Read Online Hustlin' by L. Divine - Free Book Online

Netta,” I say, as she unveils the picture hanging behind the black velvet cloth. I always thought the cloth served as a backdrop for the shrine, which it does. But protecting the painting behind the curtain is its true purpose.
    â€œBreathtaking, isn’t she,” Netta says, taking the thick cloth and tying a red ribbon around it. Golden bracelets pop out of the black velvet painting, leading my eyes up the amber arm of the woman kneeling by the river. Her head seems to merge into the water she’s facing, but her reflection catches my eye.
    â€œDid she just move?” I know I’m tripping, but I’ll be damned if she didn’t just look at me through her mirror image in the water.
    â€œI don’t know. Did she?” Netta asks, causing Mama to giggle. Netta takes my hand and brings me closer to her station at the tall shrine. Mama stands behind us as Netta begins her ritual by pouring a libation to the four corners.
    â€œWe praise all of the orisha. We praise all of the ancestors. We praise Baba Legba and Mama Oshune. Jayd, you ring the bell while I light the candles.” Netta passes the small brass instrument to me before taking the matches off the top of the five-tiered altar and lighting the yellow seven-day candle on the floor. This is how Mama’s altar would look if she had the space.
    â€œWhat makes you think the woman in the painting looked at you?” Mama asks, taking the bell from my hand and pushing me toward Netta.
    â€œI don’t know. It seemed like she was looking at herself in the water and then she looked at me.” Netta turns around to look at Mama, who looks at me, and then they both look at the painting. Now I swear the painting is glowing. It may be all of the glittery paint on the velvet texture, but the woman and the water seem to glow.
    â€œI know why Oshune is over mirrors,” Netta chants. “I know why Oshune is over rivers. I know why Oshune is over rivers.” Mama joins Netta in her chanting and I observe the lady at the river.
    â€œYour friends are a reflection of you, just as you are of them. Remember that,” Mama says, ringing the bell loudly as Netta continues the ritual. “And, like the river, you must look past its reflection to see what’s on the other side. What do you think she sees in her reflection?” Mama points at the woman again, who is now looking past her reflection and through the water as if she’s studying something only she can see.
    â€œI don’t know. The fish swimming?” I try to recall what’s in a river. I don’t remember the last time I’ve seen one up close.
    â€œYes, it can be that. Or it could be the gator about to rise up and snatch her off,” Netta says. “We hairdressers have a unique power, and the mirror is the key to unlocking it. You’re going to become a master by the time I’m done with you.” Netta wraps her right arm around my shoulders, hugging me tightly as Mama rings the bell over my head. They are cleansing me: I can feel it, and the woman in the river is watching the entire scene through her reflection in the water and smiling coyly.
    â€œThere are many, many things that lie right beneath the surface, Jayd. If you’re too busy looking at your own reflection you may not see the dangers that lie ahead.” She’s right about that. I have been wrapped up in everyone else’s madness and not focused fully on my own shit.
    â€œThat’s why it’s so important not to let just anyone touch your head, child. There’s all kinds of mojo in our art.” Netta releases her hold on me, grabs a large pink notebook from the bottom of her shrine, and opens it. This must be her family’s spirit book. She opens it to a page that has a drawing of a lady, with long hair on one side of her head and a shaved head on the other.
    â€œWhat happened to her?” I ask, watching Netta pass the book from me to Mama, who