2. Global “Dice” Jamerson #2
Old folks cussing was funny as hell because half the time they sounded both serious and ridiculous. Like Granny Day, you always threaten folks, but what exactly was she planning to do with that fly swatter and wet dish towel?
We got our answer the second Pop Pop stumbled through the front door drunk. Granny Day wore his ass out with a mean combo.
In the midst of her beating Pop Pop, she was fussing at us to take our non-hiding asses and get our showers started. Me and Coca laughed so hard our stomachs hurt.
Going to our grandparents' house was the highlight of our childhood. There was always laughter there. Always noise. Always love. Our mothers were dope, but our grandparents were pure entertainment.
At midnight, there were no signs of our mothers.
It went from Granny-Day fussing to her flat out, pacing the floor back and forth.
It had gotten so late that Coca had fallen asleep, and my eyelids were getting heavy.
Just as my eyes were about to close, there was a round of heavy knocks at the front door.
I nudged Coca, and Granny Day went to get the door.
Our lives were never the same after those knocks.
That night, an officer told us our mothers had been leaving a club when a fight broke out between two men over a woman. The bouncers broke the fight up and thought everything was under control, but it wasn’t.
One of the men went to his car, grabbed a gun, and started firing wildly, hitting the partygoers. Five people died that night, including our mothers. My mother died at the scene, and Coca’s mama died on the way to the hospital.
The officer said they had parked near where the fight took place. They probably thought it was safe to go to their car once the bouncers stepped in. They never knew they were walking straight into the line of fire.
Our worlds were shattered, and at that moment, no one knew who to comfort.
We were all just so broken, but when our grandmother dropped to her knees and let out a gut-wrenching scream, that did it.
The sound that ripped through her lungs rang like an alarm clock in my ears for years.
The sound was so earth-shaking, it was core-rocking.
It was the first time I truly witnessed the cries of a mother.
That night stayed with me for years. Granny Day didn’t just lose one child that night; she lost two, and we were left motherless.
Granny Day was never the same after that.
It felt like she aged overnight. The fly swatter disappeared.
The wet dish rag disappeared. The sounds of Luther stopped playing through the house while she two-stepped around the kitchen with Pop Pop.
The smell of homemade pecan pie no longer greeted us at the front door.
That feisty woman who could pray for you one minute and cuss your ass out the next slowly became a shell of herself.
Granny Day used to say everybody had a number and had to be ready when God called.
What she couldn't accept was the way some people got called home.
Two years went by like that, and on the exact same date, we were putting Granny Day in the ground.
She died from a broken heart. We did everything we could to lift her spirits, but nothing brought her out of that darkness.
I remember us just sitting with her and listening to her pray.
I guess she was getting right with God. When we graduated, Coca left to travel the world, and I grew numb.
That was until I met Kash in college, and we later met the sisters at a local bar.
“Glo. Glo. Glo.”
“Huh?” I finally said. I’d heard him, but I was too far in thought.
“You left me.”
I blinked and looked over.
Coca was rocking side to side with tears running down his face.
I wasn't much of a crier. I zoned out instead.
And I was grateful he had pulled me back.
“I'm good, Coca. Let's eat.”
“I hate when you do that.”
“Do what?”
He sniffed and wiped at his face.
“Glo, you know exactly what. As much as I fuss about wanting some excitement around this bitch, this ain't the subject.”
“Thank you.”
I was grateful that he dropped it. If Coca had picked today to start with me about this, I would have been back out the door and riding back up that long-ass road.
“You hurt?” Revv asked, and I knew we had to change the mood in here and quick. This little boy was so emotionally aware that it scared me at times, because it reminded me of Granny-Day.
“No. Mommy is okay. Just thinking.” I got up and took him to the living room, where his large playpen sat, and put on his favorite cartoon before walking back to the table. The good thing about this place is its open floor plan.
“When we leaving the damn wilderness, Ace Ventura?”
“Hoe, you draggin’ it.”
“Girl, our asses gonna be the ones dragged if we don’t get the hell off and up here. I get why you brought this beautiful home, I really do, but its location is flatlining my pretty ass.”
“Damn, it’s really that bad?”
When I looked at Coca, he didn't answer. Instead, he hit me with a series of rapid blinks like I had lost my mind, which translated to, Girl, if you don't stop playing in my damn face right now.
“Well, good for you. I’m ready to shake for a bit.”
“Bishhhh, don’t play with me.”
“Nah, I’m serious. I’m going to still keep the place for a getaway spot once we finish our final job.”
“For who? Take me back to the city, hunni! Speakin' of the city, me and The Problem need for you to break us off with some money. It's about that time we adjust our asses back to general population. We got some shopping to do. We been in the hole too long.”
“The hole? Yo’ ass so dramatic, but I gotcha.” I said while rolling my eyes.
“I’m deprived. As a matter of fact, don’t mention any D’s around me, hooka, I start having all kinds of withdrawals. Look, I’m itching now,” Coca said, holding out his arms as if he was really breaking out in hives.
I laughed. I wasn’t even going to entertain Coca today. I decided to move this conversation right along.
“You need help.”
“Exactly! Help! Help! Help! You see, not a damn soul came busting in…A bitch needs to be rescued. I could be sipping tea on the side of a yacht in Greece. But knowing my best bitch needs me, and The Problem is super attached, so I’m here.
I’m da pappy.” Coca mocked with the famous line from the movie Life.
Ugh! The mention of Revv’s father made my thighs tighten together.
It was crazy because sometimes I still felt that man’s inches all up in through my guts.
It was ridiculous. The way he gripped my hips.
The way he swirled his thick tongue around the rim of my pussy.
The nickname he gave me dripped like honey on his tongue.
The man had straight A’s up and down his D’port card.
I’m not gonna lie, I have had my share, and there was only one man who came close to running neck and neck with him, but he was no longer here.
That night, he acted as if it were more than a proposal.
More than one night. But once daylight hit, all the feelings I put to the side for a moment of pleasure came rushing back in.
Imagine my surprise when my period didn’t show.
My cycle was like clockwork, and grabbing a Plan B that morning was the furthest thing from my mind.
I just wanted to get on Bessie and blow through the wind, hear my engine roar, and leave Magnolia Valley in the rearview mirror.
The road was my therapist, and I needed it to guide me into peace.
A baby wasn’t on my bingo card, but like Granny Day used to say, God had a funny way of giving you something to live for.
Coca’s voice came slicing through the air, cutting into my thoughts. “Woo-Yoo. Earth to Global Tyyoni Jamerson!” Coca was clapping his hands in front of my face.
“What, Coreal Tymario Jamerson?” I yelled back.
“Whew. Not the Govy, bitch.”
“Hell, that’s what I’m screaming.”
“When you gonna spill it?”
“Huh?”
“Glo, stop playing.”
I huffed out a breath.
“Not this conversation again!” I said, rolling my eyes.
“Yes, this conversation. Glo, you don’t hold this typa shit nor do you back down.”
“I’m not backing down. It’s the lifestyle Coca. You don’t let people get this close. Plus, what the hell am I supposed to say?” I asked. “Ritz, I’m back after two years. Do you remember me? Hmm… I’m the woman you propositioned for a one-night stand?”
“Absolutely,” he said sarcastically, as if I was making it complicated.
“Do you recall me telling you that the man stated I wasn’t the only one?”
Coca just smacked his lips.
“Exactly,” I said, trying to drive my point.
“Your funeral. I will attend, though. What color you like? And hoe, don’t say red ‘cause it don’t compliment my skin tone.”
I rolled my eyes.
“Coca shut the fuck up.”
I laughed.
“You laughing now, but I gotta cry later. Bitch I can't do long-term parenting. Who gon’ get The Problem? His millionaire pappy? As a matter of fact, don’t worry, I will drop him off with Pop Pop.
Hunni, Larry June will have him at them liquor houses helping him pull tips off the tip board.
He will swear he’s his good luck charm.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“Try me.”
“Yeah, okay, next subject,” I said over this part of the convo.
But Coca was right. Pop Pop would really think that.
Hell, he thought that now. That was one crazy man, and we loved him to death, though.
It took him years to grieve Granny Day, but he still remained true to who he was.
He thinks he’s slick, but he has a little girlfriend he thinks we don’t know about.
“Anywhoooo. Can I pack?” Coca asked.
“Not just yet, I got a job coming up, but I’m sure you gonna do what you wanna do.”
This fool jumped up and ran up the stairs like he had lost his twisted ass mind. I didn’t have to ask what he was going up there to do because Coca was so dramatic, I would bet my last dollar that he was up there indeed packing.
Should I go by Monroe’s before I go?