by Peter Mack
Stone busied himself with the sheepskin cloth, positioning it to the roof of his car to begin drying. "Well, I work at my sister’s health food café."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. Simply Wholesome on Slauson." He never looked up to her with this reply.
"Oh. That's good. Are these your cars?"
"Yep."
She looked to him with skepticism, no doubt figuring him for some type of drug dealer. "You must work a lot of overtime," she said finally.
Stone didn't bother answering. He disappeared from sight as he kneeled to wipe down the driver's side door. When he stood up she was looking in his direction with what he felt was a reaction to feeling disrespected. Her eyes were wider than usual, making her look like some type of rare bird.
"Well, as you know Mr. Sweetwater," she began with a clap of her beak, hugging the folder to her chest. "We at social services feel that the place for Serena is with blood relatives."
Stone listened casually as he moved to the other side of the BMW. He was now closer to her, his back facing the words spilling from the social worker's mouth.
"And personally I don't feel that you qualify as a suitable guardian." She cocked her head as Stone turned to look at her. He fixed his gaze on her in an easy manner. "You don't even know me," he said, the sheepskin cloth hanging to his side.
"Well… There's hardly much to know. I do know that you have no experience with children. You don't have one of your own. You aren't married. You appear to be…"
She waved her arm out to the yard of fine automobiles. "It appears that you are doing more than working at a health food store."
Stone wanted to drop the hammer on her now, but instead he said, “These cars ain't got nothing to do with Serena. She cool right here. Ain't nobody gonna look after her like I will. "
"See, that's exactly what I'm referring to. We at social services are not seeking for her just to be looked after. We are more interested in her growing up in a home with blood relatives. It's important to have continuity in her life, especially given the circumstances of her mother's death."
"One has nothing to do with the other," he responded, unable to keep the anger out of his voice. He'd taken a step in her direction.
"Umm…" She looked towards the back door before shifting her gaze to Max, who would raise his head from the earth to gauge the treble in Stone's voice. "Where is Serena? We agreed that she would be here so I could have a word with her."
"She's at school."
"Oh. Did you take her yourself?"
Stone thought to lie but instead said, "No. My sister Lillian did."
"Okay. This is usually who takes her to… What… public school, right?" Her brow furrowed in a way that made Stone feel as if she were making fun of him. He wondered if she was serious.
"St. Mary's Academy," he replied slowly as he walked up to her. She flinched with his sudden closeness. "Mrs. Karen Cartwright." She cocked one eyebrow up as if to agree that this was indeed her name. She looked across his face from eye to eye.
"You owe a half million dollars in taxes. You own a home in Calabasas and Topanga Canyon. You live with your mother in Torrance. You're having an affair with your boss. You have three private bank accounts with seventy nine thousand dollars in combined savings. The joint account with your husband has twelve hundred dollars in it. You want me to tell you more about yourself .. or should I tell you that I know your college degree is from a fake school in Delaware?" This last seemed to force her back a step.
Max made a slow saunter to his side. He too looked to the social worker for her reaction.
"Well… Wha… You… How?"
"Don't worry about none of that. What I need from you is to make sure that Serena is right here where she belongs until she wants to leave. We clear on that?"
"Umm…" she stammered with wide educated eyes. Her mind worked quickly to gather who exactly she was dealing with. She quickly realized that she'd not done her proper homework and he'd gotten the upper hand. Now, she wondered who he'd gotten this information from and what was the extent of his knowledge. It was obvious that the automobiles represented more than some common drug dealer.
Stone's mother appeared at the back door, "Y'all okay? Mrs. Cartwright, would you like something to drink? We have lemonade and iced tea."
The social worker forced a smile as Stone stepped back from her, smiling to ease his mother's questioning gaze. "No. No, thank you. I'm nearly done Mrs. Sweetwater."
"Okay. Suit yourself. It's mighty hot out here," Mabel sighed, her cool gaze upon Stone with a look of warning to be nice.
"Sure," Mrs. Cartwright said, turning back to Stone, her mouth suddenly dried out. She swallowed hard. "I believe we may be able to accommodate you. It does appear that this is a stable environment with plenty of loving people to look after Serena." There was another forced smile that quivered on her broken lips.
"And something else you're going to do for me," he began, ignoring her shaking fingers. He imagined that she was very afraid. Good.
“You going to get two clean birth certificates and Social Security cards for two black people… A man and a woman in their late twenties."
She looked at him frightfully. "I can't do anything like that," she shrieked just as a low hum started up at the far end of the yard. A black grill gate slid open and a pink Jaguar eased into the backyard.
"Where you want me to put it at?" Lillian asked with a wide smile of accomplishment.
"Pull it next to the Regal," Stone replied and turned his attention back to the bird lady. She'd lost her confident shine. She was shaken and ashen, awaiting his next command. He shook his head sadly before he said, "It's in your best interest to do what you say you can’t do."
"Is this good?" Lillian screamed from her car.
"Pull the top up!" Stone instructed.
"Well…" Mrs. Cartwright breathed the last of her resistance out. "I never expected this."
She'd looked to Max. Her fear of him had been misplaced and Max seemed to communicate her mistake with a cool gaze. She looked to Stone. "When do you need it?"
"Before Friday."
She inhaled slowly, her pointy nose flaring. "Okay," she agreed, letting out a breath of final submission
Lillian approached with a cheerful smile, unaware of the social worker's dilemma. "Hi, again," she said, looking into the fallen woman's eyes. "Are you going to let Serena stay?"
"Well, I believe she might do good here," she responded with a more genuine smile for Lillian's benefit, who shrieked with joy and wrapped her arms around Stone’s neck.
"She's staying! Oh, I'm so happy!" she screamed over Stone’s shoulder.
"You better stay out my room," he responded with a gentle shove, forcing her to disengage her body from his.
Lillian was still smiling when she turned to face Mrs. Cartwright. "He's part of a special club that has their own clothing line," she said with pride.
Stone wished he could take the words from the air and stuff them into her mouth. A new look of interest show itself on the social worker's face. She was beginning to put the pieces of some obscure puzzle together, her eyes scanning the BRU Capo print stitched on the tracksuit when Coretta appeared at the back door.
"Hi everybody!" she said, looking from Stone to the social worker. Stone was thankful for her arrival and even more thankful that Mrs. Cartwright announced she'd be in touch soon.
Chapter Four
The sultry voice of Cassandra Wilson lay like a rich carpet under the smell of boiled cabbage, fried pork chops, cornbread, mashed potatoes with a touch of garlic and real butter, and sweetcorn. Mixed into this vibrant mix was the boisterous laughter of Serena responding to Mabel telling the story about when she went swimming in the lake and lost her shorts.
What tickled Serena most was the realization that Stone's mother was a little girl at one time. The Mississippi town Mabel described was enchanting, filled with Interesting people who sat outside of liquor stores.
“Like a wino
?” Serena asked.
This caused laughter from Stone, Coretta and Lillian as they sat at the kitchen counter while Mabel smiled graciously before explaining how this was not the case.
They could easily eat in the dining room, but the kitchen counter had become the family gathering place while Mabel moved between sink, stove and cabinets, enjoying her family in the process. The dining room was on the other side of the wall, just before the living room.
Behind them was a small alcove eating area, but this area lacked the intimacy of being close to Mabel as she moved about on the other side of the counter. As it stood, whoever sat at the counter would be elbow to elbow and everyone here completely enjoyed the closeness that the counter offered.
"Granny Mabel," Serena had come to call Stone’s mother. "Tell me again about the chickens that chased you around the old barn and how you had to climb a ladder to get away from them!"
Her infectious laughter reached Coretta first, who every time the cute girl with long auburn silk hair said something endearing, looked the Stone to see that he couldn’t wait to have this child.
Mabel reveled in Serena’s attention. Her own children having heard these stories enough times.
"The chickens would not let me be!" Mabel repeated with demonstrative excitement. "They kept clucking …" Here, she mimicked the head motion of the chickens with her elbows flapping back and forth. Serena had to be held in her seat by Coretta because she was laughing so hard.
"Stop it mother!" Lillian said to her own mature giggles. You going to hurt the poor little girl.
Stone was right where he wanted to be. The day had been one of washing cars, mowing the lawn, and a quick nap with Coretta who was still not giving him any pussy.
He’d been awakened by a soft kiss on the cheek from Serena. Lillian picked her up from school, not wanting to wake him from a much needed rest.
From then until now, as the sun fell from the sky, they had been at this counter while Mabel prepared dinner and told stories. Stone loved days like this. It was days like this when he felt happiest and like the luckiest man alive.
He was feeling especially joyful this day because it meant that Serena would be staying. He decided not to tell her yet. He'd rather wait and see that it was official for fear of setting her up for disappointment, but he was sure everything would work out as he’d planned.
"You okay baby?" Coretta asked Serena as she nestled against her side. The laughter exhausted her, forcing her palm to her forehead in a show of fatigue or fever.
"Oh… Oh… My head is hot," she responded in a voice reminiscent of a movie damsel in distress.
"Oh my goodness… Get the child some more kool-aid, that's all she needs. Look, her glass is nearly empty," Mabel said with a knowing grin, shooting Stone a proud-of-you look before she turned to the refrigerator.
They had been successful in offsetting the pain Serena felt with losing her mother by providing her with a constant dose of love and laughter.
The ringing phone hurried Mabel from the refrigerator, handing the grape Kool-aide off to Stone for him to pour.
"Hi baby," Mabel said into the wall phone. There was only one "baby" she had that was not in this room, and he was the oldest and in federal prison.
Stone checked his Rolex, figuring that Marcus had eaten a few hours ago. He imagined that his brother was hungry and lonely. Mabel nodded in his direction.
"He's here with his beautiful fiancé and of course Lillian is here. Did you get a chance to meet Serena?" Mabel asked, seemingly unaware that Marcus was in prison before Serena moved in, or the fact that he was one of the last people to see Candi alive. Mabel could be innocently naïve in this way.
Stone was too comfortable to vacate his seat. He knew that Marcus would want to talk to him and make his usual plea. He figured it was getting close to the time for his phone call. When Mabel handed the phone to him it was no surprise. More surprising was how Marcus all of a sudden felt that he was the only one who could help him; when he was free he'd constantly warned that Stone’s lifestyle would land him in prison. This irony was humorous to Stone.
"Waddup bruh bruh," he said into the phone.
“Hey little brother. How's everything?" Marcus sounded small, Stone thought to himself. He imagined that he'd lost a lot of weight from his hefty frame.
"Same. What it do?" Stone asked, wanting him to get to what it was he wanted.
"I need your help little brother. All I need to do is get a good lawyer and I can get back to my wife and kids."
"What about mama? You want to get back to mama?" Stone quipped, catching a warning look from Mabel for him to be nice.
Marcus exhaled deeply in frustration. "I need your help. I know you got a little cash stashed away,” he said, trying to keep the desperation out of his voice.
"I'll see what I can do, but I ain’t making no promises."
"That's all I can ask, thank you. Hey, my time is almost up. Tell mom I said bye for me, will you…"
“No problem." Stone said this to a dead line. He looked to Serena, who'd been attentive during this exchange. "What you looking at with your big hazel eyes?" he asked, breaking her curious expression.
"Was that your brother in jail?" Serena asked, resisting a smile.
"Yeah. Why?" Stone was aware of Mabel moving slowly about echoing everyone's attention being paid to Serena's curiosity.
"He sounded like he needed your help real bad. Are you going to help him uncle Stone?" She couldn't know the grown-up depth to which Marcus had sank in his relationship to her deceased mother.
"I don't know what happened to that boy," Mabel sighed as she replaced the wall phone. She kept her back to the counter, looking through the window over the kitchen sink.
"Mother," Lillian whispered, "you always told us that we'll have to lay in the bed we make."
It was Coretta who rescued Serena from this moment of sorrow. "Come on Serena, let's go get ready to watch one of the movies I got for you."
This diverted the girl's attention. She hopped from the stool, but not before leaning to Stone and asking if he would watch the movie with them.
"It'll make you less sad," she added with a serious face.
"Yeah. I'll be there in a minute," Stone replied, able to get a cheerful grin from his charge. This is when she motioned for him to lean down to her. He did so to accept a kiss on the cheek she offered.
"Aww… That's so cute!" Lillian sang as she nudged Stone on her way around the counter.
Stone’s iPhone rang as Coretta followed Serena through the kitchen door. They were going to the den where the large plasma screen was located. Along the far right wall were enough DVDs to watch for the rest of her life if she sat in the cool place for the rest of her life.
"What it do Misty?" he answered, watching Lillian soothe his mother's quiet tears. She was reminding Mabel that everything would be okay.
Stone thought it unfair that his mother would be made to suffer for a man who had done nothing but display shame towards her and everything associated with his family. Marcus hardly ever brought his kids to see her, their grandmother. Stone reasoned that his downfall was the result of marrying a white woman so he could have kids with wavy hair and bright skin. That didn't even work out right.
"Hello?" Misty was saying, bringing Stone back from his thoughts.
"Yeah….wassup?"
"You okay?"
"Yeah," he replied as Mabel turned around. Her eyes were bright with fresh tears.
"Go on and lay down mother. I'll clean up in here," Lillian offered.
"Is everything okay? Is this a bad time?" Misty wanted to know.
Stone hopped from the stool and walked towards the stairway at the back of the kitchen. These led to his room. "Naw. It's cool. What’s good with you?"
"Oh, nothing. Just leaving school and…"
"That's right. I forgot you go to school in the daytime." His room smelled like a woman. There was a time when it had not been this way. He didn't know how to feel
about this. Scattered around the room were articles that belonged to either Lillian, Coretta, or Serena.
"You're used to seeing me with my clothes off," she replied with a soft giggle.
“Maybe that's it then." He made his way to his bathroom, passing the five foot safe in the alcove.
"You've got my friend Ebony scared… She thinks you might be following her for your brother or something."
Stone leaned over the toilet to take a leak. The steady stream echoed in the small room.
"Are you seriously taking a piss while I'm on the phone?" Misty complained.
"Are you seriously asking like you ain't never heard a nigga piss before?" Misty was quiet until the stream dribbled to a stop. "Exactly what I thought… Tell your friend Ebony I ain’t trippin’ on her. I just didn't know she was a stripper."
"It's a small world, hunh?"
"Sometimes too small," he replied, standing in front of the full length mirror next to the sink.
This new life was challenging, he thought to himself. He saw the many obligations he'd taken on tossing through the air like plates. He knew he couldn't afford to drop either one. As much as he might want to help his brother, just from the way he made his mother feel, he was in no rush to add a new plate in his rotation.
"Well, she wanted me to let you know that she's really not trying to have a problem with you," Misty said.
"What kind of problem she think she might have with me?" With this he pushed from the mirror, stopping at the safe to place his Rolex on the middle shelf to join a troupe of other fine timepieces.
"I don't know," Misty sighed. "She got her own issues she's dealing with. Don't get me confused with her agent."
Stone laugh at this."I was just about to say that," he quipped as he lay on the fluffy bed, moving Coretta’s Dooney & Burke bag out of the way.
"I hear there's going to be an after-hours show at the warehouse in Inglewood. I might see the guy Candi dated there. That's where she met him."
This got Stone's attention. "When is this?" he asked, his eyes squinting towards the ceiling.
"Wednesday. Tomorrow night."