The Yin Yang Effect

by Dana Littlejohn

  “I backed up when I heard the crash…thought if I could get her out the car away from him I could talk to her.” He rubbed his forehead with the gun. “But he killed her!” His emotions moved quickly between anger and distraught confusion in his drunken state.

  “So you see, not only did he steal her, he killed her, too. She was going to be my wife. She was promised to me, he had no right to her.”

  “Do you hear what you’re saying, Frank? You killed them. You ran them off the road into that tree.”

  “No! He was driving, he killed her. He punished himself.” He wrapped his arms around his chest and tapped his foot. “Remember about two months ago, when that old black lady and the old man were killed in that hotel? He was the foreman from my job. We were having a drink after work one day and I told him about you dating her.” His voice dripped with disgust as he pointed the gun at Pearl.

  Dennis pushed Pearl slowly back as her sister pulled her closer to her.

  Frank continued, ranting. “He said it was no big deal. No big deal! Can you believe that? Then he told me he had a date with some old black lady he’d been talking to online. I couldn’t believe it, not James, too. So, I followed him and sure enough he met some old ass black woman at the mall. They hung out for a while then they drove over to the Comfort Inn together and got a room. After I got over my shock I went up to the room and took care of her. James is my friend. I couldn‘t see him get hurt. I had to save him. I wouldn’t have shot him at all if he didn’t try to take the gun from me,” he said with perfect logic.

  Tears slowly dropped down Opal, Debbie and Pearl’s cheeks as they squeezed each other’s hands.

  “Save him? Frank, oh my God, you killed them, too? You need help.”

  “Help? Me? Why? I’m not crazy, but it seems that everyone else around me is. I went to 8 Seconds Saloon to have drink. I needed one after talking to you that day you were so upset that your, your, girlfriend…” he spit on the ground, “…left you. I thought you’d come to your senses, but...”

  Jake cut him off. “No, Frank, I love her. I wanted her to take me back and I sure didn’t want her blaming me because my brother was acting like a lunatic.”

  He screwed up his face. “So you’ve said. I saw Jack that night at 8 Seconds and talked to him about you. I figured everybody I know can’t be crazy. But do you know what he said?” He carried on without waiting for a reply, taking a step closer.

  “His sister was dating a black guy, and he had no beef with him. He even liked him.

  Can you believe that shit? Another one!”

  “Oh God, Frank. You didn’t kill Rachel and her boyfriend, too, did you?”

  “What? What the hell is going on? Frank, what are you doing here?”

  Everyone turned to Denise at the patio door.

  “Denise, wait,” Dennis said coming to his feet. “Stay there.”

  “What’s happening?” She looked between her brothers. “Jake? Dennis?

  Someone better tell me what the hell is going on. Frank! What are you doing with that gun?” she yelled.

  “Denise, I, I…” his voice started to crack. “I can’t let him do this to me.” The tears flowed freely down his face as he lifted his gun. “You always said I had to protect my little brother. I, I can‘t let him do it to himself.”

  Jake shook his head. “Don’t do this, Frank.”

  “Jake…I…”

  He pulled the trigger.

  “NO!”

  The scream was in unison, seconds after the gun shot, coming from both sides of the yard.

  Rakim and Doug pulled Jake back, throwing him into the barbecue pit as Joe flipped over the table and ducked behind it. Dennis and Denise both ran at their brother, knocking him over, while Pearl attempted to tackle Jake, but fell on top of him as he landed onto the pit.

  Moments later an eerie quiet took over, except for the muffled cries on both ends of the yard. Shortly afterwards, Bobby swung the back door open.

  “What the hell is going on? Denise!” He ran to her. “Oh God. Denise, you’re bleeding!” He pulled her off of Frank and into his lap. “What the hell happened?” he yelled frantically.

  He looked around. Tears rolled into Frank’s ears as he lay staring blankly at the night sky with Dennis breathing hard across his legs. Opal and Debbie were pulling Pearl off of Jake, who laid against the side of the grill.

  “It’s ok, Bobby. It’s over.”

  “What the hell do you mean, it’s ok? My wife is laying here bleeding and all hell has broken loose, Dennis! Oh God, I have to stop the bleeding.” He snatched his shirt off and pulled it under her armpit pressing on her shoulder. “Oh God. There’s, there’s a hole,” his voice cracked, “…it’s on both sides.” He readjusted her to hold the shirt in place on the back. “Baby, you’re gonna be ok. Dennis, talk to me, what happened?”

  “Bobby…please…” Denise cried softly, wheezing between words. The same blue eyes she shared with Jake were clouded with pain as she tried to speak again.

  “Dennis…Jake...” She barely lifted her hand as she tried to point across the yard.

  “Yes, yes, go check on Jake.” He gave Frank a quick look and went across the yard.

  Opal and Debbie cried as Pearl lay in her sister’s lap. Rakim and Doug struggled, but their eyes stayed dry when they lifted Jake onto Rakim’s lap.

  “Ahh, shit! What happened? My head is banging. Who’s crying? Where’s Pearl?”

  “You’re bleeding all over my damn FUBU shorts, that’s what’s happening.” He forced a smile. “But, for real man, there’s good news and umm, some bad news.”

  “Tell me.” He forced out, squeezing his eyes, fighting back the pain.

  “Well, your brother was gonna to shoot you, man, so we, uh, snatched you backwards, out the way. That’s the good news. The bad news is we threw your ass into the grill and busted your head open…but it’s better than being shot, right?” he added quickly.

  He tried to nod and winced with pain. “Someone’s crying. Who’s crying?” he whispered.

  “Umm, that’s part of the bad news, Jake. Instead of you getting shot he nailed your sister and Pearl when they jumped in the way,” Doug replied.

  “What? No! Ahh!” He tried to sit up, but rolled over instead and tried to crawl as the blood streamed down his neck. “Pearl, baby, where are you?”

  “Jake, you’re bleeding bad, you have to stop moving,” his brother said, coming to his side.

  “Dennis,” he said in an exhausted voice full of pain. “No, I have to get to Pearl.”

  Bleeding the whole way, he crawled unsteadily toward the crying, his own tears blinding him as he made pained noises.

  “Oh God. Jake, you’re going to bleed to death. Listen to your brother.” Debbie wiped her tears away and grabbed his arm.

  “Ahh, I, I gotta see her, Deb.”

  Rakim took his shirt off and balled it up on the back of Jake’s head. Dennis and Debbie pulled him closer to Pearl.

  “Debbie, the blood-- I don’t-- It’s, it’s just pouring through my fingers. I need something…” Opal’s words stuck in her throat as the tears streamed down her face.

  “Here, baby, here.” Doug pulled his tee shirt off.

  “Pearl, baby, I’m so sorry.” He winced again, laying across her lap, breathing hard. “Baby, are you ok? Ugh! Pearl say something, please.”

  She swallowed back her pain. “Jake, honey, I‘m here. I’m, mmm, I’m…” The pain stopped her words from coming. “Opal…”

  “Yes. Jake, she’s shot somewhere in the back, I can’t really tell where, but it hurts like hell. Pearl, he’s got a big ass hole in the back of his head and he refuses to lie still.”

  “Jake…please, honey…stop moving.” She forced her words out, crying harder.

  “Jake? Oh, no. Jake!” Dennis yelled.

  “What? What’s wrong?” Pearl asked, her voice filled with pain as she forced the words out.

  He rolled his brother over.

  “Denn
is is he ok? He’s not…”

  “No, Debbie,” he touched his chest. “I think he just passed out,” he said quickly.

  Joe kneeled by them, breathing hard. “I called 911, man, they’re on the way. I checked on your other brother and, uh, he don’t look to good, either. Kinda spacey.”

  “I know.” He pulled Jake into his lap holding the shirt to his head. “I didn’t know all this was going on. I could have been here for both my brothers.”

  “You hear that, man?” Doug asked.

  “That’s the Calvary. Joe…”

  “I’m on it.” He jumped up and ran through the gate.

  The police and the paramedics came through the gate moments later, one after the other. Doug and Rakim explain things to the police as the paramedics went to Denise, Jake and Pearl. They were patched quickly and taken away to Methodist Hospital.

  Dennis watched sadly, wiping away his own tears as everyone else took the ride in the three ambulances that took his twin sister, his little brother and his brother’s girlfriend away, and the police pull his other little brother off the ground in handcuffs.

  Chapter 14

  After six weeks at Methodist, three surgeries on her left shoulder and the first two weeks of physical therapy, Opal and Debbie brought Pearl home.

  “If you’re up to it, Rakim and Doug want to come by and see you,” her sister said opening the door to their home.

  “Opal, I’m not handicapped. I’m ok, just sore.”

  “You are far from fine, sister dear. The doctor said you won’t have full use of your arm again for at least another 3 months. They did have to fix your collar bone, scapula and almost reconstruct your shoulder from scratch, you know, and you still need lots of physical therapy.”

  “I know, but I’m ok…kind of. He told me if it didn’t hit Denise first it could have been a lot worse.” She sat slowly on the couch holding her sling steady.

  Debbie sat next to her, just as slow. “Not saying that I’m happy Denise got shot, but I am kinda glad it went down the way it did. If I had a choice neither of you would’ve gotten shot, but, well…”

  “You said she’s ok, right?”

  Opal sat in the chair. “Yes, Pearl. The doctor said she needs at least two more surgeries and some intense therapy, much like yourself, but she can go home and do the therapy like you’re going to do, and she’s out of harm’s way. Bobby and the kids are still staying at Jake’s house until she can be moved back to Fishers.”

  “You sent her the get well card from us, right?” She rubbed on her sore arm.

  “Yes, Pearl. We sent the card. We sent a card, some balloons, books, we sent her a whole damn basket.” Her sister chuckled.

  “We sent her a thank you card, too.”

  “A thank you card? Why a thank you card?”

  Debbie chuckled. “Well, she indirectly saved your life, Pearl. We are definitely thankful for that. The doctor said the bullet slowed down because it went through her shoulder first. That’s what saved your life, and, well almost took hers.”

  She nodded, rubbing her arm.

  “It’s a good thing he had a 367 and not that dirty Harry gun. You know white boys like that cannon. That would have killed them both for sure,” her sister said.

  “I’m glad it didn’t, but it did enough damage to them. The doctor said when the bullet went through Denise it tore her up. Smashed her scapula, broke two of her upper ribs and you know your shoulder is like some ball and socket joint or whatever. Well, he said it just smashed all that. Another inch or two, and it would have punctured her lung, too. She’s like the bionic woman or something now. Not to mention she’s gonna have a hell of a funky scar when they‘re done fixing her up.

  And that’s before it even hit Pearl.”

  “I know. Bastard.”

  “My scar ain’t gonna be cute either when I’m all healed up.” She rubbed her arm again.

  “The drugs are wearing off, huh? I’ll get your medicine.”

  “So, Debbie, have you talked to the guys lately?”

  She sighed. “Well, they’ve been kinda ducking us. They won’t return our calls, and when we ran into them at the hospital after visiting one of you guys, they still wouldn’t say but a few words.”

  “Didn’t you explain things that night?”

  “There really wasn’t time for that. We left in the ambulance with you, they left with Jake and Bobby left with Denise. Dennis had to stay at the house with the kids.

  The police showed up at the hospital later that night and questioned us to death about Roy. They said they found him in the back of Frank’s truck beat down when they were checking out the area. He had broken ribs, a broken jaw, busted lip, loose teeth, bruises galore and he needed some stitches, too.” She shrugged. “Apparently Frank whooped his ass then decided to go kill his brother.”

  Opal returned and handed her a cup of juice and her pills. “You’re telling her about that night, huh?”

  Debbie nodded.

  “Yeah, that was interesting evening, if memory serves. Where were you?”

  “The cops found Roy.”

  “Woo, yeah. You were so drugged after your surgeries we just decided to wait until you asked to tell you. Girl, when they found Roy, if all hell didn’t break loose after the Frank thing, it sure broke loose after they found Roy.”

  “We kind of met up in the surgery waiting area, and when they saw us they clicked. The police got to them first about Roy.”

  “So they were mad?” She popped her pills and gulped at her juice.

  “Mad? Oh, no, that would be like saying a tug boat is the equivalent of a battle ship. They were way past mad. Doug’s face was so red I thought his head was gonna pop off.”

  “Rakim wasn’t trying to hear me at all. All he heard was Frank saying I was banging Roy and him at the same time...his words, not mine.”

  “Yup, that about explains it for Doug, too. I tried to explain the situation to him, too, but he wouldn’t listen. He looked almost as bad as Jake did when you dismissed him that night at the club.”

  “They came to see me all the time, almost as much as you guys. They never said a word about not speaking to you. They mostly mentioned that Jake missed me and was trying to sneak up to see me a few times and got caught.” She chuckled. “I did get one of my night nurses to sneak me to his floor a few times so I could see him.”

  She finished the last of her juice and leaned toward the coffee table. “So, where is Frank, now? Is he’s still in jail?”

  Her sister took the glass and put it on the table. “No, they sent him to Central State to wait for his trial.”

  She gasped. “Central State?”

  Opal chuckled. “Don’t sound so surprised. He did kill that girl Roxanne and her boyfriend, and his boss and Miss Betty, then Rachel and her boyfriend, plus he beat the crap out of Roy and tried to kill his own brother. Unfortunately he ended up shooting his sister and mine, almost killing you both. I ain’t saying he started out crazy, but he sure the hell is crazy now.”

  “I think the deciding factor on sending him to Central State, Pearl, was that he thought he was totally in the right. He was doing what he had to do to protect his little brother from little ole you.”

  “Yeah, but, Central State, guys. That’s like Arkham in Batman.”

  “Yeah, well, what are we poor sane people to do? Look, why don’t you go lay down and let those pills work on you.”

  “Yeah, you go. We’ll put your stuff away and start dinner.”

  “But, we always make dinner together.”

  “Not today, little sister, so stop whining.”

  “You heard her, Pearl, go.”

  She walked to the stairs mumbling. “You know I hate it when you call me that.”

  A short while later Debbie put away Pearl’s things as she checked on her.

  “Pearl’s ok, she’s still asleep,” Debbie reported upon her return to the kitchen, taking the glass Opal offered her.

  “So, do you think the
y’ll talk to us this time?”

  “Damn, I hope so.”

  “I feel so bad, Chica. Rakim thinks I played him. Do you know how bad that makes me look? Especially after giving him the blues about all the hoes he used to do.”

  “I know, girl. I know.”

  “You know, a few months ago I wouldn’t have cared less whether Rakim came or went, but now…” She took the last sip from her glass and shook her head. “I don’t want to loose him, Chica.”

  She slid her glass side to side on the table. “I know, I feel the same way about Doug. When they get here, you know we have to tell them everything about Roy.”

  “Yeah, I know.” Debbie refilled her glass.

  She sighed, holding out her glass. “I guess Doug will ask for his heart back.”

  She chuckled sadly. “Just when I was gonna offer him mine.”

  “Oh, Chica…” She stopped and turned and looked at the door. “Well, I guess it’s time to face the music.”

  Opal nodded and followed her out the kitchen.

  “Hi. Can we come in?”

  “Sure.” Debbie stepped back letting them.

  “We were having a drink. Do you guys want one?”

  “Sure, what the hell,” Doug said, following Rakim to the couch.

  “Rakim?”

  He shrugged. “Whatever.”

  Opal came back with two more glasses and the bottle. The four of them stared at their feet for a while, sipping from their glasses. Rakim broke the heavy silence.

  “So, umm, how’s Pearl feeling?”

  “Oh, she’s ok. We drugged her and made her take a nap.” Opal chuckled. “She wanted to help with dinner.”

  “What’d you make?” Doug asked.

  “Just a few rib eyes with some potatoes and a salad.”

  “Really? Is there enough for--”

  Rakim slammed his glass down, splashing the contents on the coffee table and stood up. “Fuck this small talk, man. I need to know what the fuck that dude was talking about. Who the fuck is that Roy guy? I want the truth, Debbie, no bullshit!”

  She sighed. “Rakim I tried to tell you everything before, but you wasn’t trying to hear me.”

  “No, I wasn't because I was shitty and even though I’m still pissed, I’m ready to hear it now.”