God Don't Make No Mistakes

by Mary Monroe

  “Aaarrgggh! Take your filthy hands off me—you pervert! You bastard!” It was Jade, yelling at the top of her lungs. “Mama! It’s a good thing you got here when you did! Uncle Bully was trying to rape me!”

  CHAPTER 17

  OF ALL THE THINGS THAT I HAD EXPERIENCED, BEING A RAPE victim was undoubtedly the one that I would never fully heal from. It had tainted most of my childhood. It was because of that abuse that I had developed self-esteem problems so severe that I didn’t think I deserved anything worthwhile for years. I had even sold my body because I didn’t think that I was good enough to be in a normal relationship with a man. And until I got involved with Pee Wee, and turned my life around, I had dated men who used me and took advantage of me.

  In addition to myself, I had known several other females who had been either raped or inappropriately propositioned at one time or another; some more than once, or over a prolonged period of time like me. It was a traumatic experience for anyone unfortunate enough to be the victim of such a heinous crime. Girls like Jade gave us real victims a bad name.

  “Mama! Oh, Mama! I’m so glad you got here in time! Uncle Bully was all over me! See how he ripped my good blouse?” Jade whimpered.

  My jaw dropped and my eyes almost popped out of my head. I didn’t even bother to wait around to see how Rhoda was going to react to Jade’s accusation. I held my breath and tiptoed back to the living room door.

  I was glad that I had parked a couple of blocks from Rhoda’s house. I sprinted down the street to my car and scrambled into it so fast, I got tangled up in my seatbelt. I sped out into the street before I even closed my door. The way I was driving, weaving in and out of traffic and way over the speed limit, you would have thought that I was trying to get away from something. And I was. I didn’t want any of the shit that was going to hit the fan to spatter on me. There was going to be a whole lot of that flying through the air in Rhoda’s house.

  There was just no telling what the outcome was going to be from Jade’s latest “performance.” This girl was one of a kind. Not only had she nearly driven me crazy by sending me a bunch of nasty letters and packages, and harassing me by phone, she’d tortured other folks as well. Her targets included her ex-fiancé and her ex-husband.

  When she was in college, of which she flunked out in her freshman year, she accompanied some of her friends to Cancun to celebrate spring break. Two days after she landed on Mexican soil, she fell in love with a handsome young Mexican bullfighter named Marcelo and brought him back to Ohio with her. She treated him like a docile puppy most of the time, and he acted like one. But other times she treated him like a dog she didn’t like. She made crude, racist remarks to him in front of her friends and family. She made him escort her to the beauty shop and the nail salon like a bodyguard. And when she went shopping, which was several times a week, she used to make that poor Mexican go with her just so he could carry her shopping bags. Nobody, except Jade, was surprised when Marcelo left her at the altar on their wedding day.

  Less than a year later, Jade latched on to a nice young man named Vernie during a visit to her older brother’s home in Alabama. She got Vernie drunk, and by the time he sobered up, they were married. She dragged him back to Ohio where she beat the dog shit out of him on a regular basis. And for some of the stupidest reasons! Once she attacked him because he’d smiled at a woman on the street. Another time she tossed a pan of hot water on his head because she didn’t like the “stupid look” on his face. The weapons she attacked him with included lamps, rocks, frying pans, beer bottles, her fists and feet, and anything else that she could get her hands on during her tirades.

  I had gotten to know both Marcelo and Vernie fairly well. They were both really nice young men. Jade didn’t deserve either one of them.

  Jade finally went too far one night. She attacked Vernie with a lamp upside his head; but Vernie finally fought back. She was the one who ended up getting the dog shit beaten out of her.

  Now it looked like she’d gone too far again. I decided that if she had once tried to take my man, it was not that much of a stretch for her to try to take her own mother’s man.

  I took the long way home, driving the city streets instead of the freeway. I needed some time alone to think and clear my head. I didn’t know how I was going to respond when Rhoda informed me about Jade’s latest stunt. Knowing Rhoda, she had probably already tried to reach me on my cell phone, which was in my purse and turned off. This was a conversation that I was not looking forward to.

  I drove down Main Street, and on into Roscoe’s neighborhood. His car was in his driveway. I was tempted to pay him a surprise visit, but I didn’t give that notion much thought. Sneaking up on men was not a wise thing for a woman to do. Not even dull men like Roscoe. The last time I’d snuck up on a lover, I’d overhead a telephone conversation between him and another woman in which I was the subject being discussed—and in the most unflattering manner. Roscoe might have had something else going on that I didn’t need to know about, so I drove past his house without stopping. I was near the mall, so I ducked into a bookstore and browsed for about fifteen minutes. I would have hung around longer, but as soon as I spotted Scary Mary and two of her prostitutes strolling out of a lingerie shop, I bolted. I ran all the way back to my car.

  I was glad to see that my house was empty when I got home. Even Lillimae was gone. She’d left a note saying that she had gone to get her nails done, and that she was going to treat Daddy to a night out. She included a P.S. informing me that my daughter had gone shopping with my mother.

  Just as I had predicted, Rhoda had left me frantic messages on my cell phone and on my home phone. She didn’t say anything about what she’d walked in on in her kitchen. Her message just informed me that “all hell has broken loose” and for me to call her back as soon as I could.

  My hand was shaking so hard, I could barely dial her number.

  “Annette, thank God it’s you! I am so glad you called me back! Girl, I am goin’ stone crazy up in this house!” Rhoda yelled.

  “Uh, is something the matter?” I asked.

  “Oh, you will never guess this one! Hold on so I can get myself another drink.”

  Rhoda was gone for several minutes. When she returned to the telephone, she was huffing and puffing like she’d been running.

  “Sorry I took so long, but I had to check on Jade. She’s in such a frantic state! I had to run to her bedroom and help her to the toilet so she wouldn’t have another accident in her bed, or on my carpets. I was too late, but at least she didn’t make as big a mess as she did a little while ago.”

  “Did Jade’s infection get worse?” I had expected Rhoda to tell me right off the bat what had transpired between Jade and Bully, but it seemed like she was dancing around that subject. I certainly was not going to bring it up, because as far as I knew, she didn’t even know I was in the house when it happened.

  “Annette, I know you’ve got enough problems of your own right now, and I am truly sorry that I have to burden you with more of my problems,” Rhoda apologized. “But—”

  I cut her off immediately. “But nothing. Don’t you worry about burdening me. You ought to know by now that your problems are my problems, and vice versa. Now tell me what in the world is going on over there?”

  “It’s Jade. You are not goin’ to believe what happened to her!” Rhoda paused and released several heart-wrenching sobs.

  “Rhoda, please pull yourself together. You need to tell me what’s going on.”

  “I ... I ... don’t want to go into detail over the phone. I need you here in person in case I break down again.”

  “I’ll come right back over there. But can you give me a hint? Is Jade in some kind of trouble?”

  “Oh, Annette. She is! And so is Bully! This is the worst thing that has ever happened to my family.” Rhoda stopped talking for about ten seconds. When she began to speak again, she sounded unusually calm. Not only did that surprise me, but it scared me too. “Like I said, I need to
see you in person right away.”

  “I’ll be there as soon as I can. But I need to know one thing: Is Bully still alive?”

  CHAPTER 18

  IT TOOK RHODA A FEW MOMENTS TO RESPOND TO MY ODD QUESTION. When she spoke again, her voice was weak and distant. “Of course Bully is still alive. I ... I packed his shit and sent him to a hotel. The cab just left.”

  “Oh? Did ... uh ... you and him have a disagreement or something?” I felt guilty about concealing what I had witnessed; but I was feeling more overwhelmed by everything to be too concerned about feeling guilty.

  Since my departure from Rhoda’s house, I had added another bone to my plate. On my way home, before I drove through Roscoe’s neighborhood, I had driven by the apartment where my ex-husband’s lover now lived. I was surprised to see his red Firebird parked in her driveway. I couldn’t wait to report this to Rhoda, but I had to hear what she had to tell me first.

  “Annette, I’ve known Bully for most of my life. At least I thought I knew him.”

  “What did he do? I’ve never known Bully to do anything to upset you.”

  “I wanted to wait until you got here to tell you. But I think the sooner you know, the better.” I heard Rhoda sniffing and trying to catch her breath. Finally, she told me in a squeaky voice, “Bully tried to take advantage of my daughter. Right here in my own house! It happened just moments after you left! I never dreamed that Bully could be so stupid and brazen! You could have walked into the kitchen and witnessed what he was doin’, just like I did!”

  I waited until Rhoda let out a few more gut-wrenching sobs.

  “You mean ... uh ... you actually saw Bully in the act, trying to mess with Jade?”

  Rhoda hiccupped before answering. “Not exactly. I walked in on the tail end. She was hysterical. He had ripped her blouse and everything. Men are such dogs!”

  I didn’t know how to respond to Rhoda’s comment, so I remained silent for a few moments.

  “Annette, are you still there? Please hurry up and say somethin’,” Rhoda ordered.

  It took me a few more moments to respond. “Rhoda, I don’t like to change the subject. But that’s what I need to do for a few minutes, so you can get a grip. I hope you don’t mind.”

  “Change the subject? What—what is it you want to change the subject to? I thought you wanted to hear about what Bully did?”

  “I do and I will. But I can tell that you are having a hard time talking about it. I just thought that if we talked about something else for a few moments, it would be easier for you to talk about Bully after that.”

  “All right. Just what is it that you want to talk about before I tell you the whole story about Bully?”

  “Uh, there is something I need to tell you about Pee Wee.”

  I heard Rhoda sniff and suck in her breath. “What is it?” she asked in a whisper.

  “It’s probably nothing serious, but I still want to run it by you,” I croaked.

  “What is it?” Rhoda asked again. I was glad that she had stopped crying, but now I was close to crying myself.

  “I drove past Lizzie’s place on my way home from your house. Pee Wee’s car was in her driveway,” I said, silently scolding myself for steering the conversation in another direction. My best friend clearly needed my shoulder to cry on right now, and here I was still bombarding her with my problems.

  “Oh, like I just said, men are such dogs! If I had been in your shoes, I would have marched into Lizzie’s place and whupped the daylights out of them both.”

  “It hurts me to know that he is still communicating with her,” I admitted. “And now that she is pregnant, he’s going to have to deal with her on a regular basis. I don’t know if I can deal with that. That is, if I continue to work on my relationship with him.”

  “Are you afraid that if he sees her regularly again, that they might resume their relationship?”

  The thought of that happening made me shiver. “I’m not afraid if they will or not. If they want to, they will do it. Nothing surprises me anymore. I used to think that Pee Wee was one of the ‘good guys,’ but look how wrong I was. That man has broken my heart into a million little pieces.”

  “Humph! I used to think that Bully was one of the good guys too! Look how wrong I was! Men are all the same after all, I guess. They think with their dick heads!” Rhoda hollered.

  “I guess I’ll have to wait and see just how involved Pee Wee is going to get with Lizzie now,” I managed. “But a horny man does a lot of stupid shit.”

  “Tell me about it. But Bully couldn’t have been that damn horny after what I’d done for him a few hours before he tried to jump my daughter! I could kill him!”

  I tried not to get too upset about seeing Pee Wee’s car in Lizzie’s driveway, but I did. What bothered me was the fact that he had already met with her to discuss her condition. And until she gave birth, why else would he need to meet with her again this soon? I just hoped that he had a reasonable explanation to offer me when I spoke to him again.

  “Uh, are you going to have Bully arrested or anything?”

  “I damn near slapped his face clean off, but I don’t see any reason to drag the cops into this. Jade is an adult, and well, she is kind of loose. And everybody in town knows that. I just can’t believe that Bully was stupid enough to think that he could do me and my daughter, and get away with it!”

  “Rhoda, I like Bully and I know you care about him a lot,” I said in a gentle tone of voice. I didn’t think that it would do much good for us both to be screaming and hollering like she was doing.

  “Yes, I do care about him! His dick is good enough to be served on a platter, but if he thinks he’s goin’ to serve it to my daughter, he’s wrong! I am not proud of the fact that I’ve been sleepin’ with my husband’s best friend all these years. But I have to draw the line somewhere. His relationship with me does not extend to my child.”

  “Don’t shut the man out of your life this way until you know all of the facts about what really happened, Rhoda.”

  Rhoda let out a sharp cackle. “Girl, are you listenin’ to me? Annette, I walked in on him practically attackin’ my daughter! I am not blind!”

  “I know you did, but can you tell me exactly what you saw in that kitchen, Rhoda?”

  “I saw all I needed to see!”

  “You didn’t answer my question.”

  “What? I just told you. I saw all I needed to see.”

  “And exactly what was that?”

  Rhoda sucked on her teeth and muttered something under her breath.

  I had to speak quickly, because I didn’t know if she was going to hang up on me or not. “You walked in on something, Rhoda. But you didn’t walk in on Bully trying to rape your daughter.”

  “Annette, you were not here. You didn’t see or hear what I saw and heard.”

  “I was,” I mouthed.

  “Huh? Was what?”

  “I was still there.”

  The silence was frightening. “But ... but you didn’t see what I saw and heard, did you?”

  “No, Rhoda, I didn’t see what you saw and heard. And you didn’t see or hear what I saw and heard either.”

  “You get back over here and tell me what the hell you are talkin’ about,” Rhoda ordered.

  CHAPTER 19

  AFTER I ENDED MY CONVERSATION WITH RHODA AND WAS about to leave and return to her house, my front door flew open. I was surprised to see my daughter, Charlotte, stumbling in. Behind her was Harrietta Jameson, one of my neighbors from across the street. Even though I’d been one of the first to welcome her to the neighborhood with a freshly baked plate of cookies the day she moved in a few weeks ago, I had not had a chance to get to know her.

  “Your daughter was at my house,” Harrietta told me. “My kids love her to death.”

  I gave Harrietta a puzzled look; then I looked at Charlotte. “I thought you were out shopping with your grandmother?” I said, looking from Charlotte to Harrietta with the puzzled look still on my fa
ce.

  “I was, but I wanted to come home. Grandma walks real slow, and she wouldn’t let me go into any fun stores. Besides, being around old people too long makes me feel old,” Charlotte stated, making a face and shrugging her shoulders.

  Harrietta and I rolled our eyes at the same time, and I offered her one of my warmest smiles. “Harrietta, I am sorry that I couldn’t make it to your Tupperware party last week.”

  “Oh, that’s all right. I’ll be giving plenty more. I like to keep myself busy,” Harrietta replied. There was an anxious look on her face. “I am not too good when it comes to making new friends, but with all these women on this street, I thought some parties would be a good way for me to get better acquainted with some of my new neighbors.”

  I nodded. “Well, I hope you like to eat, because I probably host more backyard cookouts than anybody in Richland,” I laughed, forcing myself to push the incident with Jade, and my own problems, toward the back of my mind.

  “Girl, just look at me!” Harrietta slapped her thick hip with a hand that looked about as big and wide as a small pie pan. “Can’t you see that I have not missed too many meals?”

  I liked this woman. I didn’t know many women who had such a sharp sense of humor. She had a deep, husky voice, like some of those old-time movie stars. I knew that a lot of men found that attractive. I was curious about her love life, but that was one of the few things about new friends that I didn’t touch until they brought it up first.

  “Well, I’m glad to hear that. Uh, thanks for letting my daughter come stay at your house ’til I got home. I don’t like to leave her alone for too long.”