A Girl From Flint (12 page)

Read A Girl From Flint Online

Authors: Treasure Hernandez

BOOK: A Girl From Flint
3.55Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
Chapter Nine
T
wo days later, Tasha and Amra were on a flight back to New York. Honey and Mimi didn't come along. They wanted to stay in the Midwest so they could keep hustling.
As Tasha and Amra ran down the hallways of the hospital, rushing to get to Ms. Pat, Amra stated, “I hope she's alright.” They approached the nurses' station that sat in the middle of the hallway.
Amra had taken her mother for granted for so long that she'd never thought about what she would do if anything ever happened to her. She silently prayed for God to keep her mother in her life, at least long enough for her to tell her all the things she should have said a long time ago. “Can you tell me what room Patricia Rodgers is in?” she asked the nurse, a sense of urgency in her voice.
The nurse, who didn't appear to be a day over twenty-five, rolled her eyes like they'd asked her to do something that wasn't in her job description.
Tasha slammed her hand on the front counter. “Patricia Rodgers! We need to see her now!” She then said to Amra, making sure she was loud enough for the nurse to hear, “This bitch must want me to fuck her up!”
The nurse typed the information into her computer. “She is in room eight-ten. Take the elevator to the second floor,” she said with an attitude.
If Amra hadn't been in such a hurry, she would have told the nurse about her damn self. She and Tasha made their way to the second floor and walked into Ms. Pat's hospital room. Tasha gasped when she saw how sickly Ms. Pat looked. She had lost a tremendous amount of weight, a sight that brought tears to Tasha's eyes. She quickly brushed them away. She had to be strong for Amra.
Amra rushed to her mother's side. She was sleeping, so she didn't wake her. She just sat on the edge of her bed and held her hand. “I'm sorry, Mama. I didn't know you were sick,” she whispered. She leaned close to kiss her mother's forehead.
Tasha walked closer to the bed and put her hands on Amra's shoulder for support. As hard as it was for her to see Ms. Pat in her current state, she knew it was ten times harder for Amra.
They heard the creak of the door as it opened, and a tall, big-nosed white man with a clipboard entered the room. He seemed surprised when he saw the two girls in the room.
“You must be her daughter. Tasha, right? She talks about you all the time,” he stated in a matter-of-fact tone.
Guilt is the only word to describe the feeling that swept through Tasha's body. She felt like she had betrayed Amra for being so close to Ms. Pat. She said, “Well, er, I-I-I'm not.”
Amra was aware that her mother loved Tasha as if she was her own, and although she was slightly jealous of the bond that they shared, she appreciated having Tasha in both of their lives. She grabbed Tasha's hand. “I'm her daughter, Amra, and this is my sister.”
Tasha looked at Amra in surprise. Amra quickly told her, “You are our family.”
Tasha dropped a tear and squeezed Amra's hand tightly.
“Well, we know that the tumor in her leg is cancerous. Right now, it is in one area, but cancer spreads very quickly. I would recommend that we start treatment as soon as possible. She would have to undergo a surgery to remove the tumor. If the cancer is still present after that, then she is going to need chemotherapy to treat and control the cancer.”
Amra looked back at her mother, and then at the doctor. “When can we start?”
“I would like to start immediately, but this type of treatment requires some type of payment. Does she have health insurance?”
Tasha looked at Amra, who slowly shook her head.
“No, she doesn't have insurance,” Amra said. “Is that going to stop you from helping her?”
“We will do everything in our power to keep her comfortable, but without insurance or some form of payment, we cannot perform any major surgeries. We can give her painkillers to take home.”
Amra yelled, “Painkillers? My mother has cancer, and you are just going to give her some Tylenol and send her home? That's bullshit!”
The doctor remained calm. He understood the young woman's frustrations, but he had to abide by the hospital's policy. “If she doesn't have insurance, we cannot treat her. Now, I can give you the number of an agency to call. They might be able to help your family with the medical bills, but they have a lot of people on their list. There is a two-year waiting period.”
Tasha thought to herself,
Everybody these days is about money. That's a damn shame
. She yelled, “She doesn't have two years! If the cancer goes untreated, she will die! Look at her!”
The doctor lowered his head. Before exiting the room, he said, “I'm sorry, but it's hospital policy. It's out of my hands. Hurley Hospital will treat her without a down payment. They're a state-mandated facility, so they can't turn her away. You might want to try over there.”
Tasha stared at the doctor like he was crazy. Everybody knew that going into that hospital was like committing suicide. She looked back at Amra, who was sitting in a chair next to Ms. Pat's bed.
“What are we going to do?”
“I'll figure it out.” Tasha pulled a chair next to Amra's and gripped her hand.
They sat by Ms. Pat's bedside and thought about how they could come up with enough money to cover her hospital bills. They both cried silent tears for the woman that they equally loved. They held onto her for dear life, and eventually they both drifted into an uncomfortable sleep.
The next morning, they were awakened by the commotion coming from the hallways of the hospital. Tasha looked up and saw that Amra's chair was empty.
She must have gone to get some food or something
. She saw Ms. Pat stir in her bed and thought the noise had awakened her too. She reached for Ms. Pat's hand. “Hey, Ms. Pat. How you feeling?”
Ms. Pat blinked twice, as if she couldn't believe her eyes. “Tasha? Baby, what are you doing here?” she asked weakly. She sat up and hugged Tasha's neck. “I missed you so much!”
“The doctor called and told us you were sick. Amra's here too.”
Just then, Amra entered the room as if she'd been waiting for an introduction. She stood by the door, not knowing what to say to her mother. She hadn't called her since she had left for Flint, and didn't know if her mother was happy to see her or not.
“Don't be standing in the doorway like you some type of stranger. Get over here and give me a hug.”
Amra rushed to her mother's side, relieved that she didn't hold a grudge. She hugged her tightly.
“Why didn't you tell me you were sick when I talked to you on the phone?” Tasha asked. “We would have come home.”
Ms. Pat shrugged her shoulders and stubbornly replied, “Ain't nobody sick. These doctors are just overexaggerating. I'm fine. You girls didn't have to fly all the way home just to take care of me. The Good Lord will see to it that I make it through this just fine.”
“Momma, you have cancer, and we have to do something about it. Not even God can heal this. You can't just sit around denying that you are sick.”
“We're going to come up with the money to pay for your surgery, I promise,” Tasha added.
Ms. Pat waved her hand, as if dismissing the idea. “Child, don't go spending all your money on me. I don't need any surgeries. If the Lord says it's my time to go, then ain't no surgery going to stop it. So let it be. I'll be alright.” Ms. Pat stared lovingly at Amra, and then at Tasha. “It's just good to see you two . . . my two girls. I'm happy with just that.”
Tasha looked at Ms. Pat and smiled, but on the inside she was worried.
You need to have this surgery, Ms. Pat.
Tasha's mind was racing a thousand miles a minute, trying to come up with a solution to their problem. She looked around the hospital room and instantly felt a shiver go down her spine.
I hate hospitals. They are so contagious-feeling, with all these sick people here.
She felt as if the room was closing in on her. She needed to get out of the confinement of the hospital room. She stood up. “I'm going to go find the doctor.” She quickly walked out of the room, desperately wanting to breathe fresh air. She walked down the hall and spotted Ms. Pat's doctor checking a patient's chart a couple doors down. “Excuse me, Doctor Danson!” she shouted, jogging to catch up to him.
Doctor Danson turned around. “Hi. Tasha, is it?”
“Yeah. Um, Ms. Pat is awake, and we were wondering when we could take her home.”
The doctor flipped through his clipboard, looking for Ms. Pat's chart. “Did your family come to a decision regarding the surgery?”
“We're going to come up with the money as soon as we can. How long do you think it will be before the cancer starts to spread?”
The doctor put his pen back in his lab coat pocket. “It depends. No one really knows how fast cancer will progress. Could be weeks, maybe months. The surgery is one hundred and fifty thousand, and we can't operate until the hospital has received twenty-five percent of the payment.”
Tasha's heart dropped when she heard the amount of money they had to come up with. “So, if we get twenty-five percent of it, then you will remove the tumor?”
The doctor nodded.
“We'll get it . . . soon.” Tasha began to walk away, but then stopped and asked, “Oh yeah, when will she be able to go home?”
“Today. We can't really do anything else for her. I'll prescribe some pain pills to control the pain. Just get the money quickly. If anything happens before then, just bring her into the emergency.”
Amra, Ms. Pat, and Tasha slowly left the hospital and took the city bus home. When they finally made it home, Ms. Pat went to her room to rest.
“It feels good to be back in New York,” Amra said.
“Yeah, it does feel good to be back home. I never thought I would say this, but I miss the big city. I just wish we had come back under better circumstances.”
The girls went up to their room, and saw that everything was as they had left it.
“I wish I wouldn't have been acting funny toward my moms.” Amra looked at the picture of her and her mother that was on her dresser. “I never thought she would get sick. There is so much that I wish I could take back, you know?”
“Don't trip off that shit. She knows you didn't mean anything by it. You were just going through a thang. She knows you love her. Don't beat yourself up over what happened. The only thing that matters is that you are here right now.”
Amra knew that Tasha was right. Her mother knew her better than anyone else in the world, but she still wished she hadn't been so petty. She asked Tasha, “Have you heard from your mother?”
The words hit Tasha like a ton of bricks. Amra saw her friend's eyes begin to water, and she immediately wanted to take back her words. Tasha hadn't talked about her mother since the day she had come to live with them, but inside, she wished she had a family of her own. Even though Ms. Pat had been great to her, she had always grown up feeling as if a big piece of her life was missing.
Amra doesn't know how good she has it
.
Tasha despised her mother. She never understood how a mother could turn her back on a child she gave birth to. Because of her mother's drug addiction, she had never learned the little things that only a mother could teach a daughter.
I never had a mother to help me get dressed on the first day of school. No one showed me how to take care of myself when I got my first period. I had to learn how to become a woman on my own, and I still don't know if I'm getting this shit right.
Tasha never answered Amra's question, and Amra never brought it up again.
Tasha thought about her mother all day. Her thoughts were consumed with how things might have been if she had a good mother. Tears rolled down her face as she lay in her bed, and before she knew it, she had cried herself to sleep.
Chapter Ten
T
he next day, Amra stayed at home with her mother while Tasha went to see about her own mother. She walked the five blocks to her old house, admiring her old neighborhood as she went. She didn't know what she was going to say to her mother when she saw her. She really didn't even want to talk to her.
I just want to make sure she's okay. Just see her face and know that she's still here.
Tasha approached her old street and could see her mom's house from the corner.
What the fuck happened?
She rushed over to the abandoned house. It was boarded up around the windows and had an orange eviction sticker posted on the front door. She walked up to the house and opened the screen door. She still had her house key, so she entered. The house reeked of garbage.
Where is she?
She stared in utter disbelief at the trash.
She walked into her mother's old room and saw needles, empty beer bottles, trash, and used condoms all over the floor. Tasha's eyes started to water, and she felt a sense of abandonment. She wanted to ask her mother, “Why do you have to be like this?” Instead, she wiped the tears from her eyes and said, “If it's fuck me, then fuck you too!”
She pulled the key off her key ring, threw it on the floor with the rest of the trash, and walked out of the house. Tasha couldn't believe that her mother had just up and left.
She started the long walk back to Ms. Pat's house. Her emotions were crazy. She was worried and scared for Ms. Pat, and upset and in need for her own mother. She felt like an orphan, abandoned and alone.
Her cell phone rang, giving her a break from the crude reality she'd just faced. “Hello?”
“Hey, Tasha,” Honey said. “How is Amra's moms doing?”
“Not so good. She has cancer. She doesn't have insurance, so the hospital won't remove her tumor. Me and Amra have to come up with almost forty thousand, I mean quick, before the shit spreads.”
Honey knew how much Ms. Pat meant to Tasha, and that Amra would go nuts. “I'm so sorry, Tash. I had no clue she was that sick. Why don't you ask Manolo for the money? You know he'll let y'all borrow it.”
Tasha knew that Honey was right. Manolo would give them the money. Of course, he would tax the hell out of them with interest, but at least they would have the cash to put up for the surgery. They could worry about the rest later. “Thanks, Honey. We'll be back tomorrow night. We just want to make sure everything is okay here first. We're just trying to make her as comfortable as possible, at least until we can come up with the money to pay for her surgery.”
“Y'all take your time, and tell Ms. Pat I hope she feels better. Tasha, are you alright, though? You sound like something else is fucking with you.”
Tasha didn't feel like explaining the situation about her mother. “I'm cool. Look, I'll check you later.”
When Tasha arrived back at Ms. Pat's house, Ms. Pat was up and moving around.
“Hey, baby.” Ms. Pat walked over to Tasha and kissed her on the forehead.
“Hey. How are you feeling?”
“I'm fine.”
Ms. Pat tried to act as if nothing was wrong, but Tasha could tell she was lying. “I'm glad you're feeling okay.”
Ms. Pat walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator door. “I didn't have a chance to do much shopping. Are you hungry?”
“Yeah, but I don't want you on your feet cooking. I'll go and get us something to eat.” Tasha took Ms. Pat's hand and led her to the living room couch. She ran up the stairs and entered Amra's room. “Hey, come with me to grab something to eat. I have to talk to you about something.
Tasha grabbed Ms. Pat's car keys, and the girls headed out of the door. As she drove, she reacquainted herself with the city. “I talked to Honey about an hour ago. She thinks that we should ask Manolo for the money.”
Amra's eyes grew wide with optimism. “We should! I mean, you know he got it, and as much money as we're making him, he shouldn't care about us asking for nothing.”
Tasha pulled into the parking lot and parked the car. “I hope he says yes. I'm going to call him tonight and tell him we have to talk to him about something.”
They got out of the car and walked into the Jamaican restaurant to get some jerk chicken. They got their food and got back into their car. As they pulled out of the parking lot, a girl driving a black Yukon pulled in front of them and hit the front end of Ms. Pat's car. Tasha hit the brakes hard. “Bitch!” She put the car in park and quickly got out to inspect the damage.
“Damn! What the fuck were you doing?” Amra asked the brown-skinned girl with red hair.
“I am so sorry. Damn!” The girl nervously paced back and forth. “He gon' kill me! This ain't even my whip.”
“Yeah? Well, this ain't our car either, so I hope you got insurance.” Amra folded her arms and leaned against her mother's dented car.
The girl pulled out a cell phone and dialed a number. “Baby, can you come to the chicken place on Thirty-Seventh Street? I got into an accident.” The girl listened on the phone for a minute, then hung up. “He's on his way. I am so sorry.”
Tasha got into Ms. Pat's car and waited for someone to come.
“Hey, you want to beat that bitch ass?” Amra asked Tasha, hoping that she would say yes.
Tasha laughed. “Nah, don't trip. Just make sure she doesn't try to pull off. That bitch driving like she the shit, trying to stunt in her whip. What she need to do is fix that bad-ass weave job she got going on. Why she trying to look good in a car that ain't even hers?”
Amra chuckled. She got out of the car and stood by the door.
Tasha sighed and leaned her seat all the way back.
Today ain't my day. Dumb bitch!
Twenty minutes later, Tasha heard someone pull up with loud music playing. “You alright, ma?” she heard a man say.
“Hell nah!” Amra yelled. With big smile on her face, she quickly walked toward Tasha and tapped on the window to alert her. Amra didn't even say anything; she just looked smugly toward the girl who'd hit their car.
“What?” Tasha asked, confused.
Ain't this about a bitch?
she thought to herself when she finally saw Joe hugging a girl tight around the waist. Tasha's heart began to pound in her chest, and she instantly became jealous. She quickly pulled down her visor and looked in the mirror.
Fuck! He would have to catch me when I'm dressed all bummy and rocking this raggedy-ass ponytail.
She quickly pulled the hair tie out and allowed her hair to flow freely. Then she pulled out her lip-gloss and applied a shiny coat to her lips. It didn't do much to improve her appearance, but it was better than nothing. She looked at her face and saw that she looked tired too. She hadn't had much time to worry about herself since she had gotten back.
Joe was inspecting his car as Tasha got out of Ms. Pat's car, and she and Amra walked toward him. When the girl approached them, Tasha immediately frowned up.
Bitch, I ain't trying to talk to you!
The girl said to Joe, “Baby, this is the girl I hit.”
Joe looked at Tasha, and the look of shock on his face made Amra burst out in laughter. She quickly turned around and walked back to the car.
Tasha's heart was pounding. She looked Joe in the eyes. “Hi.”
The girl walked over to Joe, grabbed his hand and held him tight.
Amra yelled out, “Oh, hell no!”
Joe told his friend, “Go wait in the car.”
The girl mean-mugged Tasha, and then looked back at Joe.
“In the car,” Joe repeated.
The girl smacked her lips and got into the car.
Joe and Tasha just stared at each other, as if neither of them could believe what they were seeing. “When did you get back?” he asked her.
“Why? You didn't expect to get put into a situation like this, huh?” Tasha grinned mischievously.
“Something like that.” Joe shook his head at the irony.
Tasha looked at the girl in the car. “I see you doing okay.”
Joe put his head down and smirked to himself. “That's nothing. I'm trying to see what's up with you.”
Tasha felt giddy, as if this was her first time meeting Joe, but she still had a little attitude because he was with another girl. It had been almost a year since she had last seen him, and when she left New York, she didn't know where they stood. Because of the jealousy that streaked through her when she saw him holding the other girl's hand, she knew she had feelings for him.
“So, what up? Can we link up later?” Joe asked her.
“Right now really ain't a good time.” Tasha folded her arms across her chest.
Joe could tell that something was wrong with her. She seemed worried and looked exhausted. “It's cool. You need anything?”
Tasha smiled. “Just a new bumper for Ms. Pat's car.”
Joe pulled out some money, counted out three thousand dollars, and dropped it on the hood. “This should take care of it.” He had given her way more than the bumper would cost to be replaced, but he wanted to make sure she was straight since she had way too much pride to ask him for anything.
Tasha took the money and began to walk away. She turned around and waved to Joe, knowing he would still be watching her. She got into the car, and before she pulled off, she saw the girl get out of Joe's car and start yelling at him. Tasha smiled and pulled off.
“I told you we should have beat the brakes off that bitch,” Amra said as they drove back to the house.
Tasha frowned. “He ain't my man, but he was looking good, though.”
By the time the girls came back with the food, it was cold. Tasha told Ms. Pat what had happened to her car, and gave her the money to get it fixed.
They sat down and ate dinner with Ms. Pat. Tasha could tell Amra was happy to be near her mother again. Amra looked tired too, and Tasha knew it was from worrying about Ms. Pat.
Tasha went up to the room she shared with Amra and lay down on her old bed.
I can't believe he's fucking with that ugly bitch,
she thought, referring to the girl she had seen Joe with.
That nigga still got it, though, with his fine ass.
Tasha couldn't deny Joe's swagger. He was definitely a fresh mu'fucka, and she felt like a fool for letting him slip through her fingers.
She shook thoughts of Joe from her brain and pulled out her cell phone to call Manolo. The phone rang several times before he answered.
“Hello?”
Tasha sighed. “Manolo, this is Tasha.”
“What up? You and Amra cool?”
“Her moms is sick. She has cancer. And we don't have enough money to pay for her surgery. That's why I'm calling. Manolo, we need to borrow forty thousand dollars.”
Manolo was silent for a minute.
“You know I wouldn't even be asking you this if I didn't really need it, and you know we're good for it.” Tasha waited anxiously as Manolo contemplated the situation.
Say something
, she thought.
“Damn, forty gees is a lot of paper just to put up. I ain't even got it like that to even loan it to you, ma.”
“That's alright, Manolo. You know I had to ask.”
“I don't know if you gon' be down for this, but I know where you can get that cake.”
“We'll do anything right about now. We just need to get the money to pay twenty-five percent of the bill. We'll worry about the rest later. If it can get us the money, we're with it.”
“Let me take care of some of this business and find out a little bit more info for you. Make sure you and Amra come see me when y'all touch down in Flint.”
“Thanks, Manolo. We'll be back tomorrow night.”
Manolo could sense the relief in her voice. “No problem, baby. You know I got you.”
Tasha hung up the phone, feeling like a huge burden had been lifted from her shoulders. She didn't know exactly what they had to do to get the money, but she knew they could get it done. Manolo hadn't led them astray yet, and she trusted him to put her up on a new hustle that would pay the type of money they were seeking.

Other books

The Great Scot by Donna Kauffman
Stamping Ground by Loren D. Estleman
Criopolis by Lois McMaster Bujold
Brief Lives by Anita Brookner
El jinete polaco by Antonio Muñoz Molina
Nightmare by Steven Harper
Flora by Gail Godwin
No Greater Love by William Kienzle