Blessings From the Father

by Michelle Larks

  Mariah skipped a few pages ahead. There wasn’t any further mention of Joseph Green. Mariah bit her lip indecisively. She had an urge to call Rosemary and ask her about the information she’d found. She recalled how vehement Rosemary had been, denying she had known Mariah’s father.

  “I guess it’s just one of those coincidences,” Mariah said aloud as she shrugged her shoulders. Though her intuition told her that her assumption wasn’t true. Mariah laid the journal back on the table. Suddenly, she felt frightened. What if Harold knew Joseph? Did Harold ever meet her family, and most of all, did anything happen between him and Cassie? Mariah’s head was awash with questions. She planned to see Rosemary on Saturday, and she hoped her grandmother would have the answers to some of her questions. If Rosemary pulled her “I don’t feel well” act, then Mariah planned to press her until she could get answers to questions.

  Earlier that evening Raquel left Sonyell’s house after repeatedly apologizing for misspeaking earlier. Raquel felt depressed and guilty as she drove home. She could tell that her friend was in a bad way. Raquel wished at times she could be more like Mariah. Her friend always seemed to know the right thing to say and do during a crisis. Raquel bemoaned speaking out of turn. She was so down that Raquel decided to stop at a local bar for a drink before she went home.

  She sat in a booth alone in the dim room. She contemplated everything that had transpired during the day. Raquel was deep in thought as she swished the straw around in the glass of her apricot stone sour. She was looking down at the table when she heard a conversation that caused her to slouch down in her seat and listen carefully to the conversation going on in the booth behind her.

  “Hey, Esai. I made me some easy money this morning,” a drunken male voice bragged.

  “What you do, man?” the other man asked the drunken one.

  “I trashed an office this morning; my cousin Lola’s ex-husband’s office. She been trying to get him back but it ain’t been working. So she asked me to do a little something, something. She figured that would get his attention off his new woman and back on her.”

  “That Lola.” The other man chuckled. “She something else.”

  “She is. But cuz got bread and with this recession and all, I needed a little extra something. My wife is pregnant and we don’t have much money, so I helped Lola out.”

  “I hope you was careful,” the man warned his friend. “You don’t wanna have to be going to jail with your wife pregnant.”

  The drunken man said in a dismissive tone of voice, “No, this yo’ boy. I was careful. Lola gave me all the information I needed to do the job easily. She gave me the code to his alarm system. After I put the digits on the pad, the job was really easy as pie. Easiest money I ever made.”

  “That’s what they all say. But something stupid always happens that gets someone caught.”

  “Not me,” he crowed. “I had on gloves.” He lowered his voice. “I even kept some of the computer stuff I took. I figured I could sell it. Lola wanted me to give everything to her so she could dispose of it.”

  “That sounds like a stupid move to me, keeping the evidence.”

  “I can use it, man. My wife is having a tough pregnancy. We can’t afford her medication sometimes. So this way, I got me a . . . What you call it?” He snapped his fingers. “A nest egg.”

  Raquel had heard enough. She stood up and walked from the booth to the bar, from the other direction so she wouldn’t have to pass the men. “Where’s the bathroom?” she asked the bartender.

  He pointed to the left side of the large room. Raquel quickly sped to the room.

  She took out her cell phone and smiled. When Raquel heard the man mention Lola’s name, Raquel edged as close to the booth behind her as she could. She activated the voice recording on her cell phone. She hoped their voices were audible over the music. Raquel wished an opportunity presented itself whereby she could take the men’s pictures. Then Raquel felt ashamed because she had been so sure that Michael had participated in the robbery. She figured that she could redeem herself if she could help clear Michael’s name. She tucked her cell phone inside her pocket and walked back to the bar and her seat.

  She tried to look unconcerned when she returned to her seat. She noticed one of the men eying her suspiciously. Raquel acted like she didn’t see the looks the men threw her way. She could hear the men whispering, but she couldn’t make out what the men were saying. They began speaking in Spanish. Raquel had a feeling they were speaking about her. She felt a flash of fear. Then, she licked her lips, and stood up. She walked to the booth behind hers, put her hands on her hips, smiled perkily and said, “Gentlemen, can you buy me a drink?”

  The men looked at Raquel warily and quickly conducted a conversation in Spanish. Finally the thief turned to Raquel and said, “Yeah, mami.” The men introduced themselves as Javier and Jose. Jose was interested in finding out if Raquel had overheard any part of their conversation.

  Raquel could hold her liquor and drink among the best of them. The older man, Jose, had a thick moustache. He paid close attention to Raquel. It was obvious he was mistrustful of her attention to the younger man. The thief, Javier, thought she was putting the make on him, which Raquel was. But not for the reason he thought, she wanted so badly to take a picture of him.

  An hour later, Raquel was about to throw in the towel after enduring constant pawing from Javier. Jose never warmed toward her. Jose’s cell phone rang. He answered it and talked briefly. He shut the phone and told Javier, “I’ve got to go, amigo. That was my wife on the phone. You ready to go?”

  “So soon?” Mariah purred as she stroked Javier’s arm.

  Javier winked at Mariah with a macho swagger. He looked at Jose. “No, Esai. I’m going to stay a little longer. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

  Raquel breathed a sigh of relief. If she was lucky, she could get a picture of Javier and get the heck out of Dodge.

  “I think you should leave with me,” Jose told Javier. “I drove. How are you going to get home?”

  “Oh, I can drive him,” Raquel chimed in. “It’s no problem. I have to leave myself soon. How about one more drink on me?” She beamed at Javier.

  “Yeah, I think I’ll have one more for the road,” Javier told his friend.

  Jose stood indecisively for a moment. Then his cell phone rang again shrilly. “That’s Maria. I’ve got to go.” He told Javier good-bye, and glanced mistrustfully at Raquel. Then Jose departed.

  Raquel unleashed her full feminine wiles on Javier. She flirted with the young man unmercifully. When he left twenty minutes later after Raquel called him a cab, Raquel had his name, address, and telephone number. She’d managed to take Javier’s picture without his noticing. He was so drunk that he could barely keep his eyes open.

  Raquel was ecstatic. She stood and dropped her cell phone into her purse when she noticed a shadow fall over the table. She looked up to see Jose glaring at her.

  “What do you want?” she asked the man snootily.

  “I wanted to make sure Javier made it home okay.”

  “He’s a big boy; sure he did,” Raquel informed the man as she donned her coat.

  “I thought you were going to take him home?” Jose looked down at her.

  “I don’t think so,” Raquel threw out. “He said he was married. Suppose his wife was looking out the window. So no, I didn’t. I did call him a cab though.”

  “You didn’t happen to hear us talking did you?”

  Raquel looked at him innocently. “Talking about what? I was texting a friend of mine. I don’t listen in on other person’s conversations.”

  Jose was silent for a moment as he considered Raquel’s words. “If you did hear what we were talking about then I’d advise you to keep it to yourself. Get my drift?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Raquel fixed her gaze on him unblinkingly. She stood up and pulled her coat about her body. “I’ve got to go. Excuse me.”

  Jose stepped aside a
nd fixed Raquel with a piercing gaze. “Don’t forget what I said.”

  “Good-bye,” Raquel stepped away from the table and headed to the ladies’ room. She locked the outer door and locked herself in a stall. She punched in a number. When Raquel heard the voice mail message, she quickly ended the call. She thought briefly, and dialed another number. When the caller answered the phone she said, “Alex, this is Raquel, can you meet me ASAP at the Copper Penny Bar and Grill on 170th and Kennedy? It’s a matter of life and death.”

  Alex listened to Raquel in amazement; then he said, “I’m on my way.”

  Chapter Thirty-three

  After Raquel left Sonyell’s house, Sonyell prepared dinner for herself and Sasha. Sonyell picked at her dinner, her appetite all but gone. Sasha’s expression was stricken as she watched her mother simply go through the motions. By eight o’clock that evening, Sasha was in bed. Sonyell had given her daughter a sanitized version of the day’s earlier events.

  The little girl was shattered with fear. She imagined demons were following her father. Sonyell lay on her bed with her hand over her brow. She sat up and picked up her cell phone from her side, and tried calling Michael’s number once again. She had called him off and on during the day and as before the call was routed to voice mail.

  She clicked off her phone when she heard a key turn in the front door. The door was opened and then closed. Sasha sprang from her bed and ran to her father. Michael caught his daughter in his arms. Sasha sobbed.

  “Baby girl, it’s going to be okay, I promise.” Michael tried to comfort the girl.

  Sasha raised her tearstained face to her father’s and asked, “Daddy, did you do it?”

  Michael held his daughter in his arms and walked to the sofa. They both sat down. “I swear on all that is near and dear to me, and that includes you, that I had nothing to do with what happened at Carson’s office.”

  Sasha replied firmly, “I believe you, Daddy.”

  Michael held Sasha in his arms. “Why don’t you go back to bed? Before you know it, it will be time for you to get up and go to school.”

  Sasha cried hysterically, “I don’t want to go to bed. I want to stay with you.” It was as if the young girl sensed her father was about to leave for good.

  Sonyell, who had watched the painful exchange from the room entrance, walked inside the room. She told her daughter in a stern voice, “Sasha, do as your father told you. Go to bed. You’ve seen him and he’s all right.”

  Sasha reached over and hugged Michael again. Then she rose and went to her bedroom.

  Sonyell stood at the room entrance with her hands on her hips. “Where have you been? I’ve been calling you all day.”

  “I needed some space to do some thinking,” Michael responded carefully. “I think it’s time for me to move on.”

  “What do you mean?” Sonyell asked in a troubled tone of voice. Her body began shaking.

  “I think it’s time for me to go. I have done some dumb things in my life, I admit it. But I felt like you should have supported me when I told you I had nothing to do with what happened to Carson.”

  Sonyell waved her hand indifferently. Then she took a deep breath and exhaled. “I tried to believe in you, Michael, but all those stunts you’d pulled in the past came roaring into my head. I’m sorry you feel that way. I told you that I’d need time to try to get over the past.”

  “Well, you don’t need any more time. I’m out of here,” he said, jutting his chin upward.

  “What do you mean?” Sonyell asked in a shocked tone of voice.

  “Just what I said. If you can’t believe in me, then I don’t need to be here,” he told her aggressively. Anger simmered in his voice.

  “I . . . I don’t know what to say,” Sonyell stammered. “Maybe you shouldn’t be so hasty.” She rubbed her forehead.

  “Sonni, I think we need to just end this. You’re different. I don’t know, maybe you outgrew me?” Michael rubbed his eyes tiredly.

  “Don’t you think we should discuss this first? There is more than just you and me involved. What about Sasha?” Sonyell pointed toward Sasha’s bedroom.

  “I will always be there for my girl. I’m glad you had my baby. But, we’re not good. While I was in prison paying my debt to society, you outgrew me. I don’t want to hold you down. You’ve got your house, a good job, and I have nothing.”

  Michael spread his arm out. “I contribute but I know it’s not a lot. I’m trying to learn to be a better person, Sasha’s father, your man. I talk to Carson, I see him around Mariah, and I don’t think I have it in me. I waited too late.” Michael’s shoulders slumped.

  Sonyell put her hand over her mouth. Initially, she felt devastated. Then she thought perhaps there was some truth in what Michael said.

  She cleared her throat. “Maybe you’re right. Perhaps we have run our course. I don’t know. . . .” Her legs felt weak. She stumbled into the chair.

  “I know I’m right,” Michael whispered. He walked out of the living room into his bedroom.

  Sonyell sat in stunned silence. She dropped her head into her hands and sobbed softly. The parting had not occurred the way she’d envisioned for her and Michael.

  Finally, she stood and walked into the spare bedroom. Michael was packing his meager possessions. His gym bag lay on the bed, the dresser drawer was open, and he was stuffing his meager possessions into it.

  “What are you going to do about your job? Where will you go?”’ Sonyell asked him as she looked around the room sadly.

  “Marvin is outside waiting for me. I’m going to stay with him and Ashley until I decide what I’m going to do.” Michael opened the closet door and removed a couple of shirts. He folded them and put them into his bag.

  “You should at least talk to Carson before you decide to make a drastic change. You know he took a chance bringing you aboard his company.”

  “I plan to. I know he took a chance on me. You act like I brought nothing to the table. I was a good worker and I enjoyed the work. It’s too bad you couldn’t believe in me, and realize that I have changed my ways.”

  “Maybe,” Sonyell said thoughtfully. “Even if things don’t work out for us, you still owe it to yourself and Carson to continue learning a trade. Especially in this economy.”

  “I probably will stay with Carson,” Michael said. He took toiletries off the dresser and scooped them into the bag. He picked up the bag and said, “I’ll be back over the weekend to get the rest of my stuff.”

  “What about Sasha?” Sonyell asked in a strangled tone of voice.

  “I will be back to see her and I will explain to her why I’m leaving.”

  “I don’t know why you think she’d understand when I don’t myself,” Sonyell murmured.

  “Trust me, I got this. Oops, I forgot, you have trust issues. Look, I’ve got to go, Marvin is waiting.”

  “Can you just leave? What about the police investigation?” Sonyell asked stalling for time. She held out her open hands.

  “The officer has my number. I had nothing to do with the robbery; if they try to pin this on me because of my record, then I’ll fight that battle when I get to it.” Michael brushed past Sonyell as he exited the room.

  He walked to the front door and opened it. “Tell Sasha I’ll talk to her tomorrow.” With that Michael was gone.

  Sonyell felt bereaved, like she’d lost her best friend. Her body slid to the floor. Tears leaked from her eyes as she sobbed quietly.

  She sat on the floor near the door for a long time until the telephone rang. Sonyell didn’t bother to answer it. She let the call go to voice mail. A few minutes later, the telephone rang again.

  At Mariah’s house the telephone rang also. She was still reading the journal, trying to figure out if Jojo, as Harold referred to his friend Joseph, was actually her grandfather.

  Finally, in desperation, the young woman skipped to the back of the book. She read the following words. Her heart felt like it was going to burst out of her chest. />
  My best buddy in the world is gone. My heart is heavy. We had a skirmish with the ’Nam soldiers yesterday. Jojo was a few miles away from where I was fighting. When the battle was over, Lee came by later that evening to tell me that Jojo was missing. There were heavy fatalities among our men. I felt like my whole family, mother, father, sister, and brother had died. I kept the hope for a long time that Jojo would return, but as the days went on, he didn’t. We knew he had been captured, or he was dead. I realized more than likely I wouldn’t see my friend again in this lifetime. I don’t care how long it’s going to take me, when I leave this godforsaken place, full of death and despair, I am going to see Jojo’s family. I know he’s married and has a daughter, and I am going to do everything I can to help his wife. Jojo was like a brother to me. I promised him if anything ever happened to him that I would go see Rosie. By the power vested in me, I will see and take care of his family.

  At first, Mariah was dumbfounded. She just sat on the sofa in a daze. She reread the entry. That’s when she realized that her life as she knew it had changed drastically, and for the worse. Granny did know her father. Mariah couldn’t figure out why Rosemary would lie to her over something so important. She had many questions and only one person could give her the answers. Her eyes gazed around the room with thoughts going a mile a minute in her mind. She sat that way until the telephone rang. Carson’s number appeared on caller ID. She clicked on her cell phone, and answered it lethargically.