Chapter 5 #2
If they had a problem paying, I’d kick them out on their asses just like I would anyone else and without getting authorities involved.
To avoid conflict, they emptied their pockets religiously and paid every dime owed each month.
The money went directly to my Nanny. It was her source of income in addition to the social security she’d been getting for years.
Dressed in an Armani tee and jeans, I stepped out of the truck after disabling the engine. I stuffed the key into my jeans to make sure that I didn’t sit it down somewhere and lose it. That almost always happened in Nanny’s house. It was so easy for any and everything to come up missing.
“Ken here!” I heard as soon as I rounded the truck.
Deante, Nelly’s boy, jumped up from his seat on the porch and screamed. He wasn’t a day over eleven and as wild as they came. He was a fearless young bull, reminding me so much of myself as a youngin’. Just like me, no one was putting out the fire that was burning inside of him.
Whatever he put his head to, he would become and he’d be a beast at it.
His love for basketball, if he allowed it, would take him to the top.
I knew it and so did everyone else around us.
The only task was keeping him alive to see his dreams come true.
As much as he was on the courts, he was in the streets.
As often as I could, I was sure to talk to him about it.
“You staying out of trouble, young nigga?”
“Man, what’s that?” He sniggered.
“Don’t get fucked-up out here thinking you cool and shit. Keep your head in them books and your feet on that wood.”
“I been in the gym,” he shared.
“Good.”
“You got like twenty dollars you can spot me?”
“Only if you promise to pay this shit back when you make it pro!”
“Ahhh. I see what you did there.”
“And, I see what you be doing. Don’t let these streets keep you from giving your mother and brothers a better life. They deserve it.”
I dug into my pockets and pulled out a hundred from the knot of them that was folded inside. His eyes glowed when he realized he’d be getting much more than a twenty.
“Give Tay and Renny twenty. You get sixty. I want my shit back, too,” I reiterated.
“I got you,” he agreed.
If paying to keep him off the streets was what I had to do, then I was more than willing.
If anything ever happened to either of her boys, Nelly would never recover.
Tay was too young to know much of anything.
Renny wasn’t interested in the streets. He was still finding himself and had recently realized he was into humans with the same body parts that he had.
We’d all known it was coming and was happy that he could finally free himself from whatever shackles or shame his preference held him hostage with.
He was only twelve, a year older than Deante.
I left Deante where he stood and headed up the three steps that led to a concrete path, stopping right in front of her door. So much about my Nanny’s home had changed since the remodel, but it still felt the same. It still resembled home, even with the new upgrades.
“Knock, knock!” I yelled as I swung the door open and walked in.
As expected, I found my old lady posted on the couch with a cup of coffee in hand and the remote in her other. Slightly, she turned her head until she noticed my figure headed in her direction. The toothless smile that she displayed was utterly unfair, clenching my heart and soul simultaneously.
Excitedly, she rested the coffee cup on the small, portable table in front of her and stood to her feet with a quickness that I didn’t know she could muster.
Her skinny legs marched toward me and it wasn’t before long that our bodies were crashing into one another.
Her head nestled in my chest as my arms wrapped around her, encasing her in my frame.
And just like that, we remained for umpteenth seconds.
Neither of us in a rush to dismantle our connection.
Neither of us interested in releasing the other.
So, we stayed. I could feel the wetness of her face on my skin after it had broken through my shirt.
Her fragile frame shook as she began to mumble words that were beyond me and my understanding, but I was certain they had something – if not everything – to do with the man upstairs.
After what felt like two laps around the sun, we parted. Nanny wiped her tear-stained face with the back of her hands as she looked me up and down. It was her way of making sure I was in good health – mentally, physically, and emotionally. I was. Almost.
“My baby!” She clapped her hands together after she stepped out of my embrace. “What’s the matter?”
“What you mean, old lady? I’m good.”
“Oh, Keanu, save that for someone who gives a shit about the front you like to put on like you’re just this tough booger. I know your heart and it’s uneasy right now. So, tell me what’s the matter?”
“Can’t I just be happy I’m out and trying to adjust to being a free man again?”
“Oh that little slap on the wrist was nothing for you. I’m sure you did that time with a smile on your face, son. I know you. Your aunt might’ve kept you, but I raised you. I’m no fool. Don’t insult me,” she fussed, sitting down and grabbing her coffee.
“You think you know everything,” I teased.
“I do when it comes to you and that damn Kale. You ate? Don’t look like it.”
She was a handful, but I loved her, nonetheless.
“No ma’am. I have not eaten.”
“Ma’am? Boy, if you don’t shut that mouth up of yours.”
She hated to be referred to as anything other than Nanny, not even ma’am.
“I haven’t eaten.”
She stood again, this time much slower.
“Lock that door over there. I don’t want nobody coming in behind you.”
“You want me to yourself, huh?”
“I damn sure do, now lock that door and close my storm door.”
She was selfish with me. Whenever she had the chance, she’d put everyone out of her home to spend time alone with me.
Sometimes, Kale didn’t even get a pass. It wasn’t a secret that she was my confidant.
Our time together was the only time that I was able to unveil.
My armor was left at her doorstep every time I crossed it.
I could stand tall or I could crumble before Nanny and when I walked out of the door she’d see me as the same man as I was when I came through the door. Most times, an even better man.
I locked up and closed her door as she’d requested and then followed her into the kitchen where she removed a carton of eggs from the fridge. Inwardly, I rejoiced. Cheese eggs. I’d choose them over any dish you put in front of me and Nanny knew it.
“Now, what’s eating away at you? I can see the sadness in your eyes, Keanu, so don’t bullshit me. I’ll come across your head with this skillet.”
She wouldn’t. I knew it. She knew it. But I also knew that lying to her wouldn’t end well, either.
“She wrote me while I was away,” I admitted, causing her to turn all the way around from the stove in my direction.
“Are you serious?”
She knew, though no one else did. Long before a letter and long before my one night in heaven, Nanny knew. For that, giving a name wasn’t necessary.
“Halfway into my bid.”
“Around your birthday?”
Glory be to God, her memory was as sharp as a sword’s end.
“On my birthday.”
“And said what?”
“How long she’s been in love with me and how much she fantasizes about a life together.”
“And, what did you say to her in return?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing?”
“Nothing.”
“Keanu, have I not taught you shit?” she hissed, shaking her head as she placed a dollop of butter in the skillet. “If that’s what’s got your panties in a bunch, then good for you.”
“Why you tripping with me?” I hunched my shoulders in question.
“Because, the girl finally shows some interest in you, finally lets her guard down and confesses whatever love she must have for your frail ass and you just leave her hanging. No response, nothing. That’s insane, Keanu.
She’ll never trust you enough to do anything remotely close again.
You did a great job fucking that up, son. Shit.”
“Calm down, old lady.”
“I am calm.”
“I saw her.”
“When?” Her neck snapped in my direction again. With a raised brown, she waited for a response.
Her skin was as black as mine with hints of cocoa.
Her hair was long and still so pretty even in old age.
It passed the middle of her back, falling just above her waistline.
She kept it plaited in four large braids almost every day.
Sometimes, Nelly put the hot comb to it for her a few Sundays out of the year for church, but other than that it was plaited up.
“Last night.”
“I bet she wanted nothing to do with your ass, too.”
“She was with a guy.”
“Oh, this is better than my soap operas.” She chuckled, “Good for her. Go Lyric.”
“Who’s side are you on, Nanny?”
The fire in my chest rose as she continued to cackle.
“I’m on love’s side and you messed up your chance acting like I didn’t teach you any common sense.
How stupid must you be to ignore that girl like that and not expect her to keep it pushing.
She’s probably still feeling like that was the worst mistake of her life, right now.
Probably wish she could take back every word.
Probably wants nothing to do with you now. ”
“She has no other choice.”
“Bullshit! What makes you think she doesn’t?”
“‘Cause I made her go home.”
“And she did like a fool?”
“She did.”
“So, maybe that’s where she wanted to be anyway.”
“I went over.”
“Keanu, I thought you said she was with a guy.”
“I don’t care who she was with, Nanny.”
“Oh, so now there’s urgency once you see that she’s moving on. Men are just pathetic. All of them.”
“I didn’t know what to say to her then. In my defense, I’m not good with words. Not those kind. I’d rather my actions speak for themselves.”
“You could’ve told her that. Hell, told her something.”
“I told her everything she needed to know last night.”