by Noire
“I’m sure your father was quite proud of you. Now tell me, Barron,” Okrah moved on. “I know it was a long time ago but take me back to that day when you were watching your little sister, Sable. It was the last time you would see her for many, many years.”
Barron thought he was prepared to the answer the question. He told himself that he would just say it was an accident and that he was young and Okrah would move on. But that’s not how it turned out. Barron felt an emotional tug on his heart as he fought to keep his professional composure in front of Okrah and her cameras.
“Well, it was so long ago . . . I remember . . . I remember I was playing with my little brother Dane while my mom went into the store,” Barron said, his voice dropping lower as the memories flooded his mind. “It was hot. There were a lot of people on the streets. We had walked around for a very long time.”
The more he talked the more Barron’s mind slipped further and further back to that day. His palms started to sweat and his legs began to shake as he zoned in on his past.
“I just kept playing with Dane, doing what big brothers do . . . annoying him. Then all of a sudden he got mad,” Barron said as his eyes got very wide. “He started crying and I was laughing. But then I . . . I tried to calm him down.”
It was like he was seven years old again. At that very moment Barron was right there in front of the damn drug store that haunted him for so many years. Everything seemed crystal clear to him.
“I picked Dane up and swung him around a few times,” Barron responded slowly. “Just to stop him from crying. I only took my eyes off of the stroller for a second . . . just . . . a . . . second.”
Before Barron knew it the flood-gates in his soul opened and tears started streaming down his face. His hands were clenched tightly together in sweaty fists as he remembered the pain on his mother’s face when she came back out the store and realized Sable was gone.
“Do you think you should have been more careful, Barron?” Okrah asked. “Do you believe that had you been more attentive that you could have prevented what happened to your sister?”
“Yes . . . I should have been more aware,” Barron said as anger rose in him and joined his sorrow. He was fighting back hoarse sobs as his plan to stay even-keeled went out the window. “I . . . turned around and . . . I saw the stroller rocking. For a second I thought Sable had jumped out. It was like a dark shadow had swooped down . . . and . . . snatched my sister away from us . . . and it was all my fault.”
And then he broke down completely. The pain he had buried for so long and the barriers he had built around those emotions had finally collapsed. Barron was truly a mama’s boy and he felt responsible for his mother’s pain as well. She had never given up on the search for Sable and he felt real guilty for trying to convince her for years that her little girl was dead.
“I-I-I,” he started.
Selah threw up her hand. “No, baby! That’s enough!” She got up and sat beside him, pulling her oldest child into her arms. “It was not your fault, Barron! You were too young to be watching anybody. Everything that happened that day was my fault. I was the adult. I was the mother. I neglected all of you that day. I’m the only one responsible, so I need you to let that pain go. Right now. Let it all go, Barron, you hear me? You don’t have to live with that burden anymore! It’s not yours to carry.”
Mink couldn’t help the feeling that ripped through her gut. She didn’t really fuck with Barron like that. He had been real shitty to her when she first came to Texas. But seeing his pain up close finally made her understand what Sable had meant to him and how much of the blame he placed upon his own young shoulders for her abduction. Tears welled up in Mink’s eyes and she threw her arm around Barron as well.
“It’s okay, Bump,” she said as she hugged her brother. “You don’t have to blame yourself anymore. I’m back now and I’m not going anywhere. What happened back then is over. The important thing is that we’re all together now. That’s all that matters. It’s all good now big brother.”
Okrah beamed. She knew her audiences at home were giving her guests a standing ovation as they saw a well-to-do family finally putting their demons to rest. What had just happened live on her show proved that no matter how much money you had, life could get real. The pure emotions had cast the Dominions in a good light instead of making them appear to be uppity tight-ass black folks. As a hostess she was well pleased. It was a powerful moment for the family and excellent ratings for television.
“We have to take a short commercial break, but we’ll be back so please stay tuned for more. This is Okrah Sinfree Live.”
Okrah was the shit! Selah was on deck last, so now it was my turn at bat! I felt bad for ragging on Bunni like I did because TV was all that and I was looking good as a mofo and I was so ready to work them cameras. I didn’t know what O-Mama was gonna ask me or how I was gonna work her angle to my advantage. I had managed to squeeze a few fake tears outta my eyes, but I wasn’t gonna get caught up in her trap or sit there slinging snot everywhere like Barron did, that’s for damn sure.
“Today on Okrah Sinfree Live we’re bringing you a story about missing children. It’s a heartbreaking topic because it’s every parent’s nightmare. Today’s guests are the Dominions of Dallas, Texas. Viceroy Dominion, the multi-million-dollar oil tycoon and his wife experienced this tragedy firsthand. Their daughter Mink LaRue was kidnapped many years ago and her absence left a void in their lives that no amount of money could ever fill. But the strong-willed family never lost hope, and today after all these years they finally have their baby back.
“Tell me, Mink. After growing up in the slum ghetto of Harlem, what is it like to wake up one day and suddenly find yourself an heiress to an oil fortune?”
Slum ghetto? Did this butter-fried trick really just tell America that my fuckin’ town was a slum ghetto? I tried to stop my foot from tapping but Mizz O had some shit about herself and she needed correcting!
“Um,” I said, poking out my titties and flashing my pearlies at the cameraman even though the producers had already told me twice not to look over there, “I don’t know about all that slum ghetto mess you talkin’, but I’m just happy to be back with my family and working on putting my life back together. I’ve been through so much and there’s a big cobweb of lies in my mind that I’m still trying to clear out. Luckily, I have a lot of support from two wonderful and loving parents to help me through this process. I know it’s been hard on them as well, and we’re all taking it one day at a time trying to mend what was lost to us so long ago. I mean, all the money and the T.V. cameras are cool like that and everything, but all I’m really looking forward to is the future I’m going to have with the people who really love me and care about me.”
I turned and smiled into the camera again, thinking I did pretty damn good with the lines I had practiced, but Okrah must didn’t like it because right away she cued up for another commercial break. As soon as the camera cut away she turned toward me and blasted me with her cold blue eyes.
“Is there something wrong with you?” she asked me, and she said it real stank-like too.
I shook my head with a quickness. “Ain’t nothing wrong with me! Why you asking?”
“Stop patting your foot and try to stick with the program,” she said, dissing me like I was some little-ass kid. “Give me a little more sugar and a little less vinegar, okay? Try to concentrate and think before you answer.”
“Welcome back, America, today we are here on Okrah Sinfree Live with our guests, the Dominion family of Texas. We’re discussing missing and abducted children who have been miraculously found and reunited with their families. The Dominions know the pain and the joy of losing and recovering a child firsthand and the immense grief and heartache it causes an entire family. You’ve already heard from Barron Dominion as he shared his personal experiences from a sibling’s perspective on what it was like to lose his sister when he was merely a child himself, and now you’ll have a chance to hear this story fro
m a mother whose heart ached from the loss of her child for many years, only to discover that the daughter who was stolen from her was alive and well and living right there in New York City.”
Okrah smiled and looked all misty-eyed as she reached out and took Selah’s hand. “Thank you for being here on Okrah Live, Selah. We’ve heard from your son, Barron, now tell us what you remember about that day.”
Selah took a deep breath. “It was just a normal day,” she said softly, reciting all the stuff she had already said on all them other shows. “It started out wonderfully. My husband and I had taken our three children on what was supposed to be a vacation in New York City. But my husband . . . he was called away on business unexpectedly and the kids and I were stuck in the hotel room and they were getting very restless.”
“So you left the hotel and just started wandering around Manhattan?” Okrah asked, her voice soothing and gentle.
Selah nodded. “Y-y-yes. The children needed some fresh air and so did I. We decided to go for a walk. The boys really liked being outside and seeing the sights. I happened to spot a drug store and I left my oldest son outside to watch my younger kids. I ran in the store just for a bit. I couldn’t have been gone for more than three, maybe four minutes tops. But when I came outside my three-year-old daughter was gone. Someone had walked up and lifted her out of her stroller without saying a word. I screamed and searched all over, but . . .” Selah dabbed at her eyes with her lace hanky, “she was gone.”
That shit felt so raw to me. Just because I had loved my mama Jude and I didn’t remember a thing about getting took, it didn’t mean I couldn’t feel mad sympathy for Selah every time she told that story. All that pain I was hearing in her voice was there because she had lost a kid she really loved. Because she had lost me. And that’s why I copped a real stank ’tude when Okrah opened her mouth and bit her like that.
“But it really wasn’t that simple, was it, Selah? Tell the truth. It wasn’t that you just ran in the store for a moment and then a tragedy occurred, as you’ve led everyone to believe. The truth is, you were drunk, weren’t you?” she accused, turning on Selah like a pudgy pit bull. “According to the police report and statements our producers uncovered, you had been walking around consuming large amounts of alcohol in the middle of the day. So, you’re telling the world that knowing full well that you alone were responsible for the safety and well-being of three young children, you were out there drinking?”
You bubble-eyed bitch! I wanted to come up outta my seat on Okrah! She didn’t even have to go her ass there! We had been on plenty of other talk shows and nobody else had put Mama Selah’s shit on blast like that! I was about ready to leap up and get real ratchet on Mizz O because I wasn’t scared of her ass!
“Y-yes, you’re right,” Mama Selah admitted quietly. “I was drinking and it was my fault that Sable was taken.”
“Because you were drunk,” Okrah repeated. “Say it and own it! You were falling down drunk!”
Selah lowered her head in shame. “I admit I was drinking and I take full responsibility for that. But the worst part is”—her lips started quivering face crumpled in a million pieces. “And as you just saw, for almost twenty years my son Barron blamed himself, but he was only seven years old and there was no way he could have stopped that crazy woman from doing what she did.”
By now I was swole like a muthafucka and there was no way nobody coulda stopped me from doing what I was about to do neither!
I jumped up outta my seat and blasted that heffa with both my guns. “You’s a hater!” I screamed on Okrah as I grabbed Mama Selah by her wrist and yanked her to her feet. Barron jumped up too and he got on the other side of Selah and wrapped his arm around her protectively.
“Faker!” I yelled at Okrah. “Coming up in here pretending like you cared about her! Well we ain’t gonna sit here and let you disrespect our mother like that! As much loot as you got you still ain’t nothing but a ratings rat! That’s why all that food on your show looks like hot buttered dog shit! ’Cause you fake, Okrah! You fake!”
You shoulda seen the way her security people tried to swarm all over us.
Barron jumped in front of me and Selah and looked crazy as hell posting up in his three-piece suit as he threw up his dukes.
“Put ya fuckin’ hands on me and your narrow ass is gonna be taking a nap out here in this grass,” I peeped out from behind Barron and warned a tall white dude who looked like he wanted to step to me. I snatched those clip-on mics and little black boxes off of me and Selah and tossed them shits into the flower bed.
I pointed my finger at Okrah as her team started packing up their shit and her security squad tried to rush her away. “That’s why I stole a whole box of your stupid magazines off a truck one time and ripped out the pages to soak up pee-pee water when my toilet overflowed! Lemme give you a hint, witcha high and mighty stuck-up ass,” I hollered as I ran her nosy tail up outta there on live TV. “Put somebody else on the goddamn cover of that thick-ass telephone book! ’Cause America is sick and tired of looking at your old ass!”
CHAPTER 8
“Today on Okrah Sinfree Live we’re bringing you a story about missing children. It’s a heartbreaking topic because it’s every parent’s nightmare. Today’s guests are the Dominions of Dallas, Texas. Viceroy Dominion, the multi-million-dollar oil tycoon and his wife experienced this tragedy firsthand. Their daughter Mink LaRue was kidnapped many years ago and her absence left a void in their lives that no amount of money could ever fill. But the strong-willed family never lost hope, and today after all these years they finally have their baby back.”
The television was blaring in the living room while Gutta was at the kitchen table breaking down bricks of weed for sale. Fresh home from a state bid, he was trying to get back on his feet and get back in the freedom swing. Places like Attica, Sing Sing, and Greenhaven were a rite of passage for criminals like him who scavenged the streets of New York. Most were lucky to make it out from behind those walls.
“Ayo,” Gutta yelled to his partner Shy who was in the living room bagging up. “Turn that fucking TV down, nigga! Ain’t nobody tryna hear what the fuck Okrah talking about!”
The streets hadn’t changed much while he was gone, only the players. A few niggas got deaded, a few more got locked up, and some who was at the bottom when Gutta first went in had come up and were now trying to run the show.
But none of that mattered to him now because he was ready to put in some work. As a street nigga just coming home, most of the time you had to re-establish your power and get your weight up. Gutta didn’t have a problem knocking a few heads off shoulders and kidnapping a few kingpins. The time he’d spent in jail had enhanced his grimy tendencies, and it had also made him more ruthless and more determined to put the block back in the bear hug that he once had it in.
“I’m pleased to bring to you Selah Dominion, and her children Barron Dominion and Mink LaRue! Let’s start with Barron, the eldest son of oil tycoons Viceroy and Selah Dominion of Dallas, Texas . . . ”
“Yo, Gutta! Come in here, nigga!” Shy yelled from in the living room. “I think ya honey Mink is on Okrah, yo!”
The sound of her name made Gutta growl in anger. He had been trying to find that bitch ever since she escaped from that back room he had tossed her in down near the garment district. His slime Petro had let her get the slip on him, and it had earned him two claps straight to the dome. Nobody in the hood had seen or heard from Mink ever since, and he couldn’t catch up with that bitchy nigga Peaches she used to stay with neither. He had vowed to make Mink pay for fucking with his money and losing his apartment when he went to prison. He had fallen for that sweet sex game she used to put on him but he should have known that sexy little liar couldn’t be trusted.
Hold up, did this nigga just say Mink was on Okrah?
Gutta got up and headed into the living room and sat down on the couch across from Shy. He had to rub his eyes because he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Sexy Mink L
aRue was looking like a million bucks sitting there across from Okrah. Gutta grinned. That sherm nigga Barron who had paid him to kill Mink over a DNA test had been dead wrong. That slippery little Harlem chick really was the daughter of some rich-ass oil family. Deep inside Gutta couldn’t help but smile with pride at his slick get-money honey, although he still wanted to see her dead body floating in the East fuckin’ River!
“I’m just happy to be back with my family and working on putting the pieces back together. I’ve been through so much and there’s a big cobweb of lies in my mind that I’m still trying to clear out. Luckily, I have a lot of support from two wonderful and loving parents to help me through this process. I know it’s been hard on them as well and we’re all taking it one day at a time trying to mend what was lost to us so long ago . . .
“Damn son,” Shy said in amazement. “I didn’t know your girl was sweet like that. That bitch is down in Dallas now, hella paid son!”
“Yeah,” Gutta said as he gritted his teeth and started plotting like a mutha. Texas. So that’s where the fuck she ran off to after he stomped that mud hole in her ass. “It’s a big surprise to me too, Shy. I don’t know how the fuck it’s even possible, but if she’s sitting her ass up there with Okrah then it’s looking legit.”
Gutta didn’t give a fuck about none of her family ties. All he saw was an opportunity to tap into some big-time cash. Sitting up there looking delicious, Mink mighta had them rich mothafuckas wrapped around her pinky finger, but he wanted his whole hand wrapped around her scrawny neck.
“So what you thinking, bruh?” Shy asked. “How we gonna get at her now?”
Gutta shrugged.“Easy. We gonna take us a trip to the dirty D,” he said, smiling as his mind worked up some very crooked angles. “If that bitch Mink got some money—then that means I got some money. She gonna pay me what she owes me plus pain and suffering. This could be our ticket to the big time, Shy. If I line this shit up right we could come out on top. We need to get us some of that muthafuckin’ oil money cuz ain’t none of that black gold bubbling up in Harlem.”