Just Make Him Beautiful (35 page)

Chapter 19

A couple of months
ha
d
gone by since I last visited my mother. Since that time,
our relationship
grew like we were
sisters. Yes, I said sisters. She now accept
ed
my lifestyle
,
and we spen
t
a lot of time with each other, hanging out, shopping
,
or whatever. The day she signed herself out of the institution,
I
had taken her for a makeover, got her a new wardrobe
,
and a new
short
hairdo
with blonde
streaks
. And
,
c
hile, my momma looked some kinda good
, you hear me?
S
till a young woman of
forty-five
,
n
ot only
was she
still
beautiful but smart as well.

I
was able to rent out a small eff
iciency apartment
for her,
c
ompletely furnished and only
twenty
minutes away from the mansion.
Fortunately, the rent wasn’t that much
.
H
ell
,
I would spend more than that on one outfit, so Keith never questioned where the money was going because he gave me a monthly allowance
.
He stated that anyone he was fucking had to
look good
, whether we went out or not.

Chile
boo
, a
nyway,
I also purchased
my mom
a used hoopt
ie
for only
five hundred
bucks
.
I
t wasn’t
much to look at but
was
in very good condition
,
or so the previous owner stated.

As for my sister Keisha, my real mother pulled her fast
behind
up quick. Granted, even though my mother had been away for four years, Keisha did exactly what my mother told her to do
,
and she did it
without bitching
. Keisha now stay
ed
with my mom most of the time
,
because a teenage girl definitely needs to be with her mother, no disrespect to Ms. G
e
rdy,
who
I have nothing but love for
,
and still see as my mother as well.

M
y real mom and I both felt that now wasn’t a good time
to inform Ms. G
e
rdy that my real mom was out of the institution. And Ms. G
e
rdy still th
ought
that Keisha
was
spending her time over Debbie
’s
house. I
was
truly hop
ing
that once this
wa
s all over we
would
all be one big happy family, without my
stepfather
,
of course. My real mother informed me that she knew Ms. G
e
rdy’s husband very well and for me not to worry because she was going to get rid of him as well.
I don’t know what my mother had over my
stepfather
,
but whatever it was,
she
kept telling me that the shit was gonna hit the fan.

Oh, and Keith finally had Ms. Fag
-
hag move into the mansion a couple of weeks ago. Ain’t that a bitch? Anyways, she’
d
been walking around here like Ms. Queen Bee and shit, but I pa
id
her no mind
.
A
t least, I
tried
not to.

When she
’d
first moved in, she didn’t have much to say to me. I guess Keith noticed and spoke with her about it
,
because for the past few days, she’
d
been grinning all up in my face
.
Chile
boo
,
I really ain’t got shit to say to her.

And the other day, she had the audacity to come knock
ing
on my bedroom door to see if I would help
her
do her makeup because
she and
Keith were going out.
But of course b
y now, you know what I told her,
c
hile boo.
I will admit, it still hurt to see the one you thought you love be with someone else
,
but thank God for my mom
,
because she helped me get through this whole situation.
She’
d
often told me that
,
at times, if you truly love someone, you have to learn how to let them go
, b
lah, blah, blah.

As for Mr. Keith Jamison, I thought I love
d
him
,
but now I
wasn’t
even sure.
The only reason why
I
was
here dealing with this situation and all the bullshit
wa
s because
my mother and I plan
ned
on getting paid big time. You see, a few weeks ago
,
and at my mother’s request, I went snooping around in Mr. Keith Jamison
’s
office and discovered that he had a safe hidden behind one of his fake Rembrandts
hanging on the wall.

And I figured out the combination
.
D
ummy uses his birthdate for everything.
“
Why are guys so stupid?
”
I asked my momma
.

S
he said, “
Baby, t
hey just is
.
”

I opened the safe
,
and Keith had so much money and drugs in it, I almost gagged.
I didn’t take the time to count it because I really wasn’t sure how long
he
would be gone
.
I closed the safe and ran upstairs to my bedroom to give my mother a call.

“Hey
,
baby
.
H
ow you doing?”

“Mom, Keith has a safe in his office,” I said, sounding out of breath.

Mother laughed.
“Of course
,
he does
.
H
e sell drugs
,
don’t he? I told you he would
.
”

“
I know
,
Mom, but it was so much money in there.”

“Oh really
?
D
o tell
.
”

“Well, I don’t know exactly how much was there
.
I didn’t get a chance to count it
because I didn’t know how long
he
would be gone
.”

“
Okay,
but we also need to find out when he makes his drops. I know he must keep account of what’s going out and what’s coming in, so you need to find this out as well.”

“Momma, but I don’t know what to look for
.
”

“Al
l
right, but have you thought of a way to get me in the house?”

“I’m still thinking how I can do that without him
be
coming suspicious.”

“Look
,
baby
,
I tell you what
.
T
hat’s a big house
.
T
ell him you would like to hire a mai
d. He
seems to be a brotha who likes living large
,
and everybody knows that people with money don’t clean their own shit
.
And I know you’re tired of trying to keep that big
-
ass place clean by yourself, right
?
”

“
Chile
, you just don’t know
.
”

“See, so tell him you wanna hire a maid
, baby
.”

“But who we gonna get as a maid,
M
om?”

“Cameron, I’m going to be the maid,” she respond
ed,
raising her voice.

“
Momma, Keith may not know who you are
,
but Robin lives here now
,
and she would definitely know who you are
.
”

“Hmmm, that’s right
.
”
S
he hesitated
before saying
, “Well
,
since my makeover, she may not. Besides, she hasn’t seen me in fo
u
r years
,
and even you said I don’t look the same.”

“
This is true
.
B
ut I don’t know
,
Mom
.
I
t could be very risky
.
”

“Well, I could dress up in disguise.”

“Disguise
?
W
hat kinda disguise?”

“I don’t know
,
Cameron
. P
eople disguise themselves all the time,” she thought for a moment and said, “You know that movie with Martin Lawrence,
Big Momma’s
House
?
 
Maybe I can disguise myself up to be
B
ig
M
omma
.”

“Momma, you can’t be serious?” I laugh
ed
hysterically.
             

“And why not?”
s
he responded
,
laughing
.
“I don’t do fat suits
.
I will do the old maid
’
s dress and a wig
,
but I won’t do a fat suit
.
”

“Okay
,
Momma, I hear you, no fat suits,” I responded
,
still laughing.

“What about the muthafucka that killed your brother? Does he still come around there?”

“You
’re
talking about Junior? Yeah
,
he comes around
,
but Keith makes sure I’m never her
e
when he comes
around
because
he still doesn’t want me know they
’
re brothers.”

“Well
,
Cameron, why are they playing these games?”

“Momma, all I know is that Keith told Junior that he keeps his friends close
but keeps his enemies closer.
I suspect that I’m the enemy because they are afraid I will have Junior arrested.
And
i
f I do that, the police will also discover their involvement with drugs and
killing people,” I
started
choking up.

“Al
l
right, Cameron, it’s okay. They will get theirs
.
T
rust
M
omma, you hear me?”

“Yes
,
m
a’am.”

“Now, is Keith there?”

“No.”

“
Is Robin there?”

“No.”

“Al
l
right
,
baby
.
W
hat I need you to do is put on some work clothes and let him see just how hard you work in keeping his shit clean. I don’t care what time he gets in, he needs to see you working your fingers to the bone
,
and then and only then can you talk to him about hiring a maid. Once he agrees, I’ll take it from there.”

“Okay
,
Momma, I will. Tell Keisha I said hello and give her a kiss for me.”

“Will do
,
baby. Call me tomorrow and let me know what he said.”

“Okay
,
Momma
.
L
ove you.”

“Love you
,
too.”

After w
e hung up
,
I couldn’t help but smile because I
found
out that my momma was a piece of work and not to be fucked with. She was such a strong woman
.
I
w
ish
ed
I could be more like her.

I opened my closet door to try to find some dirty clothes I could put on
,
so I could show Keith just how hard I work
ed
in keeping his house clean.
I found the old dirty jeans I had wor
n
when I ran off to the shelter
.
I thought I had thrown them away because I
had
vowed to never wear them again. But I
was
glad I didn’t because I couldn’t find anything else. Anyway, I put them on with an old sweat shirt that I tore up.

It was a little after midnight
,
and
I
still didn’t know what time Keith would be coming in
.
I rushed downstairs to scrub the kitchen floor and
,
much to my surprise, ran into Ms. Fag
-
hag studying at the kitchen table.

“Hi
,
Cameron,” she stated
,
all perky and shit.

“Hey,” I responded
,
not wanting to be bothered.

Sh
e looked at clock on the wall.
“
W
hy
are
you up so late?”

“Because these floors are filthy
.
A
nd since I’m the only one around here that does
any
cleaning, they won’t get done until I do them
.
”
I
took
a bucket out from the base of the kitchen sink
.

“Well
,
Cameron, I don’t see where the floors are all that dirty,” she replied
,
looking down at the kitchen floor.

“Look, all you do around here is eat, sleep
,
and fuck, so mind your business, okay
,
” I stated
,
rolling my neck
,
my hands on my hips.