Tyrell

by Coe Booth

  THIRTY-FIVE

  By the time I get back to Bennett, I ain’t in no mood to mess ‘round with Jasmine. To be honest, I ain’t even in no mood to be with her. But I go to her room anyway ‘cause I don’t know what she gonna end up doing if I ain’t there. I know how she feel ‘bout being alone. And I don’t want her ending up with none of them other dudes just ‘cause I ain’t feel like being with her.

  The thing ‘bout Jasmine is that she don’t even see how upset I am. From the second I get to her room, she busy runnin’ her mouth, like she been waiting for somebody to talk to. “I called Reyna today,” she tell me, climbing on the bed, “and I asked her if she’s ever gonna come back for me or is she just gonna abandon me like I’m nothing? And you know what she said? She said to me, ‘I’m not abandoning you. I want you here, but I’m not gonna force you to be with me. And I’m not gonna let you force me to leave my new boyfriend.’ Can you believe that? She said, ‘He’s a really nice guy, and I like him.’” Jasmine shake her head. “She just met that guy. How does she know he’s a really nice guy?”

  I take off my jacket and throw it on the chair. Then I sit on the bed and take off my sneakers.

  “I mean, you should of seen the way he looked at me, Ty. Real nasty. But the only thing Reyna said was, ‘I’ll protect you, Jasmine. I’ll make sure he doesn’t do nothing to you.’ Does that make any sense to you? I have to live there with a guy she has to protect me from?”

  “What ‘bout Emiliano? When you gonna ask to move back in with him?” Really, I don’t know why I’m asking her questions when I know that’s only gonna get her talking all night. But at the same time, I can’t just sit there and not say nothing. No matter how mad I am.

  “I’m gonna ask him tomorrow,” she say. “I have to. You know what, Ty? Today, after I got off the phone with Reyna, Mr. Mendoza comes up to me and says, ‘I know you here alone. All I have to do is pick up the phone and call ACS and they’re gonna put you in foster care.’ And you know what I said to him? I said, ‘If you trying to get me to disrespect myself again, forget it. I got money now and I got a job, so go—’ I don’t know how to say it in English, but it’s like, go screw yourself. And he just walked away and that was it. You think he’s gonna call ACS on me?”

  “He just trying to scare you so you give him some.”

  “I know, but that’s not gonna happen. I hope he has a good memory, because that’s the last time he’s gonna see me naked.”

  “Good.”

  “You think Emil’s gonna let me stay with him? I’m kinda scared to ask him. Why would he put up with me when he’s not even gonna get Reyna back?”

  “It looked like he really care ‘bout you,” I tell her. “He ain’t gonna want you in the system, and he ain’t gonna want you living with no guy that pro’ly wanna get with you.”

  “I know. I was hoping Reyna would figure out this new guy is a jerk by now, so we could go back home. But she still thinks he’s a good guy. So Emiliano’s gonna have to know she got somebody else. He’s gonna be so sad. But I’m gonna talk to him tomorrow at lunch and see what he says. The only thing is, my time is running out. They’re moving us out of here on Monday, right?”

  “Yeah.” Damn. Why she had to remind me ‘bout that fuckin’ job-training program they sending us to?

  “If Emil doesn’t want me, I’m gonna be forced to move in with Reyna. Because as soon as those EAU people see that I’m here alone, they gonna stick me in foster care anyway.”

  “Me and Troy was in the system and you don’t want that.”

  “Were you in a group home or a regular home?”

  “A regular home with a lady that made a living off her foster kids. She had, like, six of us. All the kids was little ‘cept for me. I was eleven, then the next kid down was, like, five. She ain’t want me there, but the city try not to split up brothers. Being there was hard, know what I mean? So if you got a choice, go stay with Reyna, and just sleep with a baseball bat under your bed or something.”

  “Or a gun.”

  “Word.” I take off my pants, throw them on the chair, then slip under the covers. Jasmine say she gonna stay up for a while reading in bed. She laying on her stomach, on top of the blanket, showing off that nice, big ass in them sexy black panties. Yeah, she got my attention, but at the same time, I’m too tired to deal with females right now. Novisha wore me out today. I ain’t got nothing left for Jasmine.

  So I just pull the blanket over my head and turn away from her. I’m trying not to think ‘bout nothing, but it ain’t easy. I’m still pissed that Novisha feel she gotta keep shit from me. Like, she got some guy stalking her, but she doing everything she can to keep me outta it. But that shit ain’t gonna work no more. Monday afternoon I’ma be waiting outside that school, asking everybody who the fuck Jamal is. And when I find that nigga, I’ma kick his ass and tell him if he even look Novisha way again I’ma be back. It’s time to put a end to this already. Then maybe me and Novisha can go back to the way we was before all this started.

  “Was it really that bad in foster care?” Jasmine ask, like that’s all she been thinking ‘bout all this time.

  I take the blanket off my head and turn over to look at her. The book she reading is closed, and she just staring at the wall in front of her. “Yeah,” I tell her. “It was bad. I mean, living with people that don’t really want you ‘round. And me and Troy, we had other problems you ain’t gonna have. Like, when we was s’posed to have supervised visits with my moms at the agency, she used to hardly ever come, and Troy would be crying and everything. And when she did come, she was depressed all the time.”

  “That’s terrible.”

  “I know. She was just outta it, you know. And she ain’t get it together ‘til my pops got outta prison. He the one that got her to show up to the visits every week. And he got her to take them parenting classes and go to counseling like the court told her to. And my pops even took a legit job, installing floors and carpets, just so the court would see he had a job and let him get me and Troy outta the system. We was in there for a year and a half, and my moms never did what she had to do to get us back. But five months after my pops got out, we was home. Just like that.”

  “Why can’t your mother do anything by herself?”

  “She don’t know how,” I say. Then I tell Jasmine how my moms and pops started going out together when she was fifteen and he was twenty-one, and how they got married a week after she turned eighteen, just ‘cause she wanted to get away from her mother. And I could understand why too. I mean, my grandmother was alright to me and Troy when she lived with us, but she was real hard on my moms, always criticizing her and calling her stupid and shit. My moms said that when she was growing up, all she wanted was to get away as fast as she could. “Before they got married, my pops promised to take care of her,” I tell Jasmine. “And he did, ‘cept for when he was locked up. But she never learned how to take care of herself. Or us.”

  “And your father’s been in prison three times?”

  “Yeah. The first time he got locked up, my grandmother was there to help us out. The second time, my grandmother wasn’t there no more, so we lost our apartment and ended up in a shelter. Then me and Troy got put in foster care ‘cause my moms used to leave us alone at night. And now I’m trying to make sure that don’t happen again. I’m trying to keep my moms together, ‘cause this time, they ain’t gonna find no lady that’s gonna put up with no fifteen-year-old foster kid in they house. ‘Specially no boy. Me and Troy definitely gonna get split up. Now he pro’ly be a’ight, but me, I’ma be in some group home having to kick ass everyday. And I ain’t going down like that. I’ma be gone.”

  Jasmine get up off the bed to turn the light out. Then, when she get under the covers, she start kissing on me, trying to get something going. But I’m through. Only way I’ma feel better is to be out cold. Sleep.

  “What’s the matter, Papi?” Jasmine ask. “You go visit your girlfriend and now you don’t like me?”

&n
bsp; “It’s nothing to do with you, Jasmine. I’m just tired, that’s all.” I’m kinda mumbling now.

  “You and Novisha still fighting?”

  “Something like that.”

  “You wanna talk?”

  “Nah.” I turn back over and cover my head with the blanket again. Talking ain’t gonna do nothing. I gotta figure this out for myself.

  Only thing that keep me going is I know, if everything work out the way I want, this the last week things is gonna be this fucked up. By next week my family could be in our own apartment again, and me and Novisha could be back where we was before. Tight.

  THIRTY-SIX

  In the morning, me and Jasmine just lay in bed as long as we can. I ain’t trying to get up early ‘cause I know that party gonna go on all night, and Jasmine don’t gotta meet Emiliano for lunch ‘til 11:30. Jasmine take out that book again, and she read while I try to go back to sleep. But she don’t let me. She keep rubbing her feet against mines, trying to get me to laugh.

  “Stop, girl,” I tell her. “A brotha need his rest.”

  “I’m not doing nothing,” she say, but when I look at her, she got a smile on her face. “Nada.” She start laughing.

  “Yeah, well, you keep doing nada, and I’ma jump on top of you and tickle you for a half hour straight.”

  “If you tickle me, I’m gonna pee on the bed. I always do that.”

  “A’ight. You win. I ain’t gonna tickle you. Not in a bed I’ma be sleeping in.”

  She laugh again. I fall back to sleep and don’t wake up ‘til I hear the shower running. The girl taking the longest shower I ever seen. When she come out, all she got wrapped ‘round her is a towel. And ‘cause she think I’m sleeping, she take that towel off and I can’t believe I’m finally seeing her naked. And it’s better than I thought it was gonna be. Way better. Course, I don’t move or nothing on the bed. I just watch her get dressed, looking at herself in the mirror the whole time. And I’m enjoying the show she putting on.

  By the time Jasmine leave for her lunch with Emiliano, part of my body is awake, even if I ain’t. So I decide to get up and go back to my room to check up on Troy. In the hall, I see Rafael walking with his moms. They carrying Burger King bags and shit. “Tyrell, what time you need me for?” he ask.

  “Meet me in the lobby at four,” I say. “And tell Wayne too. And make sure y’all ain’t late.”

  He salute me like we in the goddamn Army. “Yes, sir.”

  Then his moms, who look a little drunk, salute me too. I ain’t lying.

  I shake my head and keep going down the hall. In my room, after me and Troy scarf down the rest of them peanut butter crackers, I take him outside for a little while. We don’t really got nothing to do, but tonight is the party and I know after I leave, Troy and my moms is gonna stay stuck in that nasty room all night. So I just wanna air him out a little.

  We walk ‘round for a while, watch some Puerto Rican dudes play basketball, then stop by the store for some sandwiches, chips, and soda for Troy and my moms to eat tonight. Then, when we get back, I get on my cell and call Dante, who try to tell me all ‘bout the party he threw last night. “Ty, it was wild, man. The music was—”

  “Dante, I got like eight minutes left on my cell. I just wanna know if the equipment is a’ight and tell you where you gotta bring it.” He tell me everything working, and I give him the address. “Can you leave me the van so I can bring the equipment back to the storage place?” I ask him.

  “No way, Tyrell. I rented that van, and you don’t got no license.”

  Asshole. All of a sudden a nigga like him got rules? “Bring the equipment by between five thirty and six,” I say, and hang up before he can say anything else. Then I’m sitting there, like, fuck. What I’m s’posed to do with the equipment after the party? Carry it back on the train?

  I call Patrick quick and tell him the problem.

  “My uncle got a van,” he say. “He probably let me borrow it for, like, fifty. Let me call him, and I’ll call you back.”

  Five minutes later, my cell ring. “He work ‘til five. So he gonna come by here after he get off. Then I’m gonna have to drop him back home.”

  “Where he live at?”

  “Queens.”

  “Shit.”

  “I’ll take the bridge. It ain’t gonna take long.”

  “How much he want?”

  “A hundred.”

  Damn. What happened to fifty? But I don’t got no choice. “Tell him a’ight.” I flip the cell closed. Man, I got so many hands in my pocket right ‘bout now, it ain’t even funny no more. I owe everybody, and I ain’t made a dime yet.

  Before I leave outta there, I ask my moms what her and Troy gonna do the rest of the afternoon and night. If I had money, I would give her some so they could go to the movies or something, but I don’t got nothing. Not yet.

  “What you care what we do?” My moms got a attitude again. “You gonna be gone all night.”

  I put on my jacket and try with everything I got not to get in no fight with her. But I can’t do it. I can’t let her act like I’m doing something wrong when I’m doing all this shit for her. “Why you gotta start?” I ask her. “You know the whole reason I’m doing this party is for us, our family. You the one that told me I’m s’posed to take care of everybody, remember? Well, that’s what I’m doing. And you don’t gotta do jack. All you gotta do is sit there and wait for me to come back with the money. That too hard for you to do?”

  She don’t say nothing and, truth is, I’m kinda glad she don’t. ‘Cause no matter what, anything that come out of her mouth gonna piss me off. And I don’t need that right ‘bout now. Not when I’m ‘bout to throw a party and try to get people to have fun.

  I meet up with Wayne and Rafael in the lobby at 4:00 and they look like they ready to get to work. Or least they ready to get paid. It don’t really matter.

  We take the train uptown, then, ‘cause the bus depot is out in the middle of nowhere, we gotta catch a bus from the train. The bus let us out by the shopping center, and that’s as close as it’s gonna get. From there we gotta hike ‘bout three blocks north. I don’t know why I ain’t think ‘bout this location before. How them kids gonna find this place all the way out here? Are they gonna wanna come this far just to party?

  The only good thing is it ain’t all that cold out. It’s kinda windy though. We walk by the fence they got all the way ‘round the depot, following signs that say EMPLOYEE ENTRANCE. And inside the fence, there’s more than a hundred buses and, like, twenty-something of them trailers they use at overcrowded schools for extra classrooms. Lights is shining on the buses from extra-tall poles, but by the time we get to the back, where they got the employee parking lot, it’s dark. And there ain’t no cars back there.

  Only one there is Leon. He outside by the back fence, right where he said he was gonna be at. He standing there smoking a cigarette and just chillin’. Still looking as shady as he gonna get.

  “We all set,” he tell us as we walk up to the back door. “The whole place is empty and the security system is off. And you don’t gotta worry about nobody coming back, not ‘til around eight o’clock in the morning.”

  “How you know that?” I ask him. There’s something real strange ‘bout this dude. Straight up.

  “You think I’m gonna set y’all up in a place that got good security?” That’s all he say. Wayne look at me and I just shake my head a little. I still don’t know nothing ‘bout Leon, and something tell me I ain’t never gonna know what he really up to.

  We all go inside and I get a look ‘round the place. The first thing I think is, man, it’s a school bus depot. For real. I mean, what the fuck was I thinking when I thought we could turn this place into a club for one night? There ain’t nothing but rows of buses inside there. Yeah, there’s a lot of floor space, but the buses is taking up half of it.

  “There any way we could move them buses?” I ask Leon.

  “We can’t put them outside ‘cause
I don’t got no keys to open the garage doors, but I do got keys for the buses. Some of them is broke down, that’s why they inside, but the others, we could push them tight together and free up some room that way.”

  “That sound good,” I say. “Wayne and Rafael could help you. I gotta go back outside and wait for Dante.”

  “I don’t know how to drive no bus,” Wayne say. “I don’t even got my permit or nothing.”

  “Two hundred dollars,” I remind him. “You getting paid to work, not stand ‘round doing nothing.”

  I go outside and, ‘cause I’m kinda nervous, light up a cigarette. I wanna smoke only half, but I end up smoking the whole thing. My mind is full of shit that could go wrong tonight. I don’t know how my pops do this. It’s too much pressure.

  A couple minutes later, a white U-Haul van pull up to the gate. It’s just like the kind my pops rent for his parties. Dante right on time.

  I stand by the fence while Dante get out the van, slow, like he ain’t gonna rush for no one, ‘specially me. I don’t say nothing to him ‘cause I ain’t got nothing to say, so I just wait for him to open the back door of the van. I ain’t seen the man since before my pops got locked up, but he still the same. He still a slick-looking, cheap-suit-and-leather-coat-wearing asshole that think he some kinda old G from back in the day or something. He ain’t never gonna change.

  Out there in the cold, me and Dante get to work without really talking, ‘cept when it got something to do with the equipment. “Grab one of them dollies first,” he tell me. I climb in the van and hand him a dolly, then me and him unload one of the speakers. Shit weigh a ton too.

  While he go inside with the speaker, I start unloading the crates of records and stacking them on the street. Dante come back, and me and him work together ‘til the whole van is empty. And I’m watching him too. I wanna see how he treat my pops equipment when he don’t think I’m looking. ‘Cause my pops don’t be letting just anybody handle his shit. I gotta admit, Dante is careful, but that’s probably just ‘cause he trying to get all my pops equipment for his own self.