Let Me Say This, Again

by B. Swangin Webster

  “Shelly, my mom just told me about a court hearing. Do you know anything about this?”

  “Yes, I’ve been trying to reach you all day. Kevin has called an emergency custody hearing and the judge has granted it.”

  “Why?”

  “All I know is it has something to do with Kayla being left alone and being picked up for violating curfew, something you neglected to tell me.”

  “Oh my god! Are you serious? This is such crap! When is it?”

  “Next Wednesday.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Cheryl I have to tell you, unless you have a good explanation for her being picked up, you just might lose sole custody.”

  “Oh Hell no! I will not have her staying with him. Absolutely not! I’ll call you back.” She grabbed her keys from the bar and told Kayla she would be back later. Her mind was all over the place as she drove. She pulled up in front of the house and practically ran to the door.

  “Why do you always have to be so hateful?” Cheryl asked as the door opened.

  “I know you are not standing at my door making accusations.” Kevin said as he turned and walked away from the door.

  “Kevin, I will not share custody. You agreed that I could have sole custody with liberal visitation rights. I haven’t stopped you from seeing her,” she said as she stepped into the house.

  “No, but you have her out at all hours of the night, you have her being picked up by the police and you have her around that new nigga of yours.”

  “She got picked up for being stupid, which might I remind you, does happen to a lot of teenagers. Secondly, I don’t like her being out or home alone but I have to work.”

  “Whatever…you should have thought about that when you started traipsing all around town.”

  “What about you? I don’t say anything about Rebecca, do I? I do believe you’re the one traveling all the time, you’re the one with the girlfriend spending the night…”

  “What I do in my fucking house is none of your business.”

  “And what I do in my fucking house is none of yours!”

  He spun around and grabbed her by the shirt.

  “Don’t you get cute with me. You thought you were being a smart ass earlier with your little boyfriend.”

  “Get your damn hands off of me. I should tell them what you did to Kayla the night she got picked up. Seems like the court might not like to hear that you spanked a fifteen year old with a belt, or maybe I should tell them that you….”

  He slapped her, hard enough to send her to her knees.

  “Stop!” She yelled as she tried to get to her feet.

  He grabbed a fistful of hair and pulled her along for a couple of steps.

  “Kevin, I’m sorry!” She tried loosening his grip on her hair as he continued sliding her across the hardwood floors.

  “Get the fuck out of my house!” He screamed as he pushed her towards the front door. She slapped at his hands again and he slapped her hard enough that it sucked the air from her lungs.

  “Don’t you ever come here like that, or so help me, you will regret it.”

  She was breathing heavily as she climbed into her car and drove home. She got home and walked into the house and leaned against the wall.

  “Mom, what’s wrong?” Kayla asked as she came up to her mother.

  “Nothing…except your dad is taking me back to court because you got yourself picked up last week! Now you see why I ask you not do certain things, but you have to always be slick! Now look, you might have to go live with your dad.”

  Kayla ran upstairs to her room and slammed the door and Cheryl went into her room and laid across the bed.

  Cheryl woke up coughing and tried not to get up but it got bad enough that she had to. She walked to the top of the stairs and saw the lights still on in the living room.

  “Kayla, can you bring me some water? Kayla!”

  She walked downstairs and turned off the television and headed towards the kitchen. She got herself some water and used her inhaler. The clock in the kitchen said ten o’clock.

  “Kayla! Kayla!” She called again and went to her room and opened her door. She began to panic and ran and got her cellphone from her purse.

  The police arrived just ahead of Kevin.

  Cheryl was explaining how she went to bed and Kayla was doing the rest of her homework

  “Who is in charge?” Kevin said to the police officer.

  “Kevin, I don’t know what happened. She was here,” she said with bloodshot eyes.

  Kevin looked down at her and rolled his eyes and said a few curse words under his breath before speaking to the officer.

  “Look, obviously her mother was lying up in bed, doing god knows what…”

  “I was not! I wasn’t feeling good after leaving you …”

  As Matthew spoke to the officer, Kayla walked in asking what was going on.

  “Where have you been?” Kevin yelled while walking towards Kayla.

  “I just went down the street,” she said with a rolling of her eyes.

  “Your mom has been worried sick about…” Matthew said.

  “Look, I don’t need you talking for me,” Kevin said to Matthew. “Now answer the damn question.”

  “Let’s give her a chance to tell us,” Matthew said while guiding her towards the kitchen to sit down at the table. She sat down and started twirling her hair.

  Kevin’s face was contorted in such a way that it look like he might pop the vein in the middle of his forehead.

  “Like hell I will! You tell us where the fuck you have been!”

  Kayla turned towards her mother and spoke, “Mom, I asked you if I could go down to Denise’s house to finish up my project. You told me yes.”

  “I knew your dumb…” Kevin whirled towards Cheryl.

  “Ease up partna,” Matthew grabbed his arm

  Kevin snatched his arm away, “Look, you need to mind your fucking business,”

  “Who do you think you are talking to?” Matthew said while walking closer to him.

  “Look, nigga. I have had enough of you putting your nose in my business. Like I told the officer, if Cheryl wasn’t laying up with you tonight…”

  “Correction, she wasn’t with me tonight.”

  “Whatever, she is always doing some dumb shit….”

  Cheryl spoke softly, “If I told Kayla she could go, that was my fault. I was tired and half asleep.”

  “You and your fucking excuses, you are always letting those kids do anything. Look at Donnell’s gay ass…”

  “Stop calling him that.”

  “Calling him what, a faggot?”

  “He is half yours too, so if I have a faggot for a son, guess what, so do you.”

  Kevin lunged for her but not before Matthew grabbed him by the shirt and had punched him in the mouth before the officers could get between them.

  Kevin spit out the blood and yelled. “Don’t you ever put your fucking…”

  Cheryl pulled Matthew close to her, “Matthew, please you are only making him upset.”

  “Really?” he said as he snatched away from her and half laughed “I don’t give a rat’s ass about making him upset. Tell me one thing though, what happened when you saw him earlier.”

  Cheryl turned away from him and walked into the living room with the officers just as they escorted Kevin out. After assuring the officers that they would be ok, she shut the door and heard a glass break. She ran towards the kitchen.

  Kevin got home and poured himself a drink. He downed one and then quickly poured another one. His doorbell rang and he opened it.

  He didn’t have time to finish the words as the fight was on.

  Matthew’s hand connected with the side of his face before Kevin had a chance to react.

  The fight spilled into the front yard and Matthew had the advantage when he pulled the gun from his waist and pointed it between Kevin’s eyes.

  “Put your hands on her again and I’ll put a bullet in you.” He said
as he got up and walked off.

  Chapter 18

  Matthew poured himself a drink and drank it down. He poured another one and then another.

  “You know you shouldn’t be drinking like that.” Lynette said.

  “I don’t need you to tell me that.” Matthew said without turning around.

  “Well, at least let me fix you something.”

  “No thanks.” He said as he downed another one. “Do you want to tell me what happened?”

  He sat the glass down and turned around. He looked at the older woman standing in front of him. His housekeeper was more than that, she was someone that he knew he could talk to.

  “She let that nigga hit her again. I don’t get it, she keeps putting herself in situations with him and then when I try and help her, she gets upset with me.”

  She spoke quietly as she walked over to him and led him to the chair next to the desk in his office.

  “Matthew, now you know I am not one to pry, but you have to remember one thing. This woman has been married to that man for over seventeen years. Sometimes we, meaning women, have a tendency to go towards everything that is wrong in a relationship because that is all we know. She doesn’t know what it is to be cared for by someone. You said yourself that he has abused her since they first got married. Do you honestly believe that she can forget all of that in the span of a year or two? Give her some time. I am sure she will see what she has.”

  “I am not going to stand around waiting for her forever,” he said as he got up and walked back to the counter, grabbing the bottle and glass.

  “Somehow I think you will,” she said as he walked out.

  Cheryl had to make it right between them. She picked up the phone and dialed.

  “Hello.”

  “How are you feeling?” he asked her.

  “Better. Matthew, I am sorry for this evening. I never should have gone over there. I found out some news and I know I should have called you, but I figure I have to learn how to deal with his ass by myself.”

  “You don’t have to deal with him by yourself. I am here to help you.” He said as he laid back on his king sized bed.

  “I know, but I am a big girl. I have to learn to stand on my own two feet.”

  “So that means you don’t want my help?”

  Cheryl laid back on her pillows and began twirling her hair between her fingers. “No that means, you can’t fight my battles for me.”

  “I am not trying to fight them for you, I am fighting them with you.”

  “Matthew?”

  “Yes sweetness.” He said in his deepest voice.

  “I love you.”

  “I love you too.” he said.

  “Goodnight.”

  His phone rang again and his face contorted with rage. He looked at the screen, jotted down the number. The call had left Matthew wired and he tossed and turned. He was just about to head to the basement when he heard his doorbell ring. Lynette would be fast asleep in her room so he made his way to the door.

  Chapter 19

  The phone jolted her from her sleep and what the call told her had her in a panic. She jumped from her bed, threw on her jogging pants under her nightshirt. She woke up Kayla and told her that she would be back and told her to set the alarm. She pushed her SUV over the limit she was normally comfortable driving.

  She arrived at the police station and inquired about him.

  “Are you his wife?”

  “No, a friend.” she told the officer behind the desk.

  “Have a seat, I’ll see where he is.”

  She pulled the contents from her purse looking for her phone and couldn’t find it. She knew she put her phone in her purse but couldn’t find it. She started putting the assortment of things back in when an officer, whose uniform should have been a size bigger stood in front of her.

  “Ma’am, his bond hearing is not until the morning.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “That means there is nothing you can do tonight but go home and wait for his hearing tomorrow morning.”

  “What time?”

  “Look, I don’t know. You will have to call and find out in the morning.” He said as he walked away.

  “Excuse me, do you have a phone I can use, I can’t seem to find mine?” She asked the officer behind the desk.

  “No, look ma’am, just go home, call back at 8 am and someone will be able to tell you something.”

  He put the magazine back up to his chubby black face. She stood there for another minute and finally walked out. She climbed the stairs as she heard her cell phone ringing. She cursed as she pulled it from the front pocket of her purse. She brushed her finger across the screen and saw Kevin’s number

  “What do you want?” She yelled into the phone.

  “Excuse me?”

  “You heard me.”

  “Oh did your little boyfriend get arrested?” He said with a laugh.

  “So you are behind this?”

  “Next time he will think twice about coming over here and pulling a gun on me…”

  “He did not!”

  “Just like you, to stick by his dumb ass.”

  “Oh, just like I stuck by yours?”

  “Where is Kayla?”

  “Why?”

  “Because I am asking.”

  “Sleeping.”

  “Just make sure you have her bring all of her clothes to court tomorrow. I don’t want to have to make an extra trip.”

  She hung up on him as she heard him laughing.

  Cheryl tossed and turned all night. When the sun rose, she showered and put on some jeans and a sweater. After changing her clothes four times, she left the house, as Kayla went off to catch the bus. She arrived at the courthouse in La Plata and had to be searched and patted down. She walked into the crowded courtroom and there must have been 200 people in there. The mothers of the ‘accused’ were all dressed like they were going to church. The “babies’ mommas” were dressed like they were going to the club except they had the hollering children with them. The side door opened and in walked all of the men, shackled together. She saw Matthew at the back of the line. He had on the same clothes he had on earlier yesterday. She made eye contact with him and he turned away. One by one each prisoner was called to the defense table, asked if they knew what they were being charged with and then the prosecutor went into his spiel about why the bail should be raised, lowered, or if they should be released or if he should be kept in jail. After two hours Matthew was finally called.

  “Matthew Clifton Perry, you are being charged with 1st degree aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, trespassing, and malicious wounding. Do you understand the charges?”

  “Yes.”

  “How do you plead?” the judge asked.

  “Not Guilty.”

  “Mr. Brown, do you have anything you would like to say.” The judge asked.

  “Well, your honor, due to the nature of this assault, I think Mr. Perry, should at least have his bond set high before trial. You can’t just run around beating up the ex-husband of your new girlfriend. Nor can you go around pulling a gun on anyone that makes you mad.”

  “Your honor, with all due respect, Mr. Perry was merely defending Ms. Bookman. Mr. Goldman continually harasses Ms. Bookman to the point that Mr. Perry went to talk with him and it got out of control.”

  Kevin jumped up from his seat in the second row, “Out of control! You call him attacking me when I opened my front door, out of control!”

  “Order!” The judge shouted, while banging the gavel. “Sir, who are you?”

  “I’m Kevin Goldman, the man Mr. Perry attacked.”

  “Step forward please.” The judge ordered.

  Kevin stepped up to the prosecutors table. “Your honor, I was in my home and he came to my door and when I opened it, he started punching me.” He removed his glasses to show the golf ball sitting under his eye.

  “I could have retaliated but I didn’t and when I told him to get off of my p
roperty, he pulled a gun on me.”

  The defense attorney spoke, “Your honor. My client has admitted to his part in this assault, but my client has been a victim also.”

  “Your honor!” the prosecutor yelled.

  “Enough! I have enough to make my decision. Mr. Perry, I order that your bond be set at fifty thousand dollars, cash. I also order that you are not to go within 100 feet of Mr. Goldman.”

  “Your honor.” Ms. Tyrell spoke, “Mr. Perry and Mr. Goldman actually do some business together, and that requires that they work closely.

  “Not after today.” Kevin spoke up.

  “Order.” The judge snapped while bringing down the gavel again.

  “So noted. I suggest that Mr. Perry find another way to do business with Mr. Goldman. Mr. Perry is to stay at least 100 feet away from Mr. Goldman. Ms. Bookman will need to make other arrangements for visitation. Mr. Perry you will be released as soon as you secure bond, trial date will be no less than 60 days from today.” She banged her gavel one last time before Kevin shook the hands of his attorney and was led out of the courtroom.

  Cheryl looked down at her watch and realized that she needed to make her way to family court. She asked for directions in the lobby and walked towards the offices where the hearings were being held.

  One hour after arriving it was ordered that now Kevin and Cheryl shared joint custody of Kayla and that her child support payments would be cut in half. It was also decided that Kayla would spend all holidays with Kevin alternating Christmas and Thanksgiving. Kevin was ordered to go to anger management classes and Cheryl was ordered to take parenting classes.

  Cheryl walked out of the courthouse in a daze and tried calling Matthew but he was nowhere to be found. She walked up to her door and saw the note pinned to it.

  Hello sweetness, meet me at the gym at 8 for your boxing lessons. See you there.

  She went into the house and changed her clothes. She made herself a quick dinner and left Kayla a note that she was meeting Matthew and would be back later. She pulled into the parking lot and there were a few cars but she didn’t see Matthew’s. She stopped at the desk and asked about the boxing lessons and if Matthew had reserved a room. The woman told her where the gym was located and Cheryl headed off in that direction.