For the first time in her life, she realized that she had options beyond this stage. She could use her brain to take her where she wanted to go, and she could use sex for love on her terms. No, these men no longer gave her validation, but she wanted them to know what they were missing.
And just like that, it was all over. She picked up her bikini and began collecting the money. She leapt off the stage and ran to the dressing room with the groping hands of the men behind her.
“So how do you feel?” Patra asked.
“Like a liberated woman,” Keisha responded. “I feel like a woman who is about to travel to a different universe, leaving this one behind. And that feels good, damn good.”
Chapter 28
The world is round and the place which may seem like the end may also be only the beginning.
—Ivy Baker Priest
Keisha got up early on Sunday and began packing her things. It wasn’t going to take a lot to move, but she still wanted to get things all set so that she could move into her dorm room early on Monday morning. But before she did all that, she wanted to do something nice for Patra.
“Get up,” she yelled outside Patra’s door. Patra came to the door and sleepily walked past Keisha.
“Thanks for getting me up,” Patra said sarcastically. “God help me if I’d wanted to sleep in on a Sunday morning.”
“You’re not sleeping in this Sunday,” Keisha said cheerfully. “I’m taking you to breakfast.”
Patra stumbled around the kitchen, looking for a coffee filter.
“That’s sweet, but you don’t have to do that,” she said, finding the filter in a drawer. She put it into the coffeemaker, opened a coffee can, and scooped in some coffee.
“Nonsense,” Keisha said. “You let me stay here for all this time, and this is the least I could do.”
Patra watched the coffee brew for a second and then turned to Keisha. “You know, you’re right. It is the least you can do.”
They both laughed. Keisha went into the bathroom and shouted out to Patra. “Where do you want to go eat? I was thinking about heading over to either Aunt Kizzy’s or Dulan’s. Which one do you want to go to?”
“Let’s go to Dulan’s,” Patra said. “I feel like getting an omelet.”
“Then Dulan’s it is,” Keisha said. “And by the way, thanks for setting up everything last night.”
Patra sipped on her coffee. “No problem. Might as well send you off like a star since you’re escaping to a place none of us can even dream of.”
Keisha looked at herself in the bathroom mirror and suddenly felt a bit guilty. She did have a bright future ahead of her. She walked out of the bathroom and sat down on the living room couch.
“Patra, I have something to tell you, and it’s going to be difficult,” Keisha said. Patra was still standing in the kitchen sipping her coffee. She started walking into the living room.
“What?”
“Look, I wasn’t going to say anything, because I didn’t want to hurt your feelings,” Keisha started. “But when I told Sean that I was quitting, I asked him if he’d put you on the weekend. He said—”
“I already know,” Patra said. “Don’t trip. I figured it out when he took this new girl up to his office. I kept asking him about headlining and he kept telling me he was going to make a decision later. Always later. So I’m going to handle it.”
“I’m sorry, Patra,” Keisha said.
“I’m not,” she responded. “I may go downtown and see if one of those clubs want a black girl. If not, then I may get out of this shit altogether. I may do some movies.”
Keisha walked into the kitchen and poured herself a cup of coffee. “Are you sure about that? Do you really want to do movies?”
“Do you know what I did before I got into stripping?” Patra asked. Keisha walked back into the living room and sat down.
“No, what?”
“I was a preschool teacher,” Patra said, smiling. “I took some classes at El Camino and got my teacher certification, and I was happy keeping those little brats in line. But I’m naturally sexual, Keisha, and I like having as much sex as I can. And that doesn’t work when you’re working with kids. They put you in jail for that. So this is the industry that I chose. I hate the bullshit around it, but I enjoy dancing, the attention, and the sex. I’ve just got to make it work for me.”
“As long as you’re happy, that’s all that matters,” Keisha said. “Enough of that shit. Let’s get dressed. I’m ready for grub.”
Keisha and Patra got ready and then drove to Dulan’s, which was packed, as usual. Patra got her omelet and Keisha ate her meatloaf and stuffing.
“The one thing I’m not going to miss about working at the Chi Chi Room is watching my weight,” Keisha said, taking a bite of stuffing. “Even though Sean said that he liked his women thick, I never felt that I could eat what I wanted.”
“You ain’t getting heavy no matter what you eat,” Patra said. “You don’t have that type of metabolism. Now me, on the other hand…”
Patra started laughing as she finished her omelet.
“I’m going to miss you, Keisha,” she said unexpectedly. “I hadn’t thought that I would miss having a roommate, but I think I’ll miss having you around, even though you were asleep most of the time.”
“I’ll miss you too,” Keisha said.
“Here’s”—Patra held up her glass of orange juice—“to us. Friends for life.”
“I’ll drink to that,” Keisha said, toasting Patra.
Breakfast with Patra had been fun. She’d gained a friend, even though she was going in a different direction. When they’d gotten back from Dulan’s, Patra had left to get her hair done, leaving Keisha to box up the rest of her stuff. She’d planned to pack things up and then see her father again, but a phone call interrupted her plans.
“Did you miss me?” Donovan asked, speaking on the phone.
“Yes,” Keisha cooed. When she heard his voice, goose bumps actually came up on her arm. “Did you miss me is the real question.”
“You know I did,” he said. “Are you done at the club?”
“Yes.”
“That’s good. That’s really good,” he said. “Why don’t you come on over?”
“I don’t know,” Keisha said, continuing to put her things into boxes. “I’ve got to get this stuff done. I’m moving into the dorms early tomorrow morning, and then I have class all day. Plus, I’ve got a Spanish test that’s going to be a killer. So I can’t mess around today.”
“Ah, so you’re just going to do me and then leave me?” he said mischievously. “I feel so used.”
“Yeah, I bet you do,” Keisha said. “Nah, I’ve got to pass. But why don’t you come to my dorm room later this week? I’ve got a single, so I don’t have to worry about any roommate.”
“Think they’ll let a roughneck like myself on campus?”
“They don’t have a—”
Keisha’s phone beeped. “Hold on,” she told Donovan.
“Hello,” the voice said on the other line. “May I speak to Keisha Montez?”
“Speaking.”
“Ms. Montez, this is Cedars-Sinai, and I have news about your father.”
“Yes?”
“I regret to inform you that your father has died.”
Keisha grew numb. She didn’t feel like crying, but she felt like she’d been cheated. Cheated from knowing her father.
“Is there a way to see my father before he is taken away?”
“Yes, if you come down now, you can see him.”
“Thank you very much.”
Keisha hung up, forgetting that Donovan was on the other line. He called back.
“Hey, was that some other Negro on the line?” he said kiddingly.
“No, I’m sorry. The hospital just called and said that my father just died.”
“Damn, I’m sorry, Keisha,” Donovan said. “I didn’t even know that he was back in town.”
“I found out whe
n I ran into Andre.”
“What are you going to do? Do you want me to come over?”
Keisha started looking for her bag. “I’m going to go to Cedars-Sinai to see him for the last time.”
“I’ll meet you there,” Donovan said.
“You don’t have to do that.”
“Forget that,” Donovan said. “You don’t need to go through this by yourself.”
“Thank you, Donovan.”
Keisha got into her car and drove as fast as she could to the hospital. She parked her car and ran to the hospital elevator. She got to the fifth floor and walked to the nurse.
“I’m looking for Felice Montez.”
“He’s still in the room, but they are about to move him. Are you a relative?”
“Yes,” she said, walking to the room.
The nurses were dressing Felice and were almost ready to take him to the morgue.
“Hello,” one of the nurses said. “Are you his daughter?”
“Yes,” she said.
“He wanted you to have this,” the nurse said, handing her his briefcase.
“Thank you very much,” Keisha said.
The nurses started moving her father out of the room, and out of the corner of Keisha’s eye, she saw the elevator open. Cascading out were her mother and Andre.
“Wait a second,” Veronica said angrily. “He had some papers that I need.”
The nurse kept moving Felice into the elevator, leaving the three Montezes in the hallway.
“You couldn’t even take a second and look at him?” Keisha said to Veronica. “All you care about is some fucking papers?”
“He left me,” Veronica said disdainfully. “So fuck him.”
“Momma,” Andre interjected, “not now.”
She didn’t listen to him. She started walking to his room and when she found it empty, she looked for a nurse.
“Where is all of his stuff? Where are his things?”
“The only thing he had was a briefcase, which he wanted us to give to his daughter,” the nurse said, annoyed that she had to deal with a belligerent woman. Veronica turned to Keisha.
“So that briefcase is his? Give it to me.”
At that moment, Donovan walked off the elevator.
“He gave it to me, so it’s mine,” she said. “We’re not even having this discussion.”
“Momma, let Keisha have the briefcase. We need to go,” Andre said.
“Shut up, Andre,” Veronica said. “Look, Keisha, I’m not going to play with you. Give me the damn briefcase right now.”
“No.”
Donovan tried to get in the middle of this impending disaster. The nurses started staring, and one got on the phone to call security.
“Why don’t you guys talk later about all of this?” he asked helpfully.
“No, this is going to end right now,” Keisha said. “I don’t know what’s in this briefcase. And honestly, I don’t care. But you’ve tried to take everything you could from us—our self-esteem, our dignity—and you ultimately took away our daddy. But you’re not taking this.”
Veronica took a step toward Keisha, but Keisha didn’t flinch.
“Take another step and that will be the last step you ever take,” Keisha said. “And I mean it.”
Andre took Veronica by the arm, and Donovan took Keisha by the arm. The elevator opened and a security guard walked out.
The nurses pointed, but Keisha and Donovan were already on their way to the elevator.
“There’s nothing to see,” she said. “We’re going.”
The elevator doors closed, and Donovan looked at Keisha. “Are you okay?” he asked.
“No, but that’s not unusual,” she said sadly. “Funny, but it’s not because my father has just died. Yeah, I’m sad about that, but for some reason, I don’t think my brain has even contemplated that he’s back in my life, much less having died. It’s almost like someone else’s father has died, and not my own. It’s going to hit me later, but not now. But really, what disturbs me is that my mother is just so greedy and selfish. I can’t stand her.”
“What the hell is in that briefcase?” he asked curiously. “And why did your mother want it so bad?”
“Who knows,” she answered as the elevator opened on the first floor. “I think she just wanted it because she wants everything she can get her hands on. But there may not be anything but bubble gum in this case. I just know that she ain’t getting it.”
They walked outside to the parking lot.
“I’m over there.” Donovan pointed. “You want me to come over and help you pack?”
“No, I’ve got it,” said Keisha, holding the briefcase. “I can handle it. Thanks for coming through, though. I appreciate it.”
“Not a problem. You sure you’ll be cool?”
“I’m fine.”
Donovan reached over and gave her a tender kiss.
“See you later this week?”
“Of course. You’ve got to christen my dorm room.” Keisha laughed.
“It’ll be a pleasure.”
Chapter 29
Calamities are of two kinds: misfortune to ourselves, and good fortune to others.
—Ambrose Bierce
“Everybody over here,” Steven yelled, with his hands in his pockets. It could get cold in Los Angeles during September. Not midwestern cold, but cold enough to bundle up.
“Wait a second,” Marty said, picking up a bundle of posters. “I need to put these in the car.”
It was three o’clock Monday morning, and there were about ten people at the warehouse. They knew what they had to do, but Steven wanted to give them just one more bit of instruction. He wasn’t going to dirty his hands by actually going to UCLA, but he needed his surrogates to get the maximum impact.
Marty walked over to the group. Everyone was ready.
“You’ve got about two hours to post the flyers everywhere,” Steven said. “I don’t want anyone getting arrested, do you hear me? Not one of you muthafuckas better get caught. But if you do, you don’t know me. Everybody understand?”
“Yes!” they all shouted.
“Okay, then get the fuck out of here,” Steven said, retreating into the office.
“You heard the man,” Marty said. “Let’s go.”
The group all got into their cars and began to drive toward UCLA. The campus wasn’t too far away, but what was going to be tricky was getting on campus without the campus police seeing them. For that, they’d come up with a plan. Five groups of two would spread out at different places on campus and then drive off once they put up every poster.
“Inside Keisha! is going to be the biggest thing to hit this campus since they won a national championship,” Marty said, smiling.
Ray was in another car, with Steven having given him private instructions to make sure Marty didn’t fuck it up.
The five cars all stopped and parked, and everyone began picking up posters, tape, and staple guns. They had over five hundred posters.
“I want these posters on every pole on campus,” Marty whispered to everyone. “If you can’t find a pole, then tape them down on the sidewalk so that everyone can see them as they walk. And then put them on the buildings. We have about an hour to do this before the light comes up, so don’t fuck around.”
The five groups began spreading out and taping Inside Keisha! posters to everything they could find. Marty was taping them to windows, poles, and even on the vending machines.
Every so often, they would see the lights of a campus policeman, but surprisingly, they never ran into an officer who was walking a beat. After about forty-five minutes, all the posters were up. It looked like the campus had been spammed.
As they made their way back to their cars, everyone was excited, including Marty. Steven had given him a job, and he’d pulled it off.
“Great job, everyone,” he said. “Here’s your money.”
He paid everyone fifty dollars, and the group began walking to their individual ca
rs. Marty and Ray got into Marty’s car and started back toward Pimp.
“Do you feel a little bit for Keisha?” Ray asked, looking at the sunrise over the horizon. It was pretty, and he couldn’t help feeling a sense of regret over changing Keisha’s life forever. “I mean, we didn’t have to do this. Steven could just have gotten another girl and moved on. But he wanted to teach her a lesson. I just feel a little bit sleazy about this.”
Marty looked at Ray with his mouth wide open. “College boy is feeling a bit sleazy?” he said, laughing. “Maybe you didn’t notice, but we’re in the sleaze business. We make money off of sleaze. Didn’t you tell me way back that you do what you have to do? Or was it that you go where you have to go? That’s just what you did, cat. You went where you had to go.”
Ray didn’t look at Marty because he knew he was dead right. As they pulled into Pimp, Marty nearly ran to the door, wanting to tell Steven that he’d done good. Steven was in his office, lying on his couch, watching television.
“So how did it go?” he asked, lifting his head to look at Marty and Ray.
“Without a hitch,” Marty answered. “No one even knew we were on campus. We didn’t see a single cop, and we got the campus plastered in less than an hour. She’ll be the number-one topic on the minds of students in about an hour.”
“Great,” Steven said, laying his head back down on the couch. “Step two is to call Keisha in about an hour. I want to hear what she has to say.”
“I can’t wait.” Marty giggled. “That will teach that bitch to fuck with us.”
When Keisha got home from the hospital, she kept packing her boxes until she was done. It was as though keeping busy would take her mind off her father passing, and it did. She’d put the briefcase on the floor, right next to the envelope her father had given her earlier, but she couldn’t bring herself to open either one.
Patra had come in after getting her hair done, but Keisha could barely remember the conversation. She had so many mixed emotions that she was having trouble dealing with them. She had been about to move into the dorm and get her education, but then her father had died. She was done with the Chi Chi Room, but she still had a porno circulating that she hoped no one would ever see. Her friend Patra had been so kind, but she was now facing an abortion and being out of work. And then there was Donovan. What did she want to do with him?
Skin Game Page 21