by Tiana Laveen
“We say our lives matter, and they retort with, ‘Blue Lives Matter,’ and ‘White Lives Matter,’ but swear up and down they ain’t racist. We say, ‘Stop profiling me because I’m Black or Brown;’ they say, ‘Comply, do as you’re told, and nothing bad will happen.’ But bad things happen in those cases, too, and they still blame us. They blame a victim because he’s Black, but the White people are told they’re just passionate or loyalists, while we get told we’re ghetto and hoodlums. They want to keep us in our place, to have us remember who’s on top. I deal with the same shit at my job. It’s politics over and over again. Been dealin’ with this shit since ‘We Shall Overcome,’ Martin Luther King Jr., but we ain’t overcome, Viper. We still marchin’ but haven’t gotten anywhere. Just going in circles, sometimes going in reverse, and ending up exactly where we started. We get called looters, they get called patriots! I’m sick of this shit, Viper! I’m tired!” He reached over and rubbed her back. As they waited, he looked back in the mirror at Troy. The boy had stopped crying. In fact, he looked detached. Numb.
“Troy. Mr. T!” Viper called out with a smile.
Troy looked up, those big, sleepy eyes of his focused on the rearview mirror as they eyed one another. Looking through him.
“It’s okay. I’m okay.”
“Viper, Troy saw a family friend get shot by a cop. She had called the police because there was a fight going on where we lived. It was in the middle of the street. I got Troy in the apartment; he’d been out playing in the front with a couple other little kids while I watched from the patio. The police came and Sheryl, our family friend, came out to talk to them, to get them to stop, and a cop thought she had a gun and shot her dead. It was her phone… She was going to show them the video she took of how the fight started so they could arrest the right person.” Majesty wiped a tear from her face.
“My baby saw all of that. It happened so fast. For the longest, when he’d see a police officer, he’d start crying right away. They got the whole ‘Black Lives Matter’ organization for us, but they pick ’nd choose who’s important. Her case didn’t even make it even to the evening news. Black women get ignored more times than not. We’re invisible. Cop came up to Troy’s school to talk to the kids about stranger danger, and Troy was in there cryin’… I had to come get him.”
Viper’s gaze drifted to the little one again. He had his head down, and was fiddling around on his iPad. Yet, he could tell he’d heard everything his mother had shared.
“Mr. T., look at me.” Troy did as told. “The best way for us to deal with what just happened is to still have fun, okay?” The boy nodded but appeared to be just going through the motions. “Some people want to ruin a good time. We won’t let ’em. We won’t let that cop ruin our trip, will we, Troy?”
“No. We won’t let him ruin it.” His voice cracked as he spoke.
“Keep your head up. We’re going to Disney World. The best place on Earth.” Viper laughed. “We’re staying at an amazing hotel! Our room is on the 20th floor, and it’s a suite, and you’ll have your own bed and your own bathroom, too.”
“I get my own hotel room?” The boy perked up.
“We share the kitchen, and there’s a living room and two bedrooms. One of them is all yours and it has a television and everything. We’ll be able to see each other if we keep our doors open inside the suite, but yeah, it’s your own room and there’s a pool in the hotel, too. You can swim all night when we leave the park.”
“I get to go swimming?!” He smiled big now, lighting up. Even Majesty managed to smile at Troy’s reaction.
“Yeah, you can swim in the indoor pool. You can eat all you want at the buffet, too, and play all kinds of fun games, see amazing shows, Star Wars, all that stuff.”
“Mama don’t like rollercoasters, though. She won’t ride them with me and some of them you have to have an adult with you. Will you ride them with me, Viper?”
“Hell, yeah! Your mama is a scaredy cat about heights, but you and me are like the A Team, Mr. T!” Majesty shook her head and laughed. “And you can ride what you want Troy, as long as your short ass meets the height requirements, okay?” He grinned.
“Yes!” Troy was giggling hard now.
Soon, the officer was back with the ticket, his license and paperwork. Viper took the items and waited for the cop to finish his spiel about him staying out of trouble and walk off. None of them moved or said a word for the longest. Majesty was calmer now, though clearly still unnerved. She pulled out his phone, hit SAVE, then handed it back to him.
“I got the whole thing on video. I even had my phone going too in case they asked to take yours. They brought up your record, Viper, and the one guy let it slip that they hadn’t pulled you over for the damn turn signal, then tried to clean it up and backtrack. This is racial discrimination. We’re fighting this… Do you hear me? We’re going to court, Viper.” She tightened her seatbelt around her frame.
“Aye, Majesty, it ain’t that serious, baby.” He sighed as he took his phone, then placed it on the dashboard and turned the GPS back on.
“What? Are you crazy? Of course it is!”
“Majesty, we’re in their world. That’s why in part men like me created our own world. To survive the shit they do to us. Yes, I’m angry, but since this has happened so much to me, it’s expected at this point. Because of who I am, this is what they do… They don’t want a guy like me to have shit. Do you know how many times in my life people have assumed I’m illegal, or are shocked that I was born here? I’ve had people ask me why I don’t have an accent, and sometimes when I’m mistaken for White, they say racist shit to me about other people. It’s crazy.” He reached for his seatbelt and put it on. “According to them, I’m supposed to suffer and see myself as inferior.”
He pulled away from the curb and merged into traffic. “I’m supposed to grovel, beg and plead. But I refuse. I’d rather die. I knew my rights, Majesty, and I knew if they tried to arrest me or search my car without probable cause, I would fight that, and need proof to show what really happened.” Not that that even matters much in today’s world. You can have a full, clear video of a murder, and the courts will still take the murderer’s side if he has a badge.
“Well,” Majesty said after a brief silence, “I hear what you’re saying, but that still doesn’t make it okay to sweep under the rug. That’s what officers like that are banking on. For you to keep quiet and just be glad they didn’t do you worse than they did. They’re making our lives hard, so we need to do the same to them, until something changes. Sittin’ back and doing nothing isn’t an option.”
He shot her a look, then took her hand in his.
“Who said I was going to do nothing?”
And then he headed on to Disney World, bypassing the pitstop, wishing nothing more than to put a smile on Troy’s face as soon as possible…
CHAPTER TWENTY
Take the Money and Run
This shit is elementary…
Why should anyone be applauded for doing what they’re supposed to do, when they’re supposed to do it? You don’t applaud a bird for flying, a frog for jumping, or a lion for roaring. So why thank a man for being a fucking man?
Bitch ass behavior is like the new standard. If you can rise higher than fuck-boy status, somehow you deserve a fuckin’ trophy. We’re not handing out participation, attendance, and ‘good try’ awards. EARN THAT SHIT, OR QUIT BITCHING.
So many thoughts ran through his mind. He had a billion plans, but it felt like he only had an hour to implement them all.
A glint of metal crossed his vision.
The clicking sounds of loading a gun always turned him on.
Viper spent the better half of the morning cleaning his guns and then placing them away in the hidden compartment of his closet. Then, his monthly routine was interrupted by a visitor—the man who had brought him into the world. His father.
Dad smelled of oil and transmission fluid. His fingernails were caked with grime and his hands
marred with the wear and tear of hard labor. He’d been working at his shop all morning, so Viper was surprised to see the man who rarely came to visit him in Boca Raton.
“Do you want something else to drink?” Viper offered while walking past him to the kitchen.
“No, I’m fine.”
Viper grabbed himself a bottle of water and joined the older man in the living room. The sound of barking erupted, breaking the tranquility of the television playing old sports at a low volume. Dad’s dark eyes hooded, and a sheen of sweat covered his brow. He stared listlessly at the television. Viper sat across from him.
“You’ve done well for yourself. I see you added some new art. Nice new furniture, too.”
“Mmmm hmmm.” Viper lit a cigar, then handed it to his father to smoke. “What’s going on?”
“Your mother has been causing me problems.”
“What kind of problems? I wasn’t aware you two were even speaking.”
“We don’t. Well, barely. I borrowed some money from her about five years ago. She offered it. I hadn’t asked. Needed it to pay off an old debt.”
“I gave you money when I got out. You said you needed that for debts, too. What’s goin’ on with the money?”
“The shop was in the red the first few years. I did a lot of favors for people, too, and it cost me too much. Shouldn’t have been so nice.” Dad shrugged. “Bad business move.”
“You know better than to take anything from Mamá. She’d always want something in return.”
“Well, she got something. So did I. We messed around.”
Viper scratched the side of his face, knowing his mother had been married to his stepfather for over twenty years, and Dad was also re-married.
“And you thought that was all right?” Viper drank some of his water, then set the bottle down.
“At the time, yes. I guess so… I don’t know, Dominic. It was an arrangement, okay? You wouldn’t understand.”
“I’m not a little kid. I know how this works. I understand. It’s you who didn’t understand.” They were quiet for a bit.
“You don’t understand our relationship is what I’m saying. We still have a connection. Your mother will always be mine. Right now though, she’s going crazy about this money. I need your help. She’s angry with me.”
“What do you want me to do about her? I have nothing to do with this. If you owe her money, just pay her back.” Viper reached for a toothpick tin he kept on the crystal coffee table. He removed one and rolled it back and forth between his lips.
“She only wants it because her husband isn’t working.”
“Doesn’t matter why. Just pay it back.”
Swirls of smoke eddied from Dad’s cigar.
“She stopped sleeping with me.”
“So what? You say that like you two are a happily married couple but she’s keeping the cookies from you. You’re not entitled to another man’s wife.”
“That’s not it. We had a mutual agreement.”
“Y’all are divorced, man. I feel like this is a movie. This is wild. Nuts. The cherry on top is that you’re both married to other people, but you act like that doesn’t matter right now. If Ricky finds out about this, Dad, there’s going to be a problem. My stepfather doesn’t play that shit, and then I’ll have to step in before someone gets shot.”
Dad shrugged. “First of all, she’s not happy with him. Hasn’t been for years. Second, Ricky’s cock is broken, she says. He can’t get it up because of all the fucking medicine he’s on, and the diabetes. He knows she fucks around. They just don’t discuss it, and he used to mess around on her, too.” None of this surprised Viper, but he was dismayed all the same. “Like I said, your mother is mine. Always will be, regardless of whether she has my last name or not anymore.”
“I’m not trying to hear all of this.” Disgusted, Viper waved his father off. “You two can do whatever you want to do, but then when everything explodes, you want me to come and bail you out. I just need to know what exactly you want me to do about this Maury Povich, Jerry Springer type shit you two have going on? There’s no way you would’ve admitted this to me unless you just had to. So, what gives?”
“I don’t have the money to give to your mother. Can you give it to me, please? I can pay you back over time.”
Viper ran a hand along his jaw.
“I just shelled out a bunch of money for my business and some other shit I needed to take care of, so how much are we talkin’ here, Dad?”
“Four thousand.”
“Is that including interest?”
“Yes.”
Viper nodded. “All right. I’ll take care of it.”
“Thank you, Dominic. Thank you so much.”
The silence took over for a while.
“You said you just spent a bunch of money. On what? What did you buy? Another car? A boat? I’d like to go fishing with you soon, like we used to.”
A lump formed in Viper’s throat. He hadn’t gone fishing with his father since he was a child, and in that time it was him and Diego. Those were some of the best memories he’d ever had. He still savored them, and could almost smell the sea water and feel the fresh air and breeze all over again.
“Yeah, maybe someday. I bought that SUV not too long ago that I told you about. I also put down a down payment for a place to train the dogs that’s away from my house, and I’m going to put in a pool here at home. Renovations, things like that.” He could see the disappointment in his father’s eyes. Reconstructions, a pool, and a local business spot meant he was planning on staying in Boca Raton. No one understood completely why he’d moved away. They all hoped it was a phase, or that he’d change his mind and move back to Little Havana. But he’d meant what he’d said. He’d had to go. “Nah, I didn’t buy a boat, Dad. I bought a ring.”
His father shot him a curious look. “I wondered when you were going to settle down.”
“Remember a long time ago when I had that car towed to you? The Dodge Charger?”
“Oh, yeah. I remember. It belonged to her?”
“Yes. We weren’t together then though, but I was trying to get with her. Getting her car fixed for her was one of my ways of trying to get close so she’d let me take her out.”
His father smiled approvingly.
“I’d like to talk you out of ever getting married, Dominic. Because ya know, on one hand, it hasn’t worked out for me, but on the other hand, every man needs a woman. We weren’t meant to be alone. It’s tricky.”
“I don’t think I’ll have a problem.” He stretched.
“Hard for me to imagine you, my son, Viper, only having one lady.” Dad pointed at him, his eyes dancing. “So, you really want to settle down, huh? Women love you, and not just any women but beautiful women! You could have your pick. Jesus, do you turn heads!”
“I turn heads sometimes for the wrong reasons.”
“Youth, I tell ya… You and Diego got so much attention. Pussy pirates. I was so proud of my boys.”
Viper grinned at the crazy man, then they both laughed.
“Dad, I thought about all of that, but I’ll take quality over quantity any day. I’ve run through enough pussy in my life that I could be a track star.” Dad burst out laughing. “So, I know what’s out there. I’ve gotten it out of my system. I don’t mind only having one woman.” He shrugged. “Some guys say they don’t want the same pussy every day. Then, to me, they’re not making love right. It’s never the same. It changes each time because you’re growing together, you know. You’re a different man, and she’s a different woman every single day.” He paused, then continued, “Loyalty, chemistry, trust and connection are never overrated. To meet someone solid nowadays is so damn rare, Dad.”
“It is, son… It is.”
“She checks all of my boxes. I’m going to cash in while I have the chance.” Viper fell back against the couch and closed his eyes as he massaged his forehead. “Her name is Majesty, by the way. She’s amazing.”
“Yeah?�
�� He could hear the smile in his father’s tone.
“Yeah. Fucking gorgeous, too. She’s got a smart mouth though, slick tongue. She can say some malicious shit, and so can I, so we’ve bumped heads a few times. But I can handle her.” He chuckled. “Clever. Funny.”
“Does she have any kids?”
“Yeah. One child, a son. I love him, too. Good kid.”
“Is the boy’s father in the picture?”
He opened his eyes. “He died a long time ago. Murdered in Miami.”
Dad placed his cigar in the ashtray.
“Is she Nation? Latin Queen?”
“Nah. Not in the organization…” He resumed twirling the toothpick in his mouth. “Black chick, and not Afro-Latina. She’s African American.” Dad nodded in understanding. “She’s baaaad, Dad. Level ten. Wifey material and playa approved.”
“You sound blown away by her. I’m glad you’re happy. I’d like to meet her soon.”
“You will. The Queens like her, except my ex, Shauna, of course. Marie absolutely loves her. Mamá talked to her on the phone. She liked her. You know Mamá is hard to please. So, anyway, do you want me to give you the money so you can front like you’re doing it, or me?”
“I still want sex from your mother, so let me do it.”
“Didn’t we just go over why this is a bad idea? Something is wrong with you, man.” Dad threw up his hands and tossed out a lazy laugh, then shrugged. “If that’s your motivation, then I’m not giving you the money.”
“Oh, come on, Viper. I’m just trying to be honest with you! Would you rather I bullshit you, huh?”
“Both of you are dead wrong for this shit. I actually suspected something a long time ago because Mamá was bringing you up a lot in conversation with me and years before that, your name never crossed her lips.”
