Chapter Three

If Aviana were right and found an ideal man and someone to love, time would help Amandla. But instead, she just went on listening to Aviana’s tease.

“Have you not decided to enjoy my magazines for once?” Aviana asked her with a mixed tenor of disappointment.

Amandla shook her head.

“Well, I do not like that topic, so if you want to enjoy looking and reading that magazine, hypothetically you can enjoy it alone. I will be just here.” After Aviana heard Amandla’s words, she looked at the image printed in the magazine and tittered. At least she gets on with it.

Amandla was now sitting on the opposite chair, facing Aviana. She kicks the small, slim cabinet door that has a few distances from the left side of the oven and limited pocketbooks of action; novels waved at her—only inside her imagination. Finally, she reached a hand out to grab one book, ‘Stitch.’ As she was about to begin flipping a page, Aviana’s jaw slightly dropped.

“Wait, when did you have that kind of book?”

Amandla looked at her, frowning like she did not have to explain everything before saying, “You know my mother is a laundress and the manageress has a daughter; this book is specially made for her collection.”

“I bet she is a Disney movie fan,” Aviana crossed her legs underneath the table, and Amandla noticed it because she felt a shoe bump on her shin.

“She is not young anymore. This book collection was given to me when I was still seven. And please mind your movement,” Amandla said, and Aviana gently placed the magazine on the table like her life would be unworthy if she did not take care of it. She, by a hair's breadth, never let anyone get to see that she also has the side of enjoying flipping pages. If they saw her acting so childish, they would probably send her to a mental institute. Even when those people that knew her praised her because of her mother, she knew that the meaning of their words was the opposite. But she did not bother counting those times. She was still young in the past.

“I need to figure out a way to go to the city again,”

Amandla recalled that she saw Aviana with her mother in a truck, driving to the south and then west, sometimes west and then south. She only watched her from the windows inside the house. Aviana did not know that Amandla had hidden the other collection of pocketbooks—it was her uncle who gave her the other books—when she was a child, there were overflowing in the storage box located in her room, and there were some bookmarks made of vintage paper with good quality, a little thick, some of her bookmarks were decorated and filled when she was still in high school. Her mother allowed her to keep it, but with their current situation, her mother suggested that she could earn by selling her entire books. She likes action novels but dislikes action with romance in it.

“Now, whatever you are thinking, do not dare to peek at my magazine. Because the moment you flip its pages, you cannot stop wanting more.” Aviana warned.

Amandla confidently snickered at her, “Not interested.”

“Oh, you will be one day.”

“As if.”

“Mark my words, Amandla.”

“It won’t happen, Aviana.”

Then there were two knocks from the main door.

“Amandla!”

Aviana and Amandla walked fast while tip-toeing glimpsed at the door.

“So, will we wait until your mother opens the door, or the door itself will open?” Aviana said with a point. While Amandla, with her face moping directly, goes away from Aviana’s side. “I am coming, Mother,” Amandla said her words out loud. When she opened the door, her mother – Mrs. Holly, had brought a box. “Welcome home, Mother.” She handed the box to Amandla, “Put it on the dining table; our dish tonight will be chicken nuggets and cabbage salad with mayonnaise as our dessert.”

“Sounds yummy,” Aviana walked out from the kitchen area and greeted Amandla’s mother with a smile, “Lovely afternoon, Misses Holly,” Mrs. Holly lowered her head a little and smiled back, “Good to see you too, Aviana,” Then she glanced back to Amandla, “Now, whatever you girls plan to do in this house, ensure that the floors and rooms are all clean, got it?”

“Yes, Misses Holly.”

“Understood, Mother.”

When Amandla and Aviana replied, Mrs. Holly, walked away from them in silence as she headed toward her room. No one else was allowed to enter, not even Amandla, her daughter.

Aviana looked at Amandla, “Is it heavy?”

“I can carry it alone, do not worry.” So Amandla held and carried the box to walk back to the kitchen area. And Aviana was guiding her from the front just in case Amandla had unexpected incidents or lost her balance.

“You can place the box here.” Aviana grabbed her magazine gently and hugged it. Amandla slightly laughs as she gradually places the box on the table. Once she settled the box, Amandla opened it, filling it with cabbage. Most of it was not edible, but at least some could still be eaten; it was not even half full, but she must not complain.

“Wait,” Aviana stopped Amandla before she continued talking, “Where are the nuggets?” Amandla had to grab some cabbage out to look for the chicken nuggets. Then she sees a white bag. “Here are the nuggets.” She was taking it out from the box while Aviana licked her lips. She was showing signs that she was hungry.

Then Amandla moves to get a cup. She did not have to reach out higher on the top drawers; she picked up two cups effortlessly. “What are you doing?”

“I am going to get some water for you to drink,”

“But I want the nuggets. It smells so good.”

“Mother will not be happy if you did that.”

“What?”

“Eat the nuggets.”

Aviana gasped in shock to know that she could not taste the chicken nuggets; her face was filled with wrinkles due to pouting and scowling.