Emako Blue

Jamal cannot believe that Emako has never been to Disneyland before and is thrilled to be the one “opening up the world for her” (84). Jamal promises Emako that they will stop so she can buy her siblings Mickey Mouse hats with their names embroidered on them before they leave. They stay until eleven at night, and Emako falls asleep on the ride home, only waking up when they reach her house. Jamal pulls Emako in for a kiss, and she reciprocates but stops him when his hands begin to wander. She gets out of the car and thanks Jamal for taking her to Disneyland. Jamal locks the car doors, worried about being in her neighborhood after midnight, and drives home. He thinks about Emako as he falls asleep, realizing that he has almost stopped noticing other girls completely since he began calling Emako every night.

Eddie is accepted to Arizona State and is excited to leave Los Angeles. At lunch, he tells Emako about his college acceptance, and she asks whether he will come back to visit them. Emako tells Eddie that Dante is injured after a knife attack at Wayside, his Juvenile Detention center. Eddie tells her that his own brother, Tomas, was also in Wayside three years ago.

Eddie and Emako compare their similar situations, noting how their brothers’ decisions and incarcerations hurt their mothers. Emako confides that she is worried Dante might get an early release because of his injuries, which would bring him back home. Eddie takes Emako’s hand, and she starts to tear up, but she pulls her hand back and insists she is fine. Eddie reminds her that in two years she will be out of the house with her record deal, but Emako merely says “A lot can happen in two years” (89).

Monterey arrives at the table, and Eddie says that he will not miss anything about Los Angeles except Monterey and Emako, and Monterey sits closer to him. Emako tells him that they make a good couple, and Monterey agrees.

Savannah learns about Emako and Jamal’s trip to Disneyland and assumes they are having sex, figuring that Jamal would not be acting so nice toward Emako if they were not. Savannah decides to spread this rumor, and it goes on for two days before Jamal approaches her after school.

Jamal asks Savannah why she is spreading lies and tells her that while it is none of her business, he and Emako are not sleeping together. He also demands that she apologize to Emako the next time she sees her because “she ain’t about that, okay?” (91). He tells her to stay out of his face and walks away.

Embarrassed, Savannah sinks into the car seat when her mother picks her up. She thinks about her role in creating the drama as they drive home and realizes that causing trouble is no longer as fun as it used to be. Savannah criticizes her reflection in the mirror as she walks inside, deciding that “I was getting fat and I was too mean,” thinking that this must be why “no one loves me” (92).

Monterey goes to Emako’s house the day Dante comes home. Monterey finds Dante laying on the couch moaning in pain while Emako changes out of her work uniform. Emako rushes Monterey out of the house, telling her mother that they are going to Burger King so that Emako can pick up her paycheck. Outside, Emako tells Monterey that Dante’s wound is infected, that their mother has been “waitin’ on him hand and foot” (94), and that she cannot wait for him to get better so that he can leave the house. Monterey asks where he will go if he does not live with them, and Emako says she does not know but that she wants him gone before he starts causing more trouble for them.

As they reach the Burger King, Monterey shows Emako her new temporary henna tattoo that she got on a solo trip to Venice Beach. Emako teases her, asking if she thinks she is grown up now, and Monterey says that she is grown. Emako accepts this with an “a’ight” as they enter the Burger King.

Having secured her check, Emako and Monterey return to Emako’s house and see Dante and three guys standing on the porch. Dante greets Emako, and Monterey sees that one of his front teeth is missing. One of Dante’s friends, J.T., tells Emako that she looks good and asks who Monterey is. Emako ignores J.T. and tells her mother that since it looks like Dante is feeling all better, he can leave them alone. Emako’s mother responds, “He’s still my child” (96).

In Emako’s room, she says that she wants to get out of her house as soon as possible with Dante home and invites Monterey and Eddie to go to the City Walk with her and Jamal that night. They go to the living room to get the phone so that Monterey can call her father for permission but see that it is missing. Emako’s mother tells them that Dante last had it, and Emako goes to the front porch to ask Dante where the phone is.

Dante has the phone and tells Emako to come and get it. As she walks toward Dante to retrieve the phone, the rival gang member from earlier slowly drives by in his car. He drives past at first and then makes an abrupt U-turn and pulls up in front of the house. He calls out to Dante through the window, and Monterey freezes when she realizes that he has a gun. Emako screams “Mama!” as a bullet hits her. Five more shots ring out as Dante and his friends drop to the ground. Monterey and Verna rush outside screaming for 911 and trying to breathe air into Emako’s lungs. Emako is dead, lying on the sidewalk in a small pool of blood. Dante and his friends run off, while Monterey uselessly presses on Emako’s chest, telling her to wake up.

The paramedics and police arrive, confirming that Emako is dead. Monterey returns to the house in a daze, calling her father to pick her up and staring at the blood on her hands. Monterey’s parents arrive, and she talks to the police. Her parents take her home, and her mother stands outside the bathroom door while Monterey showers and her father throws away her bloody clothes. Monterey feels as if she is living in a dream.

Jamal calls Emako’s house three times that evening, wondering where she is when they had plans to go to the City Walk. At seven, Marcel answers the phone and tells Jamal that Emako is dead after the shooting. Jamal tells him that he is coming over, but Marcel says there is too much police tape everywhere. Marcel tells Jamal that Dante has disappeared, gone before the police came. After they hang up, Jamal throws his phone across the room, and it shatters. Jamal’s mother knocks on his door and asks him what is going on, but all Jamal can do is cry.

Eddie is still riding the excitement of his college acceptance when he arrives at school that Monday morning. As he walks up the steps of the school he notices groups of people clustered around speaking in hushed voices. Inside, he approaches one group and asks them what is going on and a girl responds “Emako.” The girls briefly tell Eddie what happened to Emako, surprised he has not already heard about it from the news. They tell him that Monterey was with Emako, but that she is okay. Eddie falls to the floor and hugs his knees to his chest, and then he jumps up, grabs his backpack, and runs homes. He calls Monterey, but her father answers, telling Eddie that Monterey is asleep and that he will tell her Eddie called. Eddie asks if she is okay, but her father only says that it is “hard to tell right now” (103). They hang up, and Eddie has the feeling that he is living in a dream.

Savannah is late to school on Monday and must go to the office to get a tardy slip. She notices the somber looks of the office workers. In class, she notices the same sad looks on the faces of her classmates and asks a peer, laughing, “Did someone die or something?” (104). Everyone turns to look at Savannah, and the teacher calls her to the font of the room, chastising her for making jokes at a time like this. Savannah, confused, returns to her seat, and her classmate asks if she heard the announcement over the loudspeaker. Savannah explains that she was late, and the girl tells her about the shooting and that Emako is dead. Savannah tells the girl that she is lying but cannot focus for the rest of class. She thinks to herself that this cannot be real and that, for all her animosity toward Emako, she did not want her to die.