“How is it so far?”
“Babe, it’s good. From what they showed me it’s not hard at all. And Reef said I can get overtime when I’m done training. And you know that is time and a half. He said I could jump on as many shifts as I want to. So you know I’m going to tear that OT up. And don’t worry, baby, my first check, I’m going to give it all to you. I don’t know how much it is going to be, but pay the bills and keep whatever is left. I want you to get you and the kids something. Jewel was telling me she wants this Barbie doll. It’s quiet—where are they at anyway? Is Shareef still there?”
“They are all downstairs playing. I’m going to call Angel in a little bit to come and get him. He’s fine, I’m just happy for you.”
“Babe, I’m so happy this came through for us. I love you. I have to get back to work.”
“Okay, babe. I love you too. Congratulations.”
I went downstairs, and I caught Little Shareef pulling on my daughter’s hair.
“Shareef, you can’t pull her hair!”
“She hit me.”
“Even if she hit you, you can’t pull her hair. You have to come and tell me, because you are way bigger than her and can hurt her, okay?”
I had three children, and most of the time when I’m not working, I was home, but that didn’t mean I wanted to watch Little Shareef. Like what the hell? Where did they get off just leaving him with me every weekend. I told Rell it was okay, but really I don’t want his bad ass over here anymore.
“Okay, Shareef and Nasir, clean this room. And get all y’all’s stuff, Shareef. I’m taking you home.” I called Angel to let her know I was about to bring Little Shareef home.
“We not there yet. As soon as we get back around there, I’ll call you,” she said.
“Okay.” I wasn’t going to get a break, but at least my baby had a job. I walked in the kitchen and started dinner. I pulled out some chicken wings. I was going to fry them and make some yellow Goya rice and cabbage.
“Mom, somebody at the door!” Nasir screamed out. I hoped it was Angel coming early. I peeped out the blinds and saw Kenneth. I wasn’t sure what he wanted. He didn’t appear to be angry, but I still wasn’t sure if I should call the cops or run. I backed away from the blinds and I heard him yell “I just wanted to talk to you.” What could he possibly want to talk about now. I opened the door slightly to find out.
“Hey, what do you need?”
“I just want to talk to you for a moment. Can I talk to you right quick?”
I came out the door, and Kenneth began speaking. “Look, I can tell you’re happy now, and I just want to be there for my daughter, nothing else. I didn’t want to do all that stuff to you. Syreeta just was all in my ear, telling me this and that, but I shouldn’t have put you through it, and I don’t want to go through this anymore.”
“Well, that’s in the past and I’m sure we can work out something so you can get her sometime. Just call my phone—the number is the same.”
“Okay, I probably call you the weekend. But do you think I can see her for a few minutes now?”
“Yeah, let me get her dressed and I’ll bring her out to you.”
I carried Kori to his car. Before I could tap on the window, he was already out attacking me and Kori with a tight hug. He squeezed us so hard Kori started crying.
“Kenneth what are you doing? Get off of me.”
“I’m sorry about everything that happened between us, and I wish things might have turned out differently, Crystal. I shouldn’t have done what I did and I fucked up. You’re my woman—this is my daughter and those are my kids.” I kept trying to get away from him, but he wouldn’t let me go.
“You know I was going to marry you, right? I just never got the chance.”
“Oh, you were? Before or after the paternity test? Get off of me, Kenneth.” Just as he released me, Shareef and Angel pulled up. I spoke to them both, and Angel got out to collect her child.
“Shareef ready?” she asked, looking over at Kenneth.
“Yup,” I said.
“Now, you know we will take yours next weekend. We can have, like, a babysitting club,” Angel replied.
“Okay. Sounds like a plan. Let me get Shareef.”
I fetched Little Shareef, they climbed in the car, hit the horn twice, and pulled off. I was still standing with Kenneth. I asked him to leave and that he could have Kori the weekend.
Dinner was ready, and the kids were asleep. I couldn’t wait for Rell to come in and tell me more about his first day at work. While I waited for him, I put some makeup on and added a few curls to my hair. I wanted him to always come home to a put-together wife.
My mom used to always put her perfume and her makeup on and be waiting by the door for my dad. We would all run up to him and hug him when he came in. I wanted to do the same for my husband. I heard Rell come through the door. I rushed downstairs to greet him.
“Baby, dinner is ready. You want to get in the shower while I warm up your food?”
“I’m actually going to take a long bath. My back hurts a little.”
Rell spent an hour in the tub. I opened the bathroom door and sat on the side of the tub. I took the hot washcloth and wiped it along his back and neck, letting the warm water drip.
“Your body hurt, babe? So how was your first day?”
“I don’t really feel like talking right now. Excuse me,” he said as he reached for a towel.
“What’s wrong?” I said when I met him in the bedroom, bewildered about why was he acting like he was mad about something.
“Crystal, I could have sworn I just told you not to have that dude up in this house. Why was he here again?” he asked, very jealous.
“What are you talking about, Kenneth? He wasn’t in this house. He showed up at the door and asked for Kori. And I brought her out to him.”
“So why was y’all hugging, and why did you jump when you saw Shareef ’s car?”
I didn’t see what the big deal was, but now I guessed it did look suspicious. “That’s not what happened. He was just trying to see Kori, and he said sorry to me.”
“I don’t understand why he has to keep coming here. Doesn’t he have his own place?”
“Yes . . . Well, he lives with his sister. but I don’t see what the big deal is.”
“The big deal is we have to set limits for this dude and all your baby fathers. You think each time one of your baby fathers decides to come around, they can just pop up? Jewel’s dad be home in a few years. Or what about when Nasir’s dad starts playing his part? They all can just walk in and out of this house freely?”
“No, they can’t, and I can’t believe you are going there. I just don’t really trust Kenneth with her for long periods of time.”
“Well, maybe you should have thought about that, before you had a baby with him. Forget it. I just don’t want to see him around here anymore. You figure out how you are going to handle it. Just don’t bring it my way.”
CHAPTER 41
Yvette
You never knew what to expect when delivering packages; every day it was something new and crazy. There were so many holiday shipments. That kept us busy and made the day go by fast. I’d seen some interesting things happen on this job. Who knew that people sent drugs through the mail? Last week this man shipped two pounds of weed and got busted when he signed his name. The police were waiting for him. I didn’t even know I was part of a sting operation and they were watching me make my delivery. Then there were so many crooked people in the world: neighbors signing for packages and then telling their neighbor it never came. And between the fraud and the drug bust, we had the bad kids throwing rocks at us. But the job was not all bad, because since I’d been jumping on and off this work truck, going up steps, and lifting boxes, I’d gone down a size.
Even though it was not the best job, I thought just leaving the house every day was so refreshing. I’d been so busy, I hadn’t even thought about Phil. When I got enough money, I was going to hire an attor
ney. I didn’t forget about my money, but I wasn’t letting it run my life anymore.
Kirk and I had a delivery of nine big boxes to Lena’s Soul Food on Germantown Avenue, and there weren’t any available parking spaces. Kirk double-parked, blocking the narrow, heavily trafficked street. I raised the door, stacked the packages on a dolly, and pushed them into the dimly lit restaurant. Inside were about a dozen prelunch customers scattered throughout the establishment. I walked over to the hostess’s desk.
“I have packages for Mr. William Nelson.”
The thin hostess told me she would be right back to get the owner to sign for the delivery. An older, well-dressed man came out from the back.
“I need your signature here, sir.”
“Oh, these are my new light fixtures I’ve been waiting for, now?” he said as he instructed the hostess to count the boxes. Then he attempted to lift one of the boxes up and then placed it back down. “Wow, these are heavy. I can’t believe they got women lifting these big boxes now? Do you know how many boxes I am supposed to have?”
“You have nine boxes and, yes, they do have us ladies lifting boxes and stuff now and, by the way, did you know we can vote now, too?”
He laughed and said, “I should have eleven boxes, miss.”
I looked down and realized two boxes were missing, and he was right. “I see that; I’ll be back. Let me go to the truck and check.”
I went back out to the truck and told Kirk we were missing boxes. He got off his ass and located them all the way in the rear. I walked back in with the two packages, and the hostess said the owner would be right back out. I looked down at my watch—it was time to go and he needed to hurry up.
“So have you ever ate here before?” the hostess asked as she wiped off menus. I told her no. I wasn’t with the small talk; I was just trying to get to the next delivery. “You should come here for lunch one day. We have really good food.”
“Yeah, maybe one day I’ll try it. Uhm, do you know how much longer it will be?”
“I’ll go check for you.”
Ten more minutes passed, and I was still waiting for a signature. The owner came back out, carrying two hot plates of food, and told me he would be right with me. He delivered the food to a table and then said, “Where do you need me to sign, pretty lady?”
“Right here would be good.”
“I’m so sorry for having you wait. But come check us out sometime. On Wednesdays we have a live band and fifty-cent buffalo shrimps and wings. Take a menu.”
“Okay, I will.”
I finally made it back to the truck.
“What took you so long? You know we got all these other deliveries, and your phone keeps ringing,” Kirk grouched.
“The owner had me waiting for his signature.”
Kirk cranked the diesel engine back up, and my phone began ringing again. I grabbed it out of my bag, only to hear Brandon yell, “Mom, these boys keep bothering me. I’m trying to do the right thing, but I’m about to really go off on one them. It’s Semaj and these other two boys.”
“Ignore them, Brandon. Don’t get in trouble again. Just go to the office and talk to the principal.”
“Mom, I’m really trying. I don’t want to get suspended again, but if they swing on me, then I’m going to defend myself . . .”
“Brandon, just go to the office. I’m calling up there now.”
“Okay, Mom I’m going there.” I felt a sense of peace that he was on his way to the office and had avoided a fight, or so I thought.
The next thing I knew, Brandon said they were coming up to him, and I heard kids in the background saying there was about to be a fight. I called his name, and the phone call ended. I called his school and they said they would call me back after they had everything under control.There was no way I could get off this truck and run to his school. This was a new job, and we were miles away from the distribution center, where my car was parked. I tried to call my dad, but he didn’t answer, so then I dialed Dana and asked her to go get Brandon at school. Her phone rang and rang and tears dripped down my cheek. I was so angry and felt so stuck and then Dana answered.
“Hello, Dana, I can’t leave work. Brandon was in a fight. Can you please go up to his school? These boys keep bothering him.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll go up there. No one is going to touch my nephew. I’ll call you when I get there.”
CHAPTER 42
Dana
Yvette called me, crying hysterically, asking me if I could go to Brandon’s school, because he was in a fight and these boys wouldn’t leave him alone.
I arrived at the busy school. The office phones were ringing, and the sound of students filled the hallway. I spotted Brandon.
“Nephew, are you okay? What’s going on? Who were you fighting?”
“I’m okay. These bulls just be talking crazy, and I had to let them know that I will fight all of them.”
Just as he was explaining to me what had happened, I heard a student who was sitting at the opposite end of the office say, “Look at him. Got his mommy to save him. He don’t know I beat people’s moms’ ass, too!” I turned around to see who he was talking to.
“Excuse me. Who are you talking to, little boy?” I said.
As clear as day he looked over at me and said, “You bitch.”
I looked around the office to see if some authority figure was watching or had heard what he’d just said, and before I could respond, Brandon was on the boy, punching him in his head.
“Don’t be calling my auntie out of her name. Bull, I warned you.” I struggled to pull Brandon off of my verbal attacker. Security came up, and suddenly all the adults in the school office were paying attention.
“What kind of school is this?” I yelled as I held on to my out-of-control nephew, who was still swinging.
“Ma’am, calm down. We have everything under control,” a man said as they gathered the other boys and pulled them out of the office.
“Well, it sure doesn’t seem like it. That boy just verbally attacked me and threatened my nephew! So don’t tell me to calm down. This is a disgrace.”
“Ma’am I’m sorry you feel that way. I’m Mr. Walker, the vice principal. Please step in my office.” I followed him, and I remained standing.
“What kind of insane asylum are you running, Mr. Walker?”
“We didn’t allow Brandon to be attacked. I believe the altercation is stemming from some ongoing disagreement. Brandon, what is going on with you and Semaj?”
“Man, he keeps saying things to me every day, and I’ve tried to ignore him, but he wanted to fight me, and he thought because he had Jahlil and Damon with him, I was going to back down.”
“Brandon, you’re going to have to find another way. All this fighting could get you suspended, if not expelled,” Mr. Walker replied.
“They attacked my nephew! You’re not going to suspend him for defending himself.”
“I didn’t say I was going to suspend him. I said he could be suspended. Because Brandon was not the aggressor, he won’t be. However, in the future, Brandon, you will have to try to stay out of these types of situations.”
Brandon nodded. “I know. I tried, Mr. Walker. That’s why I called my mom, and I was on my way to the office when they came at me.”
“But you have to control your anger,” Mr. Walker advised. “Some people make me mad every day, but I can’t go around knocking and punching people out. If I did, I wouldn’t be able to be here, because I’d be in jail. So what you have to do is learn to control your anger and attitude. Because this is high school, and it’s time to be responsible and start thinking about your future. What do you want to do when you graduate?”
Brandon looked at him with a straight face and said, “I was thinking about going pro playing either basketball or football.”
“Basketball or football, Brandon?” I looked over at my nephew. I didn’t want to break his poor little heart, but the last time I saw him on the court, he wasn’t that good.
Especially not good enough to play professionally.
I guessed I wasn’t the only disgusted person in the room. Mr. Walker closed his office door and said, “Brandon, that sounds good, but you always have to have a backup plan. Just in case something goes wrong. What else would you like to do?”
“I don’t like to do anything besides hang with my friends and play ball.”
“Brandon, you’re interested in other things, right?” I asked.
“No, all I want to do is either be a basketball or a football player, or maybe a rapper.”
A rapper? Really, Brandon? I thought as I became alarmed. I couldn’t believe that my nephew had the same dumb fantasy as a million other little black boys.
“Again, that sounds good, but what are some other possible career choices, other than in the entertainment field?” Mr. Walker asked.
Brandon shrugged. “I just really want to make a lot of money, and I know football and basketball players make money.”
“But attorneys make money, and so do doctors,” Mr. Walker pointed out. “They make a lot of money, and their careers are longer, because they can’t get cut because of an injury or because they are not fast enough. My brother Micah is a neurosurgeon. Do you know what kind of doctor that is?”
“ No.”
“Well, he is a doctor that operates on his patients’ brains, and he makes more money than most football players.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, really. How about you start hanging out with me on Saturdays, so I can introduce you to my brother and people like him so you can get some other ideas of what you might want to do? How does that sound?”
Brandon nodded. “I guess all right. How long do you have to go school to be a doctor?”
“Well, you have four years of college then four years of medical school. Then you have your residency. Maybe ten years give or take a few, but then you have a career for a lifetime.”
Another Man Will Page 22
