“Not too good. I took her home. She fell asleep, but when she heard me leaving, she woke up. Ma, I love her, but I don’t fuckin understand her. That nigga violated her. Took something away from her, yet she’s crying, telling me not to do anything about it. I don’t understand that shit,” I released my frustrations to her, in hopes that she had an answer for me, so that this shit could somewhat make sense.
“Son, people have different ways that they deal with trauma. As you can see, the way that Dionne is dealing with hers is bypretending that it never took place. To her, it probably makes it easier. I know you, and I know the way you like to go out of your way for those that you love, so I expect you to want to handle it. I don’t expect anything less coming from you. Where are you getting ready to go?” she wanted to know.
“To my grandma house. I know everybody over there. Rico played tonight in Tallahassee, so my grandma put something together at her crib for the game. I know that nigga over there. Ma, I wanna fuckin kill him,” I shared with her.
She kept quiet. She didn’t say anything. She knew that I was in rare form right now, and that there wasn’t anything that she could say or do to try and get me to calm down. I was in too deep with my frustrations.
“He ever violated you like that?” I asked. I couldn’t say the r word, but what I really was asking her is if he’d done to her the same thing that Dionne just confessed to me.
“No. Never. I would have killed his ass. He was a heavy drinker though. When we met, I knew that he would drink, but by the time you turned one, I felt like his drinking had really gotten out of control. When he drank, he became handsy with me. Feeling up on me, wanting to have sex, not giving a damn who was around, or where we were. By the time I left him, I did start hearing little things in the streets about him messing around with underage girls, but you know that me, and your dad barely had a relationship, so it was never anything that I asked him about. I believe Dionne. The way she screamed, the way she confessed it, and the cries that I heard coming from out of my bathroom from her. He touched her, and God, I feel so bad for her. You’re going to have to be there for her, son. I know you don’t need me to tell you this, but for years, she’s done so well at pretending that it never happened, but with her just dropping that bomb on you tonight, it’s like she’s going to have to relive the trauma all over again, so this might be a tough time for her.Just be there for her,” she shared, and as if she could see me right now, I nodded my head, basically letting her know that I was going to do my part.
“Handle your business, son, and I’ll call you in the morning to check on you. Listen to me though; your father isn’t worth the bullet. I know you want to defend Dionne’s honor, but I truly believe that life is fuckin him hard enough, and what he’s going through is worse than any death sentence that you can give him. I saw him a few months back at the grocery store, and he looked terrible. All that drinking is catching up to him. Beat his ass, but you don’t have to kill him,” she warned me.
“I hear you, ma,” was all that I said in response to that.
“Last thing, can you text me over Dionne’s number? I want to reach out to her in the morning as well,” she said.
I let her know that I would text the number over, and after she told me that she loved me, and I assured her that I loved her as well, we hung up the phone.
I sent Dionne’s number to her, and I drove the rest of the drive in silence. Before I knew it, I was pulling up to my grandma’s house, and it was plenty of cars in her driveway, and parked in the street, just like I knew it would. Whenever Rico would have away games, my grandma would put on big watch parties at her house, where most of our family, and even friends that stayed on her block would come. The game ended well over two hours ago, but this party would probably go on until 3 or 4 in the morning, just like they always did.
I was able to find a spot, parking in the street, in front of someone else’s house, but I made sure that I didn’t block their driveway. My gun was resting on my waist, I placed my phone, and my wallet in my pocket, and I quickly got out.
Once out, I used my single key to lock my car, placing the key in my pocket, and I walked on the sidewalk, having to pass two houses to make it in front of my grandma’s house. From outsidethe door, you could hear the loud noise that was taking place inside the house, along with what I could hear in the backyard. This party didn’t sound like it was going to shut down any time soon.
I tried my luck by turning the knob, just to see if the door was unlocked, and it was. I sucked my teeth while shaking my head because it felt like every time that I came over here, I had to get on my grandma about freely leaving her door unlocked. She acted like she didn’t live smack dab in the fuckin hood, and that niggas wouldn’t just run up in her shit and try to rob her. Whenever I would get on her about that, she swears that everyone knows her around these parts, and that no one would ever run into her house, and try to cause harm on her.
I went ahead, and locked the door behind me, and I walked through the house, stopping in the kitchen. To the left of me, it was the living room area, and there were about ten women, including my grandma, that were all out of their seats, and they were doing a line dance. All of them were in their own little world, having no clue what the fuck was happening around them.
They were all doing the boots on the ground dance, with their back facing me, but the second they turned around, and made eye contact with me, all dancing stopped, they each clutched onto their imaginary pearls, as if they’d just gotten the shock of a lifetime, but once they saw that it was me, each of their eyes relaxed.
“Tank, you scared the hell out of me, boy! I didn’t know that you were coming over here!” my grandma fussed, removing herself from the line dance that was going on, and she walked over to me.
She came over wearing a custom green, orange, and white University of Miami shirt, that had a picture of her, and Rico in the front, broadcasting that she was his grandmother. Shepaired the shirt with white capris, and because she was in the house, her house slippers were on her feet. My grandmother was a very beautiful woman, and she was aging so gracefully.
She thought that her ass was still young, so she had the knotless braids in her hair that a lot of women wear these days, but they weren’t long, going down to her ass or anything like that. They stopped just a little bit before her shoulders, and judging from how neat they were, you could tell that she’d just got them done.
There was a smile on her face as she approached me. It was evident that she was happy I was here. She’d called me earlier today, telling me about the event that was going on at her house, but I turned it down because I knew that today’s plans were to get Dionne out the house.
“What’s up ma?” I asked, reaching my arms out, pulling her into a hug. Her arms wrapped around my waist too, and before we pulled away from each other, I kissed her on her forehead.
“Nothing. Did you watching the game. Rico played so good tonight. I’m so proud of my grandson. I didn’t know you were coming. I thought that you were going to be tied up,” she went on, and the entire time that she was talking to me, my eyes weren’t on her because I was too busy looking outside through the patio doors, trying to get a glimpse of who was all out there.
I took my eyes off the glass doors for a second, so that I could look back down at her.
“I watched it. He did his big one tonight. Ima hit him up later. Who all out there?” I asked her. There was a look in her eyes, as if she was trying to read me.
She was squinting, while looking at me with confused eyes, basically trying to figure out just what the hell was going on with me.
“Everybody for the most part. What’s going on, Tavion?” she asked, calling me by my government name.
“Nothing. Let me go out there, and speak,” was all that I had, keeping it short with her.
I walked away, going for the patio doors, and there was loud music out here that was playing. My eyes scanned the large backyard area, until they eventually landed on my dad.
He was up out of his seat, with a clear, plastic cup in his hands, and you could see the leftover brown liquor that was inside. With the music that was playing, he was two stepping to the sound, all the while, yelling, and screaming, off key to the music. As if I didn’t come over here on bullshit, I walked through the backyard, where I could hear family calling my name, trying to get my attention, and speaking to me.
I paid them no mind, as I walked over to my dad, found an empty bottle of Patron that was sitting down on the table, and the second I made it to him, I swung the bottle, clocking that nigga upside the head with it, instantly making him stumble back, falling on his ass, and you could hear the loud outburst from everyone behind me, shocked behind what they’d just saw me do.
