Adrienne didn’t know what to say. She shrugged and retrieved the part that had landed in the middle of the room. She wished hard that Jayden’s relatives left her alone with the cat.
Uncle Tommy returned with tape. Adrienne held out her hand for it, but he eyed her.
“I can do it,” he said curtly.
Nothing she said was going over well. Adrienne stepped aside to watch him. His hands shook as he wrapped tape around the exposed wires. She wondered if he were ill, but didn’t ask, aware of how seriously southern men took what they believed to be their manly duties. Her father was the same. He was never wrong, and when he was, he was all the more convinced he was right, unless she simply dropped the topic. Then his pride wasn’t injured, and he’d come around.
Uncle Tommy reconnected the ignition wire to the knob where it belonged. It took longer for him than it would her; he struggled to keep his hands steady enough to maneuver the pliers and wire in place.
Adrienne watched him, ready to help, prepared to earn more glares. In the end, she didn’t have to. He reconnected it then set the pliers on the top of the unit and flipped it on.
The ancient appliance roared to life with a shudder that rattled the window it hung out of.
“Look at that,” he said.
Adrienne handed him the plastic piece that covered the wires from view. He replaced it then closed up the control panel.
“Why you couldn’t do that before, Tommy?” Aunt Bess demanded. “You got your ass beat by a teenage, white girl.”
“Why you couldn’t do it before?” he snapped. “You got small hands like she does!”
Adrienne crept away. She was thrilled when the appliance worked, but suspected she’d made more of a mess than anything else. She sat down on the couch with the cat, watching the two of them argue over who was the worst sibling for not knowing how to fix the AC unit.
“Tommy, you fixed it?” Jayden called over the sound of the AC. He appeared in the doorway leading from the kitchen.
“Damn right I did,” Uncle Tommy replied.
“No you did not!” Aunt Bess countered. “Lil’ white girl did.”
“Adrienne?” Jayden asked, surprised.
“Oh, you think only a man can fix things?” Aunt Bess demanded.
“No, Bess – “
“Shut it, Jayden. Shut it both of you! If not for me and Mama you’d be out on yo ass, Tommy. And you, Jay, why you couldn’t tell me kids can get scholarships to your school? You don’t want your cousins going?”
Jayden appeared harried while Uncle Tommy grumbled and slammed the door to the porch open.
Adrienne giggled, unable to help the nervous reaction to the insanity around her.
“What you laughing at?” Aunt Bess demanded.
She ducked her head and hugged the cat.
“It’s fixed. We’re done,” Jayden announced. “You ready, Addy?”
“You ain’t taking my cat!”
Adrienne set the cat on the cushion beside her. This time, she imagined the cat silently imploring her to take it with her.
“Sorry, kitty,” she murmured, patting it one last time.
“Jayden, you fix the AC?” another voice with a heavy accent asked from the kitchen.
“Go back outside, Grandmama,” Jayden said, turning to intercept someone. “Tommy fixed it.”
Adrienne almost objected this time, hurt he didn’t want to admit she did it.
“Jay’s girlfriend did it,” Aunt Bess said.
“Jayden has a girlfriend?” the voice asked.
“Grandmama, I think –” Jayden was trying to keep the elderly woman in the kitchen.
Curious as to why, Adrienne moved closer to see.
The round woman in purple stopped pushing at her grandson when Adrienne came into view. Her eyes grew wide, and she mumbled something in French. She hurried further into the kitchen.
Jayden shook his head and turned.
“You ready?” he asked Adrienne, forcing a smile.
She nodded, though she hoped not too eagerly. Jayden rolled his eyes, and she sensed he was as stressed out by the visit as she was. He moved towards the door, where his aunt stood with crossed arms. Adrienne watched him, once again glancing at the cat.
She pitied the poor creature.
“I’ll see you soon, Aunt Bess,” Jayden told his aunt, leaning forward to kiss her.
“Zombie!” shouted his grandmother.
Adrienne barely had time to turn. Purple filled her vision, and something soft knocked her to the ground. She landed with a grunt beneath the weight of the overweight woman on top of her, soon aware of something else: the flash of a pair of poultry shears heading towards her head.
“White zombie!” Jayden’s grandmother hissed at her. “You will not take him!”
Adrienne braced herself to be killed by the crazy woman with gold teeth, too shocked to scream.
Instead, Jayden’s grandmother grabbed a handful of her hair and sliced through it, taking a piece of Adrienne’s earlobe with it.
She screamed at the hot pain.
“Grandmama!” Jayden was the first to recover.
“You will not take him!” his grandmother shouted.
Jayden pried her off of Adrienne, who felt close to fainting at the pain. She reached up and touched her ear, horrified at the blood on her fingers.
“Why did you do that?” Adrienne asked faintly.
Jayden was panting from the effort of pulling the hefty, incensed woman away.
“You brought your family’s curse into my house!” the grandmother shouted, pushing Jayden away. She rose and stuffed Adrienne’s hair in the deep pocket of her housedress.
Aunt Bess and Aunt Tommy stood a few feet away, stunned. Jayden moved between his grandmother and Adrienne.
Adrienne stood, scared but ensnared by the talk of a family curse. How did Grandmama know?
Jayden gripped her arm and kept her behind him.
“I warn you, Jayden,” his grandmother said. “I warn you!” She reached into her pocket, and Adrienne braced herself for a gun or something worse to appear.
His grandmother withdrew a vial of what looked like blood and flung it at the two of them. Adrienne gasped while Jayden muttered a curse. The liquid seeped into the white shirts of their school uniforms.
“What is this, Grandmama?” Jayden exclaimed, pulling his shirt away from his chest as the wetness spread.
“My most powerful protection spell. Made with my own blood,” she replied proudly. Her eyes settled on Adrienne. “It will kill a zombie.”
Adrienne stared down at her shirt, horrified by the thought of being covered in someone else’s blood. She held the injured earlobe, disgusted by the warm liquid trickling down her hand.
“Adrienne is not a zombie. For the last time, stop with this nonsense!” Jayden yelled. “Stop filling my mother’s head with this ridiculous voodoo shit.”
His grandmother didn’t seem to be paying attention. “The spell does nothing. Her face is the same, but she is not the zombie I saw.”
“You know what? That’s it. Adrienne is a sweet, good person. She sings like an angel – she is an angel,” Jayden snapped, pulling Adrienne towards the door. “After what you did to her, I’m never coming back, Grandmama!”
Adrienne glanced back over her shoulder, as intrigued as she was surprised and grossed out by the blood. Her ear hurt badly enough to make her feel like vomiting.
Jayden, who hated voodoo, had a powerful priestess as a grandmother. One who had recognized Adrienne and her family’s curse.
Grandmama was studying her.
Adrienne turned away, fear running through her again.
They made it outside and to the driveway when Jayden stopped to look at her. She gazed up at him, wanting to cry, but not in front of him.
“Are you okay?” he asked, the angry edge leaving his voice. His warm eyes softened. He scoured her features then took the hand covering her ear.