So Gone (20 page)

The organist was
playing a sad gospel tune while the whole front row of the church was weeping.
I stepped right pass the pews with my li’l man following me. I walked up and
looked down into the pink and white casket at Chunuchi’s face. It sort of
looked like she was in a deep sleep, but of course the bitch wouldn’t ever wake
up. I had warned her not to play games wit’ me! 

I told her when we
first met years ago that I’m the wrong nigga to test, but she wouldn’t take
heed to my warning so now that ass is stinking. I wiped my eye and faked like I
was wiping away tears.

I remained standing
over her casket until her mother erupted from her seat in the front pew. “I
want him out of here! He killed my daughter and I know he did it!” she
screamed.

My head snapped
around and my dry eyes met her wet ones. I grinned as if saying,
Prove it!

The funeral
director walked up and politely asked me to leave. “Out of respect for the
family,” he added.

“Fuck all y’all
fake mothafuckas! I ain’t got no respect for none of y’all, but I’ma bounce
‘cause I got places to be,” I responded.

At the door, on my
way out the church, Cam, one of Chunuchi’s uncles, confronted me. “If I find
out you did this, I’m comin’ for you,” he threatened.

“I’m not hard to
find,” I let him know. He didn’t wanna see me! I was an equal opportunity
killa. I banged on niggas, hoes, old women, and children too. I didn’t
discriminate wit’ my burner.

When I got outside
to the car, Luscious said, “You okay, Baby?”

“I’m good as long
as I got you.” I
smiled.
Of course, I was
blowing the bitch head up. If I didn’t need her to set up Polo, the bitch would
have been in the casket right next to the punk hoe whose face I just looked
down in.

I had started to
smash Luscious the other night when I was done running dick up in her rectum,
but I needed that grip I knew Polo was sitting on. I leaned over and kissed her
lips. “Promise me you won’t ever turn on me, Baby,” I conned.

“Never, Daddy,” she
vowed.

Shawdy just didn’t
kno’ what I had planned for her ass.

I dropped her and
Devin off at her crib. Devin had been silent all day, and I knew he was missing
his mother. I knew he’d be okay though. He was a trooper.

I spent the rest of
the day in the hood gettin’ high and tossing back hard liquor.

I was missing Mo’
like crazy. So I decided to go over to her house and beg her to give me one
last chance. This time I was gon’ keep it real and not cheat on her. It took
awhile but I had learned my lesson. I could give up all the other women, but I
needed my boo. I’d get down on bended knee if that’s what it took.

As I was driving up,
I thought I spotted the big homie, Rocco, leaving Mo’s house. Now I knew fo’
sho’ that she was fuckin’ him! Rocco wasn’t no lame so he was hittin’ the
pussy. Just the thought of that hoe lettin’ a dude I fucks wit’ hit had my
whole grill twisted. No matter what, a niggas homie was out of bounds. That
showed that Mo’ was a hoe in disguise all along.

I would teach her
what happens to hoes like her, I said to myself as I watched Rocco walk across
the street and go inside the big house directly across from Mo’s
. Hmmm! So
that’s where he rest, huh?

The next night, I
crept up behind Rocco as he entered his crib. I jabbed my heater in his spine.

“Step on inside,
Homie,” I ordered him, simultaneously removing the strap that he kept on his
waist. I pushed him inside and closed the door behind us. “Get on yo’ knees
now, Nigga! Bow down to me,” I commanded.

Rocco knew I was
trained to hurt somethin’, and he was in no position to buck so he got on his
knees.

“Respect the code,”
he tried to reason wit’ me. I wasn’t tryna hear it though.

“You ain’t
respectin’ the code by fuckin’ my bitch,” I gritted and pumped a slug in his
chest. He toppled over, then reached up and wrapped his arms around my knees
and tried to tackle me to the knees.

I put the burner
against his head and said, “Sometimes the price of pussy is yo’ life. Game
over!” I squeezed the trigger and his head exploded all over my hoodie. If Mo’
still wanted him, maybe she could glue the pieces of his head back together.

In August of 2012
our family reunion was held in the country part of Memphis in my Uncle Lou’s
huge backyard.

There had to be at
least two hundred of my relatives who showed up for the event. They had come
from Mississippi, Texas, Louisiana, and the Detroit Metropolitan area.

Everyone was
wearing green monogrammed t-shirts with a tree etched on the front and the
words Alexander & Olson’s 20th Family Reunion. Me and Leesha and the twins
arrived on the scene. We were wearing our shirts too and blue jean Capri pants
with matching green flip-flops. The girls sprinted off to go play with a few
cousins that they recognized. “Don’t y’all get dirty, hell,” Leesha spoke when
they took off.

The low sound of
R&B oldies played in the background. Kids were dancing to the tune of The
Isley Brothers, running everywhere, and having fun. The smaller children played
tag while the teenage boys shot basketball on a goal. There was a table set up
for the children to make crafts, jewelry, draw pictures, and blow bubbles.
Several tables were arranged for the grownups to enjoy card games, Checkers,
and Dominoes.

“Let’s go sit by
Aunt Katie ‘nem with their messy old asses,” Leesha suggested.

We walked a little
piece under a huge oak tree where our elderly Aunt Katie sat with her cane
resting across her knees. Her sisters, Aunt Edna and Aunt Donna Ann, sat in
lawn chairs beside her. These were all my mother and Aunt Sara’s sisters. They
all resembled each other with the long black hair, smooth and beautiful
chocolate skin.

“Hey Aunties,”
Leesha greeted.

They all gave us
huge smiles and embraced us with hugs.

“Sit down, babies,”
said Aunt Katie.

Leesha and I sat in
two of the empty chairs aligned around them. They were the most gossiping women
I had ever seen in my life. Soon as our butts touched the seats, one of our
Aunt’s started.

“Leesha, baby are
you pregnant or just retaining a lot of fluid? Yo’ feet look like they
swollen,” Aunt Katie remarked.

"You do look
fat, dear," added Aunt Edna.

I placed my hand
over my mouth, crossed my legs, and snickered. I was so tickled!

Leesha gave me a
dirty look and an eye roll, and mumbled, “Heifer, it’s not that funny.”

Aunt Donna Ann
pointed behind us. “Look y’all, that’s Lou’s daughter, Nae, looking like a ole’
hoe. I don’t know why she’s dressed like that. She’s shaped like a tub.”

Many of my family
members didn’t like cousin Nae because she always stayed in some type of drama
and foolishness. My Aunties looked her up and down. When Nae waved in their
direction, they looked away.

“Hmph, I’m not
speaking to her,” Aunt Donna replied. “All she does is steal out of her
grandmama’s purse, and she ain’t never been worth nothing. I’m glad my
pocketbook is in the trunk of my car ‘cause she’ll steal the sugar out of a
cake.”

Aunt Katie folded
her arms and added, “I heard that she is looking for an assisted living home to
put her grandma in. Can you believe that her grandma, Betty Ann, has had two
bypass surgeries and a hip replacement?”

Before anyone could
answer, she shook her head and kept going. “She’s half blind, can’t hear
anything quieter than a jet engine, and takes thirty pills a day that makes her
lightheaded. She has episodes with dementia, poor leg circulation, can hardly
feel her hands and feet, and can’t remember if she’s eighty- five or
ninety-two. And guess what… she’s still driving.”

“I’m calling the
Department of Motor Vehicles on that heifer as soon as I get home,” Aunt Donna
let out.

They went on for an
hour cracking me and Leesha up. Gossiping was their everyday job. It was
hilarious yet ridiculous. Listening to them had set my ears on fire, but I
loved them.

Being back home
felt so good, but I was already missing Rocco.

The culinary highlight
of the event was the roasting and eating of the pig. My Uncle Lou, who prided
himself on cooking the best barbeque in the world, offered to do the meat. He
had placed it on a huge black portable grill. He opened the grill, and I could
see that the animal was split down the middle. Its cavity was filled with
strings of sausages, onions, peppers, potatoes, and ears of corn on the cob to
add a little spice and flavor then stitched with twine. Normally, it was cooked
throughout the evening before and into the wee hours of the morning. They slow
roasted it while playing cards and the men took turns turning it.

Dinner was set for
mid-afternoon. The swine was wheeled out to the picnic shelter where about
seventy-men, women, and children sat around the banquet tables laughing and
talking. We stood, went over to the food, and all of us held hands as the
eldest man, Uncle Willie, was about to bless the food.

“Put that beer
bottle down, so we can pray Lou,” he told my other uncle.

Uncle Lou looked
up, lifted the bottle in the air, and guzzled a few swallows down. “I ain’t
puttin’ shit down. That’s what’s wrong with you so called, Christians. God’s
been looking down at me getting tipsy for two days straight. I’ve been drinking
like a fish both days. He knows I drink, and it ain’t no use in me trying to
hide it. Why would I stop now ‘cause you ‘bout to pray?” he asked.

“Put that damn
bottle down, fool, so we can thank God for this meal and eat!” Aunt Katie
yelled out. She rubbed her stomach. “I ain’t ate shit all day,” she grumbled.

Uncle Lou raised
his balled fist in the air. “You gon’ be eating a knuckle sandwich if you don’t
quit saying something to me.”

Aunt Katie lifted
up her walking stick and held it high. “If you do I’m gon’ hit you like a
hurricane.” A loud burst of laughter came from a lot of mouths including
Leesha. She was acting silly and bent over to her knees giggling and grinning.

Things soon calmed
down. “I’ll say the prayer,” Uncle Lou insisted.

“I don’t want to
hear that shit you ‘bout to say. I don’t even think anybody in heaven likes
you. I’m in the world, and I know I don’t. You stay drunk as Cooter Brown, and
you don’t even go to church. Shut up and let Willie pray!” Auntie Katie
hollered.

Uncle Willie held
his head down, closed his eyes, and started the prayer. “Lord, we thank you for
the blessing of this day and for this time together as a family. We thank you
for this wonderful meal and for this time that we can share it. Lord, help us
to remember those who have so much less than we do. Bless us as a family. Help
us to grow in love and care for each other. We ask you to comfort and give
strength and peace to those who are sick and struggling in any way…”

Uncle Lou clapped
his hands together to get everyone’s attention. “Look, it don’t take all of
that. God can hear a simple prayer.” He used his hand to move Uncle Willie aside,
cleared his throat, and waved his right hand up toward the sky praising the
Lord. “God is great, and he’s sho’ nuff good. Lord, we wanna say thank you for
this food. Amen.”

“Amen,” Leesha
joined in.

 I elbowed her and
whispered, “Girl, now you know Uncle Lou is wrong for that.”

“No he’s not. He’s
got more sense than you. We’ll be alright without the two page prayer. God
don’t want us to be hungry. That short prayer was good enough.”

Uncle Lou began to
serve the hog. First, he carved through the twine. As he cut the stitches, the
food inside spilled onto the table.

For all of us over age
twenty-five, it was a beautiful sight. The younger generation, however, thought
that it was absolutely disgusting. “Ugh, what is that?” shrieked one of my
younger cousins. “They cooked the guts too?”

“Eww! I ain’t
eating that!” cried another. 

Aunt Katie said,
“Hush up and let me tell you about this hog!” As she talked, other elders
joined in with their own stories about growing up in hard times. They told us
about working to raise hogs, only to be allowed to eat just the parts that had
been discarded.

All of us learned
volumes that day about the journey of our family in the face of tremendous
barriers. The elders also used the opportunity to talk about everything from
expectations, responsibilities, and pride. The conversation also went on to
explain the disappointments, betrayals, losses, and victories that they had
experienced over the years. The elders were survivors. They understood and
communicated that the animal represented a lot in the African American quest
for life. By the time she finished talking, the younger generation should have
had great appreciation for what our elders had been through.

After we ate, the
backyard turned into a nightclub. Relatives young and old took to the center of
the yard and shook their moneymakers. Leesha hopped up and dropped that ass
low. The twins got up and mimicked their mama's moves. I laughed so hard that I
fell out of my chair.