Lisa and Shay had gotten some food from the vending machine, a couple of Diet Pepsis, chips and White Castle cheeseburgers. As they were eating and talking, Lisa noticed Nessie walking into the visiting room. Nessie signed in and walked over to a diva looking sista who Lisa had seen walking into the visiting room ten minutes ago. Other visitors had walked in, but the woman Nessie was now hugging commanded attention—one of those women who had a presence about her. She was wearing Dereon Jeans with heels, a Dior silk shirt and diamond earrings that had to have cost a grip. If the power had gone out the room, it would have been lit by her diamonds and platinum. Nessie hugged the brown-skinned woman whose hair was tied into a ponytail like Lisa’s, but hers was wavy and laid between her shoulder blades, unlike Lisa’s whose stopped at the nape of her neck. As the two hugged, she patted Nessie on the back and Lisa noticed the nail job that was top-notch. Lisa made a mental note that that was going to be one of the first things she did. The woman gave Nessie a greeting kiss on the cheek. Nessie was about to sit, but noticed Lisa. She said something to the woman, and they both walked over to Lisa and Shay who stayed seated as Lisa stood to greet her friend and her visitor.
“Hey, Shay,” Nessie said.
“Hey girl, nice to see you again and even though Lisa’s leaving you, make sure you keep in touch.”
“I will.” Nessie turned her attention back to Lisa. “Lisa, this is my cousin’s wife, LaTanza. LaTanza, this is my girl I been telling you about.”
LaTanza extended her hand. “Nice to meet you.” She was slim and about five-seven with flawless brown skin. Lisa noticed how perfect she looked and it would have been hard to tell that this was a twenty-five year old. She looked so grown and proper, but when you have the kind of paper this woman has, it isn’t too hard to keep yourself looking fine.
Lisa said, “Nice to finally meet you. Nessie has told me so much about you.”
“Not too much I hope,” LaTanza said jokingly as she managed a smile. “Well, it was nice meeting you, too,” she added, as she was ready to go and sit instead of talking to a couple of strangers as if they had just met at Starbuck’s while in line getting a Café Latte. She and Nessie left to enjoy their visit.
“She’s the wife of a kingpin’s son?” Shay asked, stunned seeing as how LaTanza seemed so professional.
Little did she know that LaTanza could put on many fronts and faces. She could be nice, sweet or ruthless. She could pass for a professional or play the role of hood rat. Sometimes she wondered if she hadn’t fallen into so much money would she have had the nerve to try her hand at acting. Either way, whether it was in Hollywood or on the streets of Chi-Town, she had a gift and she used it well.
The visit with Shay went well. Shay told Lisa that she was staying at a hotel right outside of town and that she wouldn’t be late in the morning knowing that her friend had spent fifteen months of her life caged and being told when to walk and when to talk. To stand in line and wait for food—to take a number to see the nurse when you were sick to only receive a few generic pills that rarely worked. Not one more second did she want her best friend to have to spend in Marion federal prison. So she would be there ready to go.
* * *
LaTanza Fuentes stepped into her Escalade. She turned the key and the coal black SUV came to life. She waited a moment then cranked up the air. She pressed play to the twelve-disc changer and Jill Scott’s collaboration began to play. She pressed the preset buttons in a certain order then the secret compartment in the center console opened. She took the expensive foreign made compact Walter PPK .380 automatic out and put it in her Dooney and Bourke bag. Once set, she was ready to make the trip back to the city. She had made a trip for her husband, Carlos, to see where Nessie’s head was. To see if she really was ready to get back into the game or was she just trying to get a quick handout which LaTanza and her husband never gave. Carlos’ motto was instilled in him from his dad, Freddie Fuentes, ‘work for all you receive’. His meaning of the motto was that ‘if a man is given something he won’t appreciate it. If a man works for something he will value it more.’ She also wanted to pick Nessie’s brain about her cell mate that she always talked so highly of. In the past Lisa was Slim’s main woman—the one he loved and adored and was a fool about. So even though she had broken his heart and he set her up for a fall to do prison time, the Fuentes’ knew she was getting out and they were going to keep tabs on her. Just in case she decided that she wanted to live the life she had before and she might lead them to Slim who was said to be out of the country, but no one knew for sure. Everyone in the game knew it was hard to go from living like a king to being an everyday average Joe that had to clock in a nine to five everyday and live damn near paycheck to paycheck. And they were counting on Lisa to be the same way.
Life Altering Moments
It was Monday morning, LaTanza parked in front of St. Mary’s Catholic School. She walked with her daughter Carlita, who favored her daddy, up the walkway. The little girl, who was six, loved every minute of kindergarten. She liked being able to play with all the kids because before enrolling in school, she only played with cousins and kids whose parents were in the drug game. This meant she played with the same kids all the time since the Fuentes’ were selective of whom they let in their home.
After dropping Carlita off, LaTanza headed to the city. Michigan Avenue was her destination. She was seeing a therapist. Carlos had encouraged her to do so and had made the appointment for her. The doctor had known people in Carlos’ family for years so it goes without saying that she knew what Carlos did for a living, but she didn’t mind. The doc and her husband got their party favors from Carlos. Not directly but by way of Carlos’ right hand man and the doctor felt comfortable and safe to buy from so high on the food chain. It was less of a chance of getting caught. So the doctor and her husband were safe as were all of their Country Club friends who sniffed the party favors at the stuck up parties they often hosted.
It took a while for LaTanza to make it from the suburb of Romeoville to downtown Chicago. The morning traffic was still heavy even at ten o’clock. When she finally made it to her destination she parked in the parking garage and began the walk to the office that she was reluctant to go to. But her husband has never steered her wrong and she trusted his every word. Her Jimmy Choo heels click clacked as she headed for the tall downtown professional building. When she found it, she looked up and saw the sunny blue sky starting to turn grey. She wondered was it a sign and thought about turning around but her dreams were becoming more frequent and her nights restless. It all was starting to affect her and Carlos’ sex life, which they both took seriously. Carlos had first bedded LaTanza when she was seventeen and he was twenty-one. She didn’t know much about sex or lovemaking—even though she was far from being a virgin. But once he gained her trust their sex life took a one hundred and eighty degree turn and she has never been with another man since. She even convinced herself that Carlos was the only man she had ever slept with—even though she wasn’t a virgin. But lately that thought process was being interrupted by past demons and hopefully the therapist could help cast them away.
LaTanza took the elevator up to the ninth floor and when she stepped off she walked toward the door that had the nameplate Dr. Judy Hoffman MD hanging on it. She gave the receptionist her name and the young woman told her to have a seat. Moments later a sandy-brown haired white woman who looked to be in her forties appeared. She paused for a moment then approached LaTanza. LaTanza noticed the hesitation and assumed the doctor probably didn’t expect her to be African American.
Dr. Hoffman took off her fashionable glasses and brushed her hair back before extending her hand. “Hi, you must be LaTanza. Carlos has told me so much about you.”
LaTanza replied, “Nice to meet you.”
“If you would just follow me into my office,” the shrink told LaTanza.
She held the door until LaTanza entered and then closed it. The office was contemporary and cozy. Lounge chairs and a cou
ple of sofas. You could see other skyscrapers that dressed the Chicago skyline from the windows and in the background some type of soothing music was playing but was turned off by the doctor. A waterfall was on the wall and the trickling and minor splashing sound was comforting. A few large plants were strategically placed and there was no desk—the office was relaxing.
“Do you mind?” Dr. Hoffman asked, pointing to the contemporary looking curtains.
Nonchalantly, LaTanza replied, “Your place. If you think it will help, close them.”
She pressed a button on a small remote that was in her hand and all the curtains closed and the lights dimmed. She had LaTanza take a seat in the plush Italian leather lounge chair. The doctor asked a few preliminary questions and got to know her new patient a bit. At least what LaTanza wanted her to know. Then it was time to take a walk in the past—to resurrect her demons so that they could begin the necessary steps to casting them away.
After about twenty minutes of conversation, the doctor said, “Now that I have gotten to know a little about you I think that it would be best if I put you under hypnosis. Did your husband tell you about that?”
“Yes he did. I’m fine with it,” LaTanza replied. To the doctor LaTanza’s voice spoke volumes. As if she didn’t have a care in the world.
“Good. I just want to reiterate that it’s painless and I feel that it’s the best way to go because you’ll freely tell me everything and you won’t hold back moments in your life that are the most troubling, which is easy for a person to unconsciously do. So relax.”
Dr. Hoffman had LaTanza lie on the sofa and got her to relax and it didn’t take long before she was under hypnosis and back to her teenage years in the mid nineties.
* * *
“How long is LaDonna gonna be here?” Jasmine asked LaTanza as she put in the TLC disc. Ain’t Too Proud To Beg began playing.
LaTanza shrugged her shoulders as if to say I don’t know as she continued to read the Right On magazine while lying on her twin bed next to her best friend. She liked it when her big sister LaDonna who was ten years her senior came by. LaDonna would give her money so she could buy a few things since she knew her father never did. She knew how it was growing up in the Dixon residence, a lot of rules and not much bending of them. LaDonna hated that and knew that she always had it easier than her sister. LaTanza knew it also. Their father, Jack was LaDonna’s biological father and LaTanza’s stepfather but no one knew the latter. The family kept it a secret but was reminded of it whenever Jack came home drunk or just wanted to start some shit so he’d have a reason to get out of the house to chase the whores in the streets.
Ever since LaTanza could remember, he reminded everyone under the roof of the bungalow on Ashton Street that Mrs. Dixon had gotten pregnant while he was serving six months in Cook County jail for his third DUI. So every time Jack saw LaTanza he saw the man who had slept with his wife. Jack always regretted not leaving his wife when he found out about her cheating ways. It would have been better for him to have taken the embarrassment back then than to cause a lifetime of pain to a woman and her two young girls even though LaDonna didn’t have it half as bad as LaTanza.
Jack opened LaTanza’s door without knocking. In a pissed off tone he stated, “Have your little friend go home so we can eat dinner before your sister has to go. She’ll be leaving in a couple of hours.”
Without giving LaTanza a chance to say a word he slammed her door shut and was gone as fast as he’d come.
Jasmine rolled her neck and eyes in her best teenage girl way, “Damn, your dad don’t know how to knock? You got it bad up in here.”
“I know. Sometimes I just want to pack my shit and leave. I swear if I had a place I could go and some cash to last me until I found a job I’d be outta here in a heartbeat. It’s been really messed up since my mom died.”
Jasmine rolled over on her back as she flipped through a magazine. “Whatever. You’re only seventeen and haven’t even graduated. Oops, my bad your baby will take care of you,” Jasmine cooed jokingly.
“I would manage. Beside, I’ll be eighteen next month,” LaTanza smiled as she thought about Carlos.
The twenty-one year old whom she had meet a year ago while walking to the corner store to get some cigarettes for Jack. The young Cuban was parked talking to a couple of guys in the neighborhood when she and Jasmine walked past. She had noticed his gaze but kept on walking and talking. That’s when Carlos called out. “Hey, shorty.”
LaTanza kept her pace.
“Aw, you gonna dis me?” Carlos asked. He wasn’t used to anyone he spoke to ignoring him. He told the two young hustlers on the corner that he’d get with them later. He rose from his Pathfinder that was shining from its wash and wax and jogged to catch up with the two girls. His gold chain bounced on the wife beater that hugged his torso. He was wearing a white FuBu warm up and the jacket was unzipped.
When he caught up with the girls he asked where they were going and Jasmine quickly answered, “To the corner store.”
“I can give y’all a ride.”
The two of them could smell the hint of his Cool Water cologne and noticed how clean he was from the white warm up to the pair of white Air Max’s that didn’t have a speck of dirt on them. They knew that he had to have a lot of girlfriends because they had just read in an article in the Black Woman magazine that women often looked at a man’s shoes to determine his status. Clean, meant a brotha had his shit together from hygiene to neatness. Dirty and worn meant broke and lazy.
They stopped their stride and looked at the new Pathfinder and wanted to plant their behinds on the leather especially since they were used to riding on cloth seats. And it didn’t hurt that the new car smell invaded their nostrils as they had passed him and the two young hustlers. They wanted to get inside the truck but knew better.
“We’re not supposed to get into cars with strangers,” Jasmine said trying her best to sound sexy.
“Well I’m Carlos, Carlos Fuentes,” he said proudly.
“You’re Mexican?” Jasmine asked.
“Cuban.” He looked away from Jasmine to LaTanza. “What’s your name?”
Jasmine wanted Carlos and was doing all the talking but she could see the look in Carlos’ eyes and noticed his body language, which said that he was interested in her friend. Most girls would have been jealous of their friend when an apparent ten stopped them and he wanted the other, but Jasmine and LaTanza were too tight to let jealousy get the best of them.
“LaTanza,” she simply said.
“LaTanza, um hum. That’s beautiful,” he told her with his Spanish accent spicing up his words. “You sure you don’t want me to give you two a ride? If you worried about your man seeing you or something it’s cool. I’ll drop you off right here. I just want to get the chance to kick it with y’all for a second before I head back to my side of town.”
“Oh, she ain’t got a man.” Jasmine volunteered the information for LaTanza who really didn’t have one.
Carlos was as confident as they came and he could sense that the girls wanted to ride. He also wasn’t worried about them having a man. He was a Fuentes and his father was one of if not the largest drug dealers in Chicago and that meant that Carlos had power. The two teenagers he’d been talking to nodded as he jumped into his Pathfinder. One was drinking on a Grape Fanta and the other was standing there patting his head afraid to scratch not wanting to mess up the zigzag patterns of his fresh braids.
Carlos told the boys, “Make sure he gets it all!”
“We got you Los.” They said in unison.
Carlos had just delivered a kilo to the boys who were part of a crew holding down one of his family’s corners in the black neighborhoods.
He whipped the SUV around and a few of the young sistas who knew of Carlos and had tried in the past to holla at him stared and was shitty when LaTanza and Jasmine stepped into the truck. Carlos drove cruising no faster than the speed limit. This was the girls’ first taste of flossing. Carlos slid
in a mixed disc one of his boys a well-known DJ in the Chi hooked up for him. Jasmine started bouncing in the backseat to a hit by Lil’ Kim. LaTanza didn’t want to seem like a square to Carlos so she did the same thing.
He asked, “So how old are you?”
Jasmine beat LaTanza to the punch by telling him, “She’ll be eighteen next month and I’ll be eighteen in two months.”
The dates were true but the ages were a lie, they weren’t seventeen, going on eighteen. They were sixteen going on seventeen but Jasmine didn’t want their ages messing up what looked like a good catch for LaTanza. And if this dude has it going on like it seems, she figured she’d benefit also. Carlos had caught the lie; he was too sharp not to. But he got a certain vibe from LaTanza that told him that he needed to get to know her. At twenty and paid, he had plenty of women and just about all of them were Latin and didn’t live in this predominantly black neighborhood, so if he did end up kicking it with this young tender, he was almost for sure not to get caught.
“Aw, okay. Well I ain’t but twenty.”
“Looks like you’re doing it,” Jasmine said as she looked over the interior of the Pathfinder.
He smiled. “I do a’ight.”
Jasmine who was sitting behind LaTanza slid her hand between the seat and the door. When she reached skin she pinched LaTanza on the arm.
“Ouch!” LaTanza said. She rubbed her stinging arm but realized that her friend was letting her know to get with the program and flirt with Carlos.
LaTanza said, “It looks like you’re doing more than alright. Most guys around here are still riding bikes.”
“Or walking.” Echoed from the rear.
LaTanza asked, “So Carlos, you seem like you got it going on. You sure you don’t have a woman?”
The Corner II Page 5