Out of all the novels I've written, this one will always hold a special place in my heart. It was my 2nd book and on these pages is where I believe I found my literary voice. Here is the opening chapter. Enjoy and feel free to leave comments.
Open Spaces
KEITH
KAREEM WILLIAMS
CHAPTER 1
Disturbance
“Happy birthday, dear Corey! Happy birthday to
you,” sung the entire party, much too loudly and horribly out of key. Their
voices boomed and resonated in the confinement of the tiny kitchen that had
walls too thin to contain the dreadful chorus. Annoyed neighbors either cringed
in disgust or turned their televisions up to drown out the sound.
“Now make a wish, baby,” Mika lovingly
whispered in her son’s ear, as his father, Sedari, hoisted the boy onto the
edge of the kitchen table.
Corey perched precariously on the edge of the
table that was probably eighty-five percent compressed wood, only craftily
disguised by the manufacturer to look authentic. Sedari had barely finished
paying off the layaway plan at the local discount furniture store in time to
have it for the party. They’d already gone almost a year and a half without
one, and although it wasn’t the best quality, it was what he could afford for
the time being.
Sedari steadied his son and directed him
towards the red, white, and blue candle that burned brightly on top of the blue
and canary yellow SpongeBob SquarePants birthday cake. Everyone remained
completely silent as Corey thought about everything imaginable to wish for. For
a boy his age, the possibilities, though basic enough, were nonetheless
infinite. All in attendance held their breath as he inhaled deeply and prepared
to make a wish by blowing out the candles. It was as if any sound or movement
except for the tiny gust of air he mustered to blow would spoil the
enchantment. After two laborious attempts, Corey blew out the candle and
accidentally showered the top of the cake with a fine mist of spit. The
genuinely joyous applause that followed sealed the spell and made the magic
complete. Only the final element of the ritual remained; the slicing of the
cake. Tammy, Corey’s chunkiest godmother, worked the kitchen knife with
unrivaled precision without ever getting any frosting on her fingers.
Many of the party-goers and well-wishers were
glad to grab their cake and escape the confinement of the kitchen; some because
they were just plain greedy and others because of the anxiety that being packed
in such a tight space caused. If Mika and Sedari’s kitchen had been a club, the
fire marshal would have shut it down for certain. The only ones who didn’t seem
to mind were the SpongeBob SquarePants party hat-wearing children who bounced
their sugar-filled bodies carelessly and blissfully from room to room.
Through the crowd of guests, amidst the
laughter and clamor of the celebration, Mika spotted her husband and stared
into his face. A hulk of a man and standing about six-feet fiveinches tall, he
was very difficult to miss as he towered above most of the guests. Mika smiled
and touched her wedding band, while her grandaunt babbled in her ear about how
much Corey had grown. The tips of Mika’s fingers also ran across the engagement
ring she still wore on the same finger. It was not the flashiest and far from
the most expensive, but bound within it was all the love Sedari possessed for
her. Mika cherished the humble diamond set above the two circles of gold
because it reminded her of the tears they both shed the night he proposed.
Sedari had apologized and cried, apologized and
cried some more for not being able to give her what he felt she deserved. She
remembered how she wiped his face as he wet her feet with tears. Mika
remembered how she tried to comfort and reassure him. She thought back on how
she tried to explain to him that countless women received priceless treasures
from fiancés whose words and promises were as worthless as they were dead and
hollow. She remembered how Sedari had tried to fool her into believing he felt
better about himself, but she could still see the shame on his face like a
stain. Back then, it saddened her, but she knew her man well enough to know
that he would do whatever he had to, make whatever sacrifices needed, to walk
through life as her husband with pride.
As her grandaunt continued to ramble, Mika
slipped back to the present and nodded her head in agreement without really
paying attention. Thoughts of her husband, some more sexually explicit than
others, swam gracefully through pools of passion in her mind. He was like a
drug to her, and she found herself wanting and needing the high he gave her. As
she studied his face, the tingling that tickled her body made it impossible for
her to forget why she married Sedari.
Mika knew the trouble he’d gone through to make
this party special. Ever since they’d been married and on their own, money had
been tight with them. This was the first time he’d been able to do anything
near what he wanted for their little boy. Just as she was about to turn away to
actually pay attention to her grandaunt, Sedari ensnared his wife’s eyes with
his own. The couple exchanged warm, lustful looks and then continued to
entertain their guests, some of whom had begun to leave. The gifts had been
opened, the kiddie games had been played, almost all of the food had been
eaten, and now, the cake had finally been cut. The party was nearly over.
Sedari started thanking everyone for coming,
while Mika hurried back and forth to the bedroom to gather the guests’
outerwear they had stored on their bed for lack of closet space. Sedari felt
fortunate to have so many good friends at Corey’s party. Many of them he grew
up with, but through various means, they had since left the dirty apartment
buildings and noisy streets behind. Now they only remembered the hood like a
bad dream. They would have never returned to this part of town if not for their
love of Sedari and his family. He understood this and loved them for it.
There were also other friends present who were
from totally different walks of life. The perceptions of their parents were
still imprinted firmly on their psyche, and they learned to fear what they saw
and read in the news. Still, they loved Sedari because they knew him, but that
love didn’t carry over to the strangers outside that shared his surroundings.
Sedari could see in the faces of some of his friends that, now that the party
was over, they wanted nothing more than to get back to safer suburban streets.
The hood was definitely not for them.
As the last of the guests put their jackets on
and said their final goodbyes at the apartment door, the doorbell began to ring
wildly. Sedari and Mika exchanged puzzled looks before he opened the door
cautiously.
“Sorry I’m late,” Desiree slurred, as she
rudely brushed past the last of the guests who tried to make their way politely
out.
Unmistakably intoxicated, Desiree grabbed
Sedari in a bear hug and kissed him on the cheek, close enough to his lips to
put an instant frown on Mika’s face. The longer Desiree held onto Sedari and
the deeper she dug her French-manicured nails into the back of his sweater, the
more Mika’s frown transformed into an appalled scowl.
“Glad you could make it,” Mika said, hoping her
voice would be enough to make Desiree take her arms from around her husband’s
neck.
It didn’t. Instead, she held on tighter and
mischievously glared at Mika.
This bitch! Mika thought to herself, as she
tried to maintain her hostess demeanor and composure. Her pride wouldn’t allow
her to let Desiree know how jealous and annoyed she really was, so she
continued to project as pleasant a vibe as she could.
“I almost didn’t make it,” Desiree whispered,
alcohol heavy on her breath as she took her hands off of a visibly
uncomfortable Sedari. He looked like someone with a bomb ticking in his back
pocket.
“Thanks for coming,” Sedari told her, taking a
few steps back to put more distance between them.
Desiree smiled, unbuttoned her full-length
brown leather jacket, and arrogantly handed it to Mika. Sedari tried not to
gasp or let his jaw go slack when he saw what she was wearing underneath. Mika
noticed this but still said nothing. Desiree’s outfit was too scandalous for
even some nightclubs and definitely inappropriate, not to mention tasteless,
for a fiveyear-old’s birthday party.
“What the fuck?” Antoni, Sedari’s older
brother, mumbled to himself while walking over to greet Desiree.
Ant, as his friends affectionately called him,
which was an abbreviation of his name that also doubled as a reference to his
lack of height, couldn’t decide what to ogle first. Her tan blouse was cut so
low that the thin material barely covered her nipples. Her long legs and silky
thighs were barely covered by a black skirt no bigger than a handkerchief.
“What’s up, Dee?” Ant greeted Desiree from a
distance.
“Ant? Come gimme a hug,” she told him,
staggering into his arms.
He realized just how drunk she was when she
kissed him full on the lips. Ant didn’t notice that she kept one eye fixed on
Sedari as she did this, but Mika did.
“Damn, Desiree, I thought you stopped
drinkin’?” Ant whispered in her ear while hugging her.
He held onto her for a while, more to keep her
from falling over than out of affection. When he felt she was steady enough, he
guided her to the sofa as she dragged a monstrous Toys “R” Us bag behind her.
When she sat down, her knees knocked together awkwardly; this was the only
thing that kept everyone in the room from knowing what color her panties were.
Just as Desiree righted herself, Corey appeared out of his bedroom in a crisp
pair of new pajamas he’d received as a birthday gift from one of Mika’s
sisters. He rubbed sleep from his eyes and grinned when he saw Desiree and the
size of the bag beside her.
“Hi, Dee! What you got for me?” Corey asked and
jumped up in her lap.
Desiree stared at the boy with a deep,
long-buried sadness in her eyes. Only Sedari noticed the look in her eyes and
the change that came over her. She seemed to sober up momentarily.
“You know I wouldn’t forget my favorite man in
the whole world,” Desiree told Corey and kissed him softly on the forehead.
“Sorry it’s not wrapped up, baby. Last minute shopping, you know,” she
explained and pressed her lips affectionately to his cheek.
Her breath reeked of liquor, and Corey turned
up his nose when he caught a strong enough whiff of it to make his eyes burn.
“You stink, Dee,” Corey told her without malice,
but rather with the unpredictable honesty that all children possess. As he
climbed down from her lap, his sleepy, burning eyes focused on the bag that
undoubtedly contained some gigantic toy.
“Well, excuse me, sir,” she comically begged
his pardon. “Take your toy to your room. Tomorrow, make Daddy put it together
for you, okay?”
“Okay, Dee,” Corey answered without a fuss,
then dragged away the bag which was almost bigger than him.
“Here you go,” Mika grumbled, as she handed
Desiree a steaming cup of instant coffee.
Desiree took it, half smiled, and set it on the
glass center table in front of her. The loud clanking noise made Sedari cringe.
“Thanks, Tamika, but I’m good. I appreciate the
thought, though,” Desiree told her and mimicked the fake smile that was
plastered on Mika’s face.
“Sure, whatever,” Mika answered, then took the
mug of coffee back to the kitchen. She was grateful all the guests were gone
except for Antoni. She knew she couldn’t have managed to be a good hostess for
long with Desiree in the same room. She wasn’t surprised that Desiree would
show up to Corey’s party late, half-naked, and stinking drunk. Desiree was
Desiree, and she always found new, innovative ways to solidify Mika’s dislike
for her. In that, she never failed to outdo herself.
“Dee, I thought you gave up that shit?” Sedari
asked, as he gathered scattered party litter to put in the trash.
“I said I gave up getting drunk which, I might
add, I am far from now,” she answered slowly and deliberately, as if she had to
think about each syllable in every word before she spoke. Her sentences flowed
unnaturally and sounded forced.
“Sound drunk to me,” Mika added, while stuffing
discarded giftwrap into a black garbage bag.
“Am not, my dear, but thank you so much for
your concern. I feel so loved,” Desiree replied, her voice heavily saturated
and seasoned with drunken hostility.
Mika barely looked up as she angrily tied off
the trash. She stomped past Desiree on the couch and roughly handed the bulging
bag to Sedari. She paused to roll her eyes at Desiree before returning to the
kitchen to wash up the mountain of dishes in the sink. She clanged cups, banged
down plates, and abused pots while the silent tension in the room increased
exponentially. Sedari and Antoni exchanged uncomfortable glances as the quiet,
subtle war between the two women continued.
Desiree was pleased by how angry she made Mika.
She stretched her arms, yawned, and put her feet up on Mika’s cream leather
couch with her shoes still on. This time when she raised her legs, everyone did
get a good look at her pink lace panties. From the corner of her eye, she saw
Mika angrily grip a wet, soapy glass and nearly break it. Desiree smirked.
“I can see the party’s over anyway, and I
wouldn’t want to overstay my welcome. Now, what I need is another drink and a
ride home. Sedari, you got your car?” Desiree asked.
Whether by accident or on purpose, (no one in
the apartment could say for sure), Mika broke a dinner plate on the kitchen
floor. Sedari nearly jumped out of his skin.
“The liquor’s done and I got my car downstairs.
Let’s go,” Ant interjected to prevent World War III in apartment B3. He didn’t
particularly enjoy her company either, but he was willing to make the sacrifice
to save Sedari the serious trouble that was sure to follow.
“I wasn’t askin’ you,” she started to say.
“No, but I’m offering. Let’s go,” Ant cut her
off before she caused much more of a disturbance.
“Sure, fine, whatever. Doesn’t matter. Tamika,
would you be a sweetheart and get my coat so this gentleman can give me a
ride?” she asked.
“Fuckin’ bitch,” Mika thought, as she stopped
picking up the broken pieces of the plate so she could fetch Desiree’s coat in
a hurry. The sooner that woman was out of her place, the happier she would be.
Desiree kept her feet up on the couch until
Mika appeared out of the bedroom and stiffly handed her coat to her. Although
everything in the room seemed to be spinning, Desiree stood up steadily,
snatched the coat, and quickly put it on.
“Good to see you, baby,” Desiree told Sedari,
as she grabbed Ant by the hand and pulled him towards the apartment door.
Sedari smiled sadly, but didn’t answer her.
Neither did he move from the spot where he stood rooted in place for the sake
of his marriage.
“I’ll talk to you guys later,” Antoni said,
while being pulled along like a stubborn puppy tethered to its own leash for
the first time.
“Always nice to see you, too, Tamika,” Desiree
said, as Mika showed them out and slammed the door behind them.
“I hate that fuckin’ girl! I really do!” Mika exclaimed,
locking the door.
“Dee is Dee. Can’t let her get to you like
that. You know she do that shit just to fuck with you,” Sedari replied, trying
to comfort his wife by wrapping his arms around her waist from behind.
Mika smiled as she felt his breath on the back
of her neck, then giggled when she felt his grip tighten. His lips explored the
sensitive area behind her ears before sending chills down her spine as they
tickled her collarbone. She still found herself fascinated by how he could be
so powerfully overwhelming and gentle at the same time. She looked over her
shoulder and smiled at her husband, just a little less upset than she had been
only a few seconds before.
“You tired?” Sedari asked.
“No,” Mika lied.
She was very tired, of course. However, for
what she knew her husband had in mind, she would drag the strength and energy
from somewhere.
“Me neither,” Sedari whispered heavily in her
ear.
“You think Corey’s sleepin’?” she asked,
breathless, bothered, and wanting to be bothered some more.
“He better be sleepin’,” Sedari answered.
“Yeah, he better be,” she repeated after him.
Mika spun around in his arms and kissed him
passionately before she took him forcefully by the hand to their bedroom.
Copyright © 2010 Keith Kareem Williams
All rights reserved.
Good readinng this post
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