Read Online Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn - Free Book Online Page A

her eyes fluttering open.
    Thandi shrugs, her fingers still working her sister’s calves. “I have things I want to save up for . . .” She thinks about the party coming up and the fuchsia dress she wants to wear. The last time she checked, the price hadn’t gone down. She also has to pay another visit to Miss Ruby.
    â€œName one t’ing,” Margot says.
    â€œA dress?” This comes out of Thandi’s mouth sounding like a question.
    â€œA dress for what?” Margot sits up.
    â€œThere’s a party I was invited to by a classmate. A sweet sixteen party.”
    â€œA party before the exam? Yuh should be studying, trying to pass all nine subjects.” Thandi’s movement slows. Margot relieves her of her task, pulling her legs out of Thandi’s lap. She’s staring at Thandi as though focusing on the small pimple at the center of her forehead. “I just paid money for the subjects you’ll be sitting in CXC. All nine of them wasn’t cheap.”
    â€œWhat?” Thandi springs from the chair, which nearly topples over. “When?”
    Margot is shaking her head. “I paid for them last week. Your education comes first, Thandi. You know that. How yuh going to go to a party before the exam, the exam I paid for?” Thandi swallows the solid mass that has resurfaced. “Nevah mind, then,” Thandi says quietly. “I mean, all the girls in my class are going an’ ah wanted to go too, but I don’t have to.”
    Margot’s eyes soften. “Jus’ gimme my purse,” she finally says. Thandi reaches it for her. Thandi knows that her sister can never say no to her. It’s as though Margot fears Thandi might find some other alternative—another way of getting the things she asks for. And Thandi takes advantage, though her conscience reprimands her each time. “You really don’t have to,” Thandi says.
    â€œWell, one day yuh g’wan pay me back tenfold. So, here.” Margot peels off a couple bills. “I’m sure you’ll put it to good use.” Margot and Delores bank on Thandi as the one who will make it. Like the old mattress, Thandi is that source in which they plant their dreams and expectations. “ It’s you who’ll get us outta dis place ,” they say to her. She hears Delores telling her friends this too when they come over to play dominoes. No one knows how crushing the weight of Thandi’s guilt is when they excuse her from cooking, cleaning, and even church because of the importance they place on her studies.
    Margot slowly gets up from the table and reluctantly slips back into her shoes. Thandi watches her touch up her makeup and spritz perfume behind each ear. In less than a minute her hair is back in a bun. She grabs her bag and heads out the door. That strange, officious perfume she has started to wear grips the air like a choke hold. “Don’t tell Delores dat ah was here,” she says to Thandi before disappearing. As though carried away by the wind.

4
    M ARGOT ROLLS OVER, HER LEGS STRADDLING HORACE. SHE pinches his pink flesh between her fingers and watches it turn white. Horace groans and smiles up at her through drooping eyelids. Had she been attracted to him, she would’ve kissed the place on his cheeks where his long lashes touch and placed her lips on top of his puckered ones. She would’ve even had the patience to lie beside him beforehand and run her fingers over the hairs on his enormous chest and belly. Instead, she mounts him and moves her hips steadily, rhythmically. His hands grip her thighs before moving to her breasts. In sex she finds a deep calm, a refuge in which she hides. She imagines herself as a vacuum, inhaling everything—every word, every thought, every glance, every tear. They’d all disappear out of sight, only to be emptied behind the hotel, maids throwing the balls of dust into big bins while humming their familiar