by Darrien Lee
He looked over at his son and said, “Your sister is fine. Besides, it’s late, and I know she’s asleep by now.”
Mr. Graham could see the worry on Julius’s face, and it bothered him.
“Alecia, maybe you and the kids should stay with your mother until I can find another place to live.”
Mrs. Graham stared at her husband in disbelief. She understood he wanted to keep the family safe, but she couldn’t leave her job, nor did she think it was wise to take Julius out of his school. “You’re not going to split up our family.”
“I will if it’ll keep you guys safe,” he responded as he folded his arms defensively.
Mrs. Graham hugged Julius before wishing him a good night. Once he was out of the room, she turned to Mr. Graham and said, “You’re not splitting this family up, so you can forget that. Staying with my parents will add over an hour to my commute to work each day, and I can’t afford to be late, putting my job at risk. We’re barely hanging on now.”
“Don’t you think I know that?” he yelled at her. “How do you think it makes me feel not to be able to provide for this family and keep you safe? Cut me some slack, Alecia. Damn! I’m doing the best I can!”
Emotions were running even higher in the Graham family, and it didn’t take much to set either one of them off. Mr. Graham loved his family, and the last thing he wanted was for them to be without necessities. His family meant everything to him, and protecting them and providing for them were his main priorities.
Mrs. Graham walked over to her husband and wrapped her arms around his waist to comfort him.
“I’m sorry, Paul. I didn’t mean to sound unappreciative,” she said in a soft, soothing voice as she massaged his back. “Baby, I know you’re doing the best you can right now. So many people are out of work, and this is going to be an uphill battle for us, but we’ll get through it. We always do. Our chances of finding somewhere safe to live with our budget and one income are going to be slim to none right now.”
“We’ll work it out,” he replied as he kissed her on the lips. “I’m sorry I yelled at you. I know you’re just as stressed about this situation as I am. We’re family, and we’re going to get through this as a family. I never in my wildest dreams would’ve thought in only ten years this neighborhood would go to hell like this. Tomorrow we’ll sit down and work this out. Our children will not grow up in this environment. Agreed?”
“Agreed,” Mrs. Graham answered as she led him toward the stairs. “What about Julius? How are we going to handle the police? We can’t afford an attorney right now.”
“You let me worry that. Those detectives are not going to pressure him into a corner. It’s late, and you and Julius need to go to bed.”
“Aren’t you coming to bed too?” she asked while caressing his hand.
“I will shortly. I need time to decompress from everything that’s happened tonight, and I want to make sure things quiet down before I turn in. There’s still a lot of sirens in the area and people on the streets.”
She leaned in and gave him a tender kiss on the lips. “Good night, sweetheart. Don’t stay up too long, and look in on Julius before you come to bed.”
“I will. Good night.”
“Good night.”
Mr. Graham ended up watching TV until those boring infomercials came on.. He fell asleep on the sofa with his 9mm by his side. He had armed himself just in case there was trouble, and he would die before he let anyone hurt his family.
Over the next few nights Julius had trouble sleeping. He spent countless hours replaying the robbery over in his mind. No matter how hard he tried to forget, he could still smell the smoke from the gun, and his ears were still ringing from the loud blast. Each night he tried different methods to try to go to sleep. One night he worked out with his weights before bed. He figured if he wore himself out, he would crash, but it didn’t work. The next night he took a hot bath and listened to tranquil music, but that didn’t work, either.
He was stressing not only over the robbery but over his parents too. He’d heard them arguing a few nights ago, and he actually agreed with both of them. The best solution to their problem was his father finding another manager’s job so they could get out of this crime-infested neighborhood, but unfortunately, it might take a while, since the recession had hit. In the meantime he decided he would do what he could to find a job to help out around the house. A lot of companies were willing to hire teens over adults because they were cheaper labor and most times they didn’t have to provide benefits for them. The recession was making life hard on many people, which in turn made crime rise even higher. His mind was made up. A job would ease some of the financial strain his family was under, and no time was better than now for him to start searching. Since he couldn’t sleep, anyway, Julius turned on his laptop and started searching the classifieds. The sooner he looked for a job, the sooner he’d find one.
“Julius, wake up,” Mrs. Graham whispered to her son, who had fallen asleep with his laptop.
Startled, he asked, “What’s wrong?”
She smiled and said, “You fell asleep with your laptop. This is not the way to get some rest. Were you up most of the night on Facebook again?”
He sat the laptop on his nightstand and said, “No, ma’am, I was looking for a job.”
Mrs. Graham walked over to his window and opened the curtains to let the sun in.
“Sweetheart, your schoolwork is much more important to us than you working. Don’t you want to go to college?”
He crawled out of bed and said, “But, Mom, I want to help. Since Dad can’t find a job right now, maybe I can.”
She hugged her son and said, “It’s sweet of you to want to help, but we’ll be okay.”
Julius stepped out of his mother’s embrace and asked, “When? We’re stuck here until we can afford to move. If anyone finds out that I was in the store during the robbery, we’re dead.”
Mrs. Graham could see the anxiety in her son’s eyes, and she could feel his struggle between doing what was right and protecting the family. She sat down on the side of his bed and asked, “What do you want to do, son?”
“I want to feel safe, and I want us to live somewhere safe.”
She hugged his neck and said, “That’s what we want too, son, but it might take a little longer than we planned. You just concentrate on your grades, and your father and I will work out everything else.”
“But, Mom . . .”
Mrs. Graham stood and said, “Julius, please. We got this. Now, get dressed so you can eat breakfast before you leave for school.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he answered as he made his way toward the bathroom, but before he could get there, Zakia ran into the room and jumped on his back.
“Zakia, get off your brother’s back,” Mrs. Graham instructed her.
Julius twirled his sister around and said, “She’s okay, Mom.”
Mrs. Graham grabbed his dirty clothes hamper and walked out into the hallway and said, “You two don’t have long to play, or you’re going to miss the bus.”
“We’ll be ready, Mom,” Julius answered as he playfully tossed his sister on the bed and tickled her.
Zakia giggled and begged for him to stop. When he did, he looked into her beautiful brown eyes and said, “You know you’re my favorite sister, right?”
“Silly head, I’m your only sister.”
“That’s right,” he answered as he grabbed her foot and started tickling it.
“You two need to stop playing and get ready for school,” Mrs. Graham said as she passed by the room with Zakia’s dirty laundry.
“Okay, Mom,” Julius replied. “Zakia, get dressed so I can walk you to the bus stop.”
She kissed him on the cheek and said, “Okay!”
An hour later Julius slowly made his way down the street with Zakia right by his side. She was talking a mile a minute about the latest episode of the TV show Glee. Once they reached the bus stop, her bus came almost immediately. Before she boarded it, he reminded her
to call him if she needed anything. She nodded and gave him a kiss on the cheek before climbing on the bus. After Zakia’s bus pulled away from the curb and while waiting for his own bus, he put his earplugs in his ears and tucked his iPod in his pocket. The last thing he wanted was to get jacked for his iPod, and there were plenty of bullies in the neighborhood who took advantage of kids like him all the time. Luckily for him, he looked older than fourteen, so he didn’t become a target as much as other kids did. At the bus stop he normally didn’t socialize with the other kids unless his best friend Domingo was there. Domingo rode the bus only when he didn’t ride to school with his cousin. Most of the other kids were still too sleepy to socialize, and there were a few who kept themselves occupied with texting, talking on their cell phones, or listening to music. There were a few who actually studied at the bus stop, but it was mostly girls. Julian continued to listen to the sounds of Drake, Trey Songz, and Lil Wayne until Domingo walked over and shook his hand.
“What’s up, Julius?”
Julius turned off his iPod and said, “Nothing much. Still trying to wake up. I haven’t been sleeping much lately.”
“I’m right there with you. Did you hear about that store clerk getting blasted a few nights ago?”
Julius lowered his eyes and said, “Yeah, I heard about it. Remy was cool. I hate that somebody took him out like that.”
Domingo moved closer to Julius and said, “Word on the street is that Viper did it.”
There it was. Julius didn’t want to think about it or even admit it to himself, but now it was a reality for sure. Viper was approximately twenty years old and had long blond dreadlocks. He had a long criminal history and spent most of his juvenile life in and out of jail. Now he had graduated to murder, and there was nothing he wouldn’t do to stay out of jail, including killing Julius.
“Who told you Viper did it?” Julius asked curiously as he looked around to make sure no one could hear their conversation.
“I said it was word on the street,” Domingo replied. “There’s also a rumor that the police are going door to door, looking for somebody who might’ve seen something or been in the store at the time.”
Julius’s heart started pounding in his chest. He knew he couldn’t trust the police.
“What kind of witness?” Julius asked.
“I don’t know, but if Viper finds out there’s somebody out there who could get him locked, there’s going to be another murder.”
Concerned for his safety even more, Julius asked, “Who told you all this information?”
“Bro, I told you it’s just talk in the streets. If you hung out on the basketball court more often, you would know what was going on.”
Julius shook his head and said, “I know, but my time is going to be even shorter now that I have a tutor to help me with my grades, especially in algebra.”
Domingo playfully pushed him and said, “I didn’t know you were failing algebra.”
Julius pushed him back and said, “I’m not failing, but I have a C, and I want to bring it up.”
“That’s cool,” Domingo replied as the bus pulled up.
As the teens waited their turn to get on the bus, Domingo turned to Julius and said, “I’d better see you on the basketball court on the days you’re not getting tutored, because I know you and I both know you have game.”
“I’ll be there,” Julius answered as they found a seat together on the bus. On the ride to school Julius’s heart rate accelerated again as he thought about Viper. If what Domingo had said was true, he was going to have to watch his back very carefully and make sure Viper never found out he was the witness the police were trying to flush out.
Chapter Three
Denim sat in the library with Dré as she waited for her new client at the physical therapy clinic where she assisted as a technician. Both were studying for upcoming exams, and this also gave them a little time to spend together before they had to go their separate ways. Denim was off work today, but Dré had to meet the basketball team in the weight room for weight training. Just then her cell phone vibrated. She read the message and then blushed. She looked up at Dré and whispered, “You are going to have to stop sending me these nasty messages. What if my parents accidentally see them?”
“I can’t help myself,” he admitted to her. “It’s your responsibility to delete them out of your phone. I love you, so you’re going to get messages like that from me. I’m joking around most of the time, but you know how I feel about you.”
Tears formed in Denim’s eyes as she got up, walked around the table, and hugged his neck. She gave him a tender kiss on the lips and said, “I love you too, Dré.”
“I’d better go,” he said, then stood and gave her a warm hug and a kiss on the lips. The young couple looked around to make sure the librarian hadn’t seen them. He started putting his books in his book bag just as Julius walked up.
“Are you Denim Mitchell?” he asked nervously.
Denim smiled and held out her hand and said, “I am. And you must be Julius. It’s nice to meet you.”
Julius placed his book bag on the chair and said, “It’s nice to meet you too.”
Denim pointed at Dré and said, “Julius, this is my boyfriend, André Patterson. Dré, this is Julius Graham, my new client.”
Julius shook Dré’s hand and said, “I know who you are. You’ve been on the cover of every newspaper in the state. You have some mad skills on the court.”
“Thanks, Julius,” Dré humbly replied. “You’re a freshman, right?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re tall for your age, and you have big hands. Do you play ball?” Dré asked.
“A little bit. Mostly around the neighborhood with friends.”
“You should think about going out for the team.”
Flattered that Dré had made such a suggestion, Julius answered, “I’ll think about it.”
“Good,” Dré answered before turning to give Denim one last kiss. “I hate to leave you two, but I have to go work out. I’ll see you later.”
Denim blushed and said, “Have a good workout.”
“I will,” he replied. “Julius, you’re in good hands, and take care of my girl for me while I’m gone.”
Julius gave Dré one last handshake before he walked away and said, “I’ll try.”
Denim turned to Julius and asked, “Are you ready to get started?”
“I guess,” he answered as he sat down and opened up his book.
“Okay, we have an hour, so show me what you’re studying in your class and what you have the most problem with, and we’ll go from there.”
He smiled and began to show Denim his lesson plan. An hour later she felt like she had made a lot of progress with Julius.
“You did great, Julius. You’ll have that A in no time.”
Julius gathered his books and said, “I hope so. I appreciate you helping me.”
“It’s my pleasure,” she answered as she checked her cell phone for messages.
“Thanks again,” he said as he handed her the money to pay for his session.
She tucked the money into her pocket and said, “You don’t have to pay me daily if you don’t want to. You can do whatever is easiest for you and your parents.”
“I know, but I’d rather do it this way, if it’s okay with you.”
“Cool,” she answered they walked toward the exit together. Once outside Julius noticed his father parked outside the school with Zakia.
“Well, there’s my ride. I’ll see you Wednesday.”
“Good-bye, Julius.”
Julius watched Denim as she walked away, and couldn’t help but admire her curvy figure. He knew admiring her was all he could do too, since she was the girlfriend of one of the most popular guys in school. Improving his grade in algebra should be easy with a tutor as pretty as Denim.
He opened the car door and climbed in next to his father. “Hey, Dad.”
“Hello, Julius. Was that your tutor walking with you?
” he asked.
“Yes, sir.”
He pulled away from the curb and said, “She sure is pretty. I don’t know how you’re going to learn anything working with her.”
Julius laughed and said, “That’s true, but she’s actually cool. I was able to concentrate.”
“Sure you were,” Zakia teased her brother.
Julius rolled his eyes at his sister. “Be quiet, Zakia.”
She laughed and started singing along with a Rihanna song playing on the radio.
Mr. Graham smiled and said, “Julius, you’re my son, and I know you don’t remember a damn thing that young lady said today.”
Julius laughed.
“What’s so funny?” Zakia asked.
“Nothing, sweetheart. Your brother was just telling me about one of his classmates,” Mr. Graham answered. He didn’t want her to know the details of his man-to-man conversation with his son, so he was vague with his response.
“Oh!” Zakia responded before she started singing along with the radio again.
Julius glanced back at his sister and then said, “She’s dating André Patterson.”
“The all-American?” Paul asked.
“The one and only,” Julius answered. “I got a chance to meet him in the library. He was talking to me about going out for the team.”
“I see. Maybe you should try out,” his father suggested. “I hear he’s a nice kid and that he’s some type of artist too. I think I read somewhere that he’s painted murals in some office buildings around town. A lot of colleges are salivating over him.”
Julius changed the station on the radio and said, “He is nice, but I don’t know about trying out for the team.”
“What do you have to lose?”
He shrugged his shoulders and said, “Nothing I guess, but I like football a little more than basketball.”
“I’m behind you one hundred percent with whatever you want to do, son. You’re built for both sports, so either one would be fine.”
“Thanks, Dad,” he replied with a smile.
Mr. Graham pulled into their neighborhood and said, “You want to hear some good news?”