Tyrell

by Coe Booth

  After I’m dressed, I book over to the subway station and hustle them working people for they dollar bills. Then I get to my old school by 7:45 and start promoting. I know just ‘bout everybody, but I don’t want all of them at my party, so I ain’t telling everyone. Just all the girls and the dudes I ain’t never had beef with. But standing out there trying to get people to come to my party ain’t easy. Not like when Jasmine was with me.

  I only stay there ‘bout a half hour ‘cause school start and most of the kids go inside the building. Not all of them though. A lot of kids just come to school to sit on cars and hang out all day, no matter how cold it is out there. I mean, I ain’t never wanted to go to school neither, but why get up out your bed just to freeze your ass off?

  Still, I don’t gotta understand them to promote to them. Only one thing I want from them. For all I care, they could pay they money and go sit inside a school bus all night if that’s what they into.

  “Ty, where you been at?” this guy Keshawn ask me. He leaning up against a SUV with one arm ‘round his girlfriend.

  “Working.”

  “I hear that.”

  I tell him ‘bout the party and how much I’m charging.

  “Fifteen dollars?” he ask. “You asking a lot.”

  “If you don’t got that kinda money—”

  “I got the money, man. I’m just saying.”

  “A’ight, then,” I tell him. “I’ma see you there.” I walk away ‘cause I ain’t in the mood to deal with some of the people from this school. There’s just something ‘bout them. Ain’t no way I could come back to this school.

  I put in a couple more hours at the subway station before heading uptown to Bronxwood. I ain’t talk to Cal for a couple days now, and I still gotta work out the last-minute details with him and his brothers. When I get to the apartment, the only one there is Greg who ain’t doing nothing, as usual. “Where Cal at?” I ask him.

  “He with Andre. They coming back in a minute. You wanna get high?”

  “Nah, I’m good.” I can’t be getting high when I got work to do. And shit, man, it’s, like, 10:30 in the morning. I mean, if you getting high in the morning, you might got a problem or something.

  I sit on the couch and watch Greg play his PlayStation game. “What y’all been up to?” I ask him.

  “We makin’ money,” he say. “You ready to come work with us, man? ‘Cause we really need a couple guys to work our new spots.”

  “Nah, man.”

  “Y’all still in that shelter?”

  “We ain’t even got to the shelter yet. We just in a motel ‘til some space open up for us at a shelter.”

  “That’s fucked up.”

  “Yeah, but if I make some decent cash on Saturday I’ma try to get us a apartment. ‘Cause them shelters ain’t hardly no better than Bennett.”

  Greg make some noise that tell me he ain’t hardly paying attention to what I’m saying no more. He lost in the game, getting the man on the screen to kill as many people as he can. The TV is turned up so loud, I feel like I’m in the middle of that gun battle.

  So I go in the kitchen, sit at the table, and call Regg on my cell. He still in Atlanta, but he tell me he gonna get to the depot no later than 8:00. I give him the directions. “What you decide to do about the beer?” he ask.

  “I ain’t really decide nothing yet,” I tell him. Truth is, I don’t got enough money to lay out for no beer. And I don’t wanna give up my last dollar when I don’t know what kinda shit could come up last minute.

  “You know, I ain’t trying to take no money out your pocket, Ty, but if you definitely ain’t gonna do it, I’m gonna do it.”

  “A’ight.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yeah, man,” I say. I know Regg was trying to help me out by not charging me his twenty-five percent, but things is better now that he bringing the beer. Least this way he could get something outta this party, too. It’s all good.

  Cal and Andre come back after a while, carrying greasy brown paper bags. They sit down at the kitchen table and pull out three aluminum platters of eggs, bacon, grits, and home fries from the place ‘round the corner. “You want some of this?” Cal ask me.

  “Hell, yeah.”

  Cal get up from the table to go get a plate for me. He good that way.

  All four of us eat breakfast and I go over the details of the party with them.

  “We been telling everybody about it,” Andre tell me.

  Greg nod. “Yeah. Everybody.”

  “You gonna have half of Bronxwood up in there,” Andre say. “You better know what you doing.”

  “You gonna be there?” I ask him.

  “No, only Cal gonna be there.”

  “And I’m gonna be working here, taking Cal place downstairs,” Greg say.

  To be honest, that got me surprised ‘cause I don’t never see Greg outside working. Every time I see him, he inside either sitting on his ass, eating, or getting high. I still don’t know what the fuck he do.

  After we finish eating, I chill with them for a while at the kitchen table. Cal lean forward in his seat and ask me if I followed his advice ‘bout Novisha.

  “Yeah,” I say, but don’t get into no details with him. It ain’t none of his business no how. But still, I can’t help smiling when I think ‘bout how far I got with Novisha. Man, I ain’t never gonna forget seeing her all hot and worked up like that.

  Cal start laughing. “See, I told you, man. All females is the same. They want they man to—”

  I crumple up a napkin and hit him upside the head with it before he could finish saying whatever he was gonna say. Nigga talking garbage anyway. “Stop talking ‘bout my girl,” I tell him. “She ain’t like all them other females ‘round here. She different.”

  That get Cal and them going, calling me names and telling me I’m getting soft and shit, but that’s alright. I can take it. I know who I am.

  From Cal apartment, I go upstairs to Patrick, to get some more practice on the CD deck. I gotta get real good at it before tomorrow. And it got so many buttons and shit, it’s gonna take a while to learn what they all do.

  But, I gotta say, that thing got some real hot features. You put two CDs in there and, after you get the feel for the controls, it’s like you working two turntables. You can fade, mix, sample, and even scratch, which is wild, you ask me. And it sound nice too. I mean, I know my pops wouldn’t be all that into this new technology and shit, but for me, it’s alright.

  I stay with Patrick ‘til my fingers know them buttons without even thinking ‘bout it. ‘Til my hands can make the sounds I wanna make without even looking. ‘Til shit sound smooth, like I been doing this my whole life.

  And that’s all I gotta do, play the music. Keep people dancing and having fun. And keep Cal making money, so him and his brothers will get something outta this too.

  Personally, I don’t know how my pops do it, keep everybody at his parties happy all the time, but he do. I know that ‘cause them same people be paying they money to come to all his parties, and them same people be working for him too. So he must be doing something right.

  And ‘cause I don’t know what the fuck that is, I’ma hafta figure it out for myself.

  THIRTY-THREE

  When I get back to Bennett, Jasmine in the lobby on the pay phone. I try to get past her so I can get dressed for the dinner at Novisha house, but she hold her hand up to tell me to wait. Then she go on talking for another couple minutes like she don’t got me waiting. But she do look real happy, and all she keep saying to the person on the phone is, “Gracias, gracias.”

  She hang up the phone, run over to me, and throw her arms ‘round me. Then she start jumping up and down and her body is rubbing up against mines. It’s like she trying to work me up or something. I mean, I hafta move away from her before she get my body going.

  “What? What’s up?”

  “I got the job!” She smiling, all that metal shining and shit.

  “That’s
cool,” I tell her.

  “Now I’m gonna have my own money and everything.”

  “What ‘bout Emiliano? He don’t want you working, right?”

  “No, not really, but what else can I do? Reyna left me here, and I don’t know if she’s gonna come back for me. And I can’t keep getting money from Emil if Reyna and him aren’t together no more. It’s not fair to him.”

  Me and Jasmine walk up the stairs to the second floor. When I get to her room, I tell her I’ma come by later.

  “Where you going?”

  “Remember, we going to dinner at Novisha house.”

  “Oh, yeah.” Her face fall a little, and all of a sudden she don’t look as happy as she was, like, a minute ago.

  “We ain’t gonna be there too long.” Now she got me feeling bad for leaving her alone.

  “That’s okay. You don’t have to rush back here for me. I have to study anyway.”

  “On a Friday?”

  “There’s nothing else to do. And I’m gonna be working now, so, you know, I need to study when I get the chance.”

  “When you start the job?”

  “Tomorrow at two for training.”

  “You still gonna be at the party, right?”

  “Yeah. I get off at eight, so I’ll come straight from work.”

  “Okay, good. See you later.”

  I get to my room in just enough time to get in the shower and change, but my moms is looking mad again. I don’t know what for this time, and I don’t really wanna ask neither. So I don’t. I just start going through the garbage bag with the clean clothes to find something nice to wear.

  But that don’t stop my moms from talking to me. “You not gonna wanna hear what that bitch at the EAU told me today,” she say.

  I look over at Troy, but he ain’t listening to her curse. He watching cartoons on TV. And he already dressed too.

  “What?” I ask her.

  “She said they ain’t gonna send us to no Tier II shelter ‘cause of my conviction. They still making me pay for something that happened years ago.”

  “What they gonna do? Put us out in the streets or something?”

  “No, they gonna transfer us to some kind of program that do job training for single mothers.”

  “Where we s’posed to live at?”

  “We gonna live there for eight weeks ‘til I finish the program. Then they s’posed to find us a apartment, and I’m gonna have to pay the rent myself.”

  Man. What she telling me got me bugging. I ain’t never thought they was really gonna throw us out the shelter system. I mean, the city put up with anybody that’s homeless. All kinds of criminals and addicts and shit. Why they getting rid of us?

  “And you ain’t gonna believe the jobs they trying to train me for,” she say. “Shit like home health aide and hospital food service, like I’m gonna do any of that. Working like a fuckin’ slave for minimum wage when I got a man that take care of me.”

  For a second, I ain’t sure who she talking ‘bout. My pops or me.

  “I got me a husband,” she say. “I ain’t no single mother.”

  “You are for now,” I say. “’Til August.”

  “Well, I ain’t going to no program to learn how to wipe shit off old people asses. That ain’t gonna happen.” Then she look at me again like she did the first day we got here. “You ain’t gonna let your family go to no program like that, right?”

  I don’t wanna get in no argument with her again, not now when we s’posed to be at Novisha house by 7:00. So I just go, “Nah. I’ma make enough money tomorrow to get us outta here, a’ight?”

  “Yeah, okay. But even if you don’t, you could always work with Cal and his brothers. Just ‘til your father get home.”

  I ain’t even gonna get into that with her now ‘cause she know I ain’t lookin’ to sell no weed. If I wanted to do that, I woulda been doing it by now. “You get the caseworker to fill out that form so Troy can go to the after-school program for free?”

  “Yeah,” she say, but I can tell she still don’t want him outta special ed. She too used to getting them SSI checks every month. ‘Cept for what I make at the subway station, that’s all the money we get every month and she scared to give it up.

  I get in the shower, and all I’m thinking ‘bout is this new program they wanna put her in. I gotta admit, working as a home health aide don’t sound too good but, at the same time, it’s ‘bout time she learned how to take care of herself when my pops ain’t ‘round. ‘Cause the way things is going, he probably gonna get locked up again in a couple years. So it ain’t gonna kill her to learn how to do something to pay the rent. She need to have a backup plan so we don’t end up here. Next time.

  THIRTY-FOUR

  On the train all the way to Novisha house, I’m telling my moms how to act when we get there. “You gotta tell Ms. Jenkins thank you for inviting us,” I say. I mean, yeah, most people would know this, but I ain’t taking no chances. I don’t want Ms. Jenkins thinking my moms is so ghetto she don’t got no manners or nothing. “And tell her that her apartment look nice, ‘cause you know she always keep her place clean.”

  She suck her teeth. “I know, Ty.”

  “And thank her for all the food she been sending for us.”

  My moms don’t say nothin’, but I can tell I’m getting on her nerves. She turn her body away from mines and start staring out the window. We on the 5 train, up past West Farms, and out the window the buildings is flying by. But in a way the train ain’t going fast enough ‘cause I ain’t seen Novisha since Wednesday, and I just wanna make sure me and her is cool.

  “Watch me, Mommy,” Troy yell. He been swinging ‘round the metal pole in the middle of the car since we got on the train, but my moms ain’t told him to stop yet. I mean, no, there ain’t nobody sitting near him or nothing, so he ain’t bothering no one, but still, the boy do need some home training.

  “Troy,” I tell him, “don’t get your clothes dirty.”

  “Okay,” he say, but he don’t stop or slow down or nothing.

  “Troy, I ain’t gonna say it again.”

  That get him to stop, but he mad at me now. He sit down on the other side of the car with his arms folded in front of him, and every couple seconds he give me his mean look, like that’s s’posed to make me change my mind and let him act a fool. But that ain’t gonna happen.

  In the elevator of Novisha building, Troy point to the puddle of pee in the corner. “Look, Mommy.”

  She look but don’t hardly react.

  “It’s pee,” Troy say.

  “And?”

  For me and my moms, pee in the elevator ain’t nothin’ but a thing. But Troy don’t remember when we used to live here in the projects. He a Pelham Parkway kid.

  We get out on the seventh floor and knock on 7C. When Ms. Jenkins open her door, she smiling real big. Real big and real fake. I mean, she probably ain’t got nothing against my moms, but they ain’t friends or nothing. When we lived here at Bronxwood, they was just the kinda neighbors that be going hi and bye when they pass in the streets or at the store. That’s it. I don’t even know why Ms. Jenkins invited us for dinner when she ain’t had to.

  “Lisa,” Ms. Jenkins say to my moms, “I’m so glad you all could make it.”

  She open the door wider so we could walk through, and when she ain’t looking, I give my moms the head signal to remind her what she s’posed to say. “Thank you for inviting us, Bonelle,” she say. “It’s about time we got together.”

  The whole house feel real warm from the oven and, even from the front door, I can smell the food. My mouth start watering right away. Man, I can’t wait to eat.

  “Ty!” Novisha come over and give me the good girl hug. But even that is alright with me right ‘bout now. It’s hard to explain, but she just fit so good against my body. Me and her is perfect together.

  Troy run past us into the living room and go straight for the computer. “Can I play a game, Novisha?” he ask, sitting down in the chair.


  Novisha let go of me and walk over to him. “I don’t have any games on here,” she say, turning the computer on. “But we can go online and try to find something.” She kneel down on the floor next to him.

  Meanwhile, my moms and Ms. Jenkins sit down on the couch, and I just stand there watching them. ‘Cause, to be honest, I can’t really relax in this situation. I know my moms is gonna say something stupid and the whole dinner is gonna get fucked up. There ain’t no doubt in my mind.

  She start right away. “Bonelle, I can’t believe you still got that big ol’ console TV,” she say, laughing a little. “And them same ol’ Jesus and Mary paintings and all this religious stuff all over the place. Girl, you need to change this living room already.”

  Ms. Jenkins look ‘round. “I don’t know,” she say. “I like everything the way it is. It’s my home.” But I can tell my moms got her thinking. She looking at her own place like she seeing it for the first time.

  “Your apartment is real nice, Ms. Jenkins,” I tell her. “You don’t gotta change nothing. I like them paintings too. They real nice.”

  She smile. “See how wonderful your son is to me?” she say to my moms. “He’s always welcome in this home.”

  “Well, if he has his way, you gonna be his mother-in-law in a couple years,” my moms tell her. “Because my boy is serious about your daughter, let me tell you.”

  “Oh, our kids are too young to be all that serious,” Ms. Jenkins say, but she look a little worried. “Right?”

  “Well, with the way they been messing around, we better hope they do get married before Novisha end up pregnant.”

  My moms start laughing, but she the only one. Novisha look at me scared, and I look at my moms mad, and Ms. Jenkins put her hand to her mouth and say, “Oh, Mother Mary!”

  “Mom, that’s not gonna happen!” Novisha say, standing up. “Tyrell isn’t like that. We’re not doing anything.”

  Ms. Jenkins look at me and her eyes is like fire trying to burn the truth outta me or something. “Ms. Jenkins,” I say, “I respect your daughter, and me and her never did nothing but kiss. Honest. Don’t listen to my moms. She don’t understand that me and Novisha is in love and we gonna wait ‘til we get married.” Ms. Jenkins is still looking at me with them eyes, so I say real fast, “Married in the Catholic Church, of course.”