Block’s life was now beginning to piece itself back together as he accepted his newfound freedom. Finding love was the last thing he was looking for, but it had been waiting for him for fifteen years. Neither Bria nor Block knew how long it would take for him to discover this gift.
* * *
Later on, back at his new spot after a long shower attempting to wash the filthy feeling of prison off of himself, Block draped himself in one of the many custom suits Toya had handpicked for him. It fit perfectly and, as much as he wasn’t thrilled about it being his day-to-day wardrobe, he was impressed by how good he looked.
The grumbling of his stomach disrupted his brief fashion show, and he stood in a large walk-in closet surrounded by full-length mirrors. He had heard about a new spot on the boulevard called Kevin’s and, after years of gut-wrenching prison food, Block longed for some down-home cooking.
On the kitchen counter lay a car key with a note underneath it written by Toya that read:
Hope you like it ...
As he opened the door on the far end of the kitchen that led to the garage, Block didn’t know what to expect; but if the suits she had chosen for him were any indication, this new whip would be fly. In the middle of the garage sat an all-white Yukon Denali. The size alone of the SUV stunned Block, and he couldn’t wait to hit the streets in it knowing that it would officially mark his reintroduction to the city.
Driving back through the east side was a trip, to say the least. Everything had changed so much so that most of his high school friends now had teenage kids of their own. Not only did he feel out of place, Block felt old. As he pulled into the parking lot of Kevin’s Blockhouse, he instantly felt unsettled. Anxiety shot through his body; something didn’t feel right. Just then he peered into his rearview mirror and, lo and behold, that same black BMW sat off in the corner of the parking lot. “Come on, man, seriously?” Block said audibly.
As he parked and exited his truck, Detective Garrett followed suit. Adjusting his jacket and tie, Block turned and leaned against the vehicle with his arms crossed. “Say, bruh, don’t you have something better to do with your time than to be keeping tabs on me? I mean, seriously, I’m starting to think you have some kind of infatuation with me or something,” Block said condescendingly.
Detective Garrett frowned, obviously irritated, and answered arrogantly, “Listen, convict, don’t think that because you can throw on a suit and charm your PO I’m not watching you. You are still scum, and I’ll be watching your every step. See, what you don’t understand is no matter how much money you throw around town, this city belongs to me. You Fosters don’t run anything; you never have and never will!”
Block was still confused as to why this dirty agent was so fixated on him and his family. He pushed himself away from the vehicle and squared up with the detective, saying, “Look, man, I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. I ain’t been on these streets in fifteen years. There is nothing you can say that I’ve done to you to have me in your crosshairs. So I’m really gonna need you to fall back, man, ’cause you’re really starting to piss me off.” Block wanted so bad to knock the arrogant smirk right off Detective Garrett’s face.
However, he didn’t back down, but he responded sharply, saying, “Go ahead, Foster. I’m getting a hard-on just thinking about throwing you back in a cage for another fifteen years. Just give me one reason.”
Now fed up and growing more irritated by the second, Block decided this little visit of theirs had gone on long enough. “Look, man, either cuff me or kick rocks. We’re done here. Pardon my back,” Block proclaimed as he turned and walked away, not giving him another thought.
Detective Garrett scoffed and turned, walking away, lighting a cigar. “Yeah, okay. I got you, convict,” he said under his breath.
Feeling disgusted by the interaction with Detective Garrett, Block rushed home to change clothes and cars in an attempt to get a fresh start. He was feeling more like the Chevy at this point, and he just wanted to be around some positivity.
Chapter Seven
After getting off of the phone with Jelisa, Shamar rushed over to the unit’s medical tent to help tend to some kids who had been hurt by a roadside bomb. The sight of kids in their condition messed him up. He tried not to throw up when he saw a young girl with half of her left leg blown off. There was blood everywhere, and she was beginning to go into shock. Shamar was usually calm during these instances, which was why they called him to assist.
There was also a boy who looked to be about twelve or thirteen with shrapnel covering most of his body. His face was covered in blood and dirt as he clung to life, struggling for his next breath. When Shamar approached the boy to tend to his wounds, he noticed there was something familiar about him. As the minutes passed, the boy grew weaker. Shamar tried talking to him to reassure him it would be okay. He had never been this shook about something like this. He had seen dead bodies and people wounded before but never to this extent.
Shamar tended to him further, getting assistance from another medic. He turned to call for a syringe of morphine to help ease the pain. With the severity of the wounds he had, it was unlikely the young boy would make it. Shamar administered the morphine, and it quickly kicked in. As the boy struggled to hold on and Shamar scrambled to stop the bleeding coming from his chest, he grabbed on to Shamar’s sleeve. The boy wouldn’t let go and with everything in him he begged God to save the boy. The boy gasped and took one last breath. Within those few seconds, his and Shamar’s eyes met and immediately it hit him where he recognized the boy from. He was the boy he had played kickball with in front of the government building just days before.
The boy’s eyes drifted down just beneath Shamar’s chin as he saw the necklace he had given him dangling. He looked back up at Shamar, closed his eyes, and stopped breathing.
Shamar’s heart broke; he stood up feeling defeated and walked over to the side of one of the vehicles. He had tried everything he knew to do, and nothing could save him. Tears streamed from his eyes as the past ten minutes replayed over and over again in his mind. He questioned to himself, “Why would God let something like this happen? He was just an innocent kid.”
The girl the other medics had been working on had already passed away; there was nothing else anyone could do. Shamar walked off, heading back over to their living quarters to clean himself up; but it was like everything around him stopped moving.
It was a sobering experience for him, and word quickly got around camp about what had happened. Omar didn’t waste any time coming to see about his friend. When he arrived at Shamar’s bunk, he was still shaken up. He had his Bible open on his bed with a picture of Jelisa and Mya next to it. As he sat there in a daze, he had a blank stare in his eyes. It took Omar calling Shamar’s name a couple of times before he responded.
“Shamar. Hey, bro, you all right, man? I heard what happened. It must have been crazy.”
Shamar looked at Omar and nodded his head, but he didn’t speak.
“Look, man, you know we see this kind of stuff all the time, bro. You can’t beat yourself up like this.”
Shamar glanced at him out of the corner of his eye and, in a low voice, he said, “He was just a kid, man. How do we justify something like that? I mean, like, that could have been my kid or one of my cousins or something. I can’t even wrap my mind around it. I just don’t get it.”
“I know it’s hard, man, but you gotta remember we’re at war and things like this happen. I know that sounds harsh, but you know as well as I do that they use those kids against us. For all we know, he could’ve been setting the bomb up to take one of us out, and it went wrong. I mean, dawg, you just don’t know. But you can’t let this stuff eat away at you. You need to call Jelisa. You gotta talk to somebody and get your mind off of it, feel me?” Omar pleaded with his friend, hoping to calm him down.
Shamar heard everything Omar was saying, but it did nothing to change how he felt. He appreciated him being there for him, though; he could al
ways count on Omar to hold him down.
Shamar sat for several hours replaying the earlier events in his mind repeatedly. Before he knew it, night had come, and he still hadn’t left his bunk. He eventually took Omar’s advice and went to the call center the next day to try to get in touch with Jelisa; but when he called, she didn’t answer. He figured, with the time difference, she must have been busy. It was almost noon in Iraq, so it was still early back in the States.
Shamar didn’t realize how much time had gone by. It seemed like he had just talked to Jelisa not long before. He never got around to calling her back that afternoon. The whole thing took such a toll on him that, after a few hours, he decided he didn’t want to talk about it. At the end of the day, he was still a soldier and casualties, whether young or old, came with the territory.
At the end of the work day, Shamar went over to the chapel to sit and think. He was exhausted and, after all of the crying and stressing out, that was all he had the strength left to do. He found solace in being able to let off some steam and ponder everything that was important to him.
After twenty minutes in the chapel, Shamar caught back up with Omar. They went to the chow hall for dinner before going back to their quarters to bed down for the night. Shamar spent that night writing a letter to Mya, explaining the world to her. Shamar wanted to be the best father he could be, which to him meant preparing Mya for the potential heartbreak she might have to endure later in life. If there was one thing the Army taught it was that life is too short to go through ignorant of its pitfalls. In his heart, he hoped to be able to shield her from as much as possible, but he had another ten months before he could get back to her.
For the time being, he would just dream about all of the things they were going to do together as a family. The trips to SeaWorld and Disneyland, teaching Mya how to ride a bike, and even going horseback riding like Jelisa always wanted. Although he wasn’t big on these kinds of things, he knew it would mean a lot to them, and he promised, so that was enough. Shamar continued thinking about these things until he finally fell asleep.
Chapter Eight
The week went by fast for Jelisa and, when Friday morning came, Donny was already in his bag, acting just as cocky as ever as he made his way to the shop. He had every intention to get her to his spot and get a couple of drinks in her. When she arrived at the shop that morning, she wasn’t in a good mood. The stress of not being able to talk to Shamar when she wanted to, along with not talking to her mother, was getting to her. The loneliness was starting to set in, and she craved some adult conversation that didn’t consist of gossip and negativity.
It was just before 9:00 a.m., and Donny was pulling up as Jelisa was getting out of her car. He parked, got out, and made his way toward her. “Hey, baby girl. How you doing this morning?” he asked with a big grin.
She wondered why he was so chipper this early in the morning. “Hey, Donny, I’m good. How you doing?” She forced the conversation as she wasn’t feeling like dealing with his flirting. Although, after being rushed off the phone with Shamar and then not hearing from him for the rest of the week, it didn’t seem like such a bad idea. She walked around to the passenger’s side of her car and helped Mya out of her seat and onto the sidewalk.
“Oh, I’m good, ma, getting ready for this kickback tonight. You coming through?” he asked, holding the door for her as she and Mya walked up the stairs.
“I don’t know yet. You know I don’t get down with most of these females you have working in here. These sluts are too messy for me and you know I got a low tolerance for BS,” Jelisa said, looking back over her shoulder as she made it over to her workstation. She set her bags down and picked Mya up, placing her in her styling chair as she began touching up her recently done cornrows.
“I feel that,” Donny said, nodding his head as he took out his clippers and began oiling them to prepare for the day. “Don’t let that stop you, though. I mean, you’re in here most of the week, and now you’ve got li’l mama with you. I know you need some time to yourself. Just think about it. I’m not going to bug you about it anymore. I think it’s about time you got out and did something.” Donny was working his magic. He had a way with his words of convincing females that his intentions were pure and he was harmless.
Jelisa was starting to overcome her attitude after she took a few sips from her Starbucks green tea. Sometimes that was all it took to put her in a better mood. Like most people are with coffee, you never wanted to mess with her before she had had her morning tea.
As the morning progressed, Jelisa started feeling guilty about not speaking to her mother all week. Mya had been waking up the last couple of mornings walking around the apartment and calling for her granny. She resented her mother for what she said and even more for the fact that she hadn’t attempted to contact her. Jelisa knew that if she didn’t reach out, Sandra never would. She was just that stubborn, and it wasn’t fair to Mya to not be able to see her granny or aunts because of what they were dealing with.
During her lunch break, Jelisa called her mother to see if she could break the ice. As the phone rang, her stomach was in knots. Not knowing how she would respond, she braced herself for a rude response.
“Hey, Jelisa,” Sandra said nonchalantly as if nothing had ever happened. She didn’t let on, but she held grudges. One could never tell if she was still dwelling on something because she could mask it so well.
“Hey, Mama, how you doing? Your granddaughter has been walking around my apartment calling your name,” Jelisa teased, trying to be funny about it.
“Oh, yeah? Well, tell her Granny misses her too. I would like to see her, if that’s okay with you,” Sandra said, appealing to Jelisa’s sensitivity to the nature of the situation.
It was working as Jelisa put away the hesitation that was keeping her from further engaging in the conversation. She was keeping Sandra at arm’s reach just in case she still had an attitude with her. “Yeah, Mama, you can see her. As a matter of fact, why don’t I just let her stay over for the weekend?” Donny’s words were quietly whispering in the back of her mind as she thought about the peace and quiet she could have with no kid in the apartment for a couple of days. It was still up in the air whether she would go to his get-together that night.
“Okay, that’s not a problem. I wanted to take her to the circus tomorrow anyway, so that works out perfectly. What time are you getting off today? We need to talk.”
Jelisa wasn’t expecting that. Although she knew it was inevitable, Sandra didn’t usually make the first move when it came to apologizing. Perhaps she finally realized how serious their issues really were. In her mind, Jelisa didn’t think that was the case. “I should be out of here by five. I only have four heads today so I should be done around that time. I’ll stop by after I get off. Okay?”
“All right. I’ll see y’all then. Call me when you’re on your way.”
“All right, Mama. Bye.”
One thirty came around, and Jelisa had just finished up her second client of the day when her cell phone rang. She answered, as usual hoping it was Shamar. “Hello?”
“Hey, Jelisa, what’s up? You busy?” Shamar said with a bit of excitement in his voice.
“Yeah, baby, of course. What’s up? Why do you sound so happy?”
“I got presented with an award today for my work on our last mission. Plus, I found out I’m getting promoted to E-6 this week. My commander told my supervisor he thought it was time. It’s conditional because I still have to go to leadership school when I get back. But they gave me the option to take my stripes now and start making that E-6 pay; or I can wait until after school, and they will give me back pay. I’m amped, babe!” Shamar was grinning from ear to ear, proud that he had done something worth bragging about.
“Oh, wow, baby! That’s great! I’m so proud of you! I’m glad to hear things are going good for you over there. I was waiting for you to call me back after we got off last time, but I’m okay now since I know you’ve been working hard
. You know we—” Jelisa’s other line beeped and, thinking it might be her mother, she didn’t bother to look at the caller ID. She told Shamar to hold on while she answered the other line.
“Hello?”
“Hey, sweetheart, how you doing?”
Jelisa’s heart dropped. It was that same raspy voice that called her before. “Look, whoever this is, you need to stop calling my phone. I don’t play them type of games. Stop calling me!” she shouted; then she hung up and clicked back over to her other line. “Hello, Shamar?”
“Yeah. Who was that, your mom?”
“No. Some dude keeps calling my phone talking like I’m supposed to know him. I asked who he was and he acted like I’m supposed to recognize his voice. Shamar, you know I don’t like people playing on my phone.” Jelisa was noticeably disturbed by the call from this anonymous person. It was starting to scare her.
“Well, honey, I don’t know; maybe you need to get your number changed or something. I mean, how do you think he got your number?”
“Shamar, I don’t know. I don’t even give my number out, especially not to some dude I don’t even know. Anybody who has my number is usually a client, and they are all females. So I don’t know, but it’s really starting to irritate me.” Jelisa’s hand started shaking and, as she sat in the back room of the shop, she heard the door beep. It was her two o’clock appointment. She didn’t want to end the conversation since it had been a few days and there was no telling when she’d hear from him next. She motioned for her client to go ahead and seat herself.
“Baby, what’s going on with you? I know I haven’t called in a few days. The last time we talked I tried to explain it to you, but honestly, that whole situation I just went through had me in another place. Seeing somebody die is never an easy thing, especially when they’re so young.” Shamar could feel himself getting emotional, and before tears could fall he caught himself and changed the subject. “I miss you so much, you know that?”
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