“What’s your name, sexy?” he asked, lust oozing from his words. “You a pretty lil something.”
“Man, I don’t know what your problem is, but you need to leave me alone.”
“No need for all the hostilities. I’m just making conversation,” he said, steadily walking toward me, looking over his shoulder as he approached. I guess he was trying to make sure the coast was clear. “You’re so damn cute.”
This was crazy. The guy didn’t look gay to me—at least not what I thought gay should look like, but this was a prison, so I guess anything went. He had more muscles than Kwame, a bald head, and a nasty scar going down his face. I imagined that scar came from him trying to hit on the wrong dude. Mr. Confused walked closer to me and looked me up and down before licking his lips. I stopped being scared and became disgusted. He walked past me and peeked into the door window of the room of the parole hearing. He did a double take and his whole demeanor changed. His eyes bulged as if he had just stepped on a land mine. His lust turned to nervousness.
“You here for Kwame?”
“That’s my brother,” I said, trying to capitalize on his sudden apprehension.
“Damn,” he said with a nervous smile. “I was just playing with you earlier. You know that, right?”
“Whatever.”
“Hey, you don’t even bother telling your brother because he ain’t gonna do nothing but act a fool. He’s about to get out, so if I were you, I wouldn’t tell him nothing. He ain’t got no sense of humor,” he said as all of his lustful bravado turned to fear. He looked back at the room where Kwame was before almost running down the hallway.
I thought about the look of sheer terror on Mr. Confused’s face and wondered what kind of guy Kwame had become in this place.
Before I could finish my thought, Mrs. Ross walked out and motioned for me to follow her.
“What happened?” I said, following her. She didn’t answer as we were escorted out of the building the same way we had come in.
“He’s not getting out, is he?” I asked just as the fresh air entered my lungs.
She ignored me and kept walking until we were outside and standing by the car.
“Come on, Mrs. Ross. Tell me something,” I pressed. My nerves were on edge, and I couldn’t take the silent treatment.
The driver opened the door for her and she got in the car. I stood outside looking down at her.
“Are you planning to walk?” she asked with a hint of irritation on her face. I couldn’t help but think that she had gotten some bad news.
“Why won’t you answer me?”
“Romeo, get in this car before someone mistakes you for an inmate.”
I huffed a bit but thought about all of the other guys who kept Mr. Confused company and got in the car.
“What happened to your hand?” she asked, and I buckled my seat belt.
“I hurt it jumping a fence,” I answered reluctantly. “What’s going on with my brother?”
“Is that injury going to stop you from playing football on Friday?”
“No,” I snapped. “Who cares anyway? I wanna know about my brother.”
“Calm down. I’m only asking because I would hate for Kwame to come see your game and have you not be able to throw one of those touchdown passes you like to brag about.”
I stared at the lawyer. What she said didn’t register until she flashed the prettiest smile I had ever seen.
“He has to sign some papers, but he should be home in time to make your game Friday night,” she said, shaking her head.
“Are you serious?” I asked.
“As a heart attack.”
“Yeah!” I yelled, pumping my fist. “That’s what I’m talking about. If he had you in the beginning, he wouldn’t have been in there in the first place. Man, I thought I messed up his chances.”
“Actually, you helped. Your outburst exposed one of the board members as a racist. The only black man at that,” she said, shaking her head. “After that, it was pretty obvious they had ulterior motives. I made a phone call to the deputy warden and told him what transpired, and, well, let’s just say, he’s going to make this right. Better let him go than to face a discrimination lawsuit.”
I felt like jumping through the sunroof and yelling to God how awesome He was. So that’s what I did.
5
ROMEO
Mrs. Ross had her driver stop in front of my building. I gave her a big hug and quickly jumped from the Lincoln. I couldn’t get to Nana quick enough. I took off through the breezeway and almost tripped over General Mack, who was lying on the hard concrete, just as I turned the corner.
“You kicked me, boy?” he said, looking up at me with an ugly scowl on his scrubby face.
“Man, why you lying right there anyway? You gonna make somebody trip and fall,” I said.
General Mack jumped to his feet with his back to me. He straightened his back and slapped his hands down on both thighs, saluted an imaginary person, then did an about-face, turning one hundred and eighty degrees so that he was facing me. He stumbled a little bit, caught himself, and relaxed his posture. He looked me up and down as if I was facing inspection.
“Who you think you talking to?” he snapped.
“Oh, Lord,” I said.
“I see you got on your Easter shoes. Them some ugly slip and slides, boy. Where you coming from?”
“Went to see Kwame. He’s coming home,” I said with a wide smile.
“Okay, yeah. That’s good news. We could always use a few more good soldiers in the battle.”
“A’ight, General. I gotta get inside to tell Nana the good news.”
“I’m the general and you just a corporal. So how you gonna excuse yourself when you haven’t been properly dismissed?” he asked, snapping his posture back as straight as he could. “Ahhh Teeeen Tion!” he barked.
“General, I can’t play your lil army game today. I gotta go,” I said, walking past him.
“So you just gonna be disrespectful?” he said, looking as if he was genuinely hurt.
I stopped and dropped my head. I sighed my frustration but walked back to him and stood perfectly still.
A smile eased through his raggedy gray beard. “As you were, soldier.”
I waited on the nut to tell me I could leave. Boy, the things I do for my elders, I thought as I stood there looking stupid.
“Before I dismiss you, got some news for you to carry on,” he said.
“Come on, General,” I said, squirming in place. “I gotta go.”
“Stand down, soldier,” he barked as if he really had some control. “I said I got some news for you.”
“What’s the news, General?” I said, shaking my head at myself for standing here and pacifying this full-fledged, shell-shocked alcoholic.
“Your mother’s in trouble,” he said, placing a folded envelope in the palm of my hand. “Do your due diligence.”
“General,