When All Hell Breaks Loose, page 14
Now, as I look at it, the garage I used to play in is full of car parts, old air conditioners, and rusted furniture. I walk around to the front of the house, ashamed that I haven’t been to visit my father’s brother sooner. When I knock on the door, I hear a child on the other side trying to open the door. I assume it’s one of Aretha’s kids. The door opens and a girl no higher than my knees looks at me. All of a sudden she runs down the hall yelling, “Gregory’s at the door! Gregory’s at the door!”
I pull on the screen and it’s locked. Then I hear Aretha’s voice. “Cicely, did you unlock the door?” I hear the small feet of the child come back down the hall and she unlocks the screen door. I follow her into the main room, where everyone is sitting. The television is on and they’re watching an old movie with Eddie Murphy playing some cornball Detroit police detective that’s out of his district in California.
Uncle Bennie looks up. “Hey Gregory Bean! Boy, I didn’t think you was ever gon’ make it over this way!” He stands up and gives me a hug.
“Boy, you looking better than ever,” Aretha adds. She remains seated on the couch, rocking a boy infant on her lap. I lean down and give my cousin a kiss on the cheek.
Cicely runs up and grabs my leg. I bend and give her a hug. When I stand back up, she runs down the hallway to the back.
“Have a seat, have a seat,” Uncle Bennie tells me. I plop on the couch next to Aretha and the baby.
“How’s everybody doing?” I ask.
“Oh, we’re holding our own,” Unc says. “B.J. will be back in a moment, he ran to the store to get the baby some milk.”
“Has Stephanie had the baby yet?”
“Any day now. B.J. can’t wait,” Uncle Bennie says.
“Gregory, you ready to walk down the aisle?” Aretha asks.
She looks tired but hopeful as she rocks the baby on her lap. Aretha used to be fine back in the day. So fine that I used to wish we weren’t cousins. She was thick in all the right places and it showed when she wore jeans. Guys used to follow my cousin home and offer her rides in their cars and she would tease them by flashing that well-known Alston smile their way and keep on walking. Me and B.J. would have to fight niggas just to get them to leave her alone. Now, at thirty-one, her hips are large and rounded from the two children she’s carried, not to mention the one on the way. Her face doesn’t glow like it used to. You can tell she’s been through some heavy emotional situations. No doubt, dealing with two different men, neither of which is really worth her time. The only thing that holds a hint of what Aretha used to be is her eyes. They still look like the eyes of a fourteen-year-old know-nothing teenager. I still think she’s the prettiest. Her skin is smooth except for the two marks. One near her left eye where she fell off her bike when she was nine and another that extends from the back of her ear to part of her neck. A stab wound from fighting a chick over her first baby’s daddy.
“Yeah, I’m ready,” I answer.
“I can’t wait for your wedding. I bet it’s going to be nice.” She smiles.
Uncle Bennie looks at me. “How’s Adolphus doing? He told me Louise was in town.”
“Pops is holding his own. He’s been on cloud nine since she stepped off the plane.”
Uncle Bennie lets out a weak laugh. “I remember when you couldn’t split them two apart. Louise was all yo’ daddy talked about. One time she was late coming home from a gig, and Adolphus called the cops and told them to look for her.” Uncle Bennie is laughing. I’m wishing we could talk about something else.
The front door opens and seconds later, B.J. and Stephanie walk in. Stephanie looks like she’s carrying twins in her oversized belly. A modest smile crosses her face.
I stand just as my other cousin, Bennie Junior, steps into the room. He halts when he sees me. “Look what the wind blew in! Greg! What’s up, man!” B.J. places the sacks he was carrying by the couch. We grip and hug.
“Hi Greg, it’s good to see you,” Stephanie says.
“Steph, it’s good to be seen,” I reply.
B.J. picks the sacks up and takes them to the kitchen. Stephanie takes the baby from Aretha’s lap and heads to the back. The Bennie Alston house still feels the same. Everywhere you look or go, there is some human activity going on. B.J. comes back into the living room. He’s smiling big. We go way back and I feel bad that I don’t spend as much time with him as I did when we were kids.
“Where’s Adrian?” he asks. He comes and sits next to me on the couch.
“She’s out with Shreese and Mom, looking for carpet.”
“Man, how is Shreese? She still going to that church, Mount Cannon?”
“Yeah, she’s still there.”
B.J. lets out a sly laugh. “Man, I remember when she wouldn’t play with us. Remember? Your sister used to preach full sermons on the back porch to Corduroy and them dolls.”
I nod my head in agreement. “Not too much has changed,” I say.
“She would sit in this living room and preach sermons to Aretha’s dolls, too.”
We all laugh at the memory.
“Is she dating anyone, Greg?” Aretha asks.
“I don’t know. Last time I called her, the pastor from Mount Cannon answered the phone.”
“You mean the pastor was at her house?” Aretha’s mouth falls open. “I went to high school with Ulan Dixon and I still can’t believe he’s preaching. Who would have thought?”
“She’s going to end up being a preacher’s wife, you just watch,” B.J. proclaims.
“Naw, Nina ain’t gon’ be no preacher’s wife no time soon,” Uncle Bennie interjects. “Nina was always different after Louise left. Now that her mama is back, things will change.”
“I don’t think Louise is here to stay,” I say to my uncle.
“Don’t matter if she does stay or don’t,” he responds. “Nina Shreese Alston got her prayers answered. That’s all that ever mattered to your sister, ever since she was a little bitty thang.”
We all sit quiet in the living room after that. Eddie Murphy is doing that crazy laugh of his, keeping our silence company.
Before too long the sound of a baby crying fills the house with noise once again. Stephanie comes from the back with the infant in her arms. Aretha gets up and joins her in the kitchen. I get up to leave. Uncle Bennie looks up at me.
“You gone?”
I stretch and straighten my pants. “Yeah, I’m supposed to meet Adrian shortly.”
B.J. and Uncle Bennie get up to walk me to the door. Aretha looks out the kitchen at me.
“See you later, Greg. Don’t be a stranger.”
“Okay, ’Retha,” I yell back as I head out.
Uncle Bennie places his hand on my shoulder. “That’s right, Gregory Bean. You know where we are, and it’s always somebody here.” He smiles. “Don’t let it be March before we see you again.”
“Yeah, and tell Shreese ’nem we said hello,” B.J. says.
Uncle Bennie walked me to the door, but B.J. steps out of the house with me and walks me to my car. “So, when’s the big day again?” he asks.
“March twenty-second.”
“We’ll be there.”
I lean against the car. “You still going to adopt Stephanie’s baby?”
“Man, I don’t know.” B.J. has this look on his face that proves he’s confused and needs some solid answers.
“What’s up, cousin? Talk to me.”
He leans on the car next to me and crosses his arms over his chest. “I met this girl.”
“Aw hell.” I chuckle. “We all know what that means.”
He holds his hands out and uses them to express his words. “Nah, cuz, it’s not like all them other times. This girl is the one for me. Her name is Tawanna. She’s fine, makes good money, no children, and she wants me to move in with her. It’s the perfect opportunity for me to get out from under my dad’s roof and show him that I can do something with my life.”
“Do you like this girl?”
“Yeah, I dig her. I dig her on the for real.”
“What about Stephanie?”
“She’s useless right now. Nobody wants to hire a woman that’s nine months pregnant. Even when she wasn’t pregnant, she couldn’t hold a job. They fired her from Wal-Mart three months ago for being late all the damn time.” My cousin looks up at the golden-orange-colored sky. “Greg man, I don’t know. I love Stephanie, because she’s seen me through some seriously hard times, but living with Dad, ’Retha, and her kids has closed in on me. There’s never any peace and quiet, I’m always running errands to get diapers and milk, and I can’t tell you the last time I was able to sit and watch a game without being interrupted because some cartoon or women’s show was on. I’m playing the role of father and husband to women that I shouldn’t have to do that for. I mean, Aretha is my sister, so I don’t mind, but Stephanie has become a burden of sorts. But I owe it to her to stay around.”
“Has Unc said anything to you about moving out of the house?”
“Aw man, you know my dad. He ain’t going to say much because he don’t mind me being there, but I can see it in his eyes when he looks at me. I feel like I’m not a real man because I’m still living under his roof.”
“So, what do you plan to do?”
“I was thinking, and this is what I came up with. After Stephanie has the baby, I will adopt it so the kid will have a father figure. I’ll break up with her and pay child support. It’s the least I could do. I just don’t want to see another kid grow up fatherless.”
“Bennie, that’s stupid,” I say as I fiddle with my car keys. “Tawanna may not tolerate something like that. You paying on a kid that’s not even yours? Think about it.”
“I know, but I don’t want to just throw Steph out. She needs a roof over her head for her and the kid.”
“Look, she found you when she was pregnant by another man, so what makes you think she can’t find some other brother to take care of her? I’m not saying that there isn’t anything you can do for her, but tying yourself down to another man’s responsibility isn’t the answer. Especially when you have a perfectly good woman, who will work and help you get on your feet. You and Tawanna can start your own family. Don’t let Stephanie put all of her burden on you when she’s not even willing to get up and make it to work on time. It would be different if she pulled her own weight, but from what you’re telling me the only thing she’s pulling is you. I climb into my car and start the engine. “Just think about what you’re saying, but ultimately, you are going to have to follow what sounds best to you.”
B.J. looks unsatisfied with my advice. He’s never been too good with decision making or with women. He’s probably making this situation harder on himself than it has to be. He usually does.
“Well, I’ll think about it.” He stands back away from the car and grips me one more time. “Hey, thanks cuz. I’ll be hollerin’ atcha.” B.J. retreats into the house. I pull out of the driveway and head over to Adrian’s.
My cousin, Bennie Junior, has always had women problems, ever since I can remember. He’s never had a steady, decent girlfriend, someone he could depend on. The women he’s dated in the past have always caused him problems, and he always leaves a totally together woman for a woman who lies, cheats, and has kids she doesn’t take care of. When he first graduated and got a nice-paying job at a roofing company, he moved out and got his own place. Everything in his apartment was new. Brand, spanking new! Then, he started shacking with this sister he met at a car wash. I only met her once, but the vibes she gave off were trouble. I don’t know all the details behind what exactly happened, but I do know she ran all five of B.J.’s credit cards up, wrecked his car twice, and came to his job one time too many trying to fight him. The fifth time she came was the charm that got him fired. Ever since then, B.J. has been living with Unc.
Pops says it’s because Bennie Junior meets his women on the streets. I don’t know about that. I would have to beg to differ, because I’ve met some tight women on occasion when hanging out with B.J., but they were too old to bring home.
I think Bennie Junior just has bad luck. When he met Stephanie she was thin as a toothpick. She was cut, though. Fine as all get-out. Bennie fell in love with her immediately. Even after she played on him and got pregnant by some nigga she couldn’t get out of her system. I still think she’s secretly seeing the father of her baby. I think this because not too long ago, B.J. came home and Stephanie was taking a shower in the middle of the day. She claimed she was hot and sweaty, but B.J. said the air was on inside the house and she didn’t have any reason to be outside. I didn’t say anything about my suspicions then, because Bennie never listens to me half the time and I didn’t want to waste my breath. Now that he’s found a working woman who can care for him the way Adrian cares for me, I think he needs to move to higher ground from Stephanie.
It’s high time my cousin got back on his feet and reclaimed his responsibility to himself and stop attracting all these brain-dead women. Hell, ain’t nothing to it but to do it, right?
14
Adrian is late meeting me. I decide to wait for her outside since the day is cool and clear. When she finally drives up, she’s all smiles. I get out of my car and we hug and kiss each other in the parking lot. The Caress soap she uses religiously is still fresh on her skin from this morning. She has several bags piled in her backseat and I help her take them into the apartment.
She immediately runs upstairs to her room and changes clothes. She comes down in a pair of off-white linen shorts and a tan smock shirt.
“How was your day?” she asks me.
“Tiresome. What about you?”
She sits on the floor and begins to remove the polish from her toenails. “Productive. Hanging out with your mom and Shreese was different, to say the least.” She laughs.
“What did y’all do?”
“Well, after we left the carpet place, your mom took us to this Afro-Caribbean art boutique in Addison.”
“Addison? Why in the hell did she take you all the way out to Addison?” I ask. Addison’s the far north section of Dallas, where the black faces are few and far between.
“She knew the owner and they had some nice pieces of work. She got us four statues from Kenya for the house.”
“Figures,” I say under my breath.
Adrian ignores my comment. “Then, we went to Lord and Taylor’s and bought Shreese some outfits.”
“Couldn’t you have gone to Wal-Mart or Target, where Shreese usually shops? I guess Louise is trying to buy your love the same way she tried to buy mine.”
“Your mother wanted to go someplace nice, so we went there instead. Louise isn’t trying to buy nothing from me. If anything, she’s going out of her way to make sure that we have a nice wedding.”
I shrugged. “What did Shreese have to say?”
“Nothing. As a matter of fact, Miss Thang got a pants suit and made an appointment with me for Tuesday. She’s going to get her hair cut shorter and styled.” Adrian looked up at me. I’m frowning big-time.
“So, Gregory, what is up with you and your mother? She can’t do nothing right where you are concerned. Ever since she’s come home you have been nothing but fickle with her. Why are you being so wishy-washy about your mother? One day you’re Son of the Year and the next it’s like you don’t know her.”
“I just have a small problem with her coming here and spending her money as if it’s going to make up for lost time. She’s trying to buy her way back into my life, and that can’t change what she did.”
Adrian stops painting her toenails. She stares at me with a look I’ve never seen on her face before, her lips pursed and her eyes plainly serious. “Don’t flatter yourself, Greg. Besides, what is wrong with being different or changing for the better? At least she’s trying to accept the fact that your life is your life.” Adrian is practically yelling at me. “Your mother has lived a different life, but does that make it wrong? I mean, sure, she left, but it’s not like she abandoned you. You still had a good life and you still are the son she always knew you could be and not some disappointment! She wanted to sing, so she did. She left. So what?!!”
“Why are you so worried about it?”
“Because! All my life I’ve been different and I know what it’s like to want to follow a dream but not be able to because family try to make it seem like it’s a crime. I’ve always been the one nobody could adjust to. The tomboy. My parents! My sisters! Nobody could adjust! Your mother hasn’t done anything but come here and try to be supportive of this engagement and all you can think about is yourself and your fucking personal pity party!” Adrian jumps to her feet and stands over me. Tears are rushing over down her cheeks and onto my shirt. “Gregory, I suggest you get off this motherfucking high horse and quit tripping!!! I WOULD GIVE MY ONLY SOUL TO HAVE A MOTHER LIKE YOURS!!!!” Adrian runs upstairs and slams the door.
A small porcelain figurine falls from a shelf and onto the plush cream carpet. I sit on the couch stunned for a moment. I don’t know what has gotten into Adrian to make her go off like this. I run upstairs behind her and knock on the door. From the other side I can hear her crying.
“Adrian baby, I’m sorry.” I knock lightly one more time. “Look, I didn’t think you would be offended by all this. Open the door and talk to me.” She’s still crying on the other side. I turn the knob; the door won’t open. “Adrian baby, open up. I just want to hold you and talk about this.”
Moments later I hear her unlock the door. I open it and she’s standing nearby. Her eyes are tearful and her lips quiver. I grab her and hold on to her. She lets her emotions loose in my arms and cries some more. I lead her over to the bed and lay her down. “I’m going to make you some hot tea.” I flip the lamp off in her room.
As I walk towards the door, I step over the clothes Adrian wore out today. A small piece of paper is dangling from her pants pocket. I think about her being late, and curiosity sets in. I want to know what’s on the ripped piece of paper. It has that call-me-sometime-when-yo’-nigga-ain’t-home look to it. It looks like it was torn off a receipt or something. I kneel down and pick the clothes up from the floor. The paper falls from the pocket and lands quietly on the carpet. I pick it up and look at it quickly before setting it on Adrian’s dresser. Shreese’s number is scribbled on the top and below that is the name Carla Perrone, with flight information listed. Looks like she’s coming to town soon.
