by Carl Weber
“Daddy, don’t talk to him like that.” Tracy came to stand by my side.
“What did you say? I know you’re not talking to me. Along with messing with this idiot, you getting high too?” He walked over and flipped on the kitchen lights. Roaches started to run for cover, and so did he. He almost fell and busted his ass. I wanted to laugh until he started yelling.
“What the fuck was that?” His eyes darted back and forth across the room.
“Please, Daddy. It’s just a few roaches.”
“Roaches! Oh, hell no! Go get your things, Tracy. You’re coming home with me, now!” Tracy looked at me like I was supposed to save her from her own father. So I tried.
“Mr. Williams, I don’t think Tracy wants to come home with you.”
“Did I ask Tracy what she wants? And what did I tell you about getting between me and my daughter?” He took a step closer and I eyeballed a lamp that would make a suitable defense weapon. Wasn’t gonna be no more of that jujitsu shit he used on me at the house.
“No, Daddy, you didn’t ask me what I want.” Tracy took two steps to meet her father face-to-face. “I’m not going home with you, Daddy. Jay and I are gonna raise this baby together. We’re a family now.” Her father laughed.
“You’re not gonna raise no baby with this man, sweetheart. He’s got a family. He’s married and has two kids.”
“I know that already,” Tracy said sternly. Tracy’s words stopped her father in his tracks for a moment. I’m sure he never expected his little princess to stay with a married man by choice. But he regained his sense of command very quickly.
“Well, that just tells me that you really haven’t matured at all. I’m sorry, Tracy, but I can’t allow this. No daughter of mine is going to stay in this roach-infested, drug-dealers-across-the-street neighborhood, and that’s final.” He grabbed her arm.
“I’m not going anywhere, Daddy!” She raised her voice, pulling herself free. “Now you either deal with it, or get out. I’m gonna be twenty years old on Saturday. You can’t tell me what to do.” She folded her arms and sucked her teeth, and I could tell her old man wanted to slap her.
“You think you’re grown, don’t you?” He gave Tracy a disappointed look that only a father could give a daughter. “Okay, Ms. Grown. You wanna stay with him and fuck up your life ...”
“It’s my life,” Tracy said sarcastically before he could finish.
“Well, let’s see if you can live it without my credit cards or my ATM card. I’m canceling them in the morning.” I could tell by his facial expression that he was as mad as you can get without screaming. “Oh and I hope your hot-shot boyfriend with the wife and two kids can afford to pay your tuition. ’Cause I ain’t paying that no more, either. You think you’re grown, Tracy? Well, I guess we’re gonna find out how grown you really are.” He stared at his daughter, hoping his threats would change her mind. He got his answer when Tracy grabbed my arm and pulled me close to her.
“We’ll be just fine.”
“Don’t call my house.” He turned toward the door. “Oh, I forgot you don’t have a phone in this rat hole anyway.” He shook his head as he walked out.
“You sure you wanted to do that?” I kissed Tracy as I heard his car door slam.
“I made my decision. Are you sure you can handle it?” She looked up at me.
“Sure, I can handle it,” I told her nervously. At least I hoped I could, ’cause I had a feeling that what was left of that three thousand bucks Kyle lent me was gonna be going mighty fast.
36
Wil
I’d been in a meeting at work for the last two hours, but my mind was on Diane. I had this gut feeling that she was up to something. She’d called me three times on my cell phone this morning just to make sure I was going to work. Then she called my secretary Marge and asked if she knew where I was staying lately. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but she’d been acting mighty funny since I’d canceled picking up the kids for church on Sunday. I hadn’t told her, but I’d just signed a lease and was moving into my new apartment. Originally I hadn’t planned on getting my own place. I’d figured that in time Diane would come around and ask me to come home. But it had been six weeks and she hadn’t changed her mind one bit. She’d actually turned into that tiger lady everyone had warned me about before we got married. Don’t get me wrong. I still loved her and wanted to go home, but now I had a better understanding of what everyone else was talking about. I just had to find a way to turn the tiger lady back into my pussycat.
I walked out of my meeting and was greeted at the door by my secretary Marge. She cut her eyes at a young woman sitting by her desk.
“Wil, this young woman would like to see you, but she won’t give me her name or tell me what she wants,” Marge whispered.
I glanced at the woman. She was a young, brown-skinned woman, probably in her midtwenties. She was a little skinny for my taste, but she had an attractive face and wore an expensive suit. I took another look at her. She didn’t look like anyone I knew and I definitely had no idea what she was there for. Still, she looked harmless enough.
“Don’t worry about it, Marge. I’ll handle it.”
Marge nodded, then returned to her desk. I approached the young woman.
“Hi, I’m Wil Duncan. My secretary said that you wanted to see me.” I extended my hand. “And you are ... ?”
She smiled as she stood. Then to my surprise, she didn’t shake my hand but placed an envelope in it. “I’m Kimberly Taylor, and Mr. Duncan, you’ve been served.” She flashed another smile, then quickly turned and walked to the elevator.
“Did she say that you’d been served?” Marge stared at me from behind her desk
“I think so,” I muttered, in shock. I stared at the plain envelope with my name printed on it.
I walked past Marge and into my office, closing the door behind me. I was a little shaky, but I managed to get seated behind my desk to open the envelope. I let out a loud roar the second my mind registered what was happening. My worst nightmare had come true. With one swipe of my arm, I knocked everything from my desk to the floor.
“That fucking bitch!” I screamed as I collapsed back in my chair and reread the document.
Marge knocked on the door, and when I didn’t answer, she opened it. “Wil, is everything all right?” I was holding the summons in one hand, staring at it. Marge’s eyes surveyed the damage I had done so quickly to my office.
“It’s Diane. She’s taking me to court for more child support.”
“Oh Wil, I’m so sorry.”
I could feel myself getting choked up, and I wanted to scream again. I know my blood pressure was starting to rise, and if that wasn’t enough, I had this knot in my chest that was making it hard to breathe.
“How could she do this to me, Marge? She’s got everything. The house, the car, and the kids. Damn, all I ever wanted to do is love that woman. Why would she do this without talking to me?” I felt like I was about to cry when Marge walked over and placed her hand on my back. I’d never been so hurt in my entire life.
“I don’t know, Wil. Maybe you should go over to the house and talk to her.”
“Yeah, you’re right. I gotta go talk to her. I gotta make this right.” Somehow I got up out of my chair and walked to the door.
By the time I arrived at the house, all the hurt I had inside had become anger. I was angry with everyone. Diane, Kyle, Allen, hell I was angry with God for putting me through all this. I pulled in the driveway and didn’t even close my car door. I just jumped out and started banging on the front door.
“Diane, open this damn door!” It didn’t take her long to answer, and the second she did, I was in her face. “What the fuck is this all about?” I had the summons in my hand and I waved it an inch from her nose.
“What do you think it’s about?” She shook her head from side to side. “I’m taking your ass to court to get more money. And keep the noise down. Katie’s trying to take a nap.” She musta known she h
ad the upper hand, ’cause Di was awfully calm.
“You can’t do this, Diane. We have an agreement.”
“Oh yeah, we do. Don’t we? Well, fuck the agreement.” She lurched at me with attitude.
“Why? What did I do?” I was still angry, but I tried to keep myself under control.
“You didn’t think I’d find out about your apartment, did you, motherfucker?”
“Is that what this is all about?” I shook my head. “Diane, I had to get an apartment. I was paying sixty-five dollars a night to stay in a motel the last two months. I was spending so much money I had to borrow against my 401K last month and I ain’t got shit to show for it. Hell, I had to borrow money from Kyle.”
“You expect me to believe that shit? Please. I know all you wanted to do is have somewhere to take your whores. You ain’t shit, Wil Duncan. Every time I look at those pictures, I hate your ass more.”
“Diane, don’t start this. You know I love you.”
“I ain’t started shit. You came over here. I didn’t come looking for you.” She shook her head again.
“I came over here because you had me served with court papers. Why can’t we discuss this instead of you dragging me to court? You act like I’m not paying enough.”
“Let me tell you something, Wil Duncan. If you can pay an eighteen hundred a month mortgage, the car note, electric bill, give me six hundred a month, and still rent an apartment, then you ain’t paying enough. So I’ll see you in court.” Her voice was dead serious and the look she gave me was ice cold.
“You really mean that, don’t you?” I was in disbelief.
“You damn right I mean it. I hate you, Wil. I hate what you did to me and I hate what you did to our family and more than that, I hate the fact that I still love you.” A few tears welled up in her eyes, but she quickly got herself back under control. “So yeah, I meant that shit. I’m gonna do whatever it takes to rid myself of you and my feelings for you.” She took a deep breath. “Matter of fact, I’m goin’ out Friday night and I’m gonna get drunk and I’m gonna get fucked.”
I couldn’t believe that she was talking to me this way. If she was tryin’ to hurt me, she couldn’t have done a better job reaching into my chest and ripping my heart right out. I knew I was going to explode if she said anything else.
“Don’t do this, Diane. You just said you love me.” Those words were the only glimmer of hope she had offered. “Don’t do this. Let’s work this out. I love you.” I could tell by her expression that my pleading wasn’t doing any good. “Come on, Diane. Let’s do it for the kids’ sake.”
“I’m not gonna work out nothin’ with you. I told you, I hate you. And if that means taking you to court and divorcing. you to get you out of my heart, then that’s what I’m gonna do. And yes, I meant every word I said.”
“You don’t wanna do this, Diane. You couldn’t possibly mean it.”
“Oh, yes I do, Wil.”
“I swear. You do this and you’re gonna regret it,” I offered as a weak threat.
“Not as much as I regret marrying your ass.” She was not threatened at all.
“You know what, Diane? I’ve fuckin’ had it.” I exploded, taking two steps closer to her. I felt like I could kill her, but something inside of me stopped me before my hands went around her throat. She must have finally been scared because the tension in her body was visible. I backed up without another word and walked to my car. If she wanted to play hard-ball and make this ugly, then I could do it too. She’d never seen the nigger in me come out, but I guarantee she was about to.
“You know what, Di? You’re gonna miss me when I’m gone,” I shouted from my car.
“Don’t count on it!” she screamed at me as she slammed the door.
It was late, almost ten-thirty on Sunday night, when Kyle and I walked into the elevator in our building. Who’d’ve thought a few years before that we’d end up two nearly divorced men living in the same lonely apartment building? We’d just returned from spending the weekend in Sag Harbor, Long Island, with a mutual friend, John Graves. Johnny had a huge house on the beach, a thirty-five-foot boat, and a membership in one of the local country clubs. Enough toys to make any brother forget his problems for a while. So we spent the weekend golfing, fishing, and drinking and not necessarily in that order. I had a chance to clear my head and relax for the first time since Diane and I split. I think it was good for Kyle, too. As bad a time as I was having with Diane, he was having an even worse time with his divorce with Lisa.
“Wil, I’ll check you later.” Kyle and I embraced and he stepped off the elevator onto the second floor. I hated to leave him alone because he looked so sad.
“Look, Kyle, if you change your mind and want me to call Lisa, just say the word. I mean, it can’t hurt.”
“Aw’ight, Wil, thanks.” I watched the elevator doors close and rode alone to the third floor.
I stepped off the elevator and right in front of me was 3A, my studio apartment. Opening the door, I looked into what had become home for the past week and probably the next year. I didn’t have much furniture. Just a table to eat on, two chairs, and a bed. The table doubled as a computer desk and the bed as a couch. I flicked on the lights and reached for my cell phone to check my voice messages. I’d left my phone behind this weekend on purpose because I knew Diane would be calling me every fifteen minutes when I didn’t show up to pick up Teddy and Katie. Not that I cared. She’d started a war when she decided to take me to court, a war that I didn’t want but was determined to win. I can’t explain how much I hated not seeing my kids this weekend, but they were gonna have to suffer a little until we went in front of the judge in two weeks to settle the child support. Now that she was taking me to court, it was time for Diane to see how important it would be to work things out with me in a manner more friendly than she’d adopted.
I dialed my code into my phone and immediately shook my head when I heard the recording. “Your mailbox is full. Please discard any unwanted messages. To hear your messages, please press one.” I knew most, if not all, of the messages were from my wife. I couldn’t help but wonder what was more important to her, me not picking up the kids or me not bringing over the mortgage and child support checks.
I pressed one to hear the messages.
First message: “Wil, it’s eight o’clock.” Diane’s voice was full of attitude. “Where are you? You were supposed to be here an hour ago.” I pressed 3 to erase the message, but felt like shit doing so. I could hear Teddy calling my name in the background.
Message erased, next message: “Wil, dammit, it’s eight thirty-eight. Where the hell are you? Lisa and Karen are sitting over here and we were supposed to go out to dinner at eight.” I pressed 3, and laughed out loud, “Too bad.”
Message erased, next message: “Wil! It’s nine-fifteen and your ass better be in the hospital ’cause if you aren’t, I’m gonna put you there.” She sounded a little pissed off. I wonder if I ruined her Friday night. I laughed as I pressed 3.
There were five straight messages that were all hang-ups after that. I figured they were probably from Diane hanging up the phone in frustration. I erased each one until I heard a message from Allen.
“Hey, Wil, it’s Allen. Diane called me three times lookin’ for you. I haven’t told her where you are, but she’s talking about calling the police. I think she’s really worried. Yo, give her a call, okay?” Damn, I didn’t mean for her to bother Allen. I pressed 3.
Message erased, next message: “Wil, it’s Diane and it’s a little after two in the morning.” Her voice was soft and sounded concerned. “It’s not like you to not answer your cell phone. Please call me. I’m worried about you.” I played the message back. Wow, she sounded like she actually was worried about me. I pushed 3 to get to the next message.
Message erased, next message: “Wil, it’s six o’clock Saturday morning and I’m really worried about you. Please give me a call. Look, maybe you’re right. We can work this out.” I almost dropped
the phone. She sounded even more sincere this time than the last message. Almost a little scared. God, would I love to work things out with her. I pressed 3. I was curious to see what else she might say.
Message erased, next message: “Yo, what up dawg? This is Jay. Listen, Diane called over here waking my ass up at six somethin’ in the mornin’ askin’ a whole bunch of questions about if I knew where you were. I think she thinks you’re gonna kill yourself or somethin’,” he laughed. “Look, if you’re out gettin’ some, get some for me too. Otherwise, call your wife. She sounds like she’s ready to let you come home,” he laughed again.
I knew she really must have been worried if she picked up the phone and called Jay. I pushed 3 again, wondering about Jay’s comment. Did she really think I would kill myself?
Message erased, next message: “Wil, this is Allen. I think I fucked up. Diane came by here a few minutes ago on her way to the police station. She said she was gonna file a missing persons report on you. I’m sorry, man, but I told her you were at Johnny’s place in Sag Harbor. I mean the woman was crying, and she had my goddaughter in her arms. Man, I felt sorry for her. Look I tried to call you at Johnny’s but his number in Sag Harbor is unlisted. I think you’re gonna have to talk to her. To say she’s pissed off is an understatement. Hey, I’m sorry, man. Call me.” I pressed 3 and hung up the phone.
There were probably another ten messages to go, but I didn’t wanna hear any more. I knew most of them would be from Diane and I had a good idea what she would be saying. I was sure it wouldn’t be nice. I was about to call Allen when the phone rang.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Wil. How was your weekend? Did you have a nice trip?” It was Diane and her voice was a lot calmer than I expected.
“Yeah, it was nice. I had a good time. How was your weekend?” I decided to play along and not mention all the phone messages until she brought them up.
“It would have been fine if you came and got your fucking kids! And brought me my money!” she screamed. “Where the fuck is my money, Wil?” Her voice was so loud that it made the phone feel like it was vibrating. So much for her being calm.