They were escorted through the terminal as if they were celebrities. Crystal carrying Darren, Angela with a firm hold of Isaac's hand followed along. No one noted that the guards were especially flanking Angela, keeping her center of them. She was too happy about all the places she wanted them to see, and everyone she wanted them to meet to realize that there might be something out of the ordinary.
Parting with a kiss, Shawn assured his wife that he wouldn't be too far behind them. He, Benjamin and Mundo made their way to the Midway Car Rental. At the desk, Shawn explained that he wouldn't be renting his usual, he needed something big, his family was with him. They went down the list of available vans and SUV's and the moment they mentioned a Hummer, the H2 - Mundo got to dancing.
"Aaah man, come on big daddy, let's do the Hummer baby! We here in L.A.- dawg's out to play - for hot fun in the sum-ma-ah, oh yeah, it's got to be a Hum-ma-a-ah!" He did a jerk dance, all his teeth showing, making Shawn crack up laughing, he looked at the guy behind the desk.
"My son has spoken, the Hummer please."
"Aaah hell yeah baby, it's time, it's time, we gone have some fu-u-un! We gone drive the bouleva-ard! We gone look at some sexy sexy California women, in tini-wini bikinis with they ass hangin' all out! Shoot, I might even listen to some Beach Boys!Hell, this it! It's gone get so good, I might have to sacrifice ... my vir-gin-ni-tay! I was gone save it! But now, I may have to just - give it up! Find me a fine tan line, and just tell'ah - have - me, girl! Gone on and have your way wit'me! Just take it girl... come on and have me! Don't be too rough, 'cause I'm a virgin." He jerked about like someone was ripping at his shirt, had Benjamin and Shawn laughed so they wiped tears from their eyes.
"Would you - calm down!" Shawn rebuked him, grinning.
"Aaah dad come on! We in L.A.! Understand what I'm sayin'? In a Hummer too?! Now you know we gots'tah go out tonight! We gone go out? Can we? Please? Can we go out, 'cause I wanna go out." He suddenly became serious, straightening up looking on the verge of begging.
The rental clerk was smiling at him, "First time to L.A.?" He asked Shawn, laying the papers before him to fill, "They're first time, as you can tell." He responded as he passed his drivers license and credit card. And then to Mundo, "You behave yourself and we'll see. I might take you by one of my old hangouts."
"Okay okay, I'll be good! Get to the con-do, you una'stan'? Shower, get all fresh and thangs, I'mo be sharp, smellin' good, aaah baby ... I'm having fun already and we ain't even went no where!" Unable to help himself, he was doing the cabbage patch to music in his head, Benjamin standing by him taking his picture. Of course Mundo dropped into his hip-hop pose, looking cool and playing his part. Smiling, Benjamin winked and nodded done. He'd had his camera out since they left Wisconsin and was snapping photos left and right. He'd taken several on the plane of everyone, especially of Crystal and the boys, there were plenty of them.
Because Shawn was a regular with them, they were done in no time and walking out to look for the Hummer. Didn't take them long to spot it. It sat waiting like a mighty white beast, accentuated with black trim and chrome galore. Mundo greeted it with a hug and a kiss. Of course, once more, pictures had to be taken, Mundo and Benjamin posing by it while Shawn snapped a few shots and then Shawn and Mundo, and finally Benjamin and Shawn. They climbed in and started it up and Mundo laid on the back seat, caressing the seat swearing, "I'm sleeping in this the whole time we here. I'on need no room, no bed." He sat up suddenly leaning to the front seat, "Dad, come on man ... talk mama into giving up that lil'red mustang so we can have a Hummer! She can have the other SUV! Get us a Hummer man! 'Cause this the way to go dawg! We special man, you special ... you ain't supposed to be driving around in just any thang!You supposed to be in a Hummer! We Hummer men!"
Shawn shook his head, "I think we had a mini-van in mind to trade the mustang in on."
"A mini-van? Come on big dawg! We precious cargo! Jesse James special! Think about Jesse James - do you want our lil'man startin' off life, ridin' around in a mini-van? Not Jesse James - no no no! Man, I'm tellin' you, this the safest vehicle on the road! Ain't nothin' can hurt you in a Hummer, les' some fool drop a bomb on our ass!"
"MUNDO!" Shawn barked his name.
"Yes sir?"
"I'm trying to drive here, I can't laugh at you and keep my eyes on the road at the same time. Sit back there and enjoy the sights! You wanna go out tonight don't you?"
"Yes sir, I sho'do!"
"Then chill! My guts achin' from laughin' at you."
In the limousine, Sylvia was in heaven. Although Crystal and Angela had ridden in one before, this would be her first time. Even when they'd gone to Armundo Sr.'s funeral, she hadn't ridden in a limo, because he hadn't been buried. He'd been cremated due to already having been burned beyond recognition, so she chose to have a wake and funeral and that had been it. Making this, her first time. It was wonderful. It wasn't the biggest limo, but it was luxury at its optimum. A pearlescent white Lexus, with gold trim and lights like diamonds. The interior was ecru leather suede, more comfortable than some beds she'd slept in. There was wine, juice, champagne, soda, fruit, nuts, expensive chocolate and little petit-fors cakes that Crystal and Angela both loved. She dare not touch them, but she had plenty of the nuts with a bit of wine. As they were riding, the phone rang. Angela answered it.
"Hello?"
"Hi, it's me, your mom. So you guys made it in safely and you're riding in the limo; good, I was afraid your father wouldn't accept it."
"Hi mom! Yeah, we're here safe and sound! You were right, dad didn't accept a ride in it but he let us. I'm here with Sylvia and her daughter Crystal. Oh mom wait until you meet Crystal! She's beautiful, it's so cool to have an older sister, just wait until you see her! Isaac and Darren are here too, that's her two little boys."
"You talkin' on the phone?" Isaac asked with wide eyes. He and Darren had been watching cartoons on the small TV, but now, the idea of a telephone like that in the limo got his immediate attention.
"You hear that mom? That was Isaac!" She told her mother and then to Isaac, "Yep, my mother's on the phone, say hello to her." He put the phone to his ear.
"Hello, how are you doing?" He asked trying to sound grown up on the phone.
Deidre smiled, "I'm doing fine, how are you doing? Did you like flying?"
"Yeah! I liked it a whole bunch! We was way way way up in the air, up where the birds be at, and we was flyin'! I'm gonna fly a plane when I grow up."
Deidre sighed at the sound of his tiny voice, "Good for you."
"Can't talk no more, my cartoons, bye!" He pushed the phone away and went back to looking at the small TV, already bored with talking on the phone.
"Isn't he cool mom? Wait until you see him, he's so cute! Would you like to talk to Sylvia?"
"Yes I would; but before I do, will you be coming to stay with me a few days? I bought a new house. It's really nice, you'll love it."
"Really? Well, uh ... sure, I'll come and see it." Angela suddenly felt funny hearing that.
Sylvia was watching her and could immediately see the change that suddenly came over her.
"Well I don't want you to just come and see it, I'd like you to stay with me a few nights. I've made all kinds of plans for us to spend time together; I promise it'll be fun."
"Well, we'll see ... here, talk to Sylvia." Angela handed her the phone, her eyes showing traces of fear.
"Hello, Deidre?"
"Hi-i-i and welcome to L.A! I can't believe you guys are here! Before you leave here, I want us to get together! You, me, your daughter, Angela ... we'll go on one heck of a shopping spree. I'm day-dreaming of spoiling that baby you're carrying beyond his wildest dreams!"
Sylvia was smiling, "I'd like that, sounds really nice. I really appreciate the gesture of the limo as well, this is fantastic."
"Well, just so you know it, its yours for the duration of your time here. This way you're not tied to Shawn depending on him to take you around. You and your kids, Angel
a, its at your disposal with a driver who will be at your beck and call."
"Oh my goodness, thank you."
"No problem, you sound tired? You okay?"
"Just that, tired. This limo, rides so well, it's about to put me to sleep."
"Well get used to it, by the sound of you, that's exactly what you need. It was one of the things I didn't like about being pregnant, I was tired all the time, needing to sleep."
"I haven't been so bad with this one, but right now, I'm feeling just that. The flight over, kind of stressed me out as well to be honest; I'd never flown before. I was scared to death."
"You poor thing, we'll have to certainly make this trip worth it then. You and I will be getting together to have a nice time, just the two of us. Well I best go now, may I speak back with Angela?"
"Sure, thanks for everything, Deidre."
"Are you kidding me, I'm the one that owes you thanks. You have my daughter and you've made her happy. For that, I can never repay you, but I damn sure am going to try! Talk to you later."
"You bet, here she is." Sylvia passed the phone back to Angela.
"Yes?" She asked apprehensively.
"I just wanted to tell you that I love you. I've missed you. I can't wait for us to get together. I promise you, we'll have ourselves a good time, okay?"
"Yeah, okay."
"I love you Angela."
"Love you too, bye."
She hung up the phone and sunk back in the seat, no longer hyper and enthusiastic.
"What's wrong baby girl?" Crystal asked, sitting next to her, finger combing her bangs from her forehead.
Angela glanced from Sylvia, who was also showing signs of concern for her, up to Crystal. She couldn't speak at first, but then finally said, "I think my mom's going to ask me to stay here with her."
"Oh." Crystal sighed and then looked at her mother.
"I don't think so honey, she didn't sound that way to me." Sylvia spoke up to ease her fears.
"She said she bought a new house, that I would really like it. That she's made plans for us to have a good time."
"She means while you're here Angela, that's all."
"I hope so, because I don't ever wanna leave you Sylvia..." She went to her knees on the spacious floor of the limo, propelling herself towards Sylvia, wrapping her arms around her, her face pressed to her breast. "... please don't let them try and keep me here! I wanna be with you, with my dad! With Crystal, Mundo and Ben! And Jesse James is coming, I have to be here for Jesse James!" She was crying already as feelings of dread suddenly washed over her.
"Angela, baby ... you're gettin' upset over nothing honey. Your dad has full custody of you, your mother signed you over to us. She's just wanting to have you some while we're here that's all. Your mother loves you, don't be like this. Don't hurt her like this Angela."
"I don't wanna hurt her, but I don't want to leave you! Please, please, please promise me Sylvia, you won't let them try and keep me here!"
"Aaah my precious baby, look at you. Come on up here, sit on my lap." She pat it instructing her. Angela readily complied climbing up as Sylvia gathered her in close against her, holding her as if she were a baby, rocking her, kissing her brow. "You mybaby now. No one is keeping you any where you don't want to be, okay? I promise you, as long as you want to be with me, you'll be with me. So calm down, everything will be okay. We're here to have fun and that's exactly what we're going to do. When its time to go, we're all going together. Promise ... I love you little girl, you know that? Hm? I couldn't love you more if I'd had you. Now cheer up. Everything is going to be okay." Sylvia stroked her hair back from her brow, kissed her there again, holding her. It would seem, Angela was in no hurry to move from her lap, instead, she wrapped her arms more tighter around Sylvia and stayed there. Sylvia held her, looked up at her daughter.
Crystal was gazing at her with a slight smile on her face.
"We, they, us ... together, we really are made for each other, aren't we mama?" Crystal asked softly, thinking about herself just the night before with Shawn, how she'd needed him then, now Angela, before her, needing her mother.
"Most - definitely." Sylvia agreed quietly, kissing Angela's forehead gently, over and over again as she held and rocked her.
* * *
Madison, Wi.
Reginald Clarke stood in the alleyway, more lawn green than an actual alley, staring at his garage door. The wood was rotted, the roof needed doing and right now, he and his kids, wife included had been cleaning up the garage of all their boxes, wrapping paper, newspaper and other refuse accumulated from unpacking due to the move. They'd been working all morning just about and through most of the afternoon to get it done. His wife wasn't happy about the fact that they'd missed church to stay home and get it done. Yet, he wanted to get it cleaned up because they were both off of work that day and he couldn't seem to spare a few hours for Sunday service when it was back to work the next day. Therefore, they remained home and finished cleaning up the garage and yard. Problem, now that it was all done, he couldn't get the garage door to close. The hinges, rack and cable pulley used to close it was hung up because the frame was rotted allowing the brace to pull away every time he attempted to pull the door down.
"Goddammit! It's always something! Shit! How I'm gone close this back down now?" He muttered talking to himself even though Ma'Keiba stood next to him watching. Her eyes straying down the way towards another yard where activities were going on, hoping to catch sight of a certain person and then back to her father. Her mother had gone back into the house to cook supper and her little brothers were in the basement on their Nintendo again. They were addicted to the game, which suited her just fine, that kept them out of her hair.
"Maybe if I hold that side, you can get it closed, daddy."
"Not safe, you just stay back out the way." He grumbled, trying to pull it down again, this time, he made it worse, the glider bracket gave way and bent on him, making the whole door shift out of place and to the left. Now, it was officially busted.
"Son-of-a-bitch!"
"Now what?" She asked, "You gone have to fix that or we can't close the garage."
"No shit she'lock! How you suppose I do that?"
"Go buy some wood maybe and fix it?"
"You got some go buy some wood money? It ain't in the budget this week after all we spent moving and everything else we had to do. We officially broke until next week." He stated looking down at her.
At the same time that had been going on, Shawn2 had been cutting glances their way, trying to get Ma'Keiba's attention when his father wasn't looking, however as he watched, he began to see their problem. Seeing an opportunity to talk to her again he called his father. "Dad! Come here for a second."
Derrick had been cutting wood planks they were using to build with. Once they had 4 solid sheds, they would be advertised for building for someone else. He put the saw down and walked to his son, "What's wrong?" He asked, taking the safety glasses off.
Shawn2 pointed down the shared grass area to the problem of the Clarke's. "Their garage door is broke, we should offer to fix it for them." He tried to keep his smile at bay, the smile that clearly stated he had ulterior motives for wishing to help with the problem. Derrick stared at him a moment and then turned looking over the fence to see that truly they did need some assistance.
"Go on dad, introduce yourself, offer our assistance." Shawn2 nudged him on.
"I will, but you ... keep working, I don't need any assistance from you."
Shawn2 made a face, having every intention of going with his father to assist. It was too bad for him that Derrick wasn't falling for it, suspicious of his motives, so he had to be content with leaning over the fence and watching as his father left their yard and made his way to them.
Reaching the Clarke's garage, Derrick started right off, "Don't you just hate when that happens?"
Reginald turned and smiled, "Aaah man, you telling me."
With a smile and his hand extended Derric
k introduced himself, "I'm your neighbor, across and two houses over, Derrick McPherson."
"Hey, hi you doing, Reginald Clarke. Call me Reggie."
"Thanks. Well Reggie, what's your plan for this?"
"To be honest with you, didn't even know I needed a plan. We just bought this house not too long ago, just moved in over a week ago. I knew I was gonna have to do some fixin' up on the garage, but I didn't think it would be this soon."
"Got anything to repair it with?" Derrick asked, looking it over.
"Not this week, next week maybe. I'd just be happy gettin' it closed for now."
"You need an entirely new frame here." Derrick observed.
"And a new roof on here, its all rotten up in that corner there." Reginald led him in and pointed it out. While they were discussing that, Ma'Keiba was gazing down the way at Shawn2, who was leaning over the fence, gazing at her as well, his two older brothers alongside him. Playing off a bit of bashfulness, she gave a slight roll of her eyes and looked back to what her father and Derrick were saying.
Shawn2 smiled, turned to his brother's, "She likes me."
"You go near her and dad will knock-you-out; not to mention putting you on punishment until you're 21." Luis warned him.
"I just gotta be more like you and Marcus, slick, sly and slippery, do the dirty and back like Mr. Innocent."
"Too late for you little brother, you've already blown your game. Been busted so bad, lad can't be trusted. 'Sides, she's too close to home. Number one rule, never do the girl next door." Marcus schooled him, looking from him to their father. Who just looked their way and summoned him to where they stood.
All three made their way to the fence when Marcus stopped them, "Ah ah ah, dad's only calling me, you two get back to work."
"No he didn't, he means all of us!" Shawn2 fussed going anyway. He knew that his dad was just calling Marcus, but he could always pretend otherwise. Because he was going, Luis followed suit.
BOMAW 10-12 Page 3
