Keyshia and Clyde

by Treasure E. Blue

  They all watched as the four young black boys gave one another five and entered the restaurant. Tony asked his brother, “So what we gonna do, wait till they come out or hit them now?”

  Alito stared at all the parked police vehicles in the block and said, “No, not here, de precinct is right in de block. We wait.” He nodded. “Call Paco, and tell him where to park in case both cars split up again.” Tony got on the phone and called his cousin, who was parked directly behind them.

  Keyshia and Clyde were parked one block away and watched as their plans unfolded before their eyes.

  While the four boys discussed the events that had happened earlier, one of the boys noticed that a squad car had pulled up in back of their illegally parked vehicles.

  “Yo, police is giving us a ticket.” Rodney and his partner jumped up and were heading out to the truck to move it before they got a ticket.

  “Yo,” Omar yelled to them, “y’all dirty?” Both men nodded no. “What about the inside?”

  Rodney said, “Naw, we left everything in the mailbox in the building.” Omar nodded and they ran outside to catch the police before they wrote the ticket.

  Omar looked at his partner and said, “Here.” He tossed him the keys to the truck and said, “I ain’t got my license on me, drive it around the corner and I’ll order the food.” The boy nodded and left.

  Omar watched his boys argue with the police, who still, despite the boys getting there before they wrote the ticket, continued writing, not giving them a break. He watched Rodney, who he knew despised police, continue to argue with them.

  Tony and Alito watched another police car pull up behind the boy’s truck, and Tony asked, “What the hell is going on?”

  Alito shook his head. “I don’t know.”

  “What the fuck is wrong with this nigga, just take the ticket,” Omar said to himself.

  Seconds later, he watched another police car roll up and get out and assist the two officers, and before he knew it, he watched his boys be ordered to put their hands on the car as their names and driver’s licenses were run for warrants. Omar closed his eyes and shook his head. When he saw the officers who checked their names in the computer order the other officers to handcuff them, he knew that he would have to be down in court for the rest of the night bailing them out. The police pulled stacks and stacks of money out of each man’s pocket and laid them on top of the patrol car.

  Moments later, Omar watched as another police car came by and stopped—it was the K-9 unit.

  “No,” Clyde said excitedly as he watched the dog hop out of the patrol car. “This can’t be happening, it’s too perfect.”

  Keyshia assured him, “Yes, it is!”

  Omar watched as the dog sniffed inside the vehicle. Omar wasn’t worried that they would find anything because they never rode around with drugs in the vehicle. But then the dog started barking loudly and the police opened the rear door of the vehicle and stripped everything out of the trunk. Omar’s jaw nearly hit the floor as he watched the officers pull out a thick cellophane-wrapped product that looked like bundles of cocaine.

  Alito took off his glasses and strained his eyes, unable to believe what was happening. “What the . . .”

  Tony gritted his teeth and said, “They had our coca right in the fucking trunk!”

  Omar watched them go to the trunk of the second vehicle and pull out several more bundles of dope from his vehicle. Omar panicked, looked for the back exit, and ran through the kitchen and out the back door.

  Alito was too livid to watch any further. “Let’s get the fuck out of here!”

  Tony quickly said, “But this Omar is still in de store.”

  Alito took a deep breath and asked, “Do you see him at the table anymore? He fucking took off out de back exit or something.” He took a hit of coke up his nose, sniffed loudly, and said, “We catch Omar, soon. Real soon.”

  Chapter 22

  _______________

  After having been on their feet over twenty-four hours, Keyshia and Clyde were in a deep sleep when they heard pounding on the door.

  Clyde forced himself out of bed and walked to the door and yelled, “Who is it?”

  “Wake your ass up and open the door!” It was Sonny, and he was the last person Clyde wanted to see at that point.

  “It’s me, too, Clyde. You ready to go see Mama?” Clyde closed his eyes because he’d totally forgotten about his monthly visit to see his mother. He opened the door and peered out.

  Sonny instantly threw up his hands and said, “I told you this pussy-whipped-ass dude wouldn’t be ready.”

  Clyde wanted to protest but didn’t have the strength to argue with Sonny at that moment. “Y’all can come in. I’ll be ready in a second.”

  Sonny declined and said, “Man, I’ll be outside. Just hurry the fuck up!”

  Ceasar decided to enter, and Clyde led him to the living room. Keyshia peeked out the bedroom and waved to Ceasar. He smiled and waved back to her and asked, “Keyshia, you gonna come with us so you can meet our mother?”

  Keyshia looked at Clyde, who hadn’t given it much thought. He asked her, “You wanna go?” Keyshia was flattered and said she would love to.

  Keyshia and Clyde took a shower together to save some time and were dressed in a matter of minutes and out the door. When Sonny saw the three together, it was obvious that he was displeased with Keyshia being there. Ceasar picked up on it and said quickly as they piled into his vehicle, “Sonny, don’t do that. She is Clyde’s girl, and you respect her like she family, you hear me?”

  Sonny gave him a dumb look and said, “I ain’t even said nothing.”

  “You better say hello.”

  Sonny snickered, but he followed his big brother’s command, gave Keyshia a slight smile, and said, “Hello . . .”

  Ceasar quickly snapped, “Keyshia!”

  Sonny followed suit and repeated, “Hello, Keyshia.”

  “Hi, Sonny,” Keyshia said meekly.

  Happy, Ceasar said, “Now let’s go see Mama!”

  • • •

  When they arrived at the nursing home, Keyshia was nervous. Many girls who meet their boyfriend’s mother for the first time have a good reason to feel butterflies in their stomach because their worst fear is that the mother won’t approve of them. In Keyshia’s case, Clyde’s mother wouldn’t know what or who she was anyway. But it was still a challenging event. When they walked into her room, she was sitting in a chair staring out the window just like Clyde had told her she would be. If you didn’t know her, you would expect her to turn around any second and greet her visitors, but she didn’t even flinch. She had long, luxurious black hair flowing down her back with beautiful gray streaks right in the middle. Her skin was almond brown and seemed untouched by age except for the slight wrinkles forming at her deep eyes.

  Ceasar and Sonny walked directly up to her and gave her a kiss on the cheek and said, “Hi, Mama.” They looked at Clyde and Keyshia, who both walked over to her and said hello and planted a soft kiss on her face. She barely moved.

  At a closer view, Keyshia could see the hideous scar right under her right eye on the cheekbone where the boys’ father must have shot her. Keyshia also noticed that Clyde would barely look at his mother. She squeezed his hand gently, and he smiled lightly.

  They took a seat in the corner of the room and watched Ceasar carry on a conversation with his mother like she could understand him. She then watched Sonny pull up a chair next to her and do the same thing. After a few minutes, he got up and gestured to Clyde to talk to her. Keyshia could tell that Clyde didn’t want to do it, but he did it to make everybody happy.

  When he sat down, Ceasar came over and sat next to Keyshia, smiled, and said, “They say that when you talk to a person in an altered or comatose state, they can understand everything you say. They just can’t respond, so we been doing this for years to let her know that she is loved and not alone.” They watched Clyde say a few words in her ear and get up and walk toward them.
Ceasar looked at Keyshia, smiled, and said, “Why don’t you go over there and introduce yourself.”

  Keyshia looked at Ceasar and blushed. “I can’t do that, she don’t know me.”

  Ceasar said reassuringly, “Girl, you are family. Now go over there and introduce yourself to your future mother-in-law.” He smiled at her and took her hand and led her over.

  Before Keyshia sat down, she looked at all the brothers’ faces. Even Sonny seemed not to mind her sitting down to have a conversation. She sat down slowly and didn’t know what to say. Ceasar told her, “Just tell her how you feel about her son.” She nodded and scooted the chair to face her. She was nervous but spoke real low as she introduced herself.

  “Hi, Mrs. Barker, I’s name is Keyshia . . .” She closed her eyes and apologized for speaking broken English. “I mean, my name is Keyshia, and I . . . I’m your son Clyde’s girlfriend.”

  Keyshia paused and watched as the brothers left them alone. Still a little nervous, she continued, “You don’t have to worry about me hurting your son, I would never do that.” She put her head down and said, “I know you his mammy and all and want ya son to always be happy, and I can do that, ’cause I really, really love that boy and would never do nothing ta hurt him. He tells me he love me back, and ma’am, I believe him, that’s why I love him so.” Keyshia explained, “I’s gonna be truthful with you, ma’am: We got ourself in some trouble, but we almost out of it. After we do what we got ta do, we plan on going back ta school and live right. I’m gonna guarantee you that. He tells me the other day how much he love you and wish you could hug him. I’s tell him that one day you will come ’round and give him plenty hugs. So until then, I make sho’ yo’ son get plenty nuff of them hugs till you ready to give him some on your own.” She smiled and thought of something Clyde had said. “Your son taught me that the eyes don’t lie, so I want you to see my eyes when I say this.” She lifted Mrs. Barker’s head and looked her straight in the eyes and said with great intensity, “I love him so much, ma’am, that I would die fo’ him!” As she stared at Clyde’s mother, she could have sworn that she saw her nod her head like she was acknowledging her. She gave her a kiss on the cheek. Clyde walked back into the room and sat next to Keyshia as they all held one another’s hands.

  Outside the room, Ceasar and Sonny were in an intense argument. Sonny told Ceasar how much money Clyde owed Black Sam. Ceasar flipped out. “How in the world did you expect him to come up with that type of money, Sonny? Have you lost your mind?”

  Sonny countered, “I offered to take care of it, but he refused and said that he could come up with the money. What else do you want from me, Ceasar?”

  Ceasar said, “And you believed him? You believed he could come up with that kind of money without putting himself in harm’s way?”

  Sonny shrugged. “Clyde ain’t no li’l boy no more. And he ain’t as innocent as you think.”

  Ceasar rolled his eyes and said, “What do you mean by that?”

  “You know exactly what I mean.” Sonny gave him a knowing smile. “That li’l boy murked a nigga, that’s what I’m saying!”

  Ceasar turned his back on Sonny, refusing to accept the truth. “Well,” he said, “the man probably had it coming. I know Clyde—he ain’t gonna just go around”—he lowered his voice—“killing people.”

  Sonny agreed, “Yeah, you right. But the fact of the matter is he’s a grown-ass man. I offered my help, he declined. Now what was I to do, C?”

  Ceasar said, “Sonny, please, for me, make sure you see that nothing happens to Clyde.” Ceasar suddenly began to get choked up. “I won’t be able to handle it if something happens to him, okay?” Never wanting to see his brother in pain, Sonny agreed.

  After they kissed their mother good-bye, Ceasar suggested that they all go out to dinner at Amy Ruth’s or Manna’s in Harlem. Everyone agreed except Sonny, who had something to take care of, but he offered to drop them all off.

  When they exited Sonny’s truck, Sonny called out to Clyde, “Yo, Clyde, come here.”

  Clyde walked over to Sonny. “What’s up?”

  Sonny countered, “Fuck you mean, what’s up? How you doing with that thing?”

  Clyde nodded and said, “I’m doing all right.”

  Sonny smiled. “How much you got so far?”

  Clyde, never the one to tell lefty what righty was doing, said, “Don’t worry about it, as long as I come up with the money, right?”

  Sonny looked at Clyde, said, “Yeah, right,” and took off.

  When they finished eating and the check came, Ceasar reached for the bill and offered to pay, but Clyde wouldn’t allow it. “No, Clyde, I got this.”

  Clyde insisted, “No, Ceasar, for real, I got it.”

  Ceasar simply said, “What you need to do is hold on to every dime to come up with that hundred and fifty thousand.”

  Clyde was surprised that he knew how much he owed. “Who told you, Sonny?”

  “Who do you think?” Clyde sat back in the chair and frowned. “What?” Ceasar said. “I shouldn’t know what’s going on with my li’l brother’s life?” He looked around and asked, “Clyde, do you really expect to come up with that kind of money?”

  Clyde just stared at him and said, “Can I be honest with you without you getting upset?”

  Ceasar nodded. “Yes.”

  Clyde was not satisfied. “No, say, ‘I promise I won’t get pissed.’ ”

  Ceasar turned his head and took a breath. “I promise I won’t get pissed.”

  Clyde smiled and edged closer. “We already came up with a hundred and thirty thousand.”

  Ceasar gasped and said rather loudly, “A hundred and thirty thousand!” He caught himself and looked around for a moment, then continued in a lower tone, “Clyde, where the hell you get that kind of money from?”

  Clyde shrugged. “We earned it.”

  Ceasar’s voice began to rise. “Who’s ‘we,’ Clyde?”

  Clyde reminded him, “You said you wouldn’t get mad, C.”

  Ceasar shook his head and repeated more calmly, “Who is ‘we’?”

  “Me and Keyshia.”

  Ceasar looked at Keyshia, who had her head down, embarrassed. “Oh, Lord.” Clyde looked toward Keyshia and gave her a quick smile. Ceasar turned and stared at the wall to gather his thoughts, then said, “Okay, I’m not gonna ask no more questions. Now if you really have the money, that means you need only twenty thousand dollars more to pay that Sam guy back, right?” Clyde nodded. “So here is what I’m gonna do, Clyde, I’m gonna give you the rest of the money.” Clyde was taken aback for a moment. He had no clue his brother had that kind of money available. “But you got to promise me, both of y’all, promise me . . .” He looked at them like an older brother should and said, “That y’all gonna stop doing what y’all doing from this moment on and stay out of trouble, okay?” Clyde looked at Keyshia, and they both agreed with a smile.

  Satisfied, Ceasar looked at them both and shook his head. “You two were definitely meant to be together—Bonnie and Clyde, that’s what y’all are.”

  Clyde confided in his brother, “Listen, Ceasar, me and Keyshia will be going out of town soon, so can you do me a favor?”

  “Yeah, both of y’all need a vacation, I’m sure. Where are y’all going?”

  Keyshia answered, “Oh, we going down south and visit my family in South Carolina.”

  Looking at Clyde closely, he asked, “Where else?” Keyshia looked at Ceasar and knew he knew something and didn’t want to lie to him and remained silent.

  “Clyde,” Ceasar repeated, “you know I know you. Any time you freeze up like that, it means you’re holding back something. Where are you going?”

  Clyde lifted his head and said, “I’m going upstate.” He paused and then said, “to see our father.”

  Ceasar was taken by surprise and was speechless momentarily. He recouped quickly, deciding not to touch the subject. He cleared his throat and asked, “What is the favor?”

 
Clyde edged closer and said, “I need you to hold the money until I get back.”

  Ceasar nodded and said, “I can put it in a safe deposit box on my job.” Clyde nodded.

  Chapter 23

  _______________

  That same evening, Keyshia and Clyde packed for their weeklong journey. They still had over ten thousand dollars in reserve, which would take care of all their expenses.

  They decided to hit upstate to visit Clyde’s father first and then head down south to see Keyshia’s people. Clyde contacted a childhood friend of his named Miguel to help him rent a car.

  Miguel had been Clyde’s best friend since the seventh grade. He was a pretty boy who was half black and half Puerto Rican, with deep curly hair, and because the girls liked him, other boys would hate him and want to fight him. Though he fought back, he would always lose because of the number of guys that pounced upon him. One day during a fight or slaughter, he got help from an unlikely source, a quiet young boy named Clyde, and from that day on, Miguel no longer got jumped on because he now had backup, and they’d been best friends ever since. Clyde even got him a job working with Pops, but the work was too hard for Miguel and he didn’t last two days before he quit. Miguel wasn’t suited for hard work, he was more of a people person, and as they got older everybody knew and liked him. If anybody needed anything, “Mike” could make it happen. He always knew a friend who knew a friend to get the job done. Other than Sonny and Keyshia, Mike was the only person in the world who knew what Clyde did and was capable of doing. They were closer than friends, they were brothers indeed.

  Before they left for the trip, each had to make one stop.

  It seemed like a lifetime had passed since Keyshia last walked into the Wagner projects. When she got to her former building, she pulled the door and was surprised that it was locked and finally fixed for a change. Since she didn’t have any keys, she waited until someone exited the building, which wasn’t too long. When she stepped into the elevator, she smelled the stale acrid scent of dried urine. There was a time when she wouldn’t have flinched from the smell, but she had been away for a few weeks and the smell was nauseating. She was relieved when she stepped off the elevator and took a deep breath to clear her lungs. She paused as she gave herself the once-over, ensuring that nothing was out of place, running her fingers through her long braids. Today, she wore an expensive blue Donna Karan suit, with a matching pair of high-heeled shoes, giving her a conservative, professional look. Above all, she wanted to prove to her aunt Ninny that she could survive without her, and most important, that she wasn’t the greasy, grimy bitch that she always called her.