A Sister's Secret

by Cydney Rax

  “What? Are you serious?”

  “Yes, Dru. When I get a sneaky feeling that my son is up to no good, I still look through his little cell phone because, one, he’s a minor, two, I pay the bills, and three, I stay on his ass because I am concerned about him the way a good mother should be.”

  “As long as you respect his privacy, I don’t see anything wrong with that,” Dru told her.

  “A minor that I gave birth to won’t get privacy, Dru. I’m telling you. This is why some parents were sooo shocked when they found out their little teenage sons were in the garage learning how to put together home-made bombs. These innocent-faced little boys be surfing the net and reading up on domestic terrorist shit. The dumb-ass parents knew nothing and suspected nothing . . . all because they wanted to give the kid some space. Fuck space. The sure way to raise a felon is to not be involved with your kid’s life and know what they are doing. Because the second you turn your back or close your eyes, that’s the second they’re getting into trouble.”

  “Okay, I stand corrected. Obviously there’s more to parenting than what I thought,” Dru solemnly told her. “But what about these nude photos?”

  Alita took a deep breath then continued. “I was in his room picking up his laundry, ’cause God knows when he’d notice something like dirty laundry and actually pick ’em up and put ’em in the washing machine. So one night when he was taking his shower, I’m standing there in his room trying to hurry up and sort through his clothes when I hear his phone buzzing like crazy. So thinking something urgent might be going on, I pick up the phone and I see a whole bunch of texts, like five or six of ’em, with photos attached. And I couldn’t help myself. I clicked on them. And yep, this chick, she couldn’t have been any more than fourteen, she is butt-ass naked, vagina all out like it ain’t about nothing. Dru, I actually screamed and dropped that fucking cell phone like it was on fire. I ran into the bathroom, yanked back that shower curtain, and nearly beat the shit out of him.”

  “Oh, Alita, I can’t believe you did that. Wait, yes, I can. Anyway, what did Leno say? Who was the girl?”

  “Some chick he met online. That’s another thing. He has no business going online trying to meet anybody.”

  “Oh, my God!”

  “I know.”

  “But, Lita, what if Leno never asked her to send the photos? She could have been the instigator. Is that his fault?”

  “Hell, yeah, it’s his fault. And later that night, I went back into his phone. And Leno replied back to her, Dru. He looked and did not delete! Why not? Why is he keeping the pictures?”

  “You have a good point. And I don’t know why he’d leave a paper trail.”

  “Exactly, Dru. This shit is serious. It’s scary. I don’t want my son getting in no type of sex tape drama, sex photo drama, none of that. If this girl gets caught they’ll see every person she sent those texts to. And these kids are sleeping with their teachers now. High school, middle school. And child predators are everywhere. Church! Boy Scouts! Chat rooms! And even the damned Waffle House! And a lot of this shit has been linked to social media and cell phones. Teachers letting kids contact them through Facebook. It’s ridiculous. Anybody that shows too much interest in my son is on my watch list. So anyway, after I confronted him about the pictures, I’m fussing and cussing at Leno wondering why this chick is taking nude selfies and sending ’em to my son. Like, where are her parents? Why don’t they know what she’s doing? Anyway, I had to make that boy stop his long-ass shower, I thumped his ass a few times, and we sat down and I ended up having a serious talk with him. One of those talks that you never ever want to have with the child you give birth to. But that’s the way of the world, and we needed to talk about how one bad decision can ruin your life. After I was done it grieved my spirit so bad that I wanted to go drink some gin and juice just to forget about all of it.”

  Dru was flabbergasted. “Alita, I’m so sorry you’re dealing with this.”

  Alita paused. “You ain’t the only one who’s sorry. Some days it’s just too much. And I-I wish I could talk to Leonard about it, but he never seems to give a fuck. That’s what I get for getting caught up. Never again.”

  It seemed like after a very long time Leno finally made his way to Dru’s car. He grabbed the door handle, hopped in the seat behind Dru, and playfully bopped her on the head.

  “Hi, Auntie Dru.”

  “Hey, nephew. You smell like sweat. And you’re messing up my vanilla air freshener.”

  He sniffed under his arms. “Sorry.”

  She laughed. “Just teasing. How was practice?”

  “I did my usual. And I’m getting better.”

  “Great,” Dru said. “I’ll have to come out to one of your games once the season starts.”

  “That would be tight.”

  Alita scowled at her son. “If you don’t stay focused on your studies and stay on your game, you may not even qualify to be on the main squad. They might bench you son.”

  “What?” Dru replied. “Are you saying what you think, or are you talking what you know?”

  “Yeah, I want to know that too.” Leno spoke up. “Where you hear that from, Mama, ’cause I haven’t heard that rumor. You been talking to Coach?”

  “Don’t question me, Leno. Just be ready when I come and pick you up. You saw me waiting for you, yet you act like I’m the chauffeur or something.”

  “I will have a chauffeur one day,” he said with a smile.

  “You ain’t gon’ have nothing if you keep letting folks distract you. I swear to God. I won’t let you make me have a nervous breakdown. Let’s go, Dru.”

  Dru obediently started the engine.

  “Mama, what you talking about, don’t question you? Seems like you got an attitude with me—again.”

  “Let me see your phone.” Alita reached in the back seat and unfolded her hand.

  “Mama, not that again. Damn.”

  “Stop the car, Dru. Stop it now.”

  “Alita,” Dru protested.

  “Do it,” Alita screamed.

  The first chance Dru got, she drove until she came to an empty parking space next to a curb. They had been riding along a major street, and traffic was moving in both directions.

  “You, Mr. Know It All, can get the fuck out. Since you disrespecting me as if I’m some girl off the street, you can find your own way back to the house.”

  “Alita?” Dru said, looking bewildered. “It is that serious?”

  “Yes, it is. I won’t have this little boy talking to me any kind of way. In that basketball practice, they teach these kids the rules of play. They let them know what happens when the ball goes out of bounds. Right now, Leno has crossed some lines he shouldn’t be crossing, and as long as he’s living under my roof, there will be consequences on and off the court.”

  Leno remained in his seat and defiantly stared out the window.

  Alita folded her arms across her chest. “I’m going to count to ten, and by the time I’m done, your little ass better be out this car.”

  He gave her more stony silence.

  “Did you fucking hear me, boy? Seven, eight, nine, ten. I said get out.”

  Looking alarmed, Leno pleaded in earnest. “Mama, please don’t do this. I-I’m sorry all right? I didn’t mean to disrespect you.”

  “That’s what you said the last time you got smart with me. Now get out.”

  “But Mama—”

  “Out, Leno. I’m not playing with you.”

  The boy remained glued to his seat for a couple of seconds. But then he shook his head in frustration and in a fit of boiling anger, he yanked at the door handle and got out of the car. He simply walked away, leaving the rear door wide open.

  “Leno,” Alita screamed. “Why’d you get out on that side of the car? Get your ass back here and close the damned door.”

  The sudden noise of screeching tires made her stop yelling.

  Dru looked out the window. A car that had been driving in the right lane came
dangerously close to taking off her door. The driver angrily blasted his horn as he sped past.

  “You might as well get out and close the door, Dru.”

  “No!” she said. “You’re the cause of all this, you get up and close my door.”

  “Me? Why me?”

  “Because this time you’re the one who’s out of line.”

  Alita huffed in anger. She jumped out ran around to the rear of the car. She watched her son, curiously observed the back of him as he walked in the middle of the median that divided the street. He bounced his ball and hung his head down, looking sullen.

  As she stared at Leno, a painful lump formed in Alita’s throat. He’d gotten so tall lately that he towered over her by seven inches. The realization was staggering. She remembered when Leno was so pint-sized that she could easily carry him in her arms, holding him sideways like he was a football. She changed his diapers, taught him the alphabet, read to him as best she could. Now he had a fresh mouth and challenged her rules. Whatever happened to the sweet, polite young man she’d raised?

  Alita watched Leno; the sound of him bouncing his basketball was monotonous. And it grew quieter as he edged away from his mother. She loved him so very much that it hurt her to have any distance from him.

  Alita stepped into the street.

  “I love you, son, don’t you realize that?”

  She screamed loud enough for him to hear but he did not acknowledge her.

  Alita returned to the car. She took her foot and slammed the car door shut. She ran to the other side, jumped in the front seat, and slammed her door too.

  “Um, do you mind?” Dru said. “Why are you taking your anger out on my car? If this is how it’s going to be, you can drive your own car to pick up your own kid.”

  “Look, Dru. I’m sorry. I’m stressed. Can’t you tell I’m stressed? Got a lot on my mind. I hate when I’m the parent that has to handle every issue when it comes to raising our son. Why isn’t Leonard out here helping? Why doesn’t he drive the boy to practices and pick him up? Why hasn’t he taught the boy how to tie a tie? I did not sign up to be both his mama and daddy.”

  “Can you stop all the yelling and calm down, please?”

  “No, I can’t. When you’re a frustrated single mother who hasn’t been fucked good in a while, and your kid is getting out of control, there is no calming down. I just can’t.”

  CHAPTER 4

  Confrontation

  Within twenty minutes, Dru had driven through the front entrance of the new car lot of the Nissan dealership. It was a busy Saturday afternoon with a couple dozen customers poking around the lot observing the latest model sedans and SUVs.

  Dru found a vacant space, pulled in, and turned off the ignition. “Go on,” she said to Alita. “It’s time that you confronted someone.”

  “I’m not feeling this Sister Shit right now,” Alita protested.

  “Well, I’m not feeling how you’ve been acting lately. If you need to get things off your chest, do it with Leonard. You complain about him to the sisters all the time, but nothing is ever done about how you feel. Sis, I think he’s the true source of all your frustration. Not Coco. Not Leno.”

  “Oh, Dru, c’mon, just take me home. I’m worried about Leno.”

  “And you ought to be. Why would you kick out your own son?”

  “You are not a mother. You wouldn’t understand.”

  “If being hateful and unmerciful to your own baby is the way mothers are supposed to act . . .” She couldn’t complete her sentence. “I may never get married either. I think it’s much easier to be miserable without a man without having to add a baby to the equation.”

  “Look, none of this is as bad as it seems. Not motherhood. Not even marriage. You just gotta make sure you’re with the right person. That’s all.”

  “Well, right person or not, I think you need to have a conversation with your ex,” Dru insisted. “Go on, get out the car, take care of business. I’m going to count to ten, and by the time I’m done you better be out of here.”

  “Oh, Dru. Are you trying to be like me?”

  “I sure as hell am not. Now go! Get out, Alita.”

  “I can’t believe you.”

  “I can’t believe half the things you do either, yet you still do them.” Dru softened the edge in her voice. “As long as we’re here, just get out and try and talk to him about what’s going on. He might be able to help you.”

  “I doubt it.”

  “One, two, three, four.”

  “Druuuuu.”

  “Five, six, seven.”

  “You’re wrong for this, Dru.”

  “Eight, nine, ten.”

  Alita defiantly remained unmoved; she stared straight ahead, looking as angry as she’d ever been.

  “Ten?” Dru repeated. “You’re not going to answer me?”

  Alita said nothing.

  “Oh, so you’re deaf and dumb now?”

  Alita burst out laughing.

  And right then Leonard Washington spotted them and slowly walked over to Dru’s car. He was wearing a headset and his mouth was steadily moving. Leonard was a tall man himself. He had rugged good looks, strong chin, piercing eyes, with broad shoulders. He resembled a younger Mathew Knowles back when he was managing the group Destiny’s Child.

  Leonard loved to dress to impress and give the appearance of an important businessman. He wore a decent black suit with the vest, a crisp white shirt, and a red paisley silk necktie set including matching cufflinks and a pocket square that was neatly tucked inside the front pocket. His shoes were a nice grade of black leather and perfectly polished.

  As Alita gazed at her ex, she was amazed and pissed off at how good he looked. Like he was something special, and he carried himself as if he were a king.

  “Um, Alita,” Dru said, “I think Leonard’s trying to get your attention. Don’t you see him waving at you?”

  “He ain’t waving at me. He’s swatting a mosquito or something.”

  “Alita, you ought to be ashamed of yourself.” Dru laughed heartily at her stubborn and willful sister. “C’mon, girl. Swallow your pride, get out the car, and prove to me that you can have a grown-up conversation with the father of your child. The more we wait here doing nothing, the more the clock is steadily ticking. There’s no telling where Leno is right now, and I am so mad about that I can scream. In this day and age, it’s not wise to kick out a child. No matter how mad you are at him. Do it for Leno.”

  Dru’s convincing plea made Alita feel sick and ashamed.

  “All right, all right. Damn,” Alita grumbled. “I will get out of your car just so I won’t have to hear your mouth.”

  “You’re getting out,” Dru replied, “because you love your son.”

  Alita sighed, opened the car door, and slowly emerged. She nervously patted her hair and checked to see if there were any lipstick stains showing on her teeth. She wondered if she still looked as good as she had when Leonard first fell in love with her.

  As soon as Leonard realized Alita was headed for him, he stopped walking and simply stood still in front of her.

  She stared at him.

  He stared back with no emotion on his face.

  Finally he said, “May I help you, miss? Did you want to purchase a new car or a used one?”

  “What the fuck?”

  Alita rushed at Leonard with her hands outstretched. She came dangerously close to shoving him with all of her strength, but she stopped herself.

  “Because of you,” she growled, “our son has run away from home.”

  “Come again?”

  “Leno is missing,” Alita said. “I don’t know where he is right now.”

  “Are you serious? When’s the last time you saw him?”

  “We drove him to practice earlier today.”

  “What type of practice?”

  She stared at him with pure hatred. “Bas-ket-ball.”

  “Sorry, I didn’t know.”

  Alita simply stared pa
st her ex-husband, wishing he’d just disappear in thin air, never to be seen again.

  “Hey, Lita,” he tried to explain. “You know how it is.”

  She recalled how ambitious Leonard had been back in the early years of their marriage. He wanted to be the best at what he did, and that meant working hard and proving to himself and to the company that he had the skills to make them a lot of money.

  “I sure do know how it is, Leonard,” she scoffed. “But working fourteen hours a day is no excuse to not know what’s going on in your son’s life. Your only son.”

  He gave her a blank stare.

  “Leno is your only child, right?” she asked, unable to help her curiosity.

  “I know you didn’t just ask me that question.”

  Stunned, Alita gave him the middle finger.

  Leonard abruptly turned and walked away. She raced beside him, wanting to defuse the situation and stay focused on the main point. “It’s nice to see you doing so well, Leonard,” she said. “Your being salesman of the month or whatever award they’ve given you. While you’re winning awards and making a ton of money, I’m doing the best I can to raise our son on my own but financially struggling like hell at the same time.”

  “Oh, really?” he said, sounding totally unconcerned.

  “I stock products, okay? That don’t pay as much as a new car salesman. I don’t earn commission like some people. Plus I have two other jobs that I have to work to make ends meet.”

  “I don’t know why. You get plenty of money from me every month.”

  “Ha! That chickenfeed ain’t enough for a growing teenage boy.”

  Leonard stopped walking. “Like hell it isn’t. I do my part, and the money you get should be more than enough to take care of him.”

  “Well, I’m telling you, Dumbass, it’s not. That chump change barely covers expenses. He eats like a horse and an elephant. A pregnant elephant. As an athlete, Leno has a very healthy appetite. I can’t just give him a hot dog and call it a day. He eats four of them suckers at a time. With all the works. And he demands I make chili for him, not the stuff that comes out the can.”