When it began, Carmen saw it as a way to rebel against her mother’s control. Dominique despised Denny and all he represented. Denny was exactly the type of boy she'd tried to keep her daughters away from. They went together from tenth grade until Carmen dropped out of Spellman and moved to New York. Now, seeing Denny Boo, as she called him was always interesting.
Finding Denny would be easy. It was just a simple matter of calling his mother and asking. Mrs. Barnes had become a second mother during the years when Carmen's
relationship with Dominique was strained. Carmen dialed the number, amazed that she still remembered it after all these years.
“Good Morning.” Mrs. Barnes answered.
“Good Morning, Mrs. Barnes, this is Carmen. How are you?”
“I could complain, Carmen, but ain't nobody wanna hear about my bad back. They just wanna tell me about their arthritis.”
“Well, now that you mention it,” Carmen said in a frail sounding voice. “My arthritis has been giving me trouble here lately.”
“Stop it, girl. You still crazy. How you been, Carmen.”
“Well my big toe swell up this morning, so I know its gon' rain today,” Carmen laughed. “Let me stop before you hang up on me.”
“And you know I will if you get to acting silly.”
“I'm doing fine, Mrs. Barnes, but is your back really hurting you?”
“No more than it did yesterday and no more than it did the day before that. But it's nice of you to ask, and it's so nice of you to call. Are you in town?”
“Yes Mrs. Barnes, I got in on Tuesday.”
“Well you make sure that you stop by here before you run out of town.”
“Actually, I was thinking about staying a while. But I'll try to get by there this week, but I need a favor.”
“Denny's new cell phone number is 678 555-7543. That is what you wanted, ain't it?”
“You know me too well, Mrs. Barnes.”
“Well if you do move back here, maybe you could talk Denny into getting a real job.”
“Still living that thug life, huh?”
“How they say it, he thugged out.”
“I'll try, Mrs. Barnes, but you know Denny don't listen to nobody but Denny.”
“You just talk to him, he'll listen to you. Now let me go, Carmen. My show fixin' to come on. You come see me now.”
“Maybe I'll get Denny to bring me by on Sunday for dinner.”
“That'll be the day.”
“Bye, Mrs. Barnes,” Carmen said as she hung up. She dialed Denny's number. “Hello.” Denny answered.
“What's up, Denny Boo?”
“Ain't but one person call me Denny Boo. What's up, Carmen? You in town? Let me come scoop you up, take you to lunch?”
“Which question you want me to answer?”
“All of them!”
“Well, let me see,” Carmen paused. “I'm fine. Yes, I'm in town, staying at the airport Marriott. And no, you can't come scoop me up.”