I am still recovering from this week. The day before the week started whilst I was lying in bed watching reruns of the Golden Girls, the parents came to my room.
Knock, Knock
“Kari... can we have a word with you please,” Liza asked.
“Ughhhhh......” I murmured.
I was annoyed because they interrupted me at the worst moment; Sophia and Blanche were about to argue over an eighty-year-old man. Things were getting juicy.
“One second...” I replied while dusting the Tortilla crumbs off of my chest.
I opened the door, Chris and Liza were there smiling at me.
“Hi darling, how are you?” Liza said.
Did Liza just call me darling?! My eyes scanned her from head to toe. She looked different too. Did she steal some of my Becca highlighter; her face was glowing, her hair was combed and home-girl got to take a shower - finally. Wait! Did Liza get some S.E.X? I wondered. Good for her!
“Chris is going away this week for seven days, he needs some time off from the kids. So, we will need you to work for seven days this week,” said Liza.
“OHHHH FUCK NAW!!! I could hardly stand you for five days and now you’re asking me to spend two extra days with you?! Girl Bye!” I slammed the door, packed my bags and got the fuck out of there. My taxi pulled up and I was over the moon... Just when I was getting ready to hop into the taxi, I heard “Kari Kari... Kariiiii.”
Was it baby Jesus calling out to me?!
Was it my dead Papi?!
Then, poof, I was back to reality, standing in the doorway with Liza and Chris
“I said we are going to need you for the seven days, Okay?”
“Yeah, yeah, sure... Of course,” I smiled, then closed the door.
I sighed, went back on the bed and screamed into my pillow. I thought about how I was being treated. They didn’t really ask me, they told me. Even if I was being paid $1000 a week, it wouldn’t have made me feel better. I felt like a servant.
They didn’t know a lot about me. They assumed that I was poor and desperate because of how I looked. Liza said some questionable things to me, which had me quite baffled, “we don’t look at skin color, everyone is the same as you and I.” In the same breath, she would say.
“People like you should be grateful for opportunities like this.”
Oh yes, she did! And I said nothing. This job felt like I got promoted from a vagrant to a slave.
The rest of my day was spent watching Nicholas Sparks romance movies; The Notebook, The Best of Me and the heart-tugging A Walk to remember. Chic Flicks! Boy oh Boy did that put me in a funk. I felt LONE-LY.
Although I had Johnson in my life, I wondered if he would be the one to sweep me off my feet - fight for me - show me that he didn’t want to lose me. After those depressing thoughts, I came to the realization that I was going to need another bottle of Vodka to get me through those seven days with Mother Dearest. Maybe a bottle of wine, or a mountain of cocaine.
I needed something STRONG.
In my best Sophia Petrillo’s voice – picture this; the year 2014, A beautiful island girl sets foot into her first full-time job, and she entered the office in style; business couture bought straight from Amazon.com. She strutted the street like she was in Milan for fashion week. Caused vehicles to come to a halt, people shouted from across the street;
“Heyyyyyyyyyy!! You go girl.” Every time she walked past them.
Now, here she was on her knees applying lotion on a naked ten-year-old boy’s skin while he jumped up and down, and wiggled his ass in her face. Oh, how the mighty has fallen.
The thought had crossed my mind, maybe, just maybe I’ve probably lost my mind. I wondered what my parents would think if they had the slightest clue what I was doing. Well, at least the bond between Corey and I got a lot better. So, him sticking his pale white ass in my face wasn’t too terrible. It could’ve been worse – he could’ve farted.
We spoke and he was a lot more affectionate towards me. At first, he started hugging me gently and stared at me. It was a tad bit strange but it made me happy. This was what I wanted for our bond to be stronger. It happened on the second day, while we were in the pool. Corey began to ask me so many questions:
“Where are you from?”
“What is it like?”
“Do you like it here?”
“What’s your favorite game?”
Before I could finish answering him, he asked another question. He then came out of the pool, gave me gentle hugs and held my hand as we walked back to the house.
“Did you have a good time Corey?” I asked.
“Yeah, it was good,” he replied with a smile.
We walked up to his room and changed his clothes. Unfortunately, I couldn’t change my clothes because Cathy was already home around that time, so, I had to keep Corey busy. I sat on his chair as he walked around his room and told me about his new monster,
“I like monsters, they’re fun, but only the good ones. We don’t like the bad monsters right Kari?!”
“No, we don’t like the bad monsters at all,” I said with a smirk.
Shortly after, “Kari come down here!” Liza shouted.
“I'm coming Liza,” I replied.
I turned to Corey and said, “I will be right back.”
I walked out of Corey’s room smiling, I couldn’t help it. As I walked down the staircase, I saw Liza and Cathy standing at the bottom. “Kari Kari Kari... hurryyy!” Cathy joyfully shouted. I smiled.
“Leave him in his room and play with Cathy. She wants you to play with her. I’ll keep an eye on him.” Liza said. Cathy grabbed my hand and pulled me outside in the yard. She and I had some good moments, except during the mornings when I had to get her ready for school because someone doesn’t like to brush their teeth.
Anyways, while we sat on the lawn playing with Cathy’s toy, my vision was fixating on Cathy’s chipped tooth. It was difficult not to; we were facing each other, she had a beautiful smile and laughed a lot. “Hey Cathy, what happened to your front tooth?” I asked. Her whole mood instantly changed. All of a sudden she looked really depressed.
“I’m not allowed to talk about it,” she replied in a soft tone.
I wanted to ask why, but it would have been heartless of me to have done so. Instead, I tickled her - I had to cheer her up. I honestly expected her to say she fell whilst playing or something along those lines.
After that, I played with Cathy for a while. Corey then came and pulled me away from her, and best believe there was Liza frantically running behind him as he approached us.
He wanted us to continue speaking. I looked over at Liza, who gave me the green light to entertain him. We walked back upstairs, and I told him a few jokes. He laughed hysterically. I knew I was funny but didn’t know I was that funny.
If becoming a writer doesn’t work out, I could possibly become a stand-up comedian or maybe even be a clown. It was the first I’ve seen him so happy. After that day, every time he saw me he screamed, and rushed towards me clapping, then sank his chin in between my bosoms. I wouldn’t lie, the shit hurt like a motherfucker but I knew he was just excited to see me.
By day five of week three, however, things started getting a little weird. His actions became strange. Any time we walked up the stairs, he gently pushed me in front of him, then smacked my butt and mumbled, “nice gluteus maximus.”
I don’t want to sound like a dumb bitch but it took a while for me to process what the fuck a gluteus maximus was and what the hell does a 10-year-old know about that?! I even had to google it. At first, I thought it was one of the names of a robot from the Transformers. I know. I know. It wasn’t one of my brightest moments. I know I’m not the only one who has slow moments. Pshk, you have those moments too... Right?
The following day whilst I was tutoring Corey, I realized he kept gazing a lot. Strangely, in the same direction as my chest
“Wait is he looking at my ‘chest chest’... noo come on Kari he’s Ten,” I said to myself in a hushed tone.
I gave him the benefit of the doubt, so after that session, I began wearing cardigans, and it was buttoned all the way up. That should solve the issue. But I didn’t know what to do about the butt thing. I should stop doing yoga and squats; let my butt get saggy and flat. Wait! Who am I kidding? My booty can’t get flat. Let’s just say “baby got back.” #Blessed
So, any suggestions? – Just kidding. Honestly, I didn’t think too much into it. His mother saw what he was doing and didn’t say anything. So, I assumed it was nothing to worry about. He’s a kid, and he is probably thinking about video games or monsters.
Later that night around 8:45 p.m., I tucked him into bed for the first time. Before I walked out of the room, he firmly grabbed my wrist,
“I like you a lot! Don’t leave me ok,” Corey said with a little warmth in his eyes.
“I wouldn’t...” I replied with a smile.
I switched his night light on and walked downstairs towards Liza, who was sitting in the dining area with Cathy laughing away,
“Am I needed for anything else?” I asked.
“No, you’re off. Cathy will sleep with me tonight. No need to tuck her in.”
Instead of eating dinner, I grabbed a granola bar and headed up to the room. I was too exhausted at that time to make dinner. Some of you may wonder if this meant I was no longer scared of Corey. The truth is; I was. While I got ready for bed, I replayed the last thing Corey said to me “don’t leave me...” I felt guilty because I knew there was going to be a point where I would be leaving. It was just an experience for me, and I needed the cash - I REALLY needed the cash.
I was broke as fuck Y’all!
After I brushed my teeth, I locked the door and flicked the lights off, except for the closet light. What!? I had a reason to be scared in this house. As I pulled back the covers and got into bed, my thoughts wandered back to what Liza said to me during my interview.
“You should never say no to him because that would trigger him,” was the thought that lingered in my mind.
I had no intention of doing anything that would trigger him.
To be continued.....
XOXO