Army of One

by A. K. Henderson

  “Hey, Lisa, when you get back?” Shawnie asked, clearing her throat and yawning. “Hell, did I fall asleep? My bad, girl. So where did you end up going?”

  Jelisa was feeling a lot better after her night out and a nice hot shower. It didn’t bother her at all to talk about the day’s events. “Girl, you all right. I ended up going over to Donny’s house for this kickback he threw together. He was cute.” Not even realizing what she had just said, Jelisa didn’t have a chance to correct herself when Shawnie’s eyebrows arched, and she looked back over the couch.

  “Excuse me, what did you just say?” She knew she had heard right; Jelisa had just said that Donny was cute. Although she agreed with her, Jelisa saying it in that context didn’t sit right with her.

  “What? All I said was I ended up going to Donny’s for this little thing he threw together. Then I said it was cute.”

  Not buying it, Shawnie shook her head and rolled her eyes. “Lisa, please, you said he was cute, not it. Are you still tipsy or something? Please tell me you not messing with this dude.”

  Jelisa was shocked and offended that Shawnie was coming at her like that. Her face frowned up, and she rolled her eyes, not acknowledging the question. Although she wouldn’t admit to it, she knew Shawnie was right. Jelisa was starting to develop feelings for Donny. But for the time being, she would suppress them out of respect for Shamar. “Shawnie, quit playing. If I said that, I didn’t mean it. Girl, I’m still buzzed. I need to lie down.”

  “Yeah, okay, Lisa, go ahead and play with fire, goofy. I hope you not dumb enough to be messing over Shamar while he’s deployed. That’s dirty as hell.”

  Jelisa interrupted with a frown on her face. Gritting her teeth and trying not to wake Mya, she replied, “Shawnie, stop it. God! I’m not stupid. I just needed to get out of the house and breathe. I haven’t done anything for myself since Shamar left. It’s been two months already. If it ain’t paying Mama’s bills or staying at the shop all day, it’s always something. I just needed some time to myself. Ain’t nobody thinking about Donny.” Jelisa figured the more she denied her feelings for Donny, the better her chances were that they would just go away.

  “All right, sis, I’m just saying. I know you and Shamar been through some stuff but y’all belong together, and ain’t nothing this side of marriage worth losing that, feel me?”

  Jelisa knew she couldn’t keep anything from Shawnie because she could usually read between the lines. That’s also why she loved Shawnie so much; she always had the right words to say and could make the most complicated things make sense. “I got you, sis, and I appreciate y’all staying over. I miss times like this when we used to stay up all night and talk. But look, I’ve got a headache and this little bit of juice I just drank has my stomach bubbling. I need to go lie down. Y’all can pull the couch out and sleep on the bed if you want to. Good night now, love you.” Jelisa walked off into the dark toward her room.

  “All right, honey, I’ll see you in the morning. Love you too.”

  * * *

  As Jelisa’s day was finally ending, Shamar’s was just getting started. The mood around the unit was a heavy one. Roll call was at 7:00 a.m.; and, just before breakfast, news came down from command that there had been an attack on one of the supply convoys heading down to Baghdad. This hit home with Shamar because he had just gotten word that Omar was one of the drivers and his vehicle had been struck by an improvised explosive device, what they knew as an IED. The convoy was ambushed just miles from its destination, and Omar’s vehicle was caught right in the middle of it. No one in the vehicle survived.

  This news crushed Shamar to his core. He was only two months into his tour, and he had already seen death, firsthand, on two occasions. Death itself wasn’t new to him; he had buried a number of his homies and put in some work of his own. But losing his boys was just part of being in the streets; you never knew who you could really trust. With Omar, they had gone through so much together. Having to face this tragedy drove him over the edge. They had been tight since basic training and the whole unit knew just how close they were. Over the next few days, Shamar spent a lot of time by himself. He didn’t speak about Omar, and his attitude was the worst.

  One morning, his commander sent for him to come and meet for breakfast. This was quite unusual, but Shamar knew what it was about. He arrived at the dining facility where he had been told to meet the commander, Captain Miller. Rank didn’t matter to Shamar when it came to authority; he knew how to conduct himself around the higher-ups. It didn’t affect him one way or the other.

  “Good morning, sir. How are you? ” Shamar said, standing at attention next to the table Captain Miller was sitting at.

  “Good morning, Sergeant. Take a seat.”

  As he took his seat, Shamar tried to read the commander’s body language. He was six feet two and had to have weighed at least two hundred fifty pounds, all muscle. His deep raspy baritone voice demanded respect and could silence even the toughest soldier. Truth be told, he was actually just like Shamar, a hood dude that used the military to get off the streets before they got him killed.

  Captain Miller’s demeanor changed when Shamar sat down. “What’s good, young bull?” he said in his North Philly accent. “Thanks for coming to talk with me. How you feeling?”

  Shamar was caught off guard by his nonchalant demeanor. Never had he felt this comfortable talking to an officer, but there was something about Captain Miller that put Shamar at ease. So he relaxed, still keeping in mind that he was in the presence of his commanding officer. He prepared his mind and replied, “I’m good, sir, just kind of stressed right now. It seems like everything around me is falling apart. I don’t know how much longer I can take this.” Shamar shook his head and lowered it in defeat.

  “Hold ya head up, li’l bro. I know it gets crazy out here. But this ain’t nothing we didn’t see in the streets. We both had homies fall. We all took losses; and unless we wanted to join them, the only thing we could do was take the hit and move on, feel me?”

  Shamar nodded his head in acknowledgment.

  “I think you need to go home and take some time to get yourself together, see about your family. Have you talked to your wife?”

  Shamar instantly became anxious. He wasn’t prepared to get this personal with his commander, but he felt like he was back home talking to one of the OGs, so the feeling quickly passed. Barely lifting his head, he responded, “No, I haven’t. It’s been over a week since we last spoke. Every time I think to call, something comes up, and it ends up on the backburner. I don’t know, sir. I’m kind of numb to everything. But you’re right; I do need to go home for a while. Maybe I’ll surprise her.”

  Captain Miller’s faced frowned up when Shamar said that. He sucked his teeth and shook his head.

  “What?” Shamar inquired. The look on Captain Miller’s face gave the impression that he had said something wrong.

  “Li’l homie, that’s not something I think you should do. You sure you really wanna open that door? I mean, you said yourself that you haven’t spoken to shawty in a while. You don’t know what she might be up to. I know that’s tough to think about; but, let’s be real, women don’t tend to fare too well during deployments. Call her first.”

  Unwilling to admit it, Shamar knew he was right. He had seen countless Army wives do their husbands dirty while they were deployed. Truth be told, he figured something like that was possible, especially with Jelisa staying in the city while he was gone. She was a walking target for thirsty cornballs who just wanted to milk her for her money, and grimy friends who would do the same.

  “Yeah, you right. I’ll call her. Look, I really appreciate you looking out for me like this, sir. I definitely wasn’t expecting this.”

  Captain Miller grinned and nodded his head. “I got you, homie. I know what it’s like. A lot of times, y’all soldiers get overlooked. I can’t have one of y’all going crazy on me, feel me? So just let me know when you want to go, and I’ll make arrangements for
it to happen. But you gotta take care of yourself.” Captain Miller stood up, and so did Shamar.

  “Thanks, sir,” Shamar said as they shook hands and went their separate ways.

  Feeling good about the outcome of the meeting, Shamar headed straight to the call center, hoping to catch Jelisa before she went to bed. She was a night owl so calling her at 1:00 a.m. wouldn’t be out of the ordinary. He took a deep breath as the phone began to ring. After a few rings, he was just about to hang up when it picked up.

  “Hello? Who dis?” a deep voice said.

  Shamar took the phone away from his ear and stared at it in disbelief. He had to be trippin’. He returned the phone to his ear and demanded answers. “Yo, who the hell is this and why are you answering my phone?”

  The man on the other end sinisterly laughed, toying with him.

  “Say, bruh, I don’t know who this is but you ain’t ’bout that life, so I suggest you put my wife on the phone before things get real ugly, feel me?”

  The man on the other end laughed again. “She busy, bruh.” Then the man hung up on him.

  Shamar, now furious, immediately called back; but this time it went straight to voice mail. After five failed attempts, Shamar gave up and called Sandra, hoping that she would give him some answers. She didn’t pick up either; her phone too went straight to voice mail. He didn’t want to leave a message and was now hit with anxiety and rage. He didn’t know if Jelisa was in trouble or if she was dumb enough to be creeping and leave her phone unattended. Either way, he was going to be on the first flight home. He needed answers, and things had just gotten real. Hopefully, this wouldn’t end up bad.

  Shamar left a message at headquarters for Captain Miller, informing him that he wanted to go home on R&R with the next group. That would give him just two days before he could go home and he hoped to have some answers before then. He at least wanted to know what he was going home to before he got there. Determined not to let this get to him, he went back to work in an effort to keep himself busy.

  * * *

  While Shamar was going crazy over the phone incident, Jelisa was fast asleep at home. Her day had been so busy and draining that she hadn’t even noticed that she had left her phone at Donny’s on the balcony when she rushed out. It wasn’t until two o’clock the next morning that she was awakened out of her sleep with the urge to use the bathroom when she realized she couldn’t find her phone. It was too late to go to the shop to see if she left it there, so she logged on to her computer and pulled up her phone company’s Web site to track her phone. She couldn’t believe what she was reading. Her eyes got big as the address of the location of her phone wasn’t the shop’s address; it was Donny’s.

  “What the hell is this goofy doing with my phone and why wouldn’t he bring it to me?” Jelisa questioned herself. The more she thought about it, she was overcome with concern. What if Shamar called? Would Donny be that disrespectful that he’d play on her phone? She knew some guys who would have taken full advantage of something like that.

  “Shamar is going to flip! God, please don’t let this man have answered my phone,” she pleaded under her breath.

  Jelisa had to force herself to fall back asleep because of the thought of the possible backlash. When the morning came, she dropped Mya off to Shawnie for her to keep her for the day, then she headed to the shop. It was Saturday, so it was the busiest day of the week for her. But the only thing on her mind was cussing Donny out for not telling her he had her phone.

  When she arrived at the shop, her attitude was in full effect. Lo and behold, her phone was in the drawer at her workstation, right where she thought she’d left it. She looked at Donny, ready to crack the side of his head open with her blow dryer. Donny glanced over at her; he could tell she wanted to say something.

  “What’s good, baby girl? Why you looking at me like that?”

  “Donny, wipe that stupid look off of your face and stop playing with me. What were you doing with my phone last night?”

  Donny tried keeping a straight face while denying it but Jelisa wasn’t having it. “Hey, shorty, I don’t know what you talking about.”

  “Yeah, I bet,” she snapped back. “Donny, you wrong as hell for that. I tracked my phone with GPS last night, and it came up at your address. I don’t know what you thought was funny about that, but you better not have been playing on my phone.”

  Donny’s head was bowed as he continued cutting his client’s hair. He looked up innocently with a partial smirk. “Shawty, I don’t know what you talking about.”

  As much as she wanted to pop off, it was the beginning of her day, and she didn’t want her whole day to be ruined by Donny’s little stunt. She shook it off and went on about her day. She only hoped that Donny hadn’t done anything stupid with her phone that she would have to pay for later. She scrolled through her phone and didn’t see any missed calls or messages, so she believed she was in the clear.

  * * *

  On Monday morning, Shamar got a message from Captain Miller that he was slotted to be on the next plane heading back to the States for R&R. He was given two weeks to go home and make things right with Jelisa. He hadn’t spoken to her in almost two weeks now, and he had begun to wonder if she would even want to speak to him. Shamar was still conflicted about what had happened to Omar, and he wasn’t prepared to talk to anyone about it, not even Jelisa. Anxiety and worry filled his heart as he boarded the plane leaving Kuwait International Airport.

  When he landed in Chicago, he was met by the freezing November winds coming off of the lakefront. He didn’t tell Jelisa he was coming and he hoped that his suspicions were wrong. All he could think about as the bus from the airport pulled into the city was finding the identity of the man who answered her phone. Shamar was tormenting himself with thoughts of her cheating, having some dude off spending his money and making him look like a fool. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became.

  Waiting at the bus drop-off was a black Yukon XL with blacked-out tint and blunt smoke seeping out the partially cracked windows. The bass coming from the back of the SUV made the windows at the nearby gas station rattle. From the driver’s side appeared Kaduwey Jones, a six foot two inch brown-skinned goon with dreads down to his shoulders, Versace sunglasses, and a gold grill in his mouth. With a blunt hanging from his mouth and a cell phone and keys in his hands, Shamar’s best friend greeted him with some dap and a big grin, showing off his golden smile.

  “What’s happenin’, my G?” Kaduwey said with his Midwest accent, which sounded more Southern that anything. Kaduwey was Shamar’s best friend before he went off to the Army. The two were inseparable whenever they reunited. The last time the two had seen each other was just before Shamar shipped off to Germany. They spoke on the phone whenever he went home on leave, but they always seemed to miss seeing each other. The years had gone by fast, but it was as if they didn’t even miss a beat.

  “What up, homie? You killin’ ’em, ain’t you? Thanks for coming through for me, bruh.”

  Kaduwey took a pull from his blunt and looked from Shamar to the twenty-eight-inch rims that shined in the sunlight. “You know me, folk. I gets it in; you know how I do. Thirty-four! Let’s go, man. Get in; we drawing too much attention out here. You know them boys be watching.”

  “Thirty-four” stood for the highway exit that led to Michigan City from I-94. Exit 34B was a movement in the city, and anybody who was somebody repped it hard. They both laughed as they got into the smoked-out SUV and whipped out of the parking lot, heading down Franklin Street back toward the highway.

  “Where we going, fam? I thought you was taking me to the crib.”

  Kaduwey looked over at Shamar as if he had forgotten who he was talking to. “Folk, for real? What, you just going to walk around the city in your Army uniform like it’s hot or something?”

  Shamar looked down at his uniform and shook his head. He’d totally forgotten that he didn’t have a chance to pack any civilian clothing when he was first deployed,
so he had to travel in what he had. “Man, I don’t know what I was thinking. Take me to the Village so I can grab a couple ’fits.”

  Kaduwey and Shamar thought alike, and that was why they got along so well. In the fifteen years they’d known each other, there was never a fight or disagreement between them. Kaduwey smoked that last piece of his blunt and tossed it out the window. He blew out a cloud of smoke and turned to Shamar with a serious look on his face.

  “Hey, what’s good, homie? Why you looking at me like that? Go on and spill it; I know you got something to say.” Shamar laughed. He could always tell when his partner in crime had something on his mind. He would get quiet and have this blank look on his face like he was in deep thought.

  “Yeah, folk, you know me; I’m always thinking. What’s up with Chrissy?”

  The sound of that name made Shamar’s heart thunder with anger and anxiety. The grin on his face from being home was quickly replaced by a cold stare. “Really, fam? I just came home and you already hitting me with this? No, I haven’t talked to that goofy. She still denying everything and I’m stuck, ’cause if I say anything, all hell’s going to break loose. You know how this city is; word get out about something like that and the whole town will be buzzing.”

  Chrissy was an old high school fling Shamar had been messing with around the time he had first started talking to Jelisa. They had actually met while he was in the group home briefly when his mother passed. She was three years his senior, and she had a thing for young hustlers. They met again when she moved to Michigan City from Chicago. Shamar had already been given the heads-up by one of her homegirls that she was feeling him. Hearing that intensified the crush he had already had on her; he just had to have her.

  “Hey, why did you bring her up?”

  “Folk, I keep telling you that you better deal with that before it comes to deal with you. You know the truth and you know what I always say: ‘the truth don’t need no support and a lie don’t care who tells it.’”