Time may change me

 Cedric couldn't remember the last time he went to a dance. Actually, he'd never been to the River Festival. And here he was with Dory. It made him smile. Dory smiled as if he was feeling comfortable being a part of Old Towne.

Everyone seemed to know him. Dory talked with students and their families. They found a table and ate barbecue with Chili and Axton before the music started. It was such a sweet hometown affair.

It was good catching up. Chili's belly was showing, and she was a goddess and definitely Axton's equal. They talked about the baby's nursery. She reminded them they needed to come to the Coffee Shop more often. "We have lots of microgreens now on the menu."

"Yeah, she read up on it, and everything. She's been growing them on the rooftop, and it's good produce," Axton chimed in as if it might be her new side business.

"I never had'm before," Cedric looked at them as if he wasn't sure he'd go for such tiny greens from seeds that she talked about.

"We'll try some," Dory told her to put him down for some sunflower greens.

Cedric smiled even if he wanted to say, No, thank you.

Axton asked if there was anything new going on.

"Well, you were there when we got married," Cedric shrugged. It wasn't a big event even if he and Dory got married at the Coffee Shop. It was a cupcake wedding, and Dory's boss and his family were there, along with people Dory knew. Actually, no one from Cedric's family showed up, but it wasn't a big deal. Sure, his grandmother said she was happy for them, and a cousin or two had sent Amazon gift cards. It was cool. 

"Um, I got a text from my cousin Connie down in KC. It was kind of a mystery," he shrugged. "She just said she'd keep me in mind. Must have been a religious thing. I texted back, but she didn't respond."

He wasn't sure why he brought it up. He hadn't seen her in so long. But the music started, and he remembered her moves. She was something on the dance floor. Back then, when they were teens, her goal was to be a backup dancer for Beyoncé. Of course, that didn't happen. She was a hairdresser now. 

It was such a good memory. He thought of his grandmother's fried chicken and the picnics they used to have on the river. But he danced the night away until he and Dory couldn't dance anymore.

They held hands, walking back to their car parked at the soccer fields with Axton and Chili.

His phone rang. He couldn't think who would call at the hour of midnight. It was his grandmother. She had news about Connie. "She had a baby, and she needs help."

Cedric stared into space. A brick of emotion lodged in his throat. He could hardly speak.

"I..I think we need to go to Kansas City," he said, looking at Dory. "My cousin. She.." he could barely get the words out. A baby girl was waiting for them.

Still don't know what I was waiting for

 The summer street dances were here, and it was hot and muggy and not a firefly in sight. But Amy was dressed for the occasion. She and Eli were waiting for Junie and Darry.

"What could be taking so long?" She didn't mean to sweat, but the humidity was keeping her restless. Although she wanted to be. Eli was cordial enough to bring her lemonade, which hit the spot.

Suddenly, she felt as if she must be the worst girlfriend in the world. Especially when she saw so many out on the dance floor just doing their own thing. A guy was with a pregnant woman were dancing so close. Even Dory and Cedric were showing a few in-sync moves.

There was nothing to be afraid of. 

"Come on, let's dance," she smiled after hardly taking a sip from the plastic cup. She wasn't sure where to put it, so she gave it back to Eli.  Of course, he finished it off and chucked it in a trash bin. 

A disco-style remix of David Bowie's "Changes" thumped through the speakers. Amy's shoulders started to move, and she gradually got into her groove under the sparkly night lights in the tree branches overhead. She smiled ever so sweetly with glee.

And then Eli started to do the Pogo. It stunned Amy. She wasn't sure how to respond other than to let him do his thing. Thankfully, no one told him to stop, but she wanted to. Why did he always have to go and do something so weird?

His dance skills were stilted and definitely not K-pop quality, even if somebody told her he looked like someone from a K-pop band recently when she was up for an early run with the high school distance running team. She didn't see it. Certainly, not now.

She looked over her shoulder, and Junie and Darry were hugging each other on the dance floor. Their moves were slow and touchy.

Amy sighed. She looked at Eli. Well, she was used to this with him, by now..so she started mimicking his punk rock moves. What else was she going to do?

240. Remembering stories of how you met someone

 All this talk from Gran Betty about Brit was bringing Brick down. It brought up ugly memories he had of his own with his Dad. Everything had been going so smoothly with his relatives as of late, and now G.B. was taking Brit to Iowa to see family that not even his grandmother wanted to see. Yeah, he was possibly from the most dysfunctional family around. But he told her over the phone that he and Lily would come up to help with Brit and Carson's kids while she was away.

"That's just crazy?" Lily snarled when he told her the news. He hadn't even crawled out of his work pants yet. He couldn't wait just to be in his briefs. All he really wanted was to lay on the couch with Lily and watch BONES.

 "Do we have to?" Lily pouted, who was already slumming in a summer tank and PJs.

They were getting a little time off, and it would be a road trip. Although it wasn't all that far, and the food would be free. Brick said he'd grill.

"You grill?" She laughed as if he were the funniest guy. "Don't you remember how you burned the weenies, and I was afraid we'd violated a code here?"

"Just don't go there, OK?" He said it was the least he could do. After all, Carson needed the kid's rooms set up. He had a lot of stuff in storage. "Would you rather do that?"

"No!" She yelped back. Her job was exhausting. She talked about how they treated her like a hired hand who was always having to carry a lot of stuff from one place to the next. "I just want us to stay home."

"We'll be OK there. Besides, it's been a while since I've seen Carson, and he is my favorite uncle." Brick shrugged back as he went to get out his backpack to fill with clean underwear and shorts.

"Carson?" Lily festered a look as if he were a forbidden subject. "You know, he was in love with my mother. And..and she's like way older than him."

"I think they've got past that. Besides, they knew each other growing up." He tilted his head as if it were no big deal.

"Well, he could have been my step-dad, you know." She fretted as if it were the very reason she needed to stay here.

Lily hugged herself and marched to her little fridge to find herself a soda and one for Brick, too.

"But he wasn't," Brick looked at her as if she were being angry for no good reason. "Just think. Chloe and Kat could have been your step-sisters..so you better be nice to them."

He knew it would take a lot out of Lily to be cheerful about it. "Besides, we can go to the pool. We can see Oliver and Carrie."

Yes, Brick knew he needed this, and Lily needed it too. Also, he promised Theo he'd shoot some hoops with him. Brick really needed some basketball practice. He'd been slacking off these last few weeks.

What happened to the sun

 

Naoki knew Tyra didn't need for him to walk her out to the car at the hospital, but maybe it was the chivalry in her after all that told him he needed to step up. Of course, he wanted to talk to her about this generosity she suddenly shared as if she were just an extra at an improv who was obviously a fabulous actress. Seriously, Naoki didn't know what to expect next. And he certainly didn't.

"WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED!"

Her mother's old Buick Regal was a sore sight under the night lights. Someone slashed the tires and scratched up the car as if torture was on someone's mind.

"What! What is this!" She was losing breath, but nothing was going to stop her rant. "What's happening to the world! It's..It's going backwards! First, the president has to celebrate his birthday with a military parade! Who would have done this?" She walked around the car and pointed to the EQUAL sign on the back bumper. "Is it all because of this! JUST BECAUSE OF PRIDE!"

Tyra crumbled into tears. "It's my mom's car!"

Naoki put his arm around her. She cried into his fresh, clean t-shirt that she'd brought him. It felt like this night would never end.

Later, they sat around the table at her mother's, drinking a fresh cup of coffee. There were the day-old muffins from the bakery. Her mom scrambled eggs. They found out it wasn't a hate crime. Even if he remembered Tyra's very words that she wasn't a very good lesbian, after all.

This was about hate. But a personal kind. Funny, how somebody's wife thought Tyra was the other woman.

"I'm not pressing charges," her mother shook her head, no, who was picking at a blueberry muffin.

"But mom!" Tyra let out a fat lip as she looked at her cold scrambled eggs.

Naoki didn't know what else to do but finish the eggs off because he knew Tyra was in no mood to eat, but he was.

"Oh, she's going through something," her mom said. "I know her. I've watched her grow up. She was older than you girls. And I know she always thought she'd be much better off than anyone in her family. She was a cheerleader. Prom queen, those kinds of things." She told them this must have been so overwhelming. "I talked to her mother not long ago at the grocery store. We hadn't seen each other in a while. She was worried even then that Brit was going to the casinos at night, trying to find a way to get out of debt."

"That's a strange way of trying to get out of debt," Naoki sighed as he went to get the coffee pot and freshen everyone's coffee.

"Oh, I've seen it before. It can happen," Carol talked about a co-worker with a gambling addiction.

"Yeah, well, what does gambling have to do with this?" Tyra gave her mother the eye as if Carol was not on topic.

"Look, she's got problems. Let's try not to add to them. We'll be fine."

"You named that car Cyrus, Mom," Tyra scowled back. "You love that car."

"It has a CD player in it, and as long as it works and he can get me to Baker's and you to your job, that's all I need." Her mother shrugged, then sipped creamed coffee.