Top o' Mornin' To Ya: Almost A Senior by Brenda Faye Collie

Chapter 1

“Jason, wake up” I yelled for the hundredth time. For the hundredth and one time he stirred in the bed mumbling, “Five more minutes.” He had stayed up Thursday night to watch Friday the 13th, Part Six. When I told him to cut off his new television at 12:00 am because he had an appointment with his probation officer at 9:00 am, he mumbled as the masked Jason on television cut up some poor white woman after having her screaming and running for ten minutes, “Five more minutes.” Jason was famous for his five more minutes. Mama said that he was born five days late and he’d probably be late for his own funeral. But I was determined that I wasn’t going to be late for school this morning. So, after I turned the slab bacon strips in the frying pan, I politely went into the refrigerator and took out the pitcher of cold water and threw it on him. He gave a yell which woke up Mama and I’m sure a few dead people. Mama came out of our bedroom running and screaming, “What’s the matter, Jay?” That’s what she calls him. Jay, which is short for jaybird cause he ain’t got much sense. He is nineteen and six feet two, which means he’s too old to be whining over a little cold water.

“Why you do that to him, Loresha?”

“Cause she’s crazy, Mama.” He used his pointer to circle his head.

I went into the kitchen and started beating two eggs for my breakfast. Me crazy? I didn’t steal a bucket of subway tokens from a subway station and then try to sell them outside the same station. He’s the one that has to appear in court every month to show that he’s making progress in a GED program and working for PAL as a youth aide. I go to regular school. I’m in the eleventh grade. I ain’t got to report to anyone except Mama Police.

Mama Police entered the kitchen and picked up a slice of bacon. She slammed the cabinet door after pulling down a cup. I didn’t say anything to her. I knew she didn’t want me to remind her that her job interview was at ten o’clock. I just scraped my eggs onto my plate because the look on her face said that she was not in a friendly mood. The faucet water thundered into the coffee pot.

“Why must everyone wake when you wake up, Loresha?”