When Damali walked in the back, I thought we were in the clear. Trina came and stood behind me, and I blocked her from the view from the front of the store. I felt my hands shaking even though Trina was the one with the wire cutters. I felt a thin strip of perspiration on my forehead, and I had long ago stopped trying to control my heart. It was pounding away so fast, I kept looking around to make sure others couldn’t hear it.
Alexis went back and started talking with the clerk who was working the register to try and keep her distracted. In one sweeping move Trina snipped the wires that held the dress to the security sensor and folded it. Within seconds the dress was in my foil-lined bag and I had moved on to look at a rack of sweaters. Trina didn’t follow me. She walked over to Damali, who was coming out of the back, and started asking her a question.
I couldn’t believe just how easy it had all been. I couldn’t get out of that store fast enough. Carla walked up just as Alexis and I were heading to the door. She stopped us and handed me my smoothie.
“I got you strawberry-banana,” she said.
Trina looked at me as she rushed out of the store. “Let’s go.”
She didn’t have to tell me twice. I grabbed the smoothie, clutched the bag tighter, and walked out the store. But as soon as I stepped foot back into the mall, I heard a voice I’ll never forget for the rest of my entire life.
“Um, excuse me, ladies,” the man said. He had a deep, scary voice. It was so casual, no kind of urgency whatsoever. We all stopped and stared at him.
It wasn’t until we were surrounded by three uniformed security officers that it dawned on me.
“We’re gonna have to ask y’all to come with us,” one of the uniforms said.
My eyes searched Trina’s for guidance, but she looked like she didn’t know what to do, either. Alexis looked just as confused. When one of the guards took Trina by the arm and she pulled away, I thought we might run. But I think all of us were too stunned to try it. I decided to try and play it cool.
We were escorted back to a small security office. No one spoke. Carla kept looking at me, her eyes begging me to tell her what was going on. I just kept thinking that I should have worn something old or borrowed something from Nikki. I didn’t know what I was going to do.
“We need to empty all of those bags, and we need you”—the officer who was doing all the talking pointed at Trina—“to take everything out of your top and empty your purse.” He turned to another officer. “Call Bianca for a search,” he ordered. He looked down at a clipboard, then back up again. “Then call the police.”
“You guys are arresting us?” I asked. “We didn’t do anything.” Why was I lying when the evidence was right there in my bag?
“Shut up!” Trina snapped at me.
“What do you expect when you shoplift? We convict all thieves,” he said coldly and turned his attention back to his clipboard.
I knew it was just a matter of time before they told us we could make our one phone call. Who in the world would I call? My mother, who would go ballistic, or my father, who would no doubt tell Donna? It was the lesser of two evils. No, thank you. I’d use my one call to call Donovan and break the news that it looked like I wouldn’t be able to make it to the banquet.
24
I sat at the table, still trying to make sense of how I’d ended up downtown at the Houston Police Department. Carla sat across from me, a terrified look on her face. Alexis was leaned up against the table in the stale-smelling office. The office walls were bare, with the exception of an old Houston Astros poster on the wall.
I was still so upset that I couldn’t even talk. Donovan had been crushed and all but begged me for an explanation. I had told him my father wouldn’t let me go, but I knew he didn’t believe me. Especially because he begged to talk to my father and I just hung up the phone on him. I had to before I broke down crying.
Alexis had muttered “I’m so sorry” as we made our way out the mall in handcuffs. But other than that, she hadn’t said two words to me. Probably because she knew better.
If I wasn’t surrounded by cops, I’d probably be beating Alexis down right now. Trina was lucky they’d taken her to another room because, as it turned out, this was her third offense. Not to mention that she had another outfit in her purse. That was how they’d gotten hip to us. Trina had gotten greedy and security spotted her stuffing a blouse and skirt in her oversize purse.
Since it was me, Carla, and Alexis’s first time being arrested, they told us to just wait in this room.
I rolled my eyes for the millionth time and shifted in my seat. I turned my head as the office door opened. My eyes lit up at the sight of Rachel, who eyed us disapprovingly. “Thank you so much for letting me in to talk to them,” she told the officer.
“No problem, Rachel. When they told me they were with your group, I thought I’d give you a call. I think that Good Girlz program is an awesome thing you’ve got going,” the female officer said.
“Thank you, Lydia. And I guess it helps to know people in high places,” Rachel responded.
“Please, I’ve been at Zion Hill as long as you have.” The officer looked at us and shook her head. “You can have a minute to talk to them before their parents get here.”
I wanted to die at the mention of my mother. The officer had called her after they couldn’t get my father. Donna was on her way as well. Just thinking about my mother and Donna, I figured I’d be better off if they just put me under the jail.
Rachel pulled up a chair to the table as the officer closed the door behind her. “I know you two are about to tell me this is all a big misunderstanding. I just know you were not somewhere stealing.” She sat down and I felt my heart drop at the disappointed look on her face.
“Is somebody going to answer me?” Rachel asked. Alexis lowered her eyes and stared at the floor. I glared at Alexis. She hadn’t made me take that dress, but she was the one who got us caught up in this madness in the first place.
Rachel shook her head. “Then you got this child here caught up in all of this,” she said, pointing to Carla. “Are you okay?”
Carla nodded, but still looked terrified. “I didn’t know nothing about this.”
Rachel squeezed her hand before turning back to me and Alexis. “You might want to tell me what’s going on before your parents get here. At least maybe then I can help get you out of trouble.”
The door swung open again. Alexis looked away at the sight of her father standing there looking agitated.
I groaned at the sight of my mother standing behind Alexis’s father. Her look was more than just agitated. It was downright furious. She still had on her housekeeper uniform, which meant she had come straight from work, or worse, been called off her job.
Rachel stood as they entered. “Hi, Jetola,” she said to my mother, whom she knew from back when she used to babysit me. Rachel turned to Alexis’s father. “You must be Mr. Lansing,” Rachel said as she extended her hand. He shook it, but didn’t take his eyes off Alexis.
“Sit down, both of you,” Rachel said. “You two know I work with the county through the Good Girlz group so the officers are letting me deal with this. But Alexis and Jasmine are in a lot of trouble.”
“Would you just tell us what happened,” my mother snapped. Both she and Mr. Lansing were still standing.
“They were caught shoplifting,” Rachel said.
My mother took two steps toward me like she was about to knock me upside my head.
“Jetola,” Rachel said, grabbing her arm. “Please, don’t do that here. We’re trying to handle this ourselves and we don’t want the police coming in here.”
“I know this little girl was not somewhere stealing! I didn’t raise no thief!” my mother snapped. Then she noticed Carla and said, “Who is that?”
“That’s Carla,” Rachel replied.
“Franklin’s daughter?” my mother said.
Carla nodded.
“Please tell me you do not have her caught up in this.�
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I couldn’t respond, especially when Carla started crying. At that moment, the female officer poked her head in the door. “You can come with me,” she said, pointing at Carla.
Carla quickly got up and followed the officer out. She didn’t even look at me as she left.
Donna was going to kill me. After my mom got through killing me. I couldn’t believe I’d been so stupid.
Alexis’s father finally spoke. “Alexis, do you want to tell me what’s going on? I had to leave a very important business meeting to come down here for this nonsense. Your mother isn’t answering her cell phone. I really do not have time to deal with what must be a big misunderstanding. I could buy that department store, so you couldn’t possibly have any reason to be stealing anything out of there.”
Alexis bit her lip but didn’t say anything.
My mother stepped up. “Oh my goodness, you’re Arthur Lansing from the Lansing Hotels?”
“Yes, that’s me.”
My mother suddenly seemed aware that she was acting a fool, standing there in her uniform because she raised her hand and brushed down her hair. “Please, let me offer my apologies,” she said, her voice suddenly sounding a lot more proper. “I’m sure this is all my daughter’s fault.” She glared at me. “She’s been in a lot of trouble lately, and I just don’t know what to do about her.”
I jumped up. “What? You’re kidding me, right?”
“Sit down and shut up,” my mother hissed. She turned back toward Alexis’s father. “You know how teenagers are—sometimes they can be led down the wrong path easily.”
“Yeah, and Alexis was the one doing the leading!” I screamed.
Rachel reached out and touched my arm. “Please, Jasmine, I need you to calm down.”
My mother turned her attention back to me. “It’s bad enough I’m losing money because I have to come down here for this. Now you’re dragging this sweet child into your troubles,” she said, as she pointed at Alexis. “And Carla!”
Mr. Lansing stared at Alexis, shaking his head. “I do not believe you. You are on punishment and are not to leave your room for a month.”
“It’s not like you’re even there to make sure I stick to my punishment,” Alexis mumbled.
He took a deep breath. “I do not have time for your smart mouth.” He looked at his watch. “Rachel, is there anything else that needs to be done? Are they going to press charges?”
“No, since it’s Alexis and Jasmine’s first offense. The store manager believes the girls were only accessories, so he won’t press charges as long as the dress is paid for,” Rachel replied.
“How much is it?”
“One hundred seventy dollars,” Rachel said.
“One hundred seventy dollars?” my mother yelled, then caught herself and lowered her voice. “I mean, that’s absurd.”
“It sure is,” Alexis’s father said as he pulled out his wallet. “Especially considering you have a freaking twenty-thousand-dollar limit on your credit card,” he snapped at Alexis.
Everyone’s eyes got wide when he said that. Alexis didn’t seem fazed.
“Can you handle this?” Alexis’s father asked my mother. “I really must get back to the hotel. I have some important clients from China in town.”
“Of course,” my mother replied. I rolled my eyes. My mother looked like an idiot over there batting her eyelids at that man. Like he would ever want someone like her.
“Thank you so much,” he said as he handed her four one-hundred-dollar bills and a business card. “Please use this to pay the store manager. Please also give him my business card and tell him to call my secretary to book a weekend at one of my hotels. On me, of course. The other hundred is for your troubles in dealing with this because Lord knows I don’t have time.”
“Of course,” my mother said again as she stared at the money in her hand. You’d think she’d never seen a hundred dollars before the way she was standing there in awe.
Mr. Lansing shot Alexis one last disappointed glance before turning and hurrying out of the room.
“Come on, Jetola. I’ll take you down to try and get things squared away with the store manager. He’s in my friend’s office,” Rachel said. I cringed as my mother shot me a look to let me know I was still in a world of trouble. She followed Rachel out of the room.
“Thanks a lot for getting me involved in all of this, Alexis,” I snapped as I plopped down in the chair.
“I’m really sorry.” Alexis looked like she wanted to cry. “I’m in trouble, too,” she said softly.
I looked at her like she was crazy. “You can’t leave your room. You have a phone, a computer, a TV, a DVD player, a stereo, and every CD under the sun. What kind of punishment is that?”
Alexis wiped her face. “At least your mother cares. My father did what he always does, tossed some money to make his headaches go away.” She seemed like she was talking to herself. “Not even stealing can get his attention,” she muttered.
“What is that supposed to mean?” I asked.
Alexis shook her head. “Nothing, just forget it. You may think your mom is crazy, but you need to count your blessings.”
“Are you on crack?” I said. “You just saw my mom in here acting a fool. I’m supposed to count my blessing for that?”
“Like I said, at least she cares.” Alexis turned her head and stared at the blank wall.
Had she done this just to get attention? Was her home life that bad that she would go to these lengths just to get her father to care? That was messed up that her daddy acted like she wasn’t nothing but a big inconvenience.
I couldn’t believe it, but I actually felt sorry for Alexis.
25
I wasn’t sure if I was headed back to my mother’s or if she was actually going to take me back to my father’s house. She hadn’t said two words to me since we left the police station. Normally, I would’ve thought that was a good thing, but her silence was even more frightening than her yelling.
My questions were answered as she navigated her beat-up old Ford Taurus onto Highway 45 and started heading south toward La Marque.
After about fifteen minutes of silence, I finally said something. “Mama, I’m sor—”
She held up her hand. “Don’t. Do not say anything to me.”
So I just leaned back in the seat and rode the rest of the way in silence.
When we pulled up in front of my father’s house, which I was surprised she even knew where it was, my mother threw the car in park and waited for me to get out.
“Mama,” I tried one more time. She cut me off again, and waved me out of the car.
“Good-bye, Jasmine. Let your father deal with you now.”
My father must’ve been looking out the window because the door flew open and he came barreling down the sidewalk with anger all over his face.
I turned toward him and stood frozen for a moment. He had a look I had never seen before.
“I cannot believe you are a thief!” he yelled.
I looked back at my mother. I could’ve sworn I saw she was crying as she sped off.
“Do I need to lock up my belongings? I can’t believe you got my daughter caught up in your thievery.” He grabbed me and shook me and I swear I’d never been more scared in my life.
I was shaking. “I’m sorry.”
“Sorry? Is that the best you can do?” He took a deep breath and pushed me inside so hard I almost fell. “Get inside before someone sees you.”
I caught my balance then scurried inside, shocked because this man was not the same person I’d come to know over the last few weeks. When I walked inside, Donna was standing in the living room. She flashed a hateful look at me before turning and walking back into the kitchen.
I made my way upstairs, not sure of what I should do. I wanted to check on Carla and was actually heading to the twins’ room when the hall bathroom door swung open.
“Get away from my door, you klepto,” Darla snapped. She stomped past me, rolling h
er eyes. “Carla hasn’t ever been in trouble. You come here messing everything up. Stay away from me. Stay away from my sister. Why don’t you go back to wherever you came from!” She slammed her bedroom door in my face.
I stood in the hallway for a minute before making my way on to my room. It was well after eleven o’clock. My mind went to Donovan. I hated that I couldn’t go with him, hated that I had stuck him out like that to go to the banquet alone. I was hoping he’d calm down in a couple of days. But I was really bummed about not seeing him get his award. I couldn’t believe I had caused so much trouble over a stupid dress.
I waited around in my room for almost thirty minutes before hunger got the best of me. I eased open my door and made my way back downstairs. I stopped right outside the kitchen door when I heard my father and Donna arguing.
“You bring your little hood rat into my home and what does she do? Corrupt my child!” Donna yelled.
“Donna, I have apologized a thousand times. I had no way of knowing she was a thief.”
“What did you expect? Her mother is a ghetto home-wrecker and the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree. Now I have to lock up all my belongings because if she’ll steal from the store, she’ll steal from us. She’s probably on drugs, too. The police will come here and find drugs in her room and we’ll all get arrested.”
I fought back tears. I prayed my father would come to my defense. I knew he didn’t know me that well, but he had to know I’d just made a big mistake. I wasn’t a thief.
“Carla could be scarred for life having to sit down there at that police station,” Donna continued. “She cried all the way home.” I heard her slamming cabinet doors. “You know, it’s bad enough I had to deal with you cheating on me, but then you come here sixteen years later with a reminder that you cheated on me. You have this bright idea to bring her here to atone for your sins and look what happens!”
Blessings in Disguise Page 11