As she said, “Hello,” Joy was informed that she had a collect call from Dontae. What in the world is that boy doing calling me collect? Couldn’t he have gone back over to Daddy’s office and made the call rather than using one of the pay phones? She accepted the call and then asked, “Boy, don’t be calling me collect. I am a poor college student and I can no longer afford such luxuries.”
“Sis, I need your help. I’m in jail.”
“You’re where?” She was shouting, but she couldn’t help it. The last thing she ever expected her studious and athletic brother to call and say to her was that he was in jail. Lord, help them all. “What happened?”
“I don’t want to talk about it. Just come and get me, okay? I don’t want to spend the night in this place. They say I can be bonded out for five hundred dollars.”
She loved her brother, but she had just spent all of her money on her annual end of summer shopping spree and didn’t have five hundred dollars to her name, or on either one of her credit cards. “I’ll get you out, Dontae. I’ll be there as soon as I get my hands on the money; don’t you worry.”
The minute she hung up with Dontae, she picked the phone back up to call her mother. But then she thought better of that. Her mother was already dealing with so much that Joy didn’t want to bother her with this. She dreaded what she was about to do, but she had no other choice than to call her father.
When he picked up the phone he said, “There you are. I was wondering why you didn’t come to work today.”
She didn’t respond to that, instead she said, “Daddy, Dontae is in jail and I need five hundred dollars to get him out.”
“I know where Dontae is,” he said calmly.
“Oh, so have you already paid his bail?”
“No, and I don’t intend to. He can spend the night in that cell and think about what he did,” Nelson responded.
“Excuse me?”
“That brother of yours came to see me this morning. I took him to lunch and then gave him the address to my new house and asked him to come by this evening so we could talk some more.” Nelson let out a frustrated sigh before he continued. “Instead of waiting until I got off work, Dontae went to the house and threw rocks through the window. He even busted out the windshield on Jasmine’s car.”
“Okay, but why did you call the police on him?” Joy asked, her temperature rising by the second.
“I didn’t call the police on him. Jasmine did. But I was in total agreement with her. No son of mine is going to get away with acting like that.”
“Oh, so you have no mercy for Dontae, but you think your actions deserve a get-out-of- jail-free card?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Nelson asked.
“Are you going to give me the money for Dontae or not?” She was done with their conversation.
“I told you. I’m going to do what’s best for Dontae and let him sit and think about his actions.”
Click. She slammed the phone down so hard, she hoped that her father’s eardrum burst on impact. But people like Nelson Marshall never found themselves in harm’s way. They just somehow always found ways to hurt others.
Joy hated disturbing her mother with something like this. But she had no other choice. She picked the phone back up and dialed her mother. The line was busy. Joy waited ten seconds and then dialed again… still busy.
She didn’t have time to sit there and wait for somebody to help her. Joy left her apartment and raced to her mother’s house. She dialed her number twice from her cell phone while en route, but the line stayed busy.
She pulled up to her mother’s house and jumped out of the car. She unlocked the front door and rushed into the house. It was five in the evening. Her mother was normally in the kitchen, cooking up something good at that time of day, but she wasn’t there. It didn’t seem as if the kitchen had seen any activity the entire day. Joy left the kitchen and took the stairs two at a time, headed to the master bedroom.
Joy knocked on the door and then opened it. Her mother was snoring like a hibernating bear. She looked over at the nightstand and noticed that the phone was off the hook. Joy shook her head as she hollered, “Mama… wake up, Mama.” She put the phone back on the hook.
Carmella jumped up and screamed, “No! Take the phone back off the hook, they won’t stop calling.”
“Who won’t stop calling?”
“Bill collectors. They harassed me so bad this morning that I had to take a nerve pill.”
Now her mother was on nerve pills. Thank you again, Judge Nelson Marshall. “You’ve got to get out of bed, Mama. Dontae vandalized Daddy’s new house and now he’s in jail.”
“What? Who’s in jail,” Carmella asked, looking out of it and like she was ready to fall back to sleep.
Joy pulled the covers off of Carmella. “Stay with me, Mama. I need you to focus.”
Carmella stretched, yawned and then swung her feet to the floor. “I’m focused. Now, what’s going on?”
“Dontae is in jail. We have to bail him out.”
“What? My baby is in jail?”
“Yes, so please put some clothes on so we can go pick him up. His bond is five hundred dollars, and I don’t have it.”
“I can get a cash advance on my Discover card.” Carmella jumped up and went into her walk-in closet. She threw on a white tee-shirt and a pair of jeans. While she was putting on a pair of sandals, the phone rang. “Don’t pick it up,” she warned Joy.
“Mother, I’ve never known you to be afraid to answer your phone.” She shook her head and picked up the phone. “Hello.”
“May I speak with Mr. or Mrs. Marshall?”
Feeling ornery, Joy said, “Who is calling and what do you want?”
“I’m calling concerning a personal business matter. Is Mrs. Marshall in?”
“What is this personal business matter?” Joy demanded.
Carmella rushed out of her closet, took the phone away from Joy and hung it up. “Didn’t I tell you not to answer?”
“Daddy stopped paying the bills?” Joy’s mouth hung slack as she began to understand what was going on.
Carmella was embarrassed, but she shook her head, confessing that, “He won’t pay anything until I sign the divorce papers.”
“You need to clean him out,” Joy said angrily. “Take every dime he has.”
“One thing at a time, Joy Marshall.” Carmella grabbed her purse. “I need you to drive me downtown so I can get your brother out of jail. When we get back, then we can work on ways to get the money out of your father.”
5
“I can’t believe that girl had the nerve to have my son arrested after she stole my husband,” Carmella said as they arrived back at her house with Dontae in tow.
“I’m sorry about getting arrested, Mama. But I’m not sorry about busting out their windows. They deserve that and more.”
“Stop talking foolishness, Dontae. That arrest could destroy your chances for getting into Harvard.”
“I don’t even want to go to Harvard anymore, anyway. So, who cares,” Dontae said as he sulked off.
“Another dream Nelson has stolen,” Carmella said of her son no longer desiring to go to Harvard. She lifted her hands to heaven and turned toward the kitchen. “Let me get dinner started. At least we still have some food around here.”
Joy sat down on the sofa and turned on the television.
Carmella opened the fridge and started pulling out mushrooms, onions, and garlic before even thinking about turning on her radio as she normally did whenever she walked into the kitchen. She pulled a stainless steel pot down and filled it with water. She placed it on the stove, turned on the fire and then turned around to grab the rest of her ingredients for the pasta dish she was about to fix. But that’s when she noticed that the faucet was dripping again. She’d asked Nelson time and time again to fix that faucet and he’d ignored her just as he’d ignored everything else she’d asked him to do. Well, he wasn’t getting away with it this time.
Joy jumped up. “Where are you going?”
“To get your daddy,” Carmella said, not breaking her stride.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Joy put herself between her mother and the front door. “You can’t go over there. Jasmine already had Dontae arrested. What do you think she’ll do to you?”
“I wish that twig would say something out the way to me. I’ll break her scrawny little neck.”
“That still sounds like jail time to me, Ma.” Joy held onto the door. “I can’t let you do this.”
“Girl, get out of my way.” Carmella’s eyes were wild as she shoved Joy out of her way and bulldozed through the door. Joy had told her where Nelson was staying the day she’d come home upset about his love nest. So now, she jumped in her car and raced over to the place where her husband’s heart now resided. But she didn’t care about any of that right then. What Carmella cared about was the fact that Nelson Marshall had stood before God and two hundred other folks and made promises to her. She now knew that Nelson wasn’t an honorable man, but he was going to have to scrape up some honor that night or she was going upside his bald head.
As she stood in front of the house that her husband now shared with his mistress, she gagged as she tried to hold down vomit that threatened to spill over. She pressed her finger on the buzzer. When no one answered the door, she leaned on the buzzer. Someone looked out the blinds and then quickly closed them. “You might as well open the door,” Carmella started screaming, not caring who heard her. “I want my husband out of this house right now.”
When they still didn’t open the door, she turned and started shouting towards the neighboring houses. “That’s right, everybody. You’ve got an adultery-committing judge and his slimy teenaged slut living in this house right here.” She pointed towards Nelson’s house. “My husband’s girlfriend used to come to my house with my daughter for evening and holiday meals. So if you women on this block know what’s good for you, you’ll watch your men, and you won’t let this hussy in your house for sugar or a crust of bread.” Carmella was jabbing a finger toward Nelson’s door with every word.
The door opened and Nelson rushed out. “Now that’s enough, Carmella.”
She swung around to face him. “I just got started, so don’t get in my way unless you want me to get in my car and run your no good, cheating behind over.”
“Why are you doing this in front of our home?” Jasmine asked as she stepped out of the house but kept her distance from Carmella.
Carmella’s arms were swinging wildly, the pliers in her hand almost connected with Nelson’s jaw as she told Jasmine, “Oh, so you can come to my house and steal my husband, but I can’t come over here and let the people know who they have in their neighborhood.”
Jasmine’s hand went to her hip. “Why do you think anyone would care that you can’t keep a man?”
“Oh, I can keep a man. I kept him for twenty-five years, until you brought your man-stealing self to my house.” Carmella pointed at her as she walked toward her. “You’re just as bad as a pedophile. People ought to put your picture on their refrigerator and warn their men not to walk past this house.”
“Shut up, Carmella. You’re making a fool of yourself,” Nelson screamed at her.
“Better I do it, than continue to let you do it,” she told him as she swung back his way. She was just about in tears, but standing her ground.
“What do you want, Carmella?” Nelson asked as he turned and spotted the neighbors peeping through their windows and the ones who were bold enough, were just standing on their porches watching.
She handed him the pliers, and said in an almost begging tone, “I want you to come home so you can fix the faucet. It’s dripping again.”
Jasmine let out a great big belly laugh as she swung her long hair around and then said, “You’re pathetic. No wonder Nelson doesn’t want you anymore.”
“Don’t you talk to me!” Carmella screamed as she lunged at Jasmine.
The lady across the street yelled, “Get her! I’ve got a baseball bat over here if you really want to break her from stealing.”
Carmella pulled Jasmine down to the ground and grabbed hold of her hair.
“That’s right. Pull that weave out of her man-stealing head,” another woman said as she stood on her porch, punching at the air as if she were in the fight against the woman who stole her man.
“Help me, Nelson,” Jasmine screamed as she tried to defend herself against each blow that Carmella sent her way.
“Now C-Carmella, s-stop acting foolish.” Nelson tried to pull his wife off of his mistress, but failed miserably. He then stepped around the side of the house and turned on the sprinklers.
Carmella felt the water and thought it was rain. The grip she had on Jasmine’s hair slipped and Jasmine got up and ran back into the house. But Carmella stayed on the ground, punching and beating it if as she were still on top of Jasmine. She had no mercy as her hands continued to punish the ground beneath her.
“Get up, Carmella. Stop this,” Nelson yelled.
Someone was talking behind her, but she couldn’t make out what was being said. All she knew was that the rain was coming down and the dirt was flying all around her head. Suddenly, when the rain stopped, Carmella sat back, looked around as if she were lost and searching for something or someone.
Nelson was standing behind her. Cautiously, he asked, “Carmella, are you okay?”
“Did you fix the faucet?” she asked in a hollow, out-of-tune voice.
He inched toward her.
Carmella looked down at herself. The dirt and mud mingled with the soft fabric of her off white cashmere sweater. It was one of her favorite sweaters. She began screaming, “Why is all this dirt on me? Did you push me?” she yelled at Nelson as she got up and began chasing him around the yard with a crazed look in her eye. “How could you? How could you? You’ve dirtied my favorite sweater.”
She lunged at him, but he stepped out of the way. “What’s wrong with you, Carmella? You’re acting crazy.”
“I’m acting crazy?” She found a large stick in the yard and picked it up. “You ruin my best sweater… one I probably won’t be able to replace, and then you claim I’m the crazy one?” She swung at him.
“Stop this and go home, Carmella. Someone is going to get hurt,” he screamed as he cowered on the other side of his silver Mercedes.
“Looks like you’re the one who’s going to get hurt, you cheating dog,” the woman from across the street yelled, enjoying the show.
Carmella swung the stick. “Why aren’t you home?” she asked as the stick missed Nelson, but connected with the hood of his car.
Nelson yelped as if he had been hit, and attempted to rub the dent away. But when Carmella swung again, he had no choice but to bob and weave and let his car take whatever blows came its way.
Sirens were going off as Carmella swung from left to right at Nelson’s head. But Carmella hadn’t heard anything. She felt like one of those women on Snapped, because she wanted to draw blood and she didn’t care whose blood it was. All she knew was that somebody had to pay for what had happened to her life.
Nelson fell back, Carmella then stood over him, paying no heed to the officers that approached. Carmella went somewhere inside of herself, hiding from all the pain that loving someone who didn’t love her back brought. She lifted her arm for one more go at batting practice.
One police officer grabbed her arm. Carmella tried to jerk it back. She yelled at the officer to leave her alone and let her finish. “Nelson needed discipline.”
The officer swung her to the ground. Carmella didn’t even feel the impact. She laughed, and kept on laughing because her mind had taken her to a happy place… a place of peace. A place where she, Nelson and the kids frolicked on the sandy beach and Jasmine was nowhere in sight.
6
Instead of
being hauled off to jail for assault, the police officer decided to take Carmella to the hospital. Nelson had her placed on a seventy-two hour hold so she could be evaluated. But Carmella was in such hysterics when they brought her in that she had to be medicated. She was now despondent and only wanted to sleep… sleep her life away. Carmella had no idea how much time had passed since she’d first come to that place or what was happening to her. She was only slightly aware of the people that came in and out of her room. She couldn’t focus. Carmella was powerless to do anything to help herself. So she woke in sadness, napped in sorrow and by night fall she had cried so much that she pretty much bathed in her own tears.
“I’m not going to just let you lay here and ignore us.” Rose stood on the side of her friend’s hospital bed with a take charge look on her face.
Someone was talking to her, but her head was so foggy she couldn’t make out what was being said, or who was saying it.
Rose put her hand on Carmella’s arm and shook her. “Snap out of it, girl. Nelson Marshall isn’t worth all of this.”
Nelson? Did somebody call for Nelson?
“What’s wrong with her?” Dontae yelled.
“She’s sad, Dontae. Haven’t you seen how much she’s been crying?” Joy asked, standing next to her brother.
“That’s all she seems to do is cry. Why won’t she talk to us?”
Rose shushed Dontae. “She can probably hear you, so watch what you say.”
But Dontae wouldn’t be silenced. He pointed towards his mother. “She’s been lying like that for two days now. Why is she acting like this?”
“She doesn’t feel well right now, Dontae, but she’s going to get better. I promise you that,” Rose assured him. She then turned to Joy and said, “Why don’t you two go home and get some rest. I can hang out here with your mom for the rest of the day.”
Joy put her arm around her brother as she said, “That’s nice of you to offer, Aunt Rose. But she’s our mother so I think we should be here with her.”
Praise Him Anyhow - Volume 1 Page 4