“This should be fun,” Kimberly sighs as she hops off of the Q40, heading towards the hair salon where her mother works. 

Kimberly decides she should be the person who convinces her mother to meet James and Ivory at the park they agreed on to settle things.

Still, Kimberly can’t seem to shake her uneasiness, and the heat from the overbearing sun isn’t helping. “He said it was on this block?” Kimberly mumbles to herself as she continues to walk. 

Observing the surrounding area, Kimberly sees kids playing, while men stand in front of their cars to show them off as they argue about last night’s basketball game. 

Brought back to reality, Kimberly feels a pounding vibration in her head. “Where is this place?” Kimberly grunts, a cell phone and a quick Google search would come in handy. 

Kimberly’s feet drag her around for two blocks. Looking down at her transparent hands, Kimberly whimpers, “at this rate I’ll be gone in the next two hours.”  

“Girl, are you sure this is the place?” 

“Yes, my mom gave me the address and you know she doesn’t play about her hair.” Kimberly shoots her head up. 

“I’m not sure Eliana. I like the one I already go to.” Kimberly’s eyes rest on two women standing next to a hair salon, and not any hair salon, but the one where Kimberly’s mother works. 

“This is it,” Kimberly says, walking up to the salon. A hot pink sign that says ‘All That Hair Salon’ covers the building. 

The two women were still at the door debating whether to enter. Slipping past them, Kimberly walks through the already opened door. 

Welcomed by the smell of hair products, the chatter of women sitting in chairs, and the sound of multiple blow dryers, Kimberly walks up to the receptionist’s table. 

“Hi, do you have an appointment?” The receptionist asks Kimberly. 

“No but-” Kimberly gets cut off before she can finish her sentence. 

“Would you like to make one?” Opening up a book, the woman is ready to write a date. 

“No but I’m-” 

“Then what are you doing in a hair salon?” Snapping the book closed, the woman picks up a hand fan to cool herself off from the heat. 

Closing her eyes, Kimberly calms down. “I’m not here to make an appointment. I’m looking for Leah Cole?” Kimberly feels herself getting dizzy, resting against the table as she waits for the woman’s response. 

“What do you need her for?” She asks so many questions, no wonder why this is her job. Kimberly thinks. 

Reading Kimberly’s face, the woman drops her hand fan. “Fine, I’ll be right back.” Rising from her seat, Kimberly watches as the woman disappears into the back. 

Turning away from the receptionist’s table, Kimberly’s back feels the hot air coming from the hairdryers. She remembers sitting underneath those when she was younger and couldn’t stand one minute of it. 

“Hello?” Leah calls from behind her. Jumping, Kimberly turns around to face her, the receptionist sitting back in her seat. 

“Leah-” Kimberly starts before getting cut off. 

“You again?” Leah grunts. Kimberly nods her head. 

“Surprise,” Kimberly says sarcastically. “Do you have a moment?” Kimberly asks the daring question, waiting for her mom’s response. Kimberly can’t help but notice how much they look alike. 

Her mom has short hair that rests on her shoulder, her eyes are almond-shaped, and her skin tone is brown. The yellow top she has on compliments her skin tone. 

“I’m kind of busy right now,” Leah answers, crossing her arms and dropping her shoulders. Kimberly can’t let this be her last chance. Kimberly speaks up. 

“Then let me get out what I want to say quickly,” Kimberly starts, eyeing Leah. She stands still with her arms crossed. Just like her dad, Kimberly can’t read her mom’s face either. 

“I didn’t mean for you and James to break up. It was wrong of me to put in my two cents. Your problem should’ve been between you guys, not me,” Stopping, Kimberly checks for any reaction from her mom. 

Before Kimberly continued, she closed her eyes, feeling dizzy again. “Of course I can’t change your mind, but maybe James can? He wants to apologize and work things out. Can you meet him at Roy Wilkins Park at 6pm?” 

Kimberly feels her heart racing rapidly. Her mom’s response is her life on the line. 

“I’ll think about it,” Leah responds, uncrossing her arms. Although it isn’t the answer Kimberly wants, it’s better for Kimberly to not push her mom for another answer. 

Nodding her head, Kimberly softly smiles. “Yeah, that’s fine. Hopefully, you’ll be there.” Turning around, Kimberly walks out of the salon. 

*****

“It’s so hot,” Ivory mumbles. She’s been sitting at the park with Kimberly’s father for fifteen minutes. They have felt like forever. It’s 6 o’clock and the heat isn’t letting up. 

“You hate the heat, huh?” James asks while sitting beside Ivory. “Well if I had to choose between being in an AC room versus the park? I would choose the first option in a heartbeat.” 

Ivory hears James snicker as she fans herself to cool down.

For the past fifteen minutes, the two have had small talk, only about Kimberly and Leah. It’s no shock that the two share the same personality, they are mother and daughter. 

“Did she get lost?” James questions. 

Ivory doesn’t have a clue and shrugs. “You got me.” 

“Why don’t you beep her?” James suggests, taking a sip from his water bottle. 

Ivory stops fanning herself. “Beep her?” She repeats the words that sounded foreign. 

Removing the bottle from his hand, James stares at Ivory. “What? You don’t have one? What year were you born in?” Ivory isn’t sure if James is asking a rhetorical question, so she answers it anyway. 

“2…” Ivory replies casually. Eyeing James, his eyes widen, realizing what she said Ivory laughs it off. “The heat is killing me. I was born in ‘74.” 

“‘74? Man, I got you beat by three years, but you seriously don’t have a beeper?” Shaking her head, Ivory continues to fan herself in the heat. 

James and Ivory sit in silence as they watch everything in front of them–boys are playing basketball, kids are running around the playground, and the elders sit on the bench talking. 

“What time is it?” Ivory questions, rubbing the sweat off of her forehead. 

“Six fifteen,” he answers. Ivory sighs and is starting to worry about Kimberly’s whereabouts. “Is that her?” James points to a figure walking towards them sluggishly. 

Ivory snaps her head and jumps up, “Kim!” James is behind Ivory as she runs over to Kimberly. 

“Sorry I’m here so late. I think I got lost,” Kimberly whispers. Ivory notices how different she looks. Her eyes are baggy and she feels weak in Ivory’s hold. 

“Why don’t you sit? I think you’re having a heat stroke,” James helps guide Kimberly to a shaded bench, sitting down. Kimberly rests her head on Ivory’s shoulder. 

“I’ll go grab some icies. Stay here,” James says, running to the ice cream truck. Ivory softly shakes Kimberly. “Kim? What’s wrong? Stay awake,” Ivory pleads. She can’t lose her best friend because of a simple mistake.

“I don’t think she’s coming,” Kimberly tells Ivory, leaning further into Ivory’s arms. 

“Who?” Ivory asks. “Leah? What makes you think that?” Ivory keeps pouring out questions. 

“She seemed uninterested with what I had to say,” Ivory says nothing as Kimberly talks. “Everything feels so weird, I feel like I’m slipping from this world,” Kimberly tells Ivory as a breeze washes over them. 

“Kim, she’ll come, and then we can go back home, to our friends and parents. We’ll make it back home,” Ivory’s eyes fill with tears as she watches Kimberly’s eyes flutter. 

“I don’t know Ivory,” Kimberly shuts her eyes. 

“Kim?” Ivory shakes her. “Come on, wake up.” Continuing to shake her best friend, Ivory wipes her tears. “Kim this isn’t funny, wake up,” Ivory can still feel Kimberly however her words aren’t getting to her. 

“I’m back-” 

“James?” Ivory takes her focus off of a fainted Kimberly and looks up to Leah and James. 

“Leah,” James stutters, placing the icies next to Ivory. James stares at Ivory and Kimberly, and Ivory waves him off. 

Ivory watches the couple as they approach one another, “I didn’t think you would come,” James rubs the back of his head. 

“Me neither, but something told me I should,” Leah admits holding onto her purse. 

“Um, I want to apologize, if I can?” James asks. In the distance, Ivory can hear a phone ring. 

“I want to do the same,” Leah responds, a small smile playing on her lips. 

“Then I’ll go first. I’m sorry for being unavailable recently. Work at the shop has gotten hectic and it’s only me and my dad to take care of things. Trust me, I want to be with you all the time, but I also have to help my dad out.” Stopping James, Leah hurries to apologize. 

Ivory can still hear that phone ringing in the distance. She also feels something shift underneath her. Looking down at Kimberly, she is still unconscious. 

“James, I get it. I’m sorry for overreacting like that the other day. I guess I got fed up with you talking about the shop all the time instead of what we were doing,” Leah tells her boyfriend. 

Ivory is listening to James and Leah make up and the phone ringing. Taking another look at Kimberly, she sees her eyes fluttering. “Kim?” Ivory whispers. 

“I’m sorry Leah. I promise I won’t do that anymore. I’ll only talk about work when I’m at work, okay?” 

Laughing, Leah nods her head, agreeing to the idea. “I’d like that.” Returning the smile, James pulls Leah in for a hug. 

Ivory is closely watching Kimberly. “Did you hear that? They got back together, Kim.” 

Kimberly weakly smiles, “Did they?” Jumping, Ivory’s heart is ready to leave her chest. 

“Kim?!” Ivory shakes Kimberly. 

“Ivory?” Kimberly looks up at Ivory with a smile. 

Ivory hugs Kimberly tightly. The two can hear Leah and James walking over to them. “Are you feeling any better?” James leaves Leah’s side to ask Kimberly. 

“Yeah, thank you.” 

“We should be thanking you,” Leah says, smiling brightly at Kimberly. 

“We did nothing special,” Ivory says, joining the conversation. 

James and Leah look at each other before looking at the two of them again. “You two did nothing special?” James says with a surprised look on his face.

Laughing, Kimberly changes her answer. “Okay, then I guess you can say that we did do something special.” Ivory looks down at Kimberly’s hand. One is slowly reappearing. 

Ivory hears the pay phone in the distance. Is it them? Ivory wonders. She is getting ready to tell Kimberly before Leah interrupts with a question.

“By the way, what are your names?” Leah asks.

Looking at each other, Ivory and Kimberly share the same look. “Um” Ivory begins. 

“It’s Kimberly and Ivory,” Kimberly ends up replying with their names. 

“Kimberly and Ivory, those names suit you two. I always said that if I had a daughter, I would name her Kimberly. Isn’t that funny?”  

Smiling, Kimberly agrees with the name choice. “She’ll love her name. You two will make great parents in the future,” Kimberly says. 

“Let’s get to marriage first?” James quickly adds, bursting into laughter. Everyone stares at each other.

Kimberly is content with how she met her parents, although at the risk of her almost disappearing. She’s happy with this new memory.

Hearing the phone ring for the last time, Ivory tugs at Kimberly. “Well, I think it’s safe to say that we did our job here,” Ivory says. 

“You two did more than enough. Do you guys need a ride anywhere?” Leah questions holding onto James’ arm. Ivory and Kimberly shake their heads, wrapping their arms around each other’s shoulders.

“No, we’re fine. We already have a ride,” Kimberly responds. “Then we’ll see you around, Kimberly and Ivory,” James replies to them. 

“See you around,” walking away, Ivory and Kimberly head over to the telephone booth.

“Are you ready?” Ivory asks. “Of course. I miss the digital era,” Kimberly complains. Laughing with one another, Kimberly and Ivory place their hands on the phone and pick up. 

AUTHORS NOTE: 

Hello everyone! This is Dani Dieudonne, the author of ‘Skipping Through Time.’ Thank you to everyone who read the story. I hope you enjoyed every chapter as the characters Ivory and Kimberly helped get Kimberly’s parents back together,as well as finding their way home! I would also like to thank the people who helped edit the story and get all of the parts out! This short story couldn’t have been done without you all! Stay safe this summer! And don’t put your two cents into anyone’s arguments, you never know who they might be!