by Tiana Laveen
“I’m tellin’ you I didn’t do anything.”
“Now.” She ignored him as she placed her phone in the front pocket of her purse. “I will be back in a couple of weeks and then—”
“No, honey… look here, baby.” He shook his head as he tapped his fingers anxiously against the table. “I meant what I said. Now you run along, hear?” He took another puff of his cigarette.
“What?! Are you serious?! All because I told you to cool it?! I’m the best goddamn attorney here, one of the few that were willing to take your case with no fear of backlash!” she shrilled as she pointed to her chest. “I’ve done more for you than almost any other client, Aaron. You owe me at the very least an apology.” She shuddered a bit as she attempted to look him square in the eye, but she blinked one too many times, her obvious discomfort making him feel good and tingly inside.
“Now who’s emotional?” he sniped. “Look, no hard feelings, Mrs. Hook. If you’d like some parting gifts though, we can duck out somewhere and you can suck my dick.” He reached low and grabbed his balls; gave them a gentle twist paired with a slanted smile. “Depending on how well you do, maybe then I’ll consider keeping you on.”
A blush deepened her complexion as she clutched her suitcase to her breasts with both hands and gasped. No librettos were expressed…no words at all as she was rendered speechless.
You keep opening your mouth… so weak, so dramatic. I got something I can stuff in there, you crooked, lying bitch…
“You son of a bitch!” She started to walk away, her sling back high heels clicking against the hard, glossy white floor. “I’m not fired, I quit! Guard!” she called out, looking over her shoulder a time or two.
Aaron slowly rose to his feet while the door unlocked then swung open. On the other side of the damn thing stood Bill, a pathetic smirk stamped across his broad face as the woman flew past him like seconds on a clock. He chuckled as she rounded the bend, almost losing her footing along the way. Aaron sighed as the man grabbed hold of his wrists, securing them once again with the steel prison bracelets that now left slight reddened indentations in his flesh.
Shoulder to shoulder, the men made their way through the halls, then Bill suddenly made a sharp right, missing his cell block altogether.
“Hey, what’s going on?” Aaron questioned. “I’m supposed to go back to my cell now.” Had the obtuse, silly son of a bitch forgotten his way?
“Nope, not today.” The man’s disconcerting smirk grew a bit bigger, lifting at the right end of his crooked mouth as if he harbored some seedy, little secret.
Fucker has a real weak chin. I could knock him out cold right now with a mean ass head butt…
His chest tightened as he walked on. He was being carted towards the administrative wing and that was no damn place to be. That zone meant one thing and one thing only.
Big. Fucking. Trouble.
The only man in that goddamn place who didn’t bat an eye at him was Warden Huckleberry and he had no doubt that that was exactly where he was going—like a sacrificial lamb off to slaughter. He and Huckleberry had a long history of pissing games and veiled and clear threats. They spent their time going in circles in dizzying conversations that reminded him of carnival Ferris wheels… going around and around but getting no-goddamn-where at all.
“What does he want?” Aaron asked, not in the mood to argue with Huckleberry for old times’ sake.
“I don’t know.” The man’s voice cracked, his lie watered down and drowning in its own feeble, lackluster juices.
“You do know you bread-box-built son of a bitch.” He sucked his teeth real hard as he eyeballed him and contemplated that head butt once more. “What the fuck is goin’ on?” He snatched himself away from the guard, causing the man’s eyes to buck as if his short neck were being squeezed. “You got some shit to prove, to show these fuckers you’re no wuss, tryna save face, right? I’ll bust every bone in your body wide open, now TELL me!”
“I don’t know!” The man gulped and stared at him, his eyes moist with a wave of freshly flung fear.
“You fucking sicken me, you know that? Goddamn turd with a badge… they hire any fuckin’ body now.” Aaron began to walk again, deciding to cut the weakling a break. After all, it really didn’t matter what was in store for him; knowing in advance wouldn’t shake the apple tree any sooner or make the inevitable less applicable. On a deep breath, he waited in front of the warden’s door until the damn thing creaked open, exposing the tall, wide giant with dark sunglasses atop his shiny, baldhead.
“Hello, Mr. Pike.” Huckleberry grinned ever so slightly. “Please.” He pointed to a chair in front of his antiquated desk. “Have a damn seat. We have some important matters to discuss…”
“YOU GOT ME fucked up!” Trudy blurted as they rounded the glistening green pond, its surface rippling with the movement of tiny coral fish.
“Shhhh!” Mia smiled, her face undoubtedly reddening. “You’re too loud!” Her arms swung back and fourth as they power walked their asses off, getting in a good workout before the sun set and left them in the pitch black that only the deepest thicket of the country forest could provide.
“Shhh, nothin’! I can’t believe it’s been over five months since you’ve gotten off! Look, you and Rodney are over.”
“Don’t you think I know that?” Mia rolled her eyes as she continued to move like a bat out of the depths of Hell. “I’m the one that called it off.”
“I know, but it’s like you’re still living in the past.”
“What? How so? Because I’m not trying to screw anyone right now?” Mia rolled her eyes at the woman, contemplated putting her ear buds in and blocking out her cousin altogether.
“Yeah, it’s deeper than that and we both know it. It is time to move on, girl.” Trudy rolled her big, dark brown eyes as her tapered coffee-brown bob swayed with each of her rapid movements. “I moved me and my kids out here to be closer to you, my best friend… get a fresh start.”
“I know, and I love the time we spend together,” she shot her a look of disdain out the corner of her eye. “Usually…”
“Usually?” Trudy halted her steps abruptly and her face scrunched up as if she’d been forced to suck a slice of lemon dipped in pickle juice. “Well, let me tell you something, Ms. Thang. You ain’t been doin’ nothin’ but being pinned up in that house of yours, ignoring the entire world.”
“I do not! I have a job and I—”
“You said we’d go out, do stuff together!”
“I’ve been busy, Trudy!” A soft spring breeze almost caused her damn near distraction as it carried sweetness from the recently sprouted French mulberry flowers. “You act as if I’m just sitting on my thumbs, bored and depressed. One of the sick and shut in.” Her laugh made a tinkling sound in the silence surrounding them. “I teach, volunteer, provide tutoring, work at the prison and—”
“Sit around daydreamin’ like you did when we was kids, writing poetry and reciting it at that weird spoken word place you like to go to.” The woman scoffed as they got moving once again, her honey brown limbs flapping about as she turned even their walking exercises into a competition.
“You need some damn dick.”
Mia rolled her eyes but kept her stride, determined to get her 10k steps in for the day.
“And Auntie and me don’t like you working over there at that Holman prison, Mia. It’s dangerous. The damn place has been on television!”
“So have A-Team re-runs and Sesame Street. Does that mean I’m supposed to fear Mr. T and Bert and Ernie, too?”
“Can’t you do adult teaching somewhere else?” She winced, ignoring her sarcastic jab.
“You know what, Trudy?”
“No, I don’t know anyone named ‘What’,” Trudy bit out, her pettiness climbing high upon the proverbial monkey bars.
“I am tired of you and my mama having discussions behind my back about what I need to be doing.” Her irritation simmered as they made their way past an elde
rly couple, arm in arm.
How sweet…
“I’ve said the same exact thing to your face. It did not a fraction of good.” Trudy glanced down at her phone adhered to her arm via a silver and black shoulder band. “Holman is no joke! Some of the most hardcore criminals are there, Mia. A lot of ’em on Death Row… What does a man on Death Row need to read for? He already done for; a USA Today article ain’t gonna help him. It’s over.”
“Most of the men I tutor and help teach to read Trudy have not been given life sentences. Holman is overly crowded, actually. Many times guys are sent there because there is nowhere else to put them. That means you have a man that was busted smoking some weed holed up with a man that killed fifteen people during one hour. There is a serious disparity.”
“I told you about using those big words on me,” Trudy teased, marrying her smile to a wink.
“It’s true.”
“What’s also true is that it is called the ‘Slaughter Pen of the South.’” She made the announcement as if that declaration would somehow turn the tide, put everything in a brand new light.
“Look.” Mia took a deep breath and placed her hands on her hips as she beheld the slowly rippling water once more. Peace swarmed around her, kissed her gently on the cheek, and promised her good times. “I appreciate you and Mama worrying about me. I do. That means you love me.”
Trudy nodded in agreement as she crossed her arms over her chest and held her chin high, ready to no doubt engage in argumentative battle.
“But just know that I watch what I do and say around there, okay? I don’t do anything to mislead any of the men, I know some of them are lonely, and yes, some are chancy, so I’m careful.”
“I’m glad you brought that up right there!” Trudy pointed at her, her gesture accusing. “I’m not only your cousin; we grew up together like sisters, we’re best friends, and I have to look out for you, Mia. You are too damn trusting! Too kind hearted… I’ve seen some of those men on the news…”
“Here we go with this again! Look, Trudy, just because I treat people in a kind, respectable way doesn’t mean I’m a damn pushover. I do that so I can build trust, and people then listen to me. That’s why I’m good at what I do with my students. Screamin’ and yellin’ and carryin’ on builds nothing but resentment. That’s not me. Now, if someone pushes me, causes me to not want to deal with them, that’s a different story, and you of all people should know that.” Trudy’s lips parted to say something else, to add a ‘one more gin’ to the mix—but she thought better of it as she turned away, seemingly needing a moment or two to prepare her rebuttal.
“Okay, I can agree with that, but let’s talk about attraction.”
“Attraction? That has nothing to do with this.”
“It has everything to do with it! Some of them are real good lookin’, but they are nothing but trouble, a damn convict. You’re a nice looking lady, Mia, almost prettier than me.”
They both burst out laughing.
“You look like Paula Patton, only about three shades darker and I know those horny ass bastards daydream about getting their filthy claws on you every chance they get. You just make sure you watch yourself in there. Be careful.”
“Trudy, don’t start up again! I am watching my back, being judicious.”
“Being judicious ain’t got nothin’ to do with you minding your own business… and then one of those big bears with a rap sheet longer than Arsenio Hall’s fingers deciding he may as well sexually assault you since he got a life sentence any ol’ damn way! You’re beautiful, soft-spoken, helpful, and look like you couldn’t hurt a damn fly.”
“I’m not helpless, I’m not weak and I’m not stupid!” Mia snapped, growing quite tired of Trudy’s declarations. Had she forgotten the countless fights she’d had in high school due to an awful temper? Had Trudy somehow developed amnesia? The woman had to cool her jets, simmer down as she grew older if she wished to be successful in life.
“I never said you were weak, helpless or stupid! I’m just sayin—”
“I’m thirty-two years old! I can’t act like I did when I was eighteen… flyin’ off the handle, getting crazy because someone looked at me wrong. I spent so much time in the principal’s office, it was tragic—and also a miracle that I wasn’t expelled. My father made sure of that because I deserved more chances. I’ve grown up, Trudy. There is a time and place to show your ass, but I am a professional now… an adult. People depend on me.”
“You need to—”
“Trudy, be quiet!”
“Let me finish! Some of those men ain’t had no pussy in decades, decades, Mia! I’ve dated an ex-con before; I know how they are when it comes to gettin’ some sex after a long drought.”
“And I need to know this, because…?”
“Just listen and stop bein’ so damn defensive.” She ceased walking once again, forcing Mia to do the same. “You remember Jeremy?”
“Yeah, I remember him.” She sucked her teeth, not at all pleased with the downward spiral the conversation was taking. Trudy never let the hell up.
“Mia, that mothafucka got out of jail and just about killed my pussy, girl. He was going to town, moving like a damn plunger… wouldn’t even let me get up to take a piss, wore my ass out. I called the funeral home and made provisions for my departure, as a just in case. I got a life insurance policy on the pussy, too. I almost couldn’t walk after he turned me loose… He blew.my.damn.back.out!”
Mia covered her quivering lips, stifling a laugh. She didn’t want to give it up, as she was still seething at the woman, but damn… that proved a challenge. Her mood eased a bit at Trudy’s silly words.
“I filed for disability and it was granted. They asked what my claim was; I said death by convict dick.”
“Ha!!!” Mia burst out laughing, unable to hold back a second longer. “You uh fool, girl!”
“The pussy was in a damn sling… on bed rest with plenty of hydrocodone. I would have had you sign the coochie cast if I hadn’t been so embarrassed.”
“Trudy, you are a mess! Now come on, stop horsing around. Let’s finish this walk.” She glanced at her cellphone, taking notice of the time. “I need to draft up a bunch of letters for some parent-teacher conferences.” Her brain began to wander as she worked over her TO-DO list in her mind.
The two began to walk again, this time, giggling and laughing a bit as the air around them got lighter.
“I love you, Mia,” Trudy declared, pausing again.
She looked at Trudy for a moment or two, feeling as if something heavy was lying on her cousin’s heart, something she refused to release and let go of just yet. Her tone came across as sullen, depressed, dejected.
“I love you too, Trudy. Are you okay? Something on your mind?” She took the woman’s hand and swung their arms about like they used to do as children—those times when they would run barefoot behind Grandma’s house, chasing frogs and puffing stolen cigars from Grandma’s secret stash that the woman kept in a Ziploc bag placed in a bowl of hard candy. They never stopped getting into all sorts of trouble.
Trudy looked down at the ground then back into her eyes.
“Nothing’s wrong, Mia. I just miss you… I want you to be happy. It seems you haven’t been truly happy since you and Rodney broke up. I came out here to be with you, to be with my best friend. I need my best friend, Mia… I need you to be happy, too.”
Mia slid her hand away, taken aback by such words. She glided her fingers against her collarbone as her breath hitched and the moment went from glossy with mirth to dull with hidden despair.
“I, uh…” She shook her head, disappearing into herself for a spell or two. “I’m fine. Really, I am, Trudy. Rodney and I just weren’t compatible; no love lost…” She sighed. “And I’m fine with that. Matter of fact, I’m not interested in getting into anything serious right now. That’s why when you ask me about it, I have nothing to report.”
“You’ve sworn off dating… He hurt you.”
&nbs
p; “He didn’t hurt me, Trudy; it really was just that we grew apart. He didn’t cheat, tell a bunch of lies.” Mia looked off into the distance, searching for the right words. “We were just different people is all. He wanted someone that was jazzier I guess… I prefer to chill and relax, get to know people. He’s a good man. He just wasn’t for me.” Trudy nodded in understanding. “But yes, I missed him. It hurt that it had to end. I loved him after all. I’ll be real with you; I don’t want to ever feel that sort of pain again.”
“I knew it…” Trudy shook her head, as if disgusted with the entire conversation.
“That’s why I haven’t been out.” Mia looked away briefly. “But honestly, I loved being in love, Trudy… havin’ someone there, close, warm and endearing. But, I just can’t risk it right now. I’ll know when the time is right, my chance will come again and besides, I’ve got plenty to keep me busy.” She began to walk again, her chin held high as she forced a smile, leaving her cousin in the dust. After a few moments, she could hear her cousin racing after her, her bright, neon green Nike sneakers slamming against the pavement from a short distance away. Trudy gently pulled her arm, made her turn to her, look her in the damn eye.
“Mia, okay…okay. But I’m here for you no matter what, alright?”
“Alright. I know that, and I love you for it.”
The woman nodded and patted her back, like an old friend who’d found out about a great loss. Her gesture of affection was unintentionally unnerving. Mia forced her smile to go wider, pushing herself along, playing the role. Yeah, the breakup was the damn pits, but what disturbed her even more was that she had so much love to give, but couldn’t bring herself to trust anyone. She knew it sounded foolish; there was no need to tell Trudy she believed most men weren’t shit, to boot. Besides, that would sound like sour grapes, and she wasn’t in the mood for wine… Her thoughts drifted to her previous relationship, to times she wanted to forget…
Rodney had ideas that didn’t mesh well with mine. We’d been together so long…
