STREETS ANS SHADOWS

T

he Obika’s was a simple and beautiful family. Gregory had already settled down with a white woman who is a classical dance instructor, ballet to be precise. The beautiful woman who hailed from Southampton had given birth to a lovely set of twins, who were now grown-ups, for Gregory.

Now I could see why I kept pondering on a Barry flash guy, kind of thing on the team. Both ladies are identical twins except for the fact that Emily, who initially banged the door at my face, wasn’t quite friendly and had an all stretched blond hair but Emerald was very fond of people, and also had blond hair, but always bonded it.

Both girls are classical ballet dancers, who definitely must have taken after their mum.  Gregory unlike Taylor happens to be supportive of his own daughters’ dancing careers. He saw nothing wrong with it, but I was done with dancing and never intended to go back to it. I do not intend to break my promise to mama, no more disobedience; it’s just school from now on.

Gregory Obika is a British Nigerian who is based in London, a successful businessman who has his own little fashion line and happens to be one amongst the of shareholders of the Ace: A multimillion pounds co-operate organization. Gregory wasn’t super-rich but was smart, willing to invest with other big-time investors.

Gregory loved me very much and his wife Sarah took me like one of her own daughters. Gregory felt bad for abandoning mama and me for all those years and when he heard about Taylor being in jail, he felt so bad and was willing to support me with everything I needed on a silver plate.

He really could do nothing much about mama being in jail, since Mr. Hudson was a very powerful political figure. But he still had me at least.

Seven months had now passed since the incident of the late Mr. Hudson and life in London has been moving quite well except for the fact that I sometimes really could not stop thinking about Miss Taylor.

Merton was a town heavily crowed with black folks; among them were Jamaicans and Nigerians.

I once thought that all the parts of London were all the same from my first stare at Buckingham palace. But there were two different territories, occupied by two different queens in London.

The one who ruled Buckingham palace was Queen Elizabeth the second while the queen who ruled the town, Merton,  was given the name Queen Red Bee because of the way her dances attracted a whole lot of crowd from men to ladies and even the young children, both blacks and whites. She was a hive to be watched and I think all that chanting was really beginning to get into her head. But she had no idea that the real Melina Sparks, a.k.a the Show Stealer, would beat her ass upside down but I just wanna stay focus on my school and let dancing be.

Sasha, the typical Jamaican, who ruled over all the dancers in Merton, is said to be the queen of dancehall.

Sasha had her eyes on me right from the very first day I stepped into Merton, carefully monitoring every step I took and every move that I made.

Sasha Reddington was the kind of queen who didn’t need the black and red palace guards, she had hers almost in all nooks and crannies of Merton, daily feeding her with all the necessary information from the streets and every corner. I think Sasha developed a stronger interest in me when she found out that I was a member of the famous Maximus Prime.

One thing about most Queens is that they might have the prestige, glory, and differing classes, but they hate rivals and really cannot stand its growth.

And Sasha viewed me as a threat to her reign, she hated the crowds chanting the name of any other female dancer except hers, she only wishes to remain supreme and first to everyone, she truly was the jealous type.

It was my final year at Hampton Height High school and I was only interested in my exams, making four upper distinctions for mama and I had no time for any dance competition, but the Queen Red Bee didn’t like that, she just wanted a dance battle with me feeling I was some kind of threat. I had spent a large part of the night preparing for my final exams. My goal was to give it my best shot and as mama will say ‘what’s worth doing is worth fighting for,’ but Gregory had his own version of the quote, which goes thus: ‘Always fight for what you believe in and even when the road is tough never give up on being tough.’

I don’t know why Gregory wanted me to get back to dancing, was it a way of saying I’m sorry to me for all those years that he had abandoned me and mama? It definitely ain’t happening because that part of my life was evidently over.

It was a rainy Monday morning when I dressed and got out of the house for school and well prepared for the final day of exams. But I had to walk few blocks away from home to where I could get a taxi.

I really had no friends in Merton, despite the fact that some nice people did display a good interest of friendship in me. But I was sick and tired of being stabbed in the back, and just needed some space. One of such people was Sholey, who kept persisting for a friendship and would always make me smile, even when I had made up my mind to frown at him. On my way to the bus stop, I saw the Queen Red Bee along with her bunch of Jamaican gangsters. I always had a bag held on to my back, and in it were some textbooks and some rough calculations. All I ever wanted was just to mind my own business. Queen Red Bee walked up straight to me, with her face partially covered with an umbrella which was carried by one of her gang members as she said to me ‘where you from the girl, I hear from me boys on da street that you one of da best dancers in a da Brooklyn, well why don’t ya show me what you got girl,’ her Jamaican English sounded so rigid and terrible.

I tried walking away from her but the three members of her gang quickly closed in on me. ‘Look, I don’t want a fight,’ I said as the little raindrops kept dropping fast from the sky but it was as if they had intentionally turned deaf ears to me. The gang encircled me completely and there was no way out of the siege wall. One of the gang’s members grabbed my bag from behind and they tossed it towards one another, laughing. I ordered them to give back the bag, but they kept tossing it as they kept making a nasty gag out of me.

Frustrated and angry, I turned to the guy, who threw the bag last and pushed him hard.  As he fell to the ground, one of the gang members retaliated by pushing me from the side and I fell into a wet and dirty part of the walkway.

The Queen Red Bee grabbed my bag, opened up the zip, and threw everything in it into a little pool of water. Afterward, she swung the bag far off. I noticed something about her, she was also left-handed like me, but I had an added advantage over her, which is that I can effectively use both hands.

While I laid on the floor, The Queen said to me, ‘that’s what you gon get for trying to rule my street’ as the bunch of trouble makers walked away.

I only grabbed my wet bag. Leaving every other thing behind, I headed for school with a wet body and did not allow the whole scenario to bother me. I headed for school despite the fact that I knew that my teacher, Mrs. Ashley will get really mad and might scold me for coming late to school, which required some serious explanations. In addition, I will have to be the master price of mockery for the day, due to my really wet clothes.

At the time I reached the height of Hampton, the exams had already begun. As I opened the door to my class, the first thing that caught my sight was the cruel look on Mrs. Ashley’s face, already expecting it, I awaited her hurtful scolding. But I guess she got touched by an angel that morning because she only asked me to move quickly and join the class for I was already fifty-three minutes late behind time.

The exam lasted some more time, and then it was over. On my way home, I decided to surprise everyone at home with a gift because I was in a happy mood, although it started badly it still surprisingly turned out well. So, I got a new wristwatch for Gregory, a dress for his wife, and two brand new iPods for Emerald and Emily, downloaded on the iPods were classic orchestral sounds for their rehearsals in ballet dance. As I headed home, I came across The Queen Red Bee and her gang once again. I tried moving aside by pretending I did not see her, but she blocked me herself and stood right in front of me, coming close to my face and saying ‘yeah, so you think you are a tough girl.’

‘I’m not in for this sheet,’ ‘Get the hell out of ma face,’ I boldly replied.

She tried grabbing the bag in my hand but I told her not to dare, which she reluctantly obeyed. I suddenly heard a voice from behind me, saying, ‘leave her alone and get out of here,’ speaking Jamaican English. I turned around and found out it was Sholey and it seemed like he was gonna get involved. Sholey might have been courageously trying to save me, but the one who now really needed safety was him. He was stupid, loudmouthed, fine, and Yeah courageous, but he was also never free from trouble.

With the power of a twinkling glance, Queen Red Bee ordered two of her gang members to grab hold of Sholey and they started beating him up badly.

But just then the metropolitan police started to arrive with loud sirens, I had no idea how they knew what was going on so soon. Probably, this time, they were contacted by one of the good old retired folks in the neighborhood. On seeing this, the Queen Red Bee quickly ran off with the rest of her gang.

The Metro cops came to me and asked if I was all right, to which I replied ‘yes.’ I grabbed hold of Sholey who suffered a slight bruise and swollen on his face, by the hand and pulled him back up. ‘We received a call from your father, he’s over there,’ said one of the cops, as he pointed to the other side of the road. Gregory replied to my stare with a thumb’s up.

‘At least I also had my own people watching my back.’ I said to myself as I walked towards him. As we walked home, he asked ‘what that was all about,’ and I had to spit it all out, but Gregory never ceases to amaze me. He actually wanted me to accept the dance battle and compete against The Queen Red Bee, but I am through with that kind of life for real and no longer willing to go back into it again, at least for mama. But Gregory left me with these words, ‘I know I was never really there for you or your mama,’ and I know she worked so hard for you even when I ain’t there, but she’s making just one mistake, and that’s trying to make you leave her own life and not yours. Maybe it’s high time you started thinking about what you want for yourself, living your own life, while you let Taylor live hers.

Those words sounded like a huge bomb on my twin towers. Before going to bed, I decided to pay a visit to the lighthouse through the internet. The Phoenix had completely taken over Brooklyn. But they were not the new face of the super-fast rising Dance Empire, which had continued to grow immensely from copper to fine gold. It was a new dance crew by the name The Invincibles.

I made inquiries about the Maximus Prime as well and found out that there is presently no longer a group in Brooklyn bearing such a name as the name Maximus Prime, ‘what the hell happened,’ I wondered within myself.