Free Myself and I by Earl Sewell Page B

friendship tattoo, and my girlfriend had one just like it,” Barbara said.
    â€œWhat do you mean had?”
    Barbara exhaled softly as if something weighed heavily on her heart. I’d never seen her look so wounded. “Well, her name was Latrice, and we grew up together. I met her when I was five years old. We were both taking ballet lessons at a dance school. In the fall of that year we entered kindergarten together and clung to each other like a melody to music. We went through grammar school together and were inseparable.” Barbara coughed up a soft chuckle. “We always got into trouble for talking too much in class.”
    â€œDid you guys remain friends through high school as well?” I asked, thinking about Maya’s and my own personal desire to have a true friend who would always be by my side.
    â€œOh, yeah. We worked on and styled each other’s hair, created outfits with her mother’s sewing machine, and we got our driver’s licenses on the same day. She was truly a one-of-a-kind friend. On our twenty-first birthday we decided to get the tattoos to celebrate fifteen years of friendship.”
    â€œWhere is she now? Did you guys have a fight or something? How come I’ve never heard you mention her before?” Barbara exited the closet wearing her pajama pants and one of Jordan’s old college T-shirts. She looked sloppy, but I could tell that she was very comfortable.
    â€œShe passed away, Keysha,” Barbara answered mournfully.
    â€œReally? What happened?” I asked, feeling badly about her loss.
    â€œCar accident. Happened when she was twenty-four. She was driving home from a trip she’d taken to Atlanta. By the time she got to the Midwest, she ran into a very bad snowstorm. She should’ve pulled over and gotten a hotel room for the night, but she didn’t. I guess she wanted to get home. Anyway, witnesses said that an eighteen-wheeler had turned on its side on a section of the highway that was suspended above a cliff. She didn’t see the accident until it was too late. She lost control of her car and ran off the highway and down a steep embankment. She died at the scene.”
    â€œThat’s so sad,” I said, feeling the need to hug her.
    â€œYeah, it is, but she was the type of friend who always had my back. That’s why we got the tattoos placed there.”
    â€œDid she have any kids?” I asked.
    â€œNo. At the time she was in med school and wasn’t ready to start a family just yet,” Barbara said as she exited the bedroom. I trailed behind as she entered the kitchen.
    â€œCan I help you cook dinner?” I asked, even though I knew she wasn’t going to say no.
    â€œAbsolutely. Why don’t you cut up a few potatoes forme?” Barbara reached into the cupboard and pulled out one of the griddles.
    â€œI think my friend Maya and I are learning how to be close like you and your friend Latrice.”
    â€œYou’re not trying to get a tattoo, are you?” Barbara asked.
    â€œCan I?” I quickly asked, because I knew that Maya had one and I was dying to get one as well.
    â€œI’m not sure how I feel about that. You’re still very young, and I don’t want you to have regrets about it later,” Barbara explained.
    â€œHow about for my eighteenth birthday next year?” I asked, pressing the issue.
    â€œWe’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.” Barbara clearly wanted to end the conversation.
    I sat down and began skinning a potato with a peeler I’d removed from the rack on the countertop. I noticed that Barbara began scratching around the edges of her hair with her fingertips.
    â€œIt must be about time for a touch-up,” I uttered as she concentrated on a spot near her forehead.
    Barbara said, “Yeah it’s about that time. I also need to get the gray hair around the edges taken care. I cringe at the sight of it.”
    Barbara walked