How Do I Get Out of Here

by Ahmad Aleem Williams

  Getting into the seminary driveway Preston felt that getting married to Delight was one of the biggest mistakes of his life. What was he thinking getting married at such a young age? The only reason he got married was because he found out about his son and he wanted to make things right. He figured all of that time at school he could have just married some smart doctor and not deal with such foolishness and trying to get her to buy into her system of values.

  “I knew marrying someone who didn’t have a father in their life and already being a single mother would be more than a little that I would be expected to make up for,” Preston whispered to himself making a right turn into the parking spot. Now that Preston was at the school he had to put on his happy minister’s face and act like his world was peaches and cream.

  Walking into the seminary he decided to check his mailbox. He peeked inside the mailbox and saw that his final exam was finally back in. Opening the exam Preston was not surprised to see the big fat “F” on his paper. Although, he wasn’t surprised he did have a lot of pride about what type of work he ever turned in. “When this divorce is done I will finally get back on track to do what I know I can. The Lord is just testing me now and I will be restored full bloom after I get rid of Delight and get with someone who actually knows how to spell a few words in the English language,” Preston griped.

  After the fax was finished and all of the paperwork was complete Preston jumped in the car and headed straight to Lustray’s house. It took him no longer than fifteen minutes to make it there after buying some diapers for his unborn child from Kroger and hoping that she would accept it. Preston marched up the porch steps on such a bright and sunny day and knocked on the door. Preston saw the car there, so he knew she was home.

  Whap! Whap! Whap! He banged on the door like he was the police determined to get inside there no matter what it took. Preston knew that he would need to be more than patient at this point for the simple fact that he knew she was upset with him, but if she really loved him the way that she expressed he knew that she would open up eventually.

  “What do you want?” cried an unpleasant voice. “Why don’t you run back home to your wife and kids? That’s all you ever did in the first place. As a matter of fact, who are you and is Preston your real name?”

  Preston really didn’t know how to respond. What expression should he use? Should he smile? Should he cry? Or, should he just be stern and gentle? Preston tried to pump himself up mentally and blurted, “Look, girl if I didn’t care about you, I wouldn’t be here at all. I told Delight it was over and that I love you. So what’s all of this not talking to me stuff about? I even bought some stuff for the baby.”

  “Right, and do you actually think that I am going to believe a liar? All you do is lie and there’s nothing you can do to help me change that. I already changed my cell phone number so that way, you and your wife can’t call me at all.”

  Preston just knew that Longs told him he received a message from Lustray, so Preston texted Longs to find out what number she had while he kept his foot in the door that Lustray cracked open. He needed to have the number. He needed to feel some sort of connection, something to grab onto, and something to make this entire situation right.

  “Oh my goodness,” Lustray shouted in the complex. “Mr. Brown has actually pulled out his cell phone in front of me! Bravo! Bravo! Standing ovation,” Lustray applauded, embarrassing Preston at the moment.

  Preston was embarrassed, but felt relieved that in some way or form that he was actually wearing Lustray down. After all she was now talking to him and that didn’t happen for some time. Longs responded with a text reading UNKNOWN for the number that popped up in his cell phone. “Why didn’t you just give Longs the number, he doesn’t have anything to do with this”, Preston pressed.

  “Oh really so he could just give it to you? Birds of a feather flock together and he’s not all that innocent either,” Lustray spat swirling her neck.

  “Okay, well here’s my cell phone and you can hold onto it if you want to. I have nothing to hide and you can see if it rings or anything right now.” Preston wasn’t sure if it would ring or not but it would help if it didn’t. On the other hand it would play good if Delight called and Lustray answered the phone. That way Delight would get the message loud and clear and leave him alone about seeking proper counsel from some untrained church counselor.

  Out of the blue, the door opens and Lustray keeps her head down as she opens the door for Preston to enter. “Don’t get too comfortable, because I don’t want my daughters to see you over here.”

  “Where are they?”

  “One is at school and the other is at daycare,” Lustray hissed as she sat down and crossed her legs in her pajamas, arms folded, and looking out of the window. “Do you know how you have ruined my life Preston? Not that I think that you really care at all but yeah, you completely ruined it for me. If you would have told me that you were married from the jump I wouldn’t be carrying your damn child!”

  Preston didn’t like the phrase “damn child” but as of now he was not in any position to be correcting anyone. “Lustray, I know things are not peaches and cream right now, but that is why I came back. I want to fix things between us and get on with life right now. For all of us, that’s all.”

  “And how could I be so sure? I mean all you do is screw me and go over there to screw her. Why did you keep going back over there in the first place? There must have been something there that you liked.”

  “I just didn’t know how to tell Delight and it would have just been dangerous for you if she found out who you were or where you lived. I just needed time to find out if you were really the one and now I know in my heart you’re the one that I want.”

  “So what about all of the stuff that I bought you? Did you throw that away along with my heart?”

  “Wwww-wwell,” Preston stuttered, “She took all of the gifts that you gave me and burned them in the dumpster.” He knew he was lying but couldn’t let Lustray know that if he were trying to get back into the groove with her. That type of ice breaker would have just been inappropriate. He was almost sure that topic wouldn’t come up again in the near future. He knew damn well Delight made him pack all of that stuff up in a trash bag and walk it all of the way to the dumpster. Coming back into the conversation Preston voiced, “Okay well, I’ve got to get some more of my stuff and pack it into the car. Is it okay if I leave the bags I already have packed here?”

  “Sure, it’s what you use to do anyway, right?” Lustray said nonchalantly.

  “The fact of the matter is, is that I was over here and not over there. Doesn’t that mean anything to you after almost a year?”

  “Not really, because it was all fake to begin with.”

  “Okay well I’m going to shoot over to Longs house and I will be back later tonight.” Preston ran out of the door happy that he was back in control of the situation once again and that what he thought he had lost he was now getting back. But how is Preston going to make it out of the house to get away from Delight after babysitting the kids later tonight?

  Preston got in the car and screamed, “Dang it! It’s Monday! I have to watch the kids tonight while she’s in school!” Preston Brown needed a plan and needed one quick.

  VII

  Time couldn’t have moved any faster for Preston. It was already 5 o’clock and ever since Preston got Delight into school he agreed to watch the kids while she was in school one night a week while put all of his endeavors on hold. He made his way back home feeling real upbeat that he was now back on Lustray’s good side.

  Preston waited until 4:59p.m. before he walked into the house to see Delight off to school and to make sure everything was in order before he started to watch the kids. As he walked in all he saw Delight sitting at the computer in the living room crying with her Bible in her hand and her book bag packed for the four hour course.

  Preston is all of this destruction necessary. It’s not too late to turn around and make things right
for the both of you. All you need to do is apologize and take care of your children. All of this stress is just a sure path to an early death. It’s a mistake you made and something that your marriage could survive.

  He thought Delight was going to give a bunch of questions about where he has been all day, but it was the complete opposite. “The kids have food in the fridge from yesterday and the baby has all of his diapers and wipes in the diaper bag. Make sure the kids get in bed by nine,” Delight mentioned above a whisper as she made her way towards the car door.

  Wow, that was painless. Preston pulled up to the computer to play around with some of the private email accounts he had set up since he’s known Lustray. Put as soon as he moved the mouse and viewed the search history he found something that was more than scary.

  “What the heck has this girl been looking up since I’ve been gone?” Preston’s eyes were bigger than light bulbs as he continued to scroll down the page.

  First, he saw “Lustray Black cell phone number, Lustray Black home address, Lustray Black school, Lustray Black previous home addresses. All of these queries in the same search engine. He knew that Delight wasn’t real technical savvy, but she gave it more than a shot this time around. All Preston could do was take a deep breath and proceed on to what he intended to do. First he had to get the kids to bed early so that he could start packing all of his bags while Delight was out. Then get all of his favorite movies out of the entertainment chamber as well as some of the video games that him and Longs could play during their spare time.

  After helping the kids with all of their homework, watching some cartoons with them, and making sure that they got into the shower and that the kids ate their micro- waved leftovers, before Preston knew it the clock was already reading 8p.m.

  “Alright, kids, time to hit the bed. I know it’s eight o’clock but y’all been getting on my nerves and it is time to go to bed before I get mad,” Preston snarled. Now Preston was working against the clock. He wasn’t sure if Delight’s professor would let her out of school early or not, so he had no room for error on “Operation Get Out Quick”.

  He knew that he didn’t need much and that all he needed were the essentials. Some toothpaste, deodorant, underwear, socks, and a pillow. Maybe a pillow wasn’t a good idea, because all Preston would need is another argument from Lustray about some sort of fragrance that he probably wouldn’t identify until it was too late. Besides he was a soldier and he could live off of sticks if he needed to. “I’ve got less than a month and I will be off on internship,” he thought. That way things would settle while he was away and he could get himself into some decent money and move into a one bedroom studio until he was sure if what he were getting ready to do was surely the right thing. But in any event a decision had to be made.

  After hauling everything into the trunk and back seat of his car all he had to do was wait until Delight came inside while he headed straight out. The kids were taken care of and that way there would be no room for any arguments. Preston wanted to eliminate any possibility of confrontation so he even went as far as cleaning the bathrooms and the fridge!

  About an hour later, Preston heard the car pull up and his heart sank into his stomach. He heard the high heels walking up to the door and the keys jingling to open the door. The door propped open and Preston thought about running out of the back patio and run to the front of the apartment instead of crossing paths, but that would have been too much work.

  “So, Mr. Brown where are you moving to? I see all of your bags in the car so what’s up?”

  Preston was frozen. He tried to walk past her but, she blocked his path to the doorway. “Look, all of the kids are in bed, fed, everything is cleaned up, so there’s nothing to talk about,” Preston stated in a clear and stern voice.

  “So where are you going,” Delight yelled enraged. “You think this shit is fair to me! I give you three kids and you promise to be a father to my son and this is how I get repaid!”

  “Awe here we go again! We have been through this already. I told you I just got married because we had a son. Nothing more, nothing less and that’s that. Now if you would please move from in front of me so that I can properly exit the door.”

  Delight, blocked the door with her arms and legs spread. Preston knew that it was getting close to crunch time, before Lustray would suspect something was up. Lustray knew that Preston watched his children on Monday evenings so that it wasn’t that big of a deal. What would be an issue would be the fact that Preston would walk into Lustray’s house after 11 o’clock. Lustray already had it pin pointed how long it would take him to drive from his house to Lustray’s if Delight got out of class on time. Sometimes Preston had a tendency to give out too much information to the opposition. But now he had to live with the details.

  The clock was clicking too fast for Preston, so he had to get physical. Preston grabbed little Delight around the waist and threw her from in front of the doorway. As Preston raced out of the doorway Delight jumped on his back and tried to choke Preston. He couldn’t believe that he was actually getting into a physical altercation with his own wife! Now they were outside, now it was public!

  The neighbors and young couples in the complex couldn’t believe their eyes. Was this really the Browns who were tussling and going at it like ghetto children? The couple that actually got up every Sunday morning and took their children to church with them? Didn’t they just have a new born a short time ago? This was the ultimate embarrassment for Preston and Preston knew Delight didn’t care, because as far as he was concerned women lose their minds when emotion is filled in the air.

  Preston wrestled Delight from around his neck and drug her back into the house with her loud sobs and screams. “Preston you’re a dog, you dirty dog, you wronged me out of this marriage. Don’t you ever forget that you dog.”

  “Crazy girl, why don’t you just let me go,” Preston yelled back. “You so stupid that people are out here looking at you and you just out here making an ass of yourself in front of them.”

  As they were in the house Delight paced back and forth in front of the door so that Preston wouldn’t step out. At this point Preston was done with the physical portion of the argument. He was done with it, no energy for the extra stress that was already there. He just couldn’t wait to finally get those divorce papers done now. But until he had enough money for a lawyer and an apartment he wasn’t doing anything until after his ministerial internship.

  Preston tried to just play video games on the Playstation to avoid all that she had to say. And honestly, she wasn’t saying much at all as long as he was sitting in that house. The time was now 3a.m. and Preston knew that the little trust he had built up with Lustray had dwindled away with every minute that went by on that clock.

  Finally, Delight fell asleep on the couch and Preston knew that there would not even be a point in trying to make his way back to Lustray’s so he just fell asleep in the chair until the morning came. He looked at his phone and was thankful that Lustray didn’t put too much faith in him, because this would have been the straw that broke the camel’s back for good and there is no way that he would ever be able to see his unborn child and possibly have the marriage he has always dreamed of.

  The clock struck five and Preston decided to get up from his nap and make his way towards the car. As he opened the door in the morning sun Delight uttered the words, “I’m sorry.”

  Preston was so at a loss for words all he could do was shake his head and go to his car before the kids woke up.

  VIII

  Lustray laid in the bed with mixed emotions. She really didn’t know why she let Preston back inside that door. Maybe he was really trying to change for the better? Maybe he really did want a real family with her? “Yeah, that would sound nice. Finally…to be able to take a real family portrait with everyone in it. All I can remember is going from step-dad to step-dad. In this house and out the other,” she told herself. The sun was coming up and she could hear her girls up making their way do
wnstairs to pour their own cereal bowls. The Spring humidity was high and her pregnancy was starting to take a toll on her. She didn’t know how she was going to make it through the summer if she was already feeling like this. But, the classes had to get done and she needed to graduate.

  She eased her way out of bed to go to the bathroom and all she could ponder was, “Why did she let Preston back in? His sneaky behind is probably over there having sex with his wife! Thinking he could have his cake and eat it too. Well, I am carrying his child and I could at least give him the benefit of the doubt. Now this makes three babies and three daddies. This is so embarrassing. I am not about to have three different last names in the same house. I graduated from high school with honors. This shouldn’t be happening to me. Maybe this is the crucifixion God has planned for me before I can really experience my true happiness.”

  After a long stare in the mirror, Lustray finally poured some water on her face and began to just meditate on how she would get Preston to think about her and only her. Sure, he had kids with Delight, but if he was going to be with her he needed to cut off all ties with Delight and “prove” to her that he truly loved her. “Sure he goes over there to watch his kids, sure he goes to the store for her sometimes, but now he is going to have to start catering to me,” Lustray mumbled to herself in the hallway.

  “Mommy why are you talking to yourself,” Lustray’s youngest daughter asked.

  “Nothing baby, mommy’s just thinking out loud.”

  “But I thought that you only think in your head? If you’re talking then that means you are not thinking.”

  Lustray was really not in the mood to get into any pre-school arguments so she quickly changed the subject. “Look babe, you guys are already late and mommy has to get ready to go to school so hurry up and eat and get dressed so I can drop your sister off to school and get you to the day care.”