by J. Gail
“Tony Jackson? Oh hey, young brother! What’s goin’ on?” the doctor said cheerfully. He was surprised to hear Tony’s voice.
“Ain’t nuffin, just chillin’. How’s everything over there at the prison – I mean the hospital,” Tony joked. “I bet the Nazi Nurse is still terrorizing the other inmates – I mean patients.”
“Very funny. It’s going great. But I need to be asking you that – how are you doing? You know you were supposed to come in and let me check the bandages after a week.”
“Yea, I know. But it’s cool,” Tony said, slowly setting back into his reality.
“What about your hearing?”
“It’s fine. Much better.”
The doctor paused as he took in the tone of Tony’s voice.
“What about otherwise? You don’t sound too hot,” he asked intuitively.
“I’m aiight.”
Dr. Stephens paused again for a while. “So you and Jenny are still together I see? How is she doing?”
Tony couldn’t help but laugh. He knew that as long as he kept this phone he was never going to be rid of Jenny’s memory. “Uh, no offense Doc, but hell naw. I ain’t never been with Jenny.”
“What’s that?” Doctor Stephens asked curiously. “She told me you all were engaged the last time I saw her. And isn’t this her phone number I called?”
“Let me tell you something Doc. Ya’ll should seriously think about getting Jenny 302ed, cuz she got a screw loose. We ain’t never been engaged.”
“Hmmm. That’s interesting. Well, I was actually calling because her supervisor told me that Jenny hasn’t been to work in weeks and she hasn’t been able to get in touch with her. We’re all a little worried about what happened to her. She hasn’t even called to check in.”
“Well I don’t know nothing about that Doc, she must be doin’ her own thing. Last I saw her she was tryin’ to stab me in the back with a butcher knife,” Tony mentioned nonchalantly.
There was an awkward silence as Dr. Stephens struggled to process what Tony had just said and find something to say in response.
“I told you she was crazy Doc,” Tony said as he pulled off the Lincoln Drive exit. “But look I gotta get off this phone.”
“Look Tony I gotta tell you something that’s been on my spirit to say for a long time now. I think –”
“Oh no you about to get spiritual with me Doc?” Tony said lightheartedly, trying to make it into a joke.
“Just listen to what I have to say. I’ll be quick. I’ve been wanting to say it since you left the hospital, but didn’t think I’d ever get the chance. After all our talks, I believe that you are a very smart, insightful young man with a lot of potential. I just hope you think so too. I remember a lot of what you used to tell me when you were staying here, about the women, and your friends and the streets. I just hope that you’re not falling victim to the negativity. You can do so much better with your life. I just wanted to let you know that I think you’re a special young man, and no matter what happens in life, just know that God has a hope and a future for you. And that’s it.”
Now Tony was the one who was speechless. He stared emptily at the road passing in front of him as he drove the intricate twists of Lincoln Drive with his mouth half open in thought. Nobody had ever said those type of things to him, other than his grandmother. It was strange and different hearing it from a man that he respected like Dr. Stephens.
“Thank you Doc,” is all that Tony could say in response.
“Alright, I’ll talk to you soon son. And don’t be a stranger, you can talk to me anytime you want. You have my number now,” Dr. Stephens said, and then hung up the phone.
Tony closed the phone and went into a trance of thought as he drove the rest of the way to the bar. Now he really needed a drink.
Chapter 22
“Aaaahhh!!” Quanisha screamed as she was dropped 100 feet from the sky. Her heart raced with a vengeance against her chest as she closed her eyes and waited for her inner organs to return to their normal places.
Stephanie’s friend Michelle laughed hysterically at Quanisha when they settled down at the bottom of the Free Fall.
“Oh my God! I’m never doin’ that again!” Quanisha said assuredly with a frown on her face as she pushed against the railing to free herself from the ride. She, Stephanie, Michelle, Karl and the baby had taken a trip down to King’s Dominion, an amusement park in Virginia. Michelle had convinced Quanisha to ride the Free Fall with her. Quanisha had already changed her mind by the time the ride had risen halfway up into the air, but it had been too late.
“That was fun!” Michelle said excitedly as they exited the ride. Quanisha’s legs felt like jelly underneath her, and they almost buckled when she started walking. “Whoa, you okay?”
“No!” Quanisha said seriously, but then laughed. She couldn’t believe she had actually just done that.
Stephanie ran up to them and hugged Quanisha tightly as she laughed. “I saw you up there! You looked like you were gonna cry!”
Quanisha couldn’t help but laugh too. “I shoulda kept my ass – I mean my butt down here with ya’ll! That shit was crazy!”
They had been at the park for over five hours, and it was definitely time to go. Feet were hurting, stomachs were growling and the baby, Michael, was crying to be held. But it had been an absolutely beautiful day. Quanisha had had a good time.
Karl was a medium height light skinned brother with a goatee and reddish toned thinning hair. He was good looking in the way that Malcolm X was, and very distinguished and serious looking. Quanisha had been afraid that Stephanie and Karl would be one of those couples that were inseparable and disgustingly affectionate with one another all the time, even in front of other people. She hated being around a couple that flaunted their relationship among single people.
But it wasn’t like that at all. Stephanie and Karl were obviously in love, but they didn’t need to show it. It was apparent in the way they talked to each other, how they interacted in any situation, such as their mutual decision to pay for everyone’s admission in the park, and the way they treated other people around them. They didn’t need to be kissing each other every other moment in order for people to know that they were husband and wife.
As they walked back to the car, Stephanie fell back behind everyone to talk to Quanisha in private.
“So are you having a good time?” she asked.
“Girl, I ain’t never had so much fun in my life. Thank you so much,” Quanisha smiled. Her face was still flushed a deep red from the Free Fall ride.
“I’m glad. I was worried you would think we were too ‘slow’ down here,” Stephanie admitted.
“What? Naw, I like it down here. I needed to get away from crazy ass Philly for a minute.”
“So what all’s been going on up there anyway?” Stephanie asked, and it was just the invitation Quanisha needed to get some things off of her chest. She sighed.
“Well, mom’s trippin’ again. I swear I can’t deal with that woman. Sometimes I wish she woulda just had that abortion she always told me she was gonna get. I think she had me just to make somebody else miserable besides herself.”
Stephanie was disturbed by what Quanisha had just told her, but not shocked. She had had points in her life when she had wanted to die, or wished she’d never been born. She could relate. But she felt sad that Quanisha was at that point in her life. She wasn’t sure if she knew the right thing to do to help. All she could do was try to lift her spirits while she was there.
“Well, I’m glad you were born,” Stephanie said simply.
Quanisha looked over at her Godsister for a moment, and then back down at the ground.
“Look sis, I’ve been there, but don’t put yourself down like that. God put you here on this earth for a reason, and you’d better believe it,” Stephanie continued.
When they reached home it was starting to get dark outside. Quanisha hoped that Stephanie had plans to cook or something because she was starvin
g. She thought they were supposed to be going out to eat, but Stephanie had insisted that they go straight home. Before Karl turned down their block, he stopped the car.
“Okay Nish, we have a little surprise for you,” Stephanie said as she turned to look at Quanisha with a smile. “So close your eyes. Michelle, make sure she keeps her eyes closed.”
“What? Why I gotta close my eyes?” Quanisha asked as a smile grew upon her lips.
“Just do it silly,” Stephanie commanded, and Quanisha finally just did it. Michelle reached around from the back and put her hands over Quanisha’s eyes. Quanisha felt the car moving again and a twinge of nervous energy ran through her body. What was all this about?
Finally they stopped and Stephanie got out of the car. She grabbed Quanisha’s hand to lead her out to the driveway. When they got there, Stephanie’s husband and Michelle stood behind them as Michael tried to get his mother’s attention by grabbing at her pants. Stephanie was busy holding her hands over Quanisha’s eyes though.
“Okay… open them!” she said excitedly.
Quanisha’s eyes slowly became transfixed on the sight of what looked like her Mazda Miata. But it was newly painted a solid black color, and the dent was completely gone.
“Oh my God!” she screeched.
“I hope you’re not mad, we took the liberty. Karl has a friend over at the auto repair who gave us a great deal,” Stephanie explained cautiously. She didn’t know if the look on Quanisha’s face was pleasant surprise or alarm at the fact that they had done something to her car without her approval.
“Oh my God Stephanie. This my car?” Quanisha finally asked in disbelief.
“Yea it’s your car,” Karl stepped in and explained. “My boy Bobby down at the shop hooked you up. Do you like it?”
“Like it? I love it!” Quanisha screamed and ran over to touch her car. She couldn’t believe that they had even painted it! “But how much do I gotta pay him, I don’t got any money for it right now?”
“Don’t worry about it, that’s my boy. He gave me a good deal. Just enjoy your car,” Karl said sincerely.
Quanisha looked at Karl and Stephanie in disbelief as she came to realize what they had done for her.
“This is our gift to you Nish. I know you’ve been going through a lot, and I wanted to at least try to fix one of your problems. I wish I could solve them all sis. I hope you like the color, they couldn’t find an exact match for the old one,” Stephanie said.
Quanisha’s eyes began to tear up as she ran her fingers across the area that had been dented before. Her car looked absolutely beautiful. It was good as new.
“Ya’ll don’t know how much this means to me. Thank you so much,” Quanisha said between sniffles as she let the tears start to flow. Stephanie went over to her Godsister and gave her a big hug.
“Don’t cry baby, you deserve this. You worked real hard for this car, and to have your own out there in Philly. I’m sure that everything else will fall right into place for you.”
“Thank you Stephanie,” Quanisha said in a muffled voice as she buried her face in Stephanie’s shoulder. “Thank you so much.”
Michelle and Karl stood off in the background and beamed as they watched the scene. Michael however wasn’t concerned with that.
“Mommy, when are we going to Red Lobsters?” he asked as he tugged on his mother’s pants leg again. At last, Stephanie let go of Quanisha, and it was apparent that she had been crying also.
“Okay, okay. Now we can go to Red Lobster!” Stephanie affirmed as she wiped her eye and grabbed her son’s hand. She put her arm around Quanisha and led her back to their truck with her husband and Michelle close behind.
Chapter 23
When Tony and Rob got to the small hole in the wall bar in Germantown, Tony immediately started ordering shots of Hennessey to help ease away his worries and fears. He couldn’t be up in the bar acting all uneasy and on edge. There was only about five or six other people in the bar chilling – it was the perfect atmosphere for Tony to get drunk in. No drama, no noise and best of all, no Rock.
Rob had ordered a beer and then took it with him to the bathroom. Tony was left by himself at the bar downing his third shot of Henny.
About a half an hour later, Tony was dancing with one of the only women that was in the bar at that time of day. She was definitely not pretty by his own standards, but she had a fairly nice body, and he needed a temporary distraction.
“Ohhhh… hoooo… yoooo!” Tony yelled rambunctiously as he danced with his Coors Light and burning cigarette high above his head, looking down at the girl who was doing a two step in front of him to the uptempo beat of Beanie Sigel’s Rock the Mic, which was playing over the jukebox.
He and Rob were making quite a scene in the otherwise quiet bar. They were acting like ballers in there, ordering drinks left and right. Tony was trying to spend up that $100 he had left as fast as he could. He didn’t care anymore, all he wanted to do was have fun for as long as he had on this earth. Scoop’s death had taught him that life was short. The liquor had taken all of his inhibitions away and he was having a good time.
That’s when a stocky medium height brown skinned brother walked by Tony and intentionally bumped into him on his way to the bathroom.
“Yo, watch where you goin’ man,” Tony said with a screw face.
“Man, fuck you,” the brother answered with an attitude. He grilled Tony down for a few moments, and then went on to the bathroom.
Tony was immediately turned off. “Who the hell do he think he is?” he said to Rob.
“I don’t know man, just chill though,” Rob warned.
“Fuck that little pussy,” Tony said loudly.
When the guy came back out, Tony couldn’t help but stare him down again. The guy looked at him and laughed as he sat back down at the bar with his boys.
“Man look at this clown,” he said to them as he pointed a thumb back at Tony. “This nigga got a broke ass Easy Pickins army coat on.”
Everybody within hearing distance of the guy started bawling. One guy was laughing so hard that he was doubled over.
“He got him a super extra large jawn. The inside of that coat probably says ‘Baby Phat’,” he cracked and had the whole bar dying with laughter.
Needless to say, Tony’s ego was wounded. He struggled to recover with a comeback.
“Nigga I know you ain’t talking with them fake ass busta Tims on,” he said.
“Oh you got something to say now? These Tim’s is fake like them sideburns is real,” the brother kept going as he pointed at Tony’s face. There wasn’t a dry eye at the bar. Their slow day had just transformed into an entertaining evening.
“That’s why you over there drinking Steel Reserve while I’m sipping on that Henny. Broke ass nigga,” Tony bragged.
“I’m drinking on the Reserve cuz Boo pissed in the Henny,” the brother returned quickly, referring to the huge bartender, Boo, who was shaking his head and chuckling as he poured someone a drink.
“Hook, you ain’t right,” Boo said with a chuckle.
“Suck my dick nigga,” Tony said as he grabbed his balls to disrespect his newly created nemesis.
“Hey, watch your mouth. I think Doughboy gonna be jealous if anybody else suck yo dick. I ain’t trynna step on nobody toes,” Hook shot back as he pointed directly at Rob and laughed. He had a razor sharp tongue, and had within minutes offended both Tony and Rob now. “Right Doughboy?”
Tony and Rob felt as if they had just got caught up in a whirlwind. Things had been going so smoothly and now they were the jokes of the bar. If they stayed, their egos would continue to be hurt. If they left they would look like punks.
“Man why don’t you just shut the fuck up,” is all that Tony could say as he held onto his now empty glass.
“Why don’t you just get the fuck up out my bar?” Hook asked. “This our spot, ya’ll ain’t welcome.”
“Who’s bar? Yours? I didn’t see ‘Pussy’s Bar’ on the sign outsid
e,” Tony responded. His comment drew a lot of “Ohhhhs” from the other patrons who were mostly still drinking, but listening intently to the exchange.
“Oh now suddenly you learned how to bust on somebody,” Hook laughed and then hopped off his stool. He walked right up to Tony and got in his face. “You got a lot of nerve coming up in my bar talking shit bruh.”
“Nigga, if you don’t get the fuck out my face,” Tony said as he put his finger up in Hook’s face.
Hook grabbed Tony’s finger and twisted it around so hard that Tony squealed out in pain. He heard something crack.
“Lemme go, lemme go!” Tony yelled as he struggled to break free of the hold.
“Yo Hook, chill with all that shit. You know the blue shirts been looking for a reason to fuck with my bar,” Boo called out from behind the bar. He put down the bottle of Wild Turkey he was holding and started heading around the bar.
Hook let go of Tony’s finger, which Tony was sure was broken by then. He pushed Tony back and threw a left hook that hit Tony so hard that he slid down the wood paneled wall. Now Tony knew how Hook had gotten his name.
“Hook!” Boo said as he pulled Hook away from Tony and back towards the bar. He was just in time because Rob was about to throw a punch at Hook. Tony was getting up from the floor. The blow had rocked him a little bit.
Tony couldn’t go out like that. He charged for Hook and swung but missed. Hook hit him again. Rob came behind him and was confronted by some of Hook’s boys. When they put his hands on him to push him back he swung at one of them and landed a punch to to his right eye. His other boy hit Rob out of nowhere and a fight broke out among them as well. Meanwhile Tony was ducking and protecting himself, trying to find an opening to get Hook just once.
Boo took over before an all out brawl could ensue. He grabbed Rob by the collar with his huge hand and pushed Tony forward towards the entrance with all of his power. Tony fell forward like a rag doll when Boo pushed him to the point where his hands had hit the ground.
“Get the fuck out of here!” Boo barked as he finished dragging Tony and Rob out of the bar. He shut the door and looked out of the clear glass window, daring either one of them to try to come back in. Everybody in the bar was laughing hysterically. Tony and Rob had gotten embarrassed and played beyond belief.