Alfonzo (2 page)

“
Girl
, if you called me
in
here to start an argument
…well…then l
et me remind you
who the parent is
!”

“
And
I
’m
a grown woman
,
but
you treat
me
like
a
nine
year-old
!
”

Darlene scoffed at the statement, “
Bunch of n
onsense.”

Selange knew differently, “
It’s true
, ma!
”

“
What‘s
this
really
about?”

S
elange
pursed
the
heart
shaped lips
. She
wanted to say, ‘he’s not good enough
for you
and
he’s nothing like dad
’, instead she blurt out,
“Forget it ma. Just forget it
!
”
She
brushed
past
her
mom. All she wanted to do was get away. Out
doors she could think without witnessing her mom and Al acting like lovesick
teenagers.

“Hey leaving so soon sweetie?” Her mom’s boyfriend
Al
asked from a perch atop the
windowsill
. A
thin herbal cheroot h
ung
from his pink
mouth
and
there was a
good-natured grin
on the handsome face
.
There
’s
no denying Al’s good looks.
He
possessed a flawless
caramel complexion and gentle bedroom eyes that charmed many women.
‘
He
’s
doing it now, trying to win me over
’
,
Selange thought.

Al had only shown
her
kindness but she didn’t trust him.
She knew her
mother was lonely
and s
ecretly
suspected the gigolo might someday break her mother’s heart.
Since
they’d
won the lottery
, she trusted him even less.
What did her mom really know about him anyway? Sure, he owned
a
mechanic shop
and that’s great. S
omebody that fine
must
have kids
somewhere and a few baby
mama’s
uptown or in Puerto Rico
.
He
’d
mentioned
si
sters uptown and a couple of nephews and nieces, but Selange just wasn’t buying
the
Mister Perfect Image.
Men, like him were trouble. That’s right, he’s too damn
good
to be true and what’s the likelihood of that in t
his crazy-ass city? She thought.
“I’m g
oing to visit
my friend, why?
”

Al
propelled off the ledge
,
careful to avoid the boxes of Chinese food on the folding table
, “Did Darlene tell you
our
good news?”

Something
’s
up!
“Tell me what?”

Darlene appeared at her lover’s side on cue, “Al she doesn’t know.”

He looked lovingly at the petite woman in his arms. Not only was Darlene beautiful,
she was
also
smart and funny.
They met many years
ago at Art& Design High School
. After
graduation they’d lost contact until
las
t summer when he spotted her
shopping
downtown
.
The memory of how hot she looked in jeans and those high heels aroused him.
In high school he had a
mega
crush on Darlene
,
but
she was dating
a
college
kid
and they
were
serious at the time
. He
didn’t
ma
ke
a move,
then. He
wasn’t that type of
dude.
Chica’s
had to come unattached; no boyfriend drama, none of that B-S. He hated triangles and unnecessary drama even more
.

After school, he’d
hop
on
the train
heading
uptown and she
’d
travel in the opposite direction
to Brooklyn. He’d
secretly
hoped she dropped the dude
, but in senior year when they were still
hooked up
,
he went on about the business of living.

Finally
,
he crossed the street and called her name
. She
spun around
and
it was the
identical
dazzl
ing smile from
high school
.
“
Al
is that you
…oh
snap…it is. Al
suave Diaz…what’s going on
?”

She remembered!
Since then they
became
reacquainted.
He found himself laughing a lot. He hadn’t been this happy in years. He
fashioned
himself
a
playboy
;
obstinate about
steering clear of commitment
,
until reconnecting with his childhood crush.
Al smiled, he
finally
had it all, a beautiful woman with a big heart and an instant family.
I
f he could
just
win over her
stubborn
daughter
,
then the stars in the universe
would
fully align
.

“
Honey,
”
Darlene
began, “we got married last week.”

“What
, what do you mean
,
we
got
married
, are you fucking serious
?” Selange asked incredulously.

Darlene didn’
t expect such a strong reaction from her
daughter;
afterall it’s
over
five years since her hus
b
and Richard died in
that
car crash.
He
was a
n
elementary school teacher
, a good husband and
an
excellent provider
. Darlene
was lonely without him
and
stopped grieving when Al re-entered her life. Couldn’t her daughter see how happy Al made her?

The trials of
raising a head-strong teenager
in such a harsh
environment
hadn’t been easy, but she managed to do a good job.
The projects were becoming over-run with drug-dealers and crazies. So, ma
n
y negative
influences
were all around but she managed to keep her daughter
on the straight and
narrow
. She
spoke in length
to the girl
about
not
giving in to the
negative stereotypes portrayed about people of color.
There
are
many upstanding, intelligent and hard-working blacks.
Every group has their bad
seeds;
they just don’t advertise it to the world, unless there’s a massacre at a high school, a bombing at a federal building or a serial killer preying on innocent women.
Don’t let her get started on the greedy CEO’s and corrupt politicians robbing people blind. When robberies
occurred
in
impoverished communities
,
it
’s often an
act of desperation,
and
the police
label the
criminals
,
degenerates
and many are
.
Yet,
when rich people
rob and
steal
,
greed’s usually the motivation and they’r
e
considered ‘white collar crim
inals
.
’
Yeah, and they
got book deals after going to jail
and
go
on talk shows bragging about
their crimes and warped ass society continues to feed their greed. Hey, and you know that desperate robber, you know what he gets? Nothing!

Darlene
stressed to
her daughter,
“Do something positive with your life
. Never become one of those statistics you hear pushed at us every day. They’re designed to try to tell you you’re nothing
,
but it’s a lie. You’re far better than most and a
helluva
lot smarter than many. W
e
’ve
laid the foundation, so it’s up to you to pave the way from there
and don’t let anybody
tell you that you can’t
,
because baby girl, you can conquer anything!
”

Those talks paid off, because Selange
turned out just fine
. Despite, her daughters acerbic tone and posturing,
she was
a good girl –and Darlene was proud.
Selange
is
right though, she
isn’t
a child anymore
and
a grown woman
should
n’t
expect another woman to remain lonely the rest of her life. Soon, Selange would move away,
have a family
and Darlene would have no one.

Selange
had a t
eaching
career
and she loved it
.
Darlene didn’t have any external passions. She loved her daughter but she
wanted
the love of a man, too. The per
petual mourning
had to end
and
her daughter
wasn’t going
to make her feel guilty
about
opening her heart
to
love
.
Al
’s
a wonderful
man
who
worked hard and treated her good. He came along when she needed him
most;
too bad Selange
didn’t understand any of
that; too bad she
wouldn’t give
Al
a chance. Maybe, since
she’d gotten
married
Selange would
accept
Al as
part of the
family and cease
the childish behavior
.
“Listen
honey
I know this is a surprise, but
you can’t continue disrespecting me or Al. I didn’t raise you th
is w
ay and neither did your father.
”

Selange gripped her keys
. She
considered tossing them at her mom
for even breathing a word about her father after
this
betrayal
.
Why was she doing this?
“He
only
married you for your goddamn money and
you’re too blind to see that!”

Al released Darlene’s arm, “I married
your mom
because I love her
and not her
money!”

Unconvinced,
the young woman
replied,
“Sure
you do
.
”

Darlene
became
crushed
by her daughter’s insensitive remark
.
She frowned as S
elange
slammed out the
apartment
mumbling, “
To hell with it
. You
guys
deserve each other!