Page 5 of Isn't She Lucky
Kasim and I are from two different worlds, and just mentioning him all casually like this makes it seem like the period of time that pushed us apart never happened. It’s like seeing an old friend and picking right back up where you left off, but we didn’tleave offon good terms, as I recall. I was left backstabbed by the boy I trusted, but that was my bad because I shouldn’t trust fourteen-year-old boys anyway. Let my mother tell it, and I shouldn’t trust any males. Period.
“Do I hear five hundred?”
The lady at the table beside me raises her paddle and wiggles in her seat like her panties are on fire. The thirst is real up in here.
I gnaw on my bottom lip trying to decide if I want to bid. Be in his company. Share a meal. Catch up on old times.
“Ooh, I see you debating,” Diedra says. “Go ‘head, girl. Place a bid. Do it.”
“I don’t know, Diedra.”
But Idoknow. Talking to Kasim would be better than talking to a stranger, I suppose. But on the flipside, doesn’t fourteen years of separation make him a stranger again?
“Do I hear five-fifty?”
“What you mean you don’t know?” Diedra asks. Ramping up her peer pressure, she says, “This the first time I done seen you bite your lip. You better raise that paddle and get that man. Stop playing.”
“I’m not playing. I’m—I’m at a quandary.”
“You canquandarylater, or whatever the heck you said. Right now, raise the paddle.”
“Come on, ladies. Do I hear five-fifty?”
Kasim smiles, encouraging the women to bid higher by doing a motion with his hands, raising them. Those white teeth of his should be enough to drive up the bid alone. And then there’s the way his beautiful, brown eyes sparkle beneath the bright spotlight they have on him, as if he needs such a display. He’s a bright light all of his own. Always have been the kind of person who effortlessly obtained attention from people, so it’s no surprise thatgrownKasim is a magnet for women. The beard – it’s one of the features I notice almost immediately. It enhances his handsomeness. He doesn’t need it, but thank heavens he has it.
I shake my head at the thoughts running through my mind. So much has changed. I don’t knowthisversion of Kasim, but like all the other women in here, I like what I see. He’s well put together. A solid ten. With his upbringing and life of privilege, I wouldn’t expect anything less. He had the world at his fingertips when we were kids. Now, he probably owns it.
“Six-hundred. We’re at six-hundred ladies! Do I hear six-fifty? Don’t be shy. Look at him. Does it look like he’s shy?”
“He ‘on’t look shy to me!” a woman shouts from the audience.
“And don’t!” another woman says. “He looks like a whole drink of water and, baby, big mama’s thirsty.”
These women…
This lady has to be pushing sixty – talkin’ ‘bout she’s thirsty as she flirts with a twenty-eight-year-old – ready to put that snappin’ turla on somebody.
Pipe down, Granny.
Diedra nudges me and says, “Girl, raise your paddle before the bid goes any higher. It’s already at six-fifty now.”
“One thousand!” I blurt out, holding my paddle high in the air. I didn’t realize I was standing up until Diedra grabbed my wrist and pulled me back down to my seat.
“Girl, you’re not supposed to stand up.”
“Why not? The bidding police gon’ arrest me?”
“No. It’s just not that kind of party. It’s a little more subdued, shall we say.”
“You didn’t say that when ‘ol girl said, and I quote, ‘come to mama big daddy’, when that first guy walked out. And somebody grandma over there proclaimed she was thirsty.”
A chuckle eases from her mouth. “Well, I don’t know them. I know you.”
“Yasss!” the announcer says. “We have a bid for one thousand dollars. Woo! Any more bids? One thousand fifty perhaps? Going once, going, twice. Sold, to bidder 789! You go, girl. Did y’all see her? She stood up to make sure she secured her man!”
“I know that’s right,” I hear someone say faintly in the background.
“Can we share him?” someone else yells.
