Charm City Part 1 (Welcome to Bodymore Murdaland)

by S. L. Walker

  “Hell yea its cold,” Victoria chimed in. I gave a harsh look at Tori and went into my backpack.

  “You sure about this right?” I asked. “This is all of it,” I pulled out the big lump of weed that I had wrapped in a towel and gave it to her. She inspected it and shook her head in approval.

  “Yea, the faster this is done the better. Look for my page,” she told me.

  I saw her put the weed in a duffle bag. “Let’s go,” she said to her driver and they drove off.

  “I’m sure she knows what she’s doing,” Tori said putting her hand on my shoulder. I had just given all of Deon’s product away and the only person I trusted was Kaitlin.

  “Let’s go home it’s freezing.” I said, getting onto my bike. Fall was beginning to fully set in meaning Baltimore was beginning to awaken.

  EVA

  I walked into the house to an aroma that I hadn’t smelled in some months. My mom was in the kitchen cooking Spaghetti, my favorite. I turned the corner to our dining room as she was setting the table. Our house was small, but cozy. We lived in a row house neighborhood where all the homes were connected together. They were all built with a faded brick design; ours were a bit older but depending on what kind of neighborhood you lived in, they all were designed differently. The rich areas had fancy building designs and new interior. Everyone had a small square piece of front yard and a small square piece of backyard.

  My mom had a thing for elephants, especially African elephants, so our dining room had all the fancy African decor. She had even had the nice silver plates out with elephant engravings, that she only brought out during the holidays.

  She looked up at me and smiled, I hadn’t seen a pure smile from my mother in a long time. Her name was Tammy. My mom is Portuguese and Spanish. People said I looked more like my dad, but I had her thick eyebrows, full lips and long, full, dark hair. I had my dad’s wide, but cute, nose, brown eyes, cheekbones and small ears. I would’ve killed for my moms brownish/green eyes, though.

  “There’s my lovely daughter. I hope you’re hungry. Where have you been?” she asked me in her mixed Spanish and Portuguese accent. I took my coat off and hung it by the kitchen door.

  “I was with Raven. I didn’t know you were coming home so early,” I said, sitting at the dinner table. We only sat at the table when she actually cooked, which wasn’t often. I watched her put spaghetti on my plate and prepare a salad for me.

  “Well, I came home early because I have some semi-good news,” she said pulling out a bottle of wine and wine glasses.

  “Yea?” I asked, curious.

  “Your mother maybe getting a promotion!” She smiled from ear to ear. She popped open the wine and poured her a glass.

  “Seriously? That’s great, mom, but…” I thought about the hours she already worked.

  “And the best part is, these long hours go bye bye,” she grinned, sitting at the table with me and taking a sip of her wine.

  “In the case, I hope you get it,” I smiled.

  “It’s between me and one other person, but if I get this promotion, I don’t have to stay so long of hours. The client is literally only ten minutes away from here and she doesn’t require 24 hour attention,” she said with excitement pouring me half a glass off wine for myself.

  “Can I?” I took the wine from her.

  “I’m giving it to you, ain’t I?” She joked. “Just this once,” she lifted her glass to toast. I lifted my glass to toast with her.

  “Felicidades,” she said.

  My mother having a regular job, with regular hours brought a new type of happiness to my life. I would love for my mom to finally be able to spend time with me. For once.

  CHAPTER 3

  The next day, Raven strolled in class late earning her a warning stare from Professor Heart.

  “Where the hell were you?” Eva whispered.

  “I’ll tell you after class. Kaitlin never called or showed up with the money,” Raven said, pretending to open her textbook.

  “What?” Eva silently yelled. “What are you going to do?” She asked. Professor Heart cleared his throat.

  “I will continue if you guys are finished,” he put them on blast. They both looked at him apologetically.

  “Sorry,” Eva said giving a flirty smile. He turned his back to talk again. “We got to tell the girls. You got to find her,” Eva lowered her voice. Raven shook her head pissed.

  Raven met the girls outside the front of the school.

  “Wassup,” she said walking up to them worried.

  “Kaitlin never paged her,” Eva blurted out. They all looked at Raven for answers.

  “Kaitlin never paged you?” Victoria asked.

  “I don’t know what to do. She should have contacted me by now,” Raven started pacing back and forth.

  “Well, maybe it was too late or something and she will page you today,” Angel replied optimistically.

  “Ok, so why not tell me that? You know she didn’t show up to school today, either?” Raven said. “I even went to her homeroom. That’s why I was late for Biology,” she said turning to Eva.

  Raven then noticed past Eva’s head, Deon walking incredibly fast their way. He looked frantic. Before she knew it, he was right in Raven’s face.

  “What the fuck did you do, Raven?!” He said, angrily. He wasn’t yelling, but the tone in his voice and his words were enough. He grabbed her arm and snatched her away from them.

  “I know it was you that took my shit. What did you do?!” He asked pissed.

  “I swear, D, I was only trying to help. I sold it to Kaitlin to get you the money to get out of whatever it is you’re in,” she confessed.

  “You did what?!” He yelled this time. “You gotta be fuckin trippin! You gave all my weed to Kaitlin?! That bitch is trifling, why you think I never buy weed from her?!” He let go of Raven’s arm and started walking back and forth.

  “I’m sorry, she said she could get the money, but….” she stopped. He looked up at her and got back in her face again.

  “But what?!” He asked.

  “She hasn’t hit me yet with the money,” Raven said almost afraid.

  “Raven! Raven that girl is stupid! That was a lot of money! Kaitlin sells dime bags and shit. She don’t know nothing about no pounds of…” he stopped himself and looked around. He was being too loud and he knew better than to talk like that in public.

  “That’s okay, I’ll handle this shit. If she hits you, you hit me right then!” He put his hands up and walked away. Raven chased after him.

  “Wait, where are you going?” She asked. The girls stayed in the same spot Raven left them in, watching the whole thing.

  “To find Kaitlin,” he kept walking.

  “I’m going with you cus if that bitch…”

  “You’re not about to do a got damn thing but get on your little ass bike and go with your little ass friends home! I will handle it!” he stopped her. He took one long threatening pause at her and went back the way he came.

  The girls walked up to her.

  “You good?” Victoria asked.

  “Where is he going?” Asked Eva. They watched Deon get in his car and sped off.

  “Find Kaitlin,” Raven said.

  They decided to go to their spot at the shack and drink a little bit. Raven had a fake ID and was always the liquor supplier and tequila was their drink of choice. After the day Raven had, she needed it.

  They sat around the shack throwing back shots. Raven could’t stop checking her pager.

  “Give me another shot,” Eva said to Angel, who poured her one too.

  “Damn,” Victoria laughed. “Y’all is going to be drunk.”

  “I don’t care.” Angel said, taking a bite of lemon. “I need to be numb walking into that house.” She said staring into space.

  “Damn, you still dodging pops?” Eva asked her.

  “What’s going on with that?” Victoria asked.

  “I can’t even look at my mom and my dad gives me t
hese weird vibes. He told me this was between us and that he would tell her on his own time.” She said pouring another shot.

  “Slow down,” Victoria said.

  “I want to tell her so bad,” she said taking the shot and making a gagging noise.

  “Okay, yea that’s enough for you. No more liquor pouring for you,” Victoria grabbed the bottle and poured her own shot.

  “I don’t think you should say anything, Angie,” Raven said. “Trying to help family backfires.” She said. Victoria took her she as Raven took the bottle out of her hand.

  “That ain’t all true. I think you should do whatever you want. If you want to tell her, then tell her,” Eva told her.

  “Hell no, Angel,” Raven disagreed again. “I’m telling you, you’re gonna fuck it up,” she said, taking her shot. Angel was in too deep of thought, letting the alcohol help make her decision.

  ANGEL

  I was so drunk when I walked into the house, I knew for sure if either of my mom or dad saw me right now, they would smell it all over me. The house was quiet, which I was surprised because both cars were in the front and it was only about 7 o clock. The girls stayed back at the shack drinking, I needed to get away from all their opinions on telling my mom or not. I walked straight to my room and dived on my bed looking at the ceiling spin. My mom peeped her head in the door, startling me.

  “Hey, honey,” she smiled. “Oh sweety, you look exhausted. Long day at school?” She asked walking over to me. I sighed and struggled to sit on my elbows still dizzy.

  “Have you been drinking?” she looked at me. She then grabbed my cheeks and looked me in my eyes. I turned away. “Where in the world? Angel this isn’t you,” she fussed, sitting next to me. I rolled my eyes to get ready for the big no drinking talk that they both already had with me before High School started.

  “I know, ma,” I struggled to lean up.

  “Where did you even get access to alcohol? Where were you?” She asked, sternly.

  “Nowhere, mom. It won’t happen again. I just had a taste and had too much, okay? I came straight home,” I braced myself for more questions but instead she sighed, fixed my curly bang in my face and got up.

  “I know things have been a little weird around the house. I am not going to pretend like it hasn’t. You know what, let’s go for a mom and daughter day this weekend. Shopping and nails? What do you say? Maybe go have a picnic?” She smiled at me. I could tell she was worried about me.

  “Really?” We hadn’t had a day like that in a long time. “Yea,” I said happily.

  “Great,” she kissed me on my cheek. “And honey no more drinking. I’ll keep this between us. Go brush your teeth before your dad comes in, I can smell it all over you,” she poked me and walked out of the room.

  I turned to my mirror on my dresser and looked at how glossy my eyes were and put my hand over my breath to smell it. I cringed at the tequila stench. I was expecting my mom to be way more upset than she was, but maybe she had more important things to deal with; like my dad.

  VICTORIA

  Ever since I had saw that article about my father, I felt some type of way. He really didn’t claim me.

  I had even eventually ripped the page out and added it to my journal. I was disgusted. I had walked in the house around 8pm which was standard, given the fact that my mom knew I was troubled a bit, but surprisingly she never asked where I was or what I was doing up until tonight.

  I started towards my room, assuming my mom was either cooking or in her room; it was always one or the other. I passed by her room but didn’t see her, and there was no aroma coming from the kitchen. I threw my bag down on my bed, used the restroom, sprayed some peach body spray, and put water on my face to hide the tipsy look from all the tequila.

  “Ma!” I yelled out. She wasn’t in the kitchen or the living room. I noticed the back porch light was on and I could hear distant music playing in the background as I walked closer towards it. I walked out the sliding door onto the patio and there she was with a glass of wine and a cigarette. She hadn’t smoked in years. She looked over to me, wiped her eyes and turned to me with a fake smile.

  “Hey, Tori. What time is it?” She asked.

  “Why are you smoking?” I asked her back, standing in the middle of the doorway. “Are you crying?” I immediately thought there was something else my dad had done, wrote, or said.

  She wiped her eyes again as if she didn’t get all of her tears the first time. I had seen her cry a million times. I knew she had been out here crying, drinking and listening to slow jams.

  “Is it dad?” I asked stepping closer to her. She put the cigarette out on our small glass patio table and sat her wine glass down.

  “No, baby,” she said shook her head and motioned for me to come closer. “We got to talk.”

  I walked over and sat on one of the patio chairs. “What’s wrong?”

  “I got fired today,” she said, waiting on my reaction.

  “You got fired?” I really didn’t mean to ask. I had heard her the first time.

  “Yeap, for not doing that silly return that day. Guess the old bag really did complain about me and even though I knew she was a loyal customer, I did my job.” She grabbed her wine and sat back in her chair.

  “As long as you’ve been at that stupid store,” I sat down next to her. I felt for her. She shook her head.

  “She demanded for me to be fired or she’d take her business and about five other customers with her,” she laughed in frustration. “Which wouldn’t have mattered if those people weren’t rich and spent big money there.” She bit her lip and shook her head again at the sad reality of retail.

  “It’ll be okay mom. It was time to get out of that old boutique anyway. Maybe you can find a new boutique to work at,” I told her with a little bit of enthusiasm. There were small boutiques everywhere, especially at the more upscale side of town. Only problem was they weren’t hiring too many women of color.

  “Oh honey, thank you. But the bills don’t stop. I don’t want you to worry about anything, though, you hear me?” She touched my cheek and lit up another cigarette.

  “Mom, please don’t start smoking again,” I pleaded. Her quitting smoking was one of the best things I had seen her do. She looked better, smelled better and was just overall a cleaner person.

  “I won’t dear, I am just stressed right now. There’s pizza in the kitchen if you are hungry. Sorry, I didn’t cook. I will cook something good tomorrow, I promise,” she said taking a puff of her cigarette and leaning back again in her chair.

  She gave me a faint smile and I hugged her and walked back in the house. I turned around closing the door to see her glare at the cigarette in disgust and put it out. I wished I could help her.

  EVA

  The next day at school, I wasn’t excited as I should have been. My mom got the promotion but instead of her client being only ten minutes away, the client was two hours away. I guess she was misinformed. This meant a move unless I definitely didn’t want to see my mom for days on end. I was more pissed than ever. I walked into Professor Heart’s class giving him a not so welcoming hello, even when he gave me that oh so endearing smile he always gave.

  “Eva,” he said with a nod.

  “Morning,” I replied, coldly. I looked to see if Raven was in her seat but she wasn’t. Professor Heart began the class pretty abruptly, turning off the lights and turning on his projector.

  “Okay class, we have a new project coming up and these will be individual projects and not with partners,” he said clicking to the first slide on the human anatomy.

  “Great,” I rolled my eyes. As he began to go over the instructions on what we would be doing, I looked to the door for Raven, who still never came. I was a little irritated because I knew she would be the first person to tell about my situation with my mom now. I took my focus off the door and tried to pay attention to Professor Heart’s instructions. It involved a little more than what I was prepared to do on the human anatomy.
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br />   After class, I headed towards the door before Professor Heart stopped me.

  “Hey, Eva, can I talk to you for a second?” He asked, putting his lesson books away.

  “Yea, sure,” I walked over to his desk.

  “Have you talked to Raven today?” He asked me.

  “No, I was going to see if she came to school today. Maybe she is sick,” I told him.

  “You seemed a bit distracted today. Spaced out,” he said. I was a little surprised and flattered he noticed me that much.

  “Yea, I don’t really understand the project, but I am sure I will get it,” I told him.

  “Well, you are more than welcome to stay some time after class if you need help. I know the human anatomy is tricky, and I am not allowing partners, but I want you to get a good grade,” he said to me worried. My eyes lit up. I wasn’t exactly sure why he felt I needed tutoring, but I wasn’t going to complain. Professor Heart was sexy.

  “Yea sure, I’d like that,” trying not to let my eyes gaze over his plump caramel lips.

  “You guys have some time to get this in, so Monday after school?” He asked, confirming.

  “Monday,” I agreed putting a thumbs up and then shaking the butterflies off.

  “Alright, don’t forget to let Raven know. She is welcome as well,” he said as I excused myself before the butterflies came back. I knew Raven wouldn’t waste her time getting any tutoring done, she would just copy off of me.

  I shook my head and left the class smiling from ear to ear.

  My smile faded, though when I saw the girls at our favorite table during lunch. Raven was there. I knew I had to tell them this news about me possibly moving, but it looked like she had news herself.

  RAVEN

  Eva was the last to join us at the table during lunch. She didn’t look happy.

  “Why didn’t you go to class, Vee?” Eva asked, throwing her bag on the table.