Tyrone started laughing. “Yeah, okay.”
I opened my purse and pulled out the ticket. “I’m serious. I won the lottery. I’m the winner of eleven million dollars.”
He looked at the ticket, looked at me, then took the ticket out of my hand and turned the television on. The numbers had been scrolling across the screen on and off all day. He read the numbers on my ticket, then the numbers on the screen.
When he looked at me again, I had this big-ass smile on my face.
“Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.” He kept repeating it over and over.
“Is that all you have to say? We’re millionaires and all you can do is say ‘oh shit’?”
He walked over to me, picked me up, and twirled me around.
His joy allowed me to release all the emotions I’d been holding in since I found out and went to the hospital. I started dancing, crying, jumping up and down, and saying, “We’re rich, we’re rich, we’re rich.” He was dancing right along with me. Suddenly he stopped and got this real serious look on his face.
“What? Why are you looking so serious?”
“We’re not rich, you are.”
Before I could ask him to marry me, the kids walked into the living room, rubbing their eyes.
“You’re making too much noise,” Queen said.
“Yeah,” the boys said.
I ran over to them and gave them each a squeeze. “How would you guys like to go to Disney World?”
TJ and Malik started jumping up and down and chanting, “We’re going to Disney World, we’re going to Disney World.”
“I thought we couldn’t afford Disney World,” Queen said.
“Well, we can now, and guess what else?” I looked over at Tyrone.
“What?” I could hear the excitement growing in Queen’s voice.
I walked over to Tyrone, threw my arms around his waist, and said, “We’re getting married.”
8
In Need of a Break
The last five days have been the most hectic days of my life. You have no idea. I can’t wait to leave for the very first vacation I’ve ever had. I need a break. In two days, so much has taken place.
The night I made the announcement to my family, no one could get back to sleep. We stayed up all night talking about what we would do with the money. I told the kids how much I’d won; they knew it was a lot of money but they had no idea how much our lives were about to change.
Me and Tyrone talked about us getting married in Disney.
“Don’t you want a big wedding with bridesmaids and all that girly stuff?” he asked.
“No, that’s not important to me. What’s important is that the kids are there, and us. We don’t need all that extra for-other-people stuff.”
I’d yet to tell him I wanted a prenup. I wasn’t sure how to broach that topic.
When we finally got to bed, I dreamed of money, of the mansion I was going to purchase, where, I didn’t know, but in my dream it had a big-ass pool. As a matter of fact, it had two pools, one for adults and one for children. My bathroom was hooked up, Jacuzzi, sauna, and steam room. The kids had their own room, I was driving a white Mercedes, chilling. Tyrone said I smiled all night.
The second I woke up I called my girl Dana.
“I need to talk to you. It’s important.”
“Girl, I’ve got company right now.”
I knew she was talking about that knucklehead Ricky.
“Well, get rid of him. I’m on my way over.” I hung up the phone before she could say a word.
Tyrone had left for work. I told him he didn’t have to work anymore. He looked at me like I was crazy.
“I love my job,” he told me. Tyrone worked for the Youth Center. He ran a program for troubled boys and got paid rather well. Now, don’t misunderstand me, he didn’t do it for the money; he did for the love of the children, to give back to the community.
That would be one of the things I’d do with my money, give back to the community, maybe start up a program for these young girls out here.
I didn’t take the kids to school, I was letting them have the day off. Hell, I might even sign them out because I would be sending them to this all-black private school on the other side of town.
They climbed in the car with me and off we went to Dana’s house. “Now don’t say anything about the money,” I told them.
“Is it a secret?” they asked.
“I want to surprise her.”
When we pulled up to Dana’s house, Ricky was still there. We left him in the living room with the kids while we went into her bedroom.
“Why aren’t the kids in school?”
“Because I’m taking them to Disney World.”
Dana looked at me like, Yeah right.
“And you and Danielle are coming with me.”
“What are you talking about?”
Walking to the bedroom door, I peeked out.
“What are you doing? Did you rob a bank or something?”
“Better than that, I hit the lottery.”
“Stop playing, girl. You came all the way over here to play.”
“I’m not playing. I’m on my way to claim the winnings now and I want you to go with me.”
Dana looked at me for a good minute, and from the grin on my face realized that I was not joking. She started screaming, “Oh my God! My best friend is fucking rich!”
I had to calm her down.
“Will you come with me?”
“Ya damn skippy. How much did you win?”
Smiling even wider I said, “Eleven million.”
She fainted.
When she came to, she kept looking at me, smiling. “Yo, I’m happy as hell, I feel like I won the lottery right along with you. How are you going to collect your money? One lump sum or in payments?”
“Girl, what I look like—one lump sum, that way it’s taxed and over with.”
Suddenly she started crying.
“What’s wrong with you?”
“You’re going to change. You’re going to move away and I’m never going to see you again.”
I couldn’t even lie and say I wasn’t going to change because I wanted to change, but it would be for the better. “Don’t go getting all sentimental on me, not before I go to the hospital, all right.”
“The hospital? What do you have to go to the hospital for?”
I realized that I hadn’t told her about Shantay.
Once I finished, she gave me a big hug and said, “It’s going to be okay.”
The kids stayed outside the hospital room while we stepped inside. Nurse Hunter was sitting next to my sister wiping her forehead. “I was wondering when you would arrive, your sister had a hard night.”
Looking at her, I said, “I could imagine.”
“Oh, and I didn’t let anyone know about what you told me.”
Hugging her, I told her, “Thank you.”
“I’ll be back shortly,” she told me.
Dana watched her leave, and said, “She looks like your mother.”
I glanced her way again and realized that’s why I had felt an instant connection with her.
Shantay surprised us both by saying, “I miss my mother.”
We both looked down at her.
“I do, too.” I took her hand and asked her, “Do you remember what you said to me last night?”
“Yes, and I meant every word.”
“I’m going to send you to a rehab.”
“How are you going to do that?”
I was so scared to tell her, because either she meant what she said and the money would push her to get clean or the money would push her more towards drugs.
“Don’t you want to get your kids back?” I’d already made up my mind to get them anyway, but I needed to set this rehab situation up.
“You know I do, but you’re still not telling me how you’re going to send me to rehab.”
Dana was all in the mix. “Girl, tell her.”
“Remember th
ose numbers you dreamed?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, I played them along with my kid’s ages, and guess what?”
Her eyes were brightening.
“We won, girl, we won.”
Shantay started boohoo crying. That started me crying, and the next thing you know Dana was crying.
We stayed at the hospital for over two hours calling various rehabs. After leaving, Dana and I went to the lottery commissioner and turned in the ticket. Of course, they wanted to set up a press conference because a young black mother on welfare had never won before.
I didn’t want to do it, because the vultures were sure to come out.
Lo and behold, one was on my porch when we pulled up.
“Daddy,” Queen said, jumping out the car.
I was confused about how I felt, her acting like he was the best thing since sliced bread.
“Hey, sweetie,” he said, picking her up and kissing her on the cheek while eyeing me.
I walked right by him not saying a word and he followed me in the house.
“Please don’t come to my house uninvited again,” I told him once we were inside and Queen went to her room.
“What are you going to do, sic your boyfriend on me?”
“Why are you here?” I asked, looking him in the eyes.
“I hear you hit the big time.”
Ricky must have been listening and told him.
“And?”
“Well, I want my share.”
I looked at him and said, “I know you done lost your mind. Your share, what share? You are nothing to me, nothing. You’re my daughter’s father, nothing more. You don’t get a share.”
“So it’s like that, you’re not going to help a brother out.”
“Please, Understanding, let’s discuss this another time. I’ve got bigger concerns.”
“Like getting married.”
I didn’t even say anything. My concerns bordered more along the lines of my sister, her kids, this press conference, and what the money would mean and how it would change my life.
“Just keep this in mind while you’re being stingy—I still have those tapes we made, and the pictures, I still have those, too. I’m sure with your soon to be newfound fame, you wouldn’t want those things to come out.”
“I’d like for you to leave now.”
“Not before I say ’bye to my daughter.”
“Queen! Your dad is leaving, come say ’bye to him!”
9
A New Life
Prior to Tyrone coming over, I’d done some serious thinking. Not only was I going to talk to him about the prenup, and putting Trey Senior in rehab, but I was going to tell him about the video and pictures Understanding spoke of. Damn, in the infamous words of Biggie Small, more money, more problems. It couldn’t be truer.
When Understanding and I were seeing each other, I’d agreed to let him tape us having sex. It might not seem like a big deal to some, but it was to me and still is, because not only was it me and him, but Dana, as well. Yeah, you heard right, my girl Dana, always in the mix.
No, we’re not messing around now. It was a onetime, stupid thing to do. I wanted to please Understanding so bad, I was so in love with him, that I would have done anything and did almost anything for him. This probably explains why I hate him so much now.
I can recall him asking me my fantasy, and me telling him I didn’t have any, that he was all I needed. The thing is, I meant that shit, too. Then he went on to tell me his, that he’d like to see me have sex with a girl. I remember being disgusted with the idea. I wasn’t gay and there was no way I would do such a thing. How did I get caught up out there? Weed, wine, and the fear that he would leave me if I didn’t.
I’d found out he was cheating on me and wanted him so bad that I asked Dana if she would do it with me. At first she said no, but he told her he would take us shopping. We were nineteen and never knew he was filming us or taking pictures until afterwards. He promised me he’d throw them out; obviously, he didn’t.
The second Tyrone walked in the door, I told him we needed to talk and spilled my guts about everything—the tape, the video, and about wanting a prenup.
The tape and video he could have cared less about. “What’s done is done. You were young, we’ve all done things we regret.” Then he looked at me and said, “You do regret it, don’t you?”
I guess that was his way of asking if I ever thought about it. “Of course I regret it.”
I decided not to worry about Understanding and his little threat; if the man I loved wasn’t concerned, why should I be? I could care less about being embarrassed. If you don’t hide it, it won’t hurt you.
Now, the prenup talk didn’t go that well, or that easy. His big issue was trust; didn’t I trust him? It didn’t have anything to do with trust, I told him. If we didn’t work out, I wanted to know that he wouldn’t try and take me to the bank. It seemed to be happening more and more; look at Janet Jackson and Jennifer Lopez—they marry these men for love, and when it doesn’t work out, the men try to take advantage. I didn’t want to take a chance.
He was pissed and I expected him to be, but he also loved me and wanted to be with me, and after a little exchange of words, he agreed to sign one.
“Oh, and I want to send Trey’s father to rehab,” I told him just before lying down.
We went to bed without making love.
The next day arrived, and it would be the day we announced to the world my good fortune. The kids and Tyrone were coming with me. Aisha came over to my house (the perks of being a millionare) and did my hair. We also discussed me backing her financially or being a partner in her business.
When we arrived at the press conference, I became nervous. The kids were looking adorable, Tyrone was in a suit, and I had on an olive green skirt set that fit every curve on my body and to me represented money.
The press asked all the questions I expected them to. Where was I from? How did it feel to go from welfare to wealth? How did I think I would handle being rich? What did I plan on doing with the money? I must say, I handled them well. Even when one of the reporters asked if it was true that I had three children by three different men, I could have went off but I chose not to. I simply stated that it was true indeed, and that I was not ashamed; in fact, all my children were well loved.
After the press conference, we went by the hospital to pick up my sister and Trey to drop them off at the airport. They were on their way to rehab. Dana had tracked Trey Senior down and told him what I wanted to do for him. He quickly said yes. He, too, was ready to have access to his children, and he knew the only way that would happen was that he’d have to be clean.
Right after the airport, we went to the mall and shopped like it was going out of style. We would be leaving for our trip to Disney the next day, and everything from panties to shoes would be new for all of us. To go into a store and just purchase shit, not have to worry about cost, was a trip. I felt like a millionaire, full of myself. I refused to worry about anything; me, Tyrone, and the kids were going to treat this vacation like a gift because that’s what it was, a gift from God, a gift and a chance.
10
The Present
When we returned from our trip, so much went down. People were coming out the woodwork claiming they were relatives, asking me to invest in this, invest in that. It was off the hook.
One of the first things Tyrone and I did was look for a house out of the ’hood. Now, don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t going to forget where I’d come from, but I didn’t have to live there to represent, either.
I did end up giving Understanding a few thousand dollars, not to keep quiet, of course, but because he is my child’s father and she would be spending time with him. He shocked the shit out of me and actually invested in a studio. Homeboy thought he was going to be the next Sean “P. Diddy” Combs.
I also purchased a small house for Dana and her daughter, and gave her a few thousand, as well. I just hoped she didn’t b
low it, because I did feel the need to tell her I wasn’t a bank and would not be loaning and giving money every few months to anyone. Those I loved would get a lump sum and would have to do with it what they saw fit.
The biggest thing of all was, I’d located my father. As it turned out, he didn’t want to leave us. My mother didn’t want to be with him. When she got pregnant with me, it was because he’d come to her to try and be a family, and after a few months my mother put him out and refused to let him come see us or call us. No, it didn’t excuse the fact that he didn’t try harder to be a part of our lives as we were growing up, but I decided to forgive him. He’d heard about my winnings and still hadn’t tried to contact me for fear I would think that was the reason he wanted to see me. That alone meant a lot.
Now, a little under six months later, Shantay just got out of rehab, we’re laying up in a spa, I’m going to open Champagne and Shampoo, and Shantay is going to see her kids.
I tell you this story to say: never give up hope, never doubt, and always believe. We don’t know what life holds in store for us.
One Night…Six Dreams
Dwayne S. Joseph
Acknowledgments
I’d like to first give thanks to God. Once again, you’ve continued to be there for me, guiding me and leading me on my predestined path. Thank you for our nightly conversations and thank you for my beautiful family.
I would next like to thank my beautiful wife, Wendy. How lucky am I to have gotten the ONE! Tu eres mi verdad, Wendy. Mi salsa y soca queen. Thank you for the inspiration and love you give me day in and day out. I love you. This is our dollar and a dream. Here’s to our family and to our new baby girl on the way! To my princesa, Tatiana: One day you’ll be able to read this and when you do, you’ll see in words how much I love you and how truly blessed I am to have a beautiful little girl like you.
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