Page 62 of Hellcat Barbies: Imani
When all the boats are occupied, a whistle is blown and we are off. Both Imani and DJ make beelines for me. Because my knees are jammed up against the steering wheel, it’s hard for me to steer and even harder for me to get away. They both bump me on opposite sides and burst out laughing as they do. DJ takes off with his little friends from the line but Imani stays onmy ass. When she peeps my struggle with handling the steering wheel, she takes full advantage and rams me again. Her mean ass bumps me into the corner of the pool.
“You cold as fuck,” I tease. You see yo’ nigga struggling and this what you do?”
“Yelp,” she says cooly then laughs.
“Wait till we get on that track. Imma beat you at yo’ own game,” I fire back, talking shit.
“Do I look scared? No, I don’t. The go-karts are all me. I know you see that orange one. It’s calling my name and I’m going to leave all of ya’ll in my smoke.”
“Damn, you not gone let the kids win?”
“Just one,” she says then winks. “But after I beat his daddy.”
She bumps me one more time then leaves me. She catches up with DJ and bumps into him and his friends. The smile on their faces is wild; DJ is having the time of his life and I love seeing it. Our five minutes goes fast as hell. I’m really glad that I got these unlimited wrists bands because I’m definitely doing this again.I’m a G damn it and I need to redeem myself.
When we get out of the boats, we jump right in the go-kart’s long ass line. It’s moving pretty fast though because there are twenty-four racers at a time. DJ is still with the same two little boys who I now know are the birthday boy, Dontay, and Cam. They are both in his class.
“I wonder how fast these things go?” Imani asks and I chuckle.
“Baby, probably not too fast,” I say.
“Un hun, daddy. Look, they going real fast,” DJ says excitedly.
“Yeah. I raced twice already. They go fast,” Dontay co-signs while shaking his head.
I step to Imani then wrap my arms around her from behind. She leans into me then places her hands on my arms.
“You do know this isn’t the tracks, right?” I ask jokingly.
“I do but let me live in my delusion,” she responds with a laugh. “This is going to be my first time in go-karts cause we didn’t have a spot like this in my hometown. If we had, I would have been there every day. Look at their faces as they take the curves.”
“They are having fun,” I admit. “And DJ is about to jump over these people in this line.”
She grins then says, “He really is.”
The line advances and we are up after two more races. As they fill up the cars, Imani watches the orange number 4 car. DJ rushes to it and yells over to her.
“Miss Imani, I got yo’ car for you.”
With a huge ass smile on her beautiful face, she breaks from me and rushes to it. He hops in the car next to her and I get in the one behind her. The cars of lined up in two lanes and we are the fifth and six sets of cars. When all twenty-four cars are filled and we are all buckled in and given instructions. Then, the street light at the gate changes from red to yellow then to green. The gate opens and we ride out. It’s a super slow take off at first because the first two sets of drivers are having issues. The two workers rush out on the track and push them out of the way. When the track is clear, we rush out. DJ struggles a little at first too but Imani drives over to him.
“Keep your foot on the petal the whole time. Don’t lift it unless you want to stop, okay?” she advises.
“Okay. Got it,” he says then takes off.
She lets him pass her and the three of us race. True to her word, she lets DJ win and he eats that shit up. When we make it to the finish line, he hops out of his car, celebrating loudly and jumping up and down.
“Daddy, you saw me! I beat everybody!” he yells.
“Yeah. You did good,” I tell him.
“You can drive! You were so fast,” Imani adds and he beams.
We head back to the bumper boats and I redeem myself a little. Them shits are really just too damn small. I decide to stick with the go-karts and try mini-golf later. Before we can get back in line for the go-karts, Dontay’s mother comes out and announces that it’s time for food and cake.
Imani
My phone is vibrating back-to-back in my pocket but my hands are full and I can’t answer yet. Today, was my final cooking course at On the Table and we went out with a bang: Cajun Cornish hens with creamed corn maque choux and jambalaya rice. I baked four hens and enough sides for DJ and Daymir. We are having dinner tomorrow. It’s too late tonight. It’s a school night and DJ is already in bed.
