Even Sinners Have Souls

by Joy, E. n.

  ***

  Scratch had calmed down from the information Dinky shared with him. With Dina not returning any of his calls, he was more worried about her than anything. At this point, he just wanted Dina to walk through the door, for them to spend Christmas together as a family, and for them to leave the country to start a new life.

  As far as Denise was concerned, Scratch was now thinking like his Queen had been. Denise had connections, and once they were out of the country, he would do everything in his power to help her, but he had a lot riding on this trip. He too would be facing charges, and absolute termination of employment, if his actions had in any way been discovered. Not able to sit still, he picked up the phone and called Dina's cell phone once again.

  Dina had just turned the vacuum cleaner off. She had finally finished getting her apartment back in order. When, and if, her kids ever returned to gather their belongings, she wanted them to see the apartment as it was when they first stepped in the place.

  Her cell phone rang again. This time she answered. "Hello."

  "Where have you been? I've been calling you all night," Scratch questioned.

  "I'm sorry. I was straightening up over here."

  "Straightening up? All night? I thought your place was a wrap. Why are you wasting your time cleaning it up? We're leaving the country."

  Dina took a deep breath, then told him, "I can't leave, Scratch."

  "What? What to do you mean you can't leave? What about your warrants? And I know about Denise too. How could you let your sister take the fall for you, Dina?"

  "I'm not going to let her take the fall for anything. That's why I can't leave. Let me speak to my kids."

  "They're occupied right now. They're enjoying Christmas Eve, which by the way we were supposed to all be spending it together. Now, I want to hear your plan to get your sister out."

  "I'm going to turn myself in. Now please, Scratch, I really need to talk to my kids."

  Scratch went numb. She didn't say she was turning herself in and ruining all of their lives, not to mention his career. Where was his Queen? The ruthless, selfish, thugged out, ride or die female he fell in love with? "What has gotten into you, Dina?" Scratch asked.

  "God. God has gotten into me. I can't keep running,

  Scratch. He'll always find me. Now I don't want to wait until I get over there. I have something I need to say to my kids now, Scratch."

  Scratch called the kids to the phone. He told them their mother was on the line and wanted to speak to them. He put the speaker phone on in his bedroom and told Dina she had the attention of all three of her kids and that he'd be in the other room. Scratch left the kids to hear what their mother had to say. He could hear the change in her voice. He knew instantly that the tickets he had purchased would never be used and the new identities would never be assumed, at least not by him, Dina and the kids.

  Scratch was upset, to say the least, when Dina first told him that she couldn't leave, but after he ingested the reason why she wasn't going, all he could do was drop down to his knees in tears. He had thought he was the one who could chip away the ice that surrounded Dina's heart and change her, but all along there was only one person who could do it, and that was God. Before he knew it, Scratch began to testify to the Lord for His utter power and His knowledge of all things. Scratch prayed for his own soul, for he too was living in dark days.

  In the other room, the children spoke on the phone with their mother. "Mama, is it really you?" Kima asked.

  "Yeah, lil' mama. This is your mama. How's your cold baby?" Dina sniffed, holding back tears. "A lot better. You comin' to have Cismas wif us, Mama?" Kima missed her mother.

  "Yeah, your mama is on her way to y'all right now. I just wanted to let y'all know how much I love y'all and that Mama is sorry for a lot of the things she's done and the way I had y'all living, you know."

  "We love you too, Mama," Dinky shouted.

  "You know I love you, Mama," Kayla added.

  "What about me? I lu you too!" Kima wasn't going to be left out.

  "After Christmas your mama is going to be going away for a while. Y'all will stay with Scratch until your Auntie Dee and Uncle Cannon can get to you."

  "A while? How long is a while?" Kayla asked.

  "I don't really know yet, baby. Dinky, you know you're going to have to hold it down for Mama, right?"

  "Yes, Mama." Dinky knew exactly what was going on. He also knew that he would love his mother no matter what, and that he would always take care of his sisters.

  "Alright, I'm on my way. Tell Scratch to have me a plate waiting, I'm hungry."

  Scratch, returning to the room, heard the request for himself. "I'll have it waiting, baby. I'll be waiting too," he said with warmth in his voice, letting her know that he had nothing but love for her and whatever she needed him to do, he was the man for the job.

  Dina felt at ease. She didn't want to tell her kids in person that she would be spending most of her life behind bars. She wouldn't have been able to look into their innocent faces without breaking down. She thought about her sister and the terrible things she must be going through. Now she wanted nothing more than to turn herself in, face her crimes, and clear her sister's name so that Denise could go back to her nor- mal life. Dina was very sorry for ever putting her through the ordeal in the first place.

  Dina gathered the gifts that she had accumulated for her kids and packed them into a large garbage bag. She didn't bother to take any clothes with her. She didn't feel it would be necessary.

  The morning was foggier than usual, Dina noticed, as she locked her apartment door and headed down- stairs. She walked toward her sister's car when a spot- light came on, shining directly in her face.

  "Dina Stewart, put your hands up. You are under arrest," shouted a Richmond City police officer. A host of at least fifteen police officers rallied around the scene, as they all aimed their weapons at Dina.

  Cannon and Smitty had just arrived when they spotted Dina holding a garbage bag in one hand and covering her eyes from the bright lights with the other.

  "I said, put your hands up," the same officer shouted again.

  Before following the officer's instructions and put- ting her hands up, Dina bent down to sit the garbage bag down. Knowing Dina's notorious past, her sudden downward movement caused panic in one of the officers on the scene. The next thing everyone knew, Dina was hit with a round of fire from the officer's gun.

  "Don't shoot!" Smitty yelled, but it was way too late. Dina's body was hit repeatedly as it jerked from the pressure of the gunshots.

  "Dina!" Cannon yelled, as he jumped from the police car to go to her aid.

  The police officers tried to hold him back, but Smitty demanded that they allow Cannon to get to Dina. He held her bloody body in his hands. As she gasped for breath, blood continued to flow from her wounds, even the ones in her face. He couldn't believe the amount of blood that surrounded them.

  Tenants rushed to their windows to see who had got- ten capped this time.

  "Pl-ease... te...ll D...enise, I'm so-rr..." Dina forced the words out.

  All of Dina's deception no longer mattered to Cannon. He just wanted her to live. That Sunday he tried to get Dina and the kids to go to church, the preacher had taught on forgiveness. He felt in his heart that if she had just gotten the chance to hear that sermon, things would have turned out differently for her. "Dina, please don't die! Not like this. Not now. Oh God, help her," he cried, but little did Cannon know, He already had.

  Cannon shed tears of madness as he cradled Dina's body, rocking her back and forth in the blood stained snow. Her body stopped moving as she lay lifeless in the winter's dawn with a new day beckoning only her soul.

  ***

  Cannon and Smitty went down to the city jail where they cut through a host of red tape to have Denise released. The look on her face was priceless when she saw Cannon in the waiting area. He wished he didn't have to crush her with the news about Dina, but there was no getting around i
t. He could barely get the words out when he told his fiancé that her sister was dead.

  "No, no, no," Denise cried.

  Cannon tried comforting her as best he could. He wanted to be there for her. And after witnessing such a devastating loss, now more than ever, he wanted to make Denise his wife. He wanted them to be one. More importantly, tomorrow wasn't promised, so he knew that he had to get right with God by making an honest man of himself and an honest woman of Denise.

  Denise wanted to see her nephew and nieces once she regained her composure and could process what Cannon had just told her. She knew that news of this magnitude would warrant news coverage, and she didn't want them to see, or hear, anything negative about their mother. She asked Cannon where they were. He told her the name in which Dina had given him and they immediately tracked him down.

  Scratch ran to the door upon hearing the bell ring. He wondered why Dina wasn't using her key, but it didn't matter, she was there. He quickly flung open the door and was greeted by Cannon and Denise. They looked like they had been run over by a Mac truck. Denise's eyes were red as fire and surrounded by huge circles from her continuous crying.

  Although the woman standing in front of him looked like his Dina, it wasn't. He'd know his Queen. So it had to be Denise. "Denise, you're out," Scratch said, happy to see her. Maybe Dina won't have to turn herself in after all, he thought.

  "Dina should be here any minute. I thought you were her when I heard the doorbell ring."

  "I need to talk to the kids," she told him.

  Scratch saw the blood on Cannon and suddenly a dark feeling came over him. "Where's Dina?"

  "I need to talk to the kids, Maurice," was all Denise could say.

  There was no need to tell him. Scratch already knew, and he already felt the loss. His woman was gone. They were never going to get the chance to embark on a new life together. None of what he planned for Dina, and her children, would be happening now. Just then, the kids came down the stairs.

  "Auntie Dee, you're home," Dinky yelled as he ran to give his auntie a big hug.

  Kayla looked puzzled. She didn't know why Dinky was so happy to see their auntie. It was their mama that had gone missing. "Where's our mama?" Kayla asked.

  "Yeah, Auntie Dee, did our mama come with y'all? Where is she?" Dinky asked, as he looked around, and in between his aunt and Uncle Cannon, to see if he had gotten his Christmas wish.

  Dinky then noticed that his Auntie Dee was crying. His gut told him that his mama wasn't going to share Christmas with them. "Is she in jail?" Dinky asked.

  "No, baby, I wish it was that," Denise told him.

  That's when Scratch broke down, and Dinky knew that his mama wouldn't share this Christmas day, or any other day, with them ever again.

  ***

  The headline that made the Richmond News was a little different than what Denise had envisioned, but it was just as powerful: "MURDER AND MISTAKEN IDENTITY ROCKS RICHMOND POLICE DEPARTMENT." Dina and Denise's ordeal had made the front page. The Richmond Police Department was being slapped with the biggest lawsuit in its history. Denise Stewart's law firm immediately filed suit for the wrongful death of her twin sister, false arrest, and a slew of other charges.

  Denise never knew about the four million dollars Dina had been carrying, and didn't question the missing contents of the velvet box she had seen under her sister's bed. It would have been blood money anyway.

  But God works in mysterious ways. Denise was seeking ten million dollars in the lawsuit, but ironically, the Richmond Police would agree to settle for four mil- lion dollars.

  Although he had a constant fear of being terminated, and even arrested at any given moment, Scratch had decided the best thing for him to do was to return to work at the Department of Motor Vehicles. The grief from Dina's death had taken a huge toll on him and he needed to keep busy. His supervisor had pulled him to the side one day, shortly after his return, to see if he was alright and if he needed anything. Scratch didn't know where it had come from, but he made a full confession of his illegal actions to his supervisor. However, to this date, and very much to his surprise, nothing ever came of the confession for his extracurricular activities with state documents. He felt that Dina had convinced God to spare him, for God was a God of second chances.

  On the day of Dina's funeral, after the service, the church sanctuary that had held Dina's body was empty, with the exception of Denise. Everyone else, including Cannon and the kids, had gone to continue the celebration of Dina's life and pay their respects at Denise and Dina's mother's house. But Denise wasn't able to face anyone at the time. She wasn't sure if she would ever be ready, with her and Cannon pushing up their wedding so that they both could adopt Kayla, Kima and Dinky. She knew every time she saw their faces she would be reminded of her loss.

  She had sat in a single chair by the casket looking over at her sister, so young, so beautiful. For some reason, she had picked a white casket embellished with lavender flowers. She hated the color white, but some- thing told her Dina would have liked it. As Dina's chocolate skin rested in peace against the vanilla satin lining, her sister had said to her, "Dina, I've always cared about you, you know that. We're twins. We'll always have a special bond. And no matter how much you try to separate yourself from me, you're very much a part of me, and I am very much a part of you. We are one. You're my sister, and I love you. I will always love you. You've always known who you were. It was me who was always looking for acceptance from people, thinking that I didn't measure up. You've always been the smarter twin. No one has to sing your praises. You know the special qualities you possess. You'll always be my little big sister, and you'll always be beautiful to me."

  For years, Denise had tried to get her sister to step foot back in the church, and now Dina was finally in church again; not quite the way Denise had envisioned it though. Every time Denise thought about her sister's body laying in the casket, she could only hope that before Dina's life was taken that she had made a covenant with God that allowed her eternal life in heaven. Here on earth the world might have seen Dina as nothing more than a sinner who got what she deserved, but Denise knew that even her sister deserved a place in heaven, because even sinners have souls.

  THE END

  TRUST NO MAN

  by

  Chunichi

  Chapter One

  "Whatever!" Tatiana put her hand all up in Tike's face as she walked by him with her signature strut; legs stretched strong, behind tooted out.

  "Dang, loose booty," Tike replied, uncut by Tatiana's razor sharp tongue. "I got a G stack on dat, Goldie.

  What's up?"

  Tike was just some young hood who, for someone his age that banked lots of money, still lived at home with mama. But one couldn't tell he had paper by his appear- ance, though. He pretty much wore the same dingy white tee with worn baggy jeans. Unlike some of the other young hustlers on the block, Tike liked to stack his loot. He claimed that while all the other young cats were being stupid by spending all their money on brand names that made Sean, Jay and Russell millionaires, instead he would save up his money until he became one himself.

  The rude group of guys that were hanging out on the block with Tike paused their dice game long enough to watch the word "Juicy", printed on the backside of Tatiana's sweat pants, bounce up and down as she passed by. With bow legs, light eyes, curly, shoulder length hair and a coke bottle frame that barely hit five feet, she had the attention of all the fellas in the hood. They yelled one comment after another as she made her way into the corner store.

  With one hand on the store's door, and the other hand on her hip, she paused, "It ain't nothing a dude can do for me but break bread. If you ain't breaking no bread, this convo is dead," Tatiana spat, as she rolled her eyes and then stepped into the store.

  Tatiana picked up a pack of backwoods, a bottle of water and a lighter. She was fiendin' for a smoke so bad that she could practically taste the weed on her tongue as she headed to the register and placed her items o
n the counter.

  "That will be five dollars and ninety-seven cents," the clerk said after ringing up Tatiana's things.

  Tatiana went into her purse and pulled out the money.

  "I got that for you, Ma," a male voice said as he grabbed her hand to prevent her from paying the clerk.

  "Wow, thanks. A whole six bucks, and all for little ole me," Tatiana said sarcastically, as she turned around and faced the smiling, thugged out looking dude that stood behind her.

  He was a perfect six feet tall. He was rocking corn- rows, Tru Religion jeans and a fresh white tee; looking like the average thug. All he needed was a blinged out grill.

  "Don't get it twisted, lil mama. I woulda done the same for you if you were an old lady, lil kid, or junkie on the street. Dat's just me, baby girl."

  Tatiana eyeballed the Good Samaritan up and down as she placed her money back in her purse. The way this dude talked had really caught her attention. His tone wasn't smart-alecky, but had enough spice to let Tatiana know that his act of kindness towards her didn't make her special.

  "Oh, so it's like that? You all generous and things to just any ol' body, huh?" She asked her first test question.

  "I guess. If that's how you want to put it." The guy grabbed the bag of items that the clerk had packaged up and then handed them to Tatiana, who just stood there looking at him. "You gonna say thanks?" he asked as she accepted the bag.

  "Dang! Give me a chance." She rolled her eyes and then paused for a second before saying, "Thank you." Tatiana emphasized the words while rolling her neck.

  "Anything for you, sweetie." He winked, letting Tatiana know that he wasn't all hardcore; that he had a soft side buried somewhere within as well. "Can I do more?" He proceeded to pay for the soda and bag of chips that he was purchasing for himself while he waited on her reply.