Just Another Saturday

My Mixtape’s A Masterpiece is a weekly feature in which a guest compiles a playlist around some theme. This week, Willmetta Owens assembles 12 songs to accompanying a random Saturday from youth. Read Willmetta’s story and listen along to the Spotify playlist on top and/or the YouTube playlist at the bottom of the post.

I walked into my shared bedroom to the click of a cassette tape. Barbie And The Rockers “Dressin’ Up” blasted through the tiny boom box on the floor, and I smiled. My sister Julie had been hard at work; the Barbies of choice-Asha and Shani from the Shani limited collection were out of their boxes and lying down next to their large detached poofy skirts, high-heeled plastic shoes, and jewelry. The hot pink limo with a pool in the back already had the driver, Steven at the wheel. The Corvette had the speedboat hitched to it and was parked next to the limo, though I wasn’t sure why it was needed when the girls were getting ready for a party. Dropping to my knees, I take Asha and begin the tedious task of attaching her flaring orange and gold fabric around her waist.

I was almost finished snapping the last button when I heard the bedroom door open next to us and footsteps nearing. My sister and I looked at each other in panic. We knew what was about to happen.

“Bustin Out!” My brother Walker sings as he darn near took down our door when he kicked it open. He’s grinning from ear to ear and singing the Rick James melody while we try to protect the dolls from getting stepped on. My other brother, Jon looked on from the hallway with a smirk on his face staying silent. I could tell by the way Walker was hovering over Julie and poking her arm that the Barbie party would be delayed indefinitely.

“Leave me alone,” Julie cries out, her face turning red. Walker, who had started playing an air guitar in my face, looks at Jon, and they start laughing before harmonizing Michael Jackson’s “Just Leave Me Alone.”

And now the tears are flowing from Julie and she’s hollering. Walker rushes over to her and tells her to be quiet before we get in trouble. Angry, I pipe up.

“Come on! We didn’t do anything. Why are you in here messing stuff up?”

“I’m not in your room,” Jon says from the hall. “I’m just looking.”

“Well stop looking,” I yelled.

“Alright up there,” a voice travels through the house before a shadowy figure looms over Jon.

I point to my brothers. “They’re messing with us.”

“What! No, we aren’t.”

I go back and forth with Walker while Julie is sniffling, and Jon staying quiet. Finally, Mom cuts her hand in the air shushing everyone.

“I don’t care who did what. I don’t want to hear it today. Go outside.” The area clears out as Julie and I carefully box our dolls back up and then get our socks and shoes on.

“Let’s just go to the school playground. We got to practice the course so we can beat those buttheads anyway,” I mutter. At that, Julie perks up.

“Let’s hurry up and sneak out, ‘cause they’ll follow us and ruin everything.”

When we’re done, I peek out of our room and stare at the closed door on the right. I could hear mumbling, so we didn’t have much time to make our escape before they came out. Julie grasps my hand.

“Don’t leave me”, she whispers. “You’re faster than me.”

“Never,” I say. We mold to the wall and tiptoe slowly towards the steps, avoiding the creaky boards while gripping each other’s hands tightly. Michael Miglio’s “Never Gonna Let You Go,” is running on repeat in my head. If I lose her, it’s over and we’re caught.

At the bottom of the steps, we turn left and are two feet from the door when Mom comes around the corner. She stops and stares as we continue to creep to freedom outside and then down the driveway.

“That was ninja,” I say taking a deep breath when we get to the next-door neighbors driveway.

“Go ninjas go ninjas, go!” Julie says. And really, who can’t not sing “Ninja Rap” by Vanilla Ice with those moves we just had that eluded the boys?

We take off for the long block to get to the school laughing and jumping in the air. We make it to the edge of the school building and slow to a walk to catch our breath. Julie asks, “Are we doing the course in order, or just whatever?”

“Let’s do it in order to see how fast we can go.” We make out way to the school playground and see some kids playing basketball on the court near it. I immediately hear Curtis Blow’s voice and his “Basketball” song filling my head. The two of us watch the game for a while before turning away. I’m the first to walk through the gate and I go over the plan at the playground. Suddenly, the play equipment morphs into a jungle scene with Grandmaster Flash’s “Wildstyle" pulsating around us.

“Alright,” I say while pointing to each area and getting hyped up. “Once around the ‘Ringers of Fire’, up the fifteen Steps of Death to slide down the liquid metal tunnel. We have to climb up and over the Rounded Mountain Bars before balancing on the Log of Death. Then we can go over to the Revolution of Terror. And don’t forget that’s 5 knee flips over the bar,” I say as I hold up my hand. Julie nods though her eyes are as wide as saucers.

“Then we finish with parachuting off the life swings and over the land mines to the farthest rescue operator.”

I told Julie to watch me first so she knows where to go. She never makes it past the monkey bars with our brothers here because they’re always teasing her for being slow, and she gives up and leaves. Julie holds her hand up and I get in my stance. I’m bursting with energy when she cuts her arm down, and I take off at a fast clip. I fly around the ringers, blow up and down the slide, over the monkey bars, flip around the horizontal bar, and end with yelling “Fly Like An Eagle" as I soar out of the swing and kick my legs as hard as I can for distance into the sand.

I brush off my shorts and straighten while Julie jumps up and down and fake stretches. She shakes out her jitters and nods that she is ready to do this. I raise my arm then slice it through the air. Julie lunges forward, takes five steps toward the ringers, and trips over her feet. THUD! Right into the sand.

“Another One Bites The Dust” sounds in my mind, but I school my features when her lips tremble. This is not good. I scramble for a thought to make it right.

“You got this, Julie…it…was quicksand!” Julie looks down, her fallen face contemplates what I said. She looks at me, then smiles gratefully.

“I got this.”

“Get those rings quick, Julie.” And she does. Julie gets through the rest of the course, albeit cautiously and at a snail’s pace, but she finishes.

When Julie plants her feet and her bottom down from jumping off the swing into the sand. I run over and grab her hands.

“Celebrate good times, come on! Let’s celebrate.” Laughing, Julie sings along with the Kool And The Gang song. Looking down at our Rainbow Brite watches, we realize it’s nearing lunchtime, and we try to get in another practice run. I make it through way slower than the first time, and Julie doesn’t make it past the monkey bars before quitting. I could tell she was upset because her face is crunched up and her fists were balled up.

“Hey,” I say walking slowly to her. “You’re ok.”

“But I didn’t finish.”

“Julie, you finished the first one and didn’t give up,” I point out. She looks at me. “I did, didn’t I.” I put my arm around her shoulder.

“Yep. So don’t worry, be happy.” And of course, because music is always in the brain, I attempt to sing and whistle. I’m toneless, but that doesn’t stop me from trying to carry out my best.

 ‘Don’t Worry, da dada dada dada… Be Happy’ comes out through cackling as we hold hands and head home.