Tale of the Tigers: Love is Not a Game

by Juliette Akinyi Ochieng

  If there were still too many customers inside, she might have to wait until her father wasn’t too busy to talk to her. Perhaps, she could get Uncle Richard to take care of things while they sat in the office and talked. Hopefully there were enough customers in the restaurant to keep Joseph from making too much noise when she broke the news to him.

  The block-long stroll was like a death march. She and her father had been getting along so well. He even seemed to

  like Kevin in spite of himself. But after this, all of the good will that had been built up between them would go down the tubes.

  “Hi, little girl.”

  Richard greeted Felice as she walked into the door. There were still a few customers leisurely enjoying a long lunch in the small restaurant. The tables were round; each adorned with plastic checkered tablecloths and two long candles.

  “Hi, Uncle.” She approached him and kissed him absently on the cheek. “Is Dad around?”

  “Sure. He’s in the office.” Richard smiled at his niece.

  “What causes you to grace us with your illustrious presence?”

  She shot him a look. “Give me a break. I’ve been up to my ears in Creole food since forever. I’m a little worn out.”

  “Yeah, I know. Jean is a not-so-frequent visitor here, too.” Jean was Richard’s twenty-four-year-old son.

  “Well, there you go.”

  “But the problem is I don’t get to see you that much,” he said as he put his arm around her shoulders. Richard had no daughters and had always spoiled Felice, who was his oldest niece.

  “I know. School is taking up most of my time.”

  “I bet. And I bet that boyfriend of yours is taking up the rest of your time. Oh, I almost forgot! Your father has a visitor in the back office. And, if I’m not mistaken, it’s that boyfriend that’s taking up so much of your dad’s time right now.”

  Felice turned to look at her uncle. “Tall, about six-five, brown hair, blue eyes?”

  “That’s him. Looks to be about twenty-one or twenty-two. Got a little bit of gray in his hair.”

  “That’s him! How long has he been in there?”

  “About fifteen minutes. What’s wrong, girl?”

  “Nothing!” Felice rushed toward the office.

  What would Kevin be doing here to see her father? Suddenly, she knew. Kevin was going to tell Joseph what had happened this weekend. She had to get in there before Kevin spilled the beans.

  She knocked on the door. “Come in,” was her father’s breezy reply.

  She opened the door to her father’s and Kevin’s smiling faces. Joseph was sitting behind the cluttered desk and Kevin was sitting in a chair on the side of the desk. On the walls were pictures from bygone era and some more

  recent ones. Felice glanced at the colorized photo of Jean Tomas LeCroix, her late grandfather. His caramel-colored face seemed to smile knowingly at her.

  Her attention turned back to the two living men in front of her. So different, but maybe it only seemed to be so. Both were tall, stolid, and fearless. Both were open, honest, and funny. And both of them loved her.

  Joseph was the first to speak. “Hi, baby. Fancy meeting you here.”

  “Uh, hi Daddy....hi Kevin,” she gulped.

  “Hi, darl...Felice.”

  Joseph looked at the younger man with some amusement. “It’s okay if you call her ‘darling’ in my presence, kid. Just don’t get too out of hand.”

  Kevin grinned a bit nervously at him. “Yes, sir.”

  Felice observed this banter with total confusion. Suddenly impatience took over. “So, either of you two going to tell me what’s going on here?”

  “What’s going here,” Kevin said as he stood up, “is that I wanted to talk to your dad for a bit. We had a nice chat, and now I gotta go work out.”

  He strode over to her and kissed her on the forehead. “See you tomorrow, same time as usual?”

  “Okay,” she said.

  He grinned at her puzzled look, turned to wink at Joseph and walked out.

  Felice turned to her father. “What was that about, Dad? Come on, tell me.”

  “In a minute. You obviously came here to tell me something specific. Why else would you be in the restaurant? You’ve acted like you’re allergic to this place for a while now.”

  “Come on, Dad.” She sat in the chair that Kevin had vacated. “You know I’m real busy with school.”

  “Okay, baby. Now what did you want to tell me?”

  She took a deep breath. Then she told him the whole story of Kevin’s visit to her hotel room in Santa Fe and its outcome.

  “I will admit, Daddy, that the thought had crossed both our minds to...you know...but I didn’t want to. I wasn’t ready and to tell the truth, I don’t think he was, either.”

  She sat forward and spoke urgently to her father. “He understood what I was feeling and was a perfect gentleman about everything and I do mean everything. He didn’t try to change my mind or talk me into it.”

  Joseph’s face was unreadable.

  “So, why didn’t you want to...” The words seemed to be stuck on the tip of his tongue. It was the first time he had ever talked about sex with his daughter. “...make love?”

  “Because...it didn’t seem right to...give a part of yourself to someone without...being committed to him.”

  Joseph was quiet.

  Felice looked at him with some alarm. “Please, Daddy. Don’t be angry with him,” she pleaded. “Be angry with me. I knew that he was going to visit. I tried to talk him out of it, but not hard enough. Don’t take my mistake out on him.”

  “I won’t take it out on him. And yes, you didn’t try hard enough. What did Kevin say that you told him? ‘Please don’t make me into a liar.’”

  Felice was speechless. Joseph went on.

  “He took responsibility for the whole thing. I’d say that both of you are responsible.”

  Felice sat stunned, looking miserably at him.

  “I’m sorry, Daddy.”

  Joseph looked at his daughter sternly and then his face softened.

  “Apology accepted. The only reason that I’m accepting it is that the two of you came to me, independently from the looks of it, to tell me the truth. I have to respect both of you for that. To be honest, Felice, I’m actually very proud of you for it, very proud.” He leaned over and kissed her gently on the forehead.

  She smiled at him uncertainly. “Are you going to punish me for this?”

  Joseph shrugged his shoulders and grinned at her slyly. “It’d be kind of pointless to forbid you to have anything to do with Kevin. You see each other all the time at school and I think that it would be overreacting a bit if I got a restraining order on him or a bodyguard for you.”

  “Daddy!”

  “Calm down. Can’t your old dad have a little fun dreamin’? Besides, in spite of this incident, or perhaps because of it, I think Kevin’s a fine young man. I was wrong about him.”

  Felice was speechless again as Joseph went on.

  “It’s wrong to judge a person’s character because that person looks like someone who hurt you. I had to work through my prejudice, knowing it was wrong, but feeling it anyway. Your mother says it’s a test from God and I’m inclined to believe that. I hope I’ve passed. I’d say you’ve passed too, little girl.”

  “I’m not a little girl anymore, Daddy,” she said with amusement.

  “Boy, don’t I know that! But cut me some slack. I’ll probably call you that when you’re forty.

  “Kevin and I sat here and talked about...quite a few things before your arrival. I learned a lot about him in a short time. He told me a little about his mother, about how it’s just been him and his father for quite some time. He told me about you and how you fit into his life.”

  “What’d he say?”

  “Now, you know I’m not going to tell you everything, girl. But I’d say the man cares a great deal about you. And why shouldn’t he? You’re a lovely young lady, sweetheart.
”

  Felice smiled shyly at him.

  “He also said that his father likes you, which, according to him, isn’t always a given with everyone he meets.”

  “I like him, too. He’s a nice man, very easy to be around.”

  Joseph smiled enigmatically at his daughter. “I know. He’s real. Just like his son.

  It was eleven-fifteen A.M., a day later. Felice walked expectantly along the perimeter of the cafeteria inside the Quad. Kevin was usually waiting for her in the Quad at a table on the outside edge of the cafeteria part of the building. Magically, he always was able to secure an empty table every day, though the Quad was always packed with people at that time of day. But without him, getting a table was next to impossible. Guess thems the perks when you’re the Big Cheesehead, she thought sardonically. She made a mental note to call him that later on.

  It was unheard of, in her experience, for Kevin to be late without somehow letting her know beforehand. By eleven forty-five, she gave up, very worried. Where could he be?

  She walked out of the Quad and nearly bumped into Kevin.

  “What happened? I was worried about you.”

  “Nothing. I had to take care of something. Come on. Let’s go back in the Quad.”

  “But I’ve got to go to class....”

  “It’ll be okay. You’ll get to class soon enough. Come on. I’ve got something to show you. You’re gonna like it...I hope.”

  He led her to the semi-circled, high-backed seat where he had first spoken to her. Sitting there were five, tuxedo-clad football players, including Malik Hayes. In unison, they all got up, cleared their throats, and began to sing.

  The first song was “Let Me Call You Sweetheart,” sung surprisingly well. Felice laughed delightedly at Malik’s antics and clapped appreciatively along with the growing crowd.

  The next song was “Let’s Stay Together” with Malik singing lead in a clear tenor and his back-up singers doing a hilarious impression of the Temptations.

  After the crowd again showed its appreciation, Malik walked up to Felice, took her hand, and walked over to Kevin and took his hand.

  “Felice, I think Kevin has something he wants to say to you.” Then Malik stepped back. The crowd fell into an unnaturally, hushed silence.

  Kevin took both of Felice’s hands into his. “Felice, I just want to tell you right here in front of God and everybody, that you are the best thing that’s ever happened

  to me. You’re beautiful, smart, generous, sweet, and wonderful and I wanted everyone to know that that’s what I think about you. I want everyone to know that I love you.”

  Felice’s mouth almost wouldn’t work. She felt tears welling up. “I think all those things about you, too, baby, and more,” she said in a near whisper. “And I love you.”

  “Well since that’s the situation, there’s only one thing to do.”

  He got down on one knee as the crowd let out a whooping cheer, and stretched out his hand to Malik. Malik fished a ring box out of his jacket pocket and handed it to him. Then the crowd quieted down to hear him and to hear her answer.

  “Will you marry me?’

  She caught her breath and looked at him.

  “Are you crazy?” she shouted. “Of course, I’ll marry you!”

  He got up and lifted her off the floor, kissing her hard as the crowd clapped and cheered and whistled.

  The informal meeting would come to order in Trevor’s dorm room in nearly an hour. Usually when the fraternity brothers had a meeting, the format was scheduled and filled with ritual. But this meeting was only for a select few: five

  members whom Trevor trusted to keep their mouths shut about the act of retribution that Trevor wanted to exact. Oh, sure, all the Taus were commanded to keep any secret that a big brother specified. However, the action that Trevor wanted to execute was no ordinary one. This type of thing was only for his most trustworthy lieutenants.

  They had carried out such doings in the past. The most recent one had been against Adrienne Anderson, but it had been foiled by that ho, Felice. Felice. She always seemed to be a fly in every ointment. At first, Trevor had thought she was just some timid airhead with a nice backside. He had gotten himself a piece, passed her on to one of his minions, and had given her no more thought.

  But on the afternoon that they had tried to teach Adrienne a lesson, Felice had been like a lioness. Trevor had privately been impressed. He had thought she was some silly, little girl with loose knees, but he had been wrong. She was far more dangerous than any of them had given her credit for, and far more resilient.

  After Trevor and the other Taus had pulled Daniel’s coat about Felice’s prior extracurricular activities, and Daniel had promptly dumped her, Trevor had often seen Felice walking around campus alone looking as though she were about to cry at any moment. The other brothers had seen her as well, and they all had congratulated themselves on a job well done. Trevor supposed he felt some sympathy for her but he had quickly pushed that aside. She had interfered with Tau justice— interfered in the Black Man’s Business. He supposed that they could have taken both women down, but that would have just been too risky. And the revenge that they had taken had been so much more effective, or so he had thought at the time.

  But the little skank was like a weeble: she wobbled, but she kept getting back up. She goes out and gets a white boy! And not just any old white boy, but the biggest, most popular devil on campus. Then she had the nerve to bring him to the AACC dinner. Oh they had tried to corral him, but he had made them look like fools. It was her fault for bringing him in the first place. She had, once again, over-stepped her bounds; she just did not get it.

  Then, there was that big spectacle in the Quad the other day. So, the white idiot wanted to marry the little slut, did he? What kind of crap was that? And that hoochie Felice had said yes. Yes, she was far more dangerous than he had originally thought. She was a traitor to her own race.

  Oh sure, he and some of his frat brothers played around with white girls, but most would never think about marrying one. How would that look if they wanted to hold themselves up as champions of the race? How would that look when the time for vengeance, retribution, and redistribution came?

  So, the big football idiot thought he could do or say anything he wanted to the great Taus. Well, he was about to find out that he couldn’t. Trevor found himself happy that football season was over. That devil might find himself too banged up to throw a pass and Trevor certainly didn’t want to be responsible for messing up the Tigers chances for a national championship. No. We couldn’t have that, he grinned to himself.

  “Okay, now what we need is for someone to trail Hart three times next week to see what his general pattern is. Actually, we need three someone’s, so he won’t get suspicious.”

  Trevor paused expectantly, waiting for volunteers. In four seconds, he got them.

  “Okay we got ‘Dre on Monday, Jamal on Wednesday, and Tommy on Friday, so no one person will miss too much class. Any suggestions?”

  “I think we ought to keep an eye out for Felice,” said Jamal. “She’ll recognize us even if the white boy doesn’t.”

  “I could care less about that back-stabbing bitch,” spat Andre Carter.

  “I don’t think any of us do either ‘Dre, but I’m betting Jamal’s point was that Felice could recognize one of us and alert her massa to what might be going on,” said Trevor.

  “That’s it exactly, Big Brother,” said Jamal.

  “Okay,” Trevor went on. “If Felice is with him, we’ll cease and desist, but if he’s alone, we follow him. After we establish his pattern, we’ll meet here, same time, on Monday, the week after the surveillance. Then we’ll decide where the action will take place.”

  Tale of the Tigers

  Chapter Twelve

  Felice sat in the campus library pouring over her political science notes, once, twice, then a third time. She had banished all thoughts of Kevin from her mind, though it had been difficult. Four months pr
ior, she had felt as though everything had been closing around her. What a difference a semester made.

  The final for this class was at the end of the week. She had already taken the other three and was sure that she had done ‘A’ work, not that it mattered officially. The other classes were repeats of failures, so she would only receive a ‘C’ in each. However, she could receive an actual ‘A’ in this

  one, so she was making every effort to ensure that this would happen. She was feeling pretty proud of herself.

  Felice looked at her watch. It was ten o’clock! How had she lost such track of time? It was her fault for turning the watch’s beeper off. The library stayed open until twelve during the two weeks of the finals, but she had been here since six. An ‘A’ was pretty much in the bag.

  However, more immediate matters were on her mind. Her parents would be furious that she hadn’t called them to let them know that she would be home late. And it was dark outside. NMU’s campus was well-patrolled by security guards, especially at night, but, nevertheless, a couple of rapes and a mugging had occurred within the last few years. At least it wasn’t like some of the big city campuses, where assaults on students were the rule, rather than the exception. However, there was one particularly secluded area that she would have to go through. It was the shortest route to the parking lot, and it was also a great place for a rapist or a mugger to lie in wait.

  Felice quickly organized her papers and her books and stuffed them into her backpack, mentally chiding herself for not parking closer to the library. She said a quick good-bye to the student-librarian at the desk and headed out of the