by Carl Weber
Sam snatched me up like a sack of potatoes; then he reached back and smacked me so hard I saw stars as I tumbled to the floor. “Bitch, have you lost your damn mind?” he shouted at me.
“If I have, you caused it! And who the hell is this bitch?” I got up from the floor and got in his face. The fact that he had smacked the shit out of me less than a minute ago was totally gone from my mind.
“You better get the hell out my face!” The look of pure rage he shot me set my stomach fluttering with fear. I didn’t understand. He berated me, “Your problem is you think you’re so goddamn superior to everyone because you read a few books and shit. Well, let me tell you something, bitch: There ain’t no difference between you and the rest of these whores. You’re a prostitute, Chippy, the lowest form of woman there can be, and I’m your pimp, lord, and master. You better remember that.” He slapped me again and I went reeling.
Then he turned to Crystal, sounding all sweet and loving, “You all right, darling?”
“Yes,” she answered sweetly, like she hadn’t just witnessed him beating another woman, “but, baby, why did she do that?” Poor little Crystal squeaked, clutching onto Sam like they were in the ocean and he was her life preserver. Instead of telling her the truth, that I was his woman and she had to go, he actually held her tighter as she cried.
“There there, baby girl. We’re gonna go upstairs and daddy is going to make everything better,” he promised as they headed up the staircase, leaving me lying in a heap.
I looked up and saw all the girls trying not to stare at me, and I knew they were feeling sorry for me. Damn him.
“C’mon, Chippy.” Little Momma helped me to my feet, but I snatched my arm away from her and raced up the back stairs to my room. It took me all of two minutes to throw my stuff in a suitcase and head out the door. If he thought I would ever put up with being replaced, he had another thing coming.
“It’s all right, Chippy. I promise you’ll get used to it.” Little Momma entered my room and tried to console me, but I knew that she could never understand how I felt. None of them had the relationship that I did with Sam.
“I’m not getting used to shit.”
He was standing in Crystal’s doorway when I exited my room for the last time. Fuck him.
He snarled at me as I passed him. “Where the hell you going, bitch?”
“As far away from you as I can!” My voice came out much stronger than I felt, and for that I was proud, although the rest of me felt shaky and scared. Big Sam burst out laughing, like I’d said the funniest thing he’d ever heard, slapping his hand against his leg. I kept moving toward the door.
“You wanna leave?” His tone stopped me in my tracks. “Well, you about to learn the rules of the game. You can go, but you leave with exactly what you came with.” He ripped the suitcase out of my hand, and when I resisted, he punched me in the face like I was a man. Then, in a much softer but equally threatening tone, he said, “I’ma put this back in your room, ’cause you’ll be needing it when you come back.”
It was Sam’s sinister laughter that I heard all the way to the curb and into the rain, but I just kept moving.
LC
19
It was raining so hard I could barely see three feet in front of my face, so I sent my cousin Harold, who’d been working at the station pumping gas, home an hour early. It didn’t make much sense to be paying him with the rain coming down like that. Only a crazy person would venture out for gas on this night. I’d actually planned on spending the night on the cot in the back so I could finish up painting the new convenience store we were putting in. Larry and NeeNee had already spent most of the day putting up drywall and spackling, so I was hoping to do my part and get it painted before the trucks came in the morning.
I checked my watch as I reached for my poncho. “Okay, time to turn off the pumps.”
I guess I’d spoken too soon about someone venturing out in this weather, because the door chimed, letting me know someone was coming in. A soaking wet woman entered, holding a newspaper to cover her face and head from the rain. As she got closer, I saw the water clinging to her jeans and T-shirt. I couldn’t believe anyone would be walking in this storm without so much as an umbrella, not to mention a coat or sensible shoes.
It had been raining so hard I couldn’t even see the pumps, so I anticipated a good cussing out because she’d had to get out of her car in this shit to tell me to pump her gas.
“Ma’am, I’m so sorry. I didn’t see you pull up,” I said as I pulled the poncho over my head.
“LC.” The voice sounded familiar, but I was still astonished when she lowered the newspaper and I recognized her face.
“Chippy?” That’s when I noticed her swollen black eye. “Jesus Christ, what the hell happened to you?” I felt myself getting angry at the sight of her battered and bruised face. “Who did this to you?”
She looked up at me, mascara running down her cheeks from either the rain or her tears. “Sam did it to me. He hit me so hard I saw stars.” Her tears started anew.
Her answer didn’t surprise me, but it sure did make me want to put a hurting on him. “I never liked that guy. You got to get away from him.” Normally I didn’t hand out relationship advice because it really wasn’t any of my business, but I couldn’t help it. Any man who puts his hands on a woman is scum and deserves all the shit he gets.
Something about the lighting and the simplicity of the jeans and T-shirt made me realize she was younger than the twenty-five years I’d given her credit for. I’d only seen her with a face full of makeup, fake eyelashes, hot pants, cork heels, and halter top, all of which made her look a lot older than I now saw that she was.
I took the wet newspaper from her and helped her into a chair. “You know, I wouldn’t have recognized you without the lashes and makeup,” I said.
She looked embarrassed as she started to pat her damp, matted hair and wipe at the runny makeup. “I look a mess.”
“No, you’re pretty,” I said. “It’s good to see the real you.” I leaned close and touched her eye tenderly. “Let me get you something to put on that.” I went over to the freezer and pulled out a bright red ice pop. “Here. Put this on your eye. It should help, and when you’re done you can eat it,” I joked.
“Thank you,” she answered softly.
We sat together quietly while she held the soothing ice to her eye. After a while, I spoke up. “You know you can’t go back there. You’re better than that.”
She nodded and agreed, “I’m not going back there, but I got to find a job, and I’ve got to find some place to live.”
I glanced over her shoulder at the rain still coming down in sheets. That wasn’t going to happen today.
“You hungry? I was about to close up shop, and I know someplace where you can get a dry set of clothes and a good meal.”
Her face spread into the first smile I’d seen since she came inside. “That would be real nice.”
I shut down the shop and handed her my poncho to put on, because there was no reason for her to get wetter. She looked ready to refuse, but I wasn’t having that.
“Take it. You don’t want to catch pneumonia.”
We stepped outside, and I ran for the truck. I turned the heat all the way up so she would be a little less uncomfortable until I could get her a change of clothes.
Neither of us spoke as I drove the few miles to my house. One thing I knew was that NeeNee would be cooking. She always seemed ready for company, whether it was two people or twenty-two, because Lou and Larry had a habit of bringing home strays and large groups back to the house. It was their way of never letting a party end, but NeeNee, she never seemed to mind. Actually, she always said the more the merrier.
“Where are we?” Chippy asked. I drove down the long country driveway, stopping the truck in the driveway of my simple one-story house.
“Welcome to the Duncan farm.” I held out my hand like I was some waiter at a fancy restaurant.
“Is y
our brother Lou here?”
“Nah, his car’s gone, which means he’s gone.” I was sure she was thinking about the friendship between Lou and Sam. “Don’t worry about him. I’ll take care of my brother. Now come on in. I want you to meet NeeNee.” I led her into the house, out of the rain.
NeeNee did a double take when she spotted Chippy coming through the door behind me. Then she gave me a look like this would be some big secret between us. She’d always been super nice to Donna, but I knew she didn’t really care much for my girlfriend. Well, I’d have to get busy setting her straight.
“And who do we have here?” NeeNee hurried over like a big sister being all nosy.
“This is my friend Chippy and—”
“Charlotte, ma’am. My name’s Charlotte. Chippy’s just a nickname.” She stuck out her hand to NeeNee, who ignored it and moved in for a hug.
“Yes, Charlotte,” I repeated, feeling like an idiot.
NeeNee took one look at her and removed my poncho off her shoulders. “Girl, you are soaked. Let me get you out of those clothes. Give you a hot shower and wash off some of that cold. Come on.” She led Chippy through the back of the house.
After a few minutes, I heard the shower going, and then NeeNee came back in the kitchen, staring at me like she had never seen me before.
I tossed up my hands. “What?” I said defensively. “She’s just a friend in trouble. I’m trying to help her, that’s all.”
“Let’s say that’s true. What about Donna?” She pressed on, still giving me that look as if to say, “You sly devil, you.”
“This isn’t about Donna. I’m allowed to have friends,” I insisted, ready for this conversation to be over. “But for the record, Donna’s gone for the weekend.”
NeeNee’s eyes began to darken with worry. “LC, you know that poor girl’s been abused.”
“I know. Big Sam gave her that black eye. That’s the reason I want to help her get away from him. That’s all this is. Now do you get it?”
“No, I think you’re the one who doesn’t get it.” NeeNee sat down on the chair next to me like she’d suddenly grown tired. “Sam mighta beat her up, but what he did was tame compared what someone else did.”
“What are you talking about?”
“When that girl took off her clothes, I could see all these scars on her body. It looked like somebody was using her back as their own personal ashtray. It’s not right that somebody would put a young girl through all that. She can’t be more than nineteen years old. It’s just not right.” NeeNee shook her head. I knew she wanted to have kids with Larry, and with a heart that big she’d make a great mother. Hell, she already took better care of us than any mother could.
“Shit. What am I gonna do?”
“Well, for right now let me get you kids some food. A full belly is always a good place to start.” NeeNee rose up and went over to a cabinet and pulled out a bottle. She poured some in a glass and then popped open a can of Seven-Up, pouring that in it too before she handed it to me. “Give this to her. Tell her I said to drink it.” NeeNee then started messing around with the pots.
When I knocked on the door, Chippy got shy, opening it only slightly when she saw it was me, but I was struck by something and couldn’t stop myself from staring. NeeNee had loaned her a dress to wear while her clothes were drying, and even though it hung on her slight frame, there was something really sweet about it. Without the runny mascara and makeup, her hair pulled back in a ponytail, she looked so innocent. So beautiful.
“NeeNee said to drink this.” I handed her the glass. “Come on out to the kitchen when you’re ready. She’s making us something to eat. You haven’t tasted good food till you’ve had some of NeeNee’s cooking.”
“Okay.” Her eyes were downcast, nothing like the sassy smart girl I’d grown used to. I gave her a wink, hoping it would help her to relax. I wanted her to understand that we were her friends, probably the only ones she had in this town.
“Hey, I just wanted you to know you’re safe here.”
Chippy
20
I stretched my arms out, trying to get my bearings as I looked around the room and saw a poster of Doctor J looking down at me. For a split second I’d forgotten where I was and how I’d gotten there. I saw my clothes pressed and neatly folded over a chair, along with a washrag, towel, and toothbrush. This had to be LC’s room, I thought when I spotted the three bookcases that lined the far wall of the room.
I got out of bed and happily thumbed through the books. There had to be a thousand books on those shelves, maybe more. I wondered if LC had read them all. I heard some music coming from the other side of the door, telling me that someone else was up, so I chose a book to read, scooped up my clothes and toiletries, and headed for the bathroom.
Fifteen minutes later, I went into the kitchen, where I found Miss NeeNee standing over the stove, frying some chicken. She had to be one of the nicest women I’d ever met. And boy, could she hold her liquor.
“Thought you was going to sleep all day,” NeeNee said with a laugh.
“I’m not used to getting up early. What time is it?”
“About quarter to ten,” NeeNee said, taking some chicken out of the frying pan. “And here I am thinking you didn’t get up because that gin knocked you out. You kept up pretty good last night. You not hung over?”
“No, I been drinking since I was twelve. It makes the pain go away, at least for a little while anyway.” I sniffed the air. “That smells so good.”
“I’ma sell chicken and biscuits down at the gas station today. Now that LC’s got everything fixed up, they been getting a lot of people down there. That station’s going to be good for everyone.” She leaned over and passed me a plate. I picked up a piece of chicken and bit into it.
“Well, you better make a whole lot of it, ’cause those people are going to lose their minds as good as this bird tastes. Colonel Sanders ain’t got shit on you. Damn, what you put in it?”
“I ain’t got time to show you right now, but if you wanna learn, I’ll teach you.”
“I’d like that. I can’t cook shit.” I devoured the chicken leg and picked up another.
“Well, you stick with NeeNee and I’ll teach you.”
“So, where’s LC? I don’t see his tow truck outside,” I said. “Then again, it’s Saturday. I guess he must be with his girlfriend.”
NeeNee turned around to face me, sucking her teeth and rolling her eyes. “Girl, please. That boy been at that gas station painting since the crack of dawn. And as far as his pain-in-the-ass girlfriend’s concerned, she’s out of town for the weekend.”
“Really?” I let my excitement slip.
“Really,” NeeNee repeated with a laugh, which made me like her even more. “Soon as I finish, we gonna take this food over there for him to sell. I just got to figure out how to pack it all up.”
I glanced over at the chicken and biscuits piled all over the counter like she was expecting a real crowd. The idea came to me quickly. “How about if you cut the biscuits and put the chicken in between, and then wrap them in some paper like a sandwich? You can even use old newspaper and tie them with some kind of twine if you have it.”
Her face lit up. “Charlotte, you’re a genius. I swear you need to do something big in this lifetime, ’cause you got good ideas. And that came so easy for you,” she told me, reaching for some newspaper and putting the first one together.
“Thanks. And you can just call me Chippy. I’m kind of used to the nickname now,” I said, enjoying the easy camaraderie between me and NeeNee. “Let me help you.” I jumped in to lend a hand making sandwiches.
It took us no time, and when we were done, she had forty-six of the best fried sandwiches in Georgia, ready to sell for one dollar a piece.
“Hey, hey, hey. Morning, Nee.” Lou came in, looking Ron O’Neal kinda fly in a powder blue bell bottom suit, white shirt with big lapels, and a pair of groovy platforms, but it was the perfectly coiffed afro and gold chain h
anging around his neck that really stood out. He looked over and saw me sitting at the table and tried to be nonchalant. “What’s happening, Red?”
“Morning.” I returned the greeting even though I wished he hadn’t noticed me. Lou was too close to Sam, and that made me nervous.
He reached over and grabbed one of the sandwiches before we could wrap it. Taking a bite, he raved, “Damn, girl, you put your foot in this. LC might be right. We just might have to add a restaurant to that gas station.”
“You always said he’s the smartest one of us all,” NeeNee replied.
“He is. Ain’t no doubt about that.” I was surprised to hear Lou, with all his ego, acknowledge something like that. These Duncans sure were a strange brood. “Where’s Larry? He’s supposed to drive me to the bus.”
“He’s going to meet us at the gas station. He had something to do with Quincy.” NeeNee smirked as she packed up the last of the sandwiches and headed for the door, followed by Lou. “Come on, Miss Chippy, you don’t want to be left here by yourself until you’re properly introduced to Levi and his pets.”
I’d seen Levi’s huge ass before, but what the hell did she mean by his pets?
When we got to the shop, there were three big trucks being unloaded out back. I could see LC through the picture window up front, in his coveralls, talking to two white men who looked like salesmen. They were hanging on to his every word. I’m not going to lie; there was a certain sexiness about him that turned me on.
“LC really fixed this place up,” NeeNee gushed, clearly impressed with the level of work he’d done. Guess I didn’t notice because I’d never been there before, but once she said something, I could see all the new touches.
When we got out of NeeNee’s car, Larry came out wearing a bandanna wrapped around his head and a wife beater, smiling from ear to ear.
“That boy’s in there schooling those white boys like he’s one of them. They done gave him enough refrigerators, freezers, and shelving to furnish the whole damn store for free, just so he’ll sell their shit. He even talked the cat from Pepsi into paying for a big-ass Duncan Brothers sign to hang out front as long as it has their logo,” Larry said, sounding excited.
