“I gotta get to the hospital right away. Madukes just got up and was asking for me, yo,” Coco said, putting down her cup.
“Okay, I’ll take you,” Deedee said.
They were walking out when Eric was coming in. He seemed excited about finishing the song.
“We could do it in one take again, Coco. I know you got that phat hook to go with the joint. I was thinking about playing up the rock guitar to your lyrics. You know, have a guitarist play it live then remix it as if you’re actually live. You feeling me on that?” Eric said, greeting Coco.
It was clear that he had planned on working with her to complete the project, just like Deedee had said he would. Coco should have been excited but her body language told the story. Eric reached out and hugged the teen.
“What’s wrong? Everything’s good?” he asked.
“Her mother… I’m taking her to hospital in Harlem,” Deedee said.
“Oh, I’m really sorry to hear that. What can I do to help? How’s the hospital treatment? You know hospitals ain’t no fun. What’s wrong with her, Coco? She’s been in for a minute now?”
“My mother goes in for her heart. She’s constantly in and out—seems to make an annual visit.”
“Her heart is bad, and she has to get treatment?”
“Kind-a. But try this. Her heart is bad, and she keeps abusing crack. When madukes went in this time for her heart condition, she wasn’t reacting to the medication. So the doctors did some tests, including HIV. And she came up positive, Mr. Ascot.”
“Coco, I’m really sorry to hear that. How are you holding up?”
“I’m dealing, yo,” Coco said.
Eric Ascot saw her tears and embraced the anguished teen. Coco sobbed loudly on his chest. Deedee cried too and joined in hugging both Coco and her uncle. He stood there with both teen girls on his shoulders weeping their hearts out. Eric let their tears subside then he spoke.
“You’re not in any condition to drive, Dee. I’ll get the chauffeur to take you and wait.” “I’ll be alright,” Deedee said. “ I was just caught up in the moment.”
“Coco let me know what way I can help. You hear? How’s everyone else in your family taking this?”
“Coco has no one else, Uncle E. There’s just her and her mother…” Deedee said.
“Is that right? What about your father? I’m sure—”
“I don’t know my father. I mean I never met him or anything, yo.”
Coco’s answer jolted Eric. He felt the negative charge racing through his body and depleting his mind of his creative excitement. Stunned, he stared at Deedee then back at Coco.
“You know what? I’ll go to the hospital with you,” he said.
They went down and were escorted to the waiting limousine. The chauffeur stood by and watched as Coco, Deedee, and Eric entered the car.
“Mr. Ascot, I need to ask you a favor.”
“Sure Coco go ahead,” Ascot replied.
“Can we stop at a liquor store?”
“Why? I thought—”
“It’s for my mother. She’s been asking me—”
“Imploring you…”
“Telling me, begging me to bring her a sniff of liquor,” Coco said. “And maybe you can get her a bottle of grape brandy, and I’ll do the rest.”
“What’re you gonna do, sneak it into the hospital room?”
“No, I’ll do a switcheroo…”
“A switcheroo, huh?”
“Yeah, I have a cranberry and grape juice that’ll do the trick,” Coco laughed.
They stopped at the liquor store and Eric Ascot bought a pint of peach brandy. Coco emptied the flask. Then carefully, she poured grape and cranberry juice together into the flask, shook it around, and smiled.
“Where’d you think— do you think it’s gonna work?”
“Yes. It worked when Dee did it. It’ll work again,” Coco said confidently.
“I did my switcheroo with fake clothing, and real labels,” Deedee said, recalling how she’d outsmarted a pushy, young woman eager for name brand fashion. “This is entirely new to me. But it might work,” Deedee said.
“Just the smell of the bottle will get her, yo.”
“Okay, let’s go,” Eric said, taking a whiff of Coco’s mix. “She’ll be right. I’m feeling drunk already,” Eric joked.
They all laughed as the chauffeur drove them uptown to Harlem hospital. In a jiffy, he was slowing down in front of the hospital and parking.
“I really appreciate this Mr. Ascot,” Coco said, hiding her bottle of fake liquor in her knapsack.
“You’re welcome. Now stop calling me Mr. Ascot. It’s Uncle E.”
“Good looking out, Uncle E.”
“I shouldn’t be long,” Eric said to the chauffeur.
“No problem, sir. Just call when you’re ready to go.”
Coco managed a smile as they entered the hospital. She was grateful to Deedee and Eric. They didn’t have to be here with her, but they were. Coco rushed past security but they stopped Eric and Deedee.
“They’re with me, yo,” Coco said.
“Okay, but they have to sign in over there by the desk, and be given a pass,” the hospital security said.
Eric and Deedee walked over to the security desk. The woman behind the desk gave them both passes after they wrote their names and the name of the patient they were visiting. Then she looked at the names carefully and recognized Eric.
“You’re a famous music producer,” she smiled.
“Yes, you got me. That’s me in the flesh,” Eric said, jokingly.
“I knew you from way back when you were working with Silky Black and them,” she said in an excited tone.
Coco anxiously paced by the elevator waiting for them. Eric waved and moved on. He bought a bouquet of flowers, then joined Coco and Deedee. All three boarded the next elevator going up, and quietly got off. They walked abreast with Coco, and she quickly found the room. Inside the room was Ms. Harvey, laying still in the bed. The television was on, and there was Red Foxx was in his usual rage, playing Fred Sanford in the sitcom, Sanford and Son. Coco was unsure if her mother was asleep or awake. She was quiet until she heard the voice.
“Coco, is that you?” Ms. Harvey said.
“Yes, mother. And I brought some friends—”
“You’ve gotta stop smoking,” Ms. Harvey said, interrupting Coco. “You smell just like a chimney.”
“I brought some friends—”
“Your friends are all dead. Coco nobody’s gonna be your friend—”
“Ma, will you listen to me. Mr. Eric Ascot, and his niece are here with me, yo.”
“Don’t give me any of your street attitude. If Mr. Eric what’s-his-face is here, why didn’t you just say so. Deedee is his wife?”
“No, ma. Deedee is his niece.”
“Okay I see… Who’s Deedee?”
“Hi, Ms. Harvey. How are you feeling?”
“I maybe sick, but I’m not deaf. So you don’t have to count your words when you getting ready to conversate with me.”
“Hey, Ms. Harvey, how’re you doing?” Eric greeted. “I bought you some flowers. I’ll put the vase over here.”
“Hey Eric, you’re getting fat. From the last time I saw you ’til now you must’ve put on at least sixty pounds. Damn, you get any bigger you’re gonna wind up inside here with me,” Ms. Harvey said.
“Uh-huh, Ma, I see you’re at your usual self—”
“Coco, I’m just speaking my mind. I gotta set my conscience free. I don’t have much time here on this earth. The Lord is gonna get me in his rapture and I’ll be gone.”
“Ma please, stop it. You’re being over-dramatic. And you know I don’t like when you talk like that. So stop!”
“Well dammit, you talk the way you feel. All the yo’s and ho’s and all that street lingo. Do you even hear me when I speak to you? Can you understand normal English is what I’m asking you!”
“I’m a’ight.”
“The
re you go again. I’m a’ight, yo this, and then it’s yo that. Coco when are you gonna learn to speak like you decent and not a ghetto girl? I mean, just because you from the hood, don’t mean you gotta act like you from da hood.”
“Okay ma. I see you’ve got a lot of energy,” Coco said with a smile. “That’s a good sign.”
“Good sign for me. Bad sign for you. I seen you showing your ass off on television, bopping up and down with handcuffs like you’re a criminal. You think I went anywhere, huh? I’m still here. Coco, I’m tellin’ you what you do in the dark will come to light. These are some nice flowers, Mr. Ah… Come closer, Coco. Did you bring that bottle like I asked you,” Ms. Harvey whispered.
“Really, Ma? You cannot be serious,” Coco retorted. “How many ways can I say N-O?”
“But Coco, they got me cooped up in here going crazy. The white nurse with alcohol on her breath and the black one with her stank ass. I gotta have a lil’ nip of sump’n. It bothers me to know the girl I raised turned out to be a damn criminal on prime-time news on national TV. Next time, what program you gonna be on, America’s Most Wanted?”
“Ma, Eric and I—”
“Don’t tell me he marrying you too. Cuz I’ll not allow. No, no, no… That’s not happening—”
“Ma, that’s not what I’m saying.”
“Then why don’t you tell me what’re you’re saying. Cuz you probably lying like a damn broccoli—that’s why you can’t talk. You gotta speak in codes. Yo, ho.”
“Ma, we’re working on the musical album together.”
“We’re doing a couple of songs, and they’re going great,” Eric said.
“Coco, why didn’t you tell me that?” Ms. Harvey asked.
“That’s what I was saying, yo.”
“I tell you about all the yo’s and ho’s. Do not use them around me. That’s why when you talk, nobody understand you, Coco. So how’s it goin?”
“The process was slowed down for a few days, but we’re back on track,” Eric said, smiling.
“Oh! So you’re the man Coco was arrested with. I thought you looked kind a familiar. But you’re someone famous, aren’t you?”
“Ma, I told you he’s Deedee’s uncle and—”
“I don’t care. He’s the man who was arrested with you on the television. Don’t you get my daughter in no more trouble, Mr. Ascot. Trouble must follow you. It’s that black cloud over your head. You must step into the light… Marry that girl. Make her legal. Things will be better.”
“Ma, that’s Eric Ascot’s niece, Deedee. She was here with me at the hospital. It was only yesterday. Gosh don’t you remember, yo?”
“I remember you came with a lesbian-looking chick. You mean she switched up overnight? You know back in the days that kind a shit wouldn’t go down. The only thing that remains the same is how the government still give out drugs, guns and disease to the poor.”
“That’s true in a sense,” Deedee said.
“Dee, please don’t get her going again, yo.”
“Let her have her say,” Eric said.
“Yes, Coco, please fall back as you like to say. They should call their damn agencies ‘Go-Kill-Yourselves,’ cuz that’s what they do. Every single one of ’em… I’m in the last one, a medical experiment. A drug addict, with an incurable disease and a daughter gettin’ arrested with guns.”
“Ma, it wasn’t guns—”
“Everything now is about guns, guns, guns, drugs and guns, sex and guns, guns that makes you sexy. Back in the days we did it with our fists,” Ms. Harvey said. Pointing her bony finger, she said, “You’re old enough to remember all this stuff,” Ms. Harvey addressed Eric Ascot.
“I remember—”
“Tell these kids out there to respect knowledge. Knowledge is power. Remember back in the days the government did the Tuskegee experiment…? Nowadays they got AIDS. They arrest all the teenagers, and run ’em through their system… I’m at the last of their system. Medical. I got the monster they can’t cure. But I still have no gun charges on my daughter. Please God don’t let that happen to her.”
“Mother, I told you it was for assaulting an officer. And they already dropped the charges. So please stop harping on it already.”
“And I guess that makes it better, Coco? When I’m dead, girl, who’s gonna look after you. I mean this man has a nice heart, I can tell. But he’s getting arrested day in and day out. Then what are you left with? Deedee, she just like having sex and hanging out. Wasn’t she the one who was raped?”
“I think we should leave right now,” Eric said.
“Sorry, I have to be very real with my daughter.”
“Well, it was good visiting with you. Hope you get well soon, okay,” Eric said.
“You know a lot of people ain’t real with their children. I let Coco know how things is. I mean back in the days it would be the whole neighborhood raising the child. Nowadays it’s just the mother and the TV.”
“That’s good. Well, anyway I gotta get back to doing some work. Coco will let me know how I can help,” Eric said.
“I know you need a few more minutes with your daughter, so I’ll see you again Ms. Harvey,” Deedee said, extending her hand.
Ms. Harvey appeared confused as if she didn’t know what Deedee was doing. Until Coco said, “Ma, Deedee is trying to shake hands.”
“Okay Deedee, thank you and your uncle for coming and seeing me. And thanks for the flowers Mr. Ah…”
“Ascot,” Eric said. You’re welcome Ms. Harvey. Take care.”
“Coco hit me up when you’re through,” Deedee said, walking out with her uncle.
“A’ight. Thanks for coming through and all, yo.”
Coco waited until Deedee and Eric were outside, then she unveiled the bottle. Ms. Harvey’s face lit up. She had wanted the bottle so badly she took it immediately. She attempted to open it but wasn’t strong enough.
“Here Ma, let me help you.”
“Yes Coco. Pop the cork for me. I want a taste.”
Coco stood and watched her mother licking her lips. The anticipation for liquor was a great suffering Coco thought, pouring the mixed juices in a small cup.
“Here, smell that, Ma,” Coco said, waving the bottle across Ms. Harvey’s nostril.
“Why you had to get this, Coco?”
“Ma, you forgot? I’m under age. This is all I could get.”
The woman took the cup and mumbled before drinking it down. She sighed and smiled, looking at Coco. Then she took a swig and swallowed.
“Ah.. They don’t make nothing like they used to. Back in the days you could get good liquor. Nowadays it’s all water-down.”
“Are you complaining?”
“I’m just sayin’.”
“Well you said too much. Cuz this ain’t back in the days,” Coco said.
“You can say that again. This certainly ain’t back in the days.”
Ms. Harvey finished her cup and smiled at Coco. She was completely satisfied and laid her head against the pillow.
“Thanks Coco. I needed that,” she said, licking her lips.
“I’m glad you did. Now you can stop harassing me about a drink.”
“That did it, girl. I don’t want anymore for now. I can’t have my breath smelling like that white nurse. She always come in reeking of liquor and looking like she hung over. I don’t know how she can deal with the patients when she’s drunk. Shush, always with the alcohol on her breath. God bless you, Coco. Just leave the bottle and don’t you bother sitting here all night like a damn watchman. I know what I’m doing.”
“I’m afraid of that. But if you insist, I’ll leave the bottle but you can’t drink it all at once, Ma.”
“Don’t Ma me, I’m your damn mother.”
“Okay mother, I hear you, mother. I’m gonna leave the bottle with you. But please, please do not drink anymore today.”
“I feel so tired now. It’s that cheap liquor making me go to sleep.
“You used up a lot of energy,
mother. Go to sleep. I’ll stay here for a while.”
“You will…?”
Coco went to the bathroom, and by the time she returned her mother had fallen asleep. The woman seemed so peaceful. Coco had to check to make sure she was breathing. She sat at the bedside watching her mother sleep. No matter what, Coco knew she would miss her. Coco reached over and kissed the frail woman’s hollowed cheek. Then she walked out of the hospital room.
“Hey Coco, just a minute,” a voice said.
Coco was about to ease into her bop, but paused and turned to see Nurse Roberts. She walked back to the woman in white uniform.
“Please remember to tell all your mother’s boyfriends—the ones you know of course. Tell them to come in and get themselves checked.”
Coco stared at the woman and bit her lips listening attentively. She wanted to give her a response like “I don’t even know who my father is.” Instead Coco nodded and silently turned away.
Easing into her bop she walked to the elevator and went downstairs to the lobby. The nurse’s request was still on her mind when the hospital security looked lecherously at her and winked. Smirking, She thought about telling Nurse Roberts about the bottle, but somehow forgot and Coco walked out of the hospital.
9
It was a cool summer’s evening. The wind was picking up, and rain seemed imminent. Coco walked home under a dark cloud, rummaging through her mind, searching for clues about her father. She had often dismissed it, but her mother’s life hung tenuously by inches. Even though she had seen improvements, her mother was bound to mess up again. Coco thought about what Nurse Roberts had requested and that triggered renewed interest in who her father was. Over the years, her mother had resisted giving any information about him. Coco tired to evade it all by putting her headphones on, and turning up the music.
Bopping toward her building while listening to her music, Coco saw the usual gathering of hustlers in the front. Coco noticed that more people than usual seemed to be moving in and out. The Friday evening had drawn more hustlers, buyers, and sellers. She decided to chill for a minute, observing what was going down.
When you stand in front of the building, people do take notice. Coco received all the greetings of a superstar. She was a top rapper and singer working with Eric Ascot—a winning combination. Her notoriety drew attention and before long, people, fans, friends and haters alike surrounded her with their questions.
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