by Ivory B.
Keema rolled her eyes with annoyance as she heard her phone ring for the second time and saw her grandmother’s number on the screen. Her grandmother had called less than five minutes ago and it was obvious from the moment Keema picked up it was only a ‘butt call’ or what some may refer to as an accidental call. All Keema could hear was the sounds of ruffling wind and voices that sounded both near and far at times. She hung up the first call and now it seemed as if her grandmother must’ve hit her phone screen a second time to accidently launch yet another call. Ever since Keema upgraded Sister G from her government issued Obama phone to an Iphone her grandmother was notorious for calling or either texting Keema by accident. Usually if Keema had talked to her grandmother earlier in the day as she did today she was fresh on her grandmother’s call log and it was nothing for her to receive either a butt call or a meaningless text message that consisted of random letters, symbols, and numbers. Keema had suggested on more than one occasion that Sister G let one of her other grandchildren teach her how to use her phone or either place a security code on the phone to minimize the accidental calls it was obvious Sister G hadn’t taken Keema’s advice.
“Hello! Hello!” Keema snapped as she heard loud talking in the background through her phone. She was just about to hang up when she heard her name. “So Keema gonna give you the money right?” “Yeah she called earlier talkin bout she wanna talk to me about somethin, I told her I’ll be here and that she needed to spot me a couple more hundred so I can buy my meds and whatnot she said okay,” Sister G boasted. There was laughter in the background. “Mama you got ya very own piggy bank. I ain’t made atcha!” Keema recognized that voice it was her Aunt Pat. Keema’s jaw tightened and she could feel anger building inside. Her relationship with her Aunt Pat had always been strained. Pat was Sister G’s youngest child and even though she was a grown ass woman well into her mid 40’s she still was very much dependent on Sister G. She was like the child that never quite grew up. Back when Keema was little her Aunt was out there on drugs bad but anytime she wanted to come home to beg Sister G for some money to get on one, or hide out for a couple of days from the local D-Boys she’d burnt for drugs Sister G would welcome her with open arms. Keema and her grandmother lived in a tiny two bedroom apartment where there was barely any room for the two of them plus the multitude of junk Sister G collected, that didn’t matter when it came to Pat. Keema was even ordered out of her bedroom while Pat and her children stayed in Keema’s room from time to time. Pat made sure she took full advantage of the social security checks Sister G received from Keema’s deceased mother in addition to the monthly benefit check she received for Keema being a Ward of the State. It seemed at times that everyone was living good off of benefits meant for Keema except Keema herself. As Keema got older she began to despise her Aunt seeing how Pat could come and take over their apartment anytime she wanted. No matter how many times Pat fell Sister G was right there to pick her up, Sister G gave Pat the love, attention, and support Keema felt she went without as a child. Now it seemed years later the cycle continued. Not even a month from the day Keema and Jah gave Sister G the money for the down payment on the apartment she was currently living in, Keema found out her Aunt Pat had took up shop in the spare bedroom.
“Mama you still gon give Chanel that money for her hair right?” “Yeah I’ma give her that money that’s why I told Keema to give me a coupla extra hunnit. Come next week I’ma call her and tell her to give me some more money. Hell she owe me for taking her in and raising her, it wasn’t easy either. Humph she used to be runnin around here being a fast ass wit grown men and whatnot, then got herself mixed up wit that damn drug dealin boy she married. Hell if I don’t take that money dem damn cops will when they catch up with that heathen husband of hers.” “Umm hmm, Keema round here riding high always got her nose up in the air braggin bout that husband of hers. I heard her talkin bout they bought a big ole house out in Jersey. Please you know all them street Hustlas got a expiration date. She should be tryin to bank some of that money instead of spending it all on them fancy clothes and handbags ain’t nobody impressed. You know that’s the reason she fell out with Pinky Niece Tami right? Uh huh Ma I was over by Pinky’s house and her Niece Tami was over there spilling hot tea talkin bout how Jah gave Keema all typa STD’s back in the day and how Keema tried to fight her over that no good man.” Keema was livid; if she could somehow become a sound wave and travel through that phone to whoop her Aunt ass she would. How was her Aunt who was currently living off of her dime going to violate and bite the hand that fed her by sitting around talking about Keema like a dog with people Pat knew Keema didn’t mess with. Keema felt that even if her and Pat was never close Pat owed her more loyalty than she was showing. To add insult to injury was Keema having to hear Sister G bragging as if Keema was her personal ATM. Keema’s hands shook with anger and she did the first thing that came to mind. Keema pressed her thumb on her phone screen disconnecting the call then tried to call her grandmother’s number immediately after but the call went straight to voicemail. She hung up and then called her Aunt Pat’s number because there was a few things she needed to tell this bitch too. “Hey Keema who you looking for Mama?” Pat asked her voice void of any malice or hate she was just kicking. “Oh nah you just the bitch I’m looking for,” Keema sneered. “Pat let me tell you something, you been off that glass dick for a hot second and you think you can come at me sideways now. Don’t worry about my husband or what typa STD’s he may have given me worry about how many yo ass contracted while you was out there turning tricks and sucking dick for a piece of crack bitch!” “Oohh unh unh! Who the fuck you talkin to like that?! I’m your Aunt and you need to have more respect for me than that. I will beat yo disrespectful ass! You think you all that bitch you ain’t all that! Yeah I was sellin my ass for crack but you was out here giving it away for free, so who looks more stupid?” Pat spat with venom. “Pat now what is going on?! Give me that phone and stop all that mess,” Sister G demanded not wanting her gravy train to jump its track and leave her behind. Keema shook her head from side to side with angry tears threatening to run down her face like a never ending river. She would be lying if she said the thought hadn’t crossed her mind to go upstairs throw some sneakers on and go whoop Pat’s ass. But she had to remind herself that she was better than that and her kids deserved better. Keema had come a long way from that angry, loved deprived, girl who lashed out at any given moment and would open a can of whoop ass on anyone she felt disrespected her. She was a wife, a mother, a young black queen, that overcame hardships that she never let keep her down. Keema pulled herself up from her bootstraps and did what she had to do whether people agreed with it or not to put herself through nursing school. Her grandmother or anyone else in her family had ever supported anything positive Keema did. Keema chuckled lightly, “Yup, you know what I was a hoe or whatever else you wanna call me. I did things I’m not proud of slept with men I wouldn’t give the time of day now. But when I was out there did it ever occur to you or your mother that I was searching for love I wasn’t gettin at home. Yeah sister G took me in and treated me like an indentured servant. You can put this on speaker phone so she can hear this when I say it, I DON’T OWE HER SHIT! She didn’t take me in out of the goodness of her heart, she took me in for a paycheck and for the most part that’s exactly how she treated me. No one said anything when she physically and emotionally abused me for years. Fuck her and fuck you, I don’t owe none of y’all shit!” “Oh please Keema! You on that Oprah mess talkin bout you were lookin for something you weren’t getting at home. Please! You wasn’t innocent and you put Mama through unnecessary stress when you was younger. My mother gave you a roof ova ya head, she coulda let yo ass go into foster care!” “Yeah and you know what I probably would’ve been better off! Y’all can kiss my whole fuckin ass and I mean that wit my soul. And you can tell ya Mama that if my heathen ass husband ain’t good enough for that hypocrite his money ain’t either. Have a nice fuckin life.”
&nb
sp; Jah stood back speechless as he watched his wife slam her cell phone down on the counter before yanking a pot from the cabinet above her head to continue cooking. He didn’t know what happened all he knew was Keema had plans of going to her grandmother’s to let her know she could only give her five notes per month and would continue paying her cell phone bill, now it looked as if that wasn’t poppin off anymore. Keema pulled a kitchen drawer open and rummaged through it in a hurry until she found a large mixing spoon then tossed it onto the counter with a loud clink clack noise. Her shoulders shook slightly from the obvious emotional turmoil she was in. Jah walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her from behind. His embrace seemed to come right on time, Jah’s touch and strength was exactly what she needed. Jah’s hand covered hers like a large mitten and took hold of the pan she held. He placed the pan on the countertop before turning her around to face him. What Jah saw in her eyes caused him to feel a tinge of sadness in his chest. “I know go ahead say I told you so,” Keema said just above a whisper her lips quivering with emotion. Jah furrowed his eyebrows flashing her an incredulous look. “Keem you know I wouldn’t do that. This is what I was trying to protect you from Ma, this is what I didn’t want to happen.” Keema nodded her head with a solemn look on her face. “I know all you wanna do is protect me but I don’t need you to. I guess I gotta learn the hard way. I just need you to be there to catch me when I’m wrong and fall.” Jah gave a half smile although his eyes betrayed the slight smile on his face. “That goes without sayin Keem,” Jah said before placing a tender kiss on Keema’s forehead then pulling her into a tight hug. I’ve been in a fog for months and today I finally had some clarity. Everything I needed was right in front of me, right here under this roof.
White Lines
Ty was home in the kitchen reading the back of a Duncan Hines cake mix box for instruction on how to make cupcakes. This was so not her lane; give her some financial accounts to work on she would kill it but she was no Suzy Homemaker and that was for sure. Kynah had baking fever and was always begging to bake something, cookies, cakes, or cupcakes it didn’t matter. Lucky would always bake with Ky when she stayed with her and Los so Ky thought she was a professional baker now. Then Lucky turned around and copped Ky a damn baking machine for everything you can think of. Ky had a donut maker, a miniature pie maker, cupcake maker and cake maker. Ty called Lucky and told her ass don’t dare buy one more thing that had anything to do with baking. Now Ky had worked Ty’s last nerve to bake cupcakes so here Ty was trying to give it a whirl.
Ty had all the ingredients she thought she would need out on the countertop as Ky sat on a tall barstool pulled up to the granite countertop with a mixing bowl full of cake batter in front of her. Ty now 5 months pregnant took the mixing spoon out of the hand mixer and caught the dripping raw cake mix with her finger tasting it “Ummm that is really good, who wants the spoons?!” “Meeee!” Kynah screamed excitedly. Ty passed the mixing spoons with a napkin underneath knowing Ky was about to go in on them spoons and make a big mess. Ty felt Nice’s strong arms wrap around her from behind. “Mmmm,” he moaned sexily as he placed a soft kiss on the nap of her neck causing her to giggle while he palmed her little baby bumpage. With Ty’s pregnancy Nice felt as if he were getting a second chance at being a better father from the very beginning. He was determined to make every appointment and be there when his son or daughter took their first breath, basically do all the things he didn’t do with Ky because he and Mia couldn’t get along.
Everyone was ecstatic about Ty’s pregnancy. Tina and Lucky were already busy finalizing plans for the baby shower which was planned for the following month. They actually wanted to throw her a baby shower sooner but Ty made it clear she didn’t want any type of shower until she was at least 20 weeks or more. The news of Ty’s pregnancy spread like wildfire, mostly because Nice was excited as hell. He was a proud Papa before the baby was even here. Kynah was too amped about being a big sister, that’s all she talked about lately. Once Mia found out about the expected bundle of joy through Kynah she’d been turnt up to the max with the drama. Her nasty phone calls had started getting borderline harassing in nature. Ty was trying desperately to keep her stress levels down after a failed stress test. So now when Mia called Ty would place the phone down and let her rant and rave until she got tired and hung up. Ty couldn’t call it but there was something deeply disturbed about Mia, she acted as if she were slightly touched not completely retarded but slightly.
“Don’t be feeding my lil man all that garbage,” Nice warned in a playful tone. Ty sucked her teeth “Whateva you don’t know if this is a boy, we find out in two weeks since you insisted. Besides you know ever since I’ve been pregnant I love sweets.” “Yeah, I know ya lil ass got a sweet tooth when I’m finding mini Snickers wrappers all over the house,” Nice stated giving her a fake mad look. Ty burst out into laughter showing her guilt. “I know this my boy right here,” Nice said with certainty rubbing her stomach.
Suddenly both Nice and Ty went silent as they watched Ky play with the flour Ty had placed on the counter. Ky’s actions had seemed to catch both of their attention at the same time. They watched on silently as Ky maneuvered the flour that she spread out on the countertop into two perfect lines with her little fingers. Then suddenly held down one of her nostrils and proceeded to hover over the flour as if she were going to sniff the lines right up her nose. Both Nice and Ty were paralyzed with shock momentarily. Ty couldn’t find her voice to say anything and Nice nearly fell out on the spot before jumping into action. “Ky! What the hell is you doing! Where did you get that from?” Nice barked letting Ty go and making his way around the island towards Ky. Ky jumped back so fast she almost lost her balance and fell off the stool she was kneeling in. Kynah looked up at her father with innocent eyes bulging in fear. Nice had never used that type of tone or language with Ky before as a matter of fact Ty thought that could’ve been the only time he had ever cursed at her. “Ha? Ky you hear me talkin to you where did you get that from?!” Kynah began to tremble as a low cry escaped her lips and one blink sent tears streaming down her face. She looked over at Ty with pleading eyes, begging silently to be saved from her father’s angry interrogation. “Now hold a gotdamn minute Kamar don’t scream at her like that!” Ty demanded before she pushed past Nice making her way over to Ky picking her up. Ky wrapped her arms around Ty’s neck holding on for dear life as she tried to hide her face from her father’s menacing glare. “Nah fuck that! Kynah you gon tell me where you got that shit from right now!” Nice was pissed beyond belief. “Kamar! Do not curse at her, you need to calm down” Ty snapped giving Nice the evil eye. “Kynah look at me, where did you learn that from? You can tell me baby,” Ty asked in a calm soft tone seeing that Ky was petrified. Ky was hesitant to say anything, one glance at her father and she knew he meant business, “Mi…Mia. I see Mia do it.” “Ooh baby,” Ty cooed with sympathy holding a crying Ky close to her chest. “What?!” Nice yelled in shock stumbling backwards.