“Good night mommy and daddy. I love you.” I looked up and saw Mamma Belle standing in the door just watching me.
“C’mon and get to the table, dinner is ready.” “If it’s okay with you Grandma, I’ll skip dinner.” “Well suit ya’self, but if you ain’t gonna’ eat you need to carry your tail to bed. I’ve got you set up with a friend of the church for an interview tomorrow down at his diner. Now the job is practically yours, he just wants to meet you. So wear something nice and try not to mess this up.” She turned on her heels and closed the door without even saying good night. I don’t know what the problem was, but I was definitely not feeling the love. I prayed things would get greater later.
WELCOME TO THE HOOD
When I woke up the next morning I realized I had kicked the covers off of me during my night of restless sleep. I rolled over and was frightened by the sight of Mr. Rufus standing over me. I screamed in shock and quickly tried to cover myself.
“Mr. Rufus.” At the same time Mama Belle walked into the room. Noticing that I was half naked with her man friend in the room she blew her top.
“Mr. Rufus my ass. If you don’t put some damn clothes on I’ll come over there and smack the shit out of you girl.”
I tried to defend myself. “But grandma.” But she wouldn’t hear me out. “But grandma my ass. Get yo fast hot ass up and get dressed.”
I just sat there in a state of shock.
“Now Tiffany.” she screamed to the top of her old lungs. Then her and that perverted ass Mr. Rufus closed the door and left.
“Ugghh” I screamed almost to the top of my lungs. I wasn’t even here a full 24 hours yet and this shit was getting real tired, real fast. I took care of my morning hygiene and rummaged through my clothes to see what I could where to a job interview. I had never been on one before so I was like a fish out of water. After what seemed like hours I decided on a pair of black Roc-A-Wear jeans and red and black and red stretch Roc-A-Wear pullover top to match. On my feet I decided to put on a pair of red heels that I had. I don’t remember where I got them from but I hardly every wore them because I never really went anywhere when I was back at home.
After I got dressed I combed my hair and put it in a long ponytail that stopped at the middle of my back. I didn’t have a mirror to double check myself so I would just have to trust the fact that I knew how to dress. I yelled into the hallway to let Mama Belle know I was ready. She advised me that she was too, so we left. We rode in silence as Mama Belle played gospel music all the way to the diner.
When we pulled up to the diner she gave me the following instructions. “Now you go in there and ask for Jimmy. Tell him I sent you. She looked me up and down and then continued, “By the way you are dressed, you should have no problem getting the job,” She said sarcastically. “I’ll be back to get you when you are done. Just call the house.”
I got out of the car and looked myself up and down to see if I could notice any flaws in my attire and to be totally honest I couldn’t find anything wrong. I mean okay so maybe my jeans were a little form fitting but they weren’t tight at all. I could still pinch and pull the fabric away from my legs and ass. And my shirt had no control over the way that my breasts were perfectly formed. I mean, I may not have been dressed to interview for a corporate position but I wasn’t dressed for an escort service either. I looked up from my selfexamination
“Mama Bell I just want to thank you...” I never got a chance to finish the sentence. She peeled off from the curb like she had just robbed a bank. I just watched in frustration as her green Cadillac got smaller going down the block. I pulled myself together and prepared to enter the building.
The diner was named Jimmy’s Place. And maybe I shouldn’t call it a diner. That would give you the misconception that it was some small greasy spoon hole in the wall. This place was more of a full-blown restaurant. It was black brick with gold writing and gold light post outside. It almost didn’t fit in with the rest of the buildings on the block. Jimmy’s Place was very elegant on the outside.
When I walked in all eyes were automatically on me and I could feel it. I walked up to the front counter and cleared my throat to take the man’s attention off of my breast and have it focused on my face.
“Excuse me. I’m looking for Jimmy.” I stated. Before the perverted older man could respond, a tap on the shoulder startled me. When I turned around I was met by a tall chocolate skinned man. He stood about 6 feet 3 inches tall. And although he looked to be around fifty or so he had a very muscular physique that was accentuated by his form fitting black t-shirt. His hair was cut low and his waves spun in a 360-degree circular motion. He wore a perfectly shaped up goatee that showed his age with the salt and pepper sprinkled evenly throughout the hairs on his chin. His eyes were green and he wore a soft yellow Stacy Adams linen suit with black Gator shoes. He smiled revealing his white perfectly shaped and evenly spaced teeth. His cologne smelled heavenly and it was something I never smelled before. He removed an unlit cigar from his mouth.
“Mmm mmm mmm, I’m glad you’re looking for me.”
I noticed how he was looking at me and it made me uncomfortable so I decided to quickly put an end to the stare.
“Are you Jimmy?” I asked, nervously.
“Well if I ain’t, my momma lied to me years ago.” he joked extending his hand for a handshake. His hand was full of jewelry, a diamond pinky ring and a watch that had so many diamonds in the face that I could fix my hair in it.
I extended my hand as well “Hello sir. I’m Tiffany. I’m Lula Belle’s granddaughter.” We shook hands.
“Oh okay baby. I have been expecting you. Follow me.” He led me through the restaurant that was even more elegant inside than outside.
The décor was incredibly tasteful. It was all black and gold themed. The walls were covered in black art. And the ceilings held chandeliers that looked like they cost a million dollars each. I noticed that the cooks, Maitre De’, and manager were black but all of the servers and bus boys were white. I guess Mr. Jimmy was on some black power trip, but that didn’t bother me. It was actually kind of interesting to see the roles reversed for a change.
When we got to his office he opened two very large doors that led into an office that was about as big as some studio apartments I had been in. There was a 50 inch plasma T.V. on the wall. The desk was made of cherry wood. There was also a large black leather sofa. Directly underneath the plasma television was a fireplace. He instructed me to take a seat in a large black leather chair as he took his seat on the other side of the desk. He crossed his hands and placed them on the desk and leaned forward.
“So you’re Lula Belle’s grandbaby huh?”
“Yes sir I am”
“Please call me Jimmy, sir sounds so old.”
“Yes sir. I mean Jimmy.” He laughed, briefly and started the interview.
“So Tiffany, do you have any experience?”
“Unfortunately, Mr. Jimmy I don’t.”
“Well that’s ok. The job is easy. Just take the orders and bring them back to the kitchen. When the chef announces that your order is ready you go to the window and check the order to make sure it’s right. If it’s right then you alert one of the servers. Under NO circumstances are you to serve the food yourself. I’m sure from the little tour I gave you; you can see how I run things around here.”
I smiled. “Sounds simple enough,” I said.
“It is. That’s why I’m going to start you at 6 dollars an hour. But don’t worry, this place is popular so if you play your cards right you can make a couple hundred a week just in tips. So when can you start?” I was shocked by the automatic hire.
“Wow when do you want me to start?” He smiled, obviously happy that I accepted his offer.
“Well it will be kind of slow this morning but you can start now if you want. I’ll get you an apron and start you at a slow station.” He left to get me an apron and I was actually happy for the first time in the past 24 hours.
If t
his job went the way I thought it would I would be able to save up enough money to move out on my own in a few months. I thought of all the nice things I would buy myself. I also thought of going to get my cosmetology license and eventually opening my own salon one day. I only wished mama and daddy were alive to see me achieve my dreams.
Mr. Jimmy coming back into the room snapped me out of my daydream.
“Here you go sweetie,” He said, handing me an apron, pad and a pen to take the orders with. He pointed to the video monitors on his desk that showed surveillance of the whole restaurant. He pointed at a table.
“Okay baby. That’s table 7 right over there where those girls are sitting, that’s yours for the next few days until you get your feet wet. Don’t be nervous, you’ll be fine.”
But no matter how much he assured me, I was nervous like the first black President on inauguration day. I slowly got up, put on my apron, gathered my nerves and headed back into the main dining area. I silently gave myself a mental pep talk as I got closer and closer to the table.
“You can do this, you can do this.” I kept saying to myself. When I got to the table the three girls at the table were engulfed in a conversation. I held my head high mustered up all my courage and interrupted.
“Good morning ladies. How may I help you?” They looked up, noticed me and just kept talking like I wasn’t even there. I waited a few seconds and offered my help again.
“Excuse me ladies, how can I help you this morning?” The girl closest to the window responded first.
“Calm down bitch we heard you. Can’t you see we fuckin talking?” I was taken aback by her rudeness.
“Miss, the vulgarity and name calling is not called for.”
The girl next to her sprung into action and pulled a stra’ight razor from her bra.
“What you gonna do about it bitch?” At this point I was scared to death, so I played it smart so these girls wouldn’t jump on me and possibly slit my throat.
“Look ladies, I’m sorry. I didn’t want to start nothing. I just wanted to take your orders, but I can come back when you finish talking.” I turned to leave and the third girl spoke up next.
“Hold on little mama. We ready to order. Ya’ll chill the fuck out. Ya’ll see she’s new around here. Ain’t you little mama?” she said, smiling at me almost as if she were flirting. But I responded to her because she was obviously the friendly one and god forbid something jumped off, she seemed like she could control the other two.
“As a matter of fact, I am new here. I just got here last night.” I now found myself engulfed in a conversation with girl #3.
She responded to the information I gave her. “Okay. That’s what’s up, where you from?” I had become a little more relaxed now.
“I’m from Marion, Ohio.” I responded.
“Damn shawty, what brings you here?”
“Trust me, it’s a long story.”
She started fishing for answers. “Well let’s see, you way too square to be running from the law. You chasing a nigga?”
“No.” I said adamantly.
“Oh shit. You running from one?”
“No.” I said more adamantly than the first time.
“Then why you here?”
Okay that was it. She had worked my last nerve. “Look I don’t wanna talk about it so are ya’ll gonna order or what?” I said, my voice now showing how agitated I was. The girl who had pulled the razor spoke her mind next.
“Yo fuck this bitch Monica.”
“Nah. Fuck ya’ll. Ya’ll bitches can starve.” I responded. And with that said I turned on my heels and stormed off. I snatched off my apron as I headed back to Mr. Jimmy’s office to tell him what had happened, but to my surprise he was standing at the kitchen door watching the whole thing. As I approached he looked at his watch and shook his head.
“Wow. Four minutes and quitting already? That’s got to be a new record.”
“Mr. Jimmy I’m sorry, but maybe this ain’t the job for me. Those bitches, excuse my language, those girls were rude and very disrespectful. One of them even pulled a razor on me. And I should not, and will not go through that at work.” My eyes started tearing up as I fought to control my emotions. Mr. Jimmy put his arm around me.
“Look, Tiffany, I know your background and I know why you are here in Baltimore. I also watched that whole situation go down with that crew of girls over there. So I know what set you off. And that is my fault. I should have warned you that in this business you are going to run into some assholes, both men and women. Now it’s obvious to me that they struck a very sensitive nerve with you, so I’ll tell you what, you run on home and think on it, and if you still want the job then come back tomorrow at 3pm and we’ll start all over again.”
“Ok. Mr. Jimmy, I’ll do that. And once again I’m sorry.”
“No need to apologize sweety.”
I took my cell phone off my hip and proceeded to dial Mama Belle’s number until the recording alerted me that I was out of pre-paid minutes.
“You gotta be kidding me.” I said out loud to no one in particular.
“What’s wrong Tiffany?” Mr. Jimmy said noticing that I was upset.
“My cell phone is out of minutes and I’m trying to call my Grandmother to come and pick me up.”
“Well if you like, you can use the phone in my office.”
“Thank you Mr. Jimmy. This won’t take long.
Once I was back in his office I sat in the big leather chair on his side of the desk, picked up the phone and once again dialed Mama Belle’s number. After the phone rang about eight times the answering machine picked up playing some old gospel record. I hung up and dialed her cell phone number only to get the exact same response with the exact same song on the answering machine. Mr. Jimmy must have noticed the frustration on my face.
“Is there a problem baby?” he asked politely.
“Ain’t nobody answering the phone.” I responded trying not to sound too annoyed.
“She probably just stepped out for a minute, but it’s a beautiful day outside Tiffany and you only live a few blocks from here. It would probably only take you ten or fifteen minutes to walk home. All you have to do is take Fayette to Prince and make a left.
“Sounds like I don’t have a choice, maybe she will be there by the time I get home. Well, I better get going. If she calls or comes by just tell her I decided to walk okay Mr. Jimmy?
“Sure thing sweety. And I hope to see you tomorrow.”
“Well I will definitely give it some thought, but no matter what I decide I will call you.” And with that being said I grabbed my purse and left.
LOVE THY NEIGHBOR
Mr. Jimmy was right. It was a beautiful day outside so I didn’t mind the walk. I still couldn’t get over how congested the streets of Baltimore were. As I walked home I was repeatedly holla’d at by guys that were passing by, either walking or driving. Some of them drove cars that I only saw in music videos. And while I may have been a little excited about all of the attention I was getting, I ignored the gestures, all of the “HEY SHAWTY’S” , and the horn blowing. My daddy had told me ever since I was a little girl that the day would come when men would only want to get in my pants. He also told me that while most men were full of shit that I should be extra conscious of big city guys with their fancy cars and slick talking asses. So with that in mind I just smiled to myself and continued to walk home. When I reached the house I saw that Mama Belle’s car was nowhere in sight but I decided to ring the bell anyway just for shits and giggles. And just like I thought, there was no answer. There was nothing else I could do but sit on the porch and wait, hoping that she wouldn’t be gone too long because it was hot as hell. To occupy my time I decided to do the crossword puzzle that I had brought with me for the long bus ride. So I sat on the porch, pulled a pen and the crossword book out of my purse and got busy trying to figure out the hard puzzles. I must have been doing the puzzles for about ten or fifteen minutes when I heard the sound of high-heeled
shoes click clacking up the sidewalk. I was too engulfed into figuring out a fifteen-letter word for a zoo animal to look up to see who the shoes were attached to. The click clacking stopped right in front of me. I noticed the expensive stilettos and the well pedicured feet with the diamond tennis bracelet around the ankle, the rest of the body spoke before I looked up.
“Well, well, well, Lil mama, what you doing sitting on Ms. Lula-Belle’s porch?
It was Monica from the diner. I immediately jumped up.
“Hey. Did you follow me home?” Okay. Let’s go then.”
I then got into what I thought was a very good fighting stance, but the truth of the matter is I had never actually been in a real fight before and I guess it was evident because Monica took one look at me and burst out laughing.
“Hold on shawty. Calm down shit. Ain’t nobody here to fuck with you. I live next door and I wanted to know what you was doing sitting on my neighbors porch is all.”
“So what’s so damn funny then?” I asked still holding my ridiculous fighting stance.
“Cuz you tryna sound all gangster, and that shit ain’t believable at all. But it’s all good though. At least you ain’t no punk bitch.”
We both shared a slight laugh.
“Anyway shawty, my name is Monica.” She said extending her hand. I reluctantly dropped my guard and returned the gesture.
“Hi, my name is Tiffany.”
“Oh. Okay. Well anyway, what you doing on Ms. Lula-Belle’s porch? If she catch you hanging out here she gonna either scream on you, throw hot water out the window, or both. She a cool old lady but she can be a real bitch sometimes.”
“I know. She’s my grandmother.” I responded sort of embarrassed.
“Oh my bad Tiffany. I ain’t no Ms. Lula-Belle was ya folks.”
“It’s all good. Believe me. I know how she can be.”
A Gangsters Melody Page 2
