“We didn’t find out until last week, but we didn’t want you wearing yourself out trying to prepare something,” C.W. said as he entered the room.
“You mean you knew too?” she said wagging her finger at her husband. “I thought it strange that Cecelia announced she was coming for a quick visit. I should take all of you over my knee. But I’m just so happy,” she said, while still holding Carl’s hand. “What time is it in Dubai? Is it too late to call Paul? Let me call the girls.”
“They’re on their way,” Raymond said. “And we called Paul on the ride home.”
“Well what about Aunt Belle and your cousin—”
“Mama, I told Raymond not to contact anyone other than you guys. I didn’t want this to be a big deal.”
“Boy, you must be crazy. My son coming home is a big deal. I’m so happy I could burst,” she said, finally letting his hand go.
“I haven’t been able to sleep all week. We’re both glad to see you son,” C.W. said.
“I’m glad to be seen. Sometimes I wondered if this day would ever come.”
“I knew it would. I had faith and knew my prayers would be answered,” Lois said, as she put her arms around her son’s waist.
“Okay, Mama, don’t monopolize all the hugs,” Carolyn said as she and her sisters entered the room.
“Look at you,” Carl said as he spun his big sister around. “Old age is agreeing with you.”
“What old age? Forty is the new thirty,” Beverly said.
“And, Carolyn, I heard Bucky’s put a ring on it. Congratulations. Cecelia, I’m even glad to see you,” Carl said. “You dyed your hair.”
“Hey, big head,” Cecelia said as she hugged her brother.
“She’s trying to hide her gray. I told her gray hair is a sign of wisdom and a blessing from God,” Lois said.
“Well, I’m not ready to show my wisdom yet,” Cecelia said.
“That’s because you’ve been brainwashed by this materialistic Western culture that doesn’t value its elders. Most African cultures revere older women,” Raymond said.
“Last time I checked we were in the USA, not Africa.”
“I see you two are still at it,” Carl said, as he put his arm around his mother’s shoulders.
“Sometimes I wonder how I could have given birth to two people so different. But I know one thing, all my children love my peach cobbler. You all can help us finish it off. Neither me or your daddy need to be eating it.”
Not only did his mother have peach cobbler, but between leftovers in the refrigerator and unthawing frozen concoctions, she magically prepared a feast that Martha Stewart couldn’t match. They even used the dining room. Carl’s request for a quiet homecoming was ignored. But he didn’t care. There were platters of chicken, corn on the cob, and fresh sliced tomatoes. He was happy and he was happy that they were happy. He had caused them so much heartache and expense that he wasn’t sure what their reaction would be. But the atmosphere was as festive as for any returning war hero or winning election night.
News travels fast in Eden and visitors were in and out all evening. His cousin, Perry, came to the back door while Carl was in the kitchen. “Carl, welcome home! I heard you’d be home this evening. I know you’re glad to get some real food. Aunt Lois is still the best cook in town. After we eat, I want to take you out. I know you want to celebrate on your first night home. I got a fine little something something waiting to meet you. I figured we can go to the casino, go to Beale Street for a little bit, then see where the night leads us. My treat.”
“I’ll take a rain check. All I want to do is stay home, eat some of my Mama’s cooking, and sit on the porch looking as far as I can see with no concrete or barbed wires in my view.”
“You’re kidding, right? When I got out, I couldn’t wait to get to a woman.”
“I don’t want to be out late. Raymond’s taking me to Little Rock to see my boys tomorrow. I want to be at my best.”
“Cool. Just call me when you’re ready. As far as money, I got some prospects lined up for you. I’ve been putting in a good word for you.”
“Perry, I don’t even want to hear about none of that old stuff.”
“It’s nothing like that. We leave that to them young dudes. But you’d be surprised what you can do with a computer.”
“Thanks, but I don’t think I’m going that route. I’m going to get a job.”
“A job?”
“Yes, a job. I took programming classes while I was inside and got a certificate of completion. Plus I’m going to see if I can get my plumber’s license reinstated.”
“Let me school you,” Perry said as he patted his cousin on the back. “You’re back in the real world now. And people in the real world don’t give jobs to ex-convicts. You’ll be lucky to get hired to wash dishes or flip burgers.”
“Well, I’m not trying to get locked up again. So if I have to wash dishes or flip burgers, so be it.”
“I thought that too. But it’s not just hard out here for a pimp. It’s hard for everybody.”
“Carl! Come on out here,” Lois called. “I thought you were bringing the ice.”
“I’ll handle this,” Perry said as he took glasses full of ice from Carl. “Since you plan on working, you’ll probably be spending a lot of time in a kitchen. Tonight, let us wait on you,” Perry said. “A job,” he said, shaking his head and laughing.
“Well, look what the cat drug in,” Beverly said when she saw Perry. “We need to put a deadbolt on that back door.”
“So nice to see you too, cuz.”
“Carl is not supposed to associate with felons.”
“Beverly, that’s not nice. Perry has turned his life around. Maybe he can help Carl.”
“Mama, I don’t think we want Perry’s help,” Beverly said as she rolled her eyes.
“We are not to judge. The Bible says judge not, or you too will be judged,” Lois said.
“The Bible also says, the companion of fools will suffer harm. I hope you’re not planning on going out with him,” Cecelia said as Carl came in the dining room. “That’s just asking for trouble.”
“Cecelia, that’s enough.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Cecelia said as she stuck her tongue out at her cousin.
“I invited him, but he said he wants to stay home with his loving sisters.”
“Derrick is expecting me in thirty minutes,” Carolyn said.
“And I have a dinner date,” Beverly said as she pulled a chicken leg off the platter. “I just stopped by to greet my baby brother and then I’m heading back to Memphis.”
“If you’re going out to eat, why are you stuffing your face?” Raymond asked.
“So I can play over my food and look cute.”
“You women and your games,” Raymond said.
“And I have Bible study tonight. I thought about not going, but God has been so good, I want to remain faithful. Why don’t you come with me?” Lois said as she grabbed her son’s hands.
“Not tonight, Mama. I’m going to do something I’ve been dreaming about for four years.”
“So you changed your mind? That’s what I’m talking about,” Perry said as he rubbed his hands together. “Glad I didn’t cancel. When you see her, you’ll be glad too.”
“That’s not it,” Carl said.
“Good. You don’t want to mess with any hoochies that Perry lines up,” Beverly said.
“No, man, that’s not it. All I want to do is take a long bath. I can’t remember the last time I took a bath.”
Now it seemed like yesterday, but two years had passed. In six months, he’d be off parole. Maybe he would go to North Dakota. There were supposed to be plenty of good-paying jobs up there. Carl stepped on the back porch and lit a cigarette – something else that hadn’t gone as he had planned. He had always been an athlete and never smoked. Even when he was doing drugs he considered cigarettes unhealthy. Carl had started smoking out of boredom, and said it was just something to help him do his time.
Despite being contraband, they weren’t hard to get. It was kind of hard to worry about getting cancer years in the future, when all your future looked like was prison. He said he would quit as soon as he got out. Two years later he was still puffing. His mother found his lighter when she washed his clothes. She left it on his dresser, her way of letting him know she found it. He knew what was going through her mind – that he was smoking crack again.
“I never knew I could be so relieved to hear that my child smoked cigarettes,” she said when he told her. “Although promise me that you’ll quit. It’s bad for you.”
Carl thought about his mother and vowed this would be his last pack. He finished his coffee and headed to work. Burger Barn was closed for the holiday, but he had volunteered to come in and work with the cleaning crew. They would sanitize all equipment and surfaces, and strip and wax the floors. Carl wasn’t interested in watching football or parades and he could use the extra money. It took him all day to make what he used to make in one hour. But after months of searching, he was glad to have a job. His boss said Carl had what it takes to be a manager and this was just a stepping-stone. He may have taken the detour, but at least he was back on the road.
CAROLYN
“I got your check today, Cecelia. What a pleasant surprise.”
“I came by on my way home from the hospital. I didn’t want to wake you at that time of night, so I stuck it in your mailbox. I met my repayment date like I promised. Thanks again, Carolyn.”
“I must admit, I wasn’t expecting you to repay it in one payment.”
I know folks say family and money don’t mix, but Cecelia always pays me back, though it’s usually in dribs and drabs. Getting five hundred dollars over an eight or ten month time frame always seems like less money than getting it all at once. But I don’t mind helping her. I don’t have any kids and my niece and nephew deserve the best. She usually gives me cash, but this was a larger amount so she wrote a check. Not that I don’t trust her, but I will be at her bank first thing in the morning to cash it, and she remembered to make it out to Carolyn Roberts.
“No one changes their last name anymore,” she said when I complained about spending six hours at the Department of Motor Vehicles getting a new license.
Initially I agreed with her, and had planned to hyphenate my name. Then Derrick pouted for a week. He said of course it was up to me, but he had waited so long to share his life with someone, it never occurred to him that I wouldn’t want to share his name. He was so sweet about it, that I gave in. Seeing my married name on the bank account that we opened was a proud moment. I had finally found someone to love me all the way. The flip side, is that I have to do more explaining about my finances. So even though I don’t need the money that desperately, I am glad I’ll be able to tell Derrick that she paid me back.
“I really appreciate you hanging in there with me through all of this,” Cecelia said. “Now I understand the saying cheaper to keep her. Only in my case it’s the reverse. I can’t thank you enough.”
“It’s too early for a tax refund. Did you get a bonus?” I asked.
“Isn’t that a personal question?”
“Well, I think I have a right to ask personal questions when you borrow two thousand dollars.”
“Remember, you offered. I didn’t ask you for it.”
“I know, but I couldn’t have you chained to those loan sharks. Those payday loan places should be outlawed. They only put them in our neighborhoods, and they charge obscene rates of interest. I can’t believe you even went there.” I found a receipt from Chicago Title and Loan in a Michael Kors clutch I borrowed from her. “Cece, tell me this isn’t yours,” I asked her when I opened the purse.
“Then I won’t tell you.”
“So it is yours?”
“You said not to tell you.”
“Okay, very funny. Those places are just legal robbery. You know better.”
“I needed the money quick. All of Sheree’s financial aid hadn’t come in and they were going to drop her. I’m going to withdraw from my 401k to pay it back, but then I figured she will need money next semester. So I’ll just wait until next semester and make one withdrawal,” Cecelia said.
“Then how about I loan you the money now? When you get your 401k money, you can pay me back and avoid the sky high interest and fees.”
I conduct financial literacy seminars as part of my outreach at work. I couldn’t very well have my own sister going to those shady places. Sheree was in school. Cecelia wasn’t running up a ridiculous bill. Problem solved. But according to my husband (stills sounds funny to say that), there was a problem.
“You gave your sister how much?” Derrick asked, when I said how sweet it was of Sheree to call and thank me.
“I loaned her two thousand dollars.”
“Doesn’t she have a gambling problem?”
“She’s doing better. And this money was for Sheree’s tuition. I couldn’t let my niece get put out of school.”
“But she wasn’t getting put out. They had already found a way to pay her tuition.”
“At an exorbitant rate of interest.”
“If I remember my finance class, high risk equals high interest. I would say your sister is a high risk. But that’s not the point. You should have asked me first.”
“Asked you?”
“Yes. We’re supposed to make major financial decisions together. Two thousand dollars is a major financial decision in my book. What if I spent two thousand dollars on my boat?”
“That’s different.”
“Why? Because you make more money than I do?”
“That has nothing to do with it. Your boat is not a necessity and there’s no plan to replace that money. Cecelia will pay me back and you should trust my judgment. I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t think it was important.” This turned into our first big argument and we didn’t speak for days. Since we weren’t in the same city, that meant neither one of us called the other. After four days, I decided to apologize and was going to call him and to my surprise, he was parked in my parking space when I got home from work. He had taken off work and driven from Eden. We both apologized, spent eighteen hours making up, and he went home the next evening.
“I thought you weren’t going to be able to repay me until next semester,” I said.
“You sure do ask a lot of questions. Seems like you would be happy to get the money back early.”
“I am. I just hope this doesn’t mean you’re still going to the casino.” I know it’s not my fault, but I do feel a twinge of guilt, as though I was the person to give an alcoholic his first drink. A few years ago, I won a trip for two to Las Vegas from the radio station. Me and my boyfriend at the time, broke up, well actually, he went back to his wife. I was too depressed to go alone and was going to forfeit the trip. Cecelia went with me and we had a ball. It was cold in Chicago and eighty degrees there. We saw Toni Braxton and Sinbad. The food and shopping were great. We played the slots and took craps lessons. Unfortunately, what happened in Vegas didn’t stay in Vegas. Cecelia brought a new pastime back with her – gambling.
“What difference does it make? Why can’t anyone ever just be happy for me? Yes, I occasionally go to the casino. I didn’t see you complaining when I got us those complimentary tickets to see Patti LaBelle or New Edition. My marriage is over. My daughter has her own life, and I rarely see my son. My job is frenetic from the time I get there to the time I leave, which is usually at least two hours later than the time I’m scheduled to leave. We have two nurses out on some humanitarian trip to Haiti for three weeks. So I’m sorry if sitting in a corner reading a book doesn’t relax me like it does you. Forgive me for wanting to have a life.”
“But don’t you see – going to the casino, blowing your paycheck isn’t a life. And your marriage didn’t just fall apart. You and Neiman Marcus gave it a big shove.” I guess I had a little hand in that too. One of our favorite things to do together was to shop. We turned it into a sport. We would
start with breakfast, then make the rounds of stores on Michigan Avenue, have a late lunch, then go to one of the outlet malls and stay until closing. We pursued sales like experienced safari game hunters. I didn’t have a husband and children and could afford to indulge my shopping binges. And I figured Cece had two incomes so she could afford it too. I was shocked the first time she filed for bankruptcy. I felt guilty and started declining Cecelia’s shopping invitations. Unfortunately, she replaced our shopping sprees with casino trips.
“Again, thanks for the support. I’m not blowing my paycheck. Give me a little credit,” Cecelia said.
“Then why did you need to borrow money and why was your mortgage past due?”
“It’s called strategic default. Even Suze Orman recommends it. The house isn’t worth what we paid for it. Why keep throwing money down a rat hole?”
“How about so you have somewhere to live?” I said.
“Since the money is so tainted, you can give it back to me.”
“I’m disappointed, not stupid.”
“I didn’t think so. I’ve got things under control, so quit worrying. If it makes you feel better, I received a bonus for a project I worked on last year. Now, let’s talk about something else,” Cecelia said. “Didn’t you go to Eden last weekend? How’s Daddy doing? It’s getting close to the anniversary of Mama’s death.”
“He’s gained a few pounds and he stays on the go, so I guess that means he’s doing fine.”
“Last time I talked to Carl, Daddy was staying out all night. Sometimes people express grief by acting totally out of character.”
“I think it’s just a case of him trying to get away from the house and memories,” I said.
“More like a case of Viagra,” Cecelia said. “I just hope he doesn’t give himself a heart attack trying to be Grandpa Player. We have at least one patient a week come in with a heart attack associated with so called male enhancement pills.”
Down Home Blues Page 5