Trickery & Envy

by Johnson, D. C.

  Vivian had jumped from the sofa in a panic. Her cup of tea went up nearly splashing the ceiling. The red ceramic cup just missed landing on her glass cocktail table. She was trembling as if frigid temperature had invaded her space. Vivian eyes stayed large seeing the brick on her carpeted floor with a string and piece of paper wrapped around it. She became more startled when the phone rang. Not caring who was calling she hurried and grabbed the cordless from the end table like it was a defense weapon, then jumped into the love seat with it.

  “Hello,” she rapidly answered.

  “Is everything okay over there? I heard a crash of some sort and saw someone running from your driveway,” Mrs. Dwyer a neighbor from across the street said, concerned.

  “No it isn’t. A brick was thrown through my window.”

  “Oh, my dear,” Mrs. Dwyer uttered and covered her mouth with her free hand. “Did you call the police? You want me to call the police. Dave,” she said referring to her husband, “said he thinks someone is watching your house, maybe to break in it again. We heard that someone had recently broken in. Dave mentioned he saw someone the other day watching, well, he like to call it casing, your home from in front of the Randolph’s house. He said when he looked at the man, he started walking away. He said the man looked like Vernon, but he wasn’t sure for the reason that he hadn’t seen Vernon in some years.”

  “It was Vernon,” Vivian confirmed calming down some. “Mrs. Dwyer, the next time he comes around will you call the police.”

  “I certainly will call the police. You know we look out for one another.”

  Vivian smiled at her neighbor caring. “Thanks,” and she disconnected the call and dialed 911.

  It took the police about fifteen minutes to respond after the call came in. Officer Barlow was removing the note from the brick, careful not to smear any prints that may be on it. His partner was looking around out back.

  “If you don’t mind, I’m going to read what it says,” he said. “Excuse the profanity,” he added after reading it to himself. “It says, pay up bitch.”

  Vivian balled her lips with concrete proof that Vernon had thrown the brick.

  “Do you know anyone that could be behind this?” the officer asked.

  “Vernon,” Vivian said with squinted eyes, a revolting vision of him in mind.

  “Isn’t that the young man you think is responsible for breaking in your home?”

  “My salon, too,” Vivian added and now looking out in the distance. “I’m just curious to whether he’s going to be bold enough to show up here again.”

  Vivian then as if she was in a trance, turned away from the officer and went in the direction of her bedroom.

  Officer Barlow called out to her. “Ms. Fowler, I have a few questions.”

  In less than a minute Vivian returned to the living room still in a daze. Darren was trailing with his tail wagging. Darling was still in hiding.

  Officer Barlow placed one hand on his weapon and the other out in front of him after seeing Vivian had returned with a gun that she held down to her side.

  “Ms. Fowler,” the officer said in a controlled tone and putting his hand out to stop her. “I’m going to ask you to put the weapon down.”

  Vivian was heated as her dislike for her brother mounted.

  “I have a permit and the right to protect myself,” she told him. “At the moment, I feel my life is in danger. If he so much as rings my doorbell I will blow his ass away. He stole my other gun, but he sure as hell won’t get this one, not in the way he thinks,” she told the officer.

  Officer Barlow’s partner entered the house. “Whoa,” he said outstretching one hand. “What’s going on in here?” and placed his other hand near his weapon.

  “I have it under control,” Officer Barlow responded to his partner and then said to Vivian, “I understand you are angry, but I’m going to need to see your permit. Put the gun down Ms. Fowler. You don’t have anything to worry about. If he shows up we will take him into custody for questioning. I wish we could have charged him the last time we were here. Unfortunately there wasn’t enough evidence to take him in.”

  The doorbell rung and Vivian quickly cocked her weapon and aimed it at the door.

  “Ms. Fowler! I order you to disengage your weapon!” Officer Barlow warned her and as quickly as he withdrew his weapon and aimed it at Vivian.

  Vivian after a few seconds lowered her weapon. She then broke into jerking tears and sank to the floor like a helpless, battered woman.

  Officer Barlow removed a handkerchief from his back pocket and removed the weapon from Vivian’s hand.

  Officer James opened the door and Jennifer swiftly came inside.

  “What going on, Vi,” she said to her.

  Officer Barlow became fixed on the woman that entered. He only took his eyes off her a second to lay the weapon he took from Vivian cautiously down on her cocktail table.

  Jennifer knelt beside Vivian. She looked at the officer and saw him shake out of his trance. She knew what he was thinking while staring at them. She turned her attention back to her friend. “Vi is you alright. What happened? I got a call from Ms. Dwyer.”

  Jennifer looked and saw the brick that was thrown through the window and the gun on the cocktail table. She was confused. “What’s going on?” she said taking her friend in her arms. “Did Vernon do this? Have you been drinking, Vi.” Jennifer turned her nose up at the smell of liquor surrounding her.

  Officer James distracted by their resemblance to actresses uttered, “I’ll be a monkey’s uncle if they don’t look like Angela Bassett and that other actress from that sitcom.”

  Vivian ignored him being in awe of them and continued to weep. She couldn’t understand how just a couple months ago her life went from being relaxed to disrupt.

  “Why is he doing this? He’s already stolen money from me. He got what he wanted,” Vivian said and her eyes bulged some because she began to feel nauseated like she wanted to throw up. She quickly rose from the floor covering her mouth and rushed off to the bathroom.

  Jennifer followed her with Darren galloping behind.

  Vivian bent in front of the toilet and threw up.

  “My gosh, Vi, how much did you drink?” Jennifer asked turning her head away from the awful smell.

  Officer Barlow headed in the direction Vivian and Jennifer had gone. “Ms. Fowler,” he said. “There’s not much else here for me and my partner to do. A report will be on file. I’ll contact you for any additional information that may be needed. Too, I advise you to call a board up service for your window. You may also want to go and secure your weapon,” he stated.

  “I’ll make sure she takes care of it,” Jennifer answered while Vivian tried to stabilize her heavy breathing.

  Officer Barlow added, “If your brother shows up, just give us a call.” He then looked at Jennifer and said, “It looks like she may be in here a while. Do you mind securing the door behind us?”

  Jennifer followed the officer back into the living room. After locking the door behind them she stood back from the broken window and observed outside before returning to Vivian.

  ***

  Just over a month had passed. Toni, though he had given Vivian the impression that he wouldn’t bother her again, left two additional messages which she heard, but didn’t respond to. He decided to have the operation. He was on his way to the doctor’s office that would perform the surgery for consultation. It was required before surgery could take place.

  “Mr. Gentry,” the receptionist said after hanging up the phone. “If you could come with me,” and she stood from behind the counter she was sitting at. She then led Toni to an exam room where the consultation will be taking place. “You can have a seat. Dr. Westinghouse will be in shortly,” she said.

  No sooner had she closed the door and Toni had taking a seat, a tap came to the door. Dr. Westinghouse, who was in his mid-sixties walked in.

  “Mr. Gentry is it. I’m Dr. Westinghouse. How are you doing today si
r?” he said and extending his hand to Toni to exchange a handshake.

  “I’m fine, thanks for asking,” Toni said.

  “So you are here for consultation to have your female structures removed?”

  “Yes,” Toni replied.

  There was a tap on the door and it was cracked opened by the receptionist. “Dr. Westinghouse, you have an emergency call on line three,” she said and closed the door.

  “If you’ll excuse me,” Dr. Westinghouse said. “And if you can change into the gown and have a seat on the table. I should be back shortly.”

  “No, problem, doc,” Toni said and as Dr. Westinghouse headed for the telephone across from the exam room in his office.

  Dr. Westinghouse returned with his assistant.

  “Sorry for the interruption, Mr. Gentry. This is Megan, my assistant. She’ll be taking photos.”

  Toni nodded his approval.

  “If you can lye back,” Dr. Westinghouse said and then began to examine Toni’s breast. “You haven’t had any leaking from the nipple areas have you, no pain?”

  “Neither, doc,” Toni replied.

  “The mastectomy won’t be as complicated as the other areas being removed,” Dr. Westinghouse said as he walked around to the other side of the table and lifted Toni’s breast and began examining it. He then removed a ruler from the drawer of a desk inside and measured Toni’s breast. He then noted the results.

  “If you can turn to your side,” the receptionist said to Toni and began taking pictures of each breast.

  The assistant after taking needed pictures moved to the side to allow Dr. Westinghouse to carry on with his examination.

  “So which procedure did you want to have first?” he asked Toni.

  “I would prefer to have the mastectomy first. What should I expect? Will there be any side effects?”

  “Well, a mastectomy is performed under general anesthesia, which means you will be unconscious during the surgery. The surgeon will remove all the breast tissue, in your case including the nipple and areola. The doctor will determined at that time if the lining of your chest muscles needs to be removed. When that’s completed he will close the skin with stitches and attached a temporary tube so that fluid from the wound can drain out. The procedure normally has an average of one hour per breast. As far as side effects are concerned the most common are pain or tightness in the breast area, as well as arms and in the shoulders. You could experience itching, a feeling of pressure, throbbing. It’s important that you report the severity of pain to your doctor for proper pain management. Do you have any more concerns before we move on to the next area?” the doctor asked.

  “I’m just hoping I’m making the right decision,” Toni said.

  Dr. Westinghouse looked over at his assistant, “Will you give us a moment.”

  “Sure, Dr. Westinghouse,” she responded and left the room.

  “Sit up, sir,” Dr. Westinghouse said and then went and sat on the stool near the desk. He clasped his hands together, looked over at Toni and said, “Do you feel you need more time to consider the steps you are about to take? As you know, this type of surgery cannot be reversed.”

  “I thought I was sure. I guess it’s obvious that I’m having second thoughts,” Toni responded desolately, his eyes cast downward.

  “If you don’t mind me asking, what prompt you to want to have your breast removed? It’s rare that we get requests for gender reassignments after the age of thirty. Are you having some type of medical issues with your penis?”

  “Not exactly, it’s more of a personal issue.”

  Dr. Westinghouse looked at Toni over the rim of his glasses. “I see,” he said. “I don’t usually get personal with my patients, if you don’t mind me asking, is it the lady in your life requesting the change?”

  Toni not wanting to discuss his personal life with the doctor said, “I’m sorry Dr. Westinghouse, but I do need to put more thought into this. I apologize if I wasted your time.”

  “No, take your time. It’s best. You don’t want to do anything that could possibly lead to regrets.”

  “Thank you, doctor,” Toni said.

  ***

  Life for Vivian seemed to be getting back to normal. There had been no out of the blue incidents at her home or salon. She had hired two new stylist, Raja Michaels, and Sheila Banks. She thought she’d mix things up to attract more clients with Raja. Raja was a good looking Hispanic in his early thirties. Vivian hiring additional stylists was also making up for the few clients she lost after letting Tracie go. Tracie with her mind still set on moving to L.A., had contacted the thirteen clients she had, but only seven decided to jump ship and come to her apartment to get their hair done.

  Vivian instead of going to her salon today decided to accompany Jennifer to her radiation treatment she recently started, giving Charles a break.

  The early morning traffic was heavy and moving at a snail’s pace.

  “Jennifer,” Vivian called softly as she drove.

  Jennifer slumped down in her seat looked over at her friend then back out in front of her.

  “What are your treatments like if you don’t mind me asking?”

  “It depends on the day. Charles and I decided to go with external beam radiation. I lay on a table anywhere from fifteen to twenty minutes while a machine aims radiation at the tumor area. There are times I’m weak afterwards and I have to sit a minute or two before getting down.”

  “I can’t imagine what that’s like,” Vivian responded and feeling her friends gloominess.

  “Oh, so you’ll know, I’m going to also have surgery.”

  “Surgery?”

  Vivian makes a right onto I-294 looking a bit confused with what Jennifer just said.

  “Vi having surgery after I’m done with treatments will destroy any cancer cells that remain. Right now they’re trying to shrink the tumor.”

  “Have you experienced side effects from the radiation?” Vivian wanted to know.

  Jennifer shrugged her shoulders.

  “I know I’m prying Jennifer, but I want to be here for you and want to know what to expect.” Vivian then frowned a bit at starting not to feel well. “I feel a little nausea,” swishing her tongue around in her mouth at what tasted like acid reflux.

  “Well if you really want to know my cootie is almost bald as Kojak’s head.”

  “Are you serious?”

  “Now you know I’ll show it to you,” Jennifer said with raised brows over at her friend.

  Vivian gave her a glance. “Please don’t,” she said and knowing Jennifer when she got a chance would show her the proof.

  Vivian activated her turning signal and moved into the right lane to exit the interstate.

  “I just hope I don’t experience any of the other side effects like diarrhea, which means my grown behind will be sleeping in diapers.”

  That unwelcomed vision had Vivian saying, “Okay, I got the side effects. Let’s talk about something else.”

  Jennifer laughed, and now feeling a little uplifted was glad her friend decided to go with her today. Vivian escorting her to Dr. Maims office broke up the serious and somewhat depressed mood she would fall into when Charles accompanied her. Not that Charles was boring; he just didn’t have much to talk about which left Jennifer time to think about if she would overcome her illness.

  Vivian got an eerie feeling after they entered the facility. It gave her the same feeling she felt when she entered a hospital. Something about being around a lot of sick people made her cringe. Though these people weren’t lying painfully in beds they were sitting around waiting to be seen by a doctor.

  Jennifer, as it was now her routine, went straight over to the receptionist desk where the vivacious receptionist greeted her.

  “Hey Jenny,” she said. “Well I’ll be. If you two don’t look like those actresses, Angela Bassett and what’s her name, the principal on the sitcom The Steve Harvey’s show. Ms. Grier, that’s her name,” she said. A couple of the patients look
ed to see if their resemblance was true. “I told Dr. Maim that you favored someone, I just couldn’t quite put my finger on it at the time.”

  Jennifer picked up the pen to sign in and at the same time offered a rigid smile to Sabrina. She signed in then laid the pen back down atop the sign in sheet and looked back at Sabrina. “How long have I been coming here?” she asked her.

  “I’d say a couple weeks,” the receptionist responded with a blissful beam.

  “And you think you’ve known me long enough to call me Jenny. Please don’t, I prefer Jennifer or Mrs. Washington.” Again she displayed a rigid smile and then headed over next to Vivian who had taken a seat away from the patients. She sat in one of the five multi-colored seats against a green and yellow painted wall.

  Sabrina’s cheery mood was deflated. “Oh...very well,” she uttered, her smile fading as her eyes shifted toward the computer monitor on her desk. She then proceeded with letting the radiation therapists know that Jennifer had arrived by announcing it over the paging system.

  Vivian looked over at Jennifer after she sat next to her. “What did you say to that woman? She doesn’t look as happy as when we came in here?”

  “It’s not important. She got my point,” and Jennifer reached for one of several magazines scattered on a small black table in front of them.

  Vivian glanced around at the patients. She then found her attention drawn to a white woman in her fifties that appeared to weigh about a hundred pounds. The patient stood and with her fragile arms crossed and began to walk the floor at a slow pace. Vivian wondered if the woman was in pain because just before standing she was sitting partially off the seat.

  Jennifer mumbled, “I don’t know why medical offices do this. What makes them think you want to sit here and read about why you’re here,” and Jennifer tossed the All about Cancer magazine back onto the table. “Get some Jet or Ebony up in here,” she grumbled.

  The woman who had started to pace the floor saw Vivian watching her and not wanting to be stared at she strolled over to the door. She stopped before going out and turned to the receptionist. “I’ll be out here,” she said and resumed her slow pacing down the hall.