Katani's Jamaican Holiday Page 13

  All of sudden the crowd was on their feet. Apparently Adrian had stolen a wicket or something? “He did that for you. You’re so gorgeous and all,” Olivia teased me.

  “Time to go, pickney,” Selvin told us. “We must get to the resort.”

  “I guess I don’t get to say good-bye to Adrian,” I said a little sadly to Olivia as we left. “Adrian in Jamaica up in a tree, wondering where on earth Katani could be.”

  “You have his e-mail address,” Olivia comforted me. “You e-mail him as soon as you get home, I bet!” She laughed, and I pulled her braid.

  “So, Selvin,” I asked, when we were back in the van, “what is the name of the resort we are going to?

  “The Jamaican Star.”

  “Selvin!” Olivia screamed. “The Jamaican Star…the Jamaican Star.” She turned to me. “Oh, my goodness, Katani. This is one of the most beautiful resorts in Jamaica. It’s on a beautiful beach, white sand, beautiful pool. If they’re having a party, they’ll have a band playing reggae music. You gwine love it!”

  Oh, boy! I was about to go to heaven in Jamaica.

  When we pulled into the lot I saw waiters carrying big trays of tropical fruit down to the beach. My feet began to scrunch up in anticipation of the feel of the sand between my toes.

  Selvin had stashed a couple of trays of Banana Bliss to bring in, so Olivia and I each grabbed one and followed him to the kitchen. There were lots of kids running around and many of them were Olivia’s and my age.

  As we rounded the corner into the kitchen I saw a group of girls climbing out of a van.

  “Olivia—look! It’s Leesha and her friends, from Dunn’s River Falls.”

  Surprise Visitors

  “Selvin—my girls are here. Can Katani and I go party with them?” Olivia pleaded.

  “Sure, but help me first. We need to bring these trays in.”

  I looked over at Olivia and by the look on her face I guessed that she didn’t want our new friends seeing her carry trays in. But before I could say anything, Leesha’s group was running across the parking lot to meet us.

  Olivia had her proud look on, and I was afraid that she would ignore Leesha, just to save face. But then Leesha was at our side and gushing over Nana’s Banana Bliss.

  “Olivia, is this your family business?! I love Banana Bliss. Whenever we’re in Jamaica my mother buys it on Friday mornings so we have it for the weekend. I could eat it every day. It’s so yummy.”

  Olivia’s faced turned pink with pleasure and she looked at Selvin. “Can we give them one piece?”

  Selvin nodded and pulled a big, fat piece off the tray. The girls squealed with delight. “Tell these pretty friends of yours that you will meet them at the beach after we drop the trays off,” Selvin instructed us.

  “Olivia,” Leesha said between bites, “you guys should meet us at the bandstand. There is a rumor that Sean Kingston might drop by. He’s in Jamaica right now.” They ran off dancing and jamming to a Sean Kingston beat.

  “Sean Kingston,” I screamed. He was the hottest hip-hop artist around. I couldn’t believe my luck.

  Seeing my over-the-top excitement, Selvin decided to put a damper on things by teasing, “You know, everytime there is a beach party, someone say, ‘Sean is coming,’ and the ‘beautiful girls’ dance around like chickens. And what you think, mon? Mr. Sean Kingston nowhere to be found.”

  “A girl can always dream,” I said, head in the air, and I walked ahead of him with my tray. Sean Kingston, Sean Kingston, please, please let him be here, I prayed. Seeing Sean Kingston would be like somebody flew into space and brought me down a piece of the moon. I practically danced all the way to the kitchen.

  As soon as Olivia and I found a place to put our trays in the kitchen, we were out of there. Neither of us wanted to miss one more minute of the beach party.

  “Aunt Ruby and Dad are probably already here,” Olivia said. “Let’s go!”

  Beach Party

  When we got down to the beach there was such a crowd that I couldn’t see my grandma or Cousin Cecil but I did see the coolest swimming pool ever, right on the beach. It was designed like a pirate ship…partygoers were shooting down the waterslides, floating down Blackbeard’s lazy river in what looked like painted rubber tires, and swimming under little bridges, and walking the plank. It looked like fun to the max!

  “Look, Katani. Leesha’s got a chair for us.”

  I could see Leesha waving to us from the deep end of the pool. Kayla was about to jump off the plank, and Olivia and I raced to stake out beach lounge chairs next to where the girls had dropped their stuff.

  “Let’s jump in, Katani. They are already setting up the stage for the band and I don’t want to miss the dancing. It’s my favorite.” Olivia flipped off her shorts and the funky red shirt that she had tied at her waist and just dived right into the pool. She swam her way through a bunch of kids up to Leesha, Megan, and Kayla.

  I, on the other hand, was thinking, My hair is going to look really awful if I get it wet. I watched a young girl walk by whose hair had dried all natural and curly. Mmm! Then it came to me—a vision. I was in Jamaica, and I was going to have fun and do it up Jamaica-style. I tossed my beach bag onto the lounge chair, shimmied out of my beach dress, slipped the earrings out of my ears, put my flip-flops under my chair, and jumped onto a green tube with a little palm tree attached to it.

  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.”

  CHAPTER 20

  Banana Bread Showdown

  Ah!” 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.

  To: Maeve, Isabel, Avery, Charlotte

  From: Katani

  Subject: Crazy trip!

  Hey, BSG! Grandma and I are headed back to the airport this afternoon. This vacation seemed like it was only about thirty seconds long! I can’t WAIT to see my BSG and show you all the incredible pics I took, but I’m soooo sad to leave Jamaica too. Magic memories for days—dancing with dolphins, climbing up a waterfall, jerk chicken, man-eating goats, and, oh yeah, a Sean Kingston concert on the beach! Hell-oooo! How much luck can Kgirl have? Specific and very cool details to follow.

  We definitely have to make this a vacation destination for the BSG one day. You all would like it here so much—it’s like the
re’s something for everyone! Like, Isabel, the colors here are AMAZING! Blue water, green palm leaves, big juicy fruits in all kinds of wacky shades…you get the picture. Charlotte, there’s so much cool history here you could read about. Avery—there’s tons of outdoorsy stuff to do! Even the most uncoordinated girl on this island (that’s me!) got her exercise on. And three words for you, Maeve: ISLAND BEACH PARTY. Do I have to say anything else, girl?

  But if we do make a BSG trip to Jamaica, you girls will definitely want someone to explain all the crazy stuff people say and do and eat here! Maybe my cousin Selvin will take us around. He’s the best! I had to learn it all pretty fast, but I think now I can spill some total insider info about visiting Jamaica. Like, if you ever see a goat, run in the other direction as fast as you can! (Trust me—I know from personal experience. VERY personal experience! Picture me, the Kgirl, with a goat munching on her fave polka-dotted pj’s…not pretty.)

  And it’s not all beaches and tropical drinks in Jamaica. I mean, there are some really beautiful beaches and really really tasty fruit juices (like coconut water—right from the coconut!), but there’s also these cool mountains and towns and farms, just like anywhere. I didn’t even know that my own family lived on a farm until we got here! It’s nothing like High Hopes Riding Stable, but it’s very pretty. I thought Jamaica was going to be one long runway walk on the beach, but chilling with my fam and finding out how people really live here turned out to be way more interesting. Char—I might just have to sign up for your kids travel club with Nick and Chelsea.

  Actually, the strangest thing I found here was something…someone…I brought with me—Grandma Ruby! Now you’re thinking, “Kgirl has completely lost her mind on that island!” right? But I’m totally for real. It’s like I got to see this whole other side of my grandma. You know how she is usually absolutely in control, on top of everything. She always knows what to do. But in Jamaica, she was the opposite! She actually messed up on a couple of things, and she even ended up with a bag of flour on her head one day! (Can you even IMAGINE that?! AAJH Principal Ruby Fields completely covered in fluffy white flour—total LOL moment.)