Sunshine & Rain

by Dawn Desiree

  Rain didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She felt numb. She didn’t know whether to weep at this tragic loss or to find peace in knowing that her father received his wish of being reunited with her mother.

  Rain looked over at her little brothers. With a puzzled look on his face, Jerome was calm now as he leaned his head back on the sofa. Jody looked deep into Rain’s eyes.

  “I didn’t know that Daddy was in there. I wish that we hadn’t found him like that.” His eyes welled up with tears. He held his face in his hands to conceal his sorrow, and he began to shake and sob loudly. Rain moved over to comfort him.

  “It’s okay, Jody. It’s not your fault. You did a good job handling all this, you and Jerome. You both are heroes when you think about all that just happened. There is no telling how long Daddy’s body would have rested in that bedroom if you and Jerome didn’t find him. You called the police, and you got me dressed before they came, so you are a superman,” Rain encouraged him. “You did get me dressed, didn’t you?” Rain asked, making sure she hadn’t been exposed to any of the male authorities.

  She could barely hear Jody’s answer through his cries, but he managed to spit out, “Yes.”

  Rain felt more pity for her twelve-year-old brother, Jody, and her seven-year-old brother, Jerome, than she did for her dead father.

  How could he do this to them? She thought hard for a moment about what would happen to them next. They already had endured so much living without a mother for so long, and now they were orphans.

  Rain’s thoughts were interrupted by the sudden presence of a stout, oversized black woman standing in front of her and her brothers, nearly blocking the view of everything else around them. Rain looked up curiously at the huge woman. Her face was as black as midnight, and she radiated a golden yellow smile. Her facial features would never win her a beauty pageant crown; a sash wouldn’t even fit across her cumbersome figure.

  Rain was almost afraid to shake her hand when the woman extended it to greet her. She was admittedly disgusted by the encounter. Rain gave the woman a limp handshake with the tips of her fingers.

  “Hello, children. My name is Bertha Lee.” The woman spoke like an angry man trapped in a fat woman’s body. Rain caught her breath in her throat to keep from busting out in an embarrassing laugh.

  Did her parents really name her Bertha? If you added Ug to her last name, it would be Uglee, which fits her perfectly.

  “I am a case manager for Child Protective Services. I am so sorry to learn about the sudden death of your father. My report tells me that your mother is also deceased.” She said it as if she were asking a question. Rain nodded.

  “Well, I’m responsible for ensuring that the three of you are placed in a suitable home. I will try to keep you all together, but I can’t make any promises.”

  Rain looked over at her younger brothers and was unable to fathom the thought of not being with them. As she turned back to Bertha, she said in a slight panic, “Please try hard. My brothers need me right now.” She knew they would be no good without her. This was going to be hard for all of them.

  “As I said before, I will try to keep you all in the same home. However, the system is very congested right now. We have an excess of children and not enough space to house them. I’m going to make a few calls to see what’s available.”

  Rain couldn’t believe this was really happening. Seemingly in slow motion, her world was turning upside-down right before her eyes.

  “I need for you kids to go pack some of your belongings so we can go and get you situated. You don’t have to pack everything. We can always come back for the rest later. You just need to pack enough to last you for a couple days.”

  Jerome reached out for Rain. “Where are they going to take us?” he questioned.

  If she could, Rain would’ve hawked spit on the one who was responsible for the lost, confused look she saw in her baby brother’s eyes.

  “I’ll explain it to you when we get upstairs.” Rain took Jerome’s hand in hers and led him upstairs. Jody followed closely behind them.

  Rain looked down at the chaotic scene from the top of the stairs and wondered for a moment if she should take her brothers, jump out the window, and run for their lives. They would run as far away from the apartment, the RoboCops, and Ms. Uglee as their feet could carry them. She realized, however, that her fleeting urge was hopeless. Where would they run? How would they eat? What would happen to them if they were caught?

  Rain left those thoughts behind her and proceeded to do what she had been told, starting first with Jerome’s room to help him pack. While she patiently explained to him about what she knew of foster homes, she quickly grabbed items from his dresser and closet. He asked a thousand questions, making it difficult for her to concentrate.

  “Why did Daddy die? Where is that lady gonna take us? Did the police take Daddy to the graveyard? Is Daddy in heaven with Mommy now?”

  Rain couldn’t keep up with all the questions. She gave one answer: “I don’t know, Rome. I don’t have the answer to everything. Now, go downstairs and get me some empty grocery bags from out of the kitchen. We’ve gotta get packed, and then I’ll try to answer your questions later. Hurry up.”

  Jerome stopped his interrogation and ran downstairs to get his luggage. Rain walked into her own bedroom and began to pack her belongings. She made sure to pack the one and only picture that she had of Terrance. Despite the current situation, she still had Terrance on the brain, and the thought of him actually put a little smile on her face. The idea that she still had one person to turn to added light to the dark situation.

  She looked at her watch and noticed that it was well past noon, and Terrance hadn’t called her yet. If he was awake, she was sure that he would have noticed all the commotion with the police cars congregating outside of her building. Surely, he would be concerned about what was going on and would want to find out if she was okay. Rain assumed that he was still sleeping, and she kept grabbing items to pack.

  Her mind was darting from the current moment back to the events earlier that morning. She couldn’t focus, so she impulsively picked up the phone to call Terrance. Since they were being escorted out so quickly, she needed to make him aware of what was going on. She had to let him know that she was moving away.

  Her mind drifted for a moment to thoughts of Terrance. She thought about him swinging by before she rolled out to give her a quick slob down with those big, juicy lips that his face wore so well.

  She dialed the number to his cell phone and waited patiently for him to answer. After the seventh ring and still no answer, she almost gave up. She was about to hang up when someone answered.

  “Hello?” the voice said.

  Rain paused. The voice wasn’t Terrance’s; the voice belonged to a young girl. Maybe Rain had dialed the wrong number, because only Terrance answered his phone.

  “My bad. I think I dialed the wrong number,” Rain told the girl and hung up.

  Rain dialed his number again, this time pressing each number very slowly to make sure every digit was correct. The phone rang, but this time someone answered on the second ring. The voice that answered was the same as before, but this time she sounded more irritated.

  “Hell-o?” the girl screamed into the phone.

  This time Rain was certain that she had dialed the right number, so she boldly asked to speak to her man.

  “Hello, can I speak to Terrance?”

  “Terrance is busy.” Click! The bitch hung up right in Rain’s ear.

  Rain could feel her hormones catch on fire. This was the last thing she needed right now.

  “Who the hell was that?” Rain shouted. “I should go over there and find out.” She gave the thought an enormous amount of consideration.

  She didn’t mind whooping somebody’s ass over her man. In light of the current circumstances, she welcomed the thought of unleashing on whoever had just answered her man’s phone. Unfortunately, she knew it would be impossible to escape big Bertha, who
was probably downstairs, huffing and puffing right now, waiting on them to pack.

  Rain picked up the phone. She was determined to talk to Terrance, so he could explain the identity of the hood rat who answered his phone. This time, the rat answered almost immediately. She sounded like she was beginning to have fun with Rain’s insecurities when she answered the phone.

  “Hello,” she said in a soft, raspy tone that made Rain want to slither through the phone and inject her ass with some venom.

  “Put Terrance on the phone, bitch!” Rain screamed in her ear.

  “Sorry, sweetheart. Maybe you didn’t hear me well the first time. I told you, Terrance can’t talk right now. His hands are still wet from playing with my puss.” Click.

  Rain slammed the phone down, almost shaking with rage. She didn’t have time for her shit right now. She might mess around and get a life sentence before she even made it to her new home, so she decided to deal with Terrance later.

  Jerome entered her room just then with the plastic bags. “Are you okay, Rain?” Jerome asked. He misread her look of anger for a hurtful gaze.

  “I’m okay, Rome. Just trying to hurry up so Ms. Barney doesn’t come up here and get us.” Rain snatched a handful of plastic bags from his hand and threw her load of belongings inside.

  “You go take the rest of these bags and put your stuff in it,” she ordered Jerome.

  Rain stuffed as much of her things inside the grocery bags as she could, even the picture of Terrance.

  Although she had more pressing matters to tend to, Rain couldn’t stop thinking about how she just got carried like a sucker by a smelly hood rat. She couldn’t let that rodent slide away so easily. It might tarnish her track record.

  Rain picked up the phone and dialed Terrance’s number one last time, just to see if she could recognize the girl’s voice. That way, she would know whose ass to kick later.

  It better not be Simone, either, ’cause she don’t want it. Rain had heard rumors that Simone had been all over Terrance’s sack at India’s house party last weekend. Yet, when Rain had stepped to Simone in the parking lot, Simone quickly denied the rumor, probably trying to avoid the beat down she would’ve received had she confessed.

  This time, the phone just rang. No answer.

  “Oh, now they’re playing games,” Rain thought out loud.

  Bertha appeared at her bedroom door just as Rain was hanging up the phone. “Are you guys just about done? I’ve got to get you kids placed, so we need to get a move on.”

  Rain admired the way Big Bertha stopped to take short breaths as she spoke. She sounded as though she had just run ten miles. Rain assumed that the hike upstairs wore the poor woman out with more exercise than she could handle.

  Rain gave Bertha a hard look. “We are coming,” she said. “With such short notice, it’s taking us some time to get ourselves together, if you don’t mind.”

  There was no mistaking the hint of sarcasm in Rain’s voice as she spoke. If looks could kill, Bertha would be saying hello face-to-face with Jim Concise. Rain didn’t necessarily have any good reasons to dislike Bertha at first meeting; she just disliked the fact that she was fat and ugly.

  “I know that this is short notice for you. It’s also short notice for me, but like I explained to you earlier, we can always come back to get the rest of your things,” Bertha explained. “Are your brothers packed and ready to go?”

  “Why don’t you go see for yourself?” Rain answered. “It’s not like you have a problem roaming through other people’s houses.”

  Bertha was trying her best to be patient with Rain. She understood the pain of her loss.

  “Listen to me, Rain. I apologize if you’re bothered by me coming up here to get you and your brothers, and I realize that this sudden situation is not easy for you. However, I will not have you speak to me any ol’ kind of way. Do you understand me?”

  Rain rolled her eyes, turned away from Big Bertha, and then yelled, “Jody! Jerome! Come on. We gotta go!”

  Bertha turned to walk away, satisfied. “I’ll be downstairs waiting.”

  “And I’ll find a way to let that pissed man out of your body so that you can finally talk like a real woman,” Rain said under her breath.

  * * *

  When Rain and her brothers reached their new foster home, Bertha informed them that the placement was only temporary. Since theirs was an emergency situation, she had to place them somewhere immediately. She assured them that within a week, she would have a permanent home for them. Rain barely listened as she eyeballed the beat-up looking house with disgust. She was instantly unimpressed by the graffiti paint job, the filthy yard, and the peeling, worn-out flaps that acted as a roof. Rain was repulsed that anyone lived inside a house where the grass was as tall as the trees.

  I hope we don’t drown in weeds.

  The house looked as if it was condemned or abandoned, except for the fact that there were teenage kids hanging out the windows like untaught orphans.

  They don’t look disabled, so why can’t one of them cut the damn lawn? Rain thought.

  It was pitiful that Ms. Bertha had moved them from the projects to the ghetto. This was not a major step up in life. Rain was afraid to go inside, because she didn’t know what to expect. Judging by the day she was having, she expected the worst.

  Jody touched Rain’s shoulder. “Are you all right, big sis?”

  “I don’t know yet,” she answered. Rain took her sweet time unloading her bags from the trunk.

  Bertha didn’t lift a finger to help. She would probably pass out from the simple labor, Rain figured.

  Rain feared for her life as they dodged cuts and scrapes just to get to the door. Bertha rang the doorbell and realized that it didn’t work after numerous attempts. Rain didn’t understand why no one met them at the door in the first place. She was certain that the group of kids hanging out the window saw them coming, or at least heard the crackling of dry, dead grass as they approached.

  Bertha began to bang on the door impatiently. That caught someone’s attention. A boy around sixteen years old slowly pulled the door open. A strange smell instantly smacked Rain in the face. The aroma was a combination of old urine, old cigarettes, and old vomit. Rain felt the sudden urge to add to the stink with her own vomit.

  Rain began to feel sorry for herself and for her brothers. She stood still in the doorway, trying to figure out what they had done to deserve this.

  The teenage boy who had answered the door took off running in another direction of the house without a word. He left them standing there feeling lost and stupid.

  “Hello!” Bertha yelled out. After a couple minutes, a black woman resembling Aunt Jemima appeared. She looked to be in her late forties and had sweat pouring down her face. She wore a red-and-white checkered do-rag, yellow cleaning gloves, and a white apron.

  “Please forgive me,” the woman said. “I didn’t hear you come in. I was in the back trying to do some spring cleaning.”

  That could take all spring, Rain thought.

  The lady removed her gloves.

  “Are you Ms. Darby?” Bertha asked.

  “Yes, I am,” the woman answered, extending her hand to greet Bertha.

  “If you don’t mind me asking you, Ms. Darby, how many children do you have residing here with you?”

  Ms. Darby understood what Bertha was getting at. “I don’t mind you asking me. I know it looks like there are about a hundred kids hanging around,” she said, laughing, “but actually, I only have two boys and two girls. It’s a five-bedroom house, so I can fit up to eight children if I put two in each room.”

  Bertha nodded her head, pleased with her answer.

  Introductions were made. When it was Rain’s turn to shake Ms. Darby’s hand, she refused. She didn’t even acknowledge the woman. In an effort to defend Rain’s inappropriate behavior, Bertha felt obligated to tell Ms. Darby about their father’s passing from a drug overdose. Ms. Darby listened intently but seemed untouched by the ne
ws, as if she heard it every day.

  “I’ll be coming by in a couple of days to take the kids to get the rest of their clothes,” Ms. Lee explained. “I’ll call you first to make the arrangements.”

  “That will be fine,” Ms. Darby said.

  “You have my office numbers if you should need to speak to me before then.” Bertha turned around to look at Rain, Jody, and Jerome. “You kids try to be good, and I’ll see you soon.”

  Surprisingly enough, Rain didn’t want Bertha to go. She didn’t want to be left behind in the disgusting house. Rain looked over at Jody and saw the same disoriented expression, with his mouth up to his nose, trying to duck the fumes.

  “Let me show you to your rooms.” Ms. Darby led the way downstairs and into the basement. She put Jerome and Jody in one room and led Rain farther down the hall to her new bedroom.

  She had a room all to herself, just like at home. She didn’t mind that at all. What she did mind was that her new bedroom already looked lived in. Dirty clothes covered the floor, and the two twin beds in each corner of the small room were both unmade. One even reeked of urine. Rain wished she had thought to pack her own blankets.

  “Excuse the mess, dear. Sometimes the girls come down here to sleep. I tell them time and time again to clean up behind themselves, but when children leave home, they bring their bad habits with them,” Ms. Darby said.

  “Do the two girls sleep upstairs?” Rain asked.

  “Yes, they share a bedroom across from mine. I could show you around if you’d like,” Ms. Darby said.

  At that moment, Rain didn’t need to see any more of the funky house. “No, thank you. Where do the other two boys sleep?” Rain asked.

  “Their bedroom is next to your brothers’ room,” she answered.

  “How come I’m the only girl sleeping down here?” Rain asked, confused. “Why can’t I be upstairs with the other girls?”