All That Drama

by McKinney, Tina Brooks

  “I’ll call you when we get there. You will write, won’t you?” I asked, steadily wiping away my tears.

  “I’m not much of a writer but I will keep in contact,” he promised.

  Dennis was quiet the whole time we said our goodbyes.

  “Nice meeting you, man. Ya’ll drive carefully,” David said as Dennis got into the truck. “Hit me up when you get back!”

  “Thanks for your help,” Dennis said as he buckled up his seatbelt. As we drove off the street that I had lived on since I was in the fourth grade, my floodgates opened. I didn’t know I had any tears left, but you could not tell it by the amount of tissues I went through.

  I cried for everything I knew, didn’t know and couldn’t have known. Dennis let me cry until we got to West Virginia, which was more than an hour.

  “You are going to have to shut the hell up with all that damn crying. When we stop at the next rest area, they might haul my ass off to jail for physical abuse! Look in the mirror!” he shouted to me over the road noises that vibrated through the truck.

  Dennis was right—I looked like hell. I scared my own self when I looked in the mirror over the visor. I used some wet wipes to clean my face and applied a little makeup to my face. It did not disguise the fact that I had been crying but I did not look quite as scary.

  Outwardly, I tried to pull myself together. The kids woke up from a power nap that did not really count as a real nap, complaining of hunger. My heart, however, was still sick. I didn’t want to piss off Dennis with any further tears and since I had no clue how to drive a truck I suffered in silence.

  “Thank you,” I whispered loud enough for him to hear. “I know that whole scene was hard for you to witness and I appreciate all that you are doing for me. I know, if it were me, I would not have been able to handle seeing you with another woman.” He chuckled and it broke the ice that had formed in the cab of the truck.

  “You ain’t lying. You would have freaked the hell out. Remember that night we were in the club and this woman asked me to dance? You pulled a Sybil on my ass and I thought I was going to have to dial 9-1-1,” he said, cracking up with laughter. I remembered that night and he was right.

  “She was lucky that you had sense enough to say no,” I declared. “Plus, it was not that serious,” I said, trying to save face but that was all a front. I was pissed that night ’cause this heifer came up to Dennis and asked him to dance even though we were standing together.

  “Oh it was serious all right,” he said. “She looked over at you and asked if you minded and you just about came unglued. I was waiting for you to snatch off your earrings and take off your heels,” he said, laughing.

  “I only did that ’cause I didn’t like her looks,” I stated. “She looked like she was about to eat you for supper!”

  “And…I like to be eaten!” he promptly responded.

  “That bitch would have chewed and swallowed!”

  Dennis sat up straight in his bucket seat and grimaced. “You did not even have to say that part,” he said, laughing to ease the tension. He glanced over at me and said “Girl, you still look like hell. You need to do something with your face before we make a pit stop. Put some ice on your eyes to make the swelling go down. I sure don’t want any trouble from these country bumpkins thinking I’m responsible for your tore-up face!”

  My eyes were bright red and closed to mere slits. My hair was all over my head and I had crust coming from both my eyes, nose and around my lips. Even though I had just wiped my face, it was still nasty.

  “Give me a kiss,” I said, attempting to move closer to plant a wet one on him. He swerved the truck trying to avoid my lips.

  “Girl, stop playing! I almost killed us all.” I grabbed another Wet One from the bag in the back seat and carefully cleaned my face and reapplied my makeup. I combed my hair in some semblance of order and instantly felt better.

  “Now, you almost look like the woman I know and love,” he said when he again glanced my way. I was still incredibly sad but I refused to think about that for the moment.

  When we crossed the North Carolina state line we stopped for breakfast. I called my mother and told her where we were. I also slipped in a call to David but he was not at home. I let David keep the keys to my house but the phone had been turned off this morning. He was going to clean it up so that my neighbor could list it for sale. I left behind a lot of trash, and he agreed to haul it away.

  On the back end, David was going to be a big help. He agreed to paint the inside of the house. Mom said she would pay him for his services but our plan was that he would use that IOU to get round-trip tickets to Atlanta for him. His goal was to move to Atlanta as soon as possible. Although he never made it clear whether he was coming ’cause of me or not, I was just glad that he was coming.

  The rest of the trip was uneventful but long and we arrived in Atlanta about dinnertime. I tried to be good company and keep Dennis alert but my eyes were burning so badly, I could not keep them open. When I awoke, we were crossing the Georgia state line. Immediately, I felt bad about not helping but I could not do anything about it at that moment.

  “Sorry,” I said as I stretched and yawned. I looked in the back of the truck and the children were all sprawled out in various stages of sleep.

  “Did they sleep like I did?” I asked.

  “Hardly. They just fell out about ten minutes ago. I didn’t realize that Keira could talk that much. That child liked to have talked me into a coma. I kept hoping you would wake up to give me a reprieve. She talked to me until she became delirious. You didn’t feel her crawl all up in your arms?” he asked.

  “She was up here?” I asked, totally confused.

  “Yeah, pulling your hair, picking your nose and everything. You were out like a light!” he said, laughing.

  “Damn, I don’t remember anything past breakfast. See that exit sign coming up; that is the one we should be taking.”

  “Marie, I got this. Just let me handle it.” He moved onto the exit ramp and I sat up taller in my seat. I was nervous again. We stopped at the storage unit, unloaded the truck, disconnected my car and drove to Mom’s.

  We piled out of the car grabbing suitcases and Dennis sped out of the subdivision in search of a motel. He didn’t want to stay at my mom’s house and I honestly didn’t want him to. Mom would’ve killed him with questions and innuendos! I didn’t want to explain my relationships with either Dennis or David so I thought that was the best way out of it.

  Dennis came back at 10:30 and we drove downtown to find the nightlife.

  “You rushed me in and out so fast, I didn’t even get a chance to talk to your mother,” Dennis complained.

  “She’s been wearing her Inspector Gadget hat all day. If we didn’t make a break for it, she would have been drilling you for the next few hours about your intentions,” I said with a smile.

  “I liked her; she seems sweet,” he said.

  “She is until you cross her and then she becomes a mad pit bull! Do you know where we are going?” I asked.

  “I figured if we head downtown, we could look for crowds of black people and follow them.”

  I tried to pay attention to my new environment but I was still having trouble concentrating. Although I was not exactly lonely with Dennis beside me, I could not help but speculate on how I would feel on Monday when I started my new job.

  We stopped the first black couple we met when we got downtown.

  “Excuse me, where do black people go to have fun?” Dennis asked.

  “Church,” said the lady dressed in a stiff blue dress.

  “Oh okay, thanks,” Dennis said.

  “Let me pick the next person,” I said. “That woman was a prude. I could tell that by her tight ass shoes.”

  “You could tell all that by her shoes?” Dennis asked in disbelief.

  “Sure, no woman that wore shoes like that could possibly know anything about getting down! Her feet would hurt too much to let it all hang out.”

>   We drove for a few more blocks before we came upon three guys walking in suits. Dennis pulled over close to the curb and I let down my window. In my best come-get-me voice, I said, “Hi, we’re new to Atlanta and wanted to know where the hot spots are.”

  “Church,” was the joint response of all three of the guys nodding their heads in unison. They pointed to a building on the corner and asked us to come.

  Dennis took one look at me as we pulled away from the curb and said, “You are going to die down here!” He was joking when he said it but I realized there were some major elements of truth in it. Although I believed in God, I was not a devoted Christian. I could not remember the last time that I got up in time to go to church or the last time that I considered church fun.

  There was a time when I was a teenager when all we did was hang out at the church but those days were long gone. I had found myself stuck in a heavy Bible-toting Belt unsure of my future. It was going to take some major adjusting to.

  Eventually, we found a club and had a good time. The music was more old school than hip-hop and the crowd seemed to prefer more line dancing than doing their own thing but I felt I could adjust in time.

  Unfortunately for me, I drank too much and Dennis had to help me inside the house. Luckily, Mom was not waiting up. For better or worse, for sickness and in health, I had become a Georgia Peach.

  Sammie and Marie

  Chapter 16

  I had been working at my new job at White, Miller & Stevens for three months. It was not the job that I had accepted when I had agreed to move to Atlanta but so far, I was digging it. I had my own office, a secretary and so far the people were cool. They had me in orientation, which I thought was unusual since I had been working there for the past three months. However, this was the South and they tend to do things differently.

  During orientation, I got to go around to meet the partners and learn a little bit about each of their practices. I had already done some minor projects for most of them. The firm was mostly white with a few black people splattered over the four floors. Usually, I stayed to myself and kept a low profile. I did not try to get to know most of the black faces any better. The only one that looked like she might be cool was Leah. She was Mr. Miller’s secretary but time would tell on that end. The rest of the black folks had their noses so far up the white man’s ass I had absolutely no time for them.

  I just wanted to do a good job and go home without any unnecessary drama. I did not intend to exert too much energy in work relationships and since I was new at the firm and trying to prove myself, I really didn’t have the time for it.

  The job I originally had accepted when I decided to move to Atlanta did not pan out. It was at a small black-owned law firm and those Negroes were tripping all the time, especially on payday. One of the partners would come around about noon and hand out checks. When it came time to give me mine, they practically threw it on my desk. I had a real problem with that! I saw them hand our checks to everyone else in the office but mine was delivered with attitude! I took it for about two weeks and told them I had to go. I called an old boss in Baltimore and asked for her help. She called an old friend of hers and I started work the next week with this new firm.

  The money was good by Atlanta’s standards and the work was interesting. I began to make plans to move into my own house. I found one not too far from Mom’s that was for sale on a lease-to-own basis. Momma was not happy about me moving but since I was still going to be close she couldn’t complain too much. She was still going to watch the kids for me in the morning and pick them up after school, which was a big help.

  I was on the phone trying to arrange for a mover when Leah stuck her head in my office.

  “Ms. Morgan, I have some papers for you from Mr. Miller. He wanted me to bring them to you right away,” she said.

  “You can dispense with that Ms. Morgan crap. I’m Marie; come on in,” I said. I took the papers from her and began to review them. It was a request to do some research on a wrongful death case he was working on. When I first had arrived, the most that they would allow me to do was real estate matters such as property and lien record searches. This was the first beefy assignment that I had gotten and I felt like I was moving up. Putting down the papers, I wanted to celebrate. Looking up at Leah, I said, “Do you want to have lunch sometime?”

  “Uh, sure. Just let me know when,” she replied.

  “Did I say something wrong. Why the hesitation?” I asked.

  “Most of the paraprofessionals here don’t mix with the secretaries. I was just surprised, that’s all.”

  “I’m not like them. How about today; do you have any plans?”

  “Today is good but I have to go at 1:00.”

  “That’s cool; I hate going early. It makes the day go by longer. Meet you at the elevator at 1:00. You pick the spot, okay? I’m still new here and I don’t know the good places to eat yet.”

  “Ok, see you at 1:00. Oh, do you have a message for Mr. Miller?” she said, all business again.

  “Just tell him that I will jump right on it. He should have my research by the end of the week barring any unforeseen circumstances.”

  Leah left and I resumed making calls for a mover. I wanted to move over the weekend. The phone rang before I could complete my dial. Miffed, I answered with attitude.

  “Marie Morgan, can I help you?”

  “It’s me, baby,” David said. His voice sent tingles down my spine to every part of my body. I snapped my knees shut to keep in the heat. Immediately my tone softened and my body relaxed.

  “Hey, sunshine,” I said ’cause he was truly a ray of light in my life. We had been talking almost daily since my move. I missed him with ever fiber of my being and I was horny as hell.

  “I just called to hear your voice,” he said.

  “Guess what?” Before I could allow him the opportunity to offer a guess, I rambled, “I got my own place. I am moving this weekend.” I was excited beyond words.

  “That’s great, baby; any room for me?” I thought he was joking so I quickly replied, “Anywhere I am you’re welcome to come!”

  “I’m serious, all jokes aside,” he said.

  “I never joke about your moving to Atlanta,” I said, suddenly very serious.

  “I want to come but we have to lay out a few ground rules. This is not a commitment. I just need somewhere to stay while I find me a job. I don’t want there to be any misunderstandings.”

  Whoa, I thought. I had to think about what he was really saying. He wanted to come to Atlanta and live off me since I knew he didn’t have any money. Next, until he found a job, this arrangement could be indefinite and once he did, he might just go off with someone else. I don’t fucking think so. By agreeing to this arrangement, I would get the short end of the stick. Plus, if his search took too long, I would be supporting a grown man. I loved him but I was not a fucking fool.

  “I really can’t talk to you about this now. I will call you when I get home,” I said, stalling.

  “I need an answer now,” he demanded.

  I spoke from my head and not my heated pussy. “Well then, I cannot agree to your terms. I have to think about my mother and my children. I can’t allow a man to move into my house unless he is committed to us,” I whispered.

  “Thanks anyway,” he said and hung up the phone. My heart froze. I wanted to take back the words just to hear his voice on the phone again. I was so tired of the sorrow that hung over every day at my mother’s house and in my own heart when I thought about the people I left behind and the uncertainty of the future.

  Over lunch, I broke my own cardinal rule and discussed this with Leah. I have always made it a rule to never ever air my personal business with my coworkers but that day I made an exception.

  I met Leah at the elevator and we walked to Mick’s Bar & Grill. It was a mid-sized restaurant that I had passed several times before, not bothering to go in. Most of the time, I worked through lunch anyway. We got a seat and looked at the menu.<
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  “How long have you been working for the firm?” I asked, trying to break the ice.

  “Too damn long, if you know what I mean,” she said with a smile. “I have been going to school on the side and I almost had your position before you slipped in.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to block nobody, especially a sister!” I was upset about that and figured she had every right to be mad at me.

  “Don’t worry about it; it’s cool. When I saw the assignments that they were giving you, I realized I was not ready anyway. I will get my chance so don’t sweat it.”

  “Are you sure?” I asked. Not that I was going to quit or anything, I just wanted to know if I had the enemy in my camp or not.

  “I’m positive. I’m glad that they gave it to someone with a good head on her shoulders instead of the other assholes that they have been hiring since I’ve been there. This will make my fifth year. The only black people they hire are Uncle Toms. You can’t even talk to them; they are so full of themselves and can’t be trusted,” she exclaimed.

  I could not help but laugh ’cause I felt the same vibe from them. I could not relate to any of the other black people that I had met since I had joined the firm other than Leah.

  “Are you married?” I asked once lunch was served. The inquiry slipped from my lips before I considered that the question might have been too personal. “Hey, I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to dip in your business, I just feel like I have known you for a minute and it would be okay,” I said feeling embarrassed.

  “Don’t sweat it. I feel like I have known you, too. And to answer your question, not yet but I’m hopeful. I am dating this wonderful guy that my girlfriend hooked me up with,” she gushed, glowing with excitement.

  “Congratulations,” I said.

  “What about you?”

  “Separated, two kids and waiting on those blessed papers of freedom. Do you have kids?”

  “Not yet. I plan on it if this relationship works out.”

  We ate our meal and talked about trivial matters until it was almost time to go. I needed a second opinion real bad to my nagging problems and I just belted out my dilemma before I chickened out.