by Margaret Kay
“EJ confessed to me he and Lisa are having sex. Did you know that?” His voice was dropped down to a whisper, so the kids wouldn’t hear.
Jana frowned and shrugged. “I suspected. Lisa is on the pill and I make sure she is taking it daily as she is supposed to. She was on antibiotics in November and I reminded her they can reduce the effectiveness of the pill. She rolled her eyes at me and said, duh, I know that mom. That was when I was pretty sure they were having sex. If they weren’t, she would have told me she wasn’t, and it didn’t matter how effective it was. I just want to get her through to adulthood without any life altering situations, like an arrest record or unplanned pregnancy. You have no idea what it’s like being a single parent of a seventeen-year-old if you’re not living it day in and day out.”
“I’m sure,” Lambchop said. “EJ’s mother calls me regularly and I help with any issues I can. I try very hard not to judge her or her parenting, but I will say, I would be sterner.” He shrugged. “I’d probably make a lot of mistakes and drive him away, but I wouldn’t put up with any disrespect or crap either. The eye rolling really gets under my skin.”
Jana laughed. “Eye rolls and door slams are what pushes my buttons.”
“Yeah, my sister was one for slamming doors. My momma had my dad take her bedroom door off its hinges one summer. That cured it.”
“Oh, I never thought of that.”
“Yep, I remember it well. Momma told her she didn’t get to have a door if she was going to slam it. My momma is quite a force. I didn’t fully appreciate her until I joined the Navy and moved away. Thank God, she’s been a constant in EJ’s life.”
“I’d like to meet her sometime,” Jana said. “I think it’s time I meet EJ’s mother too.”
“Yes, I think that would be a good idea. Shereese is a good woman. She works hard to support EJ and his sisters. She’s a single mom and I know it is not easy for her. That’s why I do everything I can to help her. When she called last night about EJ, I knew she needed me to come. That’s why I didn’t hesitate.”
“You are a good man, Landon Johnson,” she said with a gentle smile. “EJ is very lucky to have you in his life. I believe black boys, especially, need a man in their lives. It’s a myth that boys don’t need their fathers or a father figure.”
“Thank you. I have no kids of my own, but I’ve always felt a responsibility for EJ since my brother couldn’t be there for him.” He came to his feet. “I should take EJ home. His momma will have some words for him.”
“It was nice to meet you.”
“It was nice to meet you too,” he said. He gave Jana Jones his cell phone number. She programmed it into her phone. Once he and EJ were in the car and he’d shifted to drive, he spoke again. “Lisa’s mom is a nice lady.”
“Yes, she’s alright,” EJ agreed.
“You need to introduce both Lisa and her mom to your momma and your grandma. This girl is important to you, you need to include your family in that relationship.”
EJ glanced out the side window and sighed. “I know. I really am sorry you had to drop everything and come.”
“It’s okay. We’ll talk more later. When we get home, you need to apologize to your momma, you know. I hope this situation can be the mechanism for a positive change in your relationship with her. Things cannot go on as they have been.”
“I know, Uncle L. I just don’t know what to do to make things different with her. After we talked when you called me last week I really tried. I offered to negotiate the time I’d be home to follow her rules. I stayed in one night with the understanding I could be out later the next night, but when the next night came, she reneged on it.”
Lambchop would talk with Shereese about that. “Okay, we’ll talk with her about it together. You need to admit wrongdoing though, EJ. She feels very disrespected by you. That’s on you.”
EJ remained silent the remainder of the drive to Shereese’s apartment. Lambchop noted the time it took to drive there. Thirty-five minutes with little traffic. He found a parking spot right in front of the building. EJ lagged behind his wide strides as he mounted the few steps into the building.
The door opened as they reached it. Lambchop noticed bags under Shereese’s eyes. Maybe she hadn’t gone back to sleep either. “Thank you, Landon,” she said as he stepped inside. She greeted him with a quick embrace.
“You’re welcome.” Lambchop glanced around. He wasn’t sure if her girls were in their bedroom or if they were not home. He placed his hand on EJ’s shoulder, prompting him.
“I’m sorry, Momma,” EJ said.
“Make eye contact with me,” Shereese demanded. She grabbed hold of his chin and forced him to look her in the eye. “EJ, I love you but the way it’s been lately isn’t working for either one of us. Last night was the icing on the cake.”
“It was a stupid mistake. Terrance,” he began, but she interrupted him.
“And this is one of the reasons I don’t like Terrance and some of your friends.”
“But you’ve never even met them,” EJ argued.
“Whose fault is that?” Lambchop interjected. “I think we should all sit down and talk.” He pointed to the couch. He sat beside Shereese. EJ sat on the ottoman in front of them. “Shereese, in case you didn’t know, EJ is ashamed of his home when it comes to his friends from the academy. That’s my fault. I should have anticipated that could be the case.”
Shereese appeared upset. She glanced around her living room. “Ashamed? EJ, we have a nice home. I know it’s not always clean, but I’ve told all three of you that we have to pitch in and take care of it together.”
Lambchop waited, but EJ said nothing. “EJ, tell your momma about your friend’s houses.”
Now EJ really looked ashamed. He told her about Vincent’s indoor pool in his large home. He told her about the suite that was Terrance’s bedroom in his massive home. And about the doormen at two of his other friend’s luxury condos. “I’m sorry, momma,” he repeated.
“After we left the police station, we swung by EJ’s girlfriend’s apartment for EJ to apologize to her momma because she had to go pick her up too last night.”
“Girlfriend?” Shereese asked.
“I’m sorry, Momma. Yes, her name is Lisa. I want you to meet her, and her mother too.”
Lambchop filled Shereese in on what had happened the night before and what the police had said to him, including that EJ had been very respectful. “You’re raising a good son, Shereese. He did the right things when it counted.”
“You thought going into someone else’s house, that you did not have permission to be in was a good idea?”
“I didn’t think about it like that. But I now know it was stupid.”
“Shereese, part of the problem you have with EJ is curfew. It took thirty-five minutes for me to drive here from Lisa’s apartment. If the kids are out or hanging out at someone’s house, EJ has to leave early enough to see Lisa home and then make it home himself. I understand why this is an issue for him.”
“Oh, it won’t be any longer. Not only are you grounded for the next two months, you are done hanging out with those kids you got arrested with,” Shereese decreed in a low threatening voice.
“Momma, that’s not fair!”
“I’ll tell you what’s not fair. Getting arrested and nearly blowing your life plan is not fair. A phone call waking me up and scaring me half to death isn’t fair. I didn’t know if the police were calling to tell me you were dead on the side of the road or arrested in a drug sting!”
“I don’t do drugs!” EJ argued.
“And I had to call your Uncle L, and he had to drop everything and come here with no notice!” Shereese yelled.
“I already apologized to him,” EJ whispered.
“Shereese, EJ and I are going to talk more about that.” He nodded at EJ. “Go to your room for a bit and let me talk to your momma.”
EJ rose and went down the hall to his bedroom as instructed.
“If I would h
ave asked him, he would have given me an argument. I’m done with that boy,” Shereese said. She had tears in her eyes.
Lambchop slipped an arm around her. “You don’t mean that. And Shereese, he’s really a good kid.”
“He was arrested Landon!”
“A lot of our friends from the neighborhood were arrested,” he pointed out.
“Yeah and the majority of them deserved to be.”
Lambchop chuckled. “A few, absolutely. Fern didn’t.”
Shereese shook her head. “I still miss her. Her, Elias, Jimmy, Derrick, Geraldine, all of them, dead way too young.”
“EJ doesn’t do drugs. That’s huge. The shit he’s pulling is minor compared to what he could be doing.”
“That’s not good enough. You pay for him to have a better life, and I appreciate that you always have. He knows all the traps out there and knows he needs to respect us both, but he hasn’t been. It’s those friends he hangs out with. I don’t know them, but I don’t like them.”
“You need to lighten up on that, Shereese. He just turned seventeen years old. You’re lucky you’ve controlled him up till now. You need to meet his friends and welcome them here. His girlfriend’s mom is nice. She’s a single mom, too. You need to make his friends’ parents your allies. I had no idea until today that you’d never met his friends.”
“Are you judging me, Landon Johnson?”
He tightened his grip on her shoulder. “Never, Shereese. It’s God’s place to judge, not mine. I’m here to help you and support you.”
“He needs a man in his life,” Shereese said. “Jimmy loved him like he was his own. He was a good father to him and Hayden. Things would have been so different if he hadn’t died. I’m doing my best, Landon, but my best isn’t good enough.”
“Don’t say that, Shereese. You are doing a great job. This was minor and what EJ is going through is just a phase.”
“I think he should move in with you. He doesn’t respect me, and I can’t control him. I spend so much time dealing with him, I’m shortchanging Hayden and Melanie. They need their momma too.”
Lambchop shook his head. “Shereese, I’m only home about twenty percent of the time, always out on a mission.”
“Don’t you have a girlfriend or someone who can watch over him while you’re gone?”
Lambchop tamped down the anger that flared from her question. He prayed that grace would fill his heart. His words, if spoken without, would be harsh. She was EJ’s mother. He was her responsibility. He had helped a lot over the years because his brother was not there. But in the end, EJ was not his child. And this question was double edged. Shereese was prying into his personal life. She wanted to know if he had a woman in his life and if not, she would make a move on him. She had multiple times in the past.
“Even though he is seventeen, he is a minor and requires daily supervision, something I cannot give him. And nor should I. You are his mother and this relationship needs to be healed. Shipping him to my house will not create that healing. You cannot ban him from his friends, he will only resent you more. You need to meet them and welcome them, and then you can see if they are truly a bad influence.”
Just then the front door opened, and her daughter Hayden came in. Her jacket was torn. She looked disheveled and panicked. She acknowledged them both and headed for the hallway.
“Hayden, hold up, don’t you want to give your Uncle L a hug and say more than a grunt to him?”
Lambchop stood and held his arms out. She turned, and he saw that the girl’s lip was split. “What happened to you? Come over here.”
The eighth grader reluctantly came over. She gave Lambchop a hug. “Sorry, Uncle L.”
“What happened to you?” Shereese demanded.
“It was Tanisha’s brother and his friends again.”
“I told you to stop going to Tanisha’s house.”
“Wait, a boy did this to you?” Lambchop questioned. His eyes flew to Shereese. “And you knew she was having problems with this boy.”
“You’re judging again,” Shereese said.
Lambchop breathed out hard. “Not judging, wanting to help.”
“Tanisha’s brother, Wendell, is in the Crips. Even Tanisha is afraid of his buddies who now hang around their house. He wasn’t supposed to be there. That is the only reason Tanisha, and I went there,” Hayden whined.
“Let me take a look at this,” Lambchop said. He brought her to the kitchen, cleaned it and took a package of frozen meat from the refrigerator. He placed a paper towel over the wound and then pressed the package of hamburger to it. “It doesn’t need stitches. We’ll put the cold meat on it for a few minutes and then I’ll fashion a bandage on it to hold it together while it heals.” His gaze went to Shereese. “Where is Melanie?”
“She’s at her friend’s house, and before you ask, no, none of her brothers are in a gang.”
“I’m sorry someone hurt you. What exactly happened?”
“He’s a bully and a jerk. He was mad at Tanisha because Tanisha told her momma that he and his friends were smoking pot in the house, like Tanisha needed to tell. It reeked of weed.”
“Did he hit you?”
“No, we got out of there when they showed up, but Wendell pushed us as we went down the stairs and we fell.”
“This boy pushed you down a flight of stairs?” Lambchop asked.
Hayden nodded.
“Give me this kid’s address. I’ll go deal with Wendell and teach him some manners.”
“Landon, stop,” Shereese scolded. “Violence only begets violence. Hayden, this is your fault for going over there.”
Lambchop watched a scowl appear on the girl’s face. This was not good. After the frozen meat was pressed to it for fifteen minutes, he examined it again. The bleeding had stopped, and the swelling was down some. He rigged a regular bandage to resemble a butterfly bandage, which Shereese did not have in the house. After Hayden was sent to her room, he sat Shereese down beside him.
“It is never a good idea to tell a young girl that violence against her is her own fault. Shereese, what I see day in and day out, the number of women with low self-esteem who put up with bad behavior from men, is how I know that. You are right that she should not go over to that friend’s house for more reasons than you know. This brother is in a gang. Those bastards rape girls as young as Hayden for kicks. They actively recruit kids her age to transport and sell drugs.”
“This neighborhood is getting worse, I know that. I worry for my girls.”
“There are other places to live.”
“I can’t afford to move, Landon. This place is rent controlled.”
“I could help you with the rent,” he offered.
“You do so much already.”
“What about my parent’s place? They’ve offered for you and the kids to move back in whenever you need to. I’d say your daughter getting pushed down a flight of stairs by a gangbanger is a good time to think about it. And they would not mind helping you out with the kids again.”
“Again, and again, and again, because poor Shereese can’t take care of herself and her own damned kids. I’m not going to crawl back there like a failure again.”
“They would never think that. They have never judged you. They have only offered you love and support.” His words were strong, and he knew the volume of his voice was a little louder than he wanted it to be. “Get over yourself, Shereese, and do this for the kids.”
“Everything I have ever done is for my kids. I could have stayed with Melanie’s daddy, but Tyrell was mean to EJ. I chose my son over that man. I loved him, Landon. Do you understand that? But it wasn’t a hard decision to make at all. I would never be with a man that treated my son like that. So, don’t lecture me on doing anything for my kids.”
Lambchop drew a breath in to calm himself. “I’m not attacking you, Shereese. I know you do everything for your kids. You’re a good mother. But there are safer places to live, places you don’t have to worry about your k
ids getting attacked by gang members, my parent’s house for one.”
“I’ve worked hard to afford to take care of myself and my kids. It was supposed to get easier when they got older,” Shereese lamented. “That’s a lie. Bigger kids, bigger problems.”
“Let’s put this conversation on pause. I told my parent’s I was in town and that I’d pick up dinner at Covelli’s and bring it over for all of us tonight. You, me, and the kids, let’s all go over and have a nice evening. Momma said it’s been weeks since she saw the kids.”
“Covelli’s? You want to reward EJ with Covelli’s?”