He greeted me at the door with a dozen red roses and a bottle of Cristal.
“You’ve been on my mind all day,” he said when we were naked under the covers and swilling champagne.
“Ooh, Brent, after you called, it was hard for me to concentrate on anything else, either.”
He smiled. “Baby, if Amanda was more like you, I wouldn’t be here.”
I kissed him hard on the lips to postpone the upcoming Amanda monologue.
“You’re a hard act to top, Asha. Do you know that?”
I ran my fingers lightly up and down the inside of his thigh.
“Asha, I can’t get enough of you,” he whispered.
“How much of me do you want tonight?” I murmured back.
Brent answered by pouring the rest of his champagne on my breasts and licking it off.
I got turned on in spite of myself.
“Main Man,” he said, “wants to visit every place on your lovely body.”
Brent’s heat was soaring tonight and when it got like that, he was a really good lover.
Oh, yeah!
That’s the thing about lady luck. One never knows when that sistah is going to show her gorgeous face.
Chapter 14
SAUNDRA
There was no one on the stamp line when I hurried into the post office just to see Yero’s face.
He was happy at my impromptu visit but too professional to do more than smile as I leaned on the counter.
“Yero, do you realize that human beings are the only animals who choose to drink the milk of another species?”
His eyebrows started to meet. “Yes. We’ve had that conversation. Is that what you came here to tell me?”
Flustered and near tears, I kept talking. “And do you know that fish have very sensitive and fragile mouths? Careless handling results in broken jaws. So teaching a child that it is okay to drag a living thing out of its home and kill it just for sport is wrong. Tell me that you will never take our little boy fishing, Yero.”
Now he looked really worried. “Saundra, what’s really wrong?”
The tears began to drip but I lowered my voice. “I should have called you after Daddy and I talked about the engagement party but it was all so upsetting.”
He looked baffled. “We’re having an engagement party?”
“No.”
“Excuse me a minute, baby.”
I watched as Yero approached one of his coworkers—a middle-aged woman who took one glance at me, murmured some words back to him, and then took his place at the stamp window.
I said hello and backed away.
The next thing I knew, Yero was by my side looking handsome in his light blue postal shirt and navy pants. He gave me a kiss and took me by the hand to a sort of quiet place near the rented mailboxes.
“What’s the matter, baby?”
Now I felt silly. He could get fired.
“Saundra, you never come here.” He touched my face gently. “And you’re crying. Tell me what’s made you come unglued.”
I told him about Evelyn’s suggestion, Daddy’s selfish reaction, and how something strange was going on in their relationship. Something that Daddy refused to tell me until after all my special events were over because he knew it would upset me.
“If you want to get your family together, we can do it at my house. Your father can either join us or stay home,” Yero answered matter-of-factly. “As far as their relationship is concerned, it really isn’t our business. You’ll have plenty of time to be upset when he tells you the story. Why waste the precious days and hours that God will hopefully see fit to give you in the meantime?”
“You’re right, but I just know the story is something that will hurt Evelyn.”
“Baby, Evelyn can take care of herself. Trust me, she’ll be fine.”
And with Yero’s words, the pieces of my world fell back into place.
Chapter 15
SAUNDRA
As I traveled down Guy Brewer Boulevard in a van to the train station, I chose to block out the loud reggae music and the incoherent shouting of the Jamaican driver by looking out the gray tinted windows. The lightning speed of the van and the freezing weather were no match for my wandering thoughts and the flames of passion that burned deep within me.
Yero and I were intimate at his house last night. His mother and younger brother, Khari, went out and we had the rest of the evening to spend quality time together. Sex wasn’t planned but I wore my prettiest rose panty and bra set just in case. He had citrus-scented candles strategically placed around his room and a tape with the sounds of a tropical rain playing softly in the background. His strong hands massaged my back and neck as I took in the atmosphere and the feeling of complete surrender to any and every thought. Removing his shirt and then my own, I kissed him passionately, swaying slowly along with the sound of the wind blowing through the trees. Placing his hand gently on my stomach and pulling back the comforter with the other, he guided me to lie down on my back. I will never forget the wonderful sensation of my warm skin pressed against the cool cotton sheets as he gave me a sensuous foot massage. After being pampered and rubbed tenderly with beautifully scented oils, I experienced sexuality so pure, so elevating that I reached levels of consciousness beyond time and space.
Usually with the men I’ve been with in the past, it was like being in bed with an animal in heat. They clawed, grappled, charged, screamed, and did everything but foam at the mouth. Yero took his time and actually looked into my eyes. At no point did I feel like a nail being hammered into the wall; and that’s how it’s supposed to be.
Afterwards he held me close and murmured how beautiful I was as he stroked my hair. It sure beat the “I need a cigarette and some sleep” losers of yesteryear.
This is going to be a hectic week for me. I’m organizing a Black Heroes Day celebration for the children at the community center down the block and I have a lot of schoolwork. I was surprised when I was asked to take on the project even though I often stopped by the center and read stories to the kids. I didn’t think anyone noticed, nor did I care; the children loved it and that was all that mattered to me. I feel so sorry for some of those kids; most of their parents just sit them in front of the Cartoon Network and let Bugs and Daffy raise them. Or worse, they sit them in front of music videos, complete with materialistic wannabe players and self-proclaimed superfreaks. A couple of months ago I met a little boy who knew the verses of all the latest rap songs but could not recite his times tables. That wasn’t cute at all.
Although I’m swamped in responsibility, I decided to be supportive of Yero and go out tonight with him, his brother Khari, and Khari’s girlfriend, Joanne. Today is Khari’s twenty-second birthday and Joanne wants to surprise him with a party at Red Lobster. I’m real cool with Khari and Joanne but the thought of being around all that seafood already makes me nauseous. Even before I became a vegan I couldn’t stand the smell of seafood. Hopefully, we won’t stay too long.
Joanne told us they’d be at the Green Acres Mall Red Lobster by six-thirty. Of course because of CP time it was now seven-fifteen. We had been seated twenty minutes ago and were tired of picking at bread and listening to the elevator music they provided. Just when Yero was about to start complaining, they came in. Their heads swiveled in an attempt to find us in the crowded room and I motioned to them from our booth in the back.
“Hey!” Khari shouted to us.
I got up to give them hugs and I noticed a small bulge when Joanne opened her coat. Nah, it couldn’t be.
“Hi Jo! What’s up K; Happy Birthday!” I said, wrapping my arms around them.
“Thanks, sis.”
“You’re getting old, K,” Yero said, giving his brother a pound.
“But I’ll always be younger than you,” he said, laughing.
Yero chuckled and sipped his glass of water.
“What’s new, Jo?” I asked, sitting back down. I looked at her and smiled. I knew what was coming and I hoped Yero wouldn�
�t be too upset.
“Well . . . I’m uh . . . pregnant,” she said, blushing down at the tablecloth.
“Pregnant?” Yero said in an hysterical tone.
“That’s so nice . . .” I started.
“Fuck, no! Y’all aren’t ready for this,” Yero said, causing a scene.
Joanne looked shocked at his reaction and turned crimson. Khari grabbed her hand and turned to his brother in fury.
“Damn, Yero, why are you trippin’?”
“Why am I trippin’? Because you two need jobs, that’s why! I can’t believe this shit!”
“First of all, you shouldn’t be all up in my shit; we’re going to get jobs but it’s just going to take a little more effort, that’s all.”
Joanne still had her head down and I could see her eyes welling up with tears.
“They’ll manage, Yero,” I said, trying to sound chipper.
“Ah, that’s great. Didn’t Joanne have an abortion once already?”
We all were horrified by his question and I couldn’t believe he said it. Joanne got up and ran to the bathroom Marcia Brady–style.
“I should drop you right now for what you said,” Khari said, getting up to get Jo.
“If you feel froggy, then go ahead and leap,” Yero said with his arms outstretched. I was appalled by the whole incident. Yero had never acted like this before and I can’t believe Joanne has had an abortion. Khari looked at him like he wanted to rip him to shreds but chose to check on Joanne instead.
“You know that was wrong for you to do that, right?” I asked, glaring at him with my arms folded.
“Hell, no! Khari had no business getting Jo pregnant when he knows that neither one of them has any income. Besides, they’re both lazy and once the baby gets here Mama will have to do all of the work. She raised her kids already, it’s not fair to her.”
“I understand all that but it’s done now and you should have let it go.”
“I’m going to speak my mind. You don’t understand Khari like I do. Mama had to pay for Joanne to get the first abortion. We always end up fixing his messes.”
“A baby is never a mess, Yero,” I said softly, looking away.
“You know what I mean,” he said, touching my hand, sensing my disappointment in his statement. “I’ll love that kid once it gets here but I just wish he would’ve waited until he could do his thing with a job in his own house.”
“I know but let’s not discuss this any more tonight. We’re supposed to be having a good time. Let’s try to salvage what we can of this evening.”
He shook his head as if reason was coming back to him.
I got up to see what was happening with Jo and Khari.
As I walked by, a tall white man in a uniform approached me. “Excuse me, miss, but I’ve been getting complaints from other customers about the noise in your area. If it doesn’t stop pronto I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”
“I’m sorry but the situation is under control now.”
“Alrighty, then,” he said, strolling away.
I went to the ladies’ room to see what was going on.
Khari was waiting for Jo to come out. His jaw was locked with rage.
“Khari, I’m sure Yero’s sorry for what he did; he just wants the best for you guys and it came out the wrong way.”
“Nah, that was foul, Saundra; he didn’t have to say all that. Fuck him,” he said with his voice reaching a high pitch.
“I know you’re upset but let’s try to have a good time and put this behind us,” I reasoned, placing a reassuring hand on his rigid shoulder.
“I’ll try for you because you’re cool but if he says anything else I don’t like, we’re going to have to settle this like gentlemen,” he said, pointing towards the parking lot. I laughed at the irony of his statement and shook my head.
“I’m going in to see what Jo’s doing,” I said, pushing the door open.
“Jo?” I called.
I heard sniveling in the second stall and I sighed in annoyance. “Jo, please come out of the stall. Yero’s sorry for what he said. He just doesn’t want you guys to end up struggling.”
As soon as I finished my sentence, I heard a howl. Oh, no; I was only making things worse.
“Jo, please come out; everything will be fine; I promise.”
I heard the latch on the door snap back and she emerged with a puffy red face and her hair flying everywhere.
“Oh, Jo,” I said, rushing to hold her. She collapsed into my arms and bawled into my sweater. I tried to put her hair back in place but the moisture from her sweat and tears made it cling to her cheeks and neck like glue.
“Wash your face and let’s get out of here all right?”
“Yero hates me and my baby. Oh, God!” she wailed.
“Get a grip; he does not hate you or the baby. He loves you guys and he wants the best for you. He got upset and he said some stupid things.”
She went over to the sink and started splashing water on her face. With every handful it looked a little better but her eyes were still swollen. After she brushed her hair and straightened her clothes, we left the bathroom.
“You, OK?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
Khari was still waiting outside. We all went back to the table. Yero was sitting there with a pitiful look on his face.
“I’m sorry for that, ya’ll. I love you two, you know that, don’t you?”
Khari shook his head unimpressed, but Jo managed a weak forgiving smile. A waiter came over and took everyone’s order. Things got better once the food and drinks arrived and with Yero’s and Khari’s sense of humor it’s hard to stay angry long. Yero and I had a vegetable plate, Jo had the lobster and Khari had the blue crab. The smell began to make me nauseous but I fought it by taking a gulp of water every time I felt a lump in my throat. I felt woozy with the snap of every leg in front of me and all I could do was smile when something funny was said. Khari picked up the crab and ripped off the upper part of the shell.
The crab looked odd but I couldn’t figure out why.
Joanne squinted at it suspiciously. “That’s horrible!”
“Ugh!” Khari said, wiping his hands on his napkin.
Yero simply stared in disbelief and looked at me hunched over. As I choked and gagged over the table, the people in the area stared with disgust.
“What happened?” our waiter asked, running up to us in a frenzy.
“You served us a pregnant crab!” Khari exclaimed.
The waiter stared at the plate and his mouth dropped open.
“I’m so sorry; would you like me to get you another, sir?” he said, looking sympathetically at me but directing his question to Khari.
“Hell, no, that’s quite all right.”
“I’m so sorry. You don’t have to pay for this. I’ll speak to the manager right away,” he said, rushing off.
We watched the busboys scurry around, clearing the table and decided not to eat at all. I was standing up to leave when my cell phone rang. It was Asha, chattering about the latest events in her ridiculous, soap opera life. The only way to get her off the phone was to promise her a visit.
Chapter 16
ASHA
Saundra came over after work. Although we both have pretty faces, looking at the two of us, no one would guess we were sisters. She is tall and dark skinned and while I prefer my sleek page boy hairstyle, she wears hers in shoulder length dreadlocks. But it is the way she dresses that makes me want to run screaming from the room. If she isn’t draped in a caftan with clogs on her feet, it is handmade dashikis with sandals or boots.
As she walked into my apartment, the foreign scent she was wearing threatened to overwhelm me.
My nose wrinkled. “What kind of perfume is that?”
“It’s cocoa-mango oil.”
She sat Indian style on the floor and gave me a beatific smile. It was the kind of grin usually seen on the faces of Moonies, Branch Davidians or other cultists. While I dashed around get
ting rid of my work gear, she just sat there totally absorbed in knitting something. The needles clicked and some green yarn slowly coiled itself out of her huge handbag. The work caused her many silver bangles to jingle. The folds of her long black cape formed a beautiful umbrella around her and was the perfect base for a forest green and yellow dashiki that she proudly wore with an elaborate matching headwrap. When I dropped my briefcase on the sofa, she lifted her head and exposed her gorgeous set of straight white teeth in a one hundred-watt smile.
“What’s up, girl?”
“Randy bought me a dog.”
“Aw, that’s nice; where is it?”
“I locked him in the bathroom.”
“All day? That’s horrible!”
“Whatever. That mutt is not tearing up all my shit.”
“You’re awful.”
When I opened the bathroom door, a series of weak yelps indicated my pet had anxiously awaited my arrival.
Saundra immediately snatched him. “He’s so cuuute! What’s his name?”
“I don’t know.”
“You gotta give him a name,” Saundra declared. “Look at him . . . he’s so precious.”
“You think of a name while I feed him.”
When Saundra gets around animals, she goes nuts. Her house is a combination of Noah’s Ark and the botanical fucking gardens.
I couldn’t help but smile at the puppy as he scampered around anticipating his meal. “How about Sparky?”
“That’s too hard. I want something soft and feminine.”
“But it’s a boy dog, Asha.”
“I don’t care. I’ve just decided that his name is Peaches.”
Saundra’s mouth twisted in disapproval.
I decided to change the subject. “What are we having for dinner tonight?” I asked.
“Indian, Thai? . . .”
“Chinese. Let me wash up first.”
“Can we go to West Fourth Street first?”
I’d been expecting that request. “No.”
While I practically live at Bloomingdale’s, Saundra always wants to go poking around in some seedy little thrift shops. The girl lives for grandma-length skirts, foreign textiles and eccentric jewelry. It’s amazing that just six years ago she used to be a miniskirt and leather pants-wearing club kid who didn’t give a damn about anything except having fun. Now she’s a spiritually conscious vegan with ancient words of wisdom constantly dripping from her lips.
The Other Side Of the Game Page 5