Hoodwinked

by Desiree Granger

  “Follow me,” I said. “Bring your things.”

  “I’m so nervous,” she laughed, shoving the purse strap on her shoulder. “My homegirl told me about this place, and how she got her husband’s condition under control. I wasn’t really all for some stranger looking at me that ain’t my doctor, you know?”

  “Understood,” I nodded, knowing I wouldn’t have paid as much as she paid for this, but we started for the stairs, looking up at the dark hallway that had small candles lit on the floor. I could hear the music going, and a heavy constant pound against the wall, like something was knocking against furniture. The woman, and I exchanged looks when I heard a man’s high pitched moan echo in the halls. Pleading to keep going.

  “Oohhh lord, maybe that’s what I should have paid for,” the woman muttered in a nervous manner, trying to joke her way through this creepy house, but even I was hesitant. Seeing the first door on the right was cracked where the sounds of sex were coming from. I gripped the railing of the steps, and peeked between the crack seeing the tall woman named Danielle, Countess Luxe Noire standing with a leather mask. Mouth, and nose covered with thick platform heels as a black male bent over before her with something obviously inserted in his behind. The man’s face was covered, pulling and tugging at his own self as he hollered, and screamed in pleasure. It wasn’t until she pulled out slowly only to shove herself back in that I gasped. Danielle looked over at the two of us peeking through the cracked door when she moved her hips slowly in, and out before motioning for me to close the door.

  “Men pay good money for that,” a voice said as I jumped at the sight of Omni standing with an amused expression, and a new head wrap. She reached to close the door as the woman tried to explain herself. “No worries Queen. Straight men pay her good money for that. Some haven’t come to terms with their sexuality, and others truly enjoy receiving anal sex. Supposedly it's one of the most powerful releases a man could feel. Danielle says it's their biggest pleasure point. I asked my husband, jokingly if he wanted to try it. I almost got put out the house,” she giggled. “You’re here for me right?”

  “Yes,” I said, speaking up as Omni took the woman’s arm, and pulled her into her room. “She has---.”

  “Thank you, Jasmine. That will be all,” Omni said, closing the door behind. I was left standing in the hallway with the small tiny candles lit along the floor on either side. From the loud sex noises to the smell of weed, I started for the stairs when I heard Tallulah’s voice.

  “Come close, it’s okay,” I heard her say gently as I inched closer to the white door that could have been mistaken for a closet, but instead it was a small room fit for a table, and two small chairs. Walls covered with intricate tapestries, and large colorful pillows to lay on, I poked my head around the door seeing Tallulah looking off in the corner with dull lifeless eyes shifting from side to side at a rapid pace. A woman sitting before her in tears, holding her hands together as she slowly rocked back, and forth.

  “I want you to understand that what I am, and what I do is not a joke. Please refrain from making sharp or quick movements while our session is in,” she said, eyes distant as the woman nodded. “I will do my best to communicate what’s being said, and if they do not want to talk, you have to accept that, do you understand?”

  “Yes,” the woman said. “I do.”

  “Come close,” Tallulah cooed suddenly, looking off at the corner of the room. Her long hair was loose, and hanging down like a cover when she tucked the right side behind her ear. “I don’t bite baby girl. Mama just wants to talk to you. Can she talk to you?”

  I looked at the woman who hung on to every letter, every word Tallulah was letting out when she suddenly smiled at the woman. Eyes moving so fast like she couldn’t focus, she gripped the table before her.

  “She has a lot to say about you dancing in the car every morning to the same song,” Lu said as the woman broke down in laughter, and cries hidden in her coughs. “Keeps showing me a passing window, and she’s moving her arms wildly like she’s dancing. I hear a radio, keep hearing a radio.”

  “Tell her it helps me get through the day. Does she like the songs?”

  “She said no,” Lu laughed, eyes almost glowing white as she looked blindly around the room, listening with her body. “She wants you to know that she’s there when you cry at night, that she’s waiting for you to read her a bedtime story, but you stopped----.”

  “Tell her I’ll read to her every night!” The mother blurted out. “Whatever she wants! Tell her I love her! I---!”

  “She can hear you, she’s here,” Lu said. “She’s been following me around all evening waiting for me to talk to you. She just knew, you talking to my mommy?! My mommy is coming to see you! Now that we’re here, she gets all nervous,” she laughed before she leaned in towards the crying woman, eyes steadily shifting like the pupils were vibrating from side to side. “She says she is happy, and always hugs your leg while you’re in the kitchen cooking so if you feel a burst of wind, or something you can’t explain...energy around you, it's your daughter. Their spirit never dies...When we die, we don’t just become waste in the dirt, we become energy. We feel nothing, but we become that feeling, you understand? Your daughter is with you always. That car accident is not your fault, and she wants you to go on with your life. She’s waiting for a baby brother or sister to watch over…”

  “She would say something like that,” she cried in laughter. “Always wanted a sibling to boss around.”

  Tallulah snapped her head up as if she heard something before she laughed.

  “She just said, Mommy?” Throwing her hands on her hip. “I would be the boss because I’m the big sister, but not the mean kind of boss…. Just pick up my toys, and clean my room. She’s giving them orders now,” she laughed as the woman wiped around her eyes. Tallulah nodded suddenly with her eyes starting to settle, and become still. “She wants to say she loves you, and that she’s waiting for her bedtime story, something about a red book. She keeps showing me red paper---.”

  “Little Red Riding Hood,” her mother nodded as she gathered her things. “Tell her---I love you Ayana, I love you so much baby girl. So glad you came to talk to me tonight.”

  I backed away from the door, watching the two women exchange deep hugs before the mother walked out full of content, and love. I looked back into the room seeing Tallulah laying back against the chair tired when she looked at me. Smiling with her gapped tooth exposed.

  “What does it feel like? Being able to do that?” I asked curiously as she sighed.

  “It’s a crowd of people now standing all around us talking at once, wanting me to find their loved one. From babies crying to elders showing me pictures, and images...All thrown at me at once, waiting for me to respond to one of them. This is constant, 24/7 seven days a week. All-day, and night...My totem is my usual escape though or my boyfriend knows how to shut it out for me,” she yawned just as someone called my name from downstairs. “Send in the next client. I need to pay bills back home.”

  The remainder of the night was slow with strictly appointments able to come. I was able to sit on the porch in the cool fall air in one of the rocking chairs with Indigo sitting on the rail as we watched cars go by. White hair exposed with her dingy jeans, and jacket covering her, she picked at her nails while her leg swung from the porch railing.

  “I don’t know if I’m afraid of men… I just have the worst luck,” she laughed softly. “Been abused to the point of cowering in a corner while they stood over me ready to beat me again. I’m to the point in my life where I just want to be with me, myself, and I. The thought of a relationship scares me you know? Like carrying the weight of someone’s emotions and feelings for you always ends up hurting me in the end. I can’t do that anymore. All in the name of love. Sometimes, it's not worth it.”

  “Maybe it's the type of men you attract…”

  “Broken, emotionally damaged, trigger happy? For once, I would like somebody with no past. Healthy up
bringing, and able to communicate with their words. Instead, I attract niggas of the worst kind, and I seem to fall for it. I don’t know...Like I said, love doesn’t seem to be worth all the trouble I go through.”

  “I understand,” sitting back in the chair as we let the silence settle between us. “Everyone here has something unique they do...Your clients---.”

  “I’m one of the most expensive ones here,” she laughed. “My only client today is looking for a dream therapy session so I wait until he falls asleep, and then I tap in...and we begin our session there. Dream interpretation to the next level. He’s looking to face something that happened to him when he was younger so I’ll be searching for a particular memory, and he will have to learn how to deal with it before he wakes up. Sometimes it helps, sometimes it makes it worse…”

  “That’s amazing.”

  “That’s why. If somebody is coming to me, they have to be sure. Otherwise, I just visit with Lu, and leave as quietly as I came. Nobody notices either way, and I prefer it that way. I like my space, quiet, and peace.”

  “Except with Tallulah.”

  “Except with Tallulah,” she repeated. We both laughed just as a loud engine clogged the quiet dark streets of the neighborhood as we looked up seeing the ray of headlights. Loud heavy music bumped and shook the porch, we watched a white Crown Victoria come pulling up with the tires rolling onto the yard before dropping back down to the main street.

  “Somebody can’t drive,” I muttered.

  “That would be Tallulah’s boyfriend Travis,” Indigo whispered as my mouth dropped. She said he would show up. “Brace yourself for the foolishness.”

  The screen door flew open as Caroline stepped outside with her hair wrapped up for the night, wearing leggings, an oversized hoodie and a bag in her hand, getting ready to leave for the night.

  “Nah uh Travis! Do not come here starting no mess! Leave that in South Carolina! Don’t bring that here! Tallulaaaaaah?! Come get your boyfriend before I call the cops! I’m not having this in my yard!”

  I could hear heavy footsteps come rushing down like a child on Christmas day before the door burst open again to see Tallulah’s long thick hair flying past us to the porch steps. The sound of a car door slamming shut caught my attention as I stood up seeing a tall man yanking his jeans up come walking forward like it was a problem. Wearing a small white shirt that showed off his boxers and sagging but fitted jeans, and a small chain with a silver gun on the end hanging down his neck.

  “Before you even start! My stuff was stolen!” Tallulah started, meeting him halfway. “My phone was stolen so---.”

  “Last night when you was in the club with dem boys?! It was stolen then?! Dancing, and being in every nigga’s face?! Huh?!” Getting in her face as the two began to argue. It was only when the light hit the dark blonde hair on his head that I realized her boyfriend was white. Not light skinned, but a tall white, pink lips that were unnaturally full, and chestnut brown eyes that stared so hard at her with anger. I tapped Indigo’s leg as she looked back at me.

  “He’s white?” I mouthed.

  “All she dates,” she said dryly before mouthing silently. “Ghetto rednecks”

  I covered my mouth to keep from laughing when she continued with a shrug.

  “All that likes her. Ever since we were little.”

  “Both of them make me sick,” Caroline gagged, turning back into the house. “You guys lock up when you leave. I’m going home. Jasmine, your pay is on the table. Thank you. You weren’t as bad as I thought you would be. I expect you to be here Monday for inventory. We’ll give you a shopping list of things needed,” digging into her bag to hand me her phone. “Travis I mean it! Don’t come up here starting no mess! Men, ugh. Why do women just put up with half the bullshit men throw at them with no remorse?”

  Indigo turned to look at her, feeling like it was directed towards her but I handed the phone back.

  “Because women ain’t shit either,” Trinity said, walking out of the house with wrapped plates of food. “Women lie, men lie. It’s all the same. Just gotta figure out who you gon spend the rest of yo life with, lying. Take Pia’s bitch ass.”

  “Oooo don’t get me started on her,” Caroline groaned through her teeth. “You know she had the nerve to call Homer and go off on him today. Said he can’t see Violet this weekend? When it was her boyfriend that started with Homer.”

  I gasped silently to myself as they continued to talk.

  “Mannn I told Homer to ignore the fuck out of them calls. If it ain’t about Violet, don’t deal with it. Her nigga ain’t shit for staying, and defending her bitch ass neither. Fuck em both, and fuck Homer for dealing with her in the first place.”

  “I’ll never forgive her. Homer might eventually, but I will never. Especially when she came up to my hous----.”

  “Yall do know this is Pia’s sister-in-law?” Indigo let out with a point towards me. They all looked at me as Caroline rolled her eyes.

  “And if Jasmine had any sense, she would keep quiet when we talk shit about the bitch.”

  “You’re the one marrying Piru’s brother?” Trinity asked, looking me over. “Frannie told me about you. What you see in him?”

  “I----.”

  “She’s apparently best friends with Nasia too,” Siren yelled from the house, poking her head out the door with a mischievous grin. “Homer didn’t want me to say anything, but I figured we should all know just in case anything being said will get back to her.”

  Caroline cocked her head to the side, looking at me with a whole set of new eyes. As if I was an entirely different person. Probably wondering how in the world could I be between two worlds, and not know about the little girl.

  “Pulleeeasee,” Omni drew out, walking out of the house with her keys in hand. Randomly jumping into the conversation that had nothing to do with anything. “Not all men are dogs. My husband treats me like his Queen. Has no choice really. Yall are the ones---.”

  “Oooo she knows she loves throwing that husband word around!” Trinity hollered as Caroline, and I laughed. “Travis?! Why you ain’t shit to my cousin?!”

  “Mind ya business Trinity!” Tallulah yelled back as the rest of the family came walking out of the house like it was time to go. All of this about hating men, and talks about why they were dogs fueled my anger, and hatred for Percy. Confirming the validation I didn’t know I needed until it slowly began to turn.

  Trinity, I found out was engaged when her fiance came to pick her up, and grabbed himself a plate of food. The way he came up to kiss her made my heart melt. Their ceremony was set a week or two away from my own. I would have never known the way she carried herself like a regular boy from the way she talks and walks, but I caught her looking at wedding dresses on her phone, and talking with her sister about seating arrangements. In those rare moments, she looked like a wife to be. Ready to marry her man.

  Of course Omni was on the phone with her husband while getting into her Porsche that she couldn’t help but constantly show off by waving the keys around in everyone’s faces. Once she told me who she was married to, it made sense. Caroline was a man-hater because she apparently preferred women, and Siren’s man came up to grab a few plates of his own. Didn’t speak much to anybody, but the one smile he did manage to show was reserved for her only.

  Only one left standing was Tallulah, and for my sake, and sanity, I needed her to stand strong.

  “Boi don’t act like you ain’t out here embarrassing me! Running around with these fucking girls! Don’t play with me, play with dem chiren! You ain’t been shit, and ain’t neva respected me or our relationship! Yeah I fucked around on you---. I DON’T CARE!” She cried out. “Tell them girls you want them! Don’t tell me! You--Nah! Don’t touch me! All my cousins is here, and if you even think about acting stupid, they gon show you stupid! Stupid!” She spat.

  “Indigo, your client is asleep!” Someone yelled. I watched Indigo sigh as she slowly got up and rolled her neck around.
/>   “I’ll see you in the morning I guess,” she said to me with a smile. “Night Jasmine.”

  “Night,” I said, watching her disappear into the house with curiosity. I looked back at Tallulah and her boyfriend which made me think of Percy. Haven’t once attempted to get a hold of him. Even without our phones, there was a way to talk to him. Yet, watching Tallulah walk back towards the house with her head hung low, I thought...Just for a moment she showed a little courage and strength for the single women out there until her boyfriend came close behind her, hand in hand. He was tall, well over six feet when he stepped up to the porch. Short dark blonde hair laid flat with diamond studs in his ears, and a braided black belt hanging around his waist as he nodded at me in greeting. The silver gun necklace that hung around his neck was combined with a small symbol of a cross in the form of two silver arrows. Neck tattoos that crawled up to his ears, and jawline and two nicks in his brows, his lower lip hung open with a small smile.

  “Jasmine, Travis, Travis, Jasmine. My ex-boyfriend----.”

  “I’m her boyfriend. Don’t do that,” he corrected, accent thick to the point where I inwardly cringed. Couldn’t imagine why she would want a man who sounds like his education didn’t go beyond the grass fields of his backyard in the country.

  “How yuh doing?” He greeted with a lick of his lips. “You the one she was with last night?”

  “Travis stop it,” Lu warned with a nervous laugh.

  “You single? I’on want her around no single girl----.”

  “Any damn way!” She laughed, covering his mouth with her hand. “Go in the house and fix me a plate. Now!”