Mrs. Harvey got up but Ward waved her off by raising his arm. “I’ll be back to tell you your responsibility. Just give me a second.”
TWELVE
That evening Deedee’s uncle picked her up from school. A beefy bodyguard who doubled as his driver accompanied him. Deedee climbed into the backseat where her uncle was busy putting away loads of papers. He appeared worn and there was a three-day growth of hair on his face. She knew he had been busy all day and night. Eric often worked for days without any rest developing music.
“Hey Dee, how’re you hon?” He greeted her with a kiss on the cheek.
“Hi Uncle E. How was your day?” Deedee asked returning the affection.
“Crazy, I spent all day laying down some tracks.”
“Were they the same ones you were working on last night?”
“Right, I did talk to you like late, after midnight, right?”
“Yes you did. I called because I couldn’t sleep.”
“You must be feeling a little tired then.”
“Somewhat, but I’ll be alright. How did the session come off?”
“It turned out to be more. See I didn’t want to be too fancy, that was part of the manager’s instructions. Nothing too fancy. I prepared some you know, generic R&B stuff. Then the group showed up and was feeling all the Hip Hop stuff. So I had to reset everything. That really took me out of it. Felt like I was doing everything except licking the stamp today.”
“Yeah, that really sounds like a lot on your plate, Uncle. I guess you had a full day.”
“Yeah, but right now, we’re gonna have a nice filet mignon at Tuscan Steak.”
“Hmm, sounds great. I like. That should revive you, huh Uncle.”
“Hope so, I hope so, Dee. How about you, how was your day, sweetheart?”
“I’m afraid no better than yours, Uncle E. I spent the day waiting for Coco to call but she hasn’t yet.”
“Why, what’s up with Coco?”
“Oh, I hope nothing, just that she wasn’t at school.”
“I thought she wanted to get into a good college?”
“Yeah, but I don’t know. Anyway, I picked up homework for her to do. She’s serious about school and I know it had to be really, really serious for her to miss school today.”
Deedee looked over at her uncle next to her. His eyes were shut. Deedee stopped speaking and leaned back closing her eyes also.
Later the two took their places inside the popular steak house.
Eric finished his meal, sipped a glass of beer and watched his niece giving him furtive glances while nursing her apple pie.
“How was your meal?” He asked.
Deedee smiled
“It was really good. I just couldn’t eat it all. Uncle are you and…” Deedee paused and looked at her uncle before continuing.
“What is the matter hon?”
“It’s just that I was thinking you should ah… take a vacation and maybe invite Sophia…” Deedee started and slowed as she saw the contortions of her uncle’s brows. “Like maybe you need time from your daily grind just to breathe and you may at the same time invite Sophia. Then you guys could spend… you know? Like a week, together communicating and maybe you can work things out. Uncle, please consider what I’m saying.”
“Dee, listen I don’t know how much of your attention you should give to this kind of adult mess. You just got to make sure everything goes right with your graduation from high school. Then you’ve got college. Graduating was what your father wanted for you to do. He wanted you to reach your potential, not be involved with things like Soph and me, that’s grown folks biz…”
“But Uncle I see her and I know…”
“Dee, remember when I used to take you to those karate lessons. Well this is what all that training was for, so you can be disciplined enough to forget all this negative around you and focus on your scholastic goals.”
“Yeah, but Uncle Sophia misses you too.”
Her uncle swallowed the rest of his beer as Deedee continued.
“You guys should try to work on it and not try to ignore each other’s existence. You bury yourself in music and Sophia’s trying to hide her tears from the world by sitting in front of her computer…”
“Dee,” Eric said raising his hand. “Look, I gave her the best jewelry from Harry Winston. I ordered her favorite car, the Porsche Boxter and had it delivered. I’ve sent flowers to her job and home on a regular. Since the whole thing went down, I’ve spent money buying so many trinkets for Sophia that…” Eric struggled for a moment. “C’mon for heavens sake, she doesn’t even wear her engagement ring anymore. Dee, love’s a two way street and for it to work, the other person got to meet you half way.”
“You’re right, Uncle E., maybe if I talk to her maybe if you offered her San Tropez for a week, maybe I could sort of feel her out…”
“Exactly not the thing I want you to do. She’s gonna assume that I’m using you to get at her. I want her to see that we’re all humans and anyone can make a mistake. I made my fair share, but that doesn’t mean I’m the scum of the earth. At the moment Sophia’s intelligence is telling her that’s just what I am.”
THIRTEEN
Coco stood in front of the window in the kitchen looking down at the streets. She saw the hand-to-hand trade of drugs, fiends on queue to score. Under the streetlamp everything was done in a rush, only the hookers tread slowly. On one corner of the block, a man mercilessly stomped his wife, while undercover cops sat in unmarked cars scoping it all from the other end. Coco walked over to the kitchen table and sat counting the number of roaches darting across the wooden floor. The ringing telephone startled her. She recently had it reinstalled.
“Coco cannot speak with anyone right now… Yes, she’ll be at school tomorrow. Who is this? Goodnight, Deedee.” Coco bobbed her head to the beat on the radio. She watched her mother pacing back and forth through the kitchen. Sometimes it was to get a drink from the refrigerator, other times, like now, from the corner of her eyes she caught her staring.
“You’re not gonna sit up in da kitchen waitin’ for me to fall asleep, Coco. You need to take your ass to bed right now,” Mrs. Harvey said. “I’m a go to the corner store and you best have your ass up in that bed by time I get back.”
“Mommy, are you sure? I’ll go with you and…”
“Coco you must be suffering from short term memory cause you were there when your P O told you that you had a seven o’ clock curfew. I don’t need you out there, alright. I’m a grown woman and you’re a child.” Mrs. Harvey said as she slammed the door and locked it. Coco ran to the door.
Coco became concerned after a length of time had passed since her mother left. She walked to the kitchen window. She stood there and stared at the drug dealers on their grind right beneath her window. Her eyes searched, hoping to catch a glimpse of her mother. Eventually she returned to the living room, sat down on the sofa and stared at the clock.
Her mother later walked in the room followed by a sickly stench of burnt plastic, mingled with sweat. She immediately ran to the bathroom. After washing, she walked to the kitchen but like the tail on a skunk, the smell trailed her. She grabbed a bottle of beer with one hand and a cigarette in the other.
“You might as well move your bed this side o’ the room,” she said as perspiration poured profusely from her winded body.
“Ma, why are you sweating so hard? It ain’t even that hot outside I mean…”
“Coco you need to handle your BI and lemme handle mine.”
“Tell me why as soon as you come back, that smell is all over the place? Tell me, mommy!” Coco ordered.
“First of all if you were implying that I was smokin’ I had a talk with ah… that short black… ooh…”
“Rightchus,” Coco offered closely taking aim at her mother’s condition. “And he’s number one crack-head…”
“Well I wasn’t with him too long to find out if he’s number one or two in the crack world. He wuz tellin’ m
e ‘bout how da cops did illegal search and all.” Mrs. Harvey said while her hands moved all over her upper body, scratching.
“Stop it mommy, stop it!” Coco yelled.
“Coco dear, what’s the matter with you?”
“Mommy your question should be ‘what’s the matter with us?’” Coco said and walked away.
She checked the door to make sure that the apartment was secure and searched her mother’s wallet for her keys. Coco then turned off the light and sat by the door while her mother finished the beer.
“Coco lemme out so I can go get another beer,” Mrs. Harvey pleaded.
“No way, mommy! You’re not going out for the rest of the night. That’s so not happening.”
“So you’re just gonna sit right there an’ sleep. Didn’t I tell you to go to sleep before I came back? All right stay there don’t you move. Stay right there, Coco. You stubborn like your damn father.”
She sat in the dark and after awhile drifted off to sleep. Coco was awaken by the buzzing of the doorbell. She looked over and saw that her mother was asleep. Coco walked to the window and raised it.
“Who da fuck is ringing my damn doorbell, let a nigga get some rest.” Coco saw Rightchus emerging from the shadows. “Rightchus what da fuck is so important?”
“Why don’t you ask your mother? She’s da one paging me nine one, one.”
“She’s asleep alright. So get da fuck on, muthafucka!” Coco slammed the window. She stared at her mother grumbling something inaudible. Coco brought a blanket and placed it over her mother’s outstretched figure. She fell asleep on the new sofa listening to her mother’s relentless heavy snoring.
FOURTEEN
Next morning while waiting on the bus for school, Coco scanned the streets of her neighborhood looking for any sign of Rightchus. She had left her mother fast asleep. Coco suspected that it would only be a matter of time before her mother would be up and back on the streets searching for a high. Her only lookout, Miss Katie was in the hospital recovering from a stroke.
A bus pulled to a stop and she readied to board. She kept her eyes peeled for Rightchus as she stepped on. Coco found a seat and slipped away in her headphones tripping on her own voice spitting lyrics.
By the time she entered the school building, she realized that the news of her arrest had preceded her. Everywhere she went Coco heard the whispers behind arched eyebrows and saw fingers pointing. The tension was enough to initiate a nicotine crave. Coco searched her pockets then remembered she had left her cigarettes in the hood. Coco bopped to the corner store but when she tried to cop a loose one, the vendor gave her static.
“I’ve been copping loosies for years, yo. Habib, you know me, yo. I’m a senior at da school down the block…” Coco said. The store vendor did not budge.
“All you say is good. However, we are under strict order not to sell you any beers or cigarettes, Coco. You are a rapper. You are somebody famous. I did not know this. Even the police know you.”
“What police? Who’re you talking…?” Coco started to say but the store vendor quickly interrupted when other customers started to complain.
“Two DT’s one black one white… that will be one dollar, sir… two detectives. If you’re not getting anything else, you must leave the store. You cannot hang here!”
“Fuckin’ Habib jerk! Damn, why didn’t I remember to snatch madukes’ cigarettes?” She was making her way back to school when Deedee ran toward her and hugged her.
“What’s good, Dee?”
“Coco oh my God, Coco what’s really good, girl. Coco you haven’t called and…”
“Chill and I’ll tell you all about it, yo. But before I do, you got stogies, yo?”
“Uh huh, here,” Deedee offered Coco the pack.
Quickly she extracted one and immediately lit it. Her cheeks collapsed from the pulling action.
“Oh, you really needed that huh?”
“Word, in da worse way, yo. Shit was bananas I’m tellin’ you, Dee.” Coco announced. “Miss Katie is still in the hospital. Dee, she had a stroke, yo.”
“For real? How bad is she?”
“I don’t know the details. But they doing all kinds of test and stuff.”
“I’m sorry to hear about that, Coco…”
“My head is too tight for me to be up in class, but I know I gotta go. Dee, I can’t be late. I’ll tell you all about it later, ahight yo.” Coco yelled as she disappeared inside the building.
Deedee stood with a quizzical look on her face. She glanced across the street and saw two pairs of eyes behind sunglasses peering at her. They were sitting in a black Caprice. She glanced back, and then made her way inside the school.
Throughout lunch, there was a closed meeting in the principal’s office. Coco slouched in the chair staring in bewilderment at the principal. A Guidance counselor, teacher, and the vice-principal explained that the school board no longer considered Coco eligible for any scholarships.
“I think I’ve done well in this school. I’m always on the dean’s list and all my grades are way above average, you said so yourselves.” Coco responded.
“We agree Coco. But policy is policy and I’m afraid by you going and getting arrested you violated the strictest code of the school and therefore you’re no longer eligible to participate in the scholarship program.”
Coco skipped afternoon class and hung with a group of kids in the hallway until the end of the school day. Deedee encountered Coco leaving school after the last bell had sounded.
“Coco, Coco, wait up.” Deedee yelled excitedly.
“Dee,” Coco flashed the peace sign and walked over to Deedee.
“Where were you I was looking for you at lunch and…”
“I had to see that guidance counselor bitch, Martinez and the principal. It’s all fucked up.”
“You look like you could use a ride somewhere, Coco?”
“Yeah, that’ll be cool if you can drop me home right quick. I wanna go to the hospital and see Miss Katie, but I gotta go home and look out for madukes first. She’s up to…” Coco paused.
“Miss Katie is really bad huh?”
“Miss Katie,” Coco started then paused. “I mean I really don’t know, Dee. Shit’s crazy… po-po came and bagged my ass. You gotta another stogie for me, yo?”
“Sure Coco,” Deedee obliged. Both lit their cigarettes. “Why were you arrested for the shooting? It was that other girl who had a gun, I don’t understand?”
“They say they found a bag a weed. Fucking Hip Hop police, they ain’t nothing but two ol’ lame ass dicks. They came at me cuz o’ the shooting but they came on some next shit too, yo. Figure I’m gonna rat on somebody or sump’n. They got me in some type of probationary program, and gave me some mean-ass PO. Then when he tested me, of course it came back positive. I mean I can’t even smoke no weed, yo. I’m stressed, I can’t smoke weed and I can’t drink. Things so fucked up, I can’t even cop a stogie from da corner store. The Habib was-n’t even trying to see my money, yo.”
“Speaking of seeing you, those two officers from the investigation at my uncle’s apartment were sitting out here today. I caught them watching us from their car.”
“Say word? Why da fuck am I under this crazy surveillance, yo. I ain’t no criminal. Shit’s bananas!”
“They putting you through a lot, huh Coco? They got worse crimes going on out there and they picking on you. That is crazy.”
“Tell me about it. They already spoke with Martinez and the principal. They asses be tellin’ me I’m better off getting a GED or applying for job corps. Those haters actually told me it would be a waste of my time to even apply at a junior college. Are you fuckin’ kidding me? I have to give up my education for a bag a weed? Give me a break.” Coco said.
A black Mercedes came to a stop before them. The car joined traffic.
“One tenth and Lennox,” Deedee said telling told the driver to take Coco home.
The Benz came to a stop outside her apartment and Coco
was ready to get out.
“Coco if you want I’ll get the driver to wait and then give you a ride to the hospital,” Deedee suggested.
“That be cool, yo. I’ll check upstairs and be right back,” Coco said running from the vehicle.
A few minutes later, she returned with a cigarette dangling between her lips. Coco was about to get inside the car then abruptly changed her direction and quickly walked to the other side of the street. Deedee’s eyes curiously followed Coco who was talking with Rightchus. Deedee let the window down in order to hear the conversation.
“Don’t be selling her that shit. You hear me bum-ass nigga, don’t be seeing her. Or I’m a come see you and fuck your shit up…”
“Cuz you see me in da street doin’ ma thing, don’t mean you know me, ahight, Coco?”
“Rightchus, I’m telling you. You ain’t shit but a crack-head.”
“And I’m tellin’ you just cuz you see shit this way don’t necessarily mean they that way. I’m tellin’ you if your mother wasn’t a crack head you wouldn’t be calling me one. I remember when your mother used to wake up crack head crabby, looking for me. She was soo skinny you could see her brain stems coming out da back of her head.”
“Just remember nigga, I will come looking for your lil’ ol’ ugly ass…”
“I do you a favor, I’ll tell you where them bitches, Kim and her girl, Tina hangout. Them is who you got beef wit’ Coco, not me. I ain’t busting no gun at you.”
Coco shook her head and walked back to the car.
“Is everything alright, Coco?” Deedee asked.
“Yeah, yeah, it’s all good. I just had to straighten out some shit wit that Shawty wop. Can I get a ride over to the hospital, yo?”
“How’s your mom?”
“She wasn’t even upstairs.”
They reached the hospital a few minutes later. Deedee gave Coco a pack of cigarettes. Coco pocketed them.
Inside the hospital there were people scurrying back and forth. Impatient patients chasing exhausted doctors, hiding behind the nurses. She sought the information booth, gave Miss Katie’s name and was directed to the eighth floor. Coco’s palms sweated as she checked the name outside each opening in her effort to locate Miss Katie. A nurse caught Coco wandering.
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