Best Dressed Lie (Keisha Jackson)

by Batiste, Kimberly

  “Are you a family member?” he asked, eyeing Zan. She got up from the floor, without speaking and staggered out of the room. The doctor checked my blood pressure, and then stared at the monitor, writing at the same time. Then he studied the blood work results.

  “Miss Jackson, I have some results and a couple of questions for you,” he said, licking the tip of his finger and turning a page.

  I nodded my head to let him know I was alert.

  “First I’ll give you some of your results, and then ask questions,” he said, smiling.

  “You have a fractured rib, and a mandibular fracture known as a broken jaw . The swelling and the bruising will get worse before better. I suggest that you have no visitors for 24 hours.”

  He cleared his throat before asking another question, “Have you ever used drugs?” I moved my head side to side again. I never took my eyes off Dr. Baker.

  I noticed the troubled expression as he continued reading my chart. He focused on one spot in my chart. He looked at me, closed my chart and placed it on the bed next to my legs. He moved in closer to me, took my hand, inhaled and slowly exhaled. “Miss Jackson, we got some of your blood work results,” he said taking off his glasses. “I’m sorry to say this, but you suffered a miscarriage.”

  I lay there unable to move or even blink.

  “I’m terribly sorry,” he said, my hand and gently holding it between his. After a few moments with no reaction from me, he felt the need to give me some time alone. He placed my hand on the bed and slowly got up.

  My tears rolled down the side of my face like a waterfall. Although I couldn’t speak, I heard every word came out of his mouth. My heart raced as I waited for him to come back into the room and tell me it was an error. I wanted him to say, you’re pregnant. Numbness washed through me. I couldn’t believe that the precious life I was unaware of died inside of me.

  EIGHT

  It was two days after the catastrophe and Randy never showed up. Zan went out and bought me some clothes and personal items, She was afraid of going to Randy’s place. The hospital was in the process of discharging me. I did not want to go back home. Zan offered me a room at her place and I accepted, despite her nasty cats.

  “I’m so excited you’re staying,” she said, piling on her lipstick. “You can sleep in Jason’s room. I cleaned it up nicely for you. I changed the sheets and put the TV from the family room in there. I also cooked your favorite meal; spaghetti and meatballs.”

  Everything was happening so fast. I went from attending a company picnic, to driving home and nearly getting killed. Zan was acting very cheerful trying to make me feel better, but the truth was I almost died a couple of days ago. I needed answers.

  “Zan, where is Randy?” I asked for the hundredth time. “I don’t know. I should be asking you that,” she said, defensively.

  It was strange that he had not called or been to see me. No one seemed to be interested in what happened to me. Zan was acting weird, almost disinterested and unconcerned with what happened. This was especially odd since she was the nosiest person alive. I decided to wait until after we left the hospital before asking any more questions.

  “Miss Jacksons, your discharge papers are ready. The transporter will wheel you down stairs,” said the nurse. She gave Zan the side eye, because she had half an unlit cigarette in her hand. “Thanks, Doctor,” Zan said, waving the unlit cigarette at her.

  “Nurse, not doctor,” she replied, giving Zan an unpleasant look.

  “Thank you,” I said, barely smiling. The Nurse signed me out, and then and nursing assistant wheeled me down to the discharge window.

  “Miss Davis we need for you to pull your car to the front,” the person at the window requested.

  “Sure,” Zan said having a cigarette craving.

  The closer my wheelchair got to the door, the more my delusions kicked in. I started having flash backs. “Stop,” I yelled, “There’s a man standing there waiting!” I leaned forward; my heart was beating like a drum.

  “Where?”

  “Wait!” I said, looking back at the assistant.

  “Miss Jackson, are you okay?” she asked, tilting her head to the side. I slowly closed my eyes. When I opened them again, he was not there anymore. I was feeling paranoid and shaken up.

  “Yes, I’m fine, just ready to go home.” The last thing I needed is for them to put me back in the hospital. I was dizzy and seeing things but I didn’t want to go back in.

  Zan finally pulled up to the front entrance blasting church music.

  “We’ve been sitting here for fifteen minutes, Miss Davis,” the nurse’s assistant said.

  “I had to take a smoke!” she said, annoyed. “And I prayed, if you must know.”

  “If you ask me, you need more than prayer,” the orderly mumbled low enough for only me to hear.

  Once I got into the car, Zan could not wait to drive off. My seatbelt was not on nor was I situated.

  “Do you have any idea what happened to me? Better yet, who did this to me?”

  “Why are you asking me?” she said, defensively. “How would I know? It is an insult to think your best friend knows what happened and didn’t say anything.”

  “I never said you knew, I just asked if you knew. Honestly, I’ve been through a lot the past few days and I don’t want to relive it right now. I’ll leave it alone, for now.”

  “So, when will it be a right time?” she said, putting out the nub of a cigarette. “I want to know what happened to you, Keisha.”

  Zan’s phone started ringing. “Who’s calling me?” she mumbled, looking at her caller ID.

  “Hello?”

  “Zan?” a woman’s voice said.

  “This is Zan. How can I help you?”

  “If you breathe a word to her about what happened, I’m going to reveal to her how much of a liar her best friend has been.”

  “I’ll drop it off next week,” Zan said, trying to keep me from knowing who was on the line.

  “She’s with you?” the woman asked, surprised.

  “Yep, you’re right.”

  The woman paused before continuing, “He needs to see you as soon as possible.”

  “Okay, I’ll call you later,” Zan said in a high-pitched voice, pretending.

  “Who was that?” I asked.

  “Oh, that was Jason’s foster mother.”

  “What did she say?”

  “She’s bringing Jason home to visit, next week.”

  “That’s great. I should be up and out by then, hopefully,” I said.

  “Keisha, you’re family. You can stay with me as long as you need to.”

  I did not know what was up with Zan. She was being weird and sweet at the same time.

  “Thank you for being there for me Zan. I really appreciated the love and support. You’re my best friend and I love you with all my heart.”

  “You’re going to make me cry,” she said, looking straight ahead.

  In the middle of our sisterly love moment, I heard my phone rang. “Is that my phone?” “The hospital had it packed with the clothes you had on when you arrived.” Zan pulled it out of her purse and glanced at the screen. “It’s an unidentified call. Should I answer?”

  “Sure. I don’t see why you shouldn’t,” I said, frowning.

  She answered and got straight to the point, “Look stupid bitch, stop calling this phone!”

  “Keisha, are you ok?” he said, hysterically. He did not recognize Zan’s voice.

  The call was breaking up.

  Zan hesitated. “Who is this?”

  He stuttered, “Ba…baby hello can you hear me? I’m on my way to you baby,” he said, anxiously.

  “Do you realize Keisha almost died?” she snapped. “Keisha almost died because of you!”

  “Keisha I need to speak with you in person.”

  I heard his voice and snatched the phone from Zan’s ear. “Shut up,” I screamed, bursting into tears. “I don’t want you near me Randy, you really hurt me.
Why didn’t you protect me? I needed you Randy.”

  “Okay, that’s enough. Give me the cell. Randy, don’t call this damn phone again! You got that?”

  “Zan stay out of my business and give Keisha the damn phone, and…”

  Before he finished what he was saying, Zan disconnected the line.

  “Here,” she said, passing me the phone. “Keisha what do you mean, you almost died because of Randy? Where did you hear that?”

  “The burglar told me! I want to talk with him about it first. Will you please respect that?”

  “Fine I won’t say another word about it,” she said, throwing her hand up.

  I know Zan wasn’t going to let anything go. I wasn’t surprised when she said, “No, I’m gone say what I want to say. Keisha, this man is the reason you almost died and you’re actually willing to hear what he has to say?

  “He was not at the hospital with you. He never called. Where was he when you were getting the shit beat out of you, all because his broke-ass was out borrowing money! What about…”

  “How did you know he borrowed money?” I interrupted. “I never mentioned anything about him borrowing money, Zan.”

  She had a blank stare on her face. “You were hysterical when the ambulance brought you in. You were screaming something about money so I figured he was connected.”

  “Oh…Okay,” I said, suspiciously.

  NINE

  We arrived at Zan’s apartment complex. As we drove closer to her unit, we saw a 2002 red Toyota Camry parked in her parking space.

  “Whose car is this and why they’re parked in my parking spot?” she mumbled under her breath.

  I saw some small feet stepping out of the passenger side of the Camry. “Jason? I asked, leaning forward. “Mommy, Mommy,” he screamed, bursting out of the car, running towards Zan. He was biracial and has stunning green eyes. He was around nine years old, but had the height of a two year old. He was born a midget.

  I was a little confused. Zan said his foster parents were supposed to bring him home next week. At least that’s what she told me after the conversation in the car with them.

  “Mumskin,” she said, bending down and spreading her arms for a hug.

  She walked to the driver side, brushing his foster parents off. She did not introduce us.

  “I’ll call you,” she said, quickly taking his hand and walking off.

  They pulled away in a hurry. It looked like they were infuriated about something, and I wanted to find out why and what. “You could have introduced us!” I yelled out the cracked window.

  Zan threw her hand up. “She said she had somewhere to be,” she explained. “See how she lied? She told me she was bringing Jason over next week.”

  “Where does she live? I asked, curiously.”

  “About an hour away.”

  “That’s not what I asked. What city do they live in?”

  “Oh, Macon, Georgia.”

  “Mom, I’m hungry.” Jason interjected, propped up on the middle console.

  “Okay baby. Once I get Miss Keisha situated inside we’ll grab something to eat from Long John Silver.”

  My mind was a wreck. I was jumping from one topic to the next. Seeing Zan with her son, made me so sad. I relived the miscarriage and tears rolled down my cheeks.

  “Why are you crying Keisha?” Zan asked, aggravated.

  “I didn’t get that chance…” I hesitated. “That chance to be a mom. I always dreamed that one day, Randy and I would marry and have a family. I cannot believe he caused this.”

  “So you’re admitting he’s to blame?”

  “Mommy, I’m hungry now,” Jason whined.

  Zan ignored Jason. She was eager to know what pain Randy caused.

  I wiped the tears from my eyes. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “Jason, take your things inside the house. Mommy has to help Auntie Keisha out of the car.”

  “But Mommy,” he whined more. “I thought we were getting food.”

  “Now, Jason,” she said, pointing her finger at him.

  “Yes, Ma’am,” he mumbled, holding his head down.

  Jason got out of the car dragging his things. “Boy, pick your things up off the ground,” Zan snapped. “Do I need to give you something to whine about?”

  He sobbed, “No ma’am.”

  “What were you saying?” she asked.

  “When we were at the hospital, I found out I suffered a miscarriage,” I sniveled, patting the tears under my eyes.

  Zan gasped. She covered her mouth with her hand in disbelief.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, rubbing my back.

  “Well, my son is visiting. I don’t need any distractions during his stay,” she said, selfishly. “My main concern is to get you well and spend some quality time with my Mumskin. I will get your things and take them inside. Jason is ready to eat.”

  “Okay.”

  I was shocked at her response to my miscarriage. She was very nonchalant. This not the Zan I know. She would’ve been willing and ready to find the underlying cause of this. We finally made it inside. The first thing I noticed was an awful stench in the air.

  “It smells like a truck load of stale cigarettes in here! Can you spray please?”

  “Whatever,” she said, throwing her hand up at me. “I’m glad you mentioned cigarettes. That reminds me, I need to go to the store to get cat litter and a couple of other things, plus food for Jason. Do you mind staying here with him until I get back? I shouldn’t be gone longer than thirty minutes.”

  “Sure. While you are out, will you pick up my prescription? The pain is kicking in.”

  “Okay. Mumskin, behave while I’m gone,” she said, kissing him on the cheek.

  “Yes, Ma’am.”

  “He’ll be fine,” I said, smiling.

  As soon as Zan left, her damn cats leaped out from behind the couch. “Yuck! Jason will you please put the cats in their cage?” Jason went from Mumskin to monster. He pointed at my black and blue swollen eye then started asking questions.

  “Who hit you, a man?” he said, swinging his legs under the chair.

  “Jason,” I giggled. “You shouldn’t be asking those types of questions. Go play with your video game and put the cats in their cage. Okay sweetie?”

  “Video games are boring and those cats smell! I want to stay in here with you. Can I? I want to tell you about naked people.”

  Jason was a very talkative 9 year old. I called Zan to make sure she didn’t make any stops.

  “Hello,” Zan answered.

  “Make sure you come straight home,” I said, giving Jason the side eye. He was digging buggers out of his nose and eating them.

  “I just left home, what’s wrong?”

  “Nothing, I’ll talk to you when you get here,” I said, staring at Jason.

  “Okay, I’ll see ya’ll soon. I’m pulling out of the pharmacy parking lot as we speak.” She hung up the phone.

  “What naked people are you talking about, Jason?” I said in a sweet tone of voice. I felt bad for asking a minor about naked people, but he had me curious about them.

  “When I was about five years old,” he said, sadly. “I saw a… I saw a man and lady naked in bed.”

  “Does your mother know about this?”

  “Nope, and you better not tell her either,” he said, pointing his finger.

  “Okay. That’s enough Jason. Sit down right beside me until your mom gets here.”

  “I caught my momma naked with a white man. He was short like me. That’s why my nana took me to stay with her.”

  I looked down at him surprised. I couldn’t believe what came out of his mouth. “What?”

  Jason was about to spill more of his momma’s business and the doorbell rang.

  “Jason go to your room. I’ll answer the door.”

  “I want to see too.”

  I snapped, pointing towards his room, “Boy, do what I told you to do!”

  I made my way to the door, unsta
ble and in pain.

  I slid the white sheer curtain back with my index finger. I saw a glimpse of a two door light blue 2002 Altima.

  “Who is it?”

  “It’s me… Randy.”

  “Randy,” I whispered under my breath. “Go away; I don’t want to talk to you!”

  “Keisha, just hear me out!”

  “I don’t have anything to say to you Randy! You’ve hurt me too many times. Just leave, please.”

  In a crazy way I was happy to hear his voice. I missed him so much. At that moment, I wanted to hear the lies more than the truth.

  “They set me up!” he shouted.

  “I’m walking away from the door. Just leave now!”

  In the midst of Randy’s begging and pleading, Zan pulled up. I heard her slam on her brakes and screech to a halt. I stood in front of the sheer curtain again, watching and waiting for her too curse his ass out.”

  He noticed Zan and rushed over to her car not giving her time to get out.

  “The truth shall set you free,” he said, pounding his fist into his hand behind every syllable. “Ya’ll hoes set me up!”

  “Go to hell, you son of a bitch,” she said, getting out of the car. She slammed her door and paced towards the front door.

  “Keisha, open the door!” she shouted, beating on the door like the police.

  I slowly unlocked the door, confused. I wanted to know what the commotion was between the two of them. As soon as Zan heard the lock click, she barged in. I stood in the doorway, guarding the entrance of the house.

  “Zan is there something you need to tell me?” I asked, folding my arms.

  “Are you serious?” she said defensively, “I offered you a place to live because your no-good of a man almost had you killed. The nerve of you asking me about his no good ass!”

  “Why did he say ya’ll set him up? Who are ‘ya’ll’?”

  I stood there and listened. I saw Randy walking up behind her. He placed his finger over his lips, signaling me to keep quiet.

  “The no-good of a man that will risk losing the only girl he loves by revealing the truth,” Randy spoke softly looking me right in the eye.

  “What truth?” I said, annoyed.

  “Jason! Call 911 baby,” she yelled. He was in his room playing the video game. I did not think it was a great idea to get this child involved.