“Lezra de la Croix,” I answered.
I remembered how in the movie, Hurricane, Denzel, playing as Rubin Carter, said the young boy who found his book, wrote to him, and help eventually get him released from prison was named Lezra, which was a derivative of Lazarus who had been raised from the dead. I guess I was like Lazurus. I’d almost died twice, surely had been spared and I felt as if I was raised from the dead,
The police wrote down the name and didn’t ask for ID. “Well, we have a nationwide manhunt going on up here for a police killer. He used to be on the LAPD and was fired. He’s gone on a killing spree of police officers and their family. He was last spotted in this area. Have you seen a man who looked like this? His name is Christopher Dorner.”
He showed me a picture of a suspect Christopher Dorner. His face looked familiar. I kind of remembered him from when I was on the LAPD. I looked at the picture and shook my head.
But I was lying. I’d seen him before all right. He was the intruder who came in the cabin and left me alone when he saw I was with my baby. I thought about how disenfranchised I felt when I lost my job, but who knew what could make a person crack?
The interviewing officer turned to me. “Well, this looks like this was a professional hit man. He has a passport from Italy. He had a silencer on his gun. You’re lucky to be alive.”
“Sir, thank you, but I don’t know who would do something like this. I had my baby by myself. How soon can you take me to the hospital?”
“I’m sorry, miss, but the roads are kind of shut off. We’ve got a standoff with the suspect down the road from here. We’ll get you out of here as soon as we get the word that this stand-off has come to an end.”
Outside I could hear sirens blaring. That was the most noise I’d heard in this isolated place. I peeked out the window and saw LAPD squad cars, sheriff department cars, CHP, and SWAT teams farther up the hill. Helicopters buzzed around. I could smell smoke and fire, and for a moment, I panicked. I knew when there are fires up in the mountains, people have to evacuate, so what would I do? But then I gave a sigh of relief. Help was here and I’d be able to get to the hospital—eventually.
I went and looked out the window, and saw that the fire seemed to be contained farther up the hill.
I stood up, walked to my bedroom, and picked up my baby, Angel. She was wrapped in a yellow blanket I had crocheted for her. I kissed her all over her soft face. A resplendent sun streamed through the window. For her to be a preemie, the paramedics said she was a healthy baby—no jaundice, no breathing problems. She was already a little blessing.
Out of nowhere, Reverend Edgar came rushing through the front door.
“Zipporah, are you all right?” His face was twisted with agony and worry. “I’ve been trying to get you on the phone.”
He grabbed me and hugged me. Then he looked down and saw baby Angel lying in my arms.
“Are you okay? Wait a minute. What’s this?”
“This is my baby.”
“What?” he stammered in disbelief. “When did you have the baby? How did you have the baby?”
“She birthed herself,” I said simply.
“Oh, my God. I should’ve never left you here alone. The snowstorm blocked me out, and then this manhunt. But I was able to get through the roads since I came up as a fireman. I had the truck drop me off here. They have law enforcement and fire departments coming in from different counties. It’s a media feeding frenzy out there.”
“Well, she came early. You had no way of knowing.”
Then, Reverend Edgar looked up and saw the body bag and the police standing around taking the police report.
“What happened here?” Looking shocked, he treaded over to the crime scene, trying not to disturb any of the evidence.
The police, who took the homicide report, spoke up to Reverend Edgar. “This is clearly a case of self-defense. Poor defenseless woman with a newborn baby.” He clucked his tongue, and shook his head. “I’m so sorry, miss, that you had to go through this.”
Reverend Edgar rushed across the room. “You poor baby,” he said, hugging me and baby Angel close. “I’ll never let you go.”
I had to hide my face in his coat collar. I didn’t want him to know what I was really thinking. Poor defenseless woman, my foot!
In this journey, I had learned that women are much stronger than we think. I thought I would not be able to have a baby as a single parent, but not only did I get through the pregnancy, I delivered her by myself. I hoped I would be a good parent, in spite of all the death threats around me. Angel was my linchpin to love and to life. I didn’t love Reverend Edgar, and I didn’t think he loved me either, but, I knew he was a good man and had been a good friend to me in a time of need. I had no idea what the future would bring, and at this point, I couldn’t worry about it.
Although I never thought I wanted a family, in actuality, I did want a family. That’s why I wanted to reunite with my siblings. Now that I was a mother, I felt like I’d come full circle. At first, I felt like I was not the motherly type. But then again, I’d never had a baby, so I didn’t know I’d feel such a fierce love. Now, that Angel was here, I felt like a mother, as if I now knew what life was all about. I was happy to have my baby. I was happy that I now had my siblings and my biological mother back in my life too. Most of all, I was grateful that God had brought me through my delivery safely. For now, Baby Angel and I were safe.
I guess love was a funny thing. It came packaged in the strangest ways. I loved my mother, Venita, in one way and I love Shirley aka Moochie in another. Underneath pulling my hair out about Mayhem, I loved my brother. I really loved my newfound sister, Rachel, and was looking forward to meeting my baby brother, Daniel, whom I always loved since I took care of him as a baby. Now that I changed my daughter’s diaper, I remember that I changed Diggity’s diapers often when he was a baby. I thought having to act as a surrogate mother at the age of eight had turned me against motherhood, but now I saw things differently. It had actually prepared me. I handled my baby with a deftness of an experienced mother.
I had truly loved Romero, and probably always would, but now I had a mother’s love for our newborn daughter, Angel.
With the smell of smoke surrounding me, a gunfight with a hunted man raging up the hill from me, I realized something. As fragile, as vulnerable, and as imperfect as we are as human beings, we keep trying to get it right. We keep having children, hoping this time we would do better in the next generation.
Maybe everything happened for a reason. Maybe all the experiences I had gone through, even being born to a Crip mother, was what made me who I was today. I thought about it. What I had gone through had brought me back to God. Now I knew I needed God in my life. And yes, I was bringing Angel into a crazy world, but, as long as there was life, there was hope for a better tomorrow.
The End
Afterword
(instead of a Foreword)
This book is dedicated to all the mothers, who are still living, and who, for whatever reasons, were unable to rear their children. If possible, go back and heal the relationships with your children. It is never too late.
About the Author:
Maxine Thompson is an author of novels, The Ebony Tree, Hostage of Lies, L.A. Blues, L.A. Blues 2, and L.A. Blues 3, short story collection, A Place Called Home, a contributor to anthologies, Secret Lovers, All in the Family, Never Knew Love Like This, Proverbs for the People, and editor/contributor to Saturday Morning. She also has authored an e book series, The Hush Hush Secrets of Writing Fiction that Sells, The Hush Hush Secrets of Making Money as a Writer, and The Hush Hush Secrets of Creating a Life You Love, 1 and 2.
She is the host of The Dr. Maxine Thompson Internet show on www.artistfirst.com, the owner of Maxine Thompson’s Literary Services and Maxine Thompson’s Literary Agency.
She can be reached at:
[email protected],
http://www.maxinethompson.com, or
http://www.maxinethompsonbooks.com.
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She can be found on Twitter:
@MaxineEThompson
As well as Facebook at Maxine-Thompson.
Readers’ Guide
1. If you were in Z’s shoes, would you have wanted to have an abortion? Are you pro-life or pro-choice?
2. Why do you think Z changed her mind about the abortion after the car accident?
3. What did you think about the reunion between Z, her long lost sister, Rachel, and her mother? Do you think it was healthy or unhealthy?
4. Does it seem realistic for Z to expect a quiet pregnancy, given her situation with the cartel?
5. Do you think Z was right to help her brother, Mayhem, the kingpin, when he was kidnapped? What would you have done?
6. Do you think Z will have to stay in hiding?
7. Do you think Z should assume a new identity for her and the baby’s safety?
8. What did you think of the reality show that Z, her foster sister, Chica, and her friend, Haviland were starring in? What do you think of reality shows in general?
9. What did you think of the child kidnapping case that Z handled early in the book? Do you think it deepened her commitment to have her child?
10. What did you think of the ordeal that Z went through while delivering her baby?
11. Do you think Z and Reverend Edgar will ever get married? Why or why not?
Urban Books, LLC
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Wyandanch, NY 11798
L.A. Blues III: Five Smooth Stones Copyright © 2013 Maxine Thompson
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior consent of the Publisher, except brief quotes used in reviews.
ISBN: 978-1-6016-2391-1
This is a work of fiction. Any references or similarities to actual events, real people, living or dead, or to real locales are intended to give the novel a sense of reality. Any similarity in other names, characters, places, and incidents is entirely coincidental.
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L.A. Blues III Page 14