by La Jill Hunt
God must’ve heard my prayer, because when Ashley and I walked to the front entrance of the hospital, my mother was standing near the visitor’s desk, and Uncle Darnell was nowhere in sight. She wasn’t alone, though. Standing beside her was Nikki’s boyfriend, Patrick. They looked like they were having a serious conversation.
“Mama?” I said, walking over to where she was standing.
“Hey, Kendra. How you doing, beautiful?” Patrick gave me a brief hug then did the same to Ashley. “Hey, cutie pie. You holding up okay?”
“Hello,” I said politely.
“What the hell are you doing down here? Why aren’t you upstairs making sure Avery is okay?” She glared at me. I almost asked her the same question.
“We came to check on you, Mama,” Ashley told her.
“I don’t need nobody checking on me. Get back upstairs with your sister,” she snapped at us.
We went to follow instructions when I heard Patrick say, “We might need the little one down here when the cameras get here.”
“You think so?” Mama asked, rubbing her chin and looking at Ashley.
“Yeah, that’s her twin sister, right? She ain’t gotta say nothing, just stand there next to you.”
Ashley frowned at me, and I motioned for her to hurry inside, but it was too late.
“Ashley, you stay here. Kendra, get back up there,” Mama said.
Ashley grabbed my hand and stepped closer to me. “I wanna go wait with Kendra.”
“I don’t give a shit what you wanna do. You gonna stay down here and do what I tell you.” Mama pulled her away from me.
“Mama, why can’t she go back with me?” I asked. “You know she’s gonna be the first person Avery will be looking for when she wakes up.”
“She’ll be up in a minute,” Patrick told me. “And can you let Nikki know I’m down here helping your mama handle some business?”
“What kind of business?” I frowned.
“Grown folks’ business. Now get back up there,” Mama said, her voice so loud that the old ladies sitting at the visitors’ desk put their fingers over their lips to quiet her down. They didn’t know that doing so would only make her talk louder.
“Don’t shush me! My daughter is up there dying because someone decided to mow her over with a car and left her on the side of the street like roadkill, and you wanna shush me? Fuck you, lady. You get to sit here behind this desk, talking and judging each person that walks in here like your opinion matters, and you want me to shush so your little sidekick can hear you. I don’t think so!” Mama yelled at the top of her lungs.
“Diane, come on.” Patrick pulled at her arm.
A pretty black woman walked up and asked, “Um, excuse me. Are you Diane Hughes?”
“Why?” Mama barked, startling the lady.
“I’m Shanna West with WJLS TV-10. I was wondering if we could talk to you for a moment about what happened to your daughter.” The woman put her hand out.
“Nice to meet you, Miss West. I’m Patrick Cunningham, a friend of the family and a deacon at Mount Hebron Baptist Church. We can speak with you over here.” Patrick shook the lady’s hand and smiled.
The lady motioned to a guy carrying a TV camera who was walking through the door. Avery and I stood there, confused by everything that was going on.
“Mama?” I said.
“Are these your children also?” Shanna West asked, taking out a pad and pen.
Mama walked over and put her hand on my shoulder and said, “Get your ass upstairs now like I told you.” She then looked at Ashley and said, “You stay next to me and don’t say nothing unless I tell you. Do you both understand?”
I looked at my mother and nodded, then gave Ashley a reassuring look. I didn’t know what my mother was up to, and I was going to get to the bottom of it, but now was not the time or place.
“Yes, ma’am,” I told her and rushed back upstairs.
When I got to the waiting room, Nikki was the only one sitting there. My heart began pounding. “Where’s Aunt Celia? Did the doctors come and get her? Is Avery awake?”
“No, they haven’t come back yet. She and your uncle went to get something to drink from the vending machine.”
“Oh,” I said.
“Is that your mother?” Nikki said, pointing to the television. “And is that Patrick?”
“Yeah, he’s here.”
We both stood up and stared at the television screen. My mother, Ashley, and Patrick were standing at the front of the hospital, being interviewed by Shanna West, live on the news.
“This is Shanna West, and I’m here with the mother and sister of the hit-and-run victim we reported about earlier, along with Deacon Patrick Cunningham, spokesperson for the family. Deacon Cunningham, can you update us on how the young lady is doing?”
“The young lady is currently in a coma. She sustained horrible injuries and is in ICU,” Patrick said into the camera. Beside him, my mother sobbed as she held onto Ashley, who looked confused by everything.
“That’s sad to hear. And she was found on the side of the road near the school?”
“Yes, in the ditch,” Patrick said. “Our children aren’t safe, not even walking home from school.”
“And what are the police saying?” Shanna asked.
My mother sobbed. “They said that they’re gonna see what they can find out. They don’t care. My daughter had been missing for hours before they even decided to look for her. That’s how much they care. Had she been some little white girl that had been missing, they would’ve had her picture all over the news and issued out all kinds of alerts!”
“Oh my God.” I gasped, not wanting to believe what I was seeing.
“What the hell?” Nikki said at the same time, sounding as shocked as I was.
“We at Mount Hebron are going to support this young mother and her family, because they are a part of our community. We will be accepting donations over at the church, and a GoFundMe page will be available for those not in the area.”
It suddenly dawned on me why my mother was doing this. It was all for attention and money, the two things in life that she loved more than anything. I had to go find Aunt Celia so she could put a stop to it.
“I’ll be right back,” I said, leaving Nikki standing with her mouth open.
I followed the signs to the vending area and turned the corner when I heard her voice.
“Don’t stand there and lie to me.”
“I’m not lying, Celia. I was at a district meeting. You know I don’t have my phone on when I meet with corporate. Then, I guess I ain’t have a signal while I was on the road driving back. You’re acting crazy,” Darnell told her.
I froze, not wanting to interrupt the intense conversation.
“Naw, you’re crazy, Darnell, if you think I believe anything that’s coming out of your mouth right now.”
“Celia, we don’t even need to be having this conversation right now. You’re upset about Avery and—”
“No, I’m upset because you’re standing there lying to me. Now, tell me—how long have you been fucking my sister?”
I felt the air leave my body and felt myself become faint. I had walked up on a conversation that I hadn’t wanted to hear. My heart broke for my aunt, and although my first instinct was to go in and have her back, I decided the best thing to do was leave—and leave fast.
Bilal
Since my date with Kendra was cancelled, I decided to follow up on another problem I had been dealing with. Uncle Patrick was supposed to have paid me at least half of the money he owed Dell that I paid, but I hadn’t heard from him. I drove over to his crib, hoping to catch him, but no one was home. The church parking lot was empty, and Chubby’s was closed. I decided to take a chance and call him, even though he’d been ignoring my calls and texts for the past two days. I was shocked when he answered.
“What’s up, nephew? Did you see me on TV? I looked good, huh?”
“What? TV? What are you talking about?” I as
ked.
“I was just on the news. I gave a live interview,” Patrick answered.
“On the news for what? Where are you?”
“I’m over at the hospital. One of Nikki’s friends had an emergency, and I’m the family spokesperson.”
Whoever it was must’ve been desperate if they had my uncle speaking on their behalf.
“Well, naw, I ain’t see it. I was calling about my money you were supposed to have two days ago.”
“I know, I know, but I promise you I’ll have it in a couple of days.”
“A couple of days?”
“As a matter of fact, I’ll have all of it. I just need you to give me seventy-two hours.”
“If you don’t have half of what you owe me now, how the hell do you expect me to believe you’ll have all of it in two days?”
“Three days.”
“You said a couple.”
“A couple meaning three. I meant to say a few days. Besides, I said seventy-two hours, and I’m gonna have it. Nephew, you gotta believe me. In three days, I’m gonna have your money.”
I didn’t trust my uncle as far as I could throw him, and I damn sure didn’t believe him, but there was nothing I could do. This was all Dell’s fault. He shouldn’t have even done business with Uncle Patrick in the first place.
“Three days,” I told him.
“Three days,” Uncle Patrick said. “I gotta go. Some more reporters just got here, and I gotta go talk to them.”
At that point, I didn’t even wanna know what my uncle was up to. The only thing that mattered was him having my money in three days. Not that I was hurting for funds. Business had increased tremendously for me over the past few months. We were in the middle of a recession, and crime was on the rise. As bad as that sounded for everyone else, that was good for me, especially in my line of work. People were afraid and wanted to feel safe, and I was the man to call.
I decided to stop by Dell’s house before going home.
“What the hell are you doing here? I thought your ass had a date,” he said when he answered the door.
“She bucked on me. Had some kinda family emergency.” I walked inside.
“Hey, Bilal!” Marlena called out from the kitchen.
“Hey, Lena!” I looked over at Dell and said, “I thought you said you were done with her.”
“She got herself together and started acting like she had some sense, so I’m giving her one last chance.” His voice was barely above a whisper, and I tried not to laugh.
“Does she know that?” I said, loud enough for her to hear.
“Do I know what?” Marlena asked as we passed the doorway of the kitchen.
“Know that he’s met some new chick,” Dell said quickly.
“Oh, yeah. Dell told me you feeling some youngin’,” Marlena teased.
“She ain’t that young,” I said. “She’s only three years younger than I am.”
“Dawg, she still a teenager, and you’re damn near thirty.”
“Shut the hell up. You know that ain’t the case.” I was tempted to give examples of young chicks he had dealt with over the years, but I knew better than to go there, especially with Marlena in earshot.
“How old is she?” Marlena walked over and gave me a hug. Every time I saw her, she put me in the mind of a high school cheerleader. She was short, cute, bubbly, and instantly liked by everyone she met.
“She’s nineteen, almost twenty,” I told her.
“So, she’s legal. That’s all that matters.” Marlena rolled her eyes at Dell, then asked, “Do you like her?”
“He just met her. How the hell is he supposed to know that?”
“Oh, he knows. Now, answer the question.” Marlena waited for my response.
I thought about the conversations I’d had with Kendra, and how I felt whenever I saw her, and I smiled. “Yeah, I think so. I do.”
“I’m glad to hear that. Now, you can stop going around here dealing with these skanks like Fee and the rest of those randoms. You’re so much better than that, Bilal. You’re one of the good guys. You need a good girl. You want some dinner? We’re having lasagna.”
“Sure.” I nodded.
Dell playfully hit her on her butt as she walked out of the room, and when she was gone, he looked at me and said, “Told you she started acting like she got some sense: cooking Daddy’s favorite meal and everything.”
“You probably begged her to come back.” I laughed.
“Man, you know better than that. More like the other way around. But, listen, I’m glad you came through, because I got some business for you. Somebody broke into Malik’s crib. Got him for seventeen G and a lot more.”
“Damn, are you serious? When?” I frowned. Malik was another friend of ours that we’d known since high school. He was also a dealer. He moved coke and guns across the country.
“Night before last. I told him when he moved into that spot to call you. I think it was an inside job.”
“If he woulda called me when you told him to, he woulda had proof if it was.”
“No doubt. But robbery or not, he better do something, because I need my money,” Dell made sure to point out. Getting robbed was a part of the game, but even knowing that, Dell did not play about his money.
“I feel ya. Tell that brother to call me. I got him.” I sighed.
“We can roll over there after we eat. You ain’t got shit else to do, R. Kelly.”
“You still got jokes, huh? Yeah, we can roll through.”
“Dell, you want me to take this lasagna out of the oven, or you gonna come in here and finish it yourself?” Marlena yelled. “All you wanted me to make was the salad, remember?”
“Uh, I . . . what?”
“Well, while you were making it, you told me not to touch it, so I just wanna make sure.”
Clearly busted, Dell jumped up and made a dash toward the kitchen, trying to avoid the teasing he knew was about to commence.
I never could confirm which one of them cooked dinner, but it was delicious, and I enjoyed it nonetheless. Based on the way they were making bedroom eyes at one another, I could tell Dell was glad to have Marlena home.
“Baby, I gotta make a run with B,” he told her once we were finished eating.
“Dell,” Marlena said in a warning voice, “we talked about this. You said no more late-night runs.”
“It ain’t that type of run, Lena. This is a business meeting,” Dell said. “B gotta meet with a potential client. Tell her, B.”
Marlena looked over at me for confirmation, and I nodded. “Yeah, it’s a run for me.”
“Fine, but Dell, you remember what I told you. You mess up one more time, and I’m gone for good.”
“I got you, Lena.” Dell groaned and gave her a kiss.
“Thanks for dinner, Lena. It was great.”
“You know you’re welcome here for dinner anytime, Bilal. Next time, bring your girl. You know I gotta make sure she’s legit and give my approval.”
“Will do,” I promised and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
Dell and I drove over to Malik’s home. As soon as we got out of my truck, a guy came out of nowhere with an assault rifle pointed at us.
“What the fuck?” I yelled when I spotted him.
“Man, Skeet, if you don’t put that fucking thing down, I swear,” Dell growled.
Recognizing Dell, the guy lowered his weapon, but he didn’t put it away. “What’s good, Dell? Malik ain’t tell me you was coming.”
“He ain’t know we was coming. I gotta be fucking announced now?” Dell asked him.
“Naw, you can come on,” Skeet said and led us inside. “Malik!”
We waited in the entryway, and I took a look at the door. There was a standard doorknob and a top lock. There was no indication whatsoever that there was any type of security system in place: no cameras, no motion sensors, no detectors.
“Who that?” Malik yelled back.
“It’s Dell. I got Bilal wit’ me!” Dell hol
lered before Skeet could announce us.
“What up, fellas?” Malik spoke as he walked down the steps. He was an average-sized dude with a bald head and full beard.
“’Sup, Malik?” Dell dapped him up.
“What’s good, Malik?” I did the same.
Malik looked back over at Skeet and said, “You can get your ass back out and stand on post.”
Skeet didn’t respond. He just nodded at Dell and walked out the front door.
“You got armed guards out front now?” Dell asked.
“Shit, I shoulda had ’em before now. Then maybe I wouldn’t be in the situation I’m in now,” Malik said, rubbing his head.
“Man, I heard what happened. That’s fucked up,” I told him.
“Yeah, I shoulda listened to Dell when he told me to have you come through a little while ago, but I was thinking niggas wouldn’t be dumb enough to hit my crib. Shit, I been pushing weight in these streets since eighth grade. I been in the game longer than some of these dudes been born, and they know I play no games. I’m a fucking legend. But that ain’t stop them from coming into my crib and taking my shit.”
“Man, Malik, you know ain’t no loyalty out here. I don’t trust nobody out here these days,” Dell told him.
“You know who did this?” I asked.
“I got an idea, but I ain’t sure.” Malik shrugged.
“Well, Bilal here is gonna make sure if anything goes down again, you will be more than sure,” Dell told him.
“I hope so, but I don’t know if that’s a good thing, because if there’s a next time and there’s proof, whoever it is is gonna end up dead, that’s for sure,” Malik said, his voice full of anger. “I want my shit to be harder to get into than the fucking White House, and I wanna be able to see shit even when I ain’t here.”
“No worries. I’m gonna make sure the entire spot is secure and you’re able to see each and everything that goes on in this house at all times.”
“That’s what I’m talking about.” Malik nodded. “Lemme show you around.”