Nydia gave him a lethal stare. “Are you discriminating against me because of my age? And how do you know that I’m not retired?”
He blinked once. “I don’t.”
She flashed a saccharine smile. “Then I suggest you step aside so I can pass. And for your information—good black don’t crack.”
Jasmine, waiting until they walked away, said, “I didn’t know you had black people in your family?”
Nydia rolled her eyes at her friend. “Mija, you should know that Puerto Ricans have everything in their gene pool. That’s why we call ourselves the rainbow people. My great grandparents on my father’s side of the family were black, and my mother’s mother is half black.”
“I stand corrected,” Jasmine said under her breath.
Nydia did not like having to explain to people what she was, and whenever she was asked she just said Puerto Rican, and her racial makeup did not make her any less than apuertorriqueña. She waved to Hannah when she spied her at the far end of the alley. She and her cousins were already wearing bowling shoes and had selected their balls. She exchanged air kisses with the world-weary cousins and then Hannah.
Sitting, she opened the bag and wiped off the ball with a soft felt cloth and set it on the belt with the others. Nydia glanced up to find her bowling partners staring at her. “What’s the matter?”
Hannah pointed to the colorful hand-painted ball. “I can’t believe you put graffiti on your ball.”
Nydia slipped her feet into her shoes. “It’s called art.” She’d had her custom-made ball decorated with the New York Yankees’ logo, the American and Puerto Rican flags, and street signs from East and West Harlem. “I have to rep my set,” she drawled with a wide grin. “In New York when someone calls out ‘BK stand up’ any and everyone who lives in Brooklyn will stand up to let you know they’re in the house. For me it’s Harlem.”
“I like the art,” LeAnn said.
“Me, too,” Paige agreed.
Nydia curtsied to Hannah’s dark-haired, dark-eyed, petite first cousins. “Thank you very much,” she said in her best Elvis Presley imitation.
Shaking her head, Hannah rolled her eyes upward. “I just hope that ball brings the Innkeepers good luck.”
Nydia tied up her shoes, which were decorated similarly to the ball. “You worry too much, Hannah.” A loud, nasal, buzzing reverberated throughout the alley as pins were lowered, signaling the start of the first game. “We’ve got this.”
When it was her turn, Nydia pulled on a leather driving glove before picking up her ball. It was as if she had stepped back in time to when she’d bowled on average once a week. She threw the colorful sphere and knocked down all ten pins for a strike.
She curtsied to Hannah. “Counselor. I rest my case.” Nydia executed a fist bump with Jasmine as she sat beside her. “I still got it,mija,” she whispered.
Jasmine nodded. “No lie.”
LeAnn and Paige nearly matched her prowess as they threw doubles, while Nydia managed a turkey—three strikes in a row. Hannah came in fourth bowling a 145. At the end of the night the Innkeepers were first in the standings among the ten teams.
Hannah looped her arm through Nydia’s as they were leaving. “You did good, baby girl.”
Nydia laughed. As she was the youngest of the innkeepers, Hannah was old enough to be her mother. “You did have your doubts.”
“I must say I did, but after your first strike I became a believer.”
“You didn’t do too bad yourself. If we keep winning like we did tonight, then we may have to hire bodyguards to walk us to our cars.”
Throwing back her head, Hannah laughed loudly before she placed a hand over her mouth. “I did see quite a few glares thrown our way.”
“I prefer to call them stink-eyes,” Nydia said. “They’ll learn soon enough that the Innkeepers will not yield to intimidation.”
“You’re right, Nydia. My cousins joined the Freedom Riders when they were college students, and were so militant that folks crossed over to the other side of the street when they saw them coming. I don’t know if it’s true, but there were rumors that they were always armed.”
“That’s what you call pistol-packing mamas.” She stopped at Jasmine’s minivan, waiting for her friend who’d lagged behind talking with Paige and LeAnn. “Will I see you and St. John Sunday at the Toussaints?”
“We wouldn’t miss it. Whenever the Toussaints are cooking you can count on me being there. Are you bringing your gorgeous beau?”
“Ifbeauis an equivalent to boyfriend, then yes. I invited Lamar and his daughter to come with me.”
“Good. I’ll see you there.” Hannah waved over her shoulder as she made her way to her car.
