Page 45 of Ms. V's Hot Girl Summer

What captivated me was her eyes. They were full of joy, a joy I’d only seen when the twins had made her proud about something. Watching her now, understanding how the happiness filling me up could be similar to her joy, had me wanting to confess everything I felt for her. But I wasn’t about to spook her.

There was Milton, after all.

“Wow, mister, what was that?” Trinidad asked, looking down at herself. “What do I have on me?”

“Nothing but beauty,” I replied. Damn, that line was tired as fuck. My face grew hot as Trinidad guffawed at my pickup line.

“You’re too much, and I really like it.” The twinkle in her eyes, the hand trailing over the exposed skin of her breasts, her bottom lip glistening as she wetted it…yeah, this woman had me down bad.

“You’re trying to kill me, woman.” I pulled her aside, and we kept walking and chatting about everything and nothing. Trinidad explained more about her work and why she loved it.

“See, I get to be part of people’s most cherished memories. It’s so rewarding. It’s exhausting, too, though. Because people never listen, but that’s where my feisty personality comes into play,” Trinidad said as we entered a stand with easels decorating every corner of the space.

A young girl, maybe eighteen, with long locks, light brown skin, and beautiful eyes, sat on a stool. An easel in front of her, lost in her craft. Her style was photorealistic, and her paintings were in oil or acrylic.

“Hello!” Trinidad called her attention.

“Greetings! Yuh good?” The girl sounded like my grandmother.

“Are you from Jamaica?” I asked. I was fascinated by her art; many of the depictions were of anime and superheroes, all with a twist. She’d retold stories in her paintings with a Caribbean sense. One painting was of a boy getting into a Spider-Man costume, but the colors of his suit were green, yellow, and black. Another easel had a woman controlling the weather with locs flying all around her as she floated over an island.

“Yes! You too…you look like dem Sewells in St. Mary.”

“Yeah, my grandparents come from there.”

“I see dat man. That’s home six months a year. The other six months, I come to the States to sell my art.” She nodded at the piece in front of her, a little boy holding a plantain by the beach while watching two superheroes fight in the distance.

“What’s that?”

“The battle between the modern and the old,” she simply said and kept painting.

“Have you ever considered doing animation work? I mean, the art for animations?” I asked her, my excitement mounting. Trinidad wandered off to one of the corners of the tent, but I didn’t miss the grin on her face.

“Animation? How yuh mean?” the woman asked, finally placing her full attention on me.

“Anime, cartoons, that. I mean you clearly know your superheroes and comics.” I gestured around.

“Mmm.” She singsonged, lost in thought. “Nevah thought about it, but I’d be willing to explore.” She nodded finally.

“That’s fantastic!” This felt better than when I found that copy of Ultimate Fallout 4 in a store in the Bronx a few years ago.

“A’ight man, calm down.” The girl chuckled. In the corner, I heard another smothered laugh.

“Sorry, I…just you are great, you have an amazing eye, and there is a lot you could do in that arena. Here, take my information. Why don’t you call me next week, and we can set a more formal meeting?” I pulled out my phone, found my business card app, and flashed her the QR code. She frowned at the phone, then searched for her own device and faced it to mine until she captured the information.

“A’ight man. My name is Lulu. See there? That’s my IG, you can look for me there. I’ll call you, though. This sounds like something I might do,” she said, back to her easel, ready to dismiss me.

“Sorry, Lulu, how much for this one?” Trinidad asked. It was a small canvas—a little hut, and a woman standing outside with two children holding her hands, all dressed in the Bajan colors. The woman had a flowing cape behind her.

“Dat one is $350, but for yuh, I give you $250,” Lulu said.

“Oh, I wish I could get it. I didn’t budget for any big spending this weekend, but you said we could find you online, right? Maybe next month I can hit you up, will you still be in the States?”

“Nah, man, this my last event before I head back to Jamaica. The heat too much for me. I live here in Ofele when I come and travel as needed. But I can always ship from JA if you like.”

Trinidad and Lulu exchanged contact information, and we walked out of the stand hand in hand. Somehow, I needed to to buy that art for her without her realizing it. I wanted to feel her joy, for her to remember this day forever.

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