D.S. the Messenger

by Raymond McClary

  “No problem Red. Talk to you later.”

  “Bye Sage.”

  Mya will make a fine wife for that lucky someone someday if she ever decides to take that route. Sage was thinking to himself. He traveled down a couple of streets, turned left and parked in front of a single home. The yard is a little rumpled and the flowerbed needs to be retouched. But it’s just turning spring so it won’t be long before this neighborhood is looking as beautiful as it normally does each spring. As Sage walks up to the house, he sees a black Porsche in the yard and remembers the times that he and Perry talked about what kinds of cars they were going to drive and who could beat who in racing. His brief daydreaming is interrupted from a voice from an upstairs bedroom window.

  “You need to get a real car and get rid of that Impala SS crap!”

  “I will when you beat me, oh but that will never happen.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because, I would take the lugs out, that’s why!” Perry, while laughing says, “Man you are still crazy. Come on up, the door is open.” Perry joined the Air Force right after high school for two years, and then briefly attended college to major in Foreign Affairs. It was not long thereafter that he began to get involved with the stock market and traveling. With a few stocks and high-risk tips, in six months he began living off of the interest of his moneymaking accounts.

  Perry began to meet women from all backgrounds of life. If they were married however, he left them alone. His theory: Find a woman who is willing to leave with you at a spur of the moment. Take her on a trip that will relax and unwind her. That way you will know what it is about her that makes her special enough to grow with and possibly become your wife.

  Sage enters the house and is shocked at its appearance. It is a palace, completely restored with up-to-date modern furniture. Just then, a short but heavyset woman walks out of a side room with eyes radiating peace and a smile that would calm a madman.

  “Hello Sage! It’s been a long time since you were last here.”

  “Momma S.” Sage says as he hugs her, “Please accept my apology. There is no excuse why I could not stop by here from….”

  Momma S placed her fingers on his lips and said, “Son, the older you get, the greater your responsibilities have grown. Your visions are being met and you still have a lot to do. Hearing about you is as good as seeing you. Your parents would be so proud of you.”

  At the age of 18, Sage’s parents were visiting a friend’s house when a drunk driver crashed his car into the kitchen striking a gas line. Instantly, the home exploded killing everyone. Sage was at his home with friends talking about the graduation, when the tragedy happened. Though he was devastated for years, his parent’s life insurance policies helped to put him through business school and establish his businesses.

  Sage says, “I try to make them proud of me every day. Thank you Momma Strong.” At that moment a strange thumping sound came from upstairs. Momma S yells, “Babe…Are you okay up there?” There was no answer.

  “I’ll check on him.” Sage starts up the steps skipping them like he used to do in his childhood days saying, “Yo P! Where are you?” He looked into the bathroom. Perry was not there. He walked down the hall to Perry’s room where the door was slightly ajar. As he slowly pushed it open, he said, “Yo P? Are you okay?”

  Perry was slumped over a chair, gasping for air. Sage rushed over and assisted Perry back to his bed.

  In a hoarse voice, Perry said, “Damn you sure toned up.”

  “Yeah, and you need to pick up some weight or you’ll wither away. I told you, all that traveling is not good for the body.” When Sage had last seen Perry, he weighed about 250 pounds. Now he looks like he is less than 150 pounds.

  “Well, being in the condition that you are in, dinner with Deva and I--- out of the question.”

  “I am a little under the weather. I’ve been feeling this way for a few days. It comes and goes man.”

  “Is that why Momma is edgy? You are worrying her to death! You know that you have to take better care of yourself.”

  “Are you sleeping somewhere in this house where your lines are rehearsed? You sound just like her.”

  With a serious look, Sage says, “Listen bro! I haven’t seen you in over 4 years and when I last saw you, you had on a tailor made suit, and one of the finest women in the modeling industry under your arm. You looked like a movie star. Forgetting that I know you, I almost asked for your autograph.” Perry bursts out with laughter. Sage smiles for a brief moment, then he says,

  “I’m not used to seeing you like this. You look as if you are on your deathbed! Now, what’s going on because Momma S never sounded this way today in all the years that I’ve known her?”

  The room became silent for a few moments. Perry takes deep breaths and says, “I have cancer and its spreading fast and I don’t know how much time I have left on this earth.”

  Sage stood at the window looking outside at the cars. He knew it was lung cancer since Perry had been smoking from his teenage years. He smoked everything from cigars to marijuana. Sage reminisced about the time he told Perry to leave smoking alone.

  Child Sage says, “What are you doing?”

  “Smoking a cigarette.”

  “Those are for grown-ups.”

  “It don’t say it on this pack so you can have one too!”

  “I don’t want one---they stink!”

  “You’ll get used to it.” Child Perry puffs again and says, “Everybody smokes, except you. You are the corny one.” He blows the smoke into Child Sage’s face.

  “My momma said that if you jump off the roof, someone would follow you.” Says Child Sage.

  “Stupid! It’s, ‘If someone jumped off the roof, would you follow them?’ And no I’m not! But if somebody is smoking one of these, I would smoke one too.”

  “OOOOOO! Momma S is going to rip all of the switches off the trees and tear you up!”

  Child Perry stopped walking and with a nauseated look on his face while rubbing his behind with both hands, the cigarette dangling from his mouth.

  “You gonna tell on me?!”

  “I ain’t no dime dropper. You gonna get your own self in trouble. How do you get the cigarette stink off you?”

  “I eat a lot of gum and tell Momma I was at the Chinese store at the corner. It always smells like smoke in there.” Child Perry nods in agreement.

  The childhood memory slowly disappears and Sage is thinking about Perry and his current condition. Though his face is stern, a tear unhurriedly rolls down the side of his face. Sage wipes the tear away and walks alongside Perry’s bed, sits in a chair and says, “Perry, you are my brother and I love you and I cannot begin to imagine the physical and mental pain that you are enduring. If there is anything you need, without a second thought, it’s done. This is a promise that will never be broken.”

  “My life or death?” He began to drift off to sleep.

  “No matter what. My word is my bond.”

  “That’s good to know Sage. I always could rely on you. When I die, there is something I will want you to do for me.”

  “Okay P, consider it done. But do we have to talk about this now?”

  Perry Yells, “Yes! I could leave this earth at any moment…. Now, Momma is squared away financially and if Momma stays in town I know you will keep in touch with her and ensure that everything is okay. But if Momma leaves town, always see her when you are available to do so. And make sure you bring her those wild flowers from Mr. Leaves’ shop. Momma loves them.”

  “Yeah, I remember you going by that place when we received our report cards to help ease up on the whippings when Momma S saw your grades. That’s when her nickname was,” Perry and Sage say together, “Mean Steam Momma!”

  Sage continues, “You thought Momma S switches were battery operated because it made a humming sound, the leaves never fell off and it left a lot of welts on your legs.” “Momma still has that switch. It’s there for her grandchildren…. I guess you could cal
l it one of the rites of passage. Anyway I guess that will never happen since my status is getting so bad that I don’t have a desire for anything like that anymore. But Sage you can give her a grand. The love in this house is thicker than blood.”

  Sage gets up from the chair and begins pacing the floors, “Man, we are supposed to watch each other’s family grow. Our juniors are supposed to grow up together and have the same bond as we have. We are supposed to grow old, fish, play chess, checkers, cards, and have cookouts…it’s hard trying to digest any of these things that you are telling me man! I just thought that, though we are not immortal…we would never die.”

  “Well we are mortals and we will one day die. Now let’s talk about some positive and more interesting things…. How is that fine woman of yours?”

  “Deva is doing great and I was hoping that the two of you would meet tonight…But we can do that another day when you are feeling better of course.”

  “Ummm.” Perry says in a low tone and then asks, “You love her?”

  “More than Deva knows.”

  “How do you satisfy her?” Sage was facing the window and turned his head around to look at Perry with an eyebrow raised. “Besides the obvious, Sage?”

  “I actually listen to every word Deva says. When we talk about each other’s day, I am deep into what Deva is saying. If my day was not a stressed filled one, I’ll massage her to ease her tension. And when Deva needs it, I give her space. I believe we are soul mates. Next month will be our 3-year anniversary and I think it’s time to take it to the next level. The ring will be ready for pick up any day now.”

  “Damn…You are no joke. Just make sure my invite does not fall under a dresser.”

  “Invite! I was hoping you would be my best man?”

  “Brother, I wouldn’t settle for anything less.” They hug. “Congratulations Bro.”

  “My lady still has to say yes.”

  “Sage, the only way Deva will leave you is if you don’t propose to her. It’s good that you take care of her needs because no man is perfect, but if he pinpoints a woman’s precise need to the height of surrender, to her he is flawless.” Sage said,

  “Oh, so that’s your philosophy on women? Interesting.”

  Perry falls asleep. Sage pulls the covers up for him, takes out his cell phone to tell Deva about tonight’s dinner date being canceled.

  ϕ

  A few days later, Sage is at one of his stores doing inventory. He can hear Scripts and Mya along with a few of his customers talking in the front of the store.

  Scripts says, “OOOO Red you are man’s worse nightmare.”

  “Why is that Scripts?”

  Scripts, in a silly way, shimmies his body and says, “Because your eyes are as creamy as soft milky caramel. Your lips are so perfect, it’s as if God hand-painted them himself. I swear I hear harps when you walk.”

  “It’s probably his gas he hears, the nasty buzzard.” One customer commented.

  Holding Mya’s hand, Script says, “Red, the bottom line is that your beauty wreaks havoc on my mind, my mind wreaks havoc on my heart…”

  An employee interrupts and says. “Those lines and the sight of you being here, wreaks havoc on my appetite! Scripts! Leave Mya alone!”

  Everyone laughs. The phone rings and a voice heard over the intercom saying Mr. Mecan, line 2. Sage picks up an extension.

  “Hello, Sage speaking.”

  “Hi Sage this is Momma Strong.”

  “Momma S., I was just thinking about you and Perry. I was wondering if we could all go to dinner and a play this weekend. That’s if P is up to it of course. How is he today?”

  “Oh baby I am so sorry to tell you this…. The Lord called him home this morning.”

  Sage’s heart began to weigh heavy as it sunk to the pit of his stomach. Chills raced up and down his body. His eyes filled with tears. While trying to keep his composure he says, “I will handle everything that needs to be taken care of.”

  “When your day is over, come by and we can discuss it.”

  “Yes ma’am, I’ll be there.”

  “I love you Sage!”

  “I love you too Momma Strong!” After he hung up the phone, he picked up his keys and told Mya the sad news, and asked the manager to handle the store and closing duties since he was leaving early. Mya, so upset from the news went into her office and slammed the door. Sage wanted to check up on her but instead, went to the car and drove home.

  He was so saddened by the loss of his brother, that he did not notice Deva’s car in the driveway. When he opened the front door and saw Deva standing there with her arms extended, he put his arms around her repeating, “My brother is gone. My brother is gone.” They slid down the living room wall onto the floor holding each other and slowly rocking from side to side. They sat there for hours. Finally, Sage asked, “How did you know?”

  “Mya called me while you were walking out of the store. I was not far from home and came as soon as possible. I’m so glad I beat you here because one thing I do not want is for you to be alone.”

  Responding softly, “As long as I have you, Deva I never will be.”

  D.S. THE MEMORIES

  ϕϕϕ

  Sage helped Momma S with the funeral arrangements from beginning to end. Sage thought to himself, I wonder if this has to be one of the easiest funeral preparations ever. Perry took care of his own funeral, burial plot and tombstone. He even had the suit picked out for it.

  Sage planned the date of the funeral and a place for the repast. Everyone was there from the neighborhood to pay his or her respects.

  During the repast, Sage noticed Red wiping her eyes and asked, “Are your allergies starting again?”

  “No silly!” Said Mya as they hugged. “Sage, if you need anything, let me know, okay?”

  “Perry pretty much squared it away, but if you don’t mind, check in on Momma S from time to time.”

  Momma Strong approached. “You kids will not have to worry about little old me, I’m about to spread my wings and do some traveling. Mya, I’m sure you can provide some assistance in that area.”

  “I most certainly can ma’am. I’m at your beck and call.”

  “Thank you dear I need,” Momma Strong sighs, “a change of scenery. Or should I say a change in life…. Take a cruise or something. I just have to get away from here. Some memories are best left behind instead of recurring. Sage, I need for you to stop by the house any time after 6 okay?”

  “I’ll be there ma’am.” Momma Strong hugs and kisses Sage and Mya and walks to nearby friends and relatives.

  Scripts walks up with two full plates of food. “Hey yall! This grub is better than the last supper…So I heard. I have to put a few plates in my cart.”

  Sage asks, “Won’t the food spoil?”

  “Nope! I have an ice chest under those clothes.”

  Mya giggles and asks, “What else do you have in that cart?”

  Scripts smiles, “I have a radio that plays soft music.” He winks at Mya. “A portable, battery-operated, color TV that’s cable ready for your entertainment.”

  “Whose cable are you stealing from outside their homes?”

  “Or businesses?” Sage adds while folding his arms.

  A few moments passed. Finally Scripts says, “Today is a sad as well as a joyful day. I sure will miss Perry. He looked so peaceful and smooth in that suit.”

  “We’ll talk more about this later. Scripts. But for now, make sure you get enough food. We really do not want any leftovers.”

  “I should have brought a few of my friends.

  “I thought those plates were for your friends?”

  “Shiiiiit I wish I would! I don’t and wouldn’t feed anybody. Well except you Red, of course. But anybody else, I bring them to the buffet and that’s that.” Scripts peeks at his wrist. “Oh look at the time. Got to go!”

  “Hi Scripts!”

  “Why hello Ms. Deva. You look remarkable, I have to catch up with you later. Bye all!” />
  “Bye Scripts.” They responded as he hurried out the door.

  “Hi Red!”

  “Hello Deva!” Deva hugs and kisses Sage and whispers, “Are you okay baby? You haven’t been eating properly lately and I’m starting to have some concern about that.”

  “I’ll be fine Deva.”

  “Oh I know you will. This plate here is just for you. So start eating…or do I have to call Momma Strong over here?” Sage takes the plate and begins eating. “So Red, where did you get that purse from girl?”

  “Girl you know you helped me pick it out.”

  “I know Red, I just see the sadness all over your face and I’m trying to keep the spirits up.”

  “Deva, every time I was in a bind, I swear Perry was there like my guardian angel. He was always there through my learning stages and for my venting moments. A very large piece of my being is gone.”

  “I understand exactly what you are saying and feeling Red. He has definitely affected lives indirectly as well.” But we all have God to call for guidance and each other to remind us of that! Can I get an AMEN!”

  “AMEN!”

  Mya says, “I’m sorry but you all have to excuse me.” Mya abruptly walks away.

  “Mya is taking this extremely hard Sage. Do you think Mya will be okay?”

  “I don’t know. Perry did treat her like a baby sister.”

  “Sage, I’m going to go and have a talk with her, I’m also taking my uncle to the airport this evening since my mother does not like to drive at night. So I may be home late. Maybe Mya will take the ride with me, because I really don’t think being alone right now is a good thing.”

  “Just drive carefully whether you are able to convince her to go with you or not. If you become tired on the way home, stop at your mother’s and rest. Just call the house if that’s the case.”

  “I will…I love you.” Deva kisses Sage.

  “I love you too. I’ll see you later.”

  Deva quickly walks off in the direction Mya has gone. Sage finishes his plate of food, takes a look at his watch and realized that it’s after 6 pm. He says good night and thanks everyone for their gathering of strength as they leave the rented hall. Sage stayed until everyone was gone and the hall was cleared of everything.