Everyone else were shuffling down the hall with their arms and hands full, all except Sylvia. Mundo was frowning, grumpy from loss of sleep and loaded down with bags galore and noticed this saying, "Mama can't you carry somethin'?"
"She is carrying something, my son!" Shawn answered for her, "Get moving young man, that'll teach you to stay out late, drinking and partying. You guys knew the agenda for this morning, I don't wanna hear any moanin' and groanin'!"
Sylvia grinned at her son as he shuffled along wanting nothing more than to get back to bed and to sleep. Benjamin was alongside him, loaded down just as much until Angela came around the corner, with the big luggage caddy, taking sympathy on them, they both rushed to get their load on so they wouldn't have to carry it to the lobby. Crystal laughed at them both, carrying Darren on her hip. Shawn had Isaac on his hip.
"Careful with them bags boys! Camera's, laptops, Gameboys, perfume! Break any of it, Papah-Shawn gone slap you upside the head." Cystal taunted then both. The two of them had bloodshot eyes, barely putting one foot in front of the other; stumbling to get the cart loaded.
"Will you just look at them? Both of you, just pitiful! Wait a minute here! Look at what you're doing!" Angela fussed and directed them, making Sylvia and Crystal both crack up.
"Tell'em baby." Sylvia laughed.
"No sympathy here! Dad told you - you both knew! Didn't you? A man's world! Ha! Not! That's what we let you think! And if you all don't get your act together, we gone take it from you, for it's too late!" She fussed with her hands on his little hips, head going from side to side, sounding and looking like Sylvia when fussing.
Sylvia laughed so hard at her, she staggered, waving her quiet, "Baby be gentle, they're not men yet, they tryin', so you have to be careful, they delicate. Come on, don't give it all away!"
"Ha ha ha! Don't get no thump upside the head lil'o'girl! You better be glad I can't see!" Mundo mumbled back, his viewing ability down to seeing through slit openings.
Benjamin was too gone to care what was said, he just wanted to get somewhere and crash, anywhere, didn't matter to him where. He'd drank way beyond what he should and the hangover was kicking his tail.
Shawn eyed his wife and then his daughter, then the equally laughing Crystal shaking his head, "Little girl." He addressed Angela; she looked up at him grinning, "Pipe down and leave them alone and get Isaac, so I can help them stack the luggage. You women head on down and look for the shuttle bus." He directed so he could help Mundo and Benjamin load the cart with all the luggage. There was no way it would hold it all if not stacked right. They would still have to carry some anyway.
Once the shuttle bus arrived, they loaded it up, climbed in and immediately Benjamin and Mundo were slumping in their seats trying to get some sleep. A futile effort because Crystal and Angela were bothering them from behind, "Ma! Tell them to gon'now! Always got to be botherin' somebody!" Mundo fussed. Again, Benjamin didn't care what they did to him, the need to sleep was more powerful than anything they could think to do to him.
"Crystal and Angela!" Sylvia called from the seat she shared with Shawn, across from them, trying to maintain a serious face, which wasn't easy.
"Yes ma'am?" They both answered, so softly, so innocently, that to hear them, made Benjamin chuckle and shake his head, still laying slumped, eyes shut, a crooked smile. "Yes ma'am." He mimicked teasing.
Making Shawn and Mundo laugh, "Lies and subterfuge, ya'll ain't foolin' nobody. Yes ma'am." Mundo joined Benjamin, grinning, smacking his mouth, trying to get comfortable next to him, leaning against his window.
"It's going to be a long trip, please save it until you just can't help yo'self."
"They can't help they'self now! There was some hope for Angela, but she be 'round Crystal so much, the chile doomed! Ruined, dad I'm tellin' you, check ha' fo' it's too late!"
"Shet up and go to sleep Negro!" Crystal taunted back.
"Hey! Lil'mo!" Shawn corrected.
"What?! I could've called him something worse! What's wrong with Negro?"
Shawn gave her a knowing look that sent her into giggles like a little mischievous brat. "Behave yourself." He reprimanded, smiling, trying not to laugh.
"Yeah right! It's too late for that now, she'on even know the meaning of the word, might as well save your breath." Again Mundo.
"I ain't the one laying up here, can't see. Can't sit up, can't half walk! I was back, at a decent hour, like, my papah-Shawn instructed. So therefore, do as I said, lay your butt there, shet yo'mouth and leave me alone. 'Cause I will talk about you. Don't make me talk about you, embarrass you in front of Benjamin."
"Mama! Tell her leave me alone!" Mundo fussed.
Benjamin was laying there laughing, eyes closed, listening to them around him. Completely aware of her presence behind him and for some weird reason, he was comforted by the knowledge that she was back there. He couldn't explain why. Each day spent in her presence, he felt some how privileged to get this unobstructed view of her, of them all. This entire family that he was enjoying being a part of more and more. Each one was funny in their own way and fit so perfectly together. Now he could see, first hand, what his grandmother had always been talking about. The wonder and beauty of being in a world where everyone was different and yet, all the same. Though to them all he appeared to be dozing off, he was far from it. In fact, his senses were alive and stimulated more than ever by what was happening around him. He knew that it was because he was in the midst of something different, new. Living as he had, while he'd been growing up, there had been only one, maybe two black acquaintances here and there, but never an association to the extent that he did now. The most that he'd absorbed or been exposed to with African Americans was from hearing his grandmother's point of view on them, as she never failed to bring it to their attention that no matter from how far back it ran, they all had African American blood flowing within their DNA. To look at his brother, Kevin, their father, Jake, their uncle Derrick, Kathy Ann and Shanna, you couldn't see a trace of it. Yet, in himself, he was aware of its existence because so few in the family tanned as dark as he did, except for his cousins; Luis and Marcus. Difference in them, they had a Puerto Rican mother. Not him, his mother was white and even so, the three of them easily matched in tans during the summer. Marcus in fact was so dark right now, that it had been easy to pull off that lie about Crystal being his sister. Just like them, Luis and Marcus, he never burned, never needed any tanning assistance and everyone who saw him dance, who saw the way he moved, teased him that he'd definitely reached back for that bucket of rhythm in the DNA pool. Besides being totally engrossed in Spanish music and the language he'd also been ethnically influenced by watching Fresh Prince, The Cosby's and Martin Lawrence show. Now, slumping where he was, in the midst of this family where half of it was black, he felt right at home, hearing Sylvia mother them all and reprimanding the vision behind him.
"Crystal! Leave - him - alone now. You all are not, gonna get on my nerves. Let that boy go to sleep."
"Go on..." She shoved his head off his hand, "... to sleep then!" Crystal snickered.
Mundo sat up, "Mama you see what she did?! You see what she did? And ya'll sittin' up in here, willing to let her raise some children! She need to grow up first herself!"
Shawn gave Crystal the look again, spoiled by his fight not to grin, she sat back in her seat, that naughty brat look was back, giggling and having herself a good time. The joy that infused her pretty face, made it glow and filled Shawn's heart, all he could do was smile. "Come on Lil'mo, be my sweety and let your brother sleep."
"I know what her problem is, she left her jacket at the hotel! You know which one I'm talking about, that white one with the floppy long sleeves? It got all them buckles and ties on it; ya'll know which one I'm talkin'bout! The one that wrap around you a few times ... yeah, we all gone be sorry for lettin' her leave that."
Angela was laughing so hard in the back seat next to Crystal she couldn't sit still, tears rolling from her eyes as
she giggled, holding her stomach from the muscle spasm it caused, even Crystal was laughing at that one. "Forget you fool!" Crystal simpered.
"Don't worry, we'ah get you a few in California..." He promised laying back down, "... I hear they come in all colors, that way they match what you wearing, so yo' crazy ass be in fashion."
When the shuttle bus pulled away, they were all laughing uncontrollably, because once Mundo was on a roll, there was no stopping him.
Chapter 222
At Derrick's he rose that morning not feeling quite himself. Down in the kitchen, he arrived to find his wife standing with his sister, who looked like she was preparing herself to leave, which prompted him to ask, "You going somewhere?"
"As a matter of fact she is! I'm trying to talk her out of it. Please tell her she doesn't have to leave!" Meribel addressed the matter right away.
"She knows that, don't you?" He walked to the counter, pouring himself a cup of coffee.
"Do I? The way you were talking last night, I thought the sooner you saw the back o'me the better."
"I, in no shape form or fashion, said any such thing to you. That's coming from your own stored up defense mechanisms, anything you can't face, you fight or take flight!"
"You know what, I don't need this!" She reached down for her duffel bag.
"See, take flight."
"Derrick! You're supposed to be talking her out of going!" Meribel argued.
"Talking her out of going is not what she needs, to face certain facts about herself and her life is what she needs!"
"Who are you to tell me what I need to do or face in my life!? Since when did you become my God, my father?" Kathy Ann ranted.
Ignoring that Derrick turned from the counter with his cup of steaming coffee in his hand, to ask her, "You going home? If not, where you going?"
"As you know, there's nothing at home for me to go to."
"You have a daughter still there."
"No I don't, she's moved in with the freak."
"And for that reason alone, she still needs you."
"For what? She's 16 years old with all the answers! There's not a thing I can say to her that I don't get the old, "Mom I know! I don't need you to tell me that! I know what I'm doing, this is my life!" I don't need to hear that shit! Since she knows so damn much, why the hell should I frustrate myself over someone who has all the goddamn answers? 16, pregnant and marrying one of the Thompson Twins, sounds like a plan to me! I'm leaving her to it!"
"You know what Kathy Ann, you're going to look back on all of this one day and regret it. At some point, at some time down this road you keep using, to run from your life and the truth in it, you're going to see it, when it's too late to make amends. I'm not gonna stop you, plead with you, because you need to hurry up and get to that point, so you can get your ass back here and at least try to make it right. You got enough money on you?"
Meribel's face showed her disappointment in him for not stopping her.
"Well ... no. In fact, I'm uh, broke."
"Oh you're going far, you are!" He shot shaking his head.
"You gonna give me some money or not?" She asked grudgingly, having little choice.
"Of course I am. I can only take so much from the Tyme machine, once you get where you're going, I'll wire you some more."
"I'll pay you back, I'll get a job and send you a little at a time."
"Sure Kathy Ann."
"I will! I'll pay you back! But I'm not staying here when I know you don't like me."
He glanced up, looking her in the eyes, "I love you though." Yet, shaking his head, "But no, I don't like you. Not like this. Not running off this way, turning your back on your family. Leaving the rest of us, I don't like this part of you at all. Doesn't change that you're still my little sister, I won't stand by and see you without. Give me a moment to shower and change, I have to get Marcus from the hotel in another hour."
"I thought you told him he had to come back last night?"
"He called at two asking could he stay by the hotel with Mundo and Benjamin, I said yeah. I could tell already he'd been drinking. Made them take a cab back to the hotel instead of driving. So we have to swing by and pick up his car as well."
"No telling what he was up to last night!" Meribel grumbled.
"He's 17 years old you guys, you can't keep him under your thumb forever." Kathy Ann pointed out. "Jake was a father by then, and look at Jenny Lee!"
Simultaneously they both stated, "Exactly!"
"You think by being strict you guys are stopping him from doing things? Well you're not. You're just making him good at hiding what he does."
"That may be true dear sister, however, at some point, just as you will look back one day and learn from your mistakes, so will he. He will also look back and know, that his parents, gave a damn. Unlike you seem to. Because whatever his life turns out to be, if that is, screwed up; he'll never be able to blame us for it. Your kids on the other hand, we shall see."
Having heard enough, she asked, "Can we please go get the money now, that way I can be on my way."
"Yes, I think it's a good idea." Derrick agreed, and turned to his wife, "The numbers right there, call the hotel, room 210, wake Marcus up and tell him I'm on my way."
Chicago, Sunday Afternoon...
Vivian stood with her guts cramping and her system in waves of upset. She was standing by watching as her life was being taken over by this man who never wasted time when an opportunity presented itself to seize control, giving him the means to completely take over her life. She knew it wasn't just her imagination and she was beginning to feel and see what Sylvia sometimes felt and talked to her about. Jake was all consuming. Was Shawn too this way, all consuming? Taking such full and complete control that Sylvia felt she couldn't breathe? The feeling was becoming familiar, because right now, Vivian was fighting to breathe, struggling to cope with the rapid activity of him running roughshod and ahead to put her in place where he wanted her.
All because Laek Chan said he knew where she lived. Well he knew before as well! Vivian didn't see a reason to press the panic button. Which of course she tried to point out to him earlier when they woke, before his parents had arrived. He wouldn't hear it, he also laid into her the fact that whether she liked it or not, she had a sister she couldn't trust. Who just might set it up for her home to be broken into and things stolen to be sold for drugs. He didn't want to hear a thing she had to say. His ultimatums had been issued and repeated again that morning. She didn't like it, but he took off for boxes and told her point blank, "Start clearing the kitchen cabinets! Decide what you want to take to the other place and what will be packed away for storing with your furniture. I'll be back with boxes."
"But Jake, where in the world are we going to find someplace on short notice and on a Sunday to store all my stuff?"
He'd been heading out the door and answered, "I'll be back with boxes, don't worry about the rest."
Well, here she was, watching her things get carried out because his family had arrived like the cavalry, in to save the day. One thing about the McPherson's she was learning, they were indeed, one for all, all for one. No matter how they squabbled and fought amongst themselves, if one called, there were always enough of them left around to come charging to the rescue. She also wondered, was it just her, or were white people always ready to move at a moments notice with the "Equipment" at hand to get the job done? Black folks and others had to rely on Uhaul, or they made several trips with their beds and furniture on top of their vehicles, or most things were left behind. Not so with white folks she was thinking, they seemed to just have on hand a large trailer for just in case. An enclosed storage trailer, just in case. A couple of trucks around with hitches, just in case.
"Carerful! Oh please be careful with that!" She cried out and groaned. She couldn't believe it, she was moving, again. She'd barely gotten over the stress caused by Meribel's cousins moving her, seeing how they handled her things. Various pieces of furniture, like her French Sty
le, Bergere Louis XV sofa and chair. Both had dents on the legs, and her dinning room buffet, also French Style, Bergere Louis XV; while no, they weren't the originals, but they were stunning copies. Heavy, solid and made of pure walnut oak, each piece costing her a great deal. It was banged on the side. Now she watched, grimaced and ached to see, Jake, Kevin, Paul and Dennis heft her things up, with mighty grunts and curses, and out through the door.
"My goodness girl, you've got some kind of taste in furniture and you're marrying that son of mine? With stuff like this?" Gert shook her head grinning as she, Sheila & Vivian stood by watching. Everything that was going into storage, was being loaded up first. The rest of it that was going to the other place, would go on last, that is, whatever wouldn't fit on the back of the trucks and in Kevin's car and trunk.
Sheila was laughing and shaking her head, "Mama Gert, she barely let me sit on her furniture-..."
"Sheila you need to stop! When have I said anything to you about sitting on my furniture?" Vivian replied.
"It's not so much what you would say, as to the look on your face, scared somebody gone stain her upholstery, I told her to get plastic covers."
"I don't want no plastic covers all over my stuff! How you gonna enjoy the furniture with plastic all over it? Sticking to your skin."
"Em hm, say what you want, but she gone have his end sittin' on the floor!" Sheila went on to joke. Her way of dealing with this sudden new event. She couldn't believe it when Jake came by their place that morning telling them what was going on and his fears for her while he was in Wisconsin; asking them for help with the packing. Sheila had wanted to offer a place for Vivian in her home, but she wouldn't stay there, Vivian liked being in her own place to do her own thing. Slowly but surely, just like Sylvia ended up moving away and losing touch for a spell, she felt here was another close friend soon to be gone.
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