The People vs. Cashmere

by Karen P. Williams

  I stood to my feet and flew with my fists at her. “Bitch, don’t ever put your fucking hands on me!”

  Desiree swung back and missed.

  I swiped underneath her feet with one leg, making her fall backwards. Then I dragged her by her hair. From the hallway to the bedroom, with the intent to fuck her up.

  Then she kicked me sideways and tripped me over. Then we went after each other again, throwing blows.

  “You high-ass bitch!” I yelled.

  “No-titties-having bitch!”

  “But, bitch, I got ass and you don’t. And I ain’t got to give my pussy to get no dudes to like me either!”

  “Fuck you!”

  After the punch connected with the side of her face, Desiree shoved her finger in my eye, a bitch move.

  I screamed and blinked rapidly. “Bitch, you couldn’t take your ass-whipping like a woman. You had to take the punk way out.”

  Desiree took my temporary blindness as an opportunity to leap on me and hold me down. “Talk shit now, bitch!”

  My eye was burning like crazy, but I still struggled against her.

  “What in the world are you girls doing?” Mama, was standing in the doorway.

  Pearla Pierce was a petite, dark woman with a big, dazzling smile, full lips, a sassy, big behind, and small waist that drove Daddy wild. At least once a day Desiree and I caught Daddy playing in our mother’s behind. Whether he was smacking it and saying, “Damn! Them video wenches ain’t got shit on you!” or caressing it, or just plain out bending over and kissing it, he worshipped our mother’s ass. And he seemed to worship her too. And, best believe, Mama had Daddy wrapped around her finger. His ass wasn’t going nowhere Mama wasn’t going.

  Desiree looked up, and I struggled to look up at Mama, who had her hands on her lips, her eyes narrowed. Desiree shoved me one last time and adjusted her robe.

  I fixed my outfit as well. “Nothing, Mama. We was just playing around, you know us girls.” I waited for Desiree to corroborate my lie. I didn’t want to jack up Daddy’s dinner.

  “Yeah, Mama, we were just playing.”

  “Well, girl, put some clothes on your naked tail, please. You going to drive one of them boys around here crazy. Next thing you know, they gonna be leaping through you girls’ window.”

  The look Desiree gave me dared me to drop a dime on her ass. Instead, I smirked and wiped my burning eye.

  Mama switched over to the mirror of our room and inspected her appearance. She eyed her curves and rubbed her hands down her hips, licking her lips. “Y’all little bitches betta be happy y’all came out my pussy and got my genes. All this body and this good-ass pussy!”

  “Mama!” I yelled.

  Desiree just smiled.” Uh huh! I know that’s right, Mama.”

  Mama looked Desiree up and down. “Too bad you ain’t got no ass, Desiree, damn!” She shook her head at Desiree sadly.

  “Well, Cashmere ain’t got no titties, and I do!” she yelled, gesturing toward her big-ass chest.

  “With that ass, she don’t need none! And as soon as a nigga get to sucking on them, trust, they gonna sprout. But, as for your ass, I don’t know what to say about you, boo.”

  Desiree glared at me angrily, like it was my fault she didn’t have no ass and I did.

  “Baby? Girls?”

  Daddy was walking down the hallway toward our room. As Mama sashayed away, he swatted her ass.

  I hugged him.

  Daddy tilted my face up and looked at it. “Your eye okay, baby?”

  Desmond Pierce—People called him “Deuddi P”—was born in Louisiana and brought out here when he was five. He was a tall man, six foot four, had a handsome face, and was cream-colored with piercing, brown eyes, and a set of dimples, which I also had, and which made Desiree jealous.

  Many girls around the way always wanted to get their clutches into Daddy, but over the years, he only seemed to have eyes for our mother. Although sometimes Desiree and I had heard rumors about our Mama fucking around on Daddy, we knew it was bullshit. The last time we’d heard a comment like that, we ended up beating a girl’s ass.

  “Fuck you, bitch!” Desiree yelled, stomping the girl with her boots.

  I clocked the girl in the face. “What the fuck you know about our mommy?”

  We beat that girl so damn bad that we both were suspended. Daddy was pissed and whipped both our asses while he did it, mama looked at us sternly and said, “That’s right!”

  Later, behind Daddy’s back, she gave us both an extra five dollars on our allowance, a high-five, and made us crab legs, our favorite dinner.

  But, see, we weren’t really that bad. Well, Desiree was. She didn’t go to school, fucked anything that was walking, cursed, drank, and smoked weed. But, see, me and Desiree, we shared one thing in common. We had bad-ass tempers.

  My butt was still rearing from the incident in my art class. I had managed to get an A on my test, but the teacher accused me of cheating. So on my test my A was crossed out with a red pen and “failed due to copying neighbor’s answers” was scribbled across the top. If anything, the bitch next to me was the one who was looking on my paper. But I wasn’t a snitch, so I kept quiet. But because she was white and we had the same answers, I was automatically the one who was wrong. I got the F.

  Bitch, please, you got me twisted.

  Anger pumped through me when I saw the white bitch relieved she didn’t fail. Instead there was an A. I slid out of my seat and slowly walked up to my teacher, seated behind her desk drinking coffee.

  I leaned over her desk so our faces were inches from each other, our noses damn near touching. “You mean to tell me that after all the time and hard work I put into studying for this test that you gonna give me an F? Bitch, I’m gonna kill you, your husband, your kids, and your fucking dog!”

  Her eyes widened.

  I snatched the coffee mug from her hand and threw it into the wall, shattering the glass, and coffee flew all over the place.

  Boy, did Daddy whip my ass.

  “Baby, I asked if your eye was okay.”

  I blinked and smiled at Daddy. “Yeah, Daddy, you know I’m okay. Take more than this to get to Cash money!”

  Desiree sucked her teeth, and Daddy chuckled.

  “Congratulations on your promotion, Daddy!”

  He hugged me close again.

  “Congrats, Daddy,” Desiree said, hugging him stiffly.

  I don’t know why she had to act so damn stupid.

  “Girl, put some clothes on your tail!”

  “I am.”

  “Well, your mother already in the kitchen nibbling on tidbits, with her greedy rump. Y’all come out this room, so we can eat this food y’all prepared.” Daddy walked out.

  As Desiree threw a dress on, I whispered, “Aye, you did a bitch move, but reality is, you, just as usual, got your ass kicked.”

  “Fuck you!”

  “HA!” I teased then I then ran from the room shouting, “I’m coming Deuddi P!” Once I hit the living room, I shouted, “You in for a treat, Daddy!”

  He was flicking through the channels on the television before settling on a game. That was pretty much Daddy. He worked hard all day, came home, kissed us, spent a little time with his wife, ate, and watched television. Even though he was a handsome man, he felt no need to be out in the streets. In fact our mother did way more partying than he ever did. Every Friday she was at Tobos in Long Beach, a club where there was a dance floor, bar, and pool tables.

  “So what did you cook, baby?” Pearla asked, pulling the foil off the platters on the table.

  “My special, chili spaghetti, Mama, with some shredded cheese on top, you know, a little salad with romaine lettuce. You know we doing it up, because we got the romaine.”

  Daddy chuckled and shook his head at me. “Baby, you know you silly.”

  Me and Mama laughed too.

  “We also got some buttered rolls, and for dessert, Daddy, I did your favorite.”

  Mama screeched
as if the dinner was prepared for her.

  “Damn, Mama! Why you gotta be so loud?” Desiree snapped, emerging from the bedroom and sitting down.

  “Watch your mouth!” Dad had an angry look in his eyes, rising from the couch and coming to sit at the dinner table.

  Desiree sucked her teeth.

  “Like I was saying, Dad, I made your favorite, peach cobbler. And I even went to the market and got some vanilla ice cream to go on top of it.”

  “Well, hell, let’s sit on down and eat,” Daddy drawled. He smacked Mama on her ass.

  We all sat down and passed the food around. “So, Miss Desiree,” Mama joked, “what did you cook, or did your ass stay on the phone like you usually do, Negro?”

  Desiree ignored Mama and kept eating.

  I felt generous and helped her out. I took a sip of my soda. “She made the salad, Mama.”

  “It’s a good salad, and you put your foot in this spaghetti, baby!” Daddy leaned over, grabbed the platter, and spooned some more into his plate.

  That shit just made it worse. I didn’t even bother to look up or say thank you. That would’ve made Desiree angrier. “So, Daddy, you excited?” I asked.

  “Yeah, baby. Monday thru Friday, nine to five, I got my own office. Shit mileage—Can’t get no better than that.”

  “I know that’s right, baby!” Mama sashayed to the fridge and grabbed a beer. She flicked the top off and took a long sip of it.

  “And if I need to do overtime, I can, baby, as much as I want. And since Christmas and birthdays are coming up, I know my ass gonna be back on that road killing that overtime.” Daddy winked at Mama, who walked back over and sat on his lap.

  “Yeah, Deuddi,” she said, “’cause there’s this real pretty bracelet I been real partial too, baby. I saw it when I was at the mall shopping.”

  Daddy moaned, but his hands tightened around Mama’s waist.

  I hopped up. This was a celebration, so I turned on Daddy’s favorite song. “Hey now, Daddy check this out!” It was Marvin Gaye’s “Got To Give It Up.”

  Once the music wafted around the room, Mama stood up and began her wiggling, enticing Daddy.

  I started twisting also and booty-bumped Desiree, and she stood to her feet as well and joined us. Then I pulled Daddy to his feet and danced with him as well. “Shake it, Daddy!” I yelled.

  “Man, my girls growing up!” Daddy twirled me around in circles then joined me in the two-step, while Mama twisted and shook like they did when they were in their twenties, dances that neither Desiree nor I did.

  “Y’all gotta do some new shit—stuff,” Desiree yelled. “Come on, Cash money, let’s show them how it’s done.”

  “All right.”

  We crouched down, placed our hands on our knees, and popped our booties back and forth.

  Daddy fell back on the couch, just messing around, and screamed, “Lord, no!”

  Meanwhile Mama tried to copy what we were doing. And, yeah, she had enough ass, but she just couldn’t get it.

  Me and my sister high-fived each other, the fucked-up words and the blows we threw that morning disregarded. Yeah, that night we had a blast.

  Chapter 3

  Things were cool for a minute. Daddy being home on the weekends, we did more things as a family. But I knew two people that weren’t too pleased—Mama, ’cause she couldn’t go out like she wanted to, and Desiree, who had to be extra careful when she snuck guys in the house, with her dumb ass. I mean, I loved the hell out of Mama and my sister, and Daddy was such a good man. That should have been enough for Mama to keep her ass in the house and Desiree to keep her legs closed. One night I stayed up with him and watched a horror flick while Mama was out clubbing. Desiree was in the room getting fucked, and Daddy had no idea. When I could no longer keep my eyes open, I gave Daddy a hug and went to bed.

  As I was getting in bed, Desiree was on her bed, scrubbing her pussy. I shook my head at her. Daddy would be in for a surprise to see Desiree’s trampy ass. Sure as hell can’t wear any damn white at her wedding, but she’d probably fake the funk, and her husband would be cool, ’cause he wouldn’t know Miss Desiree really ain’t so damn innocent.

  “What?” she asked, rubbing herself with a washcloth, her legs in the air.

  “You a nasty bitch, that’s what.”

  She threw the washcloth at me.

  I threw it back. “Mark my words, dumb ass, one day Daddy gonna find out.”

  “Stop hatin’.”

  “Whatever.” I turned over and pulled the covers over my head. She had the whole room smelling like budussy—butt, dick, and pussy—for sure.

  And, true enough, a couple nights later, the shit hit the muthafuckin’ fan.

  I was awaken out of my sleep by the sound of moaning and rocking, and the smell of butt, dick, and pussy was in the air again stronger than I had ever smelled before. I froze when I heard more than two voices in the room. Maybe I was still half-’sleep. I rubbed my eyes as quietly as I could.

  “Ouuu, yes! Right there!”

  Pretending I was still ’sleep, I took a deep breath and flipped my body over, so I could get a good view. I moved slowly, sliding my legs and moving on my stomach. I even faked a couple of snores. But, shit, I wanted to know what the fuck was going on in here. I saw clothes scattered on the floor, shoes, drawers, shirts, pants, belts, my sister’s nightgown, but there was nobody on the bed.

  My eyes scanned the room, and I saw her. Them. Desiree was on all fours on her knees, like a dog, a nigga behind her bucking like he was a disc jockey, and a nigga in front of her, his dick in her mouth.

  But that wasn’t the biggest shock, if you could imagine. The biggest shock was seeing Daddy standing in the doorway. The small light the hallway cast in our room showed the horrified look on his face.

  “Suck my dick right, bitch!”

  That was it. Daddy’s look changed to anger. In the next millisecond, he tore through the room and rushed them both, knocking them both off Desiree. They groaned and scurried around like mice.

  “Get the fuck out of my house!” he yelled. Then he hauled off and knocked Desiree in her mouth.

  She fell on the floor, screaming, “Daddy!”

  Daddy didn’t stop there neither. He took off his house shoe, snatched her up by one arm, and began beating her naked ass with it. She was crying hysterically and begging him to stop. The dudes took the opportunity to rush out the room and, safe to assume, out the house.

  Mama rushed in the room, and it took both of us to get Daddy off Desiree.

  “Daddy, please stop,” I pleaded.

  “Des, baby, stop before you hurt her!” Mama shouted, grabbing his arm.

  Daddy jerked away from Mama and flung Desiree on her bed, where she continued to cry loudly. He pulled away from me too and stalked out of the room, and Mama chased after him.

  I followed her into the hallway but didn’t enter the living room and just listened.

  His voice was angry and hoarse. “I done worked too gotdamn hard all these years to see my flesh and blood ho’ing in my own house.”

  I took some more steps, hid in the corner, watched and listened.

  Daddy turned to Mama. “Woman, you betta put a stop to this, and you betta do it now!”

  I had never seen him shout at Mama, unless they were doing their love sessions. But that would be more like, “Pearla, damn! Give me my pussy!”

  Mama rubbed her hands up and down his back. “I will, baby.”

  He pulled away and sat down on the couch.

  Mama held her neck in both her hands. “I’ll go talk to her right now, Des.”

  I heard her house shoes slide on the carpet. When she saw me standing in the hallway, she said, “Cash, go calm your father down.”

  I nodded and offered a smile, and she brushed past me.

  I approached Daddy slowly and sat down next to him. He was leaning over, his face in his hands. He didn’t acknowledge my presence. I leaned forward too and tugged at both of his hands, da
mp because of the crying. Poor Daddy, his eyes were shiny with fresh tears.

  I made a cross-eyed face that I did to make him laugh when I was a kid, and he gave a small chuckle.

  “Daddy, you can’t sit up all night. This the night you gotta do your overtime for Mama.”

  “I know, baby.” He grabbed my face in his hands, caressed it, then kissed both my cheeks.

  “She won’t do it again, Daddy.”

  The scene from earlier must have flashed before his eyes. They watered again.

  “Y’all girls mean the world to me. Y’all always been my angels. Why I never cared about busting my ass day in and day out, working those double shifts, ’cause I wanted you girls to have a mom at home to raise y’all properly. This shit is not what I wanted for y’all. I’d rather die than see what I just saw—you girls being treated like tramps. I want the best for y’all—college, marriage, healthy children, a man that’s gonna court you, treat y’all right. The best the world has to offer, baby, that’s what I want for you girls.”

  “I know, Daddy. And we want that stuff too. I’m gonna give you that. And, Desiree, she gonna give you it too. She just messed up this once,” I lied, “but she won’t pull that stunt again.”

  He pulled me up by curving an arm around my waist till I was in his lap, like he used to do when I was little. To tell the truth, he never stopped doing it, letting me know, no matter how old I got, I would always be his baby, his little girl. He kissed me all over my face and said, “Darling, I love you so much. If I could, I’d have your behind cloned, so we’d have a dozen Cashmeres walking around.”

  “I love you too. And I’d want them all to have you as their daddy.”

  He told me this at least once a week. He used to tell Desiree too, but somewhere along the way, with her getting suspended from school, caught smoking and drinking, and failing all her classes, and all her promises to him that she never kept, somewhere in there, he stopped saying it to her. And I understood why.

  “I ain’t gonna let you down.”

  I hugged him close.

  “I don’t think you can, bay. I don’t think you can.”

  I hoped he was right. I didn’t think I was halfway near as perfect as he thought me and Desiree were. And now he saw she didn’t belong on that pedestal he’d put her on.