Verwandte Artikel zu Once Upon a Family Tree
Inhaltsangabe
The author of Love to the Third returns with a novel about two couples searching for love and lasting connections against the constantly shifting backdrop of the modern urban family.
Michelle De Leon brings her unique storytelling talents to this immensely entertaining tale of family, friendship, love, and relationships that are just a little more unconventional than most.
Seventeen-year-old Yolara has grown up surrounded by a close, supportive network of friends and family in the neighborhood. She's the love child of Caridad Flores (who's also Yolie's best pal) and Meshach Burkette, and she has a wild half-sister named Egypt. To complicate things further, Yolie has a powerful crush on Kaliq Nichols, Caridad's one-time lover. Then there's Meshach, who is still in love with Caridad. Every day brings a new drama to this singular extended family.
Featuring characters who groove to the beat of their own drums and filled with catchy, authentic dialogue and fast-paced action, Once Upon a Family Tree is a novel about community, the unique challenges facing today's intricate families, and the love that keeps them together.
Die Inhaltsangabe kann sich auf eine andere Ausgabe dieses Titels beziehen.
Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor
Michelle De Leon is a native of The Boogie Down Bronx and currently lives in the Atlanta area. She graduated cum laude from City College of New York with a bachelor's in English/Creative Writing. In addition to Love to the Third, she is the self-published author of Once Upon A Family Tree (to be re-released by Strebor Books International), Missed Conceptions and the young adult novel, Evangie's Fortune. She is currently working on two collaborations and a Love to the Third sequel.
Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.
Chapter One
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM BA-BOOM-BOOM!
The place was jumping; the bass was thumping. Bodies mingled covered with sweat. In the pungently pissy corridors, bodies were covered with kisses and hickeys. Wanna-be men, rubbing up some what-you-thinkin'-of women in the project stairways. How romantic.
Yolie was oblivious to all that. Her hands worked the turntables furiously. She had the crowd in the palm of her hand. They all were familiar to her. The buildings of the Roosevelt Houses were like a small town. Everyone knew each other and their business. Yolie had received many invitations into the hallways, but she had other things on her mind. Giving the neighborhood something to gossip about wasn't on the agenda.
She had the center jamming to Busta Rhymes, P-Diddy, EPMD. Yolie got her props. She could rock a jam (even though she was "a girl").
"Damn, Yo. It's about to jump off in here!"
"We about to raise the roof in this mug!"
Hundreds of hands were pushing up an imaginary roof. Everyone was "FUBUed" down. With a little Tommy thrown in for good measure. Borinquas and Morenos. Yolara belonged to both. She looked to the back and saw her half-sister, Egypt.
Yolie didn't have anything against Egypt. They shared the same father, Meshach Burkette. He wasn't a faithful husband (Yolie's mother, Caridad, was evidence of that), but he was a dedicated father who loved his daughters. Yolie often felt bad that she couldn't have a real relationship with Egypt, but she couldn't blame her. She was the "legitimate" one who couldn't stand Yolie, the "love child." Egypt glanced at Yolie for a second and then turned to some guy she was with.
"What's up, Yo?" a voice yelled above the music.
Yolie turned around to see BulletProof. Now with a name like that you just knew what was what.
"What's up, B.P.?" Yolie said to him.
"You seen Kaliq? The nigga said he was gonna be here."
"I haven't seen him yet," she answered.
"How's that butter pican Rican doing? Yo moms is da bomb. She got it going on, no joke," BulletProof exclaimed.
Yolie was used to the guys acting up over her mother. Caridad was a beautiful woman. She was her mother, but also her best friend. Cari had made a lot of mistakes, but her heart was always in the right place. It often led her to the wrong place, but her motto was "que sera, que sera" (what will be, will be).
"Mommy is all right. Is Kaliq still picking the boys up this weekend?"
"You know my cousin don't miss no opportunity to spend time with his shorties, bee."
"He is a good father. Me and Mommy do our best with the twins, but they need their dad."
"I can't say if I woulda been better off with my pops around, but it woulda been nice to have a choice."
BulletProof had lost his father a long time ago. The saying goes you don't see too many old drug dealers. BulletProof should heed that, but he was just "caught up."
"I'm tired of hollering over this music. Let's go over there," Yolie suggested. She brought the crowd under control by throwing on a slow jam. Mary J. singing about "A Dream."
"You know my cousin is feeling you, right?"r
Yolie could feel a blush come across her face. "B.P., you know me and Kaliq together would just be too tacky. He is my little brother's father."
"Yeah, but him and yo moms ain't never had nothing together, but that one time. Yo moms is fine and all, but I told him you the one he should be hittin'. I ain't with that older woman taboo shit."
Yolie was saved from having to respond to that comment when a fight broke out. She saw the flash of metal just as someone grabbed her by the arm. People were making a mad dash for the exits. Yolie had just made it out the door as the first shots rang out. She had thought it was Bullet Proof who had grabbed her, but she looked up to find Kaliq was the one with the firm grip on her arm.
"Let's get out of here," he said.
"I can't leave my equipment in there."
"All right, but we're waiting out here until we see what's what," he told her.
"Damn, can't even throw a party without some shit going down," Yolie complained.
"That's why I hate Brooklyn. Do or die Bed-Stuy. I'm not trying to take Travis and Trevor away from your mother, but I wish she'd move out of these projects."
She often wished the same thing, but it wasn't easy. Cops finally arrived at the scene. Of course, no one admitted to seeing anything of importance. An argument had taken place that led to shooting. Same old, same old. Once the excitement died down, Kaliq helped Yolie take her stuff upstairs.
The apartment was dark when she opened the door. "I guess everyone's knocked out."
"I'm surprised Cari slept through all that commotion," Kaliq commented.
"Mommy can sleep through anything. I know she did some overtime before her tour today. I call that post office a plantation. You know she works a mandatory six days on them stupid machines."
"I'll get more construction work when the weather gets warmer. I'll be able to help out with the kids even more then," he said while fidgeting.
"You want something to drink?" Yolie offered as she kicked off her platform sneakers.
"No thanks. Actually, I got to get going. I only stopped by the center to pick up something from Dennis, a.k.a. BulletProof," he explained still fidgeting.
"What's the matter?" Yolie giggled.
"I gotta go bad," he answered.
"Why didn't you say so? You know the way to the bathroom."
He followed her to the bathroom. Her room was right across from it. She sat on her bed and started to pull her socks off. In her dresser mirror she could see Kaliq hadn't closed the door completely. Yolie tried not to peek through the door. Kaliq was tall and muscularly slim. His dark good looks reminded her of that R&B singer, Brian McKnight. She averted her eyes as she saw the light go out.
"Thanks," he said. "Tell Cari I'm still taking the boys Saturday."
"All right. Thanks for the help, Kaliq." She walked him to the door and said good night. Lying across her bed, Yolie thought about what Bullet Proof had said (who would have thought his real name was Dennis!) She didn't know if she should believe that Kaliq liked her. For that matter, should she even want him to? That would be one for the Jerry Springer show.
"I'd like you to meet our next guest, Yolara. Yolara has a secret she'd like to reveal today on our show," Jerry would say.
"Yes, Jerry. I'm in love with my mother's one-night stand."
(Ooohs and aaahs from the audience)
"If there was no love relationship between the two, what's to stand in your way?"
"Well, you see, that one time resulted in my five-year-old twin brothers, Travis and Trevor."
(More ooohs and aaahs from the audience)
"How do you think this man feels about you?"
"I have no idea. His cousin did say he was attracted to me, but..."
"Well, let's bring him out and see what he has to say. Here's Kaliq."
Kaliq emerges from backstage with Caridad right at his heels.
"My daughter is NOT going to go out with my sons' father. No way. What kind of sick shit is that? All in the family? First the mother, then the daughter!" Cari yells at Kaliq, smacking him in the head. Everyone breaks out into a fight. The crowd goes wild. (Yolie knew her mother would never hit anyone, but it made the daydream funnier.)
She pulled off her stripped nylon Adidas warm-ups, but left her Phat Farm T-shirt on. Yolie was glad she had gotten her pay for dee-jaying the party upfront. She did pretty well for herself. She was saving up for college expenses. With her father, Meshach, being a bus operator and Caridad working for the Postal Service, financial aid would be a joke; they earned too...
„Über diesen Titel“ kann sich auf eine andere Ausgabe dieses Titels beziehen.
Suchergebnisse für Once Upon a Family Tree
Beispielbild für diese ISBN
Once Upon a Family Tree
Anbieter: Wonder Book, Frederick, MD, USA
Verkäuferbewertung 5 von 5 Sternen
Zustand: Good. Good condition. A copy that has been read but remains intact. May contain markings such as bookplates, stamps, limited notes and highlighting, or a few light stains. Artikel-Nr. X12D-01230
Gebraucht kaufen
EUR 6,20
Versand gratis
Versand innerhalb von USA
Versand innerhalb von USA
Anzahl: 1 verfügbar