by Jahquel J
“Gyan, if we miss this bus, I’m going to be pissed,” I sucked my teeth. He was walking slow with his hands stuffed in his pockets. The ground was still icy from the snow that we got last night. The landlords on this block did the best they could to clear the streets. Staring back, I noticed my slowpoke of a son was still dragging his ass. “Gyan, if we miss this bus, I’m not making your favorite tonight.”
Soon as he heard those words, he put some pep in his steps and matched my speed as we headed down the block to the bus stop. After using Google maps to figure out how I could get to Gyan’s school to drop him off, and then get to work, we were on our way. This morning he dragged his tail for a bit because he claimed the bed was too comfortable. It felt good to wake up and make him breakfast before he had to start his day. In the back of mind, I continued to tell myself not to get too comfortable with this arrangement.
“Why you didn’t call me?” I heard someone call out. Stopping mid-stride, I saw a black Mercedes G-Wagon pull up beside us.
“That truck is fire, Mom!” Gyan gawked over the luxurious car.
“I can manage to get my son to school and myself to work. There was no need to pull you out of bed early in the morning.” He made sure to make me program his phone number into my phone.
“It’s cold, get in the truck,” he demanded, and I didn’t put up a fight. He hopped out, came around and held the door open for me and Gyan. It was something I noticed about him. The short amount of time I’ve been around him, he never allowed my hands to touch a door. Even when I didn’t allow him to come into Cindy’s apartment, he got out and held the door open for us.
“Thank you,” I told him and placed my purse down on the floor, put my seat belt on and looked to the back to see if Gyan did the same. He was so into the truck that he didn’t make eye contact with me until Yoshon finally got into the car.
“Cold as hell out there. You should have called me,” he made sure to mention for the second time.
He was already allowing me to use his condo, what did I look like calling him for free rides to work and school? Certain stuff wasn’t necessary. I hadn’t lived in the city for a few years, but I could manage to get around long as I could navigate with my GPS app on my phone.
“Listen, I didn’t feel the need to call you in the morning. Just because we have to be up early doesn’t mean you have to.”
“I get up at four in the morning every morning and work out with my trainer. You don’t need to ever worry about that. Next time you know,” he informed me.
Staring at his body, you could tell he worked out a great deal. Everything was all tight with his veins busting out his damn skin. It turned me on to see a man so fit and conscious about his body. Men these days were so into drinking Sprite with lean or smoking their lungs black. It was nice to see a man who was into fitness. Yoshon was a fine specimen of a man. He had this whole older vibe going and it turned me the fuck on. His brown skin had small moles and freckles around his eyes. His lips, man, his lips were nice, pink and juicy. I wasn’t big on kissing, yet I wouldn’t mind sucking his lips while I rode his dick, hard. His full beard was a turn on in its self. He wasn’t in the trend of the long and thick beards. He had one, but it was cut low. Yoshon put me in the mindset of the rapper Method Man, and everyone knew that man aged like fine wine in a cellar.
“You gonna stop screwing me with your eyes?”
Looking away quickly, I was embarrassed. He had pulled off and was paying attention to the morning traffic. If I knew he was staring at me, I wouldn’t have kept my eyes peeled out the window.
“You don’t curse?”
“Not in front of children.”
“Thank you.” Gyan’s own father couldn’t practice that rule. He would say any and everything in front of our son. I didn’t want to make it seem like I was a saint because I was far from it. Still, I tried not to curse when my son was in my presence. Damn or shit would slip out my mouth occasionally, but I never cursed at or around my son if I couldn’t help it.
“Where’s his school?”
I rambled off the address and he nodded his head. We drove through Brooklyn, and I stared out the window, glad that I didn’t have to tackle that public transportation commute. The snow here in New York City was always different from Virginia. In Virginia, I would stand in my big bay window and watch the white snow trickle down onto the driveway. It would stay white for days and then eventually, it would get dirtied when the kids ran their dirty shoes and shovels through it. Here, it was different. It seemed as if soon as the snow fell to the ground, it was dirty. As a child living here, I remembered just having snow. It didn’t matter if it was dirty or clean, it was snow. As an adult, I could see how dirty and nasty the snow here in the city really was. We pulled in front of Gyan’s school, and I was about to touch the door handle but Yoshon stopped me.
“Whenever I’m around, you don’t ever touch a door, door handle or anything… okay?”
Nodding my head, I allowed him to get out and swagger around the truck. He held the door open for me and I walked Gyan into the school. Kissing him on his cheek, he was quick to wipe it away before anyone else saw. My little boy wasn’t so little anymore and he wouldn’t need mommy around him forever.
“Have a great day today. I’ll be here to pick you up from school, okay?”
“Mom, what ab—” He fixed his mouth to ask about my other job and I shut him down. Gyan didn’t need to worry about the adult issues I had. I wanted to keep him a child for however long I was able to.
“Stop worrying about that. Go into school and be a kid, Bighead.” I teased and he allowed a little smirk.
“Okay, Mom. Love you.” He kissed me on the cheek and then ran into his school. I stood there watching him longer than I needed to.
“You know he’s probably in third period, right?” Yoshon joked from behind me. leaning on the car, he stood there with his arms crossed and observed. It was then that I noticed that he had on a pair of basketball shorts, those athletic tights underneath and a hoodie on. His hat was sitting real low over his eyes.
“Shut up, tights,” I remarked and got into the car.
“Oh, she got jokes,” he snickered and drove away from the school. “You’re not going to work today,” he told me.
“Wait, what? I have to go to work. If I don’t go to work, I can’t feed my son,” I panicked and turned toward him. I didn’t give a damn about the damn seatbelt; this man was speaking pure foolishness right now.
“Don’t worry. You’ll feed your son,” he told me.
“How?”
“Let me worry about that. I gotta make a run to my crib real quick,” he told me and ignored my concern and pure panic mode face. “Calm down. I didn’t say you wasn’t going to work ever; I just said not today.”
“Why, though?”
“Because I think I should spend the day getting to know the woman who is staying in my condo… and shouldn’t you get to know the man providing the condo?”
“You’re right. See, I don’t have anyone who can cover my shift.”
“Call out. If they fire you, I have a good lawyer. Not like you need to fight for the job you have. It must not be shit if you’re sleeping in your whip with a bad transmission.”
“It wasn’t much, but it allowed me to feed my son.” I sent a quick message to my manager and then turned my phone off quickly. She would call me and demand me to tell her over the phone why I couldn’t come in to work. To avoid all of that, I shut my phone off and shoved it in my purse as he continued to drive.
“Where you from, Golden?”
“Here.”
“I know you’re from here. I hear the New York all in your voice. However, I don’t hear it in your son’s voice. So, where were you living after you left New York?”
“You’re either too observant or too nosey.”
“It’s not every day I help a beautiful woman and her son. And, to answer your question, I observe everything.”
“I’m from Nor
th Carolina. I lost my job down there and came home to stay with my grandmother to find out that she’s in a nursing home and my uncles sold her home. So, that’s how I ended up where I’m at now.” The lie just fell off my lips like they were the truth. Had I become a liar? He couldn’t know where I came from or that I was running from my husband. Grand knew a lot of people especially up north. What if this man knew Grand and tipped him off to me? Teri said that he wasn’t looking for me and I didn’t believe it at all. To her, he wouldn’t mention that he was.
“Damn, I’m sorry to hear about that. None of your family didn’t let you stay with them?” he continued with his questions. It was annoying to lie because then you had to remember your lie and try hard not to get caught in your lie.
“I did for a while. We stayed from place to place until we became a burden on them. My family is funny acting, so I chose to stay in my car until I found a place.”
“Who house you was staying at before? The project building you didn’t let me enter?” God, this man had too many damn questions.
“A friend.”
“Friends don’t kick friends out during blizzards.”
“Her boyfriend tried to have sex with me and I turned him down. Instead of being honest, he lied and told her that I tried to have sex with him.”
“Corny ass nigga,” he muttered.
“Exactly. I don’t blame her. She’s in love and is going to do anything to make sure she keeps her man. It is what it is.”
“How old are you?”
“Twenty- Six.”
“You the same age as my little sister.”
“How old are you?”
“Thirty-eight.”
“Damn, you damn near forty years old. Where’s your wife, minivan, and kids?” I choked out in laughter, glad that he switched the subject because I didn’t think I had any more lies in me.
“You think you funny? I don’t have a wife, and I would shoot myself before I drove a minivan and I don’t have any kids. At least none that I know of.”
“Kids are amazing, man. I love my son so much and he has given me so much purpose in life. Everything you do, you just do just to make their lives better, you know.”
“Yeah, I’ve heard from collogues and friends.”
“You’re established. Well, it seems like you are. Go out and meet you a woman and have a kid or six.”
“If only it was that simple. I’m seeing someone. We’ll see where it goes.”
We pulled into a sub-division called Bel Air Woods. You had to pass a security gate and then the gates opened, and we drove through a bunch of mansions. These homes were so beautiful and I knew they had to cost somewhere in the millions. I probably looked like Will Smith did in the back of that cab during the beginning of The Fresh Prince Of Bel air.
“I thought Bel air was only in California?” I gasped.
“If you have enough money, you can make it come to the east coast,” he chuckled. I could tell this wasn’t the first time he had mentioned this to someone.
“You wake up here every morning? I could only dream of living in something like this.”
“Don’t sell yourself short. You don’t know what your future holds.” He winked and continued driving for a few perfect tree-lined blocks. He turned into a driveway, and we were greeted by a brick driveway and brick colonial home. It was whitewashed brick and the home had two small pillars that greeted you before the huge wooden door. The small bushes were perfectly lined up, and I could tell his landscaper was well compensated for all the work that was throughout the yard.
“This is your home?”
“Yep,” he replied and killed the engine. He came around the car and opened my door for me. I almost didn’t want to step out because the driveway bricks were so beautifully laid out on the ground. If it wasn’t clear before, this man had money, and he had lots of it. “Come on. I know you haven’t ate breakfast yet.”
“I had a nibble of toast,” I admitted. My concern was with feeding my son, so I never worried about putting the proper fuel into my body. I would grab some fast food here and there, but when it came to Gyan, I didn’t play.
“See. Don’t even know you that long and I knew you didn’t eat. Come on,” he grabbed my hands and led me inside the house.
A staircase off to the side greeted us along with a huge marble fireplace further down into what I assumed was the family room. My shoes made noise on the mahogany wood floors as he continued to pull me through the beautifully decorated home. We passed the family room and made a right, right into the kitchen. It was then my stomach growled as I smelled the aroma of the food cooking.
“Pit Pat, I’m back, and I brought some company.” He pulled me in front of him.
I smiled at the short woman with gray hair and matching gray eyes. Her beige skin was flawless, and she didn’t look a day over forty, so how old was this woman? “Hello, take a seat and let me put something on your stomach,” she demanded with a slight twang. From her accent, I could tell she wasn’t from here in America.
“Thank you, Ma’am,” I told her and took a seat like she told me to do. It was something about older people. You didn’t tell them no, you did what they said. It didn’t matter that I had just met this woman seconds before, I would oblige her demands because I was raised with respect.
“Ma’am?” she laughed. “Me-lawd-Jesus,” she said as if it was one word. “Child, my mami isn’t here. Call me, Pit Pat,” she laughed and then lifted her cheek so Yoshon could plant a kiss on it.
“Okay, Pit Pat.” I smiled.
“What you over here making?”
“Boy, get over there and shush. I’m almost done. I need to know who dis mystery girl is. She’s beautiful, Yoshon.” She shooed him away and he came and sat down beside me.
“Instead of the condo, you’ll be staying here with us.”
Pit Pat placed a cup of orange juice in front of me. “Huh?”
“The condo is where I go to conduct business in the city. Not to mention, I rent that shit out on Air BnB and I have some bookings I can’t cancel.”
“You got your hand in everything, huh?”
“In order to never go broke, you gotta work, right?”
“I appreciate everything you’re doing, but this is your home. How do you know that I’m some scheming chick trying to get close to you?”
“Your son. That’s how I know.”
He answered the question right there. I would never put Gyan in no type of harm. “I work, and he goes to school in New York. This is New Jersey.”
“You can quit your job. I have a tanning salon and I will give you a job there. Gyan can get driven to school every morning. My gym is in the city and I make the commute every morning.”
“This is nuts,” I started to stand up, but Pit Pat placed my plate in front of me. “Thank you, Pit Pat,” I smiled as she served me first and then Yoshon.
“You’re welcome, gurl.” She touched my shoulder and then returned with her plate. She sat across from both me and Yoshon.
“Blended beans, fry jacks and eggs,” she answered my question before I could ask it. I guess she saw me observing the plate in front of me.
“She’s from Belize,” Yoshon explained. “It’s native from her country.”
“What is this going on?” She waved her fork from me and then to Yoshon.
Putting my head down, I replied, “I’m homeless and he has helped me out a bunch. I appreciate all you’re doing, but I can’t accept this.”
“She has a son, Pit Pat,” was all Yoshon said. He didn’t look at me, he just stared right at his grandmother and then he started eating his breakfast.
“You can, and you will. Being stubborn and proud will cause you to live on the streets with your son. It’s settled, she can sleep in the guest suite.” As I was about to fix my lips to say something, she cut me off. “The only thing leaving your lips better be that you love my food.”
Smiling bashfully, I grabbed my spoon and tasted some of the beans with
eggs. This woman stared me down as I took a bite of her food. With all her staring, how could I tell her no? I guess I couldn’t, right?
9
Yoshon
Pit Pat had a way where she could tell someone what they were doing, and they did it. Since I laid eyes on Golden, she had put up a fight when it came to my help, and here she was submitting to Pit Pat’s every word. I leaned on the dresser in the guest suite and laughed when Pit Pat went into the bathroom, rumbling off more instructions.
“You think you’re so funny, huh?” she rolled her eyes at me. “Getting your grandmother on me?”
“I had to do what I had to do. It could have all been so simple,” I sang as I shrugged my shoulders and Pit Pat returned.
“Now, there’s another bedroom that connects to this one. Your son can sleep there and you in here. You both don’t need to be huddled up like we’re gonna kill you or someting.” She pointed her finger at Golden.
“Yes, Pit Pat.”
“Okay. I’ll leave you be. Yosho, make sure you go grab her things from the condo. Where’s the boy?”
“In school.”
“Okay. Go with him because I know that’s your boy and you’ll worry. We got you, you hear?” she wrapped her arm around Yoshon and hugged him tight. “His mama and me were homeless in Belize. No house, no nothing, and nobody offered a hand. I know what’s like, mama. Let us help you. I raised a good man here. Nothing in return for helping you out. Let good people help you. Okay?” She grabbed Golden’s hand and stared her in the eyes.
This was Golden’s test. Pit Pat was huge on eye contact. She always told me the eyes were the windows to the soul. If a person couldn’t give a firm handshake or eye contact, they were wicked. Golden stared her right in the eye with red eyes. She wanted to cry, and I knew she did, still, she didn’t let a tear fall down her cheek as she stared my grandmother in the eyes.