A Woman's Worth

by Nikita Lynnette Nichols

  Arykah opted to trail Boris’s Navigator to his and Monique’s house on the south side of Chicago. Adonis mentioned that Monique had made him breakfast that morning. Arykah made a mental note in her mind to ask Monique if Adonis was living with her and Boris, or if he had been invited over that morning for breakfast.

  When Monique and Adonis got into the SUV, Boris was on his Blackberry completing his pizza order for delivery. When he disconnected the call, Monique looked at him. “I can’t believe you’re disrespecting me like this, Boris.”

  “What is your problem, Monique? I don’t want ham and greens, I want pizza.”

  Adonis sat in the backseat listening to them go at it again. He had moved into their basement three days ago, just after graduating music school. While he was hunting for a place of his own, Boris invited Adonis to stay with him and Monique. This was the eighth argument he’d heard already between his cousin and his fiancé.

  “It’s the principle of the matter, Boris. All of us could’ve gone out for pizza, but I cooked a full course meal this morning before we came to church. You need to go home and eat what’s been prepared for you.”

  Boris raised his voice. “I’m a grown man. You don’t tell me what the heck to eat.”

  “Calm down, cuz. It ain’t that serious, man,” Adonis said from the backseat.

  Boris adjusted the rearview mirror to look at Adonis. “You see what I gotta put up with? Do you see what I have to go through?”

  Adonis didn’t answer him. Boris was his cousin, but he felt that Monique was too good to him. Adonis would give anything to have a devoted woman like Monique run his bath water and cook his meals. When Adonis didn’t respond to his questions, Boris started the truck and pulled away from the curb.

  Adonis sat behind Monique. He couldn’t see her face, but he heard her sniffles. He wanted so badly to give her the handkerchief from his jacket pocket, but thought better of it. He didn’t want to overstep his bounds.

  An hour later, Boris was in the living room enjoying his pizza while watching a basketball game. Monique and Arykah were sitting at the kitchen table when Adonis came upstairs from the basement dressed in a nylon jogging suit.

  “Is it cool enough down there for you, Adonis?” Monique asked.

  “Yeah, it’s all good,” he answered. “The washer stopped. You want me to put your clothes in the dryer?”

  “No, I’ll get them after dinner. The food is hot; come on and eat.” Arykah watched as Monique got a plate from the cabinet and began to fill it with macaroni and cheese.

  Her kindness stunned Adonis. “You ain’t gotta fix my plate, Monique. I can do it.”

  “I don’t mind. What do you want to drink?”

  “Any grape Kool-Aid left?” he asked.

  “If there isn’t, I’ll make a pitcher for you.”

  “Don’t go through any trouble. I’ll drink whatever you have.”

  Monique stopped preparing his plate and looked at him. “Adonis, you’re a guest in my home. Go into the living room and watch the game with Boris. I’ll bring your plate and Kool-Aid to you.”

  Adonis smiled and kissed her cheek a third time in less than two hours. “Thanks, Monique, you’re somethin’ else,” he complimented.

  When he left the kitchen, Arykah looked at Monique. “Since you’re being so helpful, Alice, can I get another slice of ham?”

  “Who are you calling Alice? You’re trying to be funny?”

  “I just figured that since you’re so ready, willing, and able to meet Adonis’s needs, I wanna get treated like royalty too. And why didn’t you tell me you had such a handsome house guest?”

  Monique had placed another slice of ham on Arykah’s plate. “He just moved in on Thursday, Arykah. Have I talked to you since Thursday?”

  “You could’ve called and said somethin’.”

  Monique stirred sugar into a pitcher of grape Kool-Aid. “Something like what?”

  “How about, ‘Arykah, girl, you better get over here. There’s a mad cutie in the house. ‘“

  Monique laughed as she poured the Kool-Aid into a glass filled with ice. “Arykah, you need prayer. And you need to ask God to help you keep your legs closed. As a matter of fact, you should put that ham down, ’cause a request like that can only come by fasting and praying.” No sooner than the words were out of her mouth, Monique realized that she was the pot calling the kettle black.

  Arykah held the floor and could’ve reminded Monique which of the two of them was shacking up with a man, but she let it go. She had a more important issue to tend to. She leaned back in her chair and looked around the corner and got a peep of Adonis sitting in the living room watching the game with Boris. She licked her lips. “I’ll fast and pray for something all right.”

  “Thanks, Monique. It smells great.” Adonis said when Monique set his dinner tray in front of him.

  “You’re welcome. Oh, I forgot your napkin. I’ll be right back.” Monique turned toward the kitchen, but Adonis stopped her.

  “That’s okay. You’ve done enough; I’ll get it.”

  She stopped him from getting up. “Adonis, it’s not a problem. Go ahead and eat. I’ll be right back with your napkin.”

  Without taking his eyes away from the game, Boris said, “Bring me a napkin too.”

  Monique returned to the living room with two napkins. Of course, Adonis did the gentlemanly thing and thanked her, but when she laid Boris’s napkin on his tray, he instantly held up an empty glass for her to take. Monique stood looking at him. “What am I supposed to do with that?”

  Boris removed his eyes from the television and looked up at her. “Fill it.”

  Adonis watched Monique snatch the glass from Boris and leave the living room. He’d wait until after she brought the drink back before he said anything to his cousin.

  Monique returned and placed the glass of Pepsi, his favorite, on Boris’s tray and waited for a response.

  Boris looked up and saw her standing with her arms folded across her chest. “What’s up?”

  “Can I get a ‘thank you’?” Monique sucked her teeth.

  “For bringing me something to drink? Heck, I bought it and you drink more Pepsi than I do. The least you can do is pour it for me. Do I hear you thanking me when I drop the mortgage payment in the mailbox?”

  “I thank you by keeping this house clean and by keeping your belly full.”

  Boris turned his attention toward the game. “Monique, you better step away from me with that crap. You see I’m watching the game; I ain’t tryin’ to hear that ying yang on a Sunday. Why do you always wait until a game comes on to nag the heck out of me?”

  Monique was stunned that Boris would treat her this way in front of company. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Adonis looking at her. To keep him from seeing her cry, she left the living room and went back to the kitchen.

  Adonis spoke to his cousin. “Boris?”

  He answered Adonis while looking at the television. “What’s up, man?”

  “Why you gotta talk to her like that?”

  He looked at Adonis. “Like what? All I did was ask for something to drink.”

  “You didn’t ask, you demanded. You ain’t even thank her, man. What’s up with that?”

  “Monique needs to know her place. I pay the mortgage.”

  “I understand that, cuz. But since I’ve been here, she’s done nothin’ but bend over backward for you and me. I’m just saying that you shouldn’t be dissin’ her like that. She’s a good woman.”

  Boris turned his attention back to the television. “Adonis, do not let Monique fool you. She ain’t perfect.”

  Darn near. Adonis thought.

  Monique sat at the kitchen table with a tear-stained face, trying to finish her dinner.

  “Monique, why do you serve that fool?” Arykah asked.

  “What’s wrong with a woman serving her man?”

  “Nothing, if he appreciates it. But Boris doesn’t respect you. And the more you do for h
im, the more he expects you to do. And what do you get in return? Absolutely nothing; not even a simple thank you. It’s June and your wedding day is less than three months away. Do you think he’s going to change by then? You allow Boris to treat you like you’re a two-year-old. Umph, Boris got the right woman, because it sure couldn’t be me.”

  Monique blew her nose into a napkin. “I’m so tired of him, Arykah. I swear I am.”

  Arykah stood and took her empty plate to the sink. “Nah, you ain’t tired, ’cause you’re still with him.”

  “Am I wrong for trying to make my relationship work?”

  Arykah came back and sat at the table. “First of all, a couple shouldn’t have to make a relationship work, Monique. If God ordained it, then it should just flow. And what you and Boris have is not a relationship. It’s a dictatorship. He dictates and you do what he says. In relationships, people relate to each another. And as far as trying to make something work, you have to realize who and what you are working with. You might come to the conclusion that it ain’t worth working on at all.”

  Monique blew her nose into a napkin. “What are you saying?”

  “Look, Monique, I don’t have a man, so it’s really not my place to tell you what to do with yours. But I will say this: I’d rather spend every night alone in my own bed than spread my legs and give up my goods to a man who I know in my heart has proven over and over again that he doesn’t love or respect me.”

  Monique knew Arykah was speaking the truth.

  At ten minutes to eight that evening, Adonis heard Monique in the kitchen scrambling around. He walked in and saw her wrapping what was left of Sunday’s dinner in Saran Wrap. He noticed she was in a hurry. “You all right?” he asked her.

  Monique looked at him and smiled. “I’m just trying to wash these dishes and clean the kitchen before my eight o’clock movie comes on the Lifetime channel.”

  “Go ahead and get ready for your movie. I’ll clean the kitchen.”

  Monique stopped gathering the plates and glasses and looked at Adonis. “Say what?”

  He took the dishes from her hands and put them in the dishwater. “I said, I’ll clean the kitchen. You’ve done enough; it’s time for you to relax. It’s almost eight o’clock now get out of here.”

  Monique stared into Adonis’s eyes. Could he be serious? It was hard to believe that he and Boris shared the same blood. Boris had never offered to relieve her of kitchen duty.

  “Thanks, Adonis. I’ve been waiting three weeks to see this movie.”

  On her way out of the kitchen, Adonis called her name and she turned around.

  “Thanks for cooking breakfast and dinner. I appreciate everything you do for me.”

  Monique didn’t say anything. She just smiled and turned toward her bedroom. She saw Boris in the living room asleep in his La-Z-Boy recliner. He was laid back and snoring. On his dinner tray was a half-eaten sausage pizza. Monique turned on her heels and peeked around the refrigerator at Adonis. She saw him wash and rinse a glass, then set it upside down in the dish rack. She looked at Boris again, slouching in his chair, then she looked at Adonis and saw him dry a plate before placing it into the cabinet.

  I appreciate everything you do for me. Adonis’s words ricocheted through Monique’s mind as she closed the door to her bedroom.

  Chapter 2

  When Adonis stepped out of the shower Monday morning, he heard Monique yelling. She and Boris were in their bedroom adjacent to the only bathroom in the house. Their bedroom door was shut, but Adonis heard every word clearly.

  “Why is the gas light on in my car, Boris?” Monique asked.

  “Monique, what are you hollering about now?”

  “You ran all the gas out of my car Saturday. Why didn’t you fill the tank up? It was full when you got in the car.”

  “’Cause I forgot, all right? Dang, you’re always fussing about somethin’. I’ll give you twenty bucks to put in your tank.”

  “That’s not the point. This ain’t the first time you’ve done this. Don’t you realize that I could’ve gotten stranded somewhere or run out of gas on the expressway?”

  Adonis heard Boris raise his voice. “Monique, are you stranded now? Well, then shut the heck up. It’s too early in the morning for this crap.”

  “You don’t tell me to shut up; you shut the heck up. I’m sick and tired of you running the gas out of my car. I’m already rushing to get to a meeting that starts in a half hour; now I gotta stop for gas.”

  Ten seconds later, Adonis heard the front door slam. He opened the bathroom door and met Boris coming out of his bedroom. “Wow, it’s a regular Fourth of July around here, cuz,” Adonis joked.

  Boris exhaled loudly and scratched his bald head. “More like midnight on New Year’s Eve. Sorry you had to hear that, man.”

  “It’s all good.” Adonis hesitated, then spoke again. “You know she had a valid point, right?”

  Boris shrugged his shoulders. “What point? I forgot to put gas in her car. It happens, and it was no big deal. You’ll find out soon enough that Monique’s trademark is making a mountain out of a molehill.”

  “Boris, Monique is an attractive female driving by herself. That alone makes her a target. So let’s say for the sake of argument that she ran out of gas on the expressway and a lunatic came to her rescue before a State Trooper did.”

  Boris thought about the point Adonis was making. “Are you trying to make me feel bad? I messed up, all right? I admit I made a mistake. What more do you want from me, man?”

  Adonis tightened the belt on his bathrobe. “Look, cuz, I ain’t tryin’ to be all up in your biz, all right? I just want you to understand that you need to take better care of your woman. When you make a careless mistake like that, you put Monique in harm’s way. You’re supposed to cover your woman at all times. Monique is worth more than what you’re giving her, Boris. It’s your responsibility to make sure her car is safe to drive at all times, man.”

  “Adonis, I’m an electrician, not a mechanic.”

  “I know that. I’m talking about just simply checking to make sure that her tires aren’t balding, keeping the windshield washer fluid flowing, and making sure that her gas hand doesn’t go below the half-full line. I mean, what’s the problem with washing her car whenever you wash yours, or making sure her tires are rotated when yours get rotated? Women don’t think to do stuff like that. You know you’d lose your mind if something bad happened to Monique as a result of a fault of yours.”

  Boris couldn’t deny that Adonis had a valid point. As much as he and Monique argued, fussed, and fought, he was crazy about her.

  In the conference room at the headquarters of WGOD, an FM gospel radio station, Monique stood before the executive board members. “According to the amount of calls we get on a daily basis, most of our listeners request contemporary gospel rather than the old school gospel music, such as quartets.”

  Edwin Wiley, the Chief Executive Officer of WGOD, leaned back in his chair and intertwined his fingers across his oversized belly. “Tell me, Miss Morrison, what do you propose we do so that the older listeners, such as senior citizens, would tune in to our station?”

  As Senior Executive Producer, Monique pulled on the coattail of her ivory colored, paisley printed, brocade St. John suit jacket as she strutted across the front of the room with confidence. Monique was a confident plus size woman, and she paid a pretty penny for her size 20W dresses, skirts, pants, and suits. Every day was like show and tell at WGOD.

  The women at the radio station looked forward to Monique stepping off the elevator and walking toward her office on the fifth floor just to see what she was wearing. She enjoyed putting on a show, primarily to prove to women and men alike, that big girls can be beautiful too. Monique once went four entire months without having to wear a repeater.

  “I’ve been thinking about that all weekend, Mr. Wiley,” Monique answered, “and I’ve come to the conclusion that our senior citizens couldn’t care less about today’s hip
hop gospel music. In my church, the seniors in the choir would rather sing hymnals than fast songs because they can’t clap to an upbeat tune. Here at WGOD, each of our deejays is on the air for four hours at a time. I suggest that one of each one of their hours is dedicated to our senior citizens with old school gospel music.”

  Mr. Wiley smiled slightly at Monique’s idea. He glanced around the table at the board members for responses. Everyone agreed with Monique. He stood and shook her hand. “I’m impressed, Miss Morrison. Have this proposal in writing and on my desk first thing in the morning.”

  The boardroom was empty in less than five minutes. Monique sat down at the table and exhaled loudly. “I’m glad that’s over.”

  The telephone rang, and she answered on the first ring. “Boardroom. Miss Morrison speaking.”

  “Mr. Wiley just walked past my desk. Is your meeting over?”

  Monique exhaled again as she spoke to Theresa, her secretary and right hand woman. “Yep, and not a moment too soon. What’s up?”

  “Have you forgotten that Edward Primer and The Voices of Joy Community Choir is scheduled to sing live on the air at noon today?”

  Monique sat straight up in her chair and looked at her wristwatch. “Oh, my God. It’s eleven-thirty. Yes, I had completely forgotten that. Are they here?”

  “They’re in the green room practicing as we speak.”

  “Okay, have Mr. Primer escorted to my office. I’m on my way.”

  Five minutes later, Theresa saw Monique rushing toward her. “Edward Primer is in your office per your request.”

  “I can’t believe I let something like this slip my mind. I forgot to prepare a list of questions for him.”

  Theresa held up an index card to Monique. “The Voices of Joy is releasing their new CD next week. I took the liberty of jotting down a few questions pertaining to that.”

  Monique looked over the questions and smiled at her secretary. “Theresa, I could kiss you.”

  “Well, you ain’t gotta do all that, but you can hook a sista up with one of the tenors in the group. All five of them are foine.”