Hood Ornaments

Mealtime was always musical. The silverware pinged against the plates. The pots and glasses sounded like wind chimes. Trudy had a tiny radio playing on the windowsill over the sink. So meals were prepared with love and song.

Frankie Beverly and Maze

Earth, Wind, and Fire

The Gap Band

Socks slid on kitchen floors as they sung into spoons. Smiles lit up the room. Tori would slide in from washing up with a towel on her head pretending to be Chaka Khan, Diana Ross, or even Teena Marie.

Her memories had large, fuzzy shadows of her father. She wouldn’t see him at breakfast or at lunch, but Dre always arrived at suppertime. He would remove his shoes at the side door and come sliding into the kitchen singing, or rather mocking, whatever song Trudy

was listening to while Tori sat atop the kitchen counter giggling.

The fuzzy shadow would spin his mother around and dance with her. He had ulterior motives, however, as all he was trying to do was either steal a taste of whatever Trudy was cooking or change the radio station to listen to his music.

Rakim

Whodini

Run-Dmc

Then the shadow would dance in very abrupt movements and Trudy would mock him. But by the time the song was over, Trudy would be smacking him with a dish towel telling him to turn off that" noise".

There would be laughter, the "noise" would be shut off, and all that could be heard was pings against plates and wind chimes.

Then the shadow was gone.

Then the noise was gone.

Then the laughter was gone.

Tori no longer sat on the kitchen counter.

The radio in the windowsill no longer sung.

The only songs left were those made of plates, glasses, and silverware.

And that was even accidental.

It seemed only Tori heard it.

So it seemed.

It seemed it was taking a long time for Tori to walk into the kitchen. She was lingering in the small bathroom straining to hear what was left of the music. Her mind was racing with all of the questions she wanted to ask her grandmother.

She needed to know.

She came out of the small bathroom and looked over to the closed bedroom

She pressed her hand against the door lovingly as if she were waiting to feel a heartbeat.

Nothing but cold, hard, wood.

Tori walked across into the kitchen just as Trudy was pouring orange juice from a glass pitcher into two small glasses on the table.

"Grandma, can I have a bigger glass?" Tori asked before sitting down at

the small table.

Trudy shook her head as she put the pitcher on the table, "This is why you children are becoming overweight now. You don't know about adequate

portions."

With that, Trudy sat and bowed her head to silently say grace. Tori just stared at her and then at the huge plates of bacon, eggs, and potatoes that were in front of them.

As Trudy opened her eyes, Tori was snapping into a piece of bacon.

Trudy pointed at her granddaughter with a fork.

"And you don't respect the Lord," She said before she began eating.

Tori chuckled, "We are fat because we don't pray?"

Trudy tried to fight back her own chuckle,

"Don't get smart," she said between mouthfuls.

They ate in silence for a few seconds before Tori decided to speak.

"Did Daddy pray?"

Trudy closed her eyes as if she didn't want to answer. Tori was beginning to get annoyed by her grandmother's reluctance.

"C'mon Grandma, you promised you would talk to me."

Trudy was nodding while she was eating. She took a sip of her orange juice, and she was still nodding. She wiped her hands with the dish towel that was on her lap.

Still nodding. The whole scene seemed as if it took moments instead of the seconds it actually took. Tori began tapping her foot under the table. She had now placed her fork upside down on her plate. Trudy told her to do that when they ate at a good restaurant to signal to the waiter that she was finished eating. Tori did it now out of habit so she wouldn't forget.

She suddenly lost her appetite.

"You finished eating?" Trudy asked with a hint of surprise in her voice. Tori shrugged her shoulders and crossed her arms in frustration. Trudy got up from her seat and went to the cabinet to get Tori a bigger glass for her juice, but she brought with her a bag from Verizon. She placed both on the table. Tori's face turned into a frown.

"What's this?" She asked already digging into the bag.

Trudy filled the bigger glass full of orange juice and pushed the little glass out of the way before she sat back down.

"Well since you are getting older now, and more than likely goin away to one of those fancy art schools, I am going to need a way to keep in touch with you."

Tori removed the latest phone from the Verizon bag. Her mouth formed the perfect "O" shape and her eyes became wide with shock.

"Grandma how can you..."

Trudy interrupted, "Don't you worry about how. What you need to be worried about is answering my call every time I call you, no exceptions."

Tori began playing with the buttons looking for her contact card. She

knew where to find it when Rondell showed her his phone when he first got it. Her phone was more up to date, so she was fumbling a little bit.

The pounding in Trudy's chest to cease and the knot in her throat to disappear. She took a deep breath.

"I had the guy write everything you needed to know on the little book that's in the bag. I even wrote Dell's number down so you could program that in. The guy wanted to do it for me, but I didn't have time to wait for all that." Trudy said as she dismissively waved at the air.

Tori jumped up, grabbed the bag and began to dart out of the kitchen, but she stopped herself. She then turned around and kissed her grandmother on the cheek.

"Thank you Grandma, this is hot," she almost took off before Trudy grabbed her arm stopping her in her place.

"Your little tail is gonna be hot if you don't answer when I call, you hear?"

"Yes," Tori said through a giggle. Trudy grabbed her granddaughter and gave her a desperate hug that lingered on a little too long. She even had tears forming in her eyes.

"Now go on," she said pretending to reach for her orange juice turning her face away, "I know you want to call Dell and them other nasty ass boys."

Tori raced from the room and didn't even give a second look to her father's closed bedroom door before she raced up to her room.

In the back of her mind she thought:

I love her but she ain't slick. As soon as I call Dell I am going to ask for Stick's number. I am going to find out about my father if it kills me.

Downstairs in the kitchen Trudy was weeping silently into her dish towel.