“What are you doing?” Tyrone asked.
“What does it look like I’m doing? I’m listening to what he’s saying.”
“I can see that.”
“Then why did you ask?”
“He’s not going to hurt her, Isis. He just wants to talk to her.”
I rolled my eyes at him and continued listening. From what I could make out, Understanding was telling her that he loved her but that where he was at, it wasn’t a place for kids, that he was sorry, and that he would not be going back there, and he would make a better effort to be in her life. I couldn’t hear her response because Tyrone was talking in my ear.
“Give the man a chance.”
“I know you didn’t just tell me to give him a chance, and you’re the one who told him not to start something he can’t finish.”
I heard Understanding coming toward the kitchen and ran to the counter, trying to pretend like I wasn’t listening.
Looking at Tyrone, he said, “Would you excuse us for a minute?”
Tyrone looked at me and I nodded.
When Tyrone was out of the kitchen, Understanding asked, “Did you hear enough?”
I was busted and unashamed so I said, “Yes, as a matter of fact I did.”
“Listen, I apologize about tonight.”
“Yeah, whatever.”
“No, I’m serious. I want to do right by Queen. I’d like to come get her this weekend.”
I looked at him like he’d lost his mind. “How about this, let’s take it one step at a time. You can visit her, take her out, and we’ll work up to the overnights.”
To my surprise, he didn’t argue.
6
The Winner
The next few days came and went. I decided to call Lavert to take him up on his offer of dinner, if he was still in town. Tyrone was getting next to my heart and I needed to distance myself.
Once again, I used Tina for a baby-sitter. Before going on my date, I went to my hairdresser, Aisha.
Now this girl could so some hair, let me tell you. She was the one who convinced me to go to beauty school, telling me it was easy, and plus, you could get paid under the table and still collect your checks. I wondered why she didn’t have her own shop because she had most of the clientele at the salon.
When I pulled up, I saw Dana sitting in her Navigator taking a sip of tequila. It just so happens Aisha was standing outside smoking a cigarette and saw her. I was climbing out the car and Aisha tapped on Dana’s window.
“Busted! You know you can bring that in here.”
“Are you ready?” Aisha asked me as she went to her station.
When I made my appointment, I had stressed how important it was for me to get in and out, even told her I’d have a nice tip for her. So for the first time ever, I didn’t have to wait.
“How she get to come in and get her hair done right away?” one of the other customers asked.
“Don’t worry about it,” Aisha told her.
While Aisha was doing my hair, she told me she was thinking about taking my advice and opening her own shop, that she was in the process of looking for backers.
“You go, girl. I told you, you should have done that a long time ago. If I had the funds, I’d back you.”
We laughed and joked some, and when she was finished with my hair, I have to say, I looked finer than I already did.
“You look beautiful,” Lavert said the second he saw me.
Instead of him picking me up, I decided to meet him at the restaurant. Okay, okay, I was scared that Tyrone would just happen to stop by at the same time. Not that we were officially a couple or anything, but I wanted to show the brother some kind of respect.
“Thanks, and you look handsome.”
He did a GQ turn. “You think so.”
Glancing around at all the other women staring our way, I told him, “I’m not the only one.”
Acknowledging what I was talking about, he said, “I’m used to it.”
He pulled my seat out for me and I sat down.
Dinner was nice. We talked a lot about his job and the traveling he did. How it affected his kids. He has two boys. We also talked about my kids. He didn’t seemed turned off at all, at least not the way I expected him to be. As time went on, it seemed like he became more and arrogant; he kept talking about his money, his cars, and how women be sweating him. As quick as I found him attractive, with the same quickness I was turned off. It kind of made me appreciate Tyrone even more.
When it was time to leave, he said, “I’d love to see you again. I’m leaving tomorrow, but you have my numbers, use them.”
“I will,” I told him, lying.
Later that night I sat on my bed, smiling and feeling good about life. I would start nursing school soon. It’s not what I really wanted to do, but with the new welfare reform, you have to take up some kind of schooling. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, actually, other than raise my kids. I’d never really given having a career any thought. It was definitely time to start thinking about it. I enjoyed doing hair because I could do it on my time, but working every day in a salon, that wouldn’t work with my patience.
The next day I dropped my kids off at camp and stopped by the grocery store on the way to the salon. I had an appointment but wanted to pick up something for lunch. While there, I heard some people talking excitedly. “Did you hear? Did you hear? Someone from this area won the lottery.” I knew it wasn’t me, so I didn’t think about it.
At the grocery store, everyone was talking about the lottery winner, as well. “Whoever it was didn’t come forward yet.”
“Shit, if I won the lottery, I would have been at that store so quick collecting my damn money.”
“I know, that’s right. Me, too. I would have collected my money and disappeared.”
Everyone had something they would have done, but ain’t a damn thing any of them can do because none of them won the money. I didn’t even put my two cents in. What was the use?
That night I was in my bedroom watching the news, something I rarely did, when they flashed the numbers on the bottom of the screen: 6, 30, 16, 10, 4, 42. I recalled adding my children’s ages to the three numbers my sister gave me, and they were there. I couldn’t recall the three she’d given me but I was curious. I never threw the ticket out, although I’d been meaning to.
I went into the living room and got my purse off the coffee table, and took out my wallet. I looked inside and pulled the lottery ticket out. I sat on the couch and turned the television on, waiting for the numbers to scroll across the screen again.
The numbers that flashed by were 6, 30, 16, 10, 4, 42. I looked at my ticket: 30, 16, 6, 4, 10, 42. I looked at the television. I looked at my ticket. I looked at the television. I must have done this for five minutes until it dawned on me that I had all the numbers.
Jumping up, I screamed and quickly covered my mouth, remembering the kids were asleep.
I couldn’t believe this shit. This could not be happening to me. No, I was mistaken, there had to be some kind of mistake. I started pacing back and forth. Eleven million dollars, they said one winner. Could that be true, just one winner? Was I the winner of eleven million dollars?
Excitement, joy, and exhilaration were some of the emotions running through me.
I needed to tell someone, but who, who could I trust with this information? Dana? Tyrone? My sister? Oh shit, my sister. She picked out three of the numbers, was I obligated to give her some of the money? I paid for the ticket, sure, but I wouldn’t have won without her numbers. Fuck, fuck, fuck, she was a drug addict. I couldn’t give her the money. She’d go overboard with it.
I sat down, I stood up, I sat down. God, somebody tell me what to do!
The phone rang, startling me. “Hello?” I answered.
“Hello, is this Isis Bray?”
“Yes, it is, may I ask who’s calling?”
“It’s Jersey Medical. Do you know someone by the name of Shantay Bray?”
“Yes
, that’s my sister,” I answered, my heart racing.
7
The Good and the Bad
I couldn’t believe this, the best day of my life turned out to be the worst day of my life. I find out that I’m a freaking millionare and my sister almost overdoses. Maybe I was being tested or something, maybe this was a sign not to let anyone know just yet. Maybe…okay, okay, think—first I’d call Tyrone, have him come sit with the kids while I went to the hospital. I’d check on my sister and think about my next step, whatever that would be. Smiling, I thought, probably shopping.
Just as quick as that thought came, it went. I didn’t have any right to be this happy, did I? Not when my sister, my flesh and blood was in the hospital. I didn’t even know how serious it was. They told me I needed to get there as soon as possible.
Please, Lord, don’t let her die. Please just let it be something minor. Now I would be able to send her to rehab, she’d get her kids back, life would be good. We’d move into a big-ass house together and live happily ever after.
When Tyrone arrived, I gave him a kiss on the cheek and thanked him.
“Call me and let me know what’s wrong,” he told me.
“I will.” I opened the door and stopped. I wanted to tell him so bad about the ticket, but something stopped me. Right now just wasn’t the time.
When I arrived at the hospital, I was shocked to find Trey Senior sitting in the waiting room. I almost didn’t recognize him, he looked so worn. His clothes were tattered, he was unshaven and in need of a haircut. I thought about pretending I didn’t see him but I couldn’t do that; after all, he was my son’s father. I hadn’t seen him in over a year; I thought he’d disappeared off the face of the earth. I’m glad I was wrong, because although I was disgusted with the way he was looking, I was glad to see him living.
“Trey? Trey? What are you doing here?”
He looked up at me and smiled. “You look beautiful,” he told me. “I still love you, you know, always will.”
I didn’t say anything. There wasn’t anything to say because I use to lay up at night hoping and wishing he would come to his senses and realize that we were more important than drugs. It never happened. Even though I now knew he still cared, he was out of my system.
“I found Shantay passed out on Springwood Avenue and called the cops. I gave them your number to call you.”
“How did you know my number?”
“Your sister gave it to me a long time ago, I was just afraid to call.”
“Please don’t leave, okay, stay here. I’m going to check on my sister, then I’ll be back so we can talk.”
Trey started shifting from side to side. “I have to be somewhere.”
I knew he was lying, I knew he just wanted to leave the hospital to get a hit, so I promised him what I knew would keep him here: “Please, Trey, don’t leave, I have money. I’ll give you a couple of dollars to catch a cab to wherever you have to go.”
That sat him down, like I knew it would.
I entered the room my sister was in, and there she lay, looking helpless.
“And you are?” the doctor asked
“I’m her sister. How is she?”
“She’s a very lucky lady that the young man found her when he did.”
I walked over to her and ran my hand down her face. Her eyes were closed.
“Shantay,” I said, hoping she’d look up at me. “Shantay. It’s Isis, sweetie, open your eyes.”
She did.
“I’m going to leave you two alone. Just press the buzzer at the head of the bed if you need anything.” He walked out.
Shantay looked at me and started crying. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it, it’s okay. You’re alive, that’s all that matters.” I climbed in the bed next to her and just held her.
“I can’t do this anymore, Isis. I almost died out there. I just realized that I don’t want to die, at least not by my own hands. I need help.”
I was so glad to hear her say that, because as I lay there I was pondering whether I should tell her about the lottery money or not.
“I can’t do it on my own, though. Those NA meetings aren’t going to work for me, I need something more, I need to go away, I need to leave this place, but how am I supposed to do that? We don’t have any money; all the rehabs have waiting lists.”
“Shhhhh,” I told her. “Don’t get yourself worked up. If you really mean what you say, we’ll work it out.”
Crying, she said, “I do mean what I say. I want to live a normal life. Do you know what it’s like going from place to place giving up your body and sucking dick for a high? I’ve done it all, Isis. For all we know I could be sick, I could be dying right now of AIDS or something. All my kids were taken from me. What kind of mother lets her kids be taken from her?”
I didn’t know where all this was coming from, but I guess nearing death made you tell people things you wouldn’t normally tell them. I guess nearing death made you see that life was worth living.
“How did I get here? Who found me? The last thing I remember is being in an alley taking a hit.”
Oh shit, I forgot I had Trey waiting in the lobby. I sat up and told her, “I’ll be right back.”
“Where are you going? Please don’t leave me just yet.”
“Sweetie, I’ll be right back, I promise. Trey Senior is the one who found you, and he’s waiting in the lobby to make sure you’re okay.”
“Trey? Your son’s father?” Her surprise was obvious.
“Yes.”
“He still loves you, you know that, don’t you? Whenever he sees me, he asks about you and TJ.”
I didn’t respond to her statement, but I did tell her that when I came back I’d have some good news to share.
“I’m so tired,” she said, and closed her eyes as I walked out the hospital room into the lobby. Trey was nowhere in sight.
“Excuse me, miss,” I asked the nurse behind the desk. “The man who brought Shantay Bray in, did you see him?”
“He left about five minutes ago.”
I wanted to go after him, to find him, to thank him, and possibly to do something else for him, but for now my main concern was my sister.
I went back into her room to share the news about the lottery, but she was asleep and an older nurse was covering her up with a blanket.
“She’s going to have a hard time the next couple of days. She’s so beautiful and young. It’s a shame, these drugs are taking over our children. God bless her,” the nurse told me.
I knew the hard time she was talking about was getting the drugs out of her system.
“If you’re going to do something like a rehab, the best time to do it would be now, as soon as possible.”
I looked at the nurse and noticed she looked familiar. I read her tag. It said, Norma Jean Hunter, LPN.
“Listen, what I’m about to tell you must remain between us, at least for right now.” Something was telling me I could trust her.
“Yes?”
Clearing my throat, I told her I was the winner of the lottery.
“What lottery?”
“The one that just came out for eleven million dollars.”
“You?”
I could feel my excitement growing, speaking the words out loud. “Yes.” I reached into my purse and pulled out the ticket. “I’d just found out before getting the call about my sister. I haven’t told a soul.”
“Well, why are you telling me?”
“Because you seem to care, because there’s a sincerity in you. I need to trust someone to keep an eye on her while I run home and pack her a bag and make some phone calls about rehab and report in to the lottery commissioner. Please help me. I’ll make it worth your while.”
“How long do you think this will take you?”
“About a day or two.”
“I might have to tell the doctor.”
“Do whatever you have to. I’ll be back in a couple of hours with some clothes
for her.”
Once in the car, I said a quick prayer. A prayer of thanks, for the money, for this opportunity, and for saving my sister, sparing her life. Not only was I going to send her to rehab, but also I wanted to do the same for Trey Senior.
Right now, all I wanted to do was get home and tell Tyrone and the kids about the millions.
When I pulled into the driveway, Tyrone was sitting in the living room. “Why haven’t you called me? What happened? I was getting scared.”
“Tyrone, you need to sit down.”
“Sit down?”
“Yes, because what I’m about to tell you might blow your mind.”
“Girl, stop acting all suspicious and shit and say what you have to say.”
“You love me, right?”
“You know I do.”
“You want to marry me, right?”
“Come on, Isis, what’s going on?”
“Just answer my question.”
“Yes, dammit, it’s you who don’t want to marry me.”
“For richer or for poorer?” You see, on my way here, I’d done some serious thinking about life and death, about taking chances versus letting fear motivate you. I realized that I loved this man. Going on a date with another man didn’t lessen that love at all. My sister almost dying made me open my eyes and heart. It made me be real and ask myself why I was holding out on Tyrone. What if something happened to him, what if he died tomorrow, would I be able to deal with it? Would I be able to handle it, and the answer was no. So I decided to come home and tell him about the money and propose all in one breath.
Now I ain’t stupid or nothing, we would be signing a prenup.
“Yes, Isis. For richer or poorer. Now, would you tell me what you’re talking about and what any of this has to do with your sister?”
“Nothing.” And in one breath I spilled everything out. “My sister almost overdosed, and by some weird coincidence, Trey Senior was in the area and got her to the hospital just in time. I want to send her to rehab with the money I won in the lottery.”
A Dollar and A Dream Page 12