A Big Girl's Revenge

by Ms. Michel Moore

  When the results came back, Calvin was devastated. He was indeed touched by the long hand of the devil he had been playing so recklessly with. This was a hard pill to swallow, but one he couldn’t keep to himself.

  He wanted to make sure of what was what before he sounded the alarm at home. He’d done a lot of fucked-up things throughout the years to disrespect the vows of his marriage; however, not warning his wife of an impending death sentence would not be one. Calvin waited for her to come home from work one evening and sat her down. With tears in his eyes, he confessed all his wrongs. It was dead silence in the room before his devoted wife stood. Once on her feet, she slapped him twice before packing a bag, never to return home as his loving spouse.

  Swazy

  It didn’t take long for the news to circulate. The ghetto was like that. If someone got evicted, the block knew before the bailiff showed up with a dumpster. If someone’s lights or gas was shut off for non-payment, the neighbors could easily tell you what the occupants had done with their bill money. Even if a person did something good, someone was watching and ready to give a hood report on all the details.

  No sooner had Rico finished calling Keisha a rotten bitch than the lady a few doors down knew. Matter of fact, she watched Keisha flee the house. A few minutes later, she witnessed Rico dart out as well. She had just posted about it on social media when she heard an ambulance siren. All she could do was shake her head when it was discovered Rico had been hit by a cab. One of her daughters was friends with a girl whose soon-to-be baby daddy ran with bad-boy Rico. The nosey neighbor texted her daughter, and just like that, it spread like wildfire.

  Swazy was half asleep when his girl started to nudge him. Trying not to hear what she was saying, he forced himself to wake up. He knew she was near her due date and didn’t want to miss a beat. Dragging himself out the bed, he took a morning piss before hearing her out. While part of him wanted to say fuck Rico and his bad luck, the other wanted to find out what exactly happened so he could go back and report to Commissioner Jackson.

  Ensuring his woman was okay, Swazy got dressed. Not knowing what to expect, he headed down to the nearby hospital. It was only two to choose from, and luckily he’d picked correctly. After going through the metal detectors, he stood at the front desk. Before long, a patient’s advocate emerged, asking his relationship to Rico. Of course, Swazy lied, claiming to be his brother. Moments later, he was informed that Rico had been rushed to emergency surgery and if there was any other concerned family members or person in charge of making critical decisions, now would be the time to call them.

  Swazy lowered his head, fearing the worst. Knowing this type of information would be valuable to Commissioner Jackson, Swazy placed the call. After several rings, the voicemail came on. Not wanting to be accused of holding back anything he’d found out, Swazy left a text to return his call as soon as possible. He had no idea whatsoever that call would never come. At least he’d made an attempt.

  As the days went by, it was hard not to hear the shocking news of Commissioner Jackson’s untimely demise at the hands of his own daughter. Feeling no sympathy for the deceased man, Swazy was overjoyed to be out from under his overpowering wrath. As far as Keisha’s fate went with facing manslaughter charges, it was what it was.

  It was as if the once-happy-go-lucky crew was destined to suffer. Soon Swazy came to discover that Rico, who was in a medically induced coma, had contracted the HIV virus and that made receiving proper treatment more difficult than normal. No longer feeling any emotion for his once-best-friend’s well-being, he switched it over to himself. The ugly truth, or what could be, was haunting him daily. If Rico had the deadly disease, chances were that he could have it as well, especially since they had both grown in the habit of having sex with the same females—Keisha included.

  It was no way he could get in touch with her, so he finally manned up. Swazy went to a free clinic on the far side of town. As he waited for the results, he grew sick to his stomach. He wasted no time in calling his cousin to give him the threat of the tragic disease, but he wasn’t trying to hear anything about HIV, let alone the possibility of him having it.

  Swazy waited for a call from the clinic. Constantly, he kept checking his cell. While pacing out in the park, he lit a blunt to try to calm his nerves. Before he could get a good buzz going, he heard the loud ringtone from his front pocket. Answering it, he threw the blunt down, racing back to his car. It was his girl. She was in full-blown labor and being rushed to the hospital. Breaking the speed limit, he got down there just in time to see his baby being born and his girl ironically die. The doctors were baffled. Up until the moment the baby was born, her entire pregnancy seemed normal. Then, just like that, her blood pressure skyrocketed and her sugar level spiked. It was nothing they could do. As Swazy stood speechless and stunned, his newborn was whisked away, also suffering from some sort of complications.

  Once again, the loud ringtone rang out. Answering it in tears, Swazy discovered he indeed had the “package.” It would be the first and only gift he would ever give his daughter, who died six days later. His life would never be the same, and he blamed Rico.

  I knew if I kept doing dumb shit with him it was gonna get me fucked up. Now my girl and my baby gone. My life might as well be over too.

  Ocean

  “I swear for God. I just wish them damn people from the health department would stop calling me. I don’t know what in the fuck they wanna tell a bitch so bad, but I ain’t interested. Ever since I had that damn toss-up baby abortion, they been on my head. But it’s all good in the hood. I know how to handle that dumb bullshit!”

  Ocean walked into the Metro phone payment center. Digging in her purse, she pulled out a balled-up stage-hustle twenty-dollar bill. Tossing it in the small slot, she demanded the clerk change her number. After writing her information and PIN down, the deed was done. She would now be free of anymore unwanted calls from the clinic. There would be no more random hangup calls from bitter bitches whose man she was banging, past or present.

  Most importantly, Calvin could not contact her about his claims to have HIV. It was bad enough she heard Rico was cursed with it. As far as Ocean was concerned, that was on both of them and their bad luck. Sure, she had unprotected sex with the pair, but so what? She felt fine. Her arms worked. Her legs still moved, and her head game was still on point. Taking all those things into consideration, to Ocean, it was business as usual. She was back on the pole, swinging and tricking at night just as soon as her flow was manageable. Her main concern was to feed her son and pay her bills, nothing more and definitely nothing less. Allowing Rico to lay eyes on their child was the last thing she was thinking about. Besides, the way she heard the streets talking, he didn’t have that much time left on the earth anyway.

  Maybe that meal-ticket bitch Keisha will use some of her dead daddy’s money to get that bum a miracle cure. Shit, she just beat a murder case, so I know she Gucci! Ocean smirked as she went on to secretly infect another unsuspecting guy she met at the strip club.

  Rico

  “You know it’s a sin and a shame to be this young.”

  “Yeah, you are so right. To be this young and not have not one person care enough about you to come visit.”

  “Girl, or at least place a call to see if you’re dead or alive.”

  “This dude must be grimy as hell.”

  “I’m not sure, but the lady with the long weave that works on the night shift said this is that guy that was linked up with ole girl that killed her daddy but still ended up with all his bread. Shit, I heard he got a little son that the mother ain’t brought to see him either.”

  “Wow, then he is a slimeball when your baby and baby momma ain’t fucking with you in the last hours. And shiddd, we already know when he leave this earth where he going.”

  The hospice caregivers carried on their conversation as if Rico were not laying paralyzed in the bed just a few yards from them. They had no filter whatsoever. Day after day, it was the
same routine for them on their job. Patients would come into their facility, oftentimes in an ambulance. However, it was only one way they left. Well, truth be told, two. One, in a fancy funeral home hearse, if you had insurance, or two, tossed in a body bag only to be transported in the back of the dark-colored county morgue vehicle if you were financially broke or unclaimed. Either way, death was imminent. For the workers, it was just a job. For the patients, it was their final taste of hopefully some sympathy and comfort on their final journey to either heaven or hell.

  I hate I’m in all this pain. Every part of my fucking body is hurting. I feel so weak I can’t even lift my arm. And my damn legs been felt like they wasn’t there. That dumb-ass cab driver fucked me up for real. Shit! I know I done did some shady shit to people over the years, especially some of them bitches, but this shit right here—this shit right here I don’t wish on my worst enemy. And every single day these same hoes come up in this son of a bitch talking cash shit. I wish I was my old self. ’Cause if I was, I’d have both they asses on they knees, sucking on this dick.

  And all them ho-ass niggas that claim they was my homeboys, where the fuck they been? Why at least Swazy ain’t done showed his punk ass up? He probably somewhere playing house with that stuck-up pregnant bitch of his. That nigga straight pussy. Always talking about he just trying to live his best life. Fuck all of that. Fuck living your best life with one female. How that bullshit work?

  Rico had been through just about every medical procedure a person of his limited financial resources could have. Seeing how he was broke, there weren’t many. That fateful morning he was struck by the cab, emergency room doctors tested his blood for all sorts of abnormalities. When it came to light he had HIV, a lot of things changed in his care. Moreover, when it came out in the news reports about him and the way he’d treated Keisha Jackson, all bets were really off with most. Even though most professionals take a sworn oath, people are still human and, of course, judgmental.

  If that tramp Keisha would not have been trying to go for bad that morning, a nigga like me would have been out in them streets getting money and pussy. And that ho got the nerve to not have brought her stankin’ ass here, wherever the fuck here is, to see about a nigga. But it’s all good. I’m hurting like a motherfucker. Every part of my body feels like it’s on fire. And I know it was that ho that gave me AIDS. She probably was fucking behind my back like all hoes do. I was good to that girl, and she think she got over. But it’s all good. We gonna meet again. I know if I don’t get on that bitch Keisha head in this lifetime, I’ma damn sure kick her ass in hell. She got that much coming, ole fat bitch!

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Pulling up at the Metro Airport terminal, Keisha and Sandy got out of the Uber. After tipping the driver extra, they gathered their luggage. The lines were long to check their bags, but neither cared. They would be living their lives as if they were golden. Life was much too short, and Sandy didn’t want Keisha to forget to smell the roses when at all possible.

  Making it through the security checkpoint, Sandy found a nearby bench to put her shoes back on. Keisha made a quick trip to the bathroom. She had been urinating more frequently and had developed a terrible cough. Swallowing even small amounts of water was becoming difficult at some times, but Keisha was tough. After all she’d been through with Rico, a murder trial, and burying both parents back to back, nothing could break her. She would fight until the end.

  Soon the pair boarded a private flight to a tropical island. It was rumored amongst the new age generation doctors that certain experimental drugs were being used to treat the HIV and those cursed will full-blown AIDS. Prepared to use all of their father’s inheritance if need be, the once-sloppy-seconds-minded female closed her eyes tightly before the plane took flight. Silently, she prayed her sexual exploits and her stupid ridiculous loyalty to Rico and his “good dick” would not cost her the ultimate price unprotected sex often did—someone’s life.

  As she opened her eyes, she saw Sandy’s face and reassuring smile. Reaching over, she placed her hand on top of hers.

  “After all I’ve been through, I want to live my life right. I want to go places. See things.”

  “Don’t worry, baby. You will. God has your back, and so do I.”

  * * *

  Sorrowfully, a few months after arriving on the island, Sandy stood by the edge of a beautiful beach, sobbing. She had just buried her sister and her daughter—Keisha Marie Jackson. Sandy trusted in God’s ultimate plan, and she knew in spite of Keisha’s troubled life, she didn’t die in disgrace. She believed her daughter went to walk in the light. Unlike Rico and Commissioner Jackson, heaven was her just revenge.

  The End

  Note from the Author

  We all know a Keisha, that one stupid female who, no matter how much you try to school her silly ass, she just keeps letting a Rico dog her out. Whether she’s spending all her income tax check on the bum, using her food stamps to feed his greedy play- the-video-game-all-day behind, or not paying her rent to make sure he has the new Jordans. Hell yeah! I already know! Lol . . . As fucked up as she living, the bird still think she stay winning! Imagine that!

  Well, guess what? Newsflash! The Ricos of the world are giving the good men and great fathers a bad name . . . but do the Keishas care? HELL NO! If they even think the no-good rat bastard is giving the dick to the next female, they want to kick her ass! You stupid bitch! Kick your own ass for not letting that jumpoff take that burden off your hands!

  Stop turning a blind eye, living in the moment just to please the next person. Getting infected comes from ignorance. Black, white, yellow—HIV is colorblind! Rich, poor, middle class—AIDS doesn’t check W-2’s! I know not having intercourse isn’t the answer to the spread of the disease. People gonna get it in till the day they die! However, safe sex is! Just think if half of the men in this story wrapped that shit up! The moral to this rant . . .

  Love Yourself First!