Crazy Summer

by Cole Hart

  Summer started to say something, but quickly decided against it. Instead, she closed the door and moved down the hall to the next room. Her adrenaline was rushing nearly as hard as it was when she ran away from the motel. She had calmed down a little, but the anxiousness was still in her eyes.

  This was her room; she eased inside and closed the door behind her. Across the scattered clothes on the floor, she made her way to the full-size bed where her twin boys lay next to one another in a peaceful sleep. The boys were identical, young and handsome.

  Summer kicked off her shoes and sat down on the bed next to them. One stirred, let out a light moan, and flipped his head from one side to the other. The both of them had long, curly hair. They were so adorable to her. She kissed them on the forehead and covered them up.

  Thirty minutes later, Summer had showered and taken care of all her personal hygiene. Out in the hallway, she was met by her mother just as she stepped out of the bathroom.

  “We need to talk, Summa,” her mother said in a demanding voice.

  “I ain’t got––”

  “I mean now goddamn it.” Her mother’s voice raised another notch, and her face filled with anger. Her eyes had become red and evil looking. Turning, she walked into her bedroom.

  Summer was nearly on the heels of Mrs. Diane’s bedroom slippers. Mrs. Diane sat down in her chair and hiked up her housecoat, while Summer stood a few feet away in front of the dresser mirror. She was drying her hair with a thick towel, but at the same time, peeping at her mother through the reflection of the mirror.

  “Are you goin’ back out tonight?”

  Summer spun around, her hands on her hips. “If dis is ‘bout my kids, Mama, all you gotta do is let me know,” she snapped, her neck rolling in unison with her words.

  Mrs. Diane stood and pointed her finger in Summer’s face, almost touching her nose. “Raise yo’ voice at me again and I’ll slap yo’ ass into da middle of next week.”

  After removing her finger from Summer’s face, she hiked up her housecoat again and sat back down.

  “Jus’ listen some damn time.” Mrs. Diane’s voice silenced the entire house.

  Summer stood silently and patiently, her mind whizzing at a faster pace. She knew her mother from top to bottom.

  She caught hold of herself and finally whispered, “I’m listenin’.”

  Mrs. Diane took a deep breath. She was short winded from asthma and had high blood pressure, and at that moment, she was praying to GOD it wouldn’t get any worse.

  “Yo’ mama is sick, baby.”

  Her words came only as a whisper, but they hit Summer like a punch.

  A small silence sat between the two of them. Summer was hesitant to speak, but finally, she allowed her words to leak out.

  “If you need me to do somethin’…I can stay.”

  Now their emotional feelings were muted. Mrs. Diane stared at her daughter for a second or two, maybe longer. At least it seemed short. She closed her eyes and took another deep breath. When her eyes opened, they were filled with tears.

  Despite the anger Summer had built up inside of her, she decided to go sit on the arm of the chair where her mother sat. As they held onto one another, Summer wiped the tears from her mother’s eyes with the corner of her towel.

  “All I want from you, baby,” Mrs. Diane whispered, “is to raise those kids and raise ‘em good so they can be something.” She paused before continuing. “Lord only knows how much I love ‘em. It’s jus’ too much pressure on me, baby.”

  Summer’s eyes wandered back and forth before she responded, “Well, I’ma straighten up, Mama. I’ma get a job, and soon, I’ma get my own place.”

  Mrs. Diane shook her head slowly from side to side. “It ain’t easy in them streets, Summa. You still young, baby, with a lot of life and a great chance to become successful.”

  Summer held her mother’s hands and massaged her fingers, thinking it would calm her down a little. She leaned over and kissed her mother on the cheek, then rested her face against hers.

  “I’ma make you proud of me, Mama,” Summer whispered.

  Boom! Boom! Boom!

  A loud knock came from the front door like thunder. Startled, Summer’s eyes widened. She knew no one knocked like that but the police. With her heart pounding heavily inside her chest, she jumped up and walked out into the hallway. Inside the living room, she crept easily toward the door, nearly on her toes. The first window she got to, she slightly parted the curtain and looked out into the street. There wasn’t a police car there. She switched sides to get a clear view of the driveway.

  Nothing.

  The thumping of her heart began to ease. By now, Mrs. Diane was slowly creeping into the living room herself.

  “Who is it, baby?”

  Summer turned away from the peephole and whispered, “It’s old man Amos from around da corner.”

  The loud knock vibrated the door again. Summer jumped nervously, but this time with a smile on her face. Her mother waved her hands while mouthing, “I ain’t home.”

  Amos was the neighborhood drunk and aggravating as hell. He hustled up money by raking yards and cutting grass. Just a few months ago, he’d come by so drunk that he actually peed on himself and went to sleep on their front porch.

  By the time Summer began unchaining and unlocking the door, he was already walking off. So, she closed the door back.

  Mrs. Diane and Summer then sat down on the plastic-covered furniture in the living room and discussed several issues. A majority of them were serious. After their conversation, Summer went into her room. When she and her mother departed, everything was fine.

  Summer crawled into bed with her boys. The one closest to her stirred, and opening his eyes, he starred at her and smiled. While cradling him in her arms, she rocked him back to sleep.

  Chapter 3

  It was nearly ten-fifteen the following morning. Summer was in a wonderful deep sleep, when she felt something crawl across her face. She’d felt a roach in the past, but this was more casual, more playful. She barely parted her eyes before noticing her sons playing in her mouth and ears. She managed a smile and gave them both a kiss. Jermaine and Jeremy then sat down on the blue wall-to-wall carpet and started playing with the toys scattered around them.

  Summer left them there and walked into the kitchen dressed in only panties and a t-shirt underneath her open robe. She tied it as she approached the kitchen because she didn’t want to hear any more drama from her mother. Mrs. Diane stood over the stove, where the aroma of beef sausages, scrambled eggs, and cheese grits rose into the air. There was no question she knew exactly what she was doing.

  Noticing Summer had come up behind her, she softly asked, “Them babies up yet?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Summer replied, while removing a container of orange juice from the fridge.

  She sat it on the table just as the twins were marching around the corner, one behind the other. Besides wearing their underwear, they were naked. As Summer placed them in their highchairs, Mrs. Diane cut up their meat and prepared their plates. They wouldn’t eat until it was cool, though.

  Before they could all sit down to eat, the doorbell rang. Summer looked up awkwardly for a second and then headed to the door, practicing her grown and sexy walk as she went. Once at the door, she closed one eye and looked through the peephole with the other.

  Who the fuck is this? she asked herself while staring at a young, striking, well-dressed female. She slid the bolt lock and opened the door, staring at the light-skinned female that stood on the front porch. The glass storm door separated them.

  “Hello,” the female said.

  Summer shot back with a simple, “Hey.”

  The female gave a beautiful smile. “I came for your brother Rodney.”

  This time, Summer flashed a beautiful smile of her own. “Oh! Erica, right?” she said, hoping she’d gotten the name correct.

  “Yeah,” the woman replied. “He sent me to come see you.”

 
Summer flipped the lock on the storm door and stepped out onto the front porch in her robe. Someone in a Delta 88 passed by and blew the horn. She waved and said to herself, Bitch-ass nigga.

  Erica cleared her throat and nervously played with the strap of her leather purse. “I’m supposed to be taking him some weed,” she said in a whisper.

  By now, Mrs. Diane had come to the door. “Who is it, Summa?” she asked, her eyes examining the stranger who stood before her.

  Summer turned toward her mother. “It’s Rodney’s girlfriend.”

  “Well, y’all come in. Don’t talk on the porch.” She held the storm door open for them.

  Summer and the female stepped inside the living room. She introduced herself as Erica and explained to Mrs. Diane how she and Rodney had met. The two women sat down, while Summer went toward the bedroom. She came back five minutes later dressed in jeans, sneakers, and a t-shirt.

  “I’ll be right back,” she told Erica and her mother.

  Then she walked out the door into the muggy summer heat. Four houses down on the other side of the street, she walked up an uphill driveway where two Cadillacs were parked. Two guys, who were about the same age as she but a little younger, were sitting on the front porch.

  “Fine ass, Summa!” one of them shouted, while standing up with a Michelob gripped in his hand and a Newport hanging from his mouth. “Whazzup?” he asked, grabbing his crotch as she reached the porch.

  “You talked to my brotha?” she asked, ignoring his inappropriate gesture.

  The guy’s facial expression changed. He toned down and became more serious.

  “You come to pick dat up for him?” he asked, then took a draw from his cigarette and turned up his Michelob to take a gulp.

  “Yeah, the girl’s waitin’ at my house now.”

  “Wait right here,” the guy said before jogging around the side of the house.

  Summer sat down in one of the metal chairs facing the other guy on the porch.

  “Oh, you don’t know nobody now?” she said to him.

  He glanced at her briefly before turning his attention back toward the streets. Cars were moving along Amsterdam, one of the busiest streets in Barton Village.

  Looking back at Summer, the guy asked, “When does Rodney get out?”

  “He got three mo’ years, I guess.”

  The other guy came from around the side of the house. In his hand, he held a small, compressed block of marijuana in a sandwich bag.

  “Tell him it’s two O’s compressed together,” he told her.

  He handed it over, and as she was about to leave, he grabbed her arm. “When you gonna let me get in?”

  “I’ll be back tonight,” she simply replied and walked down the driveway.

  Her walk was so seductive, and with every step, everything on her from the waist down shook uncontrollably. She turned around to make sure all eyes were on her, and they were. She grinned because she knew she had what it took.

  By the time she got back to the house, she noticed Erica had one of her boys on her right thigh. Summer had the weed tucked inside her front pocket because she didn’t want her mother to know what was going on. It wasn’t long before Mrs. Diane had faded into the kitchen, and that’s when Summer slipped her the package. Erica quickly hid it inside her leather purse. After kissing the twins on the cheek, Erica stood up and headed to where she had to go.

  Thirty minutes later, Summer had dressed the kids, placed them in the double twin stroller, and took them for a walk through the neighborhood. The sun was at its peak, or if it wasn’t, it damn sure felt like it. The neighborhood was lined with red brick houses on every street; they were mostly one level, with a few two levels spread here and there.

  By the time she reached her friend’s house on London, she felt her back sweating through her t-shirt. On the lawn, there was a pearl-white old model Chevy Caprice with hammer rims, a black ragtop, and matching crush interior. She had never seen this car before and was anxious to find out who owned it. She got to the porch and lifted her sons up the step. She politely pressed the illuminated doorbell and then wiped the sweat from the boys’ faces with a burgundy hand towel. When the door opened, she was still bending over attending to the kids.

  “Damn,” someone said in a low tone.

  Summer quickly stood straight up and spun around to face the door. She was surprised not to see her friend Toni; instead, she was addressed by some guy who she had never seen before. The guy carefully scanned her up and down. As a matter of fact, he stared at her so hard that she felt a sense of nervousness flow through her.

  She was just about to ask a question, when the guy beat her to it.

  “You lookin’ fo’ Red Bone?”

  Red Bone was Toni’s nickname.

  “Yeah, tell her Summer’s out here,” she said, trying to avoid eye contact with the guy who had her skin crawling.

  “She ain’t here right now,” the guy responded, while opening the screen door. “Come on in. She’ll be right back.”

  She thought for a few seconds about this situation she was faced with. First, she didn’t know who the guy was, even though he was very attractive to her. Then again, she knew how Red Bone could get when it came to a man. She was always tripping when she was high, thinking a bitch wanted her man.

  Fuck it, she thought.

  She gripped the handle of the stroller and pressed down on it, making the front wheels pop up over the doorstep.

  The guy held the door open for her. “These lil’ niggas are twins, huh?” He couldn’t keep his eyes off her excellent shaped body.

  As she made her way into the living room, the smell of marijuana was light in the air, and she started to wonder if it was strong enough to affect her kids. She sat down on a plaid loveseat and pulled her boys close to her, while the guy closed the door and locked it just as quickly, for security purposes only. Summer cut eyes at him. He stood five-nine, which made him two inches taller than her. He wasn’t a handsome guy she realized. He was brown skin with bad acne; his nose was fat and his nostrils flared. He didn’t wear any jewelry, and he was dressed like he hadn’t had one red cent to his name.

  She took in all of this as he walked to the back toward one of the bedrooms or the bathroom. He came back, his eyes watching her again. This time, her eyes followed his.

  “Why you keep staring at me?” She flashed a half smile, hoping she didn’t strike a nerve with him.

  “Jus’ checkin’ you out,” he said, then added, “You must be Red Bone’s cousin or something.” He moved swiftly to the window and parted the curtain about an inch to look out into the street.

  “We best friends. How long she gonna take, you know?”

  “They should be on the way back now. They jus’ went to da sto’.”

  “Who she wit’?”

  “My patna.”

  “Who Ca?” Summer asked.

  He turned and faced her. “You da police or something?” He smiled to let her know he was just joking, and then he added, “I’m jus’ bullshittin’.”

  She sucked her teeth and rolled her eyes. The guy came toward her, pretending to be interested in the twins.

  “These lil’ niggas got some long-ass hair,” he said, looking at them. “You gonna let it grow?”

  He asked one of them to grab his finger, and then he lifted Jeremy from his seat. He held him up toward the ceiling and smiled. He brought him down to his face and smiled. He extended him toward the ceiling again. This caused Jeremy to laugh.

  Summer smiled and then pulled Jermaine from his seat, standing him up between her legs. That’s when they heard a car pull into the driveway.

  The guy marched toward the door with Jeremy in his arm. He opened the door just as Red Bone and his friend were stepping out of the car. They were carrying McDonald’s bags and a few grocery bags. When they finally made it to the door, they both had a bewildered look on their faces.

  “We ain’t been gone but thirty minutes and you a daddy already,” the guy said
jokingly.

  Once inside the house, Red Bone saw Summer. “Girl, how long you been here?” she asked.

  “‘Bout twenty minutes, I guess,” she responded. After noticing both of the guys had gone into the kitchen, she nodded her head in that direction. “Whassup?” she whispered.

  Red Bone sat down on the loveseat next to her. “They cool,” she whispered back. “I’m getting paid three hundred dollars to let them cook in my house.”

  “Cook what?” Summer asked.

  “Dope,” she replied hesitantly.

  “What’s their names?”

  “The one I came in wit’, his name is Chris. The other one is Fred. You wanna get wit’ ‘em?”

  “Where yo’ mama at?” Summer inquired.

  “Somewhere ‘round here. You know how she is when she get on that dope.”

  “I’ma take da twins ‘round da corner to my mama,” she said and stood up to fix the kids back into their stroller.

  Just then, Chris and Fred came back into the living room.

  “Where you goin’?” Fred asked. He had a look on his face as if he was about to lose a precious jewel.

  Summer looked at him with a flirtatious smile. “I’m takin’ my boys home.”

  “You walking?”

  She nodded.

  “I’ma walk you ‘round there,” he said.

  Chapter 4

  Red Bone waited for Summer to leave before talking to her new friend Chris in privacy.

  She looked up at him and said, “She might be too much fo’ yo’ friend.”

  “How old is she?” He asked her this question for two reasons. One, because she looked great with her well-shaped body, and two, he was curious himself.

  “She’s seventeen.”

  Chris stared at Red Bone in disbelief. He knew she had to be lying.

  “She’s dat young?” A frown masked his face.

  “Yeah. I’m three years older than her, and our birthdays are on the same day.”

  Just then, the house phone rang. Red Bone stood up and walked into the kitchen where the wall phone was located. She answered it politely, and Chris came in behind her, cuffing her soft, round buttocks through her tight-fitting Cross Colours shorts. Then he reached around and began unbuttoning her shorts. She didn’t resist. Actually, she allowed him to slide them down her curvy hips. His fingers hooked her panties, also.