Keyshia and Clyde

by Treasure E. Blue

  The huge, silent crowd parted as Keyshia’s mother and the little girl approached her. Clyde was emotionally overwhelmed, and tears welled in his eyes. Keyshia didn’t know what to do as she stared down at the most beautiful little girl who looked so much like her. In her hand, the little girl had a brown teddy bear, and she raised it up to Keyshia and said, “My name is Christina. Is you my mama?”

  Still speechless, Keyshia simply nodded.

  “Well, my daddy say this is for you.”

  Keyshia accepted the teddy bear, which read, “I love my mommy.” Keyshia fell to her knees and embraced her child for the first time. Then she pulled herself together and looked in her daughter’s eyes through her tears. She said, “Yes . . . yes, baby, I’s your mommy and I’s love you.”

  Her daughter threw her arms around her and said, “I love you, too, Mommy.”

  Love never fails.

  Keyshia picked up her daughter and carried her into the house to spend some quality time with her. As she walked toward the house, she watched Christina’s father, who had bandages and bruises all over his pitiful face, nod, back into his car, and drive away.

  After Keyshia entered the house, a car pulled into the driveway and two boys jumped out of the backseat and ran toward the gathering. “Don’t you boys go far. And don’t get your clothing dirty, and let me see the food before you eat it! You hear me?” The boys nodded and continued on. Everyone watched as Ninny exited the car. She frowned as she stepped uneasily through the spotted grass and dirt. She was dressed very conservatively and looked as if she were going on a job interview. When she noticed all her folks staring at her, she asked sarcastically, “My God, who died? I thought this was a family reunion.” The crowd parted, and there stood her four older sisters with their arms folded, staring at her grimly.

  Ninny smiled and waved and looked around at everyone’s faces, “Hey, Sissy, hey, Carol, Marie, Mary. Why is the music not playing and everybody looking at me like this?”

  Sissy—Keyshia’s mother—approached her and said coolly, “Hey, Ninny, we got to talk.”

  Surprised, Ninny asked, “Talk about what? Girl, I just got here, driving for all them hours.”

  Her sister Mary said, “Oh, chile, it ain’t gonna take but a second.”

  Marie interjected, “Yeah, we just going in the house, that way you can rest a li’l.”

  Ninny smiled and said, “Yeah, that sound nice, I do need to change into some slippers. My feet are killing me. Let me just tell my boys to be careful out here.”

  Carol, the oldest and biggest sister, said, “Now, Ninny, dem boys is just gon’ be fine. Let ’em be boys, I’s keep an eye on ’em.”

  Ninny nodded and joked, “I see you guys is still speaking country as hell. When are you going to learn proper English?” All the sisters remained silent as the five of them walked into the house.

  Clyde watched everything unfold and smiled.

  When they got in the house, the four surrounded their sister as they shut the door and locked it. Perplexed, Ninny suspected something wrong and asked, “What is this about, and why is everyone looking at me that way?”

  Sissy said, “Ninny, you’s gots ta answer ta Keyshia!”

  “What?” Ninny stammered as she feigned ignorance. Just then Keyshia and her daughter exited out of one of the bedrooms. Ninny’s eyes widened as a huge lump formed in her throat.

  Sissy nodded and said, “Yeah, you do remember my daughter Keyshia.”

  “Our niece!” Carol said loudly.

  Sissy walked up to her face and questioned, “You made my daughter sleep in the closet and put your fucking hands on her?”

  “I . . . I . . . ,” Ninny stuttered.

  “I, what?” Sissy asked. “She’s a black dirty bitch, and she ain’t going to amount to shit? Nobody gonna want her?” The sisters stared at Ninny, incensed.

  “Ninny, we raised you and raised you well,” Sissy said angrily. “I quit school ta take care of you when Mama and Papa die, put you through school, and sent ya ta New York fo’ a job and everything, and you pay me back by treating my daughter like a dog?” The more Sissy spoke, the angrier she got. “Keyshia, take the baby out of here, ’cause I’s about ta show yo’ aunt some of this here furniture. Excuse me . . . I’m sorry, that’s not proper English, is it, Ninny? Allow me to rephrase myself: Please excuse us, Keyshia, because we are about to kick your aunt’s ass!”

  “Ooh, Mommy, Grandmommy cursed,” Keyshia’s daughter said.

  Keyshia smiled, picked up her daughter, and exited the house quickly.

  Chapter 30

  _______________

  Keyshia and her daughter, Christina, were in their own little world, laughing and playing and trying to make up for the time they’d missed together. They couldn’t keep their hands off each other, hugging each other for what seemed like the thousandth time. When Keyshia introduced her daughter to Clyde, they seemed to hit it off immediately. The three looked like a family as Keyshia and Clyde swung Christina from their arms.

  The reunion started unwinding at about ten o’clock that evening as family members hugged and kissed. It was about the same time that Christina’s father pulled up to take her home. Christina pleaded tearfully with her newfound mother to come home and live with her.

  “Mommy, why don’t you and Mr. Clyde just come home and live with me and my daddy and we can all be together?”

  “Christina, that would be real nice, but that is not possible.”

  “Why, Mommy?”

  Keyshia could not answer her. All she could do was look in her daughter’s precious, innocent face.

  “Then can I come with you, Mommy?” she asked excitedly.

  Keyshia could only tell her the truth. “Christina, right now your mommy can’t take care of you the way Mommy wants to. For right now, it is best that you stay with your daddy, until your mother gets a job, maybe a house, and gets on her feet a little. When that happens . . .” Keyshia smiled widely. “You can come stay with Mommy as much as you want. How does that sound?”

  Christina smiled and said, “Sounds great, Mommy!”

  Keyshia stared at her daughter. “How did you get to be so smart?”

  Christina shrugged and answered, “I don’t know.”

  They embraced for the final time, and Keyshia said, “I love you, Christina. Always remember that Mommy loves you to death. Now go ahead to your father.” She stood and watched her run into her father’s arms and waved until they were out of sight.

  Clyde walked over and asked, “You okay, baby?”

  Keyshia threw her arms around Clyde for a long hug.

  By noon the next day, Keyshia and Clyde were packed and ready for the fifteen-hour drive to New York. All of Keyshia’s family were saddened to see them leave, especially her mother and little sister, Kenya. Keyshia and Clyde hugged each of her family members who lined up to see them off. Keyshia hugged her mother last and whispered in her ear, “This is for you and the boys and Kenya.” And she slipped her mother a thousand dollars.

  Her mother shook her head. “Keyshia,” she began, but Keyshia stopped her.

  “I know what you gonna say, Ma, but just accept it for me; it would mean the world to me.” Her mother stared into her eyes and nodded. They embraced again, and Keyshia pulled away and entered the car because she didn’t want to break down in front of everyone.

  Kenya ran to the passenger side of the car, and Keyshia smiled as she looked into her little sister’s big doe eyes and asked her, “What’s wrong, Kenya?”

  “I want to go with y’all!” she said.

  Keyshia rubbed her smooth dark skin and said, “Baby, there’s nothing in the world I would like better than to bring you back with me, but right now, me and Clyde have to take care of some important things.” Kenya put her head down, dejected.

  “But . . . ,” Keyshia said.

  Kenya lifted her head as Keyshia continued, “I promise that the next time we come down here you can come back with us to visit. How doe
s that sound?”

  Kenya’s face lit up and she leaned in and kissed her sister and said, “You promise?”

  Keyshia nodded. “I promise.”

  Clyde honked his horn and everyone waved good-bye and didn’t stop until they were out of view.

  They arrived at the George Washington Bridge just before seven in the morning and decided to get a head start and take care of everything that morning. Since the bank opened at eight, Clyde decided to head there and pick up all the money from Ceasar. He had been calling Sonny since last night to ask where to meet him to drop off the money, but he’d got no answer, so he decided to call Martha to see if Sonny had left a message for him.

  “Hello, Martha, this is Clyde.”

  “Hey, Clyde, how is your trip turning out?”

  “It was okay, but I’m back now and—”

  “You back, since when?” she asked.

  “I just pulled into the city and I’m looking for Sonny. You heard from him?” The phone went silent, and Clyde asked, “Martha, you still there?”

  “Yes, I’m here.”

  “Well, did Sonny leave a message for me?”

  “Umm,” Martha stammered, “I ain’t heard from him since two days ago.”

  Clyde frowned. “Okay, if you hear from him, can you tell him to call me? It’s important.”

  “What’s the matter? Can I help you with something?” she asked.

  “Naw, it’s not that important,” Clyde lied. “Listen, I gotta go. I’m about to meet Ceasar at his job.”

  “Clyde,” Martha said, “uh, you think you can stop over here first?”

  “I’m sorry, Martha, I got to take care of something real important.”

  “Please, Clyde, stop by here first. I need to see you about something.”

  “Martha, what’s wrong? Is everything all right with Sonny?”

  “Yes, far’s I know, but—” Just then he lost signal on his cell phone.

  Keyshia asked, “What was that all about?”

  Clyde shrugged. “She probably needs more money or something.” He sucked his teeth and said, “We just go to a Hundred and Twenty-fifth to see Ceasar, and I’ll see her later.”

  When they got to 125th Street and Lenox, traffic was unusually heavy. When they finally arrived at the bank, Keyshia double-parked. Clyde looked around and saw traffic cops all over the place and told Keyshia, “Listen, we can’t double-park here, so drive around the block or something and come back so we don’t get a ticket.” Keyshia nodded.

  As Clyde got out of the car, he heard Keyshia call, “Clyde!” Clyde turned around. Keyshia smiled and said, “I love you, boy.”

  Clyde smiled like a little boy and said, “I love you, too, girl!”

  Keyshia watched him walk to the curb and enter the bank. She drove off and after a few blocks ran smack into traffic. She peered out of the driver’s-side window and saw a funeral procession. She couldn’t even do a U-turn because it was so congested. After ten minutes of waiting, she stepped out of the car and watched a convoy of high-end cars follow a black hearse. Curious onlookers on the sidewalk watched the nearly fifty-car procession pull out one by one. Keyshia overheard a conversation between two drivers next to her and asked, “Whoever died must be pretty important to cause this much traffic. I wonder who it was?”

  Both drivers looked at her, and one said, “You don’t watch the news or read the paper?”

  Keyshia smiled and said, “I was out of town for a week.”

  They nodded and the other said, “Well, it was hell up here in Harlem last week. Black Sam and his entire posse got wiped out! They say it was the worst killing since the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.” He held up the Daily News, which read, HARLEM’S GANG BOSS BLACK SAM LAID TO REST TODAY.

  Shocked, Keyshia quickly got back into the car and pulled over to park it. The men looked at her as if she had gone mad. Keyshia jumped out of the car and ran the two long blocks down 125th Street toward the bank as if her life depended on it.

  When Clyde entered the bank, he looked for Ceasar but he didn’t spot him. He observed a security guard watching him closely, so he walked over to an older female employee who was sitting in a cubicle and asked, “Excuse me, ma’am, I’m looking for my brother Ceasar Barker?”

  She smiled and walked toward him and said, “You look just like your brother, only taller. I’m Mrs. Williams, your brother’s supervisor. I just hung up with Ceasar and he said he will be a little late. You can wait for him over there, if you like.” She pointed to a seating area in the rear.

  Clyde thanked her and said that he would. He took a seat, and no sooner did he sit down than three men burst through the bank door and announced a robbery. Clyde couldn’t believe this was happening. The men, who held shotguns and handguns, quickly rounded up everyone.

  “Put your fuckin’ nose to the floor, and if one of you mother-fuckas moves, I’m gonna blow your fuckin’ brains out.”

  Clyde immediately recognized the voice. One masked man came to the back and pointed the weapon in Clyde’s face and ordered him up front. When he got to the front, the masked man with the shotgun paused and stared him in the eye. Clyde recognized him instantly—it was his brother Sonny. Clyde knew enough to play everything cool and obeyed the man’s order to lie on the floor. Clyde heard Wolf’s voice as he grabbed the older lady he was speaking to earlier and ordered her to open the door to where the tellers were. She screamed in fear, and Wolf whacked her with his handgun and pushed her to the door, telling her all the while, “Shut the fuck up, bitch, and get them keys out!” Clyde didn’t know the third man, but he appeared to be very nervous and shaky, which was a bad sign.

  The security officer who was lying beside him reached toward his ankle.

  Damn, Clyde thought, Sonny’s slipping by not watching his hostage. He began to panic when he watched the security guard pull the pistol out of his leg holster and begin to rise. He saw the glint in the security guard’s eye and read his body language: He wanted to be a hero, and Clyde knew he was going to kill his brother, who had his back to them. Clyde rose quickly to his feet, grabbed the man’s hand, and wrestled with him for the gun.

  Pow . . . pow . . . pow! Shots flew everywhere as the security officer squeezed off round after round. The third gunman panicked and ran out of the bank. Sonny and Wolf joined in the struggle and bashed the security officer in the head with the shotgun, causing him to go down instantly. The hostages began to cry and scream for their lives. Sonny, Wolf, and Clyde ran out of the bank, but as soon as they had exited, they were swarmed by police cars and cops pointing weapons at them. They knew it was a no-win situation, and all three fell to their knees.

  When Keyshia got to Lenox Avenue, she panicked when she saw the bank surrounded with police cars. She ran at top speed and got there just in time to see the police handcuff Clyde and walk him to a squad car. Keyshia lost all feeling in her legs as she collapsed at the sight of seeing her man arrested. “Clyde!” she yelled.

  Clyde looked up and saw Keyshia, and he was totally helpless. “Clyde, no!” she screamed over and over. She tried to get to him, to just touch him, but she couldn’t. The burly cops wouldn’t allow it. Just then, Ceasar came up behind her and hugged her as they watched both his brothers be led into a police car.

  Chapter 31

  _______________

  Ceasar drove Keyshia home. Though he was saddened by the fact that both his brothers had been arrested for armed bank robbery, he couldn’t help but feel violated because his brothers had committed the act at his place of employment. Keyshia told Ceasar that Clyde was innocent.

  “You’re wrong, Ceasar. Clyde didn’t have anything to do with that bank robbery,” she pleaded tearfully. “We just came back from South Carolina when I dropped Clyde off to meet you to get the money you were gonna give him to pay off Black Sam.”

  Ceasar asked, “Why would Clyde want to pay Black Sam his money back if he was dead?”

  “Clyde didn’t know, Ceasar! We just pulled back into
New York! When I heard I ran to tell Clyde!”

  Ceasar’s mind was processing all this as he stared at the floor. “Did Clyde ever tell Sonny that he came up with all the money?”

  Keyshia shook her head. “I don’t think so. He was trying to contact Sonny for a while to let him know where to meet him to pay Black Sam his money.”

  As Ceasar stumbled to the couch, Keyshia caught him just in time. “Ceasar, what’s the matter?”

  Spooked, he looked into Keyshia’s eyes and said, “Sonny killed Black Sam for Clyde.”

  Equally horrified, Keyshia asked, “How do you know Sonny did it?”

  Ceasar’s face collapsed as he said, “Because I told him to.” He explained, “You remember when we went to see my mother at the nursing home that Sunday?” Keyshia nodded. “This was before you guys told me how much money you came up with. I was talking to Sonny about Clyde getting involved with Black Sam, and Sonny told me how much money he owed him.” Ceasar shook his head. “When he told me how much, I panicked and told him that Clyde couldn’t come up with that kind of money and that he should get him out of it. No,” Ceasar said with emphasis, “I ordered Sonny to get Clyde out of it by any means necessary.” His voice cracked, as he turned to her and said, “Oh, my God, I didn’t think he would kill all them people for Clyde!”

  Keyshia tried to assure him that it wasn’t his fault, but it didn’t matter. He felt like he was just as involved with the murders as Sonny. Ceasar began to fall to pieces, crying hysterically. “Listen, Ceasar,” she said, “we got to think. We can’t afford to buckle right now.” She looked him straight in his eyes, and he admired her strength. “Clyde and Sonny need us right now, and we are their only help.” Ceasar began to pull himself together and sat up straight and nodded.