Who Am I Without Him? Read Free Page A

floating around the room is your head; too much hot air made it pop off and fly away.
    Nov. 29
Devita Mae:
How come you missed school yesterday? Dominique wanted to see our composition book. I didn’t have nothing to show because you take it with you every time. I’m not complaining. I don’t wanna carry that thing around. But it got me to thinking. If I was at war, would I be writing letters all the time? I’m saying this because my cousin wrote my mother recently. He is overseas. He told her he writes his mother every day, and he writes his girlfriend twice a day. He’s a hard core dude. . . . Would kill you if you looked at him crooked. I told my dad the war made him soft as butter, writing all them letters, crying ’bout how hard it is over there. My father said, let’s see what happens if you go to war. He told me I would be writing so many letters my fingertips would start to crack. “War scares the words right outta you,” he told me. I got to thinking about the letters we write here. Guess my cousin wouldn’t complain none, if all he had to do is sit in class writing to some girl. Beats getting shot at, I guess.
    Hey, Jaquel.
I think it’s romantic, him writing his girlfriend twice a day. Think about it. He’s at war and all he’s got to do is think and dream about her. I bet he kisses her picture every night before he goes to bed. I bet he talks to it and carries it in his pocket while he’s fighting the enemy. I want a guy like that.
    Devita Mae:
You watch too many movies!!!
    Dec. 3
Dear Jaquel—
Thank you for telling me about your family. Now I will tell you about mine. I am the oldest. Know what that means? I do all of the work, and get all of the blame. At home I watch movies a lot . . . read a bunch too. My mom and dad both work at the same job and do all the same things together, like cooking, gardening, and roller skating. When I grow up, that’s what I want—someone I can do everything with.
    Hey you:
I am tired today so I am not gonna write all that much. My mom and dad have been married for 15 years. Know what that means? I was born before they got the marriage license, ha, ha. I want a pretty wife. My dad says I better want more than that. But he’s old, so what else is he gonna say? But I do want a wife who is a good mother. And I do want lots of kids and I don’t want her to work. My mom never worked. I liked coming home from school and smelling cookies and snapping string beans with her. You remind me of my mother, kinda.
    Dear Jaquel:
You asked me a long time ago and I didn’t
answer. So here goes. This is my real hair.
    I knew it! My boy Reggie owes me five bucks.
    Jaquel—
This is my real hair. I got more real hair in my bottom drawer at home. I never buy the cheap stuff; it itches. Ha! Ha! Pay Reggie what you owe him.
    That’s jive. See, boys don’t know if a girl is real, plastic, or made out of wood. Why I want to spend four hours talking on the phone to a girl with fake eyes, fake nails, fake hair, and a fake chest?
    Blame boys. If a girl is just her own plain self, you all don’t give her any play.
    Devita Mae Girl:
You gotta look good for me.
    Dear Jaquel—
R u cute?
    U know it. Do you think I’m cute?
    You know it. What about me? You like what you see?
    Yeah. I like what I see.
    Hey J—
Do boys have fake parts?
    No! But we fake it sometimes.
    Hmmm. How?
    If we like you, we act like we don’t. If we want to call you, we play it cool and wait a few days before we do. And if we don’t like you all that much, but like how you look, we fake it—go out with you anyhow until we get you to do like we want.
    Jaquel:
Don’t take this the wrong way, but you and me
. . . we would make pretty babies.
    Devita Mae Calloway:
Don’t mention no babies to me! I got things to do once I graduate . . . like party in college and go to grad school for my Master’s in business and open