Free Kendra by Coe Booth Page B

the scenes. I mean, I can’t get off that stage fast enough!
    After everything is over, and we’re done cleaning up backstage and putting everything away, I meet up with Grandma, Kenny, and Adonna in the lobby, which is still pretty crowded with people hanging around. It’s so good to see Grandma outta Bronxwood because ever since she had hip replacement last year, it’s like she hardly ever leaves her apartment, much less the building. Well, except to go to her doctors’ appointments and that kinda thing. I mean, I know walking around is hard for her now, but still, it’s kinda sad that she’s just home all the time. So I’m real glad she came out just to see my set.
    “You did good, Babe,” she says, giving me a half hug with one thick arm around me and the other holding her cane. “That was one of the best shows I ever seen, and that set was something else.”
    Over her shoulder I see Adonna roll her eyes up to the ceiling. “I’ll be back,” she says, and heads over to where Tanya is standing with her mom and little brothers.
    When Grandma finally lets go of me, Kenny is the next one to give me a hug. “You got talent,” he says. “I knew it. Just remember who bought you your first coloring book. Me.”
    I laugh. “I’ll remember that when I’m rich and famous!”
    “You better,” he says.
    I get to go back to Adonna’s apartment after the play because that morning Nana told me she had something to do after work. So I actually have to eat the dinner Grandma made. Not that’s it’s bad. It’s just that Grandma don’t understand how to put together a normal meal. Not really. Like, she made lasagna, fried fish, and no kinda vegetable or anything. If Nana was here, she would say eating like this is why Grandma is so fat, which is really, really mean, but probably true.
    I feel fat after dinner. Me and Adonna practically stumble down the hall to her room, and when we get there, we plop down on her bed like two rocks. We lay next to each other on our backs, giggling about how much we ate.
    “I love your room,” I say, even though I tell her the same thing every time I’m here.
    “Me, too,” she says. And she really does, because when I look over at her, she’s looking around and smiling like she’s seeing everything for the first time.
    A couple of months ago, she got a whole new bedroom set, and everything is shiny wood, a full-size bed, a desk, and a big dresser with a gigantic mirror, which Adonna just loves.
    But what she really loves about her new bedroom set is the fact that her father’s the one that bought it for her.
    I turn on my side to face her. “Did you talk to him?”
    “Yeah,” she says. “I talked to him Wednesday and he said he was gonna try and make it here tomorrow, if he had the time. But then he called my mom yesterday and told her to tell me he couldn’t make it.” She sighs. “I mean, you would think he would wanna see the way my room looksnow, you know, after all the money he spent, but—” She shrugs.
    “Is he busy with work or something?”
    “That’s what he says, that he has to work on the weekends. But that don’t really explain why he can’t come around during the week, like after school. He only lives, what, an hour away? An hour and a half, at the most.” She shakes her head. I don’t get him.”
    Most of the time Adonna don’t let anybody see this side of her. Nobody except me. Because she can get hurt just as easy as me, but she’s just better at hiding it when she needs to. “He’ll come by,” I say, even though he hasn’t been around for almost a year already. “Or maybe you can visit him over the summer, if you’re not stuck in summer school.”
    She turns over toward me and pinches me real hard on my arm. “Don’t even say that!”
    “Ow!” I say, starting to laugh. “You’re torturing me!” But I’m too full to get away from her.
    But at least she’s laughing now, too. “Take it back!” she yells.
    “Ow! Okay, okay! I