by J. Gail
Tony had finally decided that there were two options for his life. To go in the wrong direction and fall victim to the streets, or to go in the right direction and try to become a responsible young brother. He spoke to Dr. Stephens just about every other week and updated him on what was going on in his life. Sometimes the doctor even helped him with homework problems over the phone. Dr. Stephens had become a big influence on Tony’s life. It was no instant transformation however – Tony still had some of his bad habits to shake, like yearning for other women and opening his big mouth when he shouldn’t, but he managed to keep both vices under control, at least temporarily.
Quanisha was back and forth from Philly to VA every few weeks. She would stay with Stephanie for the weekend and then head back. It was like her respite away from home when she started to feel the pressure of family and life in Philadelphia. In the meantime, she had found a new, better paying job at a supermarket in the suburbs, where the conditions were a lot more pleasant. She was saving up every penny she could spare for her plans to move to the Virginia area within the next couple of years. She and Stephanie were talking just about every other day, and Stephanie was trying to help Quanisha enroll in a community college near Philadelphia now, so that when and if she did move to Virginia she could then go to a four year college. Quanisha was also considering going to a reputable beauty school instead of college, so that she could be on the right path towards opening the beauty shop she had always dreamed of owning. She decided to take a few more months before making that final decision about school and save up as much money as she could in the meanwhile. To help Quanisha save, Stephanie and her husband would give her the money to cover her frequent trips to see them in Virginia. She was like part of their family now.
Tony and Quanisha were doing okay. They still fought, just about every day, but Tony was now contributing to the bills and spending more time with his woman, which caused a very big weight to be lifted off of Quanisha’s shoulders. She definitely couldn’t complain about the fact that Tony was no longer giving her reasons to suspect that he was cheating.
Even Jenny had stopped coming by Tony’s grandmother’s house when Mrs. Jackson invited her in and sat her down for a long talk. She made it clear to Jenny that Tony didn’t live there anymore, and even if he did he was simply not interested. There was something about a third party, an older female, telling her those things to her face in a loving way that made her finally grasp that she was wasting her time and should move on to the next stalkee. Jenny surprised Mrs. Jackson when she revealed that she had lost the baby; Mrs. Jackson hadn’t even known that Jenny was pregnant. Maybe that was why she was tripping so much, Mrs. Jackson thought. In any case, she breathed a silent sigh of relief when Jenny left; no strings attached. She didn’t know if she got through to Jenny completely, as far as getting off whatever substance she was on and getting psychological help, but what she said was enough to make Jenny stay away from the house. The very next day, Jenny had turned off the phone Tony was holding. It was the final indication that Jenny was moving on.
Tony’s fears about being tracked down by Rock were squashed when he found out by word of mouth that Rock had been picked up for drugs, and as a suspect in Scoop’s murder. Word was, just based on the amount of drugs Rock had on him when he was caught, he was probably going to be going away for a very long time.
Scoop’s girlfriend Shaquita went through a mental breakdown after she found out that Scoop had been killed. She tried to kill herself by taking a bottle full of Percocets, but was found alive ironically by her jump-off Tim, a brother who she had been dealing with off and on during her entire relationship with Scoop. Tim had been the distraction she needed when she knew Scoop was out there doing his own thing, and one of the reasons why she didn’t always make a big deal about Scoop’s affairs. Tim came in the house that day and found Shaquita laid out on the couch passed out. He was just in time, because as the doctors said, just a few more hours and she would have been dead. Unfortunately, after taking some blood tests, they discovered that Shaquita was HIV positive also.
Tony had been nervous about approaching Terrance for weeks, but finally got up the courage to do what he needed to do to get his best friend back.
He showed up at Terrance’s house one Saturday with a basketball that had two $20 bills taped to it. It was his way of apologizing to Terrance, and admitting what he did wrong. Terrance understood immediately. He didn’t say anything about the money; he just went inside and got his keys so that they could go down the block to the park to shoot some hoops.
A small miracle happened a few weeks after Tony walked out of that bar and went on with his life. Someone had dropped Tony’s silver box off on Grandma Jackson’s porch. It was missing a lot of things of value, but it still had the picture of Tony’s mother and the baseball cards inside. On top of that, every page of Tony’s rhymes that he had written was stacked neatly underneath the other items. There was no good explanation for it, other than a thief who also had a heart. Either that, or someone close to the thief had returned it – it was a good thing that Tony had written his grandmother’s address on the bottom of the box. Seeing his mother’s picture gave Tony an added dose of encouragement and strength to go on.
As Tony looked in the distance and saw the brightly lit Philadelphia skyline against the darkness approaching, he thought about how far he had come in such a short time. He had made some hard decisions in his life, but none as hard as the one he had made to change his life around for the better. He still wasn’t perfect by any means, but he was trying. He was really genuinely trying.
He sat on that bus and smirked to himself as he thought of how good it felt to finally be on the right track. Who would have ever thought that Tony, the asshole of West Philly, would start doing the right thing? To have everybody love him, have faith in him and see the change in Tony for themselves was way more valuable than any stolen watch or ego boost to Tony now.
“Stop the fucking bus! Stop!” a brother in his thirties who had been standing at the back exit yelled in distress, causing Tony to lose his train of thought. The brother hustled up to the front with his half open raggedy looking bookbag slung over his right arm and started cursing out the husky female driver.
“Didn’t you hear the fucking bell? I rang that shit three times! That means to STOP you dumb ass bitch! Now I gotta walk all the way back there. Man, I’m tired of these stupid ass bus drivers!” he raged on as he stomped down off the bus. When he stepped down off the last step he just missed the curb, tripped and fell flat on his face. The contents of his bookbag fell out all over the sidewalk.
Everybody in the front of the bus saw, including the driver, and started screaming with laughter. The bus driver leaned over and pointed to a small sign near the entrance.
“Didn’t you see the sign? That means to ‘Watch Yo Step’!” she cackled and then shut the door behind him, feeling glad that at least one thing had gone right for her that day. She put the bus back in gear and pulled off.
Tony stood up and stretched his neck to see what everybody was laughing at. When he couldn’t see, he got up from his seat and looked out the window, just in time to see the man getting up from the pavement. He smirked.
“Damn nigga, Karma’s a bitch!” he said and then laughed hysterically. After recovering, he looked at the brother until he passed out of view, and then went back to sit down with an amused smile still plastered to his face. Tony was so glad that that wasn’t him anymore. He glanced up at the sky again and by chance saw one unusually bright star shining in the midnight black sky. He nodded his head as he thought to himself that that star was made just for him. God had been trying to reach Tony for a long time to get his life right, and he was finally listening.
It had been long overdue for Tony to man up and take responsibility for his life. He pounded his fist on his chest once as he looked at that star and made a personal vow to God, Quanisha and his grandmother at that very moment. He had a lot to live for, and nothing to gain by
living his life like an ignorant fool.
Tony Jackson vowed then and there that he would never be Karma’s bitch again.
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