Read Online Skin I'm in, The by Sharon Flake - Free Book Online

much before she hangs up.
    I thought I would be at Char’s by one o’clock. But Momma keeps finding things for me to do. I have to clean out the cabinets, sweep, and take clothes to wash at the laundromat. I swear Momma thinks I’m her slave. She don’t even want to pay me a little something for doing so many chores. She says it’s my house, too, and that I should be glad to help.
    When four o’clock comes, I’m knocking on Char’s door. Can’t nobody hear me, though. The music’s too loud. Some African stuff is playing. Drums are beating. Singers are making animal noises. Maracas are shaking.
    I push open the broken screen door and go inside. Juju is jamming. Her and about ten other people are dancing. They’re rubbing up on one another. When I’m halfway across the room, a man with dreadlocks down to his belt jumps in front of me and says, ″Come jam with us, little sister.″ Then he starts moving like he’s a snake. I shake my head and run up the steps. Juju tells the dreadlocked brother to turn up the music and leave me alone. The music gets louder and so do the pots and sticks people are banging on.
    I’m thinking that the party’s just got started. But Char says it’s finishing up from last night. I ask her how she sleeps through all the noise. She says she ain’t been to sleep yet. That she gets paid big bucks from Juju to keep glasses clean, ash trays emptied, and food coming. ″I don’t mind missing sleep for a hundred dollars,″ she says, waving the money in my face.
    Juju parties all the time. Two, three times a month. People come from all over to go to her parties. Char and I find a place to talk, upstairs, in one of the empty bedrooms. I tell Char I couldn’t stand being around so many strangers all the time.
    Char says I’m a wimp. That it ain’t nothing for her to wake up and find somebody she ain’t never seen using her bathroom two days after the party’s done. Folks like being around Juju, she says.
    ″Don’t they work?″ I ask.
    ″Some do, some don’t,″ she says, matter-of-factly. ″Juju don’t care as long as they pay to get into the party. She ain’t giving nobody nothing for free.″
    I shake my head. I’m thinking, Ain’t no way I could live like this. Cigarette smoke burning your eyes. The house smelling like old chicken grease. Strangers passed out on your living room floor.
    None of it bothers Char. As long as she’s looking fine, she’s all right. But today, she don’t look so hot. She’s got dark circles under her eyes and her hair is all over her head.
    ″You look like you’ve been sleeping already,″ I say, picking lint out of her hair.
    She pushes my hand away. ″I caught me a few winks about a hour ago. Juju didn’t even miss me. If she did, I would be in real trouble. She says she don’t pay me to sleep.″
    Then Char lets out a giant yawn. She lays herself across the bed. I want to tell her I didn’t come here to watch her sleep, but I feel sorry for her. So I just sit in the chair, watching her nod off.
    But before Charlese can get to sleep good, Juju yells at the top of her lungs. ″Charlese, what am I paying you for, girl? Get yourself down here. Now.″
    Charlese jumps up and runs down the stairs.
    Juju’s yelling and screaming at her in front of everybody. I keep asking myself, Why is Char taking that from her? Then I remember that Char hasn’t got nobody but Juju. Juju is only twenty-five.
    I sit upstairs by myself for a long while, too scared to go downstairs. Finally, I tell myself to get on outta there. When I do get the courage to go downstairs, it’s still a madhouse. Char’s running around. People are lined up at the door trying to get in the house. Strangers are asking me where the bathroom is and how come there ain’t no toilet paper.
    I don’t tell Char I’m going. I just walk out the door. Last I seen, Char was rubbing her eyes and handing out drinks. Juju was shaking her hips and smoking a cigarette, yelling for