Vanessa’s eyes moved in the direction of where the girls were staring and she saw two boys walking towards them; Phonso and Scotty Tremont. Her eyes grew wide at the sight of Scotty’s normally beautiful face. He had a black eye and swollen lip. A second later Tino came out of the apartment shrugging on a jacket. The older boy held a look of amusement on his face that scared Vanessa. It was as if he wanted to see someone get hurt.
Chapter 9
The evening that the two brothers had fought, the bigger and older boy had once again out powered Scotty. Tino’s fists had rained down on him until Tina came running down the stairs screaming for him to stop. Her screaming caused more of a racket than the fight and Scotty wanted to tell her to be quiet before someone called the cops. Tino pushed his mother away but backed off.
A while later Scotty was sitting at the kitchen table—after Tino had righted it. The table had faired well but one chair was broken as well as several dishes and a wobbling pantry door. His mother was smoking a cigarette and dabbing at his face with a washcloth. Scotty thought that he needed that cigarette more than her but his lip was busted and hurt like hell. He figured that he would have a shiner come morning and his ribs were sore. Tino had given him mostly body shots, for which he was thankful. He didn’t want to have to walk around with a jacked up face.
“You do this when we have CPS breathing down our throats!” She plucked the cigarette from her mouth, placed it on the edge of the table all while shooting Tino with an angry look. He watched from across the room where he leaned against the counter, completely ignoring his mother. Scotty was pleased to note that his jaw was jacked.
Tino rubbed his chin.
“I guess you’re not a pussy. You’re getting better at fighting.” He held up his hand and his knuckles were swollen and bleeding. “I almost broke my hand on your fucking face,” he said while walking to the table. He used his uninjured hand to retrieve the cigarette from the table then he placed it carefully between his brother’s lips.
Scotty knew that this was Tino’s way of saying that he was sorry. But Scotty wasn’t. They’d fought and he hadn’t just gotten his ass handed to him. This time he had actually done some damage. Best of all, he had finally shown his brother that he wouldn’t be bullied.
Tina went back upstairs to sleep; leaving Scotty and Tino to put the kitchen back to order.
“I mean it. I’m not doing it.” Scotty muttered while keeping a careful eye on his brother. A half smile tugged at Tino’s mouth.
“If you say so little brother.” The calmness of his response chilled Scotty.
~***~
A few days later Phonso came running down the stairs. “Yo, you gotta see this! Yo Tino! Scotty! Check this out!” “Your sister is out there getting her ass whupped by a gang of girls!”
“Beady?” Tino went to the living room window. “Who is that?”
Scotty joined him and all three boys peered out into the courtyard where a group of kids were evidently fighting.
“Vanessa,” Scotty whispered. A bunch of kids were throwing snowballs at her until she could do nothing but duck and cover.
Scotty went outside without bothering with his jacket. Phonso joined him and a moment later Tino had his coat and was right behind them.
The kids—all girls took one look at Scotty’s face and began to back up, all except the pudgy girl that was wailing on a crying teenager.
Phonso grinned. Girl fight. This is what dreams were made of. Scotty nudged him while gesturing to Jalissa and the boy easily yanked the two girls apart.
Scotty stooped down next to Vanessa and gave her a critical look. “Don’t tell me you can’t fight.”
Her eyes were wide as she looked at him. She was so shocked at his bruising that she momentarily forgot to cry. His face had the remnants of purple and yellow bruises that transformed his handsome face into something that broke her heart. Without realizing it she reached up and gently touched his cheek.
Scotty sat back on his haunches, breaking the contact and stared at her.
“Fuck,” Tino said while lighting a cigarette. “It’s cold as shit out here.” The older boy looked at the children that were backing away. “Go home stupid!” The little girls ran off. Marcella was crying and rubbing her sorehead while Jalissa circled Phonso trying to reach her. Marcella finally ran away and Phonso looked at Jalissa in admiration.
“You know how to scrap.” Jalissa blushed and grinned and the two went over to Scotty and Vanessa.
“Your nose is bleeding.” Scotty stood and then pulled Vanessa up. She suddenly remembered her own injuries to both her body as well as to her pride. She swiped at her nose and saw the blood on her gloves. Angry tears welled up in her eyes and she clenched her teeth and looked after the retreating kids. They had ganged up on her and called her mother names. The words swirled around in her head; trick baby, your mama is a ho.
“Oh man,” Jalissa said when she caught sight of her cousin’s face.
Vanessa looked up and saw Tino looking at her, actually seeing her for perhaps the first time. But an idea was forming in her mind that was more important than Tino, Scotty Jalissa and anything else.
She turned and dug her hands into her pocket and began walking—not in the direction of Jalissa’s home but up the hill to Garden Hilltop.
“Where are you going?” Jalissa asked while hurrying along beside her.
“Home.”
“You’re walking all the way up the hill?!” Jalissa yelled but Vanessa said nothing. “It’s going to be dark. And then you’re going to have to walk all the way back down-“
“Go home Jalissa.”
Tino and Phonso turned and walked back to the apartment chuckling about the fight. Scotty watched Vanessa and her cousin until the pudgy girl shrugged and left her to walk alone. Scotty dug his cold hands into the pocket of his jeans and then turned and went back home.
~***~
Whore. Trick.
Vanessa thought about those women on television that did ‘it’ for money and there was no way that she could connect that image with her mother—and yet her stomach caved with each step that she took towards her home.
If her mama was like that then that meant her Daddy…Hot tears burned her eyes and slid down her cold cheeks but her steps never faltered. There were no pictures of her daddy, not because her mother had never bothered—but because she didn’t have a daddy. Vanessa didn’t see the nearly empty streets or the cars that whizzed past and she barely felt the cold as she walked toward home.
“Where are you going?” A voice asked from behind her. Vanessa jumped and saw Scotty on his bike approaching her.
She just turned back, shaking her head silently and swiping at the snot and tears streaming down her face. She kept walking up the hill not caring about Scotty right now. Right now everything in her world was changing.
He rode ahead and then stopped and looked up at the stars. When she reached him he spoke without looking at her. “Come on. I’ll give you a ride up the hill.”
Vanessa hesitated and then climbed on the ten-sped behind him. She had never ridden double on a ten-speed but once she was settled on the seat Scotty stood and then began pumping up the hill. It took a moment for him to get some momentum and they wobbled a bit. Vanessa quickly clung to his grey thermal shirt. That’s all he was wearing—no coat, no gloves and no hat. She realized that he was probably freezing but he wasn’t shivering or anything.
She suddenly remembered the nasty looking man at Fountain Square that had called her mother Diamond. Her mother had known him. She had looked guilty. Vanessa closed her eyes, her and her hands that held onto Scotty’s shirt fisted tightly.
She tried to concentrate on the gentle sway of the bike as Scotty fought to pedal them both up the hill. But she didn’t offer to get down and walk. Having him this close comforted her. There was a connection formed of circumstances and she felt it unmistakably.
She was a trick baby like Scotty.
Chapter 10
&n
bsp; The street lights were on by the time they reached the parking lot where Vanessa lived. When they passed the scary building Vanessa looked at it’s darkened depths but felt no fear. The heat radiating from Scotty and the sound of his pants as he peddled was more real than the phantoms that didn’t really live there. If something did fly out of the vacant building at them she had no doubt that Scotty would stare at it coldly and fearlessly.
She felt regret when the ride ended. He stopped in front of her stoop and she climbed down and tried to quickly wipe away any residual tears. She looked at her darkened townhome and Scotty lowered the kickstand on the bike and then checked under the mat for a key. When there wasn’t one he glanced at her to see if she wanted to break in.
“My mother locked the windows from the inside.”
He appraised the building. “Come on,” he said and then led her around back. She wondered what he was doing. Her mother kept all of the windows on the lower level locked. He stopped at the back patio and then looked around to make sure no one was looking. She saw him cup his hands in front of his mouth and blow warm air into them. He did that for a few moments and then began messing with the patio door.
Vanessa drew closer and watched in fascination as he began to rock the patio door off its track. What the--? Scotty really did know how to break into houses! Was he a burglar? She gave him an amazed look and he gestured for her to go inside. She stepped into the kitchen and was about to turn on the light when he told her no. It took him a moment but he replaced the door onto its tracks.
When that was done he made sure the blinds were closed and then he turned on the kitchen light himself.
“That’s one thing that you don’t need to do. You can break the door or it can fall and shatter which makes a shitload of noise.” He looked around and then walked to the kitchen window next to the kitchenette. He unlatched it and then nodded at her. “There. Check it every so often to make sure your mother doesn’t notice its not latched.”
“Thank you,” she said shyly.
He walked to the refrigerator and opened it. She didn’t mind; he deserved something to drink after riding her all the way up the hill.
“I can make us some hot chocolate,” she offered.
He nodded his acceptance. “When will your mother be home?”
Vanessa removed her coat, hat and gloves and dumped them on a kitchen chair. “She doesn’t come home until ten or eleven.” She glanced at the clock. It was barely seven. “She works a second job.” She said quickly. “At night she works at a bar. She’s a bartender.” Her eyes were wide when they looked at him and he didn’t respond.
Scotty felt sorry for the kid. He’d heard what those kids had been calling her and he was pretty sure that she had never even suspected.
“Go upstairs and wash your face. I’ll make the hot chocolate.”
Vanessa gave him a surprised look. “You won’t…you won’t leave will you?” She whispered.
He shook his head and after another hesitation she turned and headed out the room.
Scotty appraised the clean kitchen. He then began opening cabinets searching for chocolate mix.
Vanessa turned on the bathroom light and looked at herself in the mirror. Her ponytails were loose and hair was hanging in her face. Her nose was no longer bleeding but it was smeared with dried blood and snot. With a sigh she quickly washed her face and then removed her barrettes and finger combed her hair until it was smooth. She was about to go back down to the kitchen but her feet carried her to her mother’s room.
Vanessa turned on the light and looked around the neat room that smelled like her mother’s soft perfume. Vanessa opened the closet door, searching for prostitute clothes and big high-heeled shoes. But her mother didn’t have those things. She hurried to the bedside table finding aspirin and some papers. Vanessa examined each piece of paper until she saw a check stub from Cincinnati Belle Telephone Company.
Vanessa clutched it happily. Her mother worked at a real job! She kept searching through the papers. She just had to find another check stub, but this time from the bar. The bar was called Rockets but that was about all Vanessa knew about it.
When she came to the end of the papers she pulled open each of her mother’s drawers searching for more paper work but there was nothing from a bar. Her eyes were watering when she noticed Scotty standing in the doorway. She reached for her mother’s pillow and clutched it to her chest and face. At the soft smell of her mother’s Afro Sheen and Jergens hand lotion Vanessa began to cry.
Scotty watched uncomfortably. He entered the bedroom and sat down on the bed next to her, and after a moment he placed an arm around her shoulder feeling her body shake with the force of her tears. She looked at him suddenly.
“Do you know what my mother is?”
It took him a moment but eventually he nodded his head.
~***~
They were in the kitchen drinking lukewarm chocolate milk. Her tears had stopped as soon as Scotty had confirmed her suspicions. She took a deep breath, breaking the silence.
“Did my…mother take me to your house when I was a little kid?” Scotty finished chewing a cookie before nodding. “So you knew me from when I used to live in Winton Terrace?”
“Yep,” he looked at her curiously. “You don’t remember at all?”
She shook her head. “I kind of remember living at the bottom of the hill but I don’t remember…faces. Were we friends?”
He smiled. “No. I was older. But you used to play with my sister and Phonso. He remembers you.”
She just frowned, wishing she could remember. “Is that why you’re…nice to me?”
Scotty drank the last of his chocolate. “Your mother was very nice to me. When I was little she used to sit for us sometimes.” Scotty looked off into the distance. “She used to make breakfast.” Vanessa was silent, waiting for him to explain. Eventually he shrugged. “We just had cereal at my house. I never had pancakes and waffles and sausage and grits.” Vanessa frowned. Scotty had never eaten a hot breakfast?
He raised a brow and his light eyes seemed even lighter. “She was very kind.”
“And now you’re very kind to me?”
He got up and carried his mug to the sink where he began to wash it out. “I’m just not an asshole, Vanessa. That’s all. Here, hand me your mug and that plate. We need to clean up or your mother is going to know that you broke in here. Go upstairs and clean up those papers.”
She did as she was told but knew that her mother would still know that she had been in her things. She just seemed to have a knack for sniffing out things like this. Well, Vanessa had no intentions of pretending that she didn’t know. She wanted her mother to stop and she was going to make her stop!
When she returned downstairs Scotty was staring at the oversized painting of the African woman that looked like her mother. He gave her a grim smile. “It could be worse.”
Her face twisted angrily. “How? How could it be worse?”
“You could have been stuck with my mother.”
Her anger melted away. “Sorry. Thank you for everything.”
He shrugged. “We better go or your aunt is going to have the cops out looking for you.” She pulled on her coat and then hurried up to her room for an extra pair of gloves.
“Here. Wear these.”
He looked at them before pulling them on and didn’t complain that they were purple knit gloves clearly meant for a girl. They went out the front door and Scotty locked it from the inside before shutting it and testing to make sure it was securely locked.
“This time you pedal.”
She gave him a fearful look and he winked at her and smiled. “Climb on back. And this time hold on to me not my shirt. You almost pulled my clothes off.”
Her face warmed but if that’s the way he wanted it…She gripped him around his waist and shivered. Hot and cold chills ran up and down her body and she felt faint. She was almost hugging Scotty! As they headed down the hill she noticed that he wasn’t going as
fast as he normally went.
“Go Scotty! Go!” She said and he began to pump the pedals of the bike instead of just coasting. Speeding down the hill she felt exhilarated instead of afraid. This must be the way it felt to fly! Laughter bubbled up in her chest as the bike sped down the hill and she couldn’t believe that she was laughing on the worst day of her life.
It was the end of 1977 and at the age of twelve Vanessa White had learned some monumental truths; that her mother sold her body for money, that being jumped and beaten up hurt your pride just as much as anything else, and that without a shadow of a doubt one day she would marry Scotty Tremont.
Chapter 11
“Oh my God, are you crazy!” Jalissa hollered when Vanessa finally showed up at the apartment.
“Shhh!” She said while entering. “Is your mother home?”
“No! And you’re lucky, too. What were you doing with Scotty?”
“He rode me up the hill to my house.”
Jalissa gasped. “You really went home? At night?”
“I wasn’t scared.” She hung up her coat and then eyed her cousin. “Do you know about my mother?”
“Know what?” The younger girl seemed to be honestly perplexed. “What?”
“Never mind.” She sat on the couch and Jalissa followed her.
“Did you do something with Scotty?”
Vanessa’s face warmed. She had wondered what it would be like to kiss him but decided it might be weird. The last time she’d been kissed her tooth had gotten knocked out. “No!”
“You want to, though.”
“Shut up.” She tackled her cousin and they began laughing. But Jalissa grew suddenly serious.
“We’re going to get the gang together and get those girls that jumped you.” She vowed.
Vanessa thought about the names that those girls had called her and she didn’t want that information spreading to all of her friends. If they knew then it would be over for her.
Scandalous Heroes Box Set Page 41
