Goon #5
She would make me wash up there some nights when it was raining out back. The memories in this house were endless, but so damn good.
“Awe, look at your chubby cheeks. You were so chocolate,” Zoya gushed over my baby pictures. “So handsome, too.”
“Word?”
“Don’t get too excited now… you had braids?”
“If that’s what you wanna call ‘em… boy hated getting his hair combed. They were more like locs with how stuck together they were,” Maxine called from the pull-out bed.
“He should have grown ‘em like his grandfather. His are so long that they have to be heavy.”
“And he won’t cut them either. That man will be buried with them,” Maxine chuckled, knowing how stubborn he was. She already knew that her parents wanted to be buried on their land.
“Mommy was a fresh likkle thing, eh?” she did her fake accent as she looked at us, and none of us were moved. “It’s cute when y’all do it, but silence when I do… okay.”
I smiled as she flipped through pictures of my mother and aunt. They were best friends and put my grandparents through it on this island. Everybody wanted a piece of the Wraithe girls.
“Okay Maxine… little pum pum shorts.”
Maxine smiled and snapped her fingers, reliving her glory days. These days she barely left the house unless she was going to the store or going out the country. It was like she stopped enjoying her life.
“Fass,” Grandma smirked.
“Oh fuck… I’m sorry. Oh shi… oh hell.” Zoya put her hand to her mouth, as she looked at the book.
It was a picture of my mother posing with my father while pregnant with me. They were standing by the mango tree that was out front. Both of them had smiles on their faces like life was good for them.
And it probably was at that time.
“What’s wrong?” Maxine leaned up.
She held the book with one hand, while the other hand remained on her mouth. “That’s fucking Robinson, Gerald.”
I snatched the book so fast that a page fell on the floor and Grandma nearly lost it. I wasn’t worried about her right now. I had small memories of meeting my father, but they were always in passing.
He would usually come and moms would keep him at the front door. She never let him come inside to see us. She was strict with that, and I remember her speaking patios every time he left, because she was so mad.
My mother always said she was stupid for having not one, but two kids with him. I stared at the picture and then at my grandmother. “Wah?”
“This is my father?”
“Eh?”
“Grandma, this is my father?” It wasn’t like it was some secret on who my father was. I just never cared to seek him out the older I got. Why the hell would I want to meet a man that left my mother to struggle?
“Uh huh.”
I held the book in my hand, unsure on what the fuck to say. “I thought your muva told you,” Maxine said.
My grandmother got up from the chair and took the book from me. She picked up the page that fell and looked at me. “Sooner or later, di skeletons dem come out fi play.”
“Mommy, please,” Maxine said, as my grandmother sucked her teeth.
Once that bucket was emptied out front, that meant my grandfather was ready to come in for bed. I went to the jeep to grab our bags, while grabbing what we need to shower.
“Baby, this is a lot.”
“I know… that nigga is my fucking father.”
Zoya looked up at me. “I’m talking about this… I’m supposed to get naked?”
“Zoya, get the fuck undressed so we can shower.”
She pouted as she slowly undressed and I messed with the shower hookup. I was so damn confused that I didn’t know what to say. My mind was racing like crazy with this news.
While Boobie was getting in bed, I filled her cup up with water. It was a cup she had since a baby. I would be glad to get her ass to the resort because if she dramatically slapped a mosquito once more, I was about to make her sleep in the jeep.
She took the cup and smiled. “Come lay down.”
I looked at her. “You just wanna lay on me.”
“Seriously, Goo. This could mess with my reputation. You got the opps blood running through you.”
“Zoya, shut the fuck up,” I said, as I climbed onto the bed.
She smirked, not taking offense. “But when I say it, it’s a problem.”
I held her neck as I kissed her lips, shoving my tongue down her throat. “Because you got a smart-ass mouth, Boobie.”
“Not in your grandparents’ house.”
I kissed her once more before pulling her onto me. “You right.”
Her head popped up shocked. “You were trying to smash in your grandparents’ house?”
Despite all this shit going on in my head, my baby was determined to make me feel better. “Come here, Boobie.”
She came and put her head on my chest. I kissed her head, as I rubbed her back. “I’m sorry this is how you had to find out.”
“Baby, I want you to know that I will always be there for you and our kid. I’d never leave you to do this shit alone, Baby.”
She rubbed my chest. “I know you wouldn’t do that to me. I’m a good shot and know how to aim at the knees. We’re just two fucked up lovers, huh?”
“In the best way, Baby.”
“Just us.”
“Us.” I kissed her head and closed my eyes. The sounds of crickets always put me to sleep. The air came through the window, as I cuddled my baby.
My father was trying to take Forty’s freedom.
Shit.