by Erica Hale
Ernest looked around as if the two soul men in the room were in a crowded stadium. “Demetrius came to the trailer today.”
Leland’s heart dropped to the bottom of his guy.
“What did he say?”
Leland found the chair and plopped down. This wasn’t good.
Rubbing the stubble on his chin, Ernest answered, “He said that we have to get the operation up and running in the next two days. That son of a bitch threatened little Ernest.”
“What? Jesus.”
Leland looked up the basement stairs. Even though he couldn’t see the boy, he could hear him. He was only a kid and if people like Demetrius made threats about hurting a kid, Leland could bet he would carry it out.
“What did he say about the kid?”
“He knows where we store the product.”
Leland didn’t have to look behind him. Behind the washer and dryer was a portion of hallowed out wall. There was over hundred pounds of pure uncut heroin, plus all ingredients to fill a pharmacy of meth.
“So, what are we going to do? We have to move that shit, and now. Two days is not going to be enough to time to get somebody on the street.”
If the situation wasn’t so dire, Ernest would have smiled at hearing Leland say ‘we’. It meant that he wasn’t alone in this. It meant that he had someone that he could count on.
“I think Franklin may be ready.”
Leland threw his head back. “That knot head doesn’t know his head from a hole in the wall. He would have us all in prison; the man can’t keep a secret to save his life. I vote against him.”
“Who else we got? Not putting Marvin out there. The first sign of trouble and he will shit himself. Max might do, but…”
“But what? He seems legit.”
“The man has a family,” Ernest said, thinking about every employee and whether they would make a great fit to deal drugs in the predominantly black neighborhood in the lower south side of Planters.
“With a family, there will be needs that have to be met. Aren’t he and his wife down to one car now? I had to tow them a week or so ago, something about a transmission going out. They are saving up for a new one. They have a teenage daughter that will be going to Bedford in the fall. You know girls are expensive as hell. Shit, tell him to just sell until he gets enough to buy his wife a brand new car. You know as well as I do that if he sees that fast money, he will be addicted to that money just like them monkeys are addicted to the shit.”
Leland watched as Ernest mulled it over in his mind.
“We are running out of time on this one. We don’t have any options left. Call Max, tell him the deal, hell, make him an offer he can’t refuse.”
Leland smirked.
Hands up to his lip in a praying position, Ernest had his eyes closed while thinking. He didn’t want to make that call to Max. He had known him since the two were in high school. The guy was straight, never been in any trouble, unlike Ernest. Married right out of high school, couldn’t afford college, but took any job he could to provide. It wasn’t a question if Max could be trusted, Ernest knew he could be. Just the thought of a good white man on the street or any location feeding animals.
“It has to be done,” Ernest finally said.
Leland sighed. “I know you consider him a friend, I get that. You have three options right now. Either you put Max out there, you do it yourself, or you pay for this with your son.”
The options hung over Ernest’s head like a cartoon anvil, swaying ready to drop.
“I’ll call him tonight and get things in motion.”
Ernest was already regretting the phone call he hadn’t even made yet.
“Then we are good. If shit goes to shit, I’ll keep an eye out for him. Make a couple rounds. Maybe set up a stable location for him for his own safety.” Leland added something else to try to sweeten the bitter pill, “We are in this together.”
With that declaration, he stood up from his chair.
Ernest copied Leland and stood also.
“Enough business for tonight. You have a date across the street.”
They fist bumped and Leland felt a bit woozy coming up the stairs. With the reappearance of Demetrius, things weren’t just moving fast but at warped speed. Him coming here meant that the town of Planters was going to get a face lift and not in a good way.
Leland took a deep breath. The boys were still in the same spot, looking at the hot delivered pizza.
“You want a slice, Mr. Leland?” Ernest asked.
“Not hungry. You,” he gestured, pointing to Anthony. “Come with me.”
Anthony pointed to himself. “Me?”
Leland didn’t even answer. He just started to walk to the front door.
Following Leland, Anthony took one last look at Ernest.
“Yeah?”
“I need for you to listen to me and do what I ask you to do. If you screw this up, your mom is going to get hurt.”
The thought of his mom feeling any pain made Anthony’s fists tighten. “Yeah, what do you want me to do?”
“Just listen and do what I tell you. For God’s sake, kid, don’t screw this up.”
★★★★★★★★★★
“Well, I don’t know what else I’m supposed to do here. I haven’t even got one break in regards to Clay. My son is slowly changing into a skinhead. This is the first time in my life that I can exactly say that I’m afraid.” I put my head in my hands. “Erron, I am scared out my mind.”
I was having the hardest time trying to pull my shit together.
I took another peek out my front window, seeing the upstairs light on across the street. My son was there and God knows what they were saying to him.
“Found out today from another co-worker that the woman that had the position before me is now missing.”
It was now Arron’s turn to be the comforter in the friendship.
“What I need for you to do is calm down. I know you’re scared, and that’s why I thought this whole thing was a bad idea. Lauren, just come home. In this case, we are going to leave justice up to karma when it comes to Clay.”
I was pulling the phone away from my face to blow my nose into a wad of tissue.
“Please say you aren’t crying?”
“I’m not crying. It’s probably my allergies.” I heard him huff in disbelief. “I just need to get my son back and get the hell out of this town.”
I had never backed away from anything in my life, and trying to justify it in my head was making me feel even weaker.
“It’s not like you are coming back with your tail between your legs,” Erron cooed. “This is for your own good and safety. No one in their right mind is going to fault you for that. We do all we could do. Clay is untouchable and I took an oath to protect him. If anything, I’m the one that should be ashamed, I’m gonna fight with all I got to get this bigot out of jail and in the free world. Right now, this asshole is trying to figure out his next victim for all we know.”
I took one, long, hard sniff. “We have to think of the families.”
“Damn, Lauren. You have to think of your family first. Your kid is being pumped with information that you wanted to keep hidden from him since he was born. Right now, those rednecks are telling him the distorted version. Get your kid and get back to Washington. I’m calling my boy Tyson right now. He can get you an escort out of that shit hole,” he screamed into the phone.
I took the reprimand like a big girl. He was right, I had to get my family and get ghost.
“Don’t send the cavalry just yet. Give me till Monday to get everything square.”
Erron sighed, and if I knew him like I thought I did, his jaw was working, his eyes were closed and he was pinching the hell out of the bridge of his nose.
“Ok,” He said it as if he had been punched in the gut. “When I say this, I want you to understand. I am just allowing you to stay there. I trust you more than any other person in this world, so when you say, you are coming back, I believe
you. Just come back in one piece, please.”
My own father never demanded or allowed me to do anything, but in this instance, I didn’t snap back on him. I took it as love.
“I trust you and I thank you for trusting me. Let me get my act together and I will call you when this ship set sails, okay?”
“Okay.”
“I’ll be fine,” I said, trying to convince myself.
“You’re not fine, and you won’t be, until you get back here.”
I waited for him to say good-bye or more words of encouragement, such as ‘run like hell’.
He held on the line.
“Did you ever think that we would be right here right now? I mean you in Georgia, me in Seattle, and Madison…well, where ever the hell she is at?”
“Recently, yes I have, now that everything has reared its ugly head. But before, not so much. Thought we all would be making lunch dates still. Probably having children of our own, shit like that.” I huffed and tried to brush away tears. “Everything happens for a reason, right? Plans change.”
“And, so do people.”
“True. All we can do now is just do the best we can.”
“Funny, the best that we can do is kicking us in the ass.”
I had to laugh at that. “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”
“Right now, hell is making its way up the road to the both of us. Look, get some sleep, you’re not changing a damn thing tonight. And the longer I have you on the phone, the slower it’s gonna take you to get back here.”
“Yes, sir,” I answered, rolling my eyes in sarcasm. “I’m in my pj’s now. When I get everything together, I’ll call you.”
“Good, and goodnight.”
Erron hung up the phone and I lay back in bed, unable to fall asleep just like the other nights since Anthony left. There wasn’t any doubt that I had to tell him the truth about his past. I’m an asshole for keeping this away from him for so long.
I tossed again, face down in the pillow. I guess in my defense I wanted to wait until he got a bit older.
Rolling over again, I stared straight up the ceiling. No matter how old he was, he would never understand how much I love him. Anthony would never know how much I wanted to protect him, and do nothing else out of selfish reason, other than wanting him to know that he was my son.
Maybe being a good person and doing good came back to you. Or maybe God was tired of me whining to him, but there was a knock on my door.
It was almost a shame that I had memorized every stair going down to the door and I was leaving the house in the next few days.
I swung the door open, “Mr. Leland? What are you doing here? I don’t have anything broken that you need to fix.”
His smile was lazy as he brushed past me, walking into my kitchen.
“Mr. Leland, I’m tired and I really need to get some sleep.”
He didn’t say anything while ransacking my fridge.
“You don’t have any beer?” he asked, slamming the refrigerator door, putting the both of us in complete darkness.
I slapped at the walls while searching for the light switch.
“Sorry, this isn’t a bar.”
Looking at him now, I saw that he had a completely different demeanor that he had never shown. Leland had the face of a man that was mean and tired. How the mean drunk looks seconds before he’s kicked out of the bar.
“Mr. Leland, I think you should leave now.”
Leaning against the kitchen counter, he took a long look at me.
“You sure like to wear those skimpy nightgowns, don’t ‘cha. A proper momma would cover up, knowing that she has a young man in the house, but he’s not your real son anyways, huh? You walk around teasing the boy.”
I felt punched in my stomach and smacked across my face. Was that what Anthony thought? Was that what he was telling them?
“If you can recall, Mr. Leland, every time I was called out of my bed was because of you. Now, you can go home or carry your ass across the street to insult me, but I be damned if you do it here,” I clapped back, tugging at the high hem of my short nightgown.
He continued to stare, then began tugging at the buttons of his flannel shirt.
I started to back track, if only I could make it to the door. I turned and believed in my head that I was hauling ass.
Before I knew it, I was swooped off my feet; Leland had a hand over my mouth and grip on my waist. He pressed his day old stubble into the side of my neck.
“Now what did I tell you about calling me Mr. Leland, huh?”
I kicked at his shins and bucked.
“You don’t worry, you and I are going to get real acquainted, and real soon.”
My screams were being pushed back down my throat by his heavy hand.
“Gonna get so close that I’ll have your boy calling me dad. What do you think about that?”
He never lost balance while carrying me up the stairs and into my bedroom. Hiking me up on his chest, his hand was still over my mouth.
He kicked the door closed with his boot to my bedroom. He dropped me on the bed face first. He put all of his weight on me; his hand over my mouth was overkill. I couldn’t scream if I wanted to with all the wind pushed out of my body.
“Lauren,” he whispered low in my ear. “I’m not going to hurt you. So, I’m going to remove my hand and we are going to talk. Nod if you understand me.”
I nodded and waited half a second until he removed his hand. Rolling over onto my back, I kicked him in the balls as hard as I possibly could.
Now, I was moving down the stairs while Leland held himself and groaned on the floor.
Swinging the front door open, I ran square into my son’s chest.
“Anthony, we have to go.”
Tugging on Anthony’s wrist, he pulled me back, and in a low voice whispered, “He’s telling you the truth.”
Chapter 4
Anthony was close behind me going up the stairs. Leland was pulling himself off the floor, gripping the side of my bed for support.
“You a soccer player or something? Dear God woman, if it weren’t for these heavy boots, you would’ve kicked me to the moon.”
He had finally erected himself off the floor, wincing.
“We are going to need for you to leave, and now,” I said, pointing to my bedroom door. “I am not asking you, I’m telling you to never come back here again, do you understand?”
“Lauren, please. I’m trying to protect you. You have no idea what type of danger you are in.”
“Mom. Just hear him out,” Anthony said, standing between us.
Turning to my son, I said, “Anthony, please go to your room. You and I have a lot to discuss. Mr. Leland, I hate to have to tell you again to leave my house. Now, go.”
Both of them stood there, unmoving.
“Then, I’ll go.”
Turning on my heels, I headed towards the hallway.
My elbow was pulled back before my foot hit the first step.
“You need to stay here. It’s best if we talk up here,” Leland said, removing his grip from elbow and taking my hand.
“Why?”
He exhaled, “Because the lower level of your house is bugged.”
“What!? Who in the hell bugged my house?”
“I did. The day that I bought you the take out.” By the contortion on my face, Leland took a step back. “It’s not what you think.”
“Spying on me?” Tears threatened to make an appearance, but I held on. “Just go.”
Leland was looking just as defeated as I was.
“If I walk out this door, I don’t know what will happen to you and your son.”
“I’ll take my chances.”
He turned to the side, inching his way past me.
“For your own good get out of this town.” Then, I heard my front door close.
That was the plan. I walked as slow as possible to my son’s door. This was the moment of truth. This was the conversation that I want
ed to have with him when he got a little bit older. When he could understand the sacrifice that everyone has made for him. Here goes nothing.
“Anthony, honey open the door.” I knocked.
My son stood there, his mop blonde hair all over his head. “Mom--”
“Nope. Go sit down and let me tell you some things that I should have told you years ago.” Anthony flopped on the bed and stared up at me. “Your mom and I were best friends.”
“If you don’t want to tell me, it’s okay.”
It was beyond obvious that he was uncomfortable. Add that in with the mix of shame from what he did and how he acted.
“Boy, hush,” I cleared my throat. “I need to know what they told you so I can tell you the truth.”
Anthony didn’t even want to look me in the face and I understood his shame. What was about to come out of his mouth was going to rip me apart.
“Well, when I got to the police station, that sheriff guy took me to a cell all by myself. He sat me down and started to ask me a ton of questions.”
“Like?”
“Um. Like, how well do I know you? How long have I been living with you? Do I feel safe in the house and were there a lot of men in the house? Stupid shit like that.”
I nodded and withheld my rage.
“He told me that he had information that my mom was still alive.”
I could only imagine how he felt all alone, with people that he didn’t trust. Plus, the woman that he knew as his mom he couldn’t trust either.
“I’m sorry, honey.”
He shrugged. “I was just so mad I think, about everything, not just about you and my birth mom. But being here in Planters, too. They made it sound like my mom was really sick. I guess they were trying to say that she was on drugs or something. And, you and Nana and Papa took me away from her. You would try to get a law suit against her if she tried to take me back, and that you all had evidence that she was an unfit mom. They told me that Papa gave her some money to go away. She took the money and got clean, but you still refused to let her see me.” He hunched his shoulders and slumped. “Then he gave me a pillow and a blanket. Told me to get some sleep.”
“I want to first say that the sheriff is going to burn in hell for what he said to you. Because none of it was true. Your mom was never on drugs. Barely drank at any of the college parties. You can ask anyone, I was the wild one and your mom was the good girl out of the group.”
