“I’m serious, T come on now my mother was a bitch. She hated me for a long time and that’s why I’m the way that I am. I have this shell that people can’t crack because I don’t trust anyone. I never had many friends besides y’all because no one ever understood me. The way that I carry myself chases people away because I’m always so hard.
“But once I moved out, I realized that I didn’t need to carry an attitude like I hated the world because it wasn’t my fault that her boyfriend was touching on me when she wasn’t looking, I couldn’t control him, I could only control myself. That’s why I’m trying to be a better person T, I used to blame myself for what happened to me but now I’m not blaming myself anymore and I’m taking it one day at a time.”
“That’s what’s up Karen. I’m glad you have a positive attitude about the situation. And I’m so sorry to hear that he was doing that to you, I had no idea. I honestly believe that everything happens for a reason, you went through that pain and instead of wanting to continue to walk around like the world owes you something, you want to change and I applaud you for that. One thing that my mother used to always say to me is ‘Tiara don’t be like me, be better than me’ so show and prove Karen. Be better than your mother not like her. And from this situation, you got strength out of it instead of weakness.”
“I’m trying T, I really am.” She said nodding.
“And that’s all that you can do homey is try because trust when I say, everything is going to be alright you hear me?”
Karen shook her head and cried. It was the first time I’d seen her shed the amount of tears that she had. Her hard exterior was now softening and it was a good thing.
I always hated to see someone that I cared about in pain. Sometimes I felt as though I took on everyone else’s problems ignoring my own. But I had to step in. I know that Karen, Ke-Ke and I had lost touch for years but I still loved them as if they’d never left and I had to be there for them.
The very next day I picked them both up and told them that I had a surprise for them.
“Where are we going T?” Ke-Ke asked for the fifth time.
“You’ll see we’re almost there.” I was so excited to show them what I had for them that I was speeding down the highway and the side streets. I had learned so many backstreets from riding dirty in the streets with Tony that it was so usual for me to take backstreets instead of main roads.
At last, I pulled up and parked in front of my property.
“Who lives here?” Karen said gazing up the three story house.
“Just come on!” I said excitedly pulling out my keys to lead them up to the second floor.
“Surprise!”
The two of them walked in and looked around.
“What’s the surprise?” Ke-Ke asked.
“I own this house, I’m giving ya’ll both this apartment to share. It’s a three bedroom, what y’all think?”
“Yeah right?” Karen let out first. Ke-Ke put her hand on her head looking at the new moldings and Newpro windows.
“What would I tell Jerry?” she blurted out. It took her one minute literally to dwell on Jerry and then she said, “You know what fuck him, I’m moving my shit in today!”
They both ran around flicking on the lights in the eat-in kitchen and large living room and then checked out the bathroom.
“T, we love you!!” They both ran up to me hugging me almost knocking me down. I was so happy that I was able to help them out. I was just hoping that my nice gesture wasn’t a mistake.
Now I’d never met Ke-Ke's boyfriend Jerry, but whoever homeboy was, I felt sorry for him. Ke-Ke left him immediately and had all of her belongings settled into the new spot within a weeks time. She and Karen were so excited about their new living situation that they were like sisters again. They would call me from Wal-Mart to tell me about the different color towels and wall sconces they were buying to put up in the bathroom or the drapes that they wanted to put inside the living room. It was really good to hear the happiness coming from the both of them. I was glad that I was a part of making things in their lives easier. They had both been through a lot and deserved it. Renee on the other hand was cut, so I distanced myself from her and of course so did the girls.
I finally found some tenants for the first and third floor whom I felt were trustworthy. I performed credit and background checks to see if they had a stable work and credit history. I had to thoroughly check them both out in hopes that they were able to afford the place and have rent in my hand not a day shorter than the first of the month. I collected two thousand dollars from both floors and only five hundred dollars collectively from Ke-Ke and Karen monthly. I knew Ke-Ke and Karen couldn't afford the spot so two hundred and fifty a piece shouldn't be a problem. They both had no jobs and I had no idea where they were getting the money from and I was afraid to ask.
There was a young couple that occupied the first floor. They had a one year old daughter and a three year old boy. They both held great jobs and had solid landlord references as well as good standing in their occupations so I was delighted to welcome them in. The couple seemed really happy with each other too. They didn't seem like they were from around my old neighborhood, which meant they weren't hood at all. They probably grew up around the Quincy area but they seemed decent and to themselves. The young lady’s boyfriend was actually a cutie, he was an Accountant so homegirl had her a good man. Of course I had to tell Ke-Ke and Karen to keep their eyes and hands off him. I didn't want any drama.
The third floor was occupied by an Asian couple. It was just a husband and wife but the wife was expecting their first child. They drove a CLK that was similar to the car that Tony bought me so I knew that I wouldn't have any problems with getting my rent from them.
Things went smooth for about two months. I collected the rent, paid the mortgage and kept the rest of the money to lace me and Shayonna. Tony would often look at me odd wondering where I got the money from to refurbish my entire wardrobe. But on the other hand most of it was going in the bank. Before my new tenants moved in, I collected, first and last months rent from them so that was eight grand that I immediately put in the bank.
It all changed the night I got a phone call at two in the morning. Of course Tony was just coming in the house from a night of hustling and he was settling into our bedroom.
I answered my phone and the heard the caller breathing heavily through the other end.
"Hi, is this Tiara?"
"Yes it is, who's calling?"
"This is your tenant on the first floor, can you come out here please?"
She was crying so I knew that it was important but like I said, it was two in the damn morning.
"Can it wait for tomorrow?" I asked.
I heard her sniffling. "No, you really need to come out here now."
I told her that I was on my way and hung up the phone pissed off about having to get up out of my sleep. But I was a landlord so this was my job.
Tony was taking off his shoes about to get comfortable but he overheard a little of my conversation.
"Who the fuck was that?" he asked.
"No one," I replied.
I hopped up and threw on some clothes.
"Where are you going Tiara?" he asked demanding an answer.
"Nowhere, I'm just going to check on Karen and Ke-Ke."
I fed him short answers in hopes that he would mind his business.
"Oh here we go! So those hoodrats are calling my girl at two in the morning to put you into some of their drama? Why are you still fucking with those mud-ducks anyway, I never liked either one of them."
I ignored Tony, I had to go and see what was going on. Plus I wanted to hurry up and get back home and get to bed. I was tired as fuck and Quincy was about twenty five minutes from my crib so I was pissed that I had to take that drive at that hour.
When I pulled up to the curb, I went from sleepy to pissed all in the blink of an eye. The ambulance, Quincy police and a shit load of neighbors were outside. I got out of
the car and ran up to one of the officers.
"Excuse me what's going on?" I asked.
The officer looked at me and didn't answer. I guess he thought that I was a nosy neighbor.
"Tiara!!!" Both Karen and Ke-Ke shouted running up to me.
"Excuse me officer," I repeated, trying to get his attention but another officer approached me instead.
"Ma’am who are you, do you own this property?"
"Yes I do," I said.
Karen and Ke-Ke watched me as I spoke to the officer. I could see that they were both crying.
The officer’s face was stern. "Ma’am, we are still trying to figure out what went on here, I'm going to need to jot down your information."
I was dazed as I watched them carry the young lady's boyfriend from the first floor out on a gurney. He appeared to be in a lot of pain, but I didn’t see his girlfriend.
I gave the officer my name and cell phone number but I still didn't have a clue what was going on. Karen and Ke-Ke and I made our way away from that officer and they began explaining but they were both talking fast and shaking.
"Listen, one at a time, what the fuck happened!" I shouted.
"I'm so sorry Tiara, I'm sorry," Ke-Ke cried out.
Karen began speaking as Ke-Ke put her face in her hands crying.
"A’ight T, this is what happened. Last week the first floor chick's boyfriend came up to borrow a DVD so we invited him inside of our apartment. So instead of borrowing the DVD he ended up watching it with us. Ke-Ke also invited Jerry over to chill with her that night. So we were all chilling, watching TV and shit, but when Jerry left, I fell asleep and the dude from the first floor stayed and slept with Ke-Ke."
I looked at Ke-Ke and I was disgusted because I already knew where this conversation was leading.
Karen finished, "So apparently Jerry didn’t leave, he sat around in the hallway all night to see when dude from the first floor was leaving our crib. When Ke-Ke walked dude to the door, Jerry was out in the hallway in the cut and when he saw Ke-Ke kissing the dude goodbye, he ran up on him and they started beefing. Shit got real crazy, they broke the hallway lights and put mad holes in the walls."
I was heated. I looked at them both as if they were the same teenage girls getting into the bullshit drama that we got into when we were younger. I had faith in them, I really thought that they had matured and were trustworthy. At this point, they looked completely pitiful to me and I wanted to rip them both a new asshole.
"So there are holes in the walls as of last week and y’all are just now telling me?"
Karen cut me off.
"I'm not done with the story because that was only last week. Jerry didn’t only put holes in the hallway either, he did some crazy shit to our apartment that we didn’t want to tell you about. But before I get to that, I want to finish telling you what happened tonight."
Ke-Ke was still crying and hadn't taken her head out of her hands. There were several police officers going in and out of the house making out their police report. And I was just pissed off altogether, I didn’t know what to do.
Karen finally finished. "Well dude from the first floor’s girl works nights so Ke-Ke was with him in his apartment tonight and I guess his girlfriend got off work early and caught him and Ke-Ke in the bed together."
I looked into one of the police cars and spotted dude’s girlfriend in the backseat staring into space. And then the rest of Karen’s story put all the pieces together to the puzzle.
“His girlfriend stabbed him in the arm and him and Ke-Ke came running upstairs to our apartment and that’s when I called the police. She didn’t run up after them, she was downstairs probably calling you to come out here T. But I’m so sorry, we didn’t mean to bring any drama to your house. I had no idea about all this shit, I didn’t know Ke-Ke was consistently sleeping with him. It wasn’t me that fucked up this time.”
Ke-Ke finally lifted her head and put her finger in Karen’s face. “Uh-uh bitch! Don’t act like you didn’t know nothing about this, you didn’t have the money to pay Tiara either, you knew exactly what I was doing!” she barked at Karen.
“Hold the fuck up Ke-Ke!” I shouted. “You was fuckin’ him for money? Didn’t we talk about this shit before! You ain’t no different from Renee, what the fuck kind of dumb shit is that? If y’all didn’t have the money for the rent, you should have told me, you don’t fuck with your neighbor’s man, that shit is nasty and it’s stupid.”
They stood there looking at me like they were two years old. They didn’t know what the fuck to say to me and I only had a few words left for them.
“Yo, it’s a wrap. Ya’ll can take your shit and move the fuck out tonight!”
“But T, where are we gonna go?” Karen pleaded.
“That’s no longer my problem.”
I walked away from them, I couldn’t take looking at them, I was fired up.
The police were finally wrapping up. They took my tenant into custody and took her boyfriend to the hospital. I felt so stupid and embarrassed for bringing my girls into this nice neighborhoodto have them tearing shit the fuck up. Homeowners were serious about their homes, if you created bad reputations around the neighborhood, it made everyone’s property value plummet so I know they were not feeling me at that point.
I went inside of the house and immediately noticed the trail of blood leading from dudes apartment up the stairs from after he got stabbed. The hallway stairs was drenched in blood and the walls had blood smeared fingerprints on them. I opened up Ke-Ke and Karen’s apartment and not only was the apartment floors tracked with blood but there was yellow and neon green paint splattered on all of the walls all the way up to the ceiling as well as on all of their furniture. Big ass holes were in the walls as if someone took a sledge hammer and was trying to knock the walls down.
Ke-Ke and Karen walked in behind me a short while later. I stood in the middle of the room looking around at how all my hard work had went down the drain. There was no way that the paint on the shellacked floors and the deep holes in the walls would take just some chump change to fix. I would have to spend all of the money that I saved to fix and clean up the mess that my two “friends” created.
“All of this is what Jerry did to our apartment the day after he had the fight with the dude downstairs. I let him in T, he said he wanted to talk but I didn’t know that he was going to go all out and do this,” Ke-Ke said pointing to the disaster that her psycho ex Jerry created in their apartment.
I took one last look at the apartment and then at my two whacked out friends and told them for the last time, “Get your shit, and get the fuck off my property.” And I left. If I would have stayed a second longer, I would have fought them both but it wasn’t even worth it. I knew what I had to do. I had to sell that house and start another plan.
My stable future was once again uncertain.
Chapter Fourteen – Super Bowl Sunday
I immediately put the house back on the market. I priced it to sell for as much as I bought it for because I didn’t care about getting a profit from it. Instead of the house being something that I was proud of, I now thought of it as a burden because Jerry had fucked it up. Both the first and third floor tenants moved out which meant that I would have to foot the bill for the mortgage on my own and frankly I didn’t have the money. I tried not to think too much about my friends because it made me want to go to wherever they were staying and beat the fuck out of both of them. So instead, I tried once again to put some focus on my own family.
I even took myself to the doctor to get a physical. I wanted to be tested for everything, even stress. Doctor Johnson had been my primary care doctor ever since I had Shayonna. She was very approachable and I had took a liking to her ever since she delivered my baby.
She took blood to perform a pregnancy test even though I assured her that I wasn’t pregnant. She also performed a pap-smear in which I would have to wait for the results along with the pregnancy test. When she checked my blood pressure she in
dicated that it was sky high and when I explained to her about some of the problems occurring in my life I hoped that she wouldn’t have to prescribe an anti-depressant for me because I was truly a stressed mess and on the verge of depression. Overall, I wanted to see if my health was intact and out of concern my doctor recommended a therapist.
Super Bowl Sunday rolled around and I called myself putting in some work in the kitchen. I made buffalo wings, fried chicken, a special cheesy dip mixed with salsa and cream cheese for the Tortilla chips and splurged on Coronas and Heinekens. Tony and I were on okay terms. He invited a bunch of his niggas over including an overly quiet Shawn. Shawn sat on the couch the whole time while Tony and the rest of his rowdy ass friends cursed the Giants out from taking our history from under our feet. We watched as Tom Brady led the Patriots into a losing battle that would eventually make the moral in Boston low. I don’t even think Shawn hit one of the seven blizzes that went around amongst their boys and he was a big smoker like Tony. He didn’t even indulge in the fact that the Patriots lost after having a track record of winning every game for the season and would have made history if we would have won the Super Bowl again. Shit I was even mad that the Patriots lost and I don’t even watch football like that so I don’t know what the fuck Shawn’s problem was. He truly never been the same after that shit that went down with Ashley and Takia.
A Hood Chick's Story pt. 2 Page 15