20. Corinthians #2
We joined hands and Granddaddy said the same prayer he always did before one of Mercy’s games.
It was the last one her daddy said before her game.
“For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle; thou hast subdued under me those that rose against me. For you equipped me with strength for the battle; you made those rise against me sink under me,” he said. “Psalm 18:39.”
The buzzer sounded, and we sat. Mercy ran back to her bench and took her seat next to Legacy so that their starting five could be announced.
“Just for the record, no one is going to help you with your performance to get your woman back,” Exodus told Krude.
Krude laughed, shook his head, then got comfortable in his seat. “Yes, you will,” he said. “All of you will help.”
***
“This building is down the street from one of your cousins,” the realtor Beau “Bizzy” Rush said as he walked around the empty building.
His long legs moved him from one side of the room to the other in less than ten steps.
“He told me to keep you close; this is close without being right up under that nigga.” Bizzy smirked.
“I know you grown and shit, but a nigga gotta look out for his family and shit.” He shrugged.
“So, this was me knowing how family is but still giving you the space you probably gonna want.”
“This is all brand-new, right?” I asked instead of acknowledging what Bizzy said. My business was my business just like his was his. This wasn’t a personal meeting.
“Yeah,” he answered with a nod. “When are you looking to move in?”
“I haven’t made my decision yet,” I told him as I looked around. The building was exactly what I needed. It had space for at least ten barbers, a huge wash station, and a back area for an office, an employee lounge, and a few bathrooms.
“What do you mean?” Bizzy asked. “This shit is yours.”
“Mine?” I questioned him, and he nodded. His shoulder-length locs moved around his face. “Exodus signed the contract already?”
“Nah, you got that grant through your school,” Bizzy said. “They finalized the paperwork this morning. They didn’t call you?” He handed me the folder.
“No.” I took the folder from him and opened it.
My finance professor told me about a grant that would help me open my first business at the beginning of the semester.
I was apprehensive about applying because of the long-term commitment to being in one location.
Still, they would help with the startup of my business, including leasing a location for three years.
The only thing I had to do was make sure I didn’t fail.
I hadn’t thought about the application since I submitted it.
“Well, you got that shit,” Bizzy said. “Honestly, that’s why I thought you were looking at this building. I mean, yeah, it’s not far from Ex, but it was out of your price range. I thought you either joined the family business or knew you got the grant.”
“I've been saving,” I told him as I continued to read. “Plus, I helped my cousins beat Krude in a bet and Ex gave me some of his winnings.” Everything was right here, in my hands in black and white. “So, all I gotta do is sign?”
“Yeah, sign on the dotted line, and all this is yours.” He handed me a pen. “I’ve seen at least six businesses get this grant over the years. You lucky as fuck to get it.”
“I know,” I agreed.
“What’s the problem?” Bizzy asked me when he noticed I was hesitating.
“What do you know about this grant?” I looked up and asked him.
“What do you mean?”
“Who is it affiliated with? I’m assuming a big company; do you know which one?”
“N. Enterprise,” he answered. “It’s a tech company that started up in Arizona a few years back by some cousins. It's growing like crazy.”
“It’s not connected to Strong Pharmaceuticals, is it?”
“Nah,” Bizzy answered. “They don’t have shit to do with SP.”
I nodded then turned back to the paperwork. All I had to do was sign. I took a deep breath, released it, then signed my name.
Corinthians DeCorte
***
I sat in the middle of the floor of my new business. Bizzy left a while ago, but I couldn’t make myself move. This was mine! I’d done it! I was opening my own damn business despite what I’d been through. My phone rang, and I took it out of my purse to see that a friend of mine was calling.
“Hello?” I answered.
“What are you doing?” Melissa asked. We’d met my first day of classes.
I was sitting in the back of the lecture hall, near the door so that I wasn’t in complete darkness.
Taking barber classes at night freed up my days.
Madea thought it was a good idea to take some business and finance classes so I would have an idea of what I would be dealing with, since I wanted to own my own shop.
Melissa was taking classes so that her daddy would continue to fund her lifestyle.
She said that her brother was his pride and joy and she and her sister were a second thought.
She wasn’t close to either of her siblings and rarely talked about them, but she had mentioned a few times that her brother played basketball and her sister was in school to become a pastry chef.
Melissa didn’t have a clue as to what she wanted to do with her life, so she was taking what she thought were easy classes to keep her daddy quiet.
“Sitting here,” I answered. “What are you doing?”