Myself and I by Earl Sewell Page B

and thank her for it,” I said, putting the gift back in the box.
    â€œWell, I’m going to play my game.” He noticed the pitcher of Kool-Aid on the table. “Are you done with this?” Before I could answer he lifted the pitcher to his lips and began sloshing it down.
    â€œGross. What if I’d wanted some more of that?” I asked, very irritated with him.
    â€œI guess you’d have to make some more.” He laughed as he walked away while continuing to guzzle every last drop.
    Why do boys only think of themselves? I wondered as I went inside and up to my bedroom.

six
    I followed the simple installation instructions for the webcam and in no time flat I had it hooked up. I then phoned Grandmother Katie to thank her for the gift.
    â€œHello?” said Grandmother Katie as she answered the phone.
    â€œHey,” I said, smiling at the sound of her voice.
    â€œWho is this?” she asked.
    â€œIt’s me, Keysha.” I was a little bewildered by the fact that she didn’t know who I was.
    â€œOh, I’m sorry, honey, I didn’t catch your voice,” she admitted. “How did your prom go?”
    â€œUgh, let’s not talk about that right now,” I pleaded.
    â€œDid something bad happen?” She pressed the issue anyway.
    â€œIt depends on how you look at it. I did not have a perfect evening, but I did learn that boys will lie through their teeth.”
    â€œWell, not all of them, honey,” Grandmother Katie said.
    â€œI’ll give you all of the details on that later. I was calling you to say thank-you for the gift.”
    â€œOh, you got the webcam I sent to you. It wasn’t damaged, was it?” she asked.
    â€œNo, not at all. In fact I’ve already installed it and it’s working well, but why did you get this?” I asked.
    â€œWell, I got a new computer that has a built-in webcam and I thought it would be fun to do video calls with you. I even went and got myself an account on Skype.”
    â€œWho told you about Skype?” I asked jokingly.
    â€œOprah did. Sometimes she has shows and her guests use it.”
    â€œOh. I don’t watch Oprah. I like Tyra Banks and Wendy Williams,” I said as I scratched the side of my head and flaked up some dandruff. “It’s time for me to head back to the beauty shop.”
    â€œAlready? You must’ve sweated out every curl on your head dancing around at prom.” Grandmother Katie laughed.
    â€œNot exactly.”
    â€œAre you at your computer?” she asked.
    â€œActually, yeah, I am,” I said.
    â€œGood, so am I. Why don’t you take a moment to get a Skype account and make me your friend so we can do a video chat?”
    â€œI’m tripping out on the fact that you have a Skype account,” I said with a smile spread across my face.
    â€œWell, you know me. I like being hip,” she said. I wanted to tell her that no one uses the word hip anymore, but I decided to just let her have her moment.
    In no time at all, I created an account, made Grandmother Katie my friend and was sitting in front of my computer looking at her on my screen. She had the ability to smile with her eyes, which had a way of saying welcome without actually speaking the words. Her skin was a flawless shade of cinnamon brown and her hair seemed to be turning more silver with each passing day.
    â€œHey, Keysha. I can see you,” she said.
    â€œDo you have a microphone for your computer?” I asked.
    â€œYup. It’s built-in.”
    â€œHang on, let me run into Mike’s room and get his headset. I’ll talk to you using it,” I said as I hung up the phone before getting up and walking down the hallway to Mike’s room. I asked him if I could borrow his headset.
    â€œYeah, I don’t care,” he replied, refusing to turn his attention away from his new video game, which appeared to be some type of advanced war competition. When I