No Justice No Peace (18 page)

            “I’m hoping large like you.  Dez told me you the man to see if I needed a lil cash.”

            I looked at Desmon, and then, back at Antonio. “You can’t believe everything Desmon tells you, Antonio.  And you fools ain’t about to swindle me out of my money.  Now, after I go inside and holla at Ginger for a sec, I’ll be ready to go.  If you don’t mind Antonio, I’d like to spend some time alone with Desmon.”

            “Hey, that’s cool,” he said. “If you would just drop me off at my gal crib on the way, I’ll be cool.”

            I nodded and opened the door to go inside.  As usual, the place was a mess.  Ginger had unwashed clothes all over the place and plates with leftover food on them were still on the table.  I walked back to her bedroom, and since the door was halfway closed, I knocked just in case I interrupted something.

            “Come in,” she said, while lying across the bed on her back.  She had a towel wrapped around her naked body and gazed up at the ceiling as if she was in deep thought.

            “Why did you hang up on me when I asked about my money?”

            Not saying one word, she got up and walked over to her dresser drawer.  She pulled out some money and tossed it on the bed.

            “That’s two grand right there.  The rest I’ll get to you as soon as I can.  I hope once you get all of your money that you’ll get off my damn back.”

            “And, I hope you realize that you can’t steal money from me and expect to get away with it. You need to get yourself some help, especially if you’re at the point where you gotta steal from me to support your habit. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the only thing that’s preventing me from hurting you is the fact that you’re Desmon’s mother.”

            “And the only thing that’s saved you is you’re Desmon’s father.  If you wasn’t, I would have had your ass back in jail a long time ago.”

            I cocked my head back, surprised by her words. “Damn! Are you positive I’m Desmon’s father?  I came up on some information a few weeks ago about a man by the name of Myles.  You wouldn’t know who that is, would you?”

            Ginger blinked away, but pursed her lips. “Yeah, I know who Myles is.  And, he wasn’t Desmon’s father. I know that for a fact.”

            “Yeah, that’s what they all say.  But, you’d better hope and pray your facts are straight this time.  If not, I will try to have mercy on your soul.”

            “Obviously, we can’t have one civil discussion these days, so you need to stay away from me. Besides, nigga, I’m tired of your threats.  Why don’t you take your damn money and leave? I know who the father of my child is and if you can’t see how much you and Desmon resemble each other, then bastard have mercy on your soul.”

            “Looks can be deceiving, after all, I somehow managed to hook up with you, didn’t I?”

            Ginger didn’t say a word and I reached for the money on her bed.  I loudly counted it out and placed it in my back pocket.

            “You got a long way to go.  Whatever the hell you doing to get this money, please keep on doing it and hurry it the fuck up.  I got some things I need to do and your procrastination is costing me time.”

            Ginger leaned against her dresser, giving me a cold and hard stare. “I can’t remember the last time I hated anybody this much.  You gon get yours, Kiley.  And whenever you do, I pray to God my son is nowhere around.”

            I wanted to stay there and cuss her ass out even more, but I could hear the radio from my car blasting out loudly. When I walked to the door and opened it, Desmon and Antonio were inside of my car checking out my sound system.  I went up to the car and turned the music down once I got inside.

            “Don’t touch my shit, au-ight?” I said. Ignoring what I said, Desmon reached for the volume to turn it back up.  I smacked his hand. “Did you hear what I said?”

            “See, that’s what I’m talking about.  This visiting bullshit with you ain’t gon work out.  What about compromising?  You said that you’d compromise with me, remember?”

            “Okay, then lets.”  I looked in my CD collection and found a soothing jazz song by Miles Davis.  I slid it in and blasted it out loudly.

            “Who the hell is that?” Desmon yelled.

            “It’s my compromise.  My music and your volume.”

            Desmon looked at Antonio in the back seat and they both shook their heads.  By the time we reached the end of the street, they couldn’t take it.  They made up their own rap lyrics to drown out the sound in the car.  It sounded pretty smooth, so I lowered the music to listen. I bobbed my head to the beat, giving them props when they finished.

            “Ay, that was pretty smooth.  I didn’t know you two had rapping skills.”

            “Slo Motion and me been rapping since we were kids.  As you can see, we haven’t been too successful, but who knows?” Desmon said.

            “Slo Motion?” I said. “I know Antonio ain’t Slo Motion.”

            “That would be me,” he said, sucking in his bottom lip and slowly grinding on the back seat. “The ladies call me Slo Motion cause I like to do it Slo.”

            Him and Desmon cracked up and gave each other five.  I couldn’t help but smile, as the thought of Quincy, Kareem and me flashed before me. 

            “Hey, Mr. Abrams,” Antonio said. “Would you mind stopping at the Jake’s corner store so I can get some chips or something for my girl?  When I called and ask what she wanted, she told me to bring her some chips.”

            I looked in the rearview mirror at Antonio and could tell he was lying.  I wasn’t quite sure what he wanted at Jake’s, but I stopped for him anyway.  When we got there, he scooted close to the front seat and tapped my shoulder.

            “Say, Mr. Abrams—

            “It’s Kiley.  Y’all sholl know how to respect somebody when y’all want something. So, what is it?”

            “Okay, Kiley, then.  But, I ain’t got a dime.  Can I borrow ten dollars?  I’ll give it back to you the next time I see you.”

            Desmon looked out of the window and whistled. I hesitated, and then reached in my pocket for five dollars.  “Get some jobs.  Don’t ask me for shit else, au-ight?”

            Antonio took the five dollars. “But, I asked for ten—

            “Well, five dollars better get whatever it is that you need.  If not, then you’d better find another way to get it.”

            Antonio and Desmon got out of the car.  They giggled and really thought they were getting over on me.  I had my reasons for doing things the way I did, and hopefully, they’d soon realize it. 

            As I sat in the car waiting for them to come out of Jake’s, my phone vibrated.  I looked to see who the caller was and it was Jada.  I answered to see why she was so anxious to see me all of a sudden.

            “Hi,” she said, softly.

            “What’s up?”

            “You.”

            “Naw, couldn’t be me.  I believe you’re the one with something on your mind.”

            “Yeah, sort of.”

            “Wha…what’s up,” I said, getting irritated.

            “I’m getting a divorce.”

            “And?”

            “And, I wanted to know if we could meet somewhere and talk.”

            “Today?”

            “Yes.”

            “I can’t make it today.”

            “Please, Kiley.  I…I’m going through something right now and I really need somebody to talk to.”

            “Jada, I’m with my son right now.  I just picked him up and we’re on my way to my house to spend some time together.  How about I give you a call…tomorrow or Monday.”

            “I need you now, Kiley.  My husband beat me up because he found out about my involvement with you.”

            “With me?  You know damn well what happened between us only occurred one time since you’ve been married.  I hope you haven’t told him it was more to it than just that.”

            “I told him the truth.  And, the truth is I don’t love him, I love you.  You can’t deny…”

            “Jada, look.  What we had is over, baby.  Now, I don’t know what it is you want from me.  You got married and you moved on.  I’m sorry things didn’t work out, but you can’t come running back to me because your marriage failed.”

            “Just call me in a day or two.  Please.”

            “We’ll see,” I said, and then hung up.  Desmon and Antonio were heading back to the car just as I ended the call.  They hopped in the ride and said they were ready to go.  Antonio had a small plastic bag in his hand, and when I asked what was in it, he pulled out three candy bars and a card.

            “I didn’t have enough to get what I came for so I had to improvise,” he said.

            “I thought you wanted some chips,” I said while driving off.

            “I changed my mind. Besides, I really needed some condoms but I didn’t have enough to get them.  So, the card is to apologize to my girl for not being able to give her some because of my lack of condoms. The chocolate is to make her feel better when I have to let her down.”

            “Fool, then you should have said so.  I’ll give you some money to get some condoms,” I said, already turning the car back around.

            “No problem, Kiley.  I already got’em.”  He laughed, and then reached in his pocket and pulled out a box of condoms.  Out with the condoms came some KY Jelly and a stick of gum.

            I was shocked, but not in pure disbelief. “Were y’all playas in there stealing? What you got in your pockets?” I asked Desmon, as I could already see how fat they were.

            “Let’s see,” he said, pulling some shit out of his pockets too. “I got some chap-stick, some batteries for one of my games, and some condoms too.”  He reached in his other pocket. “In door number two, I got some shoelaces and some Tylenol for the pain in my leg.”

            I had a blank expression on my face.  Maybe Antonio didn’t have money to pay for his shit, but I knew Desmon had some money.  He got a kick out of the shit and him and Antonio took pride in what they’d done.  I pulled the car over to the curb and reached for the items he’d pulled out of his pocket. 

            “What you doing?” he laughed, obviously not knowing how upset I was. “Go get your own condoms.”

            “Give me this shit, man!” I yelled. “What the fuck is wrong with you!  I gave your punk ass some money and you around here stealing shit like a thief in the night.”

            His mouth dropped open. “What you tripping off of? They ain’t gon miss those few lil items I took.  Besides, they shit overpriced just so they can make up for thieves like me.”

            “Well, Mr. Thievesses, or whatever the hell you call yourself, you gon take your ass back in that store to apologize.  Then, you gon break out the money I gave you to pay for the shit.  If the manager decides to arrest yo ass for being so stupid, then that’s gonna be your problem, not mine.”

            “Shiiit. Muthafucka, you crazy.  I ain’t going back in there to get arrested.”

            I tightened my fist. “What the hell did you just call me?”

            Desmon eyeballed my fist, reneging on what he’d said. “I ain’t call you nothing.  I just said that I wasn’t going back in there.”

            “Yeah you did.  I know you didn’t call me no muthafucka, did you?  He didn’t call me no muthafucka, did he Antonio?”

            “I, ah, wha…I didn’t hear what he said.  I don’t think he did, though, Kiley.”

            “Whateva.  You got yourself a good ass friend back there, but since I heard you call me a muthafucka, I’m gonna make it real hard for you now.”

            I drove back to Jake’s and before I could get out of the car, Desmon opened his door.  He couldn’t go too far, so I watched as he hopped out and tried to get away while limping.  Antonio stayed in the car and watched.  I grabbed Desmon by the back of his neck and opened the back door for Antonio to get out.

            “Come on, Mr. Abrams.  Don’t make me go back in there.  If I get arrested, Anna gon be mad at me.”

            “You should have thought about that before you and Mr. Thievesses here went on a crime spree.”

            I marched back into Jake’s and demanded to speak to a manager.  When he came out Desmon had his lips poked out and I could feel Antonio’s body trembling as I held him tightly by his arm.

            “May I help you?” the tall slender brotha asked.

            “Is there security in this place?” I asked.

            “Yes, sir, there is.”

            “Then, he or she needs to be fired.  My son and his friend came in here and took these items from your store.”  I placed the items on the counter.  “Now, I don’t know what kind of system you got going on in here, but it’s evident your metal detectors don’t work.  You’re losing a whole lot of money if they don’t, and I’m sure the kids around here are having a field day.  What I’m really trying to say is,” I stepped away from Desmon and Antonio who were no doubt upset with me. “What I’m trying to say is, I don’t want these two boys arrested for stealing. I want this to be a lesson learned so go get your security guard and pretend that the police is on the way.”