Scandalous Heroes Box Set

by Latrivia Nelson

  He shut the door after him. Tino was sitting on the couch with his arms along the back appearing smug as if he owned the world. Scotty went into the kitchen where Phonso was leaned against the back door staring out into the darkness.

  “What happened?” Scotty asked.

  Phonso didn’t look at him. “Don’t let her come back here.”

  Scotty’s head began to swirl. “Tell me what happened?” His voice sounded hollow in his ears and he felt like he might be here or he might just be watching this scene from a distant place outside of his body.

  Phonso slowly met his eyes. “He was kissing her. Really kissing her.”

  Someone could have walked up to Scotty and punched him in the stomach and he would not have felt any different than he felt upon hearing those shocking words.

  Phonso looked like he was in physical pain. “Did he do that…to Beady? Was that why she had to leave?”

  Scotty cupped the back of his brother’s head. “Go outside. And don’t come back in until I come and get you. If I don’t come and get you, then you don’t come back in. You got me?”

  Tears appeared in Phonso’s eyes. “Scotty-“

  “Take them and go.” His voice was calm and low and Phonso couldn’t bear the thought of his brother getting beat up again. He couldn’t listen to the sounds of the beating and he couldn’t watch as the two tore up the house going at it. He picked up Tyrone and ushered his silent and frightened brother and sisters out the back door. For the first time in his life he wished that he really was Mr. Johnny’s child so that he could go live with Beady’s grandmother.

  Scotty waited until the kids were out before locking the door behind them. He saw the hammer on the table and picked it up.

  What doesn’t kill me will only make me stronger. Time to pay the piper muther fucker!

  Tino smirked at him. “You want to do this again, Scotty? You want to take me on, young blood?” Tino flexed his muscles and stood. “You can’t beat me, boy! I’ll never let you beat me in a fight! You hear me!”

  Scotty strolled to his brother calmly. “We aren’t going to fight.” He drew his arm back and swung it with a strong force, hammer in his grip, allowing it to land with an audible thud right into his brother’s face. “I’m just going to kill you!”

  Tino dropped back against the couch with a scream, covering his face with his hands. Scotty swung the hammer backhanded as if he was in a tennis match. The metal claw on the back of the hammer broke through the bones in Tino’s hand, simultaneously crushing them and pulling away chunks of flesh. The third strike of the hammer came down right below Tino’s left eye. Bone and flesh gave way with the vicious strike.

  An hour later when Scotty opened the back door Ginger ran in and hugged him. “Where’s Tino?”

  Scotty met the older kid’s eyes. “He decided to move out. He doesn’t intend to come back.” He picked up Ginger and carried her through the darkened living room.

  “Why is it dark in here?” She asked.

  Scotty whisked her up the stairs. “Don’t worry about that. We broke the lamps but when you wake up in the morning it will all be cleaned up, okay?” Phonso put TyTy to bed and then Phonso, Scotty, Erica and Elijah all got busy silently cleaning up the bloody living room.

  Chapter 19

  ~1982~

  “It’s not fair!” Vanessa threw herself down on the couch, her pretty face pulled into a frown. “Grandma I sang it the best! You know I’ve been practicing that song for weeks.”

  “Yes you have, baby.” Grandma agreed. “But why are you mad? Didn’t you say the part you got was the lead?”

  Vanessa sat up and gave her grandma an incredulous look. “Yes, but I want to play Effie! She has all the good songs and I do them better than everybody else!”

  Her grandmother gave her a stern look. “God gave you a beautiful voice but there’s no need to be prideful!”

  Vanessa took a deep breath and calmed down so that she could make her grandmother understand how incredibly unfair it was to be cast as stuck up Deena just because she was thin with long hair. In her heart she was Effie White even if her body wasn’t large. Her heart felt every emotion that Effie felt; betrayal, loss, emptiness…It was discrimination against skinny girls!

  “Grandma I was born to be in Dream Girls, I just know I was! And that’s why God made my name Vanessa White just like Effie White!”

  “Girl, your Mama named you Vanessa White, God bless her soul, because she didn’t want you having the last name of a man that wouldn’t do right by her!”

  Vanessa grew quiet. Grandma still didn’t know about her real father. She thought that her mother had fallen in love with a black man that had died before they ever got a chance to marry and since her grandmother had very old-fashioned opinions she felt no need to tell her otherwise.

  “Now Vanessa, baby, this is your last big play and then you’re going to graduate. I want you to play the roll of that Deena better than anybody else in the world! I want you to make those songs as interesting as you made Effie’s songs. That’s a big school that you go to and all of those people that sing and act wanted a part in Dream Girls and out of all of those people you got the lead. Baby that is a wonderful accomplishment.”

  Vanessa gave her grandmother a crooked smile and then hugged her. “Alright grandma. I guess I can go to New York and try out for the Broadway Cast as Effie.”

  Grandma lightly pinched her arm. “You better eat some more fried chicken and biscuits and put some weight on those bones!” Vanessa giggled as her grandmother continued to tickle her.

  Vanessa was seventeen but her grandmother knew just how to bring out the kid in her like nobody else. She went to her room and picked up the script scanning it with a frown. Tomorrow was the first reading and she didn’t know how she was supposed the read the parts of Deena with her unrealistic idealism. Vanessa knew that life was not like that. She understood the pain that Effie felt just because she looked different. She remembered back when she was a child how badly she had wanted to grow into a beautiful black swan instead of being stuck in the body of a scrawny duck. She knew that the world was cruel and how it could affect your heart and she longed to sing out the pain of a cruel world.

  Vanessa jumped to her feet and looked at herself in the mirror. Sometimes she saw her mother’s face with the first glimpse of her reflection and that would send her heart racing in joy. She was thin but nothing could be done about that. She ate candy, and pork chops smothered in gravy but because she was always active it didn’t add weight to her tall frame. Her complexion had transformed from caramel to toffee, which had caused her some concern and for a while she had tanned like the white girls from school. Now make-up did a lot to help with that.

  She had threatened to cut her hair into a hip bob, but grandma wouldn’t hear any of that. So now it ran down in dark waves to the small of her back when she cared to wear it loose. Otherwise she kept it in a messy ponytail at the top of her head, which was now her trademark look.

  Since attending the Cincinnati School For Creative and Performing Arts, Vanessa had been approached more times than she could keep track, with offers to model. People said you have the look to be a runway model! But she would shake her head because fashion and modeling and fancy clothes did not appeal to her. She pulled her long hair back and dressed in jeans and t-shirts while her classmates were experimenting with how to be glamorous.

  Vanessa didn’t have to be a psychology major to figure out that what had happened to her mother and childhood fears played into that. She got the creeps when guys flirted with her. When they said, Vanessa you are so pretty—she would hear a deep voice in the back of her mind saying; Trust me. I’m going to take care of you. Trust me. Trust me…

  She shivered and flopped back down on her bed. She picked up the script but instead of reading Deena’s parts she read Effie’s.

  ~***~

  The next day Vanessa slipped on her baggie jeans and an oversized hoodie. Grandma hated when she dressed like t
hat for school so she slipped out of the apartment and hurried down to her bus stop.

  Grandma had sold her house in Kentucky and moved them to a nice place in Cincinnati once Vanessa had voiced her interest in attending the alternative performing arts school. She had watched a little girl on the news that could sing like a grownup. The girl said that she went to SCPA and Vanessa wrote down the number and had all of the information mailed to herself within the week. When the movie Fame came out, Vanessa had already been there for over a year and before she knew it schools like SCPA were all the vogue. It was hectic and fast paced and she was just happy that the movie hadn’t been made before she actually attended or she might have shied away from it.

  She had no friends at her bus stop but once she got on the rowdy bus her best friend Charisma had saved her a seat. Charisma wasn’t her real name. She had created it as her stage name and since it sounded better than Sheryl everyone indulged her.

  Charisma plucked at Vanessa’s hoodie and shook her head. “Girl, what are you wearing?” Charisma was always in make-up and her clothes were always perfect. She told Vanessa that she would never bee seen in public looking less than perfect and she generally achieved it. Charisma was light skinned and she wore micro braids that extended her hair until it flowed over her shoulders. She was petite and pretty and she knew how to act, sing and dance. The two girls had a dream of going to New York and sharing the rent on a small apartment while they made it big.

  Grandma thought she was going to college but Vanessa decided that there was nothing else school could teach her about the way she intended to live her life. She was going to be a singer, she was going to cut a record and she was going to be a star just like Sparkle.

  Grandma would say, “Your mother left you a great deal of money for college and if you think you’re going to blow that money on foolishness then you got another thing coming. But Vanessa didn’t argue, it was pointless. She remembered the truth, though. Her Mama had saved that money so that they could live their dreams—and going to college wasn’t necessarily her dream.

  Vanessa knew without a shadow of a doubt that she would become a professional singer. There was nothing that she loved more than singing. And with the formal training she received at her school, she could already out sing some of the popular artists that she heard on the radio—and that was not just her own opinion.

  Vanessa no longer lacked friends. And although some thought that she had an above average beauty, She didn’t have a boyfriend. As a matter of fact, she shied away from guys. SCPA had no shortage of beautiful, talented people so when she explained to a certain boy that she wasn’t interested in them they didn’t sweat her, they just moved on to the next beauty. Despite her earlier years, Vanessa had grown into a popular and well-adjusted young woman.

  After lunch were rehearsals. Everyone always complained that it was unfair to rehearse after lunch because everybody was bloated, or tired or had to go to the bathroom. But Vanessa knew that they would have complained no matter when rehearsals were scheduled. Too early and they were sleepy. Before lunch and they would be too hungry. Late in the day and they were too tired. She was just anxious to get started.

  It was Vanessa’s idea that they start with some of the singing scenes in order to warm up to the story and break the ice. The music director agreed and focused on Jamaica who had landed the role of Effie.

  “Well let’s do the song that everyone wants to hear. That’s probably the one that we’re going to work on the hardest.” Miss Glenn stated. Miss Glenn spent a great deal of time telling Jamaica that she sang it very well but everyone always made the same mistakes and blah blah blah…

  If the role of Effie had gone to anyone other than Jamaica Sinclair then perhaps Vanessa would not have instituted her plan. But since the much thicker girl was the one and only person to ever make fun of her while at SCPA she hoped like hell her plan would work. Jamaica had liked making fun of her skinniness and had tried to give her the nickname of Olive Oyl. The only thing is that no one but Jamaica would ever use the name so she eventually dropped it. Vanessa saw the jealousy in the action and the two had been enemies every since.

  As the music for And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going began to play everyone paused to listen. It was the showstopper song and no matter how perfect the role was played, if the actress couldn’t hit the notes they couldn’t keep the role. Vanessa had sang the hell out of it but she still hadn’t gotten the part. She had heard Jamaica’s rendition and had rolled her eyes because she had just tried to mimic Jennifer Holiday and it was Vanessa’s opinion that you never mimicked anyone—you out did them! That was the point; you strived to sound better than your favorite singer!

  Vanessa sang the song better and now she meant to show that she could play the part better.

  Jamaica stood center stage and began singing the song as if she was on stage at the Tony Awards instead of rehearsing on a theatrical stage. Vanessa cringed each time Jamaica unsuccessfully tried to hit Jennifer Holiday’s notes and saw Miss Glenn doing the same.

  Vanessa’s voice suddenly belted out over Jamaica’s. The thicker girl glared at her and continued singing but soon Vanessa’s voice overpowered her as she expertly hit the notes that Jamaica couldn’t.

  “Vanessa!” Miss Glenn yelled and turned off the music. It didn’t matter. Vanessa didn’t stop. She moved onto the stage and wailed out the lyrics of a song that meant more to her than just about the loss of a man, but the loss of everything that she had ever loved and had ever desired.

  When she cried out that she was not going even after Miss Glenn repeatedly told her to stop someone stomped their feet and clapped their hands. But Vanessa wasn’t acting. Her cries of ‘I ain’t going!’ were in direct response to Miss Glenn’s demands.

  Vanessa threw up her fists into the air and slammed them down against her thighs when she screamed you’re going to love me. Effie’s pain and loss radiated from Vanessa as she screamed out and landed every emotional high note while picturing her Mama’s beautiful face, Jalissa’s dimples and Scotty’s cornflower eyes. Tears slid down her face as she begged them to stay with her and emotion was in her voice as she made fists and hugged herself and screamed that she was not going anywhere. The other actors wailed in delight at her raw emotion and Miss Glenn was clapping her hands and stomping her feet right along with the rest of them. Everyone in the auditorium was on their feet whistling, clapping and stomping; adults as well as instructors.

  When she finished she stood there panting emotionally. Miss Glenn shouted, “Wardrobe! Make her a fat suit!”

  1982’s SCPA’s rendition of Dream Girls had a completely mixed cast with big girl Jamaica Sinclair starring as Deena Jones and Vanessa White—who was not required to wear a fat suit—starring as Effie White. The show was a hit and reviews were even written in the local paper. Everyone said that their version of Dream Girls was the best ever done at the performing arts school to date.

  ~***~

  “Please Grandma!”

  “Vanessa, what you’re asking me goes against everything that I believe is right. Those people are wicked and I don’t care what anybody says—and now that girl is pregnant!”

  This time Vanessa wasn’t going to back down. She had missed holidays and birthdays with Jalissa. She hadn’t been there for Jalissa’s first kiss—for her first anything and she was firm in her stance that nothing was going to cause her to miss spending her last summer as a youth with her cousin!

  Over the years their conversations had been sporadic, generally under her grand mother’s watchful eyes. But it still surprised her when she had learned that Jalissa had gotten pregnant at the age of sixteen. Suddenly the loss of everything that she had once held dear was overwhelming. She asked her grandmother if she could take some money out of her trust in order to buy Jalissa’s baby some things that she knew they would need--and all hell had broken loose.

  Grandma had put her foot down, adamant that she wouldn’t let loose one red cent to go to ‘that woman
’, although Jalissa wasn’t quite a woman...And then her grand mother told her that as her guardian, she held the control of the trust and she wasn’t going to let any of those heathens to get their hands on it.

  It had angered her so badly that she had informed her grandmother that she would like to spend the summer with her aunt and cousin. She still had no positive feelings for her aunt but mentioning her would point out to her grandmother that she still had other family out there in the world. The money was no big deal. She would be eighteen in four months and even though, her grandmother was the trustee and had control over it, every bit of it would come to her on her eighteenth birthday. She could bide her time until then.

  But denying her the summer with Jalissa was something that she would not accept. “Grandma I’m nearly eighteen years old!”

  “Nearly means nothing-“

  “I never ask for anything grandma. I just want one summer-“

  “Vanessa baby, you should not trust those people! Look, baby girl, I have raised one daughter and I know what it is to be a young girl right there on the edge of womanhood. That cousin of yours got pregnant because her mother is a no good heathen, and the apple don’t fall far from the tree!“

  Vanessa shook her head at her grandmother’s crazy words. “That doesn’t mean that I’m going to get pregnant! Grandma I’ve never even done anything like that-“

  “It’s no wonder that she’s going to be a mother while she’s still a child! She’s a product of that woman that tried to steal your grandfather from me! It’s why the both of them turned out the way they did!” Grandma had no reason to question how Aunt Callista or Jalissa had turned out. She knew nothing about them! And why should they be blamed just because her own husband had cheated on her?! Vanessa wasn’t used to taking up for aunt Callista but she was sick and tired of her grandmother talking bad about them as if they weren’t a part of her family.