DJ was lost for a minute, but then thought about going to Daisy’s grandmother’s house, which she stayed on Mt. Washington next to the projects. He made his way up the long hill and went past the basketball courts that he use to play on with his boys. It was now packed with a lot of cars on the grass and loud music screaming out of the speakers, which he found everywhere he went pass. The young kids were balling and he really wanted to see what skills the boys had to offer but he had to find his daughter and find her soon.
He finally made it up the hill getting closer to the projects and it was tore up more than he had remembered but what projects aint fucked up? As DJ got closer, he could see a group of people standing on the corner and some people even pushing each other and crying at the same time. As DJ approached the crowd, he saw a young man lying on the ground with a big hole in his young body. Blood was all over the pavement and even on some of the people. You could hear the sirens in the background getting louder with every step he took. He just looked and knew that times had changed in the country he left behind thirteen years ago.
He finally made it to Mrs. Flower's house and it was wild how almost everything had changed besides the house Mrs. Flowers lived in. It was exactly how he last remembered it. A well kept yard with flowers all over and the porch, which was caged in by the screen. He went to knock on the screen door and it took a while for someone to come, but it was someone he recognized and he was happy for that.
A little frail lady came to the door with a pretty smile on her face. “Yes! May I help you young man?” Once she got the chance to see the face and the body of a god she just put her hands to her mouth and said, “Oh my God.”
DJ sat behind the screen just looking at the older lady and said, “Yes! Mrs. Flowers, it’s me.”
Mrs. Flowers said, “Baby! Please forgive me. Come right in and give me a hug.” He walked in the house and gave the little lady a hug. If you were standing behind him you wouldn’t have seen the little lady at all.
Mrs. Flowers said, “Damon, you look so good and I am so happy to see you. I want you to understand that I never believed one word of that, and I’ve been waiting to write to you but a lot of things have happened since you left. Maybe you should sit down.” He went to sit down and before he could get a word out she went to talking. “DJ, you know I lost Cliff about six years ago and I’m here alone in this house now but there is more loss in my life.”
DJ said, “Mrs. Flowers, I’m sorry for your loss but could you please tell me where to find Daisy at? I long for her and I need to see her.”
Mrs. Flower’s face had fallen to sadness and she said, “Damon . . . . . . she’s dead. She was found dead at the playground on 2nd Avenue last summer. No one knows who did it and ain't no one saying anything about it. Baby, I’m sorry.”
DJ sat there zoned out and all the feelings in his big body had vanished after he heard she was dead. Nothing else meant anything to him after that. Tears began to fall down his face and all types of shit popped in his mind, why did all this happen to him? What did he do wrong in life to make God do this to him? DJ felt he was a good man with nothing but good intentions and like a thief in the night, his whole life was just snatched from him. Now he was dealt this final blow that he knew would change his life. Death was all he had on his mind and someone was going to answer for this.
When he came back to earth Mrs. Flowers was standing there with a napkin calling his name. “Damon, baby. Damon, baby.” He grabbed the napkin and sat at the table, just wanting the tears to fall because this would be the last time he would shed them.
“I have to leave Mrs. Flowers and I promise you, I’ll find out who took my baby from me. I promise you that.”
He went to get up and leave when Mrs. Flowers told him to hold on. She came back with a tore up old Kermit the Frog doll with one of the eyes missing and gave it to him. “This was Daisy’s favorite she always said her father gave her this. She slept with it every night and you should keep it.”
He grabbed the stuffed green thing and remembered when she asked for it right before he left for the Army. He smelled the doll and it smelled of a young innocent girl. A girl he loved and would kill for.
One thing the Army taught him was to control his anger and not to let the anger control him. People who lived on emotions usually made the wrong move and it would cause them trouble in the end. DJ kissed Mrs. Flowers and thanked her as he left. He wouldn’t live out his emotions but someone would pay for his pain and loss
CHAPTER THREE
ME AND SPLIF went to take care of some business with some nigga on 105th who we had been dealing with for some time. I was tired and had to get home and the drive was kind of long. I just purchased a three hundred and fifty thousand dollar house out in Rock River and I was very proud to have something like it. Coming from the projects to living in a house as beautiful as this, was a plus. I lived in the suburbs of Cleveland where a lot of doctors and lawyers lived. Didn’t too many black people live out there unless you were some type of pro sports figure or drug dealer such as myself. I had a wife and two little girls, who I took very good care of. My wife be tripping some times when I come in the house late, and she knew what the fuck was what but she had to try to put her foot down sometimes. My little girls were six and four and were just as beautiful as their mother who was half black and Irish.
I pulled up in the driveway and I saw the bedroom light was still on. It was almost three in the morning and I knew this bitch wanted to fight. I had my phone off all night because I didn’t want to be bothered. Now she thinks I was out with some other bitch, which I did sometimes, but today I was legit. What am I supposed to do tell her I had to dump a body in the lake and that’s why I was late? Fuck it!
After I pulled the car into the garage next to her Land Rover, I bought her, I could hear her coming down the stairs at a fast pace. I just leaned against the car and waited for her main entrance because I knew there would be one. The door came crashing open and the fireworks began. “Where the fuck was you at and why the fuck was your phone off and why the fuck are you coming home so late?” Blah Blah Blah! I just continued to lean against the car till she was done running her mouth and when she got done, I just walked past her and went to the living room.
I had a drop living room with a big fireplace and soft Italian leather furniture. I had a 64 inch plasma television next to the Bose sound system with twelve speakers all around the living room. I grabbed the remote as I sat down and turned on the television because I really wasn’t the argumentative type of person. Why argue when we could talk about it? If not that, then we could go ahead and fight, but I wasn’t going to fight my wife. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve smacked her up a few times because I had to let her know she wasn’t running anything. But it wasn’t an everyday thing for me and tonight was one of them.
“I asked you where the fuck was you at? I know you think you’re the shit because you got all these nigga’s and bitches in your face, but you ain't doing shit, nigga.”
I began to get angry and calmly told her to sit down. She twisted her face up but she did what I asked of her and I said very quietly and softly, “If you don’t stop screaming at me like I’m some type of child I’m going to punch a hole in your face.” With that, I turned back around flicking through the channels.
Her mouth dropped open and she just stared at me with disbelief but she knew I was serious and got the hint. She said, “I’m going to bed and you can sleep on the couch. I don’t have time for your shit this morning.”
I said, “Bye.”
When she left I had to sit and think what to do about my connection since I disconnected my last one. I had a few people who wanted to do business with me because they knew I had the clientele to make shit happen. But at the same time, nigga’s was thirsty out here and I wasn’t going to take the chance of getting tied up. I had met this cat named Alfonso about eight months ago in Los Angeles at the Cavs and Lakers game. We met up in the bar section and hit it right off. We talked for about two hours and it