The Cost To Play (Slivers of Love)
Page 8
Grandma Pearl knew a great deal, but she didn’t know everything. Jayne wasn’t sure how she felt about Toshi yet, although she did like kissing him. Sleeping with him hadn’t entered her mind. She understood that her Grammy worried about her and men, especially considering what had happened with Jayne’s mom, but she and Lillie Mae Carter Wright were two different women.
Lillie had also been a different woman before she met and fell in love with Malik Terrell Wright. The newlyweds had been inseparable and madly in love which led to the birth of their first child. A boy named Darnell. A year later, a girl child was stillborn, which began Lillie’s concern for their fitness as parents. It helped very little that each time the couple came to visit her parents, her mother would leave the room and spend thirty minutes in the closet in prayer. Grandma Pearl did not like Lillie’s husband and felt the man had a wandering eye and a lustful heart. There must have been some truth to what Grammy believed, because a few months later, Lillie came home from work to find Malik in his tool shed with the neighbor, Shanice Longmire. She was playing with his tool.
Lillie forgave him, while blaming it on the loss of the daughter. The constant illness of little Darnell, was putting a strain on their relationship. Six months later, Lillie found herself pregnant with little Jayne, who was born the following summer, weighing in at seven pounds six ounces. The little bundle of joy caused friction between the couple, because Lillie had given the girl a white first name and Malik gave her the black middle name of LaQueeda. This was the one thing that Grandma Pearl agreed with Malik on. Heck it was the only thing she agreed with him on. Once Pearlie Jean Carter made up her mind on something, there was no turning back, no changing it, and no convincing her otherwise. Lillie had given up listening to what she considered nonsense from her mother and set about living her life and raising her family. If Malik was unfaithful, she saw no signs of it. Grandma Pearl told her she couldn’t see the signs no more than an ostrich could see the hyenas coming up on it with its head stuck in the ground and his ass tooted in the air.
Lillie’s head came out the sand when Malik was supposed to be watching his children. Five year old Darnell left through the front door and wandered into the streets. The driver never saw the child chasing the ball. Darnell was killed on impact. Darnell had brittle bones, digestive issues, and underdeveloped lungs which made him far smaller than your average five year old. It also hastened his arrival to the pearly gates.
It was the sirens and ambulance that brought Malik out of the shed with the neighboring women, Molly Cartwright and Imani Jackson. The irony in the whole mess was that Shanice Longmire was the one who heard Jayne’s cries and came out to investigate. Lillie came home to find her husband being comforted by the two women he had been with and a deceased son. What made it worse in her eyes, was that her husband was not even holding his own daughter.
Lillie never recovered and Grandma Pearl would not let her live it down. Since Pearlie Jean seemed to know what was best for everybody, Lillie packed up Jayne’s meager belongings and took them to her mother. She handed Pearlie Jean the custody papers and the bag of diapers along with a wide eyed Jayne. Lillie climbed into her car and drove to Gwinnett County, far away from her mother’s prayer circle and checked into the Summitt Ridge Mental Health Center where she stayed for four years.
Malik sent a monthly check to Grandma Pearl for Jayne’s needs, but Pearlie Jean put it in a savings account. When Jayne graduated from high school, her college fund was fat, full, and ready to support her four years at the University of Georgia. Jayne had earned a few scholarships as well, so the Darnell Wright fund also paid for graduate school.
Jayne rarely spoke to her father. He never remarried, because Lillie would never grant him a divorce on the grounds of her mental instability. He sent birthday and Christmas presents, but stopped calling when she was about 12 years old. Ironically, he also sent her the first set of acrylic paints and brushes. Infidelity had cost him his family and his need to play with the neighborhood women, had cost him his son’s life.
He was never truly a part of Jayne’s life and it was fine by Jayne. Grandpa Joe had been a much better father and Grandma Pearl had become less crazy in her religious zeal, especially after Lillie told her all her praying didn’t save her grandson.
Grandma Pearl had finished her conversation with the Almighty and she joined Jayne and Grandpa Joe in the living room with a slice of cake and apples. It only took her two bites before she said, “before it goes any further, we want to meet this young man.”
“Grammy. He and I are just friends. He came over for dinner on New Year’s Eve and I cooked for him. That’s all.”
“Chile, who you think you fooling? You were with the water headed fella George for nearly a year and you never made him your pound cake,” Grandma Pearl said with a touch of sarcasm.
Grandpa Joe interjected, “she got a point there Girl!”
“Grammy!” Jayne struggled to find the right phrasing, but in looking for the correct word in one sentence, she said the incorrect one in the second sentence. “Grammy, he cooked dinner for me on Christmas Eve. I returned the courtesy and cooked dinner for Toshi the week after.”
Grandpa Joe sat up in the recliner, lowering the leg rest, and jumping up in one motion. Grandma Pearl sat her cake down before she pretended to faint and fall to the floor. Grandpa tried to get Pearlie Jean off the floor while at the same time, grabbing at his heart, Fred Sanford style, bellowing, “we are being invaded by the Japanese again, Pearlie Jean!”
The smelling salts were retrieved from the first aid kit to be waived under Grandma Pearl’s nose. Jayne knew the woman hadn’t actually passed out, but it made her feel better to stick the pungent bag under her nose to get her up off of the floor. Once up righted in her Queen Anne chair, Grandpa Joe fussed over his wife a bit, then gave Jayne the stink eye.
“Toshi and I are just friends. Nothing more.” She tried to comfort her grandparents.
Grandpa Joe was the first to speak. “Chile, men of other races may date you, but they won’t marry you.”
“Men of my own race aren’t marrying me either,” Jayne blurted out.
“Don’t sass your Grandpa, girl!” She received the reprimand from her grandmother and disliked the taste it left in her mouth. Jayne decided she wasn’t going to swallow what these two were trying to feed her.
She sat on the ottoman, leaning forward to touch both of their hands. “Dating has changed so much in the last ten years and finding a good man is difficult.” Jayne went on to explain to her grandparents that there were more black men in prison today than there were in slavery in 1850. Grandpa Joe gasped. She wasn’t done hitting them with some other cold hard facts. “The black men who are free are either gay, pretending to not be gay, or so bullheaded you can’t stand to be around them for more than fifteen minutes at a time.”
“There are still some good black men out there, Chile. I know of several in my church,” Grandma Pearl insisted.
Jayne countered her argument. “They are in church to prey on those women who go to church to find a man. More than likely Grammy, those same men are having relations with at least two to three women in your church.” Grandma Pearl’s hand flew to her ample bosom as if she were completely in disbelief.
Grandpa Joe was nodding his head because he knew it was true. “Grammy, a decent brother knows he has his pick and is often shared with more than one woman. You see it all the time on these reality shows. Women fighting over a scrap of man.” She repeated the mantra that her Grandma had taught her, about having a piece of man.
“Chile, if you are ready for a good man, then you should get on your knees and ask the Good Lord to send you one.” Which was her grandmother’s fall back answer to everything. Jayne was about to out maneuver the old bible thumper.
“I did Grammy,” she told her as she looked from her grandpa’s face to her grandmother’s. “And Toshi showed up. I am moving slowly, taking my time, but as I said, we are just friends.”
Chapter 15
On a quiet Friday night at home alone, again, Jayne began to give some real thought about the men she had come across in the past six months. Had she missed a potential gem in the bag of Fruit Loops? Using a scrap of paper, she listed all the men who had asked her out since her breakup with George. Phillip was crossed off the list immediately. Ricky had dated Brionna. Rodrick was still married although he swore they were separated, but living under the same roof. Benjamin was nice, had a warm smile, and six children by six different women. Then there was LaDell, who worked in her building. She even had his number.
She picked up her phone to place the call, but it started to vibrate in her hand. She turned it over to see Toshi’s face. It was the stupid picture he had taken in Atlanta. “Hey you!”
“You busy tomorrow?”
“Thank you for asking Toshi. I am fine. How goes your day?” He chuffed in the phone and picked up on her dig.
“Sorry,” he paused. “How are you Jayne?”
She repeated her statement. “Thank you for asking Toshi. I am fine. How goes your day?”
“Very well, thank you for asking,” he responded as he smiled. “I was wondering, Jayne. Are you busy tomorrow around lunch time?”
“I am not, but I do have some plans later in the evening, why what’s up?”
“I wanted to run down to Hancock Fabrics, look at some patterns, and get your feedback on a few things. Oh yeah, and I will buy you lunch.”
“Sounds good. You want me to drive, since you are buying?”
“Nope. I will pick you up at 11:30.”
“Okay, sounds good,” she told him as she hung up the phone. For some odd reason she turned into a pure girl and ran to check her closet to find something to wear.
Jayne was ready at 11 am, dressed in grey slacks, a pink cardigan set, and her lightweight grey pea coat. The pearls that were given to her as a graduation present by her Grammy, were the only real pieces of jewelry she wore outside of a pair of earring studs and her watch. She thought Toshi would text her when he arrived, but was pleasantly surprised when he came to the door.
He was a gentleman as he opened the door for her. Once inside the car, she noticed how clean everything was. Not even a speck of dust on the dashboard. The faint scent of his soap lingered in the car. As he rounded the front of the car, she checked the floors for wrappers of any kind. Nothing. “I know a great place to grab a bite after we hit the store. Or do you want to eat first?”
Jayne noticed that he turned down the music before starting the car. “Hancock’s.” She eyed him suspiciously. “But first tell me what’s on your iPod.”
“What do you mean?” he asked as he pulled away from the parking space to exit the complex.
“You turned down the music. What is in the cd player? Is it something horribly embarrassing like The Back Street Boys or N’ Sync?” She laughed as she reached for the volume knob, “Or worse…Miley Cyrus!”
As she turned up the music, she found it was Barry White, crooning Practice What Your Preach. “That is not what I expected,” she said with wide eyes.
“I’m an old school kind of guy. I love songs that have a story and a meaning, like this one.”
“What kind of story, Toshi? He is horny and asking her to come over and back up what she has been saying to him,” Jayne said with a flippant attitude.
He shook his head explaining that the woman in the song was probably some smart ass, who is making promises which she has yet to keep. “He knows she is lying, but he makes sure she understands that when they do finally get together, he is going to teach her a thing a two about how to treat a man.”
Almost in unison with the song, Jayne says, “Really?”
Toshi began to sing along with the song, he looks over at her, and begins to sing the words to her. Jayne finished the lyrics the lyric in the sentence. They continued the ride down Washington Road, singing the song and going back and forth until they had arrived at Hancock’s. Toshi pulled into the parking lot with a wide grin on his face. He really liked Jayne. Out of all the women he had dated, she was the first to get it. She was also the only to sing along with him, although he was not a singer.
This was going to be a fun afternoon.
An hour was spent in the fabric store, looking at fabrics and patterns. She made some suggestion to altering some of the patterns, but in the end, suggested he would come out better making his own. They talked about conferences, with Jayne admitting that she was not planning to attend SacAnime, but maybe one large and two smaller conferences later in the year. “The one I truly want to go to is the Anime Expo in Los Angeles in July.”
“I have thought about going to that one as well, but it’s so large, you can get lost there,” he told her as he pulled into Yosko. “I am in the mood for some sushi.”
“I have never eaten here before. I take it the food is good if you like it.”
Toshi liked her confidence in him, which continued through lunch as she trusted him to order for her. He ordered vegetables, rice, and a Sierra roll for her. He ordered something she could not pronounce for himself. Jayne opened the conversation about him.
Toshi was forthcoming with his wish to start a comic book, create unique characters, and have a booth at a con.
“Do it,” she told him as she nibbled at salad drenched in way too much ginger dressing.
“Just like that? Start a comic book?”
“Sure, there is a ton of software that makes it easy. Kindle also has a format to get in the Amazon online store. You can even get started by launching a web comic first, but you know all this already. Why are your dragging your feet on your dream?”
It was said out loud. The food arrived but Toshi sat staring at her, “Why haven’t you?”
Jayne blessed the food and sampled a piece of the Sierra roll. “This is really good.” She took another piece, but he was still waiting. “I am great with writing and color schemes, but drawing the characters? As you saw, I need some work.”
He nibbled at his fingernail, then took a bite of his sushi roll. “I guess I am kind of scared. You know, you put it out there and people hate it.”
“Tell me about the concept,” she said as she gobbled down the sushi.
Toshi lowered his voice to a whisper. The story, as he told it, revolved around a man who had received super powers from aliens who visited earth, called The Others. The main character used his powers to clean up crime in the neighborhood, but the local drug czar took it out on the community, killing the hero’s family and turning him into a vigilante.
“Cool!” She told him. “Let’s do it!”
He stopped chewing, not understanding her suggestion. “Do what?”
“Let’s create a comic book, web comic, and super hero team!” She slapped her hands on the table. “I want to be a character too. I want to be a vigilante as well.” She said it like a school kid who wanted to try out as the soccer team’s mascot.
“Just like that?” He snapped his fingers.
“Yeah,” she told him. “Why not? Between the two of us, we have everything we need to start our own comic book.”
He was shaking his head no while she was nodding her head yes. “I can do the whole marketing campaign and build the website. We will launch it a few pages at a time to build a following in February.”
Toshi was still shaking his head no. Jayne was nonplussed. “It is January. We have until July to get the actual comics in print and debut it at the AnimeExpo, but we need to get a booth now!”
He was still shaking his head no. Jayne kept moving forward. “My cousin is a lawyer and she can draw up a contract for us. We can call our company…” She paused looking for the right words. “Oooh, Ooh, ooh! I know!” She smiled a gigantic grin with seaweed in her teeth. On the table she did a mock drum roll. “We call it ToJay!”
He was still shaking his head no. Jayne forged ahead. “Okay fine. JayTos Comics. Y
eah, I like that much better.”
“Jayne, it takes money to start a business, funding, and so much more,” he told her trying to dampen her enthusiasm.
“Oh, Booo!” she said as she ate her final piece of sushi. “My cousin started a business for $1500 dollars and makes good money selling trashy eBooks on Kindle.”
Toshi was frowning. “How many cousins do you have Jayne?”
“Lots. I am throwing down the gauntlet Toshi! Are you in or do you want to keep pining about it and talking about what you want to do? Or are you ready to grab that nasty ole’ bull by its cajones and ride it all the way to the finish line?”
Toshi leaned back in the chair, listening, thinking, and plotting. It could be done. They could actually do this. “I can do the drawings, but the writing am not so strong on. With back ground coloring I tend to go dark.”
“I am always bright and colorful which will bring a nice balance to the panels.” She was still grinning. Having sipped some of the water, the seaweed had been washed from her teeth.
“Are you serious Jayne? You really want to do this with me?”
“I am as serious as sin or my name isn’t Jayne LaQueeda Wright.”
Toshi furrowed his eyebrows. “Your middle name is LaQueeda?”
“Yes Toshi. It is. Now focus. I will be your partner and we will create a comic book together.” She was smiling at him again. “What is your middle name?”
He sat for another moment, gathering his thoughts. “I don’t have one.” He paused again. “Okay, let’s do it. Where do we start?”
Jayne dug into her bag and pulled out a journal, ripping out two sheets, giving one to him. “First we brainstorm, then divide the research duties.” She scribbled as she went along. Toshi sat watching the birth of the comic company come alive on bits of torn out notebook paper.
Jayne LaQueeda Wright was about to change his life.