by J. Gail
He pulled up in front of Shaquita’s house and saw one of her girlfriends, Lisa, coming out of the apartment complex.
“What’s going on Lis,” Scoop said, acknowledging her.
“Ain’t nuffin’,” she replied. “But I do know that Quita ‘bout to be going up in your ass. She in there trippin’. She talkin’ bout how she bought a Nina to handle yo ass.”
Scoop’s gulp could be heard down the block. “She bought a gun?”
“Nigga I don’t know if she was lying or not, but if I was you, I would turn your ass around and get the hell out of here,” Lisa warned before walking on down the path towards her car. Normally, Scoop would have asked Lisa when he would see her again, but he was too shook by what she had just told him. He had been having an ongoing affair with Lisa, and two other girlfriends of Shaquita’s on the side. They had all been really good about keeping their mouths shut, and Lisa especially, with her thick caramel thighs, kept him having wet dreams. It was exciting for Scoop to be doing Shaquita’s girlfriends without her knowing, and he was going to keep it going for as long as possible.
Scoop thought about going to the store first and grabbing a dozen pink roses, but knew that wouldn’t fly with Shaquita. He pulled out his wallet and counted off $300. It’s not much, but this is the only thing that’s going to make her happy, he thought as he rolled up the money and placed it in his fist.
Scoop made it upstairs and turned the key in the lock slowly and quietly. He didn’t know what was awaiting him behind that door, but he had to face the music. He became dizzy and shook his head a few times before walking into the apartment.
“Quita baby? I’m home. I got a surprise for youuu,” Scoop called out as he walked towards the bedroom in the back of the apartment.
He only had one foot in the room when Shaquita jumped out from behind the door and hit him with a heavy right jab to the jaw. Scoop went flying and hit his stomach on the corner of the nearby dresser. The money fell out of his hand onto the floor.
“Yea I got a surprise for you too bitch,” Shaquita said, rolling up her sleeves and squaring up. She was ready to fight. Something in Scoop flared up. He made a charge for Shaquita, body slamming her on the bed with all of his might.
“Nigga if you don’t get the fuck up off of me!” Shaquita hollered in a voice that was probably deeper than Scoop could ever achieve. She punched and slapped at Scoop mercilessly. He grabbed her hands, finally getting hold of her. He reared back and slapped the taste out of her mouth.
“Don’t you ever ever punch me like that again. I don’t care what the hell you going through!” Scoop yelled at her. He didn’t know what had come over him, but something about the way she hit him out of nowhere and sent him flying like that made him furious. But once he regained his senses, he regretted what he had done.
Shaquita laid there on the bed holding her cheek with a look of astonishment on her face. She couldn’t believe that Scoop had actually put his hands on her, let alone on her face. Nobody touched Shaquita’s face and got away with it.
“Nigga! You ‘bout to die!” Shaquita let out a chilling yell and bucked wildly, finally freeing herself from Scoop’s hold. She stomped out of the bedroom and headed for the living room. Scoop looked around the bedroom helplessly and thought of what he should do. Should he stay there and fight off whatever Shaquita had in store, or high tail it?
When he finally came scurring out of the bedroom, it was too late. Shaquita was posted up on the wall near the kitchen holding a dusty, old looking gun near her crotch, looking like a character straight out of Boys in the Hood. The gun was probably something she had bought on the street. Scoop saw her and said to himself that now she had gone too far. He had to stop this craziness.
“Girl what the hell are you doing with that gun?” Scoop said, approaching Shaquita with caution. “You actin’ real dumb right now.”
“Huh? You gonna call me dumb, and here I am holding the end of your life? You better think about what you gonna say before you say it nigga,” Shaquita said ominously and then lifted the gun up to point it directly at Scoop’s head.
“Quita, I ain’t playin’ around wit you right now. You don’t pull no weapon on your man, I don’t care what you goin’ through,” Scoop said as he moved even closer.
“And you don’t roll up in here the next fucking day like it’s all good neither! You lost your damn mind!” Shaquita screamed at the top of her lungs.
“Mommy!”
Shaquita and Scoop both jerked their heads in the direction of the hallway and saw their young son Yusef standing there with his head low down on his chest and his eyes looking up at his mom with the gun in her hand. She looked like a mad woman with her hair all over her head and her eyes glimmering with hate. Shaquita lowered the gun a little when she saw her son standing there looking forlorn.
“Sef, go play your Playstation little man. Everything’s alright,” Scoop assured his son.
“Yusef baby, go to your room! Now!” Shaquita screamed madly, and Yusef scurried to the back.
“You see that? Your son was asking for you all day yesterday, and meanwhile your stupid ass is out there in some other bitch’s house fucking! You don’t care about your family!” Shaquita continued yelling.
She cocked back the hammer on the gun and started to point it at Scoop again, but before she could lift it all the way, Scoop charged at her and grabbed hold of it just in time. He tackled Shaquita down to the floor, took the gun and smacked Shaquita hard across the face with it, several times.
“Bitch you must be crazy! I give you everything!! And all you do is complain! I’m tired of this shit! I’m a muthafucking gangsta, don’t you know? You take my kindness for weakness. I do everything for your ass and you gonna point a fucking gun at me? Fuck you you stupid whore!” Scoop shouted and then jumped back up off of Shaquita, who looked as if she were about to lose consciousness. But Scoop didn’t care, because he was seeing red.
“I work damn near 80 hours a week so you can have Louis Vuitton, Gucci and that brand new car outside! You ain’t never happy. You always tryin’ to hurt me. You ain’t no better than my mom! I’m sick of this shit man. I’m out!” Scoop yelled before he stepped over Shaquita and headed for the door. He still had her gun in his hand.
“Scoop, Scoop baby come back,” Shaquita said feebly as she tried to get up from the floor.
“Don’t fucking say nothin’ to me! I’m through wit your crazy ass!” Scoop yelled. He looked back and saw his son Yusef peeking out from the hallway at him. He had probably seen everything. Shaquita was now crying on the floor looking helpless.
Scoop finally just shook his head at the scene and slammed the door behind him.
Chapter 13
“What in the hell is going on with me?” Tony asked himself as he sat on the corner of the hospital bed.
For the past couple of days leading up to his release from the hospital, he had been sick from some kind of food poisoning, and he was still feeling like he wanted to throw up some more. And he had to assume that it was all because he had stolen that hospital food. The time he spent laying up in that hospital room gave him a lot of time to think about what had been happening to him lately. Was God trying to punish him or something?
Jenny was on her way to pick him up from the hospital. The wheelchair was already waiting in the room for him, and he was just waiting for his ride. The day before, after an entire day of uninterrupted sleep the day he got the poisoning, Tony had gathered the strength to dial his grandmother’s home number. The phone rang and rang and rang off the hook. Even though he didn’t trust Jenny one bit, he had to assume for the time being that what Jenny told him about his grandmother being transferred to another hospital was true. What else could explain the nurse upstairs telling him that she had been released, and no answer at her home phone number?
“Hey baby!” Jenny walked into the room and said happily, just as Tony was reaching for his hospital phone again.
“Stop calling me baby, dam
n,” Tony said, immediately becoming annoyed. There was something about Jenny that just made his skin crawl. But she was the only person that was there to take him home. He didn’t even know where his own car was at, but assumed that Scoop had it.
He hadn’t heard from Scoop or Quanisha in the longest time, and Terrance wasn’t answering his phone. Terrance had told Tony a while ago that he was going away on a business trip to California soon, which was probably where he was now. In fact, Terrance didn’t even know yet that Tony had been in the hospital. So Tony would just have to put up with Jenny for a little while longer.
“Did you have a good day?” Jenny said, unphased by what Tony had said.
“I’m gonna have a great day once I get out this damn hospital. I ain’t never coming here again. Next time just let me die,” he said flippantly.
“Anthony, don’t say things like that,” Jenny said as she helped load him into his wheelchair.
Tony looked up at Jenny as if she was deaf, dumb and blind. “Are you retarded or something? Be honest, because I don’t know how many times I got to tell your ass! My name is TONY, not Anthony!” Tony said through his teeth as he threw his hands up in frustration.
“Uhh, excuse me.” They both heard a knock at the door, and saw that it was Doctor Stephens.
“Oh, hey Doc,” Tony said as he reached forward to give the doctor a handshake. He and Doctor Stephens had gotten pretty close during his stay at the hospital. They talked all the time about life stuff, man stuff, and women. Tony told him all about how his mother had died, and how his father abandoned them a long time ago. The doctor gave Tony advice on mundane issues, and Tony caught the doctor up on the new things that were happening in the hood. Doctor Stephens was the one bright light to Tony’s stay at that boring hospital.
“Heyyy, Tony. So you’re getting out today huh?” the doctor asked with a big smile.
“Yea, no offense, but I’m ready to get the hell up outta here Doc,” Tony said with certainty.
“I feel you youngblood. And you had better heed what I told you, about that uhhh…” Doctor Stephens looked over at Jenny and hesitated. “Well you know, I don’t want to embarrass you in front of the lady. Listen Nurse Storms, do you have a minute before you go? I wanted to talk to you.”
“Sure Doctor Stephens,” Jenny said, following the doctor’s lead out of the room to the hallway. When they were there, Doctor Stephens’ smile turned to a more serious look.
“Nurse Storms, I’ve been made aware of what happened a few weeks ago when Tony was admitted between you and—”
“You mean that crazy woman that attacked me in his room,” Jenny said, jumping on the offensive.
“Uh, yes. Well I wanted to hear your side of what happened,” Doctor Stephens said, looking intentionally in Jenny’s eyes to gauge whether she would be telling the truth.
Jenny looked away towards Tony’s room and instead of answering Dr. Stephens she said, almost in a whisper, “Did you say something to Tony about that?”
“No I didn’t, why?”
Jenny looked relieved. “Well it was really crazy. His ex-girlfriend came in the room while I was talking to Tony, and didn’t like what she saw. She was jealous that he chose me over her. So she attacked me.”
“So, not to pry into your business, but you are dating Mr. Jackson now?” Dr. Stephens asked.
“Yes, actually, we are engaged to be married. See?” Jenny said, flashing her shiny brand new three carat diamond engagement ring.
“Oh! Wow, would you look at that. Tony didn’t tell me anything about being engaged,” the doctor said curiously.
“Yup, we’ve been talking about it for a few weeks now,” Jenny said smiling from ear to ear.
“Well, congratulations Nurse Storms. I wish you all the happiness and luck,” Dr. Stephens said sincerely. But he couldn’t help but wonder about this engagement. How did she get engaged while Tony was in the hospital? And he knew that Tony had no job and no place to live, so how in the world was this boy able to afford an engagment ring? How could he be ready to get married?
“Thank you. Well, I’d better get back in there to my fiance!” Jenny said and went back into the room before Dr. Stephens had a chance to ask any more questions.
When Jenny rolled Tony out of the hospital, he sighed at the feeling of being outside for the first time in weeks. The wind felt so good against his skin.
“I’m going to take good care of you Anth—I mean Tony. The doctor said you need at least another week for your rib cage to heal.”
“Yea whatever, I’ll be fine,” Tony answered. He didn’t like the idea of going to stay at Jenny’s house, but he didn’t know where else to go.
“Yo, can you take me to see my grandma? You said they transferred her right?” Tony asked Jenny for the umpteenth time. But he never got an answer he liked.
Jenny thought for a while before answering.
“Did you hear me? Take me to go see my moms,” Tony said again.
“I don’t know where your grandmother was transferred to,” Jenny finally said. “I can find out for you.”
“You always sayin’ that shit! You told me you were gonna find out two days ago. What the fuck is going on Jenny? Where’s my grandmother?”
“I don’t know Tony! I got a lot going on myself, I didn’t have time to find out just yet. I promise you, I’ll find your grandmother for you,” Jenny lied. She didn’t even really know exactly why she wasn’t telling Tony that his grandmother was home already. But if she wanted to be honest with herself, she was doing it because she knew that Tony’s grandmother didn’t like her. She didn’t want anyone throwing negative ideas in Tony’s head about her, and messing up their plans to get married. Jenny wished he would stop bringing up his grandmother’s name everytime he saw her, but no such luck.
“You better get on that shit ASAP, and stop playin’ Jenny. I want to talk to my mom,” Tony said seriously. Jenny just wheeled him to the car and thought more about how things were going to be now that she had her man back.
* * *
“Hello, is Quanisha Williams there?” Dr. Stephens asked into the phone.
“Yea, this her,” Quanisha said skeptically. “Who dis?”
“Hi Ms. Williams, this is Dr. Stephens, from the hospital, where Tony Jackson is registered?”
“Oh yea, how you doin’ Doctor,” Quanisha replied. “I was looking for you the last time I was in the hospital, but I haven’t been back in a while…”
“I know. I wanted to get back with you and touch bases about our conversation. This might be an old issue at this point for you, but I like to keep my promises. I told you I would speak to Nurse Storms about your confrontation with her.”
“Yea, and what did she say?” Quanisha said shifting in her seat.
“Ms. Williams, I don’t know entirely what is going on, but she says that you attacked her and--”
“I attacked her?” When Quanisha heard this her blood pressure started to rise.
“But listen first. She also told me that she and Tony were engaged to be married. I don’t know how true this is, but I’ve got to be honest with you Ms. Williams, the whole situation seems a little fishy to me. Tony and I talk all the time and he never told me anything about being engaged. Actually I was surprised because he told me many times that you were his girlfriend. I honestly don’t know what’s going on.”
Quanisha became frozen in time when she heard Dr. Stephens say that Tony and the nurse were engaged.
“Ms. Williams?” Dr. Stephens said when Quanisha didn’t respond.
“Well do you believe me now then? That she’s crazy? There’s no way they’re engaged!”
“I don’t know about crazy but… well all I can tell you is that I will keep my eye on Nurse Storms. My instincts tell me that she’s hiding something, or just not being totally truthful about something. She doesn’t usually work on my floor but…” The doctor hesitated as he struggled between his human instincts and his need to remain professional. His c
onscience was winning. “Let’s just say I’m going to keep tabs on Nurse Storms. Something’s not right. In the meanwhile, Tony was released from the hospital today, and he went home with her. I just hope everything will be okay. Tony reminds me of myself when I was younger, and I’d hate for him to get caught up in some mess.”
Quanisha shook her head and felt as if she wanted to start crying again. Tony? Engaged? It couldn’t be. Not to that frail shapeless boring nurse! And he was going home with her?
“Doctor, I gotta go.”
“Are you going to be okay Ms. Williams?”
“Uh, yea. I don’t know. I just need some time by myself.”
“Alright. Well, don’t hesitate to call me if you ever want to talk. I may be just an old doctor, but I have an ear to listen. I know how it is out here for you young people these days.”
“Thanks Doctor. I’ll talk to you later,” Quanisha said holding back tears. She hurried up and hung up the phone before the doctor could hear her crying.
Before she could get it out, her home phone started ringing. She wondered if she should even answer it, but something in her was hoping that it was Tony.
“Hello?” she said in a low voice.
“Quanisha! Baby, you don’t know how happy I am to hear your voice child,” Tony’s grandmother said happily as she grasped her chest.
“Miss Teresa?”
“Yes Quanisha. I been tryin’ to call you for the longest time. I thought I had the wrong number!”
“I thought you were in the hospital?” Quanisha was confused.
“Girl I’ve been out that hospital for almost a week now. Where’s my son Anthony? Is he there?” Tony’s grandmother asked hopefully.
“Miss Teresa, I don’t have no idea where Tony is right now. He just got out the hospital today.”
“Huh? No I said I just got out the hospital baby,” Tony’s grandmother corrected Quanisha.