4. Corinthians #2
Once they were gone, Madea walked outside, sat on the steps, put her book and water down, then put her hands out for me to take.
Once my hands were in hers, she rubbed her thumb over the top of my bandage and sighed.
“I don’t know what’s going on with you,” she said softly.
“But I can see the hurt in your eyes.” She looked at Psalms. “And hers too. At first, I thought I was imagining things in my old age.”
“Madea, you aren’t old,” I laughed to try to lighten the mood. We had just celebrated her fiftieth birthday a few months ago.
“These knees aren’t what they used to be,” she replied with a smile.
“But this trigger finger? Baby, it’s always going to be deadly, you understand me?
” She locked eyes with me, and I could see how serious she was.
Most people thought that Madea was calm and sweet, and most of the time she was, but when she got mad, it was a different story.
I’d seen her mad a couple of times, and each time it took Granddaddy and my uncles to pull her off the person she was after.
“All you have to do is point. No words need to be spoken.” She looked over at Psalms. “You too. All you have to do is point. No words, no explanation needed. Madea will handle it from there.”
The sound of a car pulling into the driveway made us turn around. Granddaddy parked his blue truck, shut it off, and got out. He was a tall man, big, not fat, and probably the funniest person in my life. He looked at us, then at Madea, and lifted his brow.
“What’s wrong?” he asked. His deep voice rumbled through the air. He closed his truck door, rounded it, and came right to Madea. “Mary, what’s wrong?”
Madea looked at us, then shook her head. “Nothing, the girls and I were just talking, is all.” She stood, brushed the back of her pants, and sighed. “What are you doing here so early? When we talked, you said it would be a few hours.”
“I came home to talk and see if these kids were driving you crazy yet,” he chuckled.
He put his hands out, and Psalms slowly walked towards him.
When she was close enough, he picked her up, and she rested her head on his shoulder.
“You feeling okay, Psalms? Your granny said you've been quiet and didn’t eat too much.” His big hand went to her back, and I watched as her face twisted in pain.
Granddaddy was too busy looking at the cars driving down the street to notice, but I knew Madea saw it.
She cut her eyes to me and lifted her brow.
“I’m okay, Granddaddy,” she replied.
“Yeah, we need to talk,” Madea said, nodding. Her body was tense, and her finger tapped against her thigh. She only did that when she was mad and trying to get herself together. “The kids are going to the park.”
“Which one of my kids pissed you off?” Granddaddy chuckled, trying to lighten her mood.
“Later, Gabriel,” she said, shaking her head.
“Alright,” he nodded, then kissed the side of Psalms’ head. “You going to the park too, sweet girl?”
“Yes,” she softly answered.
Granddaddy lowered her to the ground, then fixed her shirt. “You look pretty in that. Who bought it for you?”
“Mr. Robert,” Bug answered.
“Who is Mr. Robert?”
“Daddy’s friend,” she answered, looking at me. “He bought me this shirt and Cori a stuffed dog.”
“Did he now?” Madea asked. “And what else did Mr. Robert buy you two?”
My heart slammed against my chest at the thought of what she could say.
Psalms wasn’t supposed to mention Robert or anything that we did when we weren’t here.
Daddy had made us promise, and Robert said that if anyone found out, they would be killed.
Before she could answer, the front door opened, and all my cousins came running out.
They stopped at the top of the porch, all out of breath and ready to go.
“Madea, it's all clean,” Judge said, stepping forward. “The backyard, living room, boys' and girls' rooms, and I took the trash out.” He counted off every one on his fingers to make sure he didn’t forget anything. “Can we go?”
“Go on,” Granddaddy said, shaking his head.
He knew, just like everybody else, that if Judge said it was clean, then it was.
He was a bigger neat freak than Madea was.
No one moved, which made Granddaddy laugh.
He may have been the man of the house, but nothing or no one moved unless Madea said so.
He turned to Madea and tapped her on the arm.
She turned her attention from us to him and lifted her brow.
“They ain’t gonna move until you say so. ”
“Go on,” she sighed and shook her head. “Look out for each other.”
“Yes, ma’am!” they yelled in unison and rushed down the steps.
“Come on,” Cross said, taking my hand. “You’re with me.
” Even though she wasn’t the oldest girl, she was the bossiest, and we all listened to her.
Everybody said that Cross was just Madea as a kid.
Not only did they look alike, but they acted the same way.
“Come on.” Cross dragged me away from the house.
“Wait for Bug,” I said, pulling back from Cross. “I can't leave her.”
“We aren’t; I was just getting you away from Madea,” Cross said, slowing down.
We waited for Psalms to catch up, and then I took her hand.
“I saw how she was looking at you, which is why we started cleaning faster.” Cross moved her braid from her face and sighed.
“I don’t know what she was saying, but I knew it was serious, and you looked scared. ”
“I wasn’t scared,” I denied, shaking my head. I wasn’t; it was more than that. I was terrified that Madea would find out what was happening.
“Yeah, okay,” Cross laughed. We stopped at the corner and waited until the traffic cleared before crossing the street. “I just know what I saw, and you looked scared, so we came to your rescue.”
“Thanks,” I mumbled, and Cross nodded.
When we got to the park, everyone stopped at the entrance.
“Okay, so what’s the game plan?” Exodus asked, looking between us. “I know Mercy is going to the court; Judge, you going to the stands?”
“Yeah,” Judge answered and held up his book. “I’m reading about different ways to make zip ties stronger.”
Exodus' face twisted, and he reared back. “Why?” he questioned with a confused expression. “What are you going to do with zip ties?”
“I don’t know,” Judge answered with a shrug. “I'm just interested in them.”
“Okay,” he said slowly, then shook his head. “Krude, where are you going?”
“Checker boards,” he pointed. “I got a rematch with Mr. Fish Sticks.”
“That man’s name is not Fish Sticks,” Exodus replied.
“He smells like them, so that’s what I’m calling him,” Krude shrugged.
Krude changed everybody’s name; it didn’t matter what anyone said.
He was going to do what he wanted, and changing people’s names was how he remembered who they were.
He said he met too many people to keep all their names straight; if he didn’t change them, he would forget who they were.
“Fine, Cross, where are you going?” Exodus asked.
“Wherever Corinthians goes, Madea said keep an eye on her, so that’s what I’m doing,” she answered, then looked over at me. “Where are you going?”
“To the garden with Bug,” I told her. Psalms only ever went to the garden when we came to the park. She planted half the flowers in it, and she took care of them.
“Alright, I’ll be on the jungle gym then,” Exodus said. “Meet back here when the old people leave.”
The old people leaving gave us enough time to get back to the house before the streetlights came on. We broke off and headed towards our destination. I took Bug’s hand, and we went to the garden. Cross followed behind us, watching our surroundings as if she were my personal bodyguard.
“You weren’t supposed to mention Robert,” I told Psalms as we walked down the row of tulips. We stopped, and Cross stayed at the end, close enough to see us but far enough that she couldn’t hear us. I grabbed Psalms by the shoulders and shook her. “You weren’t supposed to tell Bug.”
“I’m sorry.” Her eyes watered, and her bottom lip shook. “I forgot, and when Granddaddy asked me, I just told him.”
“Robert is not a nice man, Bug,” I told her.
“He’s mean and does mean things. He makes me do bad stuff, and he wants you to do it too.
” My eyes watered at the thought of my sister having to deal with the stuff I was.
“He hits me. Do you want to get hit? Do you want this?” I raised my hand so she could see the bandage wrapped around it. “You don’t, do you?”
“No.” Tears freely fell from her eyes. “I’m sorry, Cori. I won't do it again, I promise.”
“This is our secret, Bug; nobody else can know. Robert said he would hurt anybody who knew. He would kill them!”
“I don’t want Madea or Granddaddy to die!” she panicked. “I’ll be good. I won't tell anybody else. Just don’t let him kill them.”
“I won’t let him, but you have to keep our secret; can you do that?” I asked her.
“Yes,” she quickly nodded.
“Okay, good.” I pulled her into a hug and slammed my eyes shut. It wasn’t fair that I was asking her to keep our secret, but she had to. Robert would make good on his promise if she didn’t.
“Y’all okay down there?” Cross yelled from the end of the row.
“Yeah,” I answered without letting Bug go.
Cross nodded, and I put my mouth to Bug's ear so that only she could hear me. Cross was watching us, but luckily, she couldn’t read lips.
“I’m going to protect you, no matter what.
” I pulled back, kissed her forehead, and then smiled.
“Now come on, show me the flowers you planted and tell me all the cool things you know about them.”
We stayed in the garden until it was time to leave. Psalms was happy, and even though I didn’t like bugs, dirt, or flowers, as long as she was happy, so was I. Cross eventually went to the jungle gym with Exodus. She said she was bored and could see us from where she was.