Katani's Jamaican Holiday (14 page)

I floated by Leesha and Olivia and in my most horrible crow voice I began to sing along with the reggae band that had just begun to play.

Leesha, her friends, and Olivia were laughing so hard, they couldn’t stop. I mean, I knew I was being funny, but even I knew I wasn’t that funny. Finally Olivia pointed, and I turned my head to look. I didn’t really register for a minute until I heard his voice.

“Hello, Katani. I’m thinking that maybe you are still pretty and smart, but I am sorry to tell you”—he paused for one awful second—“you cannot sing, girl, at all.”

Disaster city! The one boy in Jamaica who thought I was cool had now seen me make a complete fool of myself. There was nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. I had to make one of those decisions that all kids hate. Do I get mean and evil and pout because everyone saw me be silly and stupid? Or…do I go with the flow? I decided to go with the flow.

“Maybe you would like this song better?” I smiled sweetly at Adrian and joined in again with the band.
“Yellow bird up high in a banana tree…,”
I sang loudly and proudly.

The next thing I knew, I was underwater. Adrian had dived into the pool and helped Olivia, Leesha, Megan, and Kayla spin me around and flip me upside down.
Kgirl, you have been dumped!
I thought as I came up sputtering and laughing and spewing water from my nostrils.

When I wiped the water out of my eyes I looked across to the dance floor. There, who should I see in front of me but
Precious and Mr. Biggs, dancing with a group of other couples! And out of the corner of my eye I saw Nana’s Banana Bliss reality TV show unfolding before my eyes. I grabbed Olivia’s hand for support. “Look!” I hissed at her. She stopped splashing around and turned too.

Grandma Ruby and Cousin Cecil were walking by the dance floor when they both saw Mr. Biggs and Precious. Oh, Grandma Ruby was looking mad…really mad, and Selvin was running toward them, yelling, “Ruby, Ruby, you are right. We have been betrayed.”

I never climbed out of a pool so fast in my life. Something was wrong here. Very wrong. Olivia was hot on my trail, and our friends were following her. This was my worst nightmare. I didn’t know what was worse: a showdown in front of people I did know or didn’t know.

By the time I got to Grandma, she was accusing Precious of betraying her. Precious was crying, and Mr. Biggs—that huge, scary man—was looking like he had absolutely no idea what to do. Selvin and Cousin Cecil were staring at him, and Precious was trying to explain. Worse, a crowd had gathered. We were going from Beach Party to Beach Party Disaster.

“But Miss Ruby, Precious is an honest woman who loves her job…a professional woman,” a nervous Mr. Biggs tried to explain.

“Who wants to put
us
out of business spying for
you
,” Grandma Ruby retorted.

“No, no!” Precious pleaded. “Please, Miss Ruby, I am here with Mr. Biggs, but it is not what you think. What proof do you have that I have done this to Banana Bliss?”

Grandma was silent for a moment.

“We saw you!” I suddenly exclaimed. Everyone looked at me. I looked over at Olivia, gulped, and went on. “That night
at the bakery. Olivia and I saw you get into Mr. Biggs’s SUV and drive away. And before that, I saw you talking to him in his SUV outside the bakery.”

“Katani?” Grandma seemed surprised. “Did you know what Precious was up to and didn’t tell Cousin Cecil and me?”

“But, Grandma, I thought you knew,” I said. Now I was really confused. “When Olivia and I were explaining what happened, Cousin Cecil said he already knew all about why Precious was at the bakery that night.”

“The cell phone—she said she forgot her cell phone, and went back to get it at the bakery. That is what I knew,” a confused Cousin Cecil answered.

Finally Precious collected herself. “I did go to the bakery that night to get my cell phone. But what these girls saw is right—it was Mr. Biggs that drove me there. I was going to tell you Miss Ruby, Mr. Cousin Cecil, but Denzel—er, Mr. Biggs…and I—we have only been seeing each other for a couple of weeks.” There was a little gasp from the crowd. Precious was
dating
Mr. Biggs?! “I didn’t want to make that public yet,” she went on. “I love my job and I am very loyal to Miss Faith and Banana Bliss. Besides”—she looked over at the embarrassed big man—“him a big flirt and I don’t know if I will stay with him or not.” Precious put her nose in the air as the crowd clapped and whistled.

Now it all made sense, why Precious was hanging around Mr. Biggs so much. They were dating! But that didn’t make her a spy. I felt really bad for accusing her, and I suspected Grandma Ruby did too.

“This is a pretty bad scene,” Olivia whispered in my ear. No kidding. The Banana Bliss drama was beyond embarrassing. It was super humiliating! I looked over at Adrian. What was he
thinking about the pretty, smart girl and her family now?

“Precious, I think we all owe you an apology,” Grandma Ruby said sincerely. “It wasn’t fair for us to jump to conclusions like that. I am very sorry, and I’m sure these girls are too.” She looked at Olivia and me with a look that said,
Your turn
.

“I’m sorry, Precious,” we said at the same time.

Cousin Cecil stuck out his hand. “I knew in my heart you would never betray Banana Bliss, Precious,” he said. She took his hand, and they shook firmly.

Grandma Ruby shook her head. “What do we do now, with all of this silliness?” Then she wagged her finger at Mr. Biggs. “You have started all of this with your competitive ways. You have more trucks and more people. Why don’t you just leave Faith alone to make our Bliss?” Then she said the fighting words: “Our banana bread is better than yours, anyway.”

A
h!” Mr. Biggs said. “So that’s how it’s gonna be. If you think your bread is so good, then we should have a competition here and now.”

“Competition? Competition?” exclaimed Grandma. “There’s no competition. Your banana bread can’t compete with our Banana Bliss.”

The hotel manager, who had just arrived to see what all the fuss was about, looked slightly alarmed. Selvin, who knew the manager very well, hastily introduced him. “This is Ruby Fields, Aunt Faith’s niece. She’s come from the States to help out at the bakery while Aunt Faith’s in the hospital.” He turned to my grandma. “This is Mr. MacFarlane, Ruby. He looks after purchases.” Mr. MacFarlane nodded, but he was still looking a little frightened.

“What happen, Biggs?” Selvin asked. “Giving away more free samples? You trying to steal this customer too?”

“Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?” Grandma accosted him. “Trying to take away an old lady’s living?”

I held my breath, but Mr. Biggs just laughed. “It’s a free country,” he said. “All’s fair in love, war, and commerce.”

“Hmph!” Grandma snorted. “So be it. We can’t fight your free giveaways, but we can settle whose bread is better…right now. Go get the bread.”

“Mine is better,” he grumbled.

I shook my head from side to side. What was my grandma doing? A banana bread competition here and now? I looked yearningly at the ocean. That’s where I should be right now.

“Selvin. Get Faith on the phone,” Grandma Ruby commanded. “I won’t do this unless she agrees. It’s her business.”

Selvin ran back to the van to get his cell phone.

Banana Versus Banana

I thought Grandma Ruby would be nervous. But when I looked over at her, I knew I was wrong. The principal of Abigail Adams Junior High was steely-eyed—like when she had to break up a fight on the playground. Nobody was going to mess with my grandma, not even Mr. Biggs of the Manteca Bay Bakery Company.

Trays of banana bread were being brought out to the tables lining the pool. The place looked like a banana bread convention! Selvin came running back with his cell phone and gave Ruby a thumbs-up. “Faith say, ‘Believe in Nana’s Banana Bliss.’”

Grandma Ruby smiled calmly and turned to the man in the cowboy hat. “Let the competition begin, Mr. Biggs.”

The waiters passed around Banana Bread and Banana Bliss to the people gathered outside by the pool. There must have been more than fifty of them! It was agonizing watching people chew and chew and chew.
Enough already…one bite should tell them
, I thought as I chewed on my nails. “Katani,
you going to ruin your nail polish,” Olivia scolded me. I stopped immediately. Got to protect the look, after all.

Finally, the manager asked for a show of hands…and…it was over almost as soon as it began.

Nana’s Banana Bliss had won almost unanimously!

“Yeah!” I yelled. Olivia, Selvin, and I jumped around like a bunch of crazy roosters. Cousin Cecil was smiling like I had never seen him smile before, and Grandma, she sat down in a chair and stared out at the ocean with a little smile. Then I saw Cousin Cecil and Selvin chatting with a pretty little woman who turned out to be Chloe from Devon House. Hmm. Nice.
Cousin Cecil and Chloe, sitting in a tree…
I would have to tell Olivia.

I had to give it to Mr. Biggs. He was a professional through and through. He shook Grandma’s hand, sat down next to her, and they began to chat. I heard the words “Banana…share…big island…small business.” Sounded good to me.

Suddenly, Adrian and Olivia’s friend Marius came madly running toward us. They were shouting and waving their hands, yelling something.

“Him come, Sean Kingston come.”

Olivia and I raced down the beach with the growing crowd. One of the biggest hip-hop artists in the world was here at
our
beach party! We passed Leesha, Megan, and Kayla as we ran, and they fell in beside us, laughing and shouting. Everyone was running so fast that if someone had seen us from the air, they would think we were being chased by invaders from another planet.

Then all of us heard them—the words “Beautiful girls…” floating back to us. Sean Kingston was singing my favorite song! Adrian grabbed my hand, and we danced our way down to the beach.