Free Indeed

by Bailey West

  “Don’t stop. I can ignore it,” she moaned.

  Immediately after her phone stopped vibrating, my phone started.

  I grabbed the phone from the nightstand and saw my mother’s name on the screen.

  “Hey Mom…yep, here she is.”

  I passed the phone to Averie.

  “Good morning, Vivian,” Averie said while I kissed her neck. “Yes…right now?...Okay, I’m on my way.”

  “I have to go over there now,” Averie said while adjusting her nightgown to cover her breasts.

  “Right now?”

  “Yes,” she said somberly. “We can finish this tonight?”

  “We definitely will,” I replied while moving to let her up.

  She rushed around getting dressed then left the room.

  After getting out of the shower, I checked my phone and had a text from Roc.

  Need to come through and scoop you up. – Roc

  Before the party? Why?

  Will tell you when I get there. Be ready. – Roc

  Mom is going to kill you if you are just trying to get out of working.

  No jokes Bro. Blood business. – Roc

  I will be ready.

  Blood business meant it had something to do with family. I didn’t ask any more questions. I got dressed and waited for Roc to arrive.

  “Mr. V, Roc is on his way. Count will meet us at the destination,” Brick said when I made it downstairs.

  “Where are we going?”

  “I don’t know all the details. Roc and Count wanted to explain it to you.”

  Roc came through the front door dressed in all black. No jewelry and no brand name shoes.

  “You have on work clothes. What’s going on?”

  “I will tell you in the car,” he said and turned for the front door.

  We got settled in the back seat of the car and Brick pulled out of the garage and headed towards the city. Roc called Countee and put his phone on speaker.

  “Count?” Roc said.

  “Yeah, I’m here. We are already set up.”

  Roc looked at me and said, “I got a visit from Junebug yesterday.”

  “A visit! From Junebug?”

  Junebug was the one that held Roc at gunpoint for Trell.

  “Yes, a visit. He sent word through one of my old corner boys that he was coming. We met at one of my old spots.”

  “For what?”

  “He wanted to set up a face to face between you and Trell,” Roc explained.

  “Yeah, there has been a low hum in the streets that Trell may have had something to do with your shooting,” Countee said.

  “We just had this discussion the other day and you told me that there wasn’t any word from the streets,” I said looking at Roc.

  “And it was true at the time. This just started within the last day or so,” Roc explained.

  “And? Is it true?” I asked feeling myself getting angry.

  “With Trell sending word through Junebug, we don’t believe so which is why we accepted the meeting,” Countee said.

  “Junebug said to come as loaded as necessary to make you feel okay but it will just be him and Trell. I said that nigga ain’t brave enough to go nowhere alone. He will have guys somewhere,” Roc said.

  “Me and my guys are already posted up at the location just in case he tries something stupid. Brick will be there beside you,” Countee explained.

  We arrived on one of the many streets on the north side, that the city had seemingly forgotten about. All the houses on the block were boarded up, dilapidated, or burned down with grass and weeds overgrown all around them. Junebug stood next to a snow-white Bentley with his hands at his sides.

  Brick pulled our car in front of the Bentley. Junebug went to the passenger side and opened the door. Trell stepped out of the car. My heart sped up a little thinking about all the good times we’d shared as a family until he lost his mind and messed it all up. I knew that Trell would have taken a bullet for me at one point in our lives, so it hurt to think that he was the one that orchestrated my shooting.

  Brick came around and opened my door. Roc got out on the other side, and we walked to the front of the car. I hated for Trell to see me using a cane but I was still healing and needed the assistance.

  It had been years since I’d seen Junebug or Dontrell. They say black don’t crack but in Junebug’s case black had shattered. The years had not been friendly to him. He used to be a somewhat attractive guy but now his already dark skin had darkened more, once smooth skin now was filled with holes and his cheeks were sunken in.

  Trell had aged and put on some weight but he didn’t look nearly as bad as Junebug.

  I looked at Trell waiting for him to speak.

  “I’m glad to see you’re okay, El. I know shit between us is foul, but I never wished any harm on any of y'all.”

  Roc made a noise but didn’t speak.

  “Why did you contact me, Trell? We don’t have anything to discuss.”

  “I contacted you because I wanted to look you in your eyes and tell you that I didn’t have anything to with your shooting.”

  “Who said you did?”

  “A nigga that’s been dealt with. One of the lieutenants from Roc’s old crew was trying to come up and thought he could capitalize on a war between us. He didn’t realize that at one point we were family,” Trell explained.

  “Yeah before your ass went apeshit and tried to kill me over some shit you know I didn’t have anything…”

  I held up my hand to stop Roc.

  “That was business. We squashed it,” Junebug said.

  “Nigga ain’t nothing squashed,” Roc said through his teeth. “We just decided that we didn’t want all the bloodshed that retaliation would have brought starting with your bitch ass…”

  “This is not why I asked for this meeting,” Trell spoke over Roc.

  “Why should I believe you? Why shouldn’t I believe that you wanted me dead?”

  “Two things, one, if I wanted you dead, you would be dead. Two, you know a lot about me, and the one thing you can say for certain is that I am not a liar. You’ve never known me to lie. Look, man, I’m tired of mothers crying over their son’s caskets for some senseless shit. Honor, loyalty, respect are all worth dying for not hearsay, lies and bullshit. I’m telling you, man to man, I ain’t have shit to do with you getting shot. As an act of goodwill, I have some of my best investigators on the hunt. When they find something, I will let you know.”

  “I don’t need anything from you, Trell.”

  “Take or don’t take it. It’s up to you. I’m just trying to show, what do they call it, a show of faith.”

  “Godless men don’t know faith.”

  “Well call it whatever you want.”

  He was right. If he wanted me dead, I would be dead. He always got the job done. Even if I would have survived the first attack, he would have finished me off. I’d never known him to lie. It wasn’t in him to lie. That put us back at square one figuring out who did this.

  I turned to walk back to the car.

  “El,” Trell called out behind me. “How is Momma V?”

  I responded without turning around, “She was heartbroken over what you did, but now she is fine.”

  “What do you think?” Roc asked after settling in the car.

  “I believe him,” I responded.

  “I do too, but I wish I didn’t,” Roc said.

  Samuel

  Family and friends were mingling throughout the main level of my mother’s house. I’d volunteered my house, but Mom wanted it at hers since she was doing it for me. I didn’t argue. I’d learned years ago to leave the party planning to her.

  The DJ played a mixture of old school and new school songs while everyone danced, drank and ate. There were games of spades, bid whist, checkers and dominos being played. It reminded me of the graduation party that my mother threw after I finished college. Except this time, I wasn’t trying to bag one of the girls by the end of the nig
ht. I’d already found the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. Averie was currently fluttering around being a great hostess. I hadn’t seen her sit down yet although she stopped by frequently to check on me.

  Ray, Xavier and I sat in the living room where I’d found a chair that was easy for me to get up from. My body was healing well, but I still had some pain in my leg with certain movements. I kept my cane nearby just in case. Plus, I was situated close to the front door, giving me the opportunity to greet everyone soon after they entered the house. The muted sports show on TV was showing all the highlights of the baseball games. The Stars had a record-setting season and had advanced to the second round of the playoffs to the chagrin of a lot of sports analysts. Several analysts said that last year’s success was a fluke. Now a lot the naysayers were jumping on the Stars bandwagon.

  I’d video chatted with the team before their last game. I thanked them for all their prayers and support of my family. All the guys on the team wore my initials on their uniforms while I was in the hospital and prayed for me before their games. They sent money and gifts to my family during my entire stay in the hospital. I planned on traveling to see them play as soon as I was cleared by the doctors.

  “When do you think you are going to go back into the office?” Xavier asked while finishing his second plate of barbecue.

  “Doctor McIntyre said give it about two more weeks then I will be back.”

  “We are in a good place at the firm, so no need to rush it but I know you are anxious to get back.”

  “I am. If I rush things the women in my life are going to try to kill me, so, I’m going to chill until it’s time. When I get back though, I will need to have meetings with all the department heads.”

  “I’ve already let them know those meetings were going to happen,” Xavier confidently responded.

  “Good, Gretchen can start setting those meetings up now. I’m going to want to see detailed reports over the last month and projections for the future.”

  “I will send Gretchen an email on Monday. If I mention that to her while we are here, she is going to punch me,” Ray laughed.

  “Yeah, let her enjoy herself.”

  Gretchen and her husband had arrived shortly after the party began. Bob, her husband, cooked some of the meat and brought it over. He thought he was a master griller ever since he won a local competition. His grilled meat was delicious, though. He and Gretchen were currently running the spades table as partners. We all thought that they had cheat signals, but we couldn’t prove it. They obliterated anyone that sat down at the table with them.

  Roc walked over and sat on the couch next to Xavier.

  “Aye man, Momma V is trying to work a nigga to death. I need a break!” he chuckled.

  He popped the top on the beer he held in his hand and took a long gulp.

  “I have moved tables, lifted pans of food, brought out more chairs, re-lit the grill and re-arranged cars. I ain’t worked this hard since I was a corner boy.”

  “Hey, El. Hey Roc,” Keisha and Iesha said in unison.

  “We haven’t seen y’all since the last time your mother threw a party for you El,” Keisha the more vocal of the two said.

  “What’s up twins. It’s been a very long time,” Roc responded.

  The night of my graduation party the twins and their friend invited Roc and I over to their house for a private celebration. Things got pretty wild that night. The twins were down for everything. They were my first experience with more than one woman.

  “Yes, since the night after the party,” Iesha said.

  “We down for reliving that night if y’all are down,” Keisha winked her eye.

  “Incoming,” Xavier said while clearing his throat.

  I looked up and saw Coco walking in our direction. She was stopped by my mother who told her something, changing her path.

  Roc watched Coco until she disappeared into the kitchen then replied, “Ummm, no thank you. There is a small woman with hair to her waist roaming around here that will kill all of us if she sees you over here, so let me direct you to the food.”

  “Aye,” Roc motioned for one of the servers, “Can you show them to the buffet table? Thank you.”

  “Alright, your loss,” Iesha said.

  “Not at all, sweetheart,” Roc said as he rushed them off.

  “They was trying to put you and me back in the hospital!” Roc laughed. “You remember that night, though?”

  “I do,” I nodded.

  “Why didn’t you say something?”

  “I wasn’t about to get whooped on by Coco. I was going to claim amnesia and leave you out there all by yourself,” I chuckled. “I just got out of the hospital, remember?”

  “That’s foul!”

  “That’s self-preservation.”

  Countee walked over and took a seat in a chair next to the couch.

  “Mom got you too, huh?” I smiled.

  “I’m tired!” Countee said while opening a beer of his own. “I didn’t know a party could be so much work! You have a full staff here, and she still found stuff for us to do!”

  “Looks like the gang is all here,” JD said while pulling up a chair. He placed a helmet on the ground and removed his jacket.

  “You drove the Spyder?”

  “We did,” JD responded.

  “Spyder? That three-wheeled thing?” Countee asked.

  “Yeah, my kids got it for us as an anniversary gift. They all ride motorcycles so sometimes they let the old folks hang out with them,” he laughed.

  “It’s the only thing my aunt would approve of,” Xavier added.

  Elisa brought over a plate of food and handed it to JD. We all stood as she greeted each of us.

  “Hey Auntie,” Xavier hugged her.

  “Hi baby,” she responded.

  She walked around him and came over to me.

  “Hi, sweetheart, how are you doing?” Elisa asked while hugging me.

  I could count on one hand the number of times I’d seen her dressed down. Today she wore a pair of jeans, some black boots, and a black polo shirt. She could put some of these younger women to shame.

  “I’m much better. Thanks for asking. How are you?”

  “I’m good. I’m about to go back over there with your mom and get some of this delicious food. Is everyone good? Do you all need anything?” she asked the group.

  “No, ma’am,” everyone answered.

  “Thank you, baby,” JD said while leaning down to kiss her.

  “My pleasure,” she winked and walked away.

  “Is that an older woman thing to fix her man’s plate? I can’t recall the last time I saw a young woman do that,” Countee said.

  “Averie fixed my plate earlier,” I responded.

  “Your situation is different. It’s your party and you’re still healing so of course, she would fix you a plate. I’m talking about in the normal course of a day,” Countee countered.

  “It’s not a requirement for me to have my food brought to me. I’m more than capable of fixing my own plate,” Ray said.

  “I would be suspicious if Coco all of a sudden brought me a plate of food. I might make her ass…butt, sorry JD, taste it first,” Roc laughed.

  We all laughed.

  “I think it’s something that women are taught at an early age from older women. When men would come home from work and the wife stayed home, she felt it was her duty to ensure that she created a respite from the world when he entered his house. Early on in our relationship, I thought it was Elisa’s duty to cook my food, make my plate and put the largest piece of meat on it. Then clean the kitchen after she cooked and come to bed and make love. I had zero concern for how she felt or how much work I was. She worked outside the house just like I did but she still did all those things for me.

  Then my sister and brother in law died. She took on my niece and nephew without one gripe or hesitation and immediately stepped into the mother role. One day, after the kids had been with us for maybe
two years, I came home from work and found Elisa unconscious on the kitchen floor. The kitchen was spotless, there was a pot of something on the stovetop and food in the oven.”

  “I don’t remember that,” Xavier said.

  “That’s because you and Nette were out at afterschool stuff. Remember you were playing basketball and Nette was in some reading group or something?”

  “Oh yeah, I would pick her up after her little group and auntie would pick us up from her school.”

  “Right, I don’t know if you remember, but Deacon Baker picked you and Nette up one time from school?”

  “I do remember that. He called you from the payphone by the school, and you told us it was okay to ride with him because you and Auntie were in a meeting that went long.”

  “Yeah, well, we were at the emergency room. We never told you and Nette because we didn’t want you to worry. Elisa had worn herself out and passed out from low blood pressure and exhaustion. She was so busy taking care of us that she wasn’t taking care of herself. I thought I’d lost her. From that day forward, I adjusted my way of thinking. I purchased cookbooks so that I could cook dinner sometimes. The kids started washing their own clothes and were responsible for taking meat from the freezer to cook for dinner. We turned our household into a community. So if you see her bring me a plate, it’s only because she wants to. Not because she feels some pressure to do it. I would’ve fixed her plate had I stopped in the kitchen first.”

  “You don’t believe in gender-specific roles?” Countee asked. “I think it’s important to establish who does what in a relationship.”

  “And that’s why you’re still single,” Ray laughed.

  “As a man, there are some things that I naturally do for my wife. She doesn’t open a door. She doesn’t cut the grass or take out the trash. I handle the maintenance of the cars and the house maintenance.”

  “Right! That’s your role as a man,” Countee said.

  “No! It’s because that’s what she lets me do!” JD laughed. “It’s what I’m good at and what she trusts me with. I am the head of the house, but Elisa is the manager. We as men can only really focus on one thing. When most men get a list, we start at the top of the list and work our way down. Women review the list, see what they can combine and work the list in the order of importance and efficiency.”