Army of One

by A. K. Henderson

  “Really? Man, that’s crazy. How she gon’ get mad at you for wanting to have your own space? I mean, usually most parents can’t wait for their kids to grow up and move up out of their house. That’s just crazy.” Shamar knew that Sandra would try something sneaky while he was gone, but he didn’t expect her to go to the extent of making her own daughter feel bad about trying to be a wife. “Well, honey, don’t let that stuff get to you. You know your mother and how she can be, so just keep doing what you’re doing. I appreciate you taking care of things while I’m gone. How was your day at the shop?”

  Jelisa held the phone between her shoulder and ear as she buckled Mya into her car seat and got in the driver’s seat. “It was all right, I guess. You know I had Mya with me the whole day since I can’t take her to Mama’s anymore. She didn’t act up too much,” she said.

  She turned the car on and proceeded home, continuing the conversation. “I’m just tired. I need a break from everything. Can we go somewhere when you get back? I mean, like a vacation, somewhere we haven’t gone before.”

  “Yeah, of course, honey, just let me know where you want to go, get the information together, and we’ll make it happen. What are your plans for the rest of the week? Do you have a lot of appointments?”

  Jelisa was liking this conversation with Shamar. He wasn’t usually this inquisitive. He was showing so much concern for her and Mya that she thought maybe being away from them was doing him some good. He was showing so much interest in the things she was dealing with. “Well, I’ve got a few appointments lined up. I’m pretty set for the week. Donny is supposed to be having something at his place for everybody at his spot. I told him I wasn’t sure if I was coming. But, other than that, I’m not doing much.”

  Shamar didn’t like the sound of that at all. He knew Donny and his reputation. He wasn’t really cool with her working at his shop, but he figured she wasn’t dumb enough to let him catch her slipping. “Jelisa, listen to me when I say this: I’m not trying to tell you what to do, but you need to watch yourself around that dude. Don’t let him fool you and have you doing something you’ll regret.”

  She didn’t like him trying to warn her about anybody, especially considering all of the so-called female friends he had. “Shamar, please, with all of those females you say you just cool with. I ain’t stupid; he ain’t got nothing I want or need. I’m not thinking about him. I just want to get out and do something.”

  “I understand, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. It’s not you I don’t trust; I know you got me. But I also know that deployments can take a toll on couples and I don’t put nothing past anybody. It’s him I don’t trust because he don’t have to have any loyalty to me. You feel me?” Shamar took issue with people who preyed on lonely women. Even though he trusted Jelisa, he had to take into consideration that she’d held him down this long and she wasn’t like all of the wives of soldiers he knew. Most of the people he knew who were married were already finding out their wives were messing around. That in itself was responsible for Shamar’s concerns.

  While he was getting ready to make his next point, a voice came across his handheld radio saying they needed him back at the medical tent immediately. He didn’t want to alarm Jelisa, so he played it cool as he attempted to get off of the phone with her. “All right, Jelisa. I love you, and tell baby girl I said I love her. I gotta go. I don’t mean to rush off of here, but I have to tend to something real quick.”

  “Okay. I love you,” Jelisa said with disappointment in her voice.

  “Love you too, babe.”

  The phone went dead, and all she heard was the dial tone. She didn’t know what that meant. Was he just trying to get off the phone with her? Did something bad just happen? Her wheels starting turning, and she became anxious as she considered that he was at war so it could’ve been anything. She didn’t like the issue of him not being able to talk for long periods of time. Talking here and there was starting to bug her and, as much as she knew he cared about what she was dealing with at home, she understood he still had a job to do. As much as she wanted to, she couldn’t be mad at him for doing his job.

  As Jelisa pulled into parking lot of the apartment complex, she threw the phone on the passenger’s seat. Irritated that their conversation was cut short, she now had an attitude, and she wondered if it was going to be this way the whole time he was gone. She unloaded Mya and her bags and made it into her apartment. She turned on cartoons for Mya to keep her busy while she went and got dinner started.

  Chapter Six

  Block

  It was just after 10:00 a.m. Fourth of July weekend: the perfect time for Block to come home. Michigan City was humming with the news that he was about to hit the streets. As he walked down the sidewalk leading away from the prison, there was no welcoming party. There was no parade, and it didn’t seem that anybody cared that he was even out.

  Block made his way down Willard Avenue wearing the same white tee and black Dickies he wore when he was booked in. He was carrying a brown paper bag containing all of books and pictures he’d collected over the years. As he made it close to his old hangout spot, Pullman Park, memories of hooping flashed in his mind. Block walked to a nearby bench and sat down on the edge of the backrest. Everything seemed foreign to him. The Westside Liquor Store was gone. The corner store had been burned down. This wasn’t home to him anymore.

  Suddenly, he could hear the bass thumping in the air. He didn’t see any cars around but, as loud as it was, he figured it had to be close. Whipping around the corner was a black BMW with windows tinted as dark as night. The blacked-out twenty-twos wrapped in Pirellis caught his attention. The car parked and sat momentarily before the driver’s side window slowly rolled down, releasing a cloud of cigar smoke.

  Block, now growing anxious, climbed down from the bench, adjusting his pants in case he had to make a quick exit. As the window rolled down, it slowly revealed a face he hadn’t seen since the first day of his trial. Bloodshot eyes seemed to disappear in the backdrop of a face as dark as night. His grin displayed yellow teeth tinted with years of tobacco smoking and coffee drinking. This barefaced, pudgy goon was the only thing that stood in the way of Block enjoying his newfound freedom. When he realized who it was, his blood began to boil, and anger seized his mind.

  Sitting in the car was a dirty narcotics detective named Alonzo Garrett. Detective Garrett was a certified creep who wouldn’t hesitate to pin charges on anybody he saw fit just to stroke his pride. He got a hard-on from hemming people up.

  “So, I heard they let an animal out of its cage today. I just had to see it for myself. What are you doing over here on my side of town, you dirt bag?” Detective Garrett said, taunting Block, knowing he had a reputation for being a hothead.

  Here he go with this mess. Man, ain’t nobody got time to be bothered with this airhead, Block thought. “Bruh, is you serious right now? I ain’t two hours out the joint and you already on my head? Man, kick rocks. I ain’t got no rap for you. I’m on my way to see my people,” he snapped back.

  During his trial, Detective Garrett was instrumental in him almost getting hit with the murder charge. He hated what Block represented. The Foster family was one of the most well-connected families in the state. Not for drugs or guns, but real estate. In the late eighties Block’s grandfather, Roland Foster, won a $15 million lawsuit against a steel mill. He was forced to retire early after an accident caused by the company’s negligence. Grandpa Foster settled in court and began buying up premium real estate around the region, some of which was now coveted by the local government. To Detective Garrett, people like Block didn’t deserve to be so well off, and with a couple million set aside for him, he was now Garrett’s number one enemy.

  “Why don’t you go find a trap to raid or somebody to plant some dope on? ’Cause me and you don’t have nothing to talk about. As a matter of fact, am I being detained?” Block asked, giving him a cold stare. With all of his time on lockdown, he knew one thing he made sure to do was g
et familiar with the law.

  “No, punk, you’re not being detained, but don’t push your luck. I’ve been itching to yoke somebody up,” Detective Garrett countered, knowing their visit had run its course.

  “Really, fam, you’ve been itching? TMI. You can keep that to yourself. But, if there’s nothing else, I’m gonna be on my way. I have a schedule to keep, as I’m sure you do too,” Block taunted.

  Without waiting for a response, Block turned and walked off, cutting across the field toward the main road. Unmoved, Detective Garrett laughed it off, rolled up his window, and sped off. “We’ll see each other again real soon,” he said under his breath. The crooked detective had his mind set on finding the weak link in the Foster family, and he assumed it was Block. Only time would tell.

  * * *

  After meeting with his parole officer, Block managed to find a pay phone, which he used to call his sister. He didn’t mind walking the twenty-plus minutes from the prison to the courthouse, but he wasn’t about to head to the east side by foot.

  As he waited for Latoya to arrive, he couldn’t help but feel a bit slighted by the fact that no one came to get him. That was the least he expected, since everyone knew he was coming home today. Fifteen minutes passed, and Block was beginning to think she had forgotten about him. Latoya told him to look out for a gray Lexus sedan and, just as he pictured it in his mind, she pulled into the parking lot. As he walked down the sidewalk, all he could think about was the amount of time that had passed by without him being able to touch his sister.

  Just as he made it to the second step, a beautiful young woman rushing to get to an appointment nearly knocked him down. She was dressed in a dark blue and gray pinstriped business suit. The skirt that stopped just above her knees hugged her curves perfectly. Her honey blond weave blew in the wind as she breezed past him. A pair of Chanel frames consumed her face they were so big. Slightly distracted by her voluptuous shape as she walked away, Block was left speechless and didn’t have a chance to respond verbally. He just continued down the stairs as his attention was quickly diverted back to Toya as she stepped out of her car.

  A flood of emotion overcame the two of them, and Block dropped his bags to embrace his big sister. Picking her tiny five foot two inch frame off the ground, he hugged her and spun her around, grateful for all she had done over these last fifteen years.

  “Boy, look at you! You got big since the last time I saw you. What you been doing?” Toya said as they separated. She stood back with one hand on her hip, shielding her eyes from the sun with the other.

  Proud that his big sister noticed how he’d bulked up, Block grinned and struck a jailhouse pose. “Well, you know what it is. You took care of me. If it weren’t for you holding me down on my books, I don’t know what I would’ve done. I definitely wasn’t eating the garbage they called food. But what up with you? I see you all tatted up and weave all down your back. That’s how you living?” Block said jokingly.

  Toya was never the flashy-label whore type most females in the city were. After she was able to join in the family business, she figured it was necessary to look the part. Toya still knew how to sniff out a bargain, even when it came to her newfound love for stilettos and Remy hair. Toya responded with a smile, “Well, you know your big sis is always the star of the show. We in business, baby brother, so let’s get you right. I’m sorry I wasn’t there to pick you up. I wasn’t expecting them to let you out so early. I know you felt some type of way about that, didn’t you?”

  “You know I did, Toya. Had me feeling like I was going to be out here popped with nowhere to go. But I appreciate you coming through for me all this time,” he said, picking up his bag of belongings.

  They drove toward the east side to Toya’s condo on the edge of town. She made it a point to take the side streets, giving Block a chance to see how much the city had changed. “This is crazy, Toya. Where is everything? They done tore down Crown Liquor for real?” Block observed in disappointment. It was a totally different place; a bright morning on the Fourth of July weekend and nobody was out. It was so depressing.

  Toya answered candidly, saying, “Yeah, bro, it’s crazy out here. The police raiding all the hangout spots, and this new mayor seems to have a point to prove. Everybody they lock up is getting numbers hung on them. I’m telling you, the struggle is real and folks don’t have a clue what to do. Luckily for us business is booming, and these industrial properties are going cheap. So how soon are you ready to get to work? We already got your office space set up.”

  Block drummed his fingers on the center console, still contemplating what was considered to be the “New Michigan City.” He glanced over at Toya as she blew through several stop signs before pulling over at Walker Park. This was the location right down the street from where his homeboy Boomer was shot when they were younger. Toya knew this was probably the first place Block would want to visit. “You think you know me, huh?” he joked. “Thanks, sis. I really appreciate it. You coming?”

  “Naw. Take your time. I’m going to run around the corner to my girl’s house. You good for a few minutes?”

  “Yeah, I’m straight,” he said, exiting the car.

  “All right. I’ll be right back.”

  Block couldn’t help but get emotional when he saw the RIP BOOMER tag he did still faintly visible on the basketball court. As he traveled back in his mind on an excursion down memory lane, he heard a faint voice coming from the other side of the park fence. Lo and behold, a sight for sore eyes stood in the middle of the street. The gorgeous young lady’s face looked very familiar but Block couldn’t put his finger on it. He had no idea where he knew her from.

  She stood about five foot two with brown skin tanned to perfection. Her smile, bright enough to put the sun to shame, invited him to come closer to investigate. As she stood with her hands on her hips, her shoulder-length hair blew in the wind. Block couldn’t help but feel like he was starring in a movie the way seeing her made everything around them come to a standstill. Shawty thick as hell. Where do I know her from?

  He walked over and stood at the entrance of the gate, leaning on one arm against it. “Shawty, where do I know you from? You look so familiar. There’s no way I can forget a smile like that,” Block inquired, slightly flirting.

  “Seriously, Block, you don’t remember me? Has it really been that long? Wow, I guess that kiss really didn’t mean anything, huh?” the young lady teased, trying to refresh his memory.

  As Block thought harder, her words and voice began to match up and he realized who he was talking to. It was his old friend Bria, a twenty-five-year-old go-getter. When she mentioned a kiss, his attention was drawn to her thick, heavily glossed lips that turned him on the more she licked them.

  “Bria, is that you? Word. Shawty, you’re a whole woman now I see,” Block said in an attempt to compliment her. He quickly realized just how long it had been since he had seen Boomer’s little sister, Bria Cash. However, she wasn’t the innocent little preteen who used to follow them around back in the day. She was all woman, and Block couldn’t take his eyes off of her. This was awkward for him, as he was conflicted about how to feel about her. On one hand, she was his best friend’s little sister and, although he had long ago left this life, he still had respect for him. On the other hand, she was obviously a grown woman; and fifteen years was a long time without being this close to a woman.

  Bria walked closer, meeting Block at the entrance. She paused and smiled, giving him that side eye before speaking. “So, I’m kind of hurt that you didn’t remember me, Block. What’s up with that? When did you get out?” she asked, playing with the small gold cross pendant hanging from a thin gold necklace around her neck.

  “Naw, it’s not even like that, Bria. I just didn’t recognize you, that’s all. It’s been a long time,” he said as he came around the gate, joining her on the opposite side. “I just came home this morning, and you know the first thing I had to do was come show my respects to my bro. Give me a hug, though.
It is good to see you after all these years. What you was, like, ten years old last time I saw you? How have you been?” Block inquired, still amazed at how gracefully she’d developed.

  He wrapped his arms around her shoulders, and she rested her head on his chest. Immediately tears flowed from her eyes. As they separated, he noticed the sadness on her face. “Bria, what’s wrong?” he inquired with a look of concern.

  “I’m sorry, Block. It’s just that being here in this place and with you, it just makes me think about my brother and how much I miss him,” Bria answered.

  In most people’s eyes, Block and her brother Boomer had always been best friends. There was rarely a moment you would see one without the other. To Block, that was the only reason Boomer was no longer with the living.

  Bria composed herself and continued answering his question, saying, “Yeah, it has been awhile. I just turned twenty-five last month, so you owe me a birthday present, too,” she teased, bending down to tie her shoe.

  Block tried to compose himself and keep from giving into the temptation to check her out. That was a nearly impossible task but, out of respect for Boomer, he resisted. When she stood up, Block, nodding his head, motioned for Bria to walk with him. As they walked and continued to catch up, the two shared fond memories of Boomer and the time when he kissed her on the cheek. To him it meant nothing. She was just a kid, and he was just being nice in response to her giving him a Valentine’s Day card. Unbeknownst to Block, Bria carried that kiss in her heart from that day forward. She was heartbroken when she sat in the courtroom listening to him being sentenced. In her eyes, what he did for his sister solidified her love for him. The whole time he was away she dreamed of the day she’d see him again. However, Block would never know, seeing as he didn’t receive one letter or picture the whole time. Bria loved him from a distance.