Read Online Getting to Happy by Terry McMillan - Free Book Online

water from the fridge, and on her way to the garage spots the girls’ backpacks leaning against the door. They look like penguins.
    God, she envies them. Being able to dream about their future. Do whatever they want to do. That their biggest worry is their GPA. Bernadine hopes her daughter and son cherish these years. John Jr. is a first-year graduate student at MIT. His primary interest in life fits into urban studies and planning. Bernadine has had to sit and listen to him lecture her about this stuff as if he’s a commentator on CNN or like he’s explaining what happened on Lost . He’s headed for Washington. She can feel it.
    When she gets back from the grocery store, she puts everything away and spots the washed and folded towels she bought for Onika still sitting in the laundry basket. She forgot to put them in her bathroom! She tiptoes upstairs, and since Onika’s door isn’t completely closed, quietly pushes it open with her hips. She’s not sure at first if her daughter and Shy are just lying very close together or if they’re in fact wrapped in each other’s arms. As she walks past the bed, she can see that this is exactly what they’re doing. Holding each other. Out of all the times Bernadine used to sleep over with her girlfriends, she’d never held any of them like this. In fact, they’d always fought over the blankets.
    She must’ve been standing there longer than she realized because the girls break apart as if they suddenly feel her presence. She knows why they were holding each other this close. She’s not stupid. And she’s suspected this about her daughter for years. Onika has never had a real boyfriend that she was ever aware of, and Bernadine never asked why. She always assumed that if her daughter wanted one she would’ve gotten one.
    “I didn’t mean to wake you two,” she says after she sees their eyes pop open. “I just wanted to put these in your bathroom, O. Go on back to sleep.”
    They sit up straight. Like soldiers at attention. Now, they’re leaning against the headboard and wearing a fearful look. Bernadine sees they’re trying to inch away from each other without making it apparent. It is apparent. There was no space between them and now there is.
    “I sleep very hard, sometimes, Mom,” Onika says.
    Shy looks scared shitless, like a child used to being abused—as if Bernadine might hit her or something. Shy decides to play it another way. “We’re just used to sleeping in those twin beds at school. It’s really tight.”
    “I didn’t know you two were roommates.”
    “We’re not, but we will be in the fall,” Onika says.
    “You two like each other a lot, then, don’t you?”
    “Yes,” Onika says.
    “Yes, Mom, I mean Auntie,” Shy says.
    “Look, girls, I just want you to know I think it’s healthy when you acknowledge who you like.”
    They look a little surprised and not sure if Bernadine is saying what they think she’s saying as she heads on into Onika’s purple and sky blue bathroom, places the purple and blue towels over the rack, picks the damp ones off the floor and tosses them into the basket.
    “Mom, why aren’t you like freaking out?”
    “Why should I be freaking out?” she says, standing in the doorway.
    “Well, just because.”
    “Just because my daughter happens to like girls?”
    “Yeah, my parents would flip,” Shy says.
    “Well, I’m not going to flip or freak out. Plus, I wasn’t born yesterday, Onika.”
    “I can’t believe you’re not angry or anything.”
    “What’s to be angry about? Just don’t get too comfortable. I’m still your mother. Now go back to sleep. I’m making your favorite omelet in the morning. Shy, I thought you were going to call me Mom while you’re here?”
    “I will. I mean I am, Mom.”
    “Are you a vegetarian, too?”
    She shakes her head no. The two of them look as if they’re the ones who’re thunderstruck. As she turns to leave, the girls sit there frozen in place. Bernadine isn’t