AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Mel said, “Being locked up in the house with her is gonna keep me remembering the fire. When I was living here with you, I didn’t think about it all the time.”
“That’s real bad, Mel.” Debra shook her head sadly. “For both of y’all.”
Mel shifted in his chair. “I want to erase that day from my head.”
“No such thing as erasin’.”
“Bullshit. If I stayed away from everything that reminds me of Delilah”—he felt a tightness in the throat as he said her name—“it would all fade away just like we got out of Daddy’s mind after he left.”
“How do you know we got out of Daddy’s mind?”
“Must have,” Mel shrugged, “or he woulda come back.”
Debra patted him on the arm. “I’m sorry you feelin’ so bad, Mel.”
Mel gave her a grateful smile. “Thanks. You know I wanted us to get back together, but somethin’ just tells me Adrienne is itchin’ to have a baby, and I don’t ever want to try again.”
Debra swallowed some meat and bread. “Did you tell her that?”
“No.”
“Why the hell not?”
“I can’t.”
Debra’s eyes narrowed. “That ain’t gonna work.”
Mel was relieved to hear the doorbell ring. It was Ann. Mel drank steadily and popped his fingers to the tunes as the women set up a makeshift beauty parlor right before his eyes. He remembered when Adrienne used to sing around the house, back when they were first married. After she’d told him about her old dream, he’d coaxed her into singing some of her best blues and jazz for him. She had a nice voice, strong and rich with feeling, not like some of these no-singing little girls they blasted on the urban hip-hop radio stations. Adrienne sang for real, straight from the old school—and she’d looked sexy doing it—but it had been a long time since he’d caught her humming or singing.
Ann took out a bag of store-bought hair and placed it on the table while Debra found a pair of scissors and a comb. When all the items were in place, Ann removed the green do-rag that covered her head and sat down on the floor between Debra’s knees. Debra started working, and, in the party atmosphere that didn’t end until the liquor ran out, Mel forgot all about the TV and Adrienne.
Ann looked up at Mel. “You got money? We need another fifth.”
The rum had depressed Mel, and his thoughts were running in melancholy directions. He needed a little something to lift his spirits just this one last time. He wondered if Little Jimmy was at his post yet.
He staggered to his feet. “I’ll be back,” he said.
The jerking movement of the elevator made him want to throw up, but he took a couple of deep breaths and the sensation passed.
It wasn’t completely dark yet, so Little Jimmy wasn’t there. Mel was standing in the spot, trying to figure out his next move, when he noticed a kid watching him intently a few yards away. He couldn’t have been more than twelve years old.
“What you know?” Mel asked.
The kid shrugged. “Nuthin’.”
“Come on, man, don’t play with me.”
The kid sauntered away casually, and Mel followed him. They went back into the projects to a building on the other side of Debra’s. The apartment was on the third floor. When they got off the elevator, the kid pointed at a door down the hall and took off.
Mel knocked, and a sly-looking woman in her early twenties opened the door. “The kid sent me,” Mel whispered. He had paid and turned to leave before he realized that the envelope was only half full.
“Hey, this ain’t gonna work,” he complained. “Somebody already tapped this.” Since he was halfway drunk, Mel didn’t realize just how loud his voice was. A skinny guy who had been lying on the sofa jumped up and ran toward Mel. “Get out,” he commanded.
The liquor had robbed Mel of his common sense. “Fuck you,” he said.
The skinny guy punched him in the face, knocking him flat on his ass. He leaped to his feet and struck the guy with a right to the jaw, followed quickly with a blow to the stomach that made him double over in pain. Mel reached into his coat pocket. Shit! He had left his knife with Adrienne so she could open the boxes. As the guy straightened up, Mel kicked him in the stomach, knocking him backward and onto the floor. Mel jumped on the man and started throwing lefts and rights.
The woman’s voice stopped the fighting. “I got me a gun here, and I’ma gonna shoot you right in the back of the head if you don’t get the fuck out of here right now.”
