Page 7 of Keeping Busy
I wasn’t quite sure whether to be offended or not, because the truth of the matter was that while I acted like Maddox never spoke more than 50 words to me, the same could be said about any of the Watson girls. Well, with the exception of my cousin Clarke Cross. He would talk to her, but Clarke had that “take no prisoners” personality. If she wanted you to talk to her, dammit, you were gonna talk to her. So, he did. But even she gave up after a few years and wrote Maddox off along with the rest of us. So, it wasn’t personal against me, Maddox Mayhew wasn’t checking for any of us.
“Well, I won’t know what you think it is, until we sit down and talk about it.” Auntie Bo reasoned.
The three of us sat down in her well-appointed living room, Auntie Bo and Maddox on the sofa, me in the wing chair facing them.
“Busy, my Pudding here, is your girl.” She said simply.
He started to speak, but she held up one of her little bony hands, and he closed his mouth, just like his grandmother had taught him to do when an elder was speaking.
“I called my Pudding and asked her to come over here. When she arrived, I sprang this whole thing on her. I’ve asked her to do this for you, as a favor to me, because it’s no secret, Maddox, how you have treated my grand nieces over the years. I have watched them be more than pleasant to you, while you in return have been nothing more than aloof, antisocial and detached towards them. They’re all gorgeous, so for a while there, I was sure you were batting for the other team.”
I couldn’t help choking on a chuckle at his dismayed expression when she said that.
“But Vera assured me that you weren’t. Then I spied you running around with the little fast-tailed girls in the neighborhood, and assumed that was what you liked. Since I knew my grand nieces weren’t fast in the tail, I assumed that it was all for the best that you never took up with any of them. Anyway, we’re here now, and we’re gonna let the past be the past. Right, Pudding?”
She caught me off guard. I thought we were roasting Maddox’s ass, how did I get pulled into the foray?
“I’ll try. I’m still a little salty, though.” I admitted.
“Saltiness aside. Nobody’s gonna believe it if you show up with some little ugly, or homely girl, Busy...or a super polished professional. Pudding’s perfect. She’s beautiful, classy, smart, and urbane. She’s the entire package.”
While I appreciated my aunt’s praise, it did start to rub me the wrong way - kind of like she was pouring it on. “You don’t have to sell me to him, Auntie.” I said, beating back the attitude that wanted to sneak into my tone. “You might want to start selling him to me.” I muttered.
But not softly enough, because she heard me.
“I’m not selling either of you all to anybody. Busy is going to do this, because this is his best option for success, and he’s a businessman at heart, so he understands that. You’re going to do it, as a favor to your favorite aunt.” She watched both of us for any sign of defiance. “I think you two need to spend some time talking to each other and getting to know one another. Nobody is going to believe you’re sweethearts if you can’t find a way to bridge this…”
“Awkwardness?” I supplied.
She rolled her eyes at me. “You need to figure out a way to like each other. It’ll make the ruse that much easier to pull off.”
I wanted to suggest that he just find somebody he already liked, but that ship had sailed. Auntie Bo had made up her mind. We were doing this.
For the first time in years, Maddox Mayhew turned to me and spoke an entire sentence. “I actually have to head over to the community center for my youth camp. I’ve got a photographer coming out today. So, maybe we could plan to get together after I wrap that up.”
“You should take Mecca with you.” Auntie Bo suggested. “Show her what you’re doing over there with the boys. Give her an opportunity to see you, Busy. Get to know you.”
Auntie Bo was not slick. I could see straight through her, with her “take Mecca with you” faced-ass. “I uhm, need to get back to work.” I said.
Maddox nodded in agreement to my plan of going back to work. Part of me wanted to slap his gorgeous ass. He was so rude.
“You don’t have to stay long.” Auntie Bo, the meddler, assured me. ”And I’ll call Janaye and let her know that I sent you out on a little errand.”
“Yeah, okay.” He stood up from the sofa. “Well, I’m about to head out there now.”
I stood up as well, choosing to ignore the smirk that was playing on Auntie’s Bo’s lips because she knew that she was getting her way.
Maddox and I were going to do this.
Here’s the thing. Maddox and I weren’t friends growing up, but I was very friendly with his grandmother, Miss Vera. Miss Vera didn’t have any little girls in her immediate family. She and her husband had two sons, and when her sons procreated, they had given her three grandsons. On the other hand, Auntie Bo had eleven grand nieces, so feminine energy was at an all time high right across the street.
Miss Vera took advantage of that and was always spoiling my cousins, my sister and me. She was a gifted seamstress, and my cousins and I were her favorite fit models. She made us tons of little pink and purple ruffled Easter and “picture day” dresses. She was always having us over for impromptu tea parties, mani/pedi movie nights and stuff like that. She was a second aunt to us, so we all spent time with her in her home growing up. And while my cousins drifted away, as children do when they get old enough to discover life outside of the grown-ups they know, I continued to visit with Miss Vera, and spend time with her.
Before she got sick, and particularly afterward, I would go to her house on Sundays after church and watch Maddox’s games with her. She never seemed sick when she was cheering for that boy. She would yell with such strength and vigor that I was sure he could feel her energy wherever he was in the country. She’d have me help her get decked out in her favorite jersey - a green one bearing his number, 27 and his name. She would bundle herself under her blankets and turn the television up way too loudly. When the Leopards won, it was a one woman ticker-tape parade and celebration. And if they lost? Miss Vera would spend half of the day looking like her man broke up with her to get with her best friend.
She was so proud of that boy. Proud that he’d set a goal for himself and reached it. Proud that he was talented, but even more so that he was hardworking and diligent. Proud that he avoided scandals and had a reputation as a nice guy with a good heart and a generous spirit. I knew “Busy” Mayhew through his grandmother’s eyes, but I didn’t know a damn thing about him otherwise.
I rode with him to the community center. I would’ve driven myself, but I didn’t know where the “community center” was. We lived in Chicago...on the South Side, there was a community center on every other block. We ended up at The Dorothy G. Jackson Community Center, not too far from where we grew up. We were silent on the ride, neither of us said one word. Of course that was par for the course when it came to Maddox, but me? I’d always been a talker, so I didn’t know why the cat had my tongue.
