trying not to show how affected I was by Samona’s tone of voice.
    “A wake,” Samona whispered to herself. “A real bona fide wake.”
    “What?” Enrie asked in a high-pitched