“I know, but let me get back to Terri. I’ll see you in a little while,” Tre said before hanging up and joining his mother for lunch.
***
Two days later Tre was seated in the waiting room of the office of probation and parole waiting for his name to be called. It almost seemed like they set appointments for every nigga in the state of Louisiana. The waiting room was so packed that a few of them were standing up against the wall or sitting on the hard tiled floor. Tre was pissed with Von for waking him up so early, but he was silently thanking him now. He was happy to have found a decent parking spot and even happier that he wasn’t one of the ones who had to stand up or sit on the concrete that they called floors. Thankfully they were moving kind of fast, but it still wasn’t fast enough for him. He spent most of his time texting back and forth with Duke. According to his boy, Mia was really doing her thing. Not only was she dealing with ole boy Ricky, but she was dealing with somebody else on her job too. Duke said that he and Brandis invited her to the movies a few days ago, and Mia had the nerve to bring the nigga along. Duke was pissed, but that was an understatement compared to how Tre was feeling. He understood that he and Mia were no longer together, but she still shouldn’t have been bringing her other men around his best friend. The disrespect from her was really at an all-time high. Tre was happy that it was a Friday so he could tell her ass off when she came over there. Terri kept telling him to give her some time to come around, but his patience with Mia was wearing thin. Kidnap and hostage were the only two words that came to mind whenever he was in her presence.
“Trevon Harris,” the young white receptionists called out over the intercom shaking Tre from his devious thoughts.
He stood up and walked over to the door that he had to be buzzed through and walked down the hall. Once he got to the back, he headed in the direction of Mr. Singleton’s office. His probation officer was long winded, and he was praying that he didn’t want to talk all day. Aside from his love of classic cars and sports, they really didn’t discuss anything else. He seemed like a boring man who looked forward to any time he had company in his presence. Taking a deep breath, Tre knocked on the partially opened door and waited to be invited in.
“Come in,” a soft female voice called out. Tre never remembered Mr. Singleton having a secretary, but so much had changed since he’s last been to the office he really didn’t know. He’d seen quite a few new faces from the time that he first arrived.
“I’m here to see Mr. Singleton,” Tre said while looking around the office. He immediately noticed that all the sports paraphernalia and car figurines that were on the desk were gone. They’d been replaced with colorful flower arrangements and posters of black women of power instead.
“Have a seat, Mr. Harris,” she requested. Tre did what he was told before she started speaking again.
“Unfortunately Mr. Singleton is no longer with the company. My name is Mrs. Joseph, and I’ll be taking over his duties from here on out,” she replied making his heart do flip flops in his chest. The calming scent of jasmine and vanilla that filled the room did nothing to settle Tre’s nerves. He was hoping that the purpose of the meeting was for Mrs. Joseph to introduce herself, but he had a bad feeling about it.
“Okay,” he said looking at her waiting for her to continue.
“They replaced half of the staff here, so us new officers are trying to get acquainted with our clients. That was my reason for requesting to see you. Your payments are up to date, but you haven’t been here for almost a year. I don’t know about the other officers, but I like to see my people at least once a month. Since it’s been so long I’ll also need you to do a drug test and update your information for my files,” she said while standing to her feet.
When she walked to the closet and got a cup for him to urinate in Tre saw his freedom flashing right before his very eyes. He hated that London’s garbage ass pussy would be the last sexual encounter that he remembered before being locked up. He wanted to forget that anything between the two of them ever transpired. When Von read the letter to him, he failed to mention that he would be seeing a new probation, officer. He probably didn’t think it was a big deal, but it was huge to Tre. Being hard headed as usual, he kept smoking despite his loved one’s many warnings. As crazy as it might sound he was more worried about how Von would feel than he was about being in violation of his probation. Staying out of trouble wasn’t much to ask for, but that was all that Von had ever asked of him. Sadly, he couldn’t even get that right. Although Tre already knew what the results would be, he took the cup from Mrs. Joseph and went to the bathroom to fill it up.
***
Von sat in his living room listening to Tanya as she went on and on about everything that he was doing wrong. It took him forever to get her to talk to him, so he was just happy to hear her voice. She didn’t want to come over, but she finally answered the phone when he called her. He was waiting for Tre to come home from seeing his probation officer when he decided to give her another call.
“I’m not dumb enough to think that I’m the only woman that you’re dealing with, but that bitch goes too far. She just pops up at your house uninvited and shit like she got it like that,” Tanya fussed.
“I know that baby, but why are you getting mad at me? I wasn’t even home,” Von replied.
“Yeah, but you still need to put her in her place. I’m sure this isn’t her first time doing something like that, is it?” Tanya questioned.
“No,” Von answered honestly.
“That’s my point. She’s lucky I’m not an ignorant bitch or I would have dragged her ass up and down your driveway.”
“I apologize for that, but you’ve been ignoring me like I did something wrong.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong, but I was pissed about how everything went down. If this is what I have to look forward to when we make things official then maybe I need to remain single.”
“You know damn well that nothing like that would have happened if we were in a relationship. We both deal with other people and we’re both aware of that. Now Cheryl was wrong for just showing up unannounced and I’ll be sure to let her know not to do it again. But we need to sit down and have a serious talk about what we’re going to do about us.”
“I’m busy for the next few weeks, so I don’t know when I’ll have time,” Tanya said still clearly upset.
“Okay, well I’ll call you back later. Tank just walked in and I need to talk to him about something,” Von said when his son walked into the room.
He got off of the phone with Tanya and prepared to hear whatever his son was about to say. Just from the somber look on his face he knew that the news wasn’t good. When Tre sat down next to him and dropped his head, Von was dreading whatever it was that he was about to hear.
C hapter 6
Friday afternoon found Mia knee deep in laundry and housework that Moonie failed to complete. She started out fine in the beginning, but her old ways began to resurface soon after. Thankfully Mia had a half day at school or she wouldn’t have been finished until the following day. She was supposed to be going to the mall with Brandis, but that didn’t look possible at the moment. Her siblings came home from school expecting to go outside, but Mia put them to work instead. Moonie was nowhere to be found as usual and Mia was livid. Moonie didn’t even know that she had a half day, so she was probably depending on Tootie to keep an eye on the other kids until she returned. Mia hated to say it, but she already saw the pattern. Moonie was grooming Tootie to do the same things that she was doing now. Mia really didn’t have a normal childhood growing up and she refused to let Moonie do the same thing to her baby sister. Mia used to be so busy watching her siblings for Moonie to go out, she’d missed out on a lot of things that she wanted to do with her friends.
“Hey Brandis,” Mia said answering the phone for her girl.
She hated to let her friend down, but there was no way in hell that she could go anywhere with two more loads of laundry to be done. The
house was spotless because she made the others kids clean up before eventually letting them go outside. All of them except for Anika of course. Her teacher had called Mia’s phone when she was at work the previous day. Moonie never answered her phone, so Mia was next on the list. Just like the year before, Anika was being disrespectful and wouldn’t listen to what she was being told to do. As a result, Mia punished her and had her inside with her.
“Hey girl, are you ready to head out?” Brandis asked. She had Duke’s car, so she agreed to drive them around today.
“I was supposed to call you earlier, but it slipped my mind. I’ll have to take a rain check on the mall. Moonie is not home, and I’m trying to finish washing all of these clothes,” Mia huffed.
“Are you still going by Von tonight?” Brandis asked.
“As soon as I’m done washing I’m going over there. We can shop tomorrow if you want to.”
“Okay, I’ll just probably chill with Duke until later. My grandmother is at our house, so I don’t have to babysit. I know I can‘t spend the night by Von, but we’ll come through for a little while.”
“I wish you would come through by yourself. I’m still not speaking to your man after he went off on me.”
Mia had gotten off from work a few hours early on Thursday and Brandis invited her to the movies. Chad’s girlfriend had his car, so Mia offered to give him a ride home. When he found out that she was meeting some friends at the movies he asked if he could tag along since he didn’t have anything else to do. Mia didn’t think it was a problem and Chad’s girlfriend was cool with it too. It wasn’t until they got to the movies that the problem arose when Duke pulled her to the side and started fussing. He never gave Mia a chance to explain who Chad was. It wasn’t until they left that Brandis told him what was up. He sent her an apology via text message later on that night, but Mia never responded. She was sure he’d already told Tre about what happened, but she really didn’t care.
“He said he was sorry a million times Mia. You know how Duke feels about Tank. He looks at him like the brother he’s never had. You should have known that he was going to be pissed about you inviting another man to the movies with us. He didn’t know that y’all were just friends,” Brandis said coming to her man’s defense.
“He didn’t bother to ask either. He just pulled me to the side and went off. Tre and I are not together anymore, but I still wouldn’t put Duke in an uncomfortable situation like that.”
“I know you wouldn’t,” Brandis agreed. “I just want y’all to kiss and make up. He’s been trying, but your ass is too stubborn.”
“I hope you’re on the pill or something because Duke must really be putting it down on you. That nigga got you taking up for him and everything,” Mia joked.
“Girl shut up,” Brandis laughed. “But I really need to be trying to get on something before I get caught up. You know I’m not asking my mama to bring me to get anything.”
“Girl I have almost four months’ worth of birth control pills over here that you can have. I’ve been getting them filled, but I don’t need them. My cookie jar is closed and sealed tight.”
“Can I take them even though they’re prescribed for you?” Brandis asked.
“I don’t see why not. They’ll probably give you the same ones if you go to the clinic.
“Will it make my menstrual cycle irregular?”
“They didn’t do anything to me, and I’ve never missed a cycle. I’m still regular, and I didn’t have any complications. I’ll put them in my purse and give them to you when you come to Von’s house,” Mia offered.
“Okay, well I’ll see you later. Call me when you get over there,” Brandis said before they hung up.
Mia heard the dryer buzz letting her know that her clothes were dry and ready to be folded. After putting another load to wash and a new load to dry, she was happy that her work was almost done. One more load and she could relax for the rest of the day. She also had to make sure Moonie was home before she went anywhere. Tootie was only twelve years old and she wasn’t about to leave her at home alone with the rest of the kids while Moonie ran the streets. Once Mia folded the towels and put them away she headed back into the living room to watch TV with Anika. When she saw that Anika wasn’t in her usual spot on the sofa she went into the kitchen in search of the busy body.
“Anika what are you doing?” Mia yelled making her little sister jump.
“I’m trying to fix me some ice cream,” Anika replied.
Mia shook her head as she looked at yet another mess that she would have to clean up. Anika had a chair pulled up to the freezer with a spoon scooping ice cream right from the bucket. Mia took the container out and finished the task before sending Anika on her way with her snack. After she cleaned up the mess she went to the living room and sat next to her sister on the sofa.
“The next time you want something ask me so I can get it for you. You made a big mess in the kitchen that I had to clean up,” Mia scolded.
“Okay, but Moonie said that I can start doing stuff for myself. She said that all of us have to start helping you out more so you don’t have a lot to do when the new baby comes,” Anika said making Mia’s pressure rise to the limit. She just prayed that Anika was mistaken, but she decided to ask her again just for clarification.
“What new baby?” Mia asked although she was dreading the answer. Moonie couldn’t have possibly been dumb enough to have another baby when she was barely there for the ones that she already had.
“Moonie is having a new baby. She said in six more months I won’t be the baby anymore,” Anika said obviously repeating what she’d heard.
Mia was livid to the point that her hand started to shake. She basically played mama to her younger siblings and Moonie had the nerve to bring yet another baby into the equation. She didn’t even have enough decency to tell her about, but it seemed that everyone else knew. Mia couldn’t wait to confront her about the not so good news that she’d just received. She sent her a text telling her that she would be leaving to go by Von soon and she needed to get home to be with the kids. A few minutes later Moonie sent her a text letting her know that she was on her way.
Since it was getting dark Mia and Anika locked up went in search of the other kids. Once they got them all inside Mia finished washing while they took their baths and ate the pizza that she ordered for them. Moonie claimed she was on her way over an hour ago, but she had yet to show up. After making sure her siblings were comfortable in their rooms, Mia went to her own room and packed two duffel bags worth of clothes. She had a few things at Von’s house, but she needed more seeing as how she planned to stay a little longer this time around. She didn’t give a damn about Tre being there, she just had to get away from Moonie for a while. She was disgusted with her and she knew she wouldn’t be able to stand the sight of her at the moment. Mia finished packing her items right as she heard her mother’s keys opening the front door. Her first mind told her to meet her in the living room and go off, but she decided to wait until she came to her. It didn’t take long for that to happen because Moonie was knocking at her bedroom door a few minutes later. Mia opened the door and resisted the urge to slam it right back in her mother’s smiling face.
“Sorry I’m late. I was in the middle of a card game when you called me,” Moonie said further pissing Mia off. She smelled of alcohol and stale cigarettes making Mia turn up her nose in disgust.
“Aside from cleaning this house from top to bottom, I had to wash five loads of clothes that were piled up in the laundry room. It’s not enough that I have to work and go to school, but I have to come home and still take care of your kids and do housework. Then you got Tootie watching the kids while you run the streets. Anything can happen with them being home by themselves. She’s only twelve years old,” Mia complained.
She couldn’t help, but look down at Moonie’s stomach, but it looked no different than it usually did to her. Moonie followed her line of vision and shifted uncomfortably.
“St
op talking to me like you’re my mother instead of the other way around,” Moonie had the audacity to say. “Tootie watched them one time and she’s acting like it’s a big deal. And you didn’t have to do anything in here. I planned to do all of that this weekend.”
“I guess you were waiting until this weekend to tell me that you’re pregnant again too,” Mia snapped angrily. “And don’t try to tell me shit about being a mother because you wouldn’t know anything about it.”
“I was going to tell you, but you’re never really home. I wasn’t even going to have the baby, but Dalvin found out and he didn’t want me to get an abortion,” Moonie said starting up with her crocodile tears.
“Why should he care if you have the baby or not? It’s probably not his anyway. I can’t do this anymore Moonie. I damn near raised your other kids when I was just a kid myself. I’m not doing it with another baby. You don’t do right by the ones you have and you want to bring another one into this madness. Jabari was right, you don’t give a fuck about nobody, but yourself,” Mia cried as she grabbed her bags.
She hated to talk to her mother that way, but she was fed up. She really felt bad when she opened her bedroom door and saw Tootie standing there with tears streaming down her face.
“Don’t leave Mia,” her sister cried breaking her heart.
She probably knew that most of the work would be on her once Mia left and that was probably the reason for her tears. Mia didn’t plan on leaving forever; she just needed a few days away from the source of her anger. Moonie was standing there crying, but Mia didn’t feel any sympathy for her. She was always bringing some kind of drama on herself. She was about to have a baby and she wasn’t even sure who the father was. Dalvin was a damn fool if he thought he was the only one that Moonie was dealing with. Mitch was at the house damn near more than he was.
“I’m coming back Tootie, I promise. I just need to get away for a few days. I’ll pick you and Anika up tomorrow to go to the mall with me,” Mia promised her. “Go back to your room and I’ll call you later.”
Creepin' 2: A New Orleans Love Story Page 6
