Two Tears in a Bucket (16 page)

“
That bitch-ass muthafucka!” Kevin was furious.

“
Man, look…” Kong surveyed the room. “You hook our letters up, and I’ll take care of that bitch. I don’t like that little nigga anyway. He talks too fuckin’ much.”

Kevin was steaming. “Naw, I got that shit myself.”

“
SHOWER!” the guard yelled into the recreation hall.

“
Good.” Kong looked over at Dale. “Look.” He pointed down to the hardness in his sweatpants. “Let’s hit the cell first.”

“
Shit,” Dale mumbled, shaking his head.

These gay-ass muthafuckas
, Kevin thought, thankful he’d showered that morning.

“
Hey, man,” Dale whispered, shrugging his shoulders as if he’d read Kevin’s thoughts. “It could be worse.”

Chapter Fourteen

Thomas’s van wasn’t parked in its normal parking space.
Good,
Simone thought. Exhausted, all she wanted to do was lie across her bed and steal a few winks. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t get Jordan to sleep all night. At seven months, Jordan still woke up all hours of the night. She wasn’t wet or hungry, just fussy. By the time Simone got her back to sleep, the sun’s rays were creeping over the horizon and it was time for Simone to get up. Hitting the snooze button on her alarm clock wasn’t an option. Thomas needed his van to get to work, and Simone still had to catch a bus.

Inside the apartment, Simone headed straight to her room. Fully dressed in her work clothes, she lay across the bed and was asleep in no time.

A few hours later, the ringing phone disrupted Simone’s sleep. Stretching the kinks from her weary limbs, she switched on the light to illuminate her dark room.

Damn, what time is it?
she thought. It was after eight. She’d been asleep for hours, and to her surprise, she was still home alone, which was rare. As the phone rang for a third time, Simone snatched it up.

“
Where have you been?” Angela questioned, without a hint of a salutation. “I’ve been calling you all night. Do you know what time it is?”

“
I fell asleep,” Simone mumbled through her yawn. “And my father’s
—”

“
Simone, it’s after eight! How come you haven’t picked up your daughter?”

“
My goodness. I was trying to tell you that my father’s not here, and I don’t have a car, remember?”

“
So what am I supposed to do?” Angela asked. “Wait all night?”

Simone sucked her teeth. “You act like I didn’t come to get her on purpose. I told you my father’s not here, but the minute he walks through the door, I’ll be sure to run every traffic light so I can get there.”

“
And just suppose I had something to do, then what?”

“
I don’t know. I guess you’d have to bring her to me.”

“
Huh!” Angela chuckled sarcastically. “I may as well keep her overnight.”

“
You don’t have to.”

“
Simone, there’s no telling what time you’ll get here. She may as well stay.”

“
Well,” Simone laughed silently, “since tomorrow is Friday, can you take her to Ms. Kennard’s? It wouldn’t make sense for me to pick her up from you just to take her over there. Especially when Ms. Kennard’s only five minutes away from you.”

“
She just went over there last weekend. Why she gotta go every weekend?”

“
That’s her grandmother. What’s wrong with her going over there? Plus, I think she’s taking Jordan to see Kevin this weekend. He still hasn’t seen her yet.”

“
Mmm, mmm, mmm, she’s going to see her jailbird daddy, the murderer. Lord have mercy, Simone. I don’t know what in the world possessed you to have a baby. You know how many…”

The front door closed. The soles of Thomas’s hard-bottom shoes click-clacked down the hallway. He poked his head inside Simone’s room.

“
Is that your momma?” he whispered.

Annoyed, Simone nodded her head while Angela continued to rant and rave.

Thomas tossed the keys to his van on Simone’s bed. “Tell her you on your way. The van’s acting funny, though. You gotta put it in neutral when you stop. If you don’t, it’ll cut off on you. It may not start without a jump, so come get me before you leave.”

“
Who’s that?” Angela asked.

“
My father,” Simone said. “He just walked in. Something’s wrong with the van. He said he may have to find me a jump.”

“
Yeah, Jordan may as well stay here, especially if the van’s acting up. I’ll take her to Ms. Kennard’s house tomorrow since she just has to go. Give me her number so I can call her.”

● ● ●

“
Ma!” Alicia walked into Angela’s room. “Some man wants you at the door.”

“
Who is it?” Angela barked as she grabbed Ms. Kennard’s number and scooped Jordan up in her arms.

“
I don’t know,” Alicia said, heading back into her room while Angela walked towards the front door.

“
Wow! How old is your baby?” the man cooed.

“
Seven months,” Angela shared, speaking through the screen door.

“
Oh, I didn’t even know you were pregnant. I live around the corner on the next street. My wife and I use this street a lot to avoid the traffic light. We see you and your husband out here working in the yard. She’s a good combination of both of you.”

“
Thank you.” Angela smiled, never bothering to correct him.

“
Sorry for stopping by so late. The light was on, so I figured I’d bring you this,” he said, handing Angela a few pieces of mail. “We have the same house number. I guess the mailman put it in our box by mistake. Congratulations on the baby,” he said as he trotted down the steps towards his car.

“
Thank you,” Angela said, closing the door. “Everybody thinks you’re my baby,” she said as she kissed Jordan on top of her head.

Tossing the mail on the end table, she placed Jordan in her seat and starred at her granddaughter as her mind drifted back to five years ago. Five years ago when the doctor told her and Ricardo that the little girl that they were expecting had stopped developing in Angela’s womb. Due to Angela’s age, the pregnancy had been deemed high risk. That being the case, Angela and Ricardo decided to keep the pregnancy hush, hush until she reached her third trimester. But the third trimester never came.

“
She probably would’ve looked just like you,” Angela said to her granddaughter, Jordan.

Ricardo hated Simone, but he cherished Jordan nearly as much as Angela did. It was hard for anyone not to. With eyes as bright as the moon, silky jet-black curls, and dimples engraved in her golden-colored cheeks, one glance in Jordan’s direction and she stole your heart.

Picking up the phone, Angela dialed Beatrice’s number.

“
Hi, Ms. Kennard? How you doing? This is Angela, Simone’s mom.”

“
Ms. Kennard?” Beatrice gasped playfully. “Why we so formal? Girl, we kinfolks now, thanks to little Miss Jordan. Is that her I hear cooing in the background?”

“
Yeah, that’s her. We sitting here waiting on her momma. No telling where that girl is. I’m so sick of Simone’s mess.”

“
Oh my goodness. Is everything okay?”

“
Oh yeah, everything’s fine. It’s going on nine o’clock, and like I said, we’re sitting here waiting. It’s nothing new. I won’t be surprised if she doesn’t even show up. Her famous excuse is her father’s van is broke. I bet she gets her to you on the weekends with no problem, and she never has a problem dropping her off. It’s just picking her up.”

“
What!”

“
Chile, please. I can tell you some stories about missy. I don’t know what she’s doing, but whatever it is, she needs to stop. You would think having the baby prematurely would make her change her lil’ habits.”

“
What you mean by that?” Beatrice asked, taking Angela’s bait.

“
Just think about it. She didn’t lose her job, her apartment, and birth this little baby two months early for nothing. All that should tell you and everybody else something. Not to mention it’s late and I’m still sitting here waiting for her.”

“
Oh my God, Angela.” Beatrice was stunned.

“
Yeah, I’ve been trying to talk some sense into her, trying to convince her to get herself together.”

“
Lord, what in the world is going on with Simone?”

“
Chile, who knows? But whatever you do, don’t mention this conversation to her. I don’t want her going off on the deep end ’cause I’m telling her business. Anyway, I was calling to let you know that more than likely I’ll be dropping Jordan off to you tomorrow. It’s looking like she’ll be here all night again.”

“
Angela, this don’t make any sense. I thought Simone was doing good. I mean, she looks good.”

“
Yeah, everybody thinks that. Just pay closer attention.”

“
Man, this is crazy,” Beatrice mumbled, more to herself. “Listen, Angela. You’ve had Baby Girl all day. You want me to come get her from you tonight?”

“
Oh, no, she’s fine. I’ll just drop her off to you tomorrow. Have you taken her to see her daddy yet?”

“
No, and I know it’s killing him. I thought she was a little too fragile for the ride at first, but now that she’s put on a little weight, I can take her. Plus, my oldest son is off this weekend, so he’s going to tag along so Kevin can see his baby. Hopefully, seeing her will cheer him up some. He’s been down in the dumps for so long. You know he knew the man he accidentally killed.”

“
He knew the man?”

“
Yeah, he tended to him at the nursing home where we used to work. I had to leave that place after that.” Beatrice sighed. “Now I’m up here at this doggon’ hospital working like a slave. Every time you turn around, they calling me in to work a double shift. I told them don’t call me this weekend.”

“
Well, I bought Baby Girl some cute little outfits. I’ll put a few in her bag so she can look extra cute for her daddy.”

“
Okay, thanks, Angela. And listen, you make sure you call me if you need me. I don’t have a problem coming to get her.”

“
Yeah, but she’s fine. Like I said, I’m use to it. Listen,” Angela added, “I have some pictures of Jordan that I could send to Kevin if you want.”

“
Oh, good idea. Here, take down his address.”

Hanging up the phone, Angela sat on the couch with a conniving smile plastered on her face, amazed by her performance. The web of lies rolled off her tongue so effortlessly.

“
Something smells good,” Ricardo said, startling Angela from her thoughts as he walked in from work. He smiled at Jordan as she sat in her infant seat, kicking her little legs. “What she still doing here?”

“
That’s a good question,” Angela responded. “I haven’t heard from Simone, and look how late it is. That girl wasn’t bit more ready for no baby.”

“
I could’ve told you that.” Ricardo sat on the couch and lifted Jordan from her seat. “So what’s the story?”

“
Your guess is as good as mine.”

“
Well, stop babysitting,” he said with Jordan cooing in his arms. “That’ll fix her.”

“
Yeah, that may fix Simone, but it’ll do more harm to Jordan. No telling who Simone will get to watch her. Plus, it’s a lot of things you don’t know.”

“
Like what?” Ricardo stepped right into the sticky web. Angela repeated the lies she’d just shared with Beatrice.

“
Damn, we need to do something,” Ricardo said, looking at little Jordan.

“
Well,” Angela said, “if she keeps it up, we may have to go to the courthouse and see about getting custody.”

● ● ●

Beatrice picked up the phone that connected her with her son. “Surprise, Big Daddy!”

Damn,
Kevin thought as he marveled over the little life he and Simone had created.

“
I already checked her out, too. She’s definitely yours.”

Kevin frowned. “Hell, I know she mine, but damn, why she so small?”

“
She was premature, remember? She’s gotten a lot bigger, though. Ain’t she gorgeous? A good combination of you and Simone.”

Kevin fought back tears as he marveled at his daughter. “She’s my complexion, but to me, she looks just like Simone. How’s Simone doing anyway?”

“
Well, I thought she was doing good. I mean, she looks good. You can’t even tell the girl had a baby. But her mother’s been complaining that she’s not picking Jordan up.”

“
What, she working late or something?”

“
I don’t know what’s going on. She’ll get it together. Hey, Jordan,” Beatrice cooed as she held Jordan in her lap. “You see that funny looking man. That’s your da-da.”

For the duration of the visit, Kevin did his best to maintain, but every tick of the clock stabbed at his heart as reality set in. Jordan’s first words, her first steps, her first day of school, her first everything—all of that, he would miss.

Chapter Fifteen

End of Summer, 1989

The neighborhood playground was decorated with police cars early in the afternoon. Simone surveyed the crowd and spotted Big Bob with his hands spread across the back of a cruiser. A few of his boys sat along the curb with their hands cupped behind their heads.