“I wouldn’t worry too much about my wife Alma.” Horus says. “After all she is a goddess of Love. She’s forgiving about these things.”
Alma give Horus a look. “You get hit on a lot don’t you?”
“She gets hit on more than me.” Horus retorts.
Osiris turns to me as the banter continues between Edna and Alma about Horus. “Is it always this spirited between you and your friends?” Osiris asks.
“Since 1923.” I reply.
“Then we’ve got to have them over for Christmas Dinner.” Osiris says.
I give my father a look. “You never invite mortals to the house for dinner-”
“This is the kind of conversation I’d love to hear over one of my five-course feasts.” Osiris says. I definitely would look forward to having your friends over for Christmas dinner. That’s if they can make it.”
On hearing the invitation the girls light up. “We’d be honored to be your guest Pharaoh.” Alma says.
“Is it going to be formal dress Your Highness?” Edna inquires.
“You can dress up if you wish.” Osiris says. “But Isis usually keeps it casual.”
“Why?” Edna asks.”
“She can never keep the tiara from falling in her eyes.” Horus teases.
The phone rings as the girls laugh about the troubles I have with my tiara. I hurry over to the phone sitting on the counter of the kitchenette and pick it up. “Andrea Robinson.” I greet.
“Hey Isis, it’s Anubis.” I managed to resolve the issue of Andrea’s cadaver.”
“Great, we should be finished up here in about an hour or so. I’ll be back on the island about then.”
“Great. I’ll meet you outside the garage.”
Chapter 14
After Horus stacks the last of my suitcases on top of the dresser, Osiris pulls down the rolling gate and locks up the back of the truck. With Andrea’s possessions packed up and ready to move, I turn to my two best friends to make my plans for the next time when we meet.
“I’ll see you ladies at the retirement dinner next Thursday.”
“I can’t wait.” Alma says.
“I’m more looking forward to Christmas Dinner at your house.” Edna says. “That’s gonna be some evening.”
“Why? It’s just gonna be another dinner at my house-”
“For you it’s just another holiday dinner Princess.” Edna says. “But how many of us mere mortals can say they got the opportunity to sit down and have dinner with royalty?”
I guess when they put it in the perspective of their mortal experience it is a major event in their lives. And as hostess of the festivities I’m gonna have to put on my New Heliopolitan finest as a show of respect for my guests. Let’s just hope I can keep that blasted tiara from falling in my eyes.
“Not that many.” I say “And the number is zero when it comes to Black people.”
“That’s why we want to look our best when we go to visit you and have dinner with your family.” Edna continues.
“Well, we’ve got to call up Penelope.” Alma says. “Tomorrow we head up to Oneonta to get her help in finding the perfect dresses.”
“Catch you later.” I say as I wave goodbye.
As Edna and Alma head down the sidewalk to get a cab, I shuffle over to the cab of the truck and open the door. I’m about to take a deep breath and put all my effort towards the high step of the truck when Osiris puts a hand on my shoulder. In an instant, I feel my strength returning to my limbs. When I slide into the driver’s seat and catch the reflection of myself in the rearview mirror, I notice I’m young again. I thought they weren’t going to lift the spell until Christmas Eve.
“Don’t you think this is gonna blow my cover?”
“I’d like to think a little old lady would want to get home sometime tonight.” Osiris jokes as he slides into the truck beside me. “The way you were struggling it looked like you would fall and break a hip.”
“Besides, no one is around.” Horus says as he gets in the truck and closes the door behind him. “So your secret should be safe.”
“I hope.”
I twist the key and the engine revs. We pull off the curb and a flash of light takes us from the streets of Harlem to the road that winds around the Island of Solitude. As we approach the driveway, Anubis waves at us. I’m eager to find out what he’s come up with.
I park the truck in the third car port next to the Lincoln Continental and shut off the engine of the truck. Anticipation builds inside me as Osiris, Horus, and I hop out of the truck and greet Anubis’s smile with our own.
“What’s going on Nubsy?” I ask.
A lot. “Come see what I’ve built.”
An eager Anubis walks us down to the end of the driveway where my cherry red Mustang convertible is parked with the top down. A familiar wrinkled face sits in the drivers’ seat dressed in my powder blue suit, white heels and white floral Church hat. If I wasn’t standing here, I’d swear that was Andrea Robinson.
“This Shabti is constructed to look and feel just like real human flesh and bone.” Anubis says. “It’ll pass muster with any mortal autopsy.”
“Wow. I gasp examining the Shabti. “It’s like looking in a mirror. Well, a mirror in mortal years.”
“That’s what Queen Isis said when she was dressing it.”
Wow. “So it’s anatomically correct?”
“Right down to the last cell of your body.” Anubis continues. “As I stated before, it’ll pass muster with any mortal autopsy.”
“How does it work?”
Anubis reaches into the glove compartment and pulls out a remote control. When he presses a button, the engine of my Mustang starts.
“Hey, I didn’t tell you to fix my car-”
“Well, I couldn’t fix the body.” Anubis continues. “Any form of animatronics or robotics inside the body would make mortals suspicious when they did the autopsy.”
“So you rigged my car with a remote starter?”
“It’d be a lot less questions if Andrea’s death appeared to be an accident.” Anubis says.
“You don’t mean-”
“Consider it a noble sacrifice for the greater good of the Black community.” Horus jabs.
I frown catching Horus’ smile. “But this my dream car-”
“Do you want to see your dream of The Theta Sisterhood die?” Osiris asks.
The sacrifices I make for my brothers and sisters. And I just got this car to drive just the way I liked it. “No.” I spit.
“Hey, your sisters are mourning your loss, don’t you think you should share in some of their pain?” Horus teases.
“You know Horus, you’re not funny.” I retort. “With the Mustang all jury rigged I’ll guess I’ll just take the Continental to the Theta Dinner next week-”
“You can’t take the Continental.” Osiris says.
“Then how am I going to say goodbye to my friends?”
“You’re not going to make it.”
Chapter 15
My face twists into a scowl after my father tells me that I can’t go to my retirement dinner. Looks like my five more minutes are over. Maybe I can get one more extension if I say pretty please. “Dad, I thought we agreed I had until Christmas Eve-”
“Death is one of those things that comes out of nowhere.” Osiris says. “No one on earth ever gets a chance to tell God when it’s their time to die. Neither should Andrea Robinson.”
I guess this is more of that tough love. Maybe if I let him know how important it is to me, I can get him to ease up on me. “But Dad, this is my big send-off.” I whine. “A chance for me to say goodbye to all my friends-”
“Didn’t you do that already?” Osiris says.
“Just to Alma, Edna, Millie, and Jack-”
“Those are all your closest friends.” Osiris continues. “How many people do you need to say goodbye to? “Osiris continues.
“Well, I’d like to say goodbye to every Theta Sister I ever worked with-”
?
??How many Theta Sisters have there been over the years?” Horus asks. “four, five hundred?”
“We’ll be here for another fifty years if you say goodbye to them all.” Osiris says.
“Sounds like you’re just trying to buy more time to me.” Horus says.
“I’m not trying to buy more time.” I snarl. “I just want to give everyone closure-”
“Are you sure you don’t want to give yourself closure?” Horus asks.
Maybe I do. I wanted the goodbye dinner to be my way of saying goodbye to people I loved. To tell them I love them one last time before Andrea left this world. But now I realize it’s just another way for me to keep procrastinating. Keeping Andrea in a world she can’t be a part of any longer because I’m afraid of letting go of her.
“I just hate leaving things unresolved.”
“Looks like they’re pretty much resolved to me.” Anubis says.
“Et tu Nubsy?” I retort.
“Look sister, we’ve moved you out of your apartment, established your heir, and taken care of all of Andrea Robinson’s personal affairs. There’s not much else to do except let Alma and Edna plan her funeral and let your new alias sublet her apartment.”
“I don’t have any Social Security cards or a birth certificate for her yet-”
Osiris reaches into his pocket and pulls out a wallet and hands it to me. “I had my contacts in the government take care of that a few days ago.”
I open up the wallet and find a New York State drivers’ license, social security card, bankbook, and birth certificate in the name of Isis Tamara Robinson along with a key for a Post office box. I guess it’s time for me to say goodbye to Andrea.
“Could your contacts get me an American Express Card if I asked for it?”
“It’ll be in the mail next week with your checkbook. Check P.O. box 818 at the Main post office in Manhattan.” Osiris tells me.
The same mailbox where Isis Robinson will be getting her first annuity payment from Anderson Financial. “Lift the spell.” I sigh.
“Don’t you want to wait until Christmas Eve?” Osiris asks.
I’m not gonna need until the end of the month. In order for me to kill Andrea, I need to be Isis. She’s the one having the hardest time letting go of Andrea. Maybe if I see my face in the mirror every day instead of hers, it’ll help me deal with her passing.
“You guys are right. There’s no need to keep dragging this out any further.”
“You’re doing the right thing.” Osiris says.
Osiris gestures and I feel my body tingling. After the spell that naturally ages me is lifted, I stuff my wallet in my suit coat pocket and walk over to the shabti. When I sling Andrea’s white purse over her shoulder, I wipe a tear from my cheek. Goodbye old friend. It was nice knowing you.
Chapter 16
After spending the last week packing the belongings of Andrea’s life away and storing them away in one of the garages, I’ve been reflecting on her passing. Mourning is more like it. I’ve done more crying in the last few days than I’ve done in the last century. If this is what Andrea’s death is like for me, I can only imagine what my friends will go through when they hear about her demise.
I’m gonna miss Andrea Thomas Robinson just as much as I miss being Andrea Thomas Robinson. I learned so much about life from her. Not just how to overcome adversity like Jim Crow and racism, but how to love, how to share, and how to laugh again. She didn’t just have an impact on the life of Alma and my Theta Sisters, but on me as well. I doubt I’d be as connected to Black people today without having her time in my life. She made Isis a better person and a better goddess. I just hope I can take what I learned from her into the life of Isis Tamara Robinson.
Chapter 17
I look out at the waves of the Pacific crashing into the shore as the sun casts a shadow under the palm tree I’m sitting under. Andrea should be on her way to the her retirement dinner that’s about to start at eight last night in New York. Even if she isn’t going to make it to the ceremony, she should try to make an effort to be on time.
I jump out of the comfortable spot I had under palm tree I was sitting under and hurry across the beach over to the driveway and take the remote out of the glove box of the Mustang. Cool morning air swirls around me as my bare feet start to rise off the ground. When I’m about twenty feet in the air, I hit the button that starts the Mustang’s engine. The car starts rolling down the driveway when I push a button that starts the engine.
I activate my cloak as a flash of light takes me and the Mustang from the Island of Solitude to the main street of Oneonta County. It’s a quiet night; not much traffic on the road leading through the main shopping district. Time to build up some speed. I push the accelerator button a little harder and the engine starts to roar when it speeds on its way through the tree-lined roads on the way up to the Theta House.
I’m maneuvering through the first of several tight curves when I’m startled by the lights and sirens of a police car that comes out from behind a billboard for Frank’s Diner. Looks like I’m going to get the witnesses who will confirm Andrea’s death as official.
The Mustangs’s V-8 engine growls as I push it to its limits. The police cruiser follows behind it is in hot pursuit as I’m doing about 90 miles an hour. I maneuver around a sharp curve leading up the hill and I’m about to try to navigate that really sharp second turn when I fly right into the branches of a pine tree. In that split second, I hear the tires screeching and the sound of metal bending and twisting and glass breaking. When I finish brushing pine needles off my kilt, I fly past the broken guard rail to find the burning remains of Andrea’s body and my crumpled dream car wrapped around the base of an old oak tree at the bottom of the hill.
One of the police officers steps out of his cruiser and looks down at the flaming wreckage of the 1969 mustang and grimaces. “Better radio the meat wagon Reed. No one’s walking away from this wreck.”
Chapter 18
I hover over the scene of the wreck as the fire department hoses down the wreck that was my car and a sheet is draped over the charred broken body of Andrea Robinson. From the looks of things, I don’t think there’s gonna be too many questions when they do the autopsy.
The Coroner walks up to one of the police officers and fills out his paperwork. “The official time of death is 7:47. You say she was speeding up the hill officer Malloy?”
“Yeah,” Malloy replies says. From what I saw she was doing at least eighty or ninety before her car ran off the road.”
“Maybe she lost control of the car.” The coroner speculates.
“Yeah a Mustang is a pretty powerful car.” officer Reed replies. “I’m wondering how a lady that old could handle that kind of sports car-”
“From what I hear Andrea Robinson was quite the woman.” The coroner says. “Back when this valley was just a small town, she was one of the best horseback riders out there. She could probably handle a stick better than any of us.”
“Except for tonight.” Malloy says.
“Shame she had to die so tragically. One of Oneonta’s most prominent citizens.” The coroner sighs. “Lovely lady too. I hear they’re having a party in her honor up at Travis Manor. I’d hate to tell them she’s not gonna make it.”
A resigned Malloy gets to his job. “Well, somebody’s got to tell them.”
Reed grimaces at his partner. “I’d hate to ruin the party-”
“I know. But we gotta do our job.” Malloy spits.
As Oneonta’s local TV newsvan approaches the crime scene as Malloy and Reed get in their cruiser and start driving up the hill. I’d head up to the house to see the celebration in my honor, but I’d hate to see everyone’s reactions to Andrea’s passing.
Chapter 19
I’m jolted out of sleep by the ringing of the telephone. I gain enough of my faculties to make out the time on the nearby clock radio as 4:26 A.M. when I pick the phone up off the night table and cradle it to my ear. “Casa De Goddess.” I yawn.
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“Hey sleepyhead, you made the eleven o’clock news last night.” Alma sings.
“I know. I saw the TV news van as I was flying away.”
“And you were the top story this morning. Good Morning Oneonta focused a whole ten minutes on a retrospective of your life.”
That’s more time than they gave that retired Vaudeville comedian who died in a booth at the diner a few years ago. Then again, Andrea Robinson was one of Oneonta’s most prominent citizens. Ten minutes would be a fitting tribute. “You know what time it is on this side of the world Alma?” I yawn.
“You’re the one who told me people only call at this hour when someone is dead. And I’d have to say Andi went out of this world in spectacular fashion.”
“Well, Anubis wanted to make things look like an accident.”
“Best way to go. No one’s asking any questions.”
“I thought you would have called earlier-”
“I wanted to too, but someone had to talk to the press and facilitate all the details of the funeral with everyone grieving the passing of the Great Lady Professor Andrea Thomas Robinson.”
“They released the body to you and Edna already?”
“Last night.”
“I thought they’d do an autopsy-”
“Not much body left to do an autopsy on. The coroner told me he’ll never eat barbecue again.”
“I guess no one had an appetite after hearing about my grisly demise at the retirement dinner-”
“Oh people ate, laughed, and had fun.” Alma continues. They spent the night sharing all their stories about Andrea Robinson and how she changed their lives. Everyone was on the edge of their seats when Edna told the story of how we had to slip out of Alabama to escape the Klan when we went to recruit Corrine Lacroix for the sisterhood.”
“Sounds like a good time was had by all.”
“It was. Instead of people grieving your death, they celebrated your life. If you only knew how many people loved you-”
“I wish I could have been there-”
“But that’s the funny thing about death. You don’t know how great an impact your life has on others until you pass on to the other side.”