From Sinner to Saint

by Jones, Janice

  “No, Mother. Why do you ask that?” Glendra answered with attitude.

  “Well, you’ve been a little short with me, and you seem very distant toward Antonyo.”

  “Look, Mom, the real reason I have been acting a little funny is because I have my own relationship and my own relationship troubles to deal with.” That was as close to the truth as Glendra could get.

  “A relationship with whom? And why is this the first I’m hearing about it?”

  “Perhaps you’ve been too busy with your own boyfriend,” Glendra snapped.

  Clair was real sick and tired of her oldest child’s disrespectful mouth. Breaking a piece of her foot off in Glendra’s tail felt like an exceptional idea right now, but she struggled to maintain cool and chalk it up to her daughter having relationship drama.

  Pointing a stern finger in her daughter face, Claire said, “Glendra, that’s all I’m going to take from you in the manner of disrespect. I realize you are going through something with this friend of yours, but nobody in this family has anything to do with that, so nobody in this family is going to put up with your sour disposition.”

  Glendra just stared at her mother. She dared not open her mouth for fear that the real truth might tumble from her lips.

  “How long have you been seeing this young man anyway?” Claire asked her daughter.

  “About a month,” Glendra answered, still disgruntled.

  “Well, I want to meet him. Soon! Set something up.” Claire left the kitchen.

  Oh! You will find out who he is soon enough, Glendra thought.

  Two weeks passed and Claire saw no improvement in Glendra’s behavior or demeanor. As a matter of fact, she seemed to somehow get worse. And she still had not made it her business to produce and introduce this so-called boyfriend. On her drive home from work, Claire decided it was time for another talk.

  As she walked into the house through the garage door, she thought she heard raised voices. Upon coming further into the kitchen, she found Antonyo and Glendra arguing in the family room.

  “Girl, are you crazy? I’m not about to do that,” she heard Antonyo say.

  “Why not?” Glendra yelled.

  “Because you said this was just a fling. So why are you tripping now?”

  Claire stepped into the family room just then, interrupting their verbal battle. “What is going on in here?” she demanded.

  Neither Antonyo nor Glendra noticed Claire’s entrance into the room. They both jumped at the sound of her voice.

  Claire stood there looking between the two of them. They stood there looking bug-eyed and scared out of their minds. Neither of them said a word. Claire took what she heard from their conversation and drew her own conclusion. “Glendra, are you bothering Tony with your boyfriend troubles? What do you expect him to do?”

  Antonyo realized that Claire had not heard much of their argument. His face and body showed visible signs of relief as he sagged and dropped onto the sofa.

  Glendra stood, still stunned at her mother’s appearance. She was torn, however, between relief that Claire had not figured out why they were really arguing, and anger because Claire immediately assumed that she was causing Antonyo grief.

  “Whatever, Ma!” she snapped as she found her footing and ran up the back stairs.

  Claire snapped at that moment as well and went up after Glendra. More than enough disrespect had been hurled at her by her oldest daughter. She reached Glendra’s bedroom door just as it slammed in her face.

  Clair pushed the door open and went straight to Glendra’s desk, where she sat preparing to write something in her diary. “Listen here, heffa. I have told you more than once that I am tired of your crap,” Claire yelled, pointing her finger in Glendra’s face. “Now, since you can’t control that funky little attitude of yours, your behind is grounded for the next two weeks. No phone, no television, no leaving this house other than going to and from school. Oh, and no seeing that boyfriend of yours either.”

  Glendra stood from her desk, replying, “That’s what you think!”

  Claire slapped Glendra’s face with all of her might.

  Glendra grabbed her stinging cheek and glared at her mother, tempted to crush her right then and there. Not physically, of course, because she would never strike her mother, but she knew she held the power to demolish her emotionally by telling her they were seeing the same man. There was still some small something in her, however, that just would not allow her to admit to the affair she’d been having with Antonyo for more than six weeks. She left the room, running again, heading downstairs as tears flowed freely from her eyes.

  Claire sat in the seat vacated by Glendra, emotionally drained by the episode with her daughter. She closed her eyes and held her temples as a full-blown headache loomed in the midst. When she reopened her eyes, Claire spotted Glendra’s diary sitting on the desk. Perhaps the answers to Glendra’s man problems were in there.

  Claire felt only a mild sense of guilt for invading her daughter’s privacy, but she felt it important to find out what was making her baby so crazy. She opened the diary and scanned the pages, determined to look no further than five or six weeks back. She only wanted to know about this boyfriend.

  The first entry she read made her heart leap painfully into her throat. She felt as if she were going to choke to death right there on the spot.

  I can’t believe we actually did it. We actually had sex. I mean . . . it was cool and all, but now I don’t know how I feel about it. Part of me is happy and another part of me feels guilty. But what the heck. I’m on a mission.

  Oh my God! They are having sex, Glendra thought. She was mortified. The last thing any mother wants is to slip and find information that says her baby is sexually active. But she read on to see what else had been happening.

  This is getting crazy. Tony and I are having a ball. . . .

  Wow, what a coincidence. Glendra’s boyfriend was named Tony, too, Claire thought.

  I knew he was gorgeous the moment I first laid eyes on him, but somehow he gets more and more handsome.

  Again the hair on Claire’s arms stood up. What in the world was she going to do or say to her child? Right now, the only rational thought she could muster involved hoping Glendra used protection. The two entries she read thus far gave no clue as to why Glendra had been so uptight. These words said everything was cool between her and this young man. She went forward a few entries to find out where the problems started.

  This entry was dated three weeks later than the others:

  I can’t believe I have fallen in love with my mother’s man . . . .

  Instantly, Claire’s chest heaved and her stomach flipped. She threw up all over Glendra’s desk and diary. The entire contents of her stomach came up all in one lurch. Her head was spinning. Her palms were sweating, and her temples were throbbing out of control. She tried to stand and fell straight to the floor with vomit dripping on her from the desktop. Claire saw her entire relationship with Antonyo flash before her eyes. Certainly death would snatch her from her own puddle of puke right then and there.

  Suddenly, she let out a loud, continuous wail, unable to stop herself from screaming. She lay in the floor literally losing her mind.

  Antonyo, Glendra, and Yolanda all appeared in the doorway simultaneously. The sight of Claire lying there screaming at the top of her lungs made them all very nervous. Antonyo was the first to approach her.

  “Claire, baby, what’s wrong?” he asked gently as he bent down to take her hand and try to help her up.

  Claire finally stopped screaming long enough to growl. “Get away from me, you trifling bastard.” Claire’s eyes bulged from their sockets and she literally foamed at the mouth. Her reaction to his offer of help coupled with the smell of the vomit made Antonyo back away quickly.

  “Mama, what’s wrong? What happened?” Yolanda pleaded from a few feet away.

  She didn’t answer her youngest child. She just started screaming and crying again at the sound of her soft
, concerned voice. The next voice made her lose it again.

  “Mom, you’re scaring us. What is wrong with you? Are you sick?” Glendra asked.

  “Shut up talking to me, you tramp.”

  Everyone in the room visibly winced at the comment. Antonyo and Glendra knew that somehow she had found out the truth. Glendra then spied her diary on the floor next to her mother and figured out how. Her hand flew to her mouth. Now she too wanted to scream.

  Antonyo stood frozen in his spot, sweat beads popping up on his forehead. What in the heck was he supposed to do now? He suddenly turned and tried to leave the room, but Claire noticed his hasty retreat and stopped him cold.

  “Wait one flippin’ minute, you raggedy piece of crap.” She leapt from the floor like a tigress and bound to where Antonyo stood in two steps. Once in striking distance, she balled her fist and punched him in the jaw. “Now get out of my house! Don’t you even stop to get your stuff! If you are not out of here in two minutes, I swear on Yolanda’s life that I will shoot you straight in your pitiful manhood.”

  Antonyo held his jaw and backed out of the bedroom. He knew from the look in Claire’s eyes that she meant what she said. Figuring it was worth losing the possessions he had at her home in an effort to save his life, he bolted from the room, the house, and Claire’s life.

  Glendra watched the horrible exchange between her mother and Antonyo. She was torn between leaving with the man she loved and staying with a mother who probably hated her. Overwhelmed with guilt, she began crying uncontrollably. She finally made up her mind to follow Antonyo.

  “Don’t you dare leave this room,” Claire hissed. Glendra stopped dead in her tracks, knowing her mother would hurt her if she continued to move.

  Yolanda stood totally confused. She still had not figured out what was going on, why everybody in her house seemed to go crazy all at once.

  “Mama! Glendra! Please! Somebody tell me what’s happening here,” Yolanda begged.

  Neither of Antonyo’s lovers uttered a word. They just glared at each other. Yolanda started crying, and the two women simultaneously went to comfort her. As they both embraced Yolanda, their hands accidentally touched. The contact seemed strange initially, each caught up in the same jumbled, confusing emotions.

  Both Claire and Glendra were in love with Antonyo; both hurt by betrayal. They were both also experiencing feelings of guilt and turmoil over how they treated each other. Each had placed their affections for him over the family bond they had built for more than seventeen years.

  “I’m so sorry, Mommy!” Glendra cried while they still held on to Yolanda.

  “I’m sorry too, baby,” Claire responded. Mother and daughter forgave each other immediately, and the healing began that moment.

  Antonyo ended up back on his mother’s doorstep in need of a place to stay.

  Chapter 13

  Trina woke one morning to find Antonyo outside, cutting the lawn at her new house, a chore he’d done of his own volition.

  Trina stood proudly at the window of the small three-bedroom ranch-style home she’d purchased about a month ago, nestled in the beautiful working-class neighborhood near Wyoming and Oakman Boulevard.

  Trina received a blessing in the job market about two years ago when she met a man at church looking for a receptionist. Having never worked in corporate America before, she knew this opportunity had to be none other than the hand of God working in her life, and Mr. Davis, her employer, was truly a servant of God. Mr. Jordan Davis hired Trina and gave her a chance to prove that she could be trained to be the best receptionist his company had ever seen.

  Soon after going to work for Mr. Davis and learning her job, Trina decided that she wanted to be more than a receptionist. She soon grew bored with the menial and mundane requirements of her position, knowing she was capable of doing so much more. So, Trina enrolled herself at the Detroit Business Institute and took night school classes. Eight months later, she received her certificate in office administration. One month following her graduation, Trina received a promotion to the position of administrative assistant. Three months ago, she was again promoted, this time into the position of executive assistant to Michael Stanford, the owner of the company.

  Thirty days ago, she closed on her lovely new home. Not bad, Trina thought, for a woman who had gotten herself pregnant at fifteen and dropped out of high school. Joining the church and turning her life over to God had been the best thing that Trina had ever done for herself. Now she stood looking from the picture window in her living room watching her only child, wishing she could convince him to do the same.

  Antonyo was now twenty-one years old and showed no signs of changing the behavior he began exhibiting at age thirteen. There were so many females calling the house for him that Trina had long ago stopped trying to keep track of them all. She simply called them all “baby girl” and took their messages.

  While continuing to live under her roof, Antonyo still had to abide by the house rule of no overnight guests, and his monthly contribution to the household increased to $350 per month. Trina could only hope, pray, and talk to Antonyo about his womanizing, believing that God would someday change his conduct. He’d completely quit attending school. She could at least be proud that he had amassed some seniority at his job with KLR and now worked as a junior team leader at the company.

  When Antonyo moved back with his mother last year, he was stalked relentlessly for three months by Glendra. Trina, having no idea that Antonyo had also become involved with the young woman while living with her mother, became concerned for Antonyo’s life as a result of the continued harassment.

  In an attempt to put an end to the stalking, Trina went to visit Claire. She left the home of Glendra and her mother totally ashamed after learning the truth about her son’s ugly, disrespectful, duplicitous, demeaning, and destructive involvement with both mother and daughter simultaneously. Claire gave Trina all the ugly details about the triangular affair and the devastating affects it had on her family. Claire was so distraught as a result of the drama that she resigned from her job at KLR in an effort to never lay eyes on Antonyo again.

  After hearing her mother replay the tawdry details of her and Antonyo’s betrayal to Trina, Glendra’s shame and embarrassment forced her to see that Antonyo was not worthy of her efforts and her mother did indeed deserve her loyalty. That was the last that Trina saw or heard from either woman.

  While Trina stood in her window watching Antonyo mow the lawn, for the first time in a long time, she began to think about Sheldon, Antonyo’s father. Her musings led her to think that if Sheldon had played a bigger role in Antonyo’s life, perhaps her son would have turned out differently, having more respect for a woman’s value. Trina firmly believed that Antonyo’s activities were a result of his witness to how Sheldon had treated both her and Antonyo.

  Neither Antonyo nor Trina had heard a peep from Sheldon since the day of Antonyo’s senior prom. Trina knew that God wanted her to hate no one, but when she reflected on things like this, it was hard for her to have love for Antonyo’s sperm donor.

  Antonyo came in the house and interrupted her musings. “Hey, Ma. What you over there thinking so hard about?”

  “Antonyo, do you ever think about Sheldon?” Trina asked, trying to honestly answer his question.

  “Is that what you’re over there staring out the window, concentrating so hard on? Why?”

  “I just feel that if maybe he had been a better father, perhaps you wouldn’t be so hard on these women you deal with.”

  Antonyo couldn’t believe that she used thoughts of his punk father to dredge up this same old argument. Sheldon had no influence on his life one way or the other, good or bad.

  “Forget Sheldon, Ma. I have,” he said unemotionally as he walked from the living room back to the bathroom to wash his hands just as the phone rang in the kitchen.

  Trina decided to drop the conversation for now. She refused to upset her son after he cut the lawn without having been asked
to do it. She just went on and answered the telephone on its third ring. “Hello.”

  “Hello, Ms. Trina. May I please speak with Tony?”

  “Who should I say is calling?” Trina asked dryly.

  “It’s me, Ms. Trina. Clarke! You don’t know my voice by now?” the young lady asked sweetly.

  If only you knew how much I didn’t, Trina thought to herself, but instead said, “Just a minute, baby girl. I’ll get him for you.” She removed the receiver away from her face. “Antonyo, Clarke is on the phone,” Trina called.

  Clarke ranked number one on Antonyo’s list of women. At eighteen, she stood out as the youngest, the prettiest, and the smartest. Clarke had graduated from high school at age sixteen and now attended Wayne State University as a sophomore. Her status as number one also resulted from the fact that Clarke started out as the only virgin in his current stable, so the need for protection from disease had been a burden he did not have to worry about when the two became sexually active. Her intellect and pursuit of excellence insured that she would handle the precautions against pregnancy.

  “Hey, Clarke!” Antonyo answered.

  “Hey, boo! Just thought I would give you a holler to see what you were up to on this beautiful, sunny Saturday afternoon.”

  “I do have plans later this evening, but I’m free until about eight o’clock. What do you have in mind?”

  There were no problems between Antonyo and the women that he currently dated. In other words, no one expected monogamy.

  “I was thinking we could catch an early movie and perhaps have lunch. I haven’t seen you since last Friday night.” Just as Clarke finished her sentence, the phone beeped, indicating there was a call waiting to be answered on the other line.

  “Hold on, Clarke.” He activated the call-waiting button and answered. “Hello.”

  “Heeeeey, boo! Whatcha doing?” The caller was obviously another of his female friends, but he could not quite make out the voice.

  “Who is this?” Antonyo asked directly.