Novel Excerpt: The Crown: Ascension
Here's the first chapter of Hannibal Tabu's debut novel. The basics? Boy meets girl, boy and girl fall in love, girl turns out to be 8,500 years old ... much hilarity ensues.
The sound of breakbeats made the carpeted walls resonate, and Tonya Fitzgerald sat near the back of the curved bar, eyes closed, purse carefully tucked under her hands, swaying and smiling. She loved the sound of the drums, moving the song along as surely as a river kept a boat sliding along its channel. She risked a glance at her right wrist, and her numberless watch held its hands just past one thirty in the morning. "Looks like it'll be another late night," she sighed to herself, cursing another sunrise she'd probably miss.
She glanced over towards the door, and saw he was still watching. She'd seen him stumble when he saw her earlier, and immediately regretted another refusal she'd have to pull from her quiver. There was certainly nothing wrong with him -- a tall, butterscotch man in a white cable-knit turtleneck, nursing a Heineken and keeping up the wall. Tonya had to be extremely careful about who basked in the light of her affection, had to keep her love locked up on a shelf. She found herself in this Adams Boulevard nightclub with the intention of hearing one of her favorite groups, Medusa and Feline Science, not romantic jousting with some heart-seeking missile.
Maybe he'd finally swallowed enough courage to make his approach, maybe he needed time to think of something. In any case, Tonya saw the decision flash across his face like the strobes that danced around the dim club, he switched his weight, and started towards her corner of the bar. Ending up in front of her, he finished his beer, set the bottle down on the napkin-littered bar, and gestured for another. As he dug out his wallet, he glanced at Tonya and smiled, saying, "Hey, girl, how you doin'?"
He eyes me for fifteen minutes, Tonya thinks to herself,
and this is what he starts with? Let's get this over with.
"I'm fine," Tonya said demurely, waiting to see if he'd go for the cliche response.
"You sho' is," he offered predictably, his gaze hungry like a leopard. "I'm Jamar, good to meet you."
Tonya groaned behind her eyes and shyly held out her hand, keeping her body language close and unreceptive.
"How you like the show so far?" Jamar asked, leaning into a pose against the bar, one Timberland boot resting on its toe.
"The sound was wack for Mystik Journeymen," she said smoothly, predicting how many moves this would go until she declared checkmate, "and I'm really here to see Medusa."
"Oh, word?" he asked, leaning in a bit to be heard over the DJ, as well as try and insinuate himself into her personal space. "Medusa's tight, I like that 'Silence' song she got. Sound like you know little somethin' 'bout some hip hop, huh?"
Tonya nodded, deciding that she'd take the funny tactic instead of the gentle one, because she could see Medusa's DJ Cut Chemist on stage now, setting up. "Well, I been following Medusa on this tour for six shows now, I guess I better."
The first glimmers of worry shone in Jamar's eyes, but he was either committed to his course of action or buzzed, so he charged ahead. "I like a girl who knows some hip hop, that's tight. So, you just in town to see the show, or what else you doin' for fun?"
Tonya combed her memory for the right discarded detail, hoping it would close this conversation down before she had to get more brusque. "No, I live here -- I was kickin' it over at Different Light Bookstore in West Hollywood a few hours ago, getting a copy of
Cavedweller for my girlfriend." Tonya wondered if that was enough to send up a red flag in his mind.
Jamar looked puzzled for a moment, his eyebrows knitted underneath his crown of dreadlocks, but didn't let it deter him. "That's a new one on me," he said slowly, "who's that by?"
"Dorothy Allison," Tonya returned, now holding the overheard memory firmly in place. "There's so few lesbian writers out there on a national scene, and she's probably my favorite."
Jamar was very good, covering the flinch when she mentioned the word "lesbian," but she read the change in his body language. He leaned back a bit and began to withdraw, sipping from his beer, and Tonya saw that her gambit was working as planned.
"That's cool," he said, and then reached for his waist. "Aw, uh, damn, that's my pager." He pulled the clearly quiescent two-way from its sheath and stared at it meaningfully. "Heh, my people are stuck outside, they need me to come hook them up. It was cool talkin' to you ..." Jamar paused, realizing he'd never gotten a name, but shook his head, unbothered by it. "Take it easy."
With the pager in hand, still silent as he poked at it, Jamar disappeared into the crush of people just as Cut Chemist started scratching. Tonya smiled, happy to have avoided really rejecting him with only a few stray tidbits laying around her memory. As Medusa stepped on stage, Tonya sat up and smiled, ready to hear songs she had in the car, and sing along to every word.
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