Coffee Will Make You Black by April Sinclair

down. So how can you expect any better from her? She’ll do well to make it through eighth grade.” Mama chopped away at the onion.
    â€œOh, Mama, she’ll make it way past eighth grade. Carla’s popular but she doesn’t even have a boyfriend right now.”
    Mama closed her eyes to avoid the onion. “Time will tell,” she said.
    â€œAnyway, Mama, I bet Patrice and Tanya have already started their periods too.”
    â€œSo what? Everybody gets her period sooner or later.”
    â€œI hope I get mine sooner. Mama, how old were you when you got yours?”
    â€œI was older than twelve, I’ll say that. In my day girls didn’t develop as early.”
    â€œHow old were you, Mama?”
    â€œWhat difference does it make? Can’t you find something else to talk about? Getting your period is nothing to celebrate. Why do you think they call it the curse? It’s just the beginning of a lot of mess, you’ll see. It’s nothing to get excited about, believe me.”
    â€œWhat kind of mess?” I dumped the cut-up green pepper in the bowl with the onion and ground beef.
    Mama poured a can of tomato sauce into the mixture.
    â€œIt’s messy to take care of. It’s one thing to smell a man, it’s another to smell a woman,” she continued. “Nobody wants to smell a woman’s period on her.”
    â€œWhat does it smell like, Mama?”
    â€œLet’s put it this way, people would rather smell a dead fish. Now hand me my spices.”
    Boy, Mama sure could take the fun out of things, I thought as I watched her shape the meat loaf.
    It was the next day and I was standing on the playground with Carla, Tanya, and Patrice. Carla had seen me and waved for me to come over. They were giggling like girls do when they talk about boys.
    â€œI don’t know who it was, but I swear I felt something up against me when we were playing Squeeze the Lemon yesterday.” Tanya giggled.
    â€œWhat you feel, girl?” Carla giggled too.
    â€œI swear I felt …” Tanya couldn’t talk without laughing.
    â€œCome on, girl, tell it,” Patrice said.
    â€œOkay, okay, I swear I felt somebody’s you know what!” Tanya laughed.
    â€œSomebody’s thang?” Patrice asked.
    â€œSome boy’s dick?” Carla laughed.
    Everybody giggled. I tried to giggle too, although I hated giggling. Maybe I just wasn’t good at it. Probably it helped to have older sisters.
    â€œHow you feel somebody’s thang up underneath all them coats and stuff?” Patrice wanted to know.
    â€œMust’ve been your ’magination, girl,” Carla said.
    â€œYeah, girl, must’ve been your ’magination,” I agreed, wanting to at least say something.
    Tanya looked at me sort of surprised, like I didn’t know her well enough to be jumping on the bandwagon.
    â€œIt couldn’t have just been my ’magination, cause guess what happened.” Tanya raised her eyebrows.
    â€œWhat?” we asked.
    â€œPromise not to tell nobody?”
    â€œCross my heart and hope to die,” Carla said.
    â€œI’ll keep it a secret,” I said, ready to hear it.
    â€œMy lips are sealed,” Patrice squeezed her mouth together.
    â€œOkay, well, I know it wasn’t my ’magination, cause my love came down!” Tanya whispered.
    â€œYour love came down!” Carla said, raising her eyebrows.
    â€œOoh, girl!” Patrice scrunched her face up and sucked in her breath.
    â€œOh, wow!” I said, wondering what the heck they were talking about. One day I would have to ask Mama. I was glad that I hadn’t crossed my heart and hoped to die like Carla.

chapter 5
    I’d seen a robin on the way to school this morning. Mama called spring the growing season. She was right because all of a sudden I had breasts. It felt strange to have two bumps sticking out of my chest. Mama had taken me to Sears to buy