Alibi (16 page)

She had made up her mind and she was ready to go. There was nothing left for her in Philadelphia but bad memories and a series
of murders, sex, drugs, and a bunch of gangsters.
I got to get my life together. I just got to.
Daisy had never ever imagined getting herself in this much trouble. She had never thought that her associations would or
could lead her down the scariest, deadliest path in her life.
Why did he kill Calvin?
It was as if he could have killed anybody else and it wouldn’t have mattered that much to her. But she knew Calvin, she had
worked for the man for over a year. There were times when he was mean as a pitbull, barking and biting at the girls. But,
in his own way, he was simply Calvin, a man. And like any other man with an ounce of character and integrity, he took care
of his girls and he took care of his business. He was respected for that among his peers and even in the community, considering
his profession.

Daisy sat holding the phone in her hand. She looked at the dial pad. For some reason, she had done everything she needed to
do but call her aunt Tildie and cousin Kimmie Sue.

“Hello, praise the Lord,” said Tildie answering the phone.

“Hello, Aunt Tildie, it’s me, Daisy Mae.”

“Daisy Mae, oh, Daisy Mae, my, my, my, isn’t it just something special to hear your voice. Honey, how you been, darlin’?”
said her aunt in the deepest country accent you would ever hear a person speaking. Every single word she spoke was whispered
with a southern twang.

“Well, I don’t know, Aunt Tildie. I just been really going through it,” said Daisy as she began to break down crying. She
was crying for her mother, whom she missed terribly. She was crying for Reggie, because he had pretended he loved her, she
was crying for Calvin Stringer, because he was dead all because of her. She was crying because she was scared, scared of the
mess she had gotten into.

“Oh, Daisy Mae, don’t cry, sugar. It’s gonna be all right, you just got to have faith in the Lord, honey. You just got to
believe and put your trust in him.”

You just don’t know, Auntie Tildie, you just don’t know.

“I was wondering if you think I could come down there and stay with you and Cousin Kimmie for a while, ’cause I just really
want to be around family, Aunt Tildie, and you’re the closest memory I got to my mom.”

“Oh, Daisy Mae, come on down, honey. You don’t have to ask, we’ll take care of you, don’t you worry. When do you think you
might be coming to visit?”

Daisy wasn’t expecting the question because she was caught off guard by the word “visit.”
Who said anything about a visit?

“Well, actually, I was thinking about leaving tomorrow and riding down there.”

“Tomorrow, my, my, my, that’s mighty soon, oh my,” said Aunt Tildie, now the one caught off guard. “Um, you don’t give much
notice, do you?” she asked, then quickly added, “Well, don’t worry about it, you just bring yourself on, and be careful out
there.”

Tildie gave Daisy Mae the basic directions that would get her into the town of Murfreesboro. She’d be okay once she got into
Nashville and picked up TN-840.

“Call us from the road, and let us know how you’re making out, okay? We’ll be waiting on ya to get here.”

“I will, Aunt Tildie, I will,” said Daisy Mae before she hung up the phone.
I wonder what she’s gonna say when I get there with all these bags and boxes of stuff. She don’t know, I’m not just visiting.
Maybe I should have told her, probably would have been nicer if she knew I planned on coming to live there. It’ll be okay,
that’s what family’s for.

First thing come daylight she’d hit the road. Her destination, Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
I’m ready. I’m ready to start a new life and leave this old one behind.

I
nterstate 76 West led her out of the city and onto I-81 South. That was the bulk of her highway time, close to five hundred
traveling miles across the green countryside. Interstate 81 passed through Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, and from there
she crossed the state line right into Tennessee. It took her a day and a half to reach Tennessee, but she finally made it.
She pulled over to the side of the road and at rest stops so many times to rest and catch sleep that she had lost a lot of
time. Daisy couldn’t imagine being a trucker.
How do they drive those big rigs up and down the highways without falling asleep?
She had made several calls, letting her cousin know she was okay. Kimmie Sue had given her driving instructions from off
I-640, which would put her on Broad Street close to where her aunt’s home was.

Five hours later she stood outside a gas station waiting for her cousin to arrive.

“Girl, I’ll be right there to getcha, you can just follow me right on home,” said Cousin Kimmie Sue, twang dripping off every
syllable.

Kimmie Sue pulled up in a black 1979 Ford pickup truck. She was waving and smiling from ear to ear. Elated to see her cousin,
she jumped out of the truck and hugged Daisy, spinning her around.

“I am just so excited to see you! I always wanted you to come and visit. I did, I truly did.”

“Well, here I am. Even though I’m really not quite sure where here is. There’s no lights nowhere,” she said, as if Kimmie
Sue could turn some on.

“This the back of the woods, girl. Murfreesboro is out there. But you got Nashville, well, at least the town of Nashville,
and there’s lights there,” she said convincingly.

“Well, how do we get there?” asked Daisy jokingly.

“Oh, it’s easy, Murfreesboro Road leads you right into Nashville. I’ll take you into the city, don’t you worry. Come on, let’s
get out the dark and get on in the house,” said Kimmie Sue.

Get out the dark, that’s an understatement.
Daisy peered out at the vast darkness behind the one and only, lonely gas station with no real name. It was desolate.
How did Momma grow up down here?
Part of the reason she chose to come to Murfreesboro was her mother’s being born there, living there half her life, and having
the only family in the world there.
I don’t know, though, I don’t even see no buses or trains or nothing.
Coming from Philadelphia, a thriving metropolis with mass transit, buses, trolleys, and lights at night, one could move around.
But Murfreesboro, it was a tad slower… seemingly still. The sound of distant crickets, which heightened while driving with
the window down, could be heard in the near distance. Even with the window up, she could still hear the crickets. And not
one car, no people, no traffic, no red lights, no nothing; it was scary in the wide open dark country, to say the least. What
if something happened? And the roads had no sides, just a yard of dirt, some grass that led into a never-ending ditch and
then, simply put, farmland… miles and miles and miles of farmland. Getting stuck out there, broken down, or god forbid anything
else, was something she didn’t even want to imagine.

“Shh, I don’t want to wake Momma up,” said Kimmie Sue. “Come on, follow me,” she said, leading Daisy into the house, past
the living room, down a hall to a doorway and staircase that led downstairs into the basement.

Kimmie Sue was twenty-two years old. She was five feet seven inches tall and weighed only 135. She was a very pretty girl,
just as striking as Daisy was to the eye. The girls, side by side, could pass for sisters, in fact. Kimmie Sue and Daisy Mae
both had the same length and grade of hair, but Kimmie Sue had small brown eyes, and bushier, fuller eyebrows than Daisy Mae.
Kimmie Sue’s hair was sandy brown, and the hot Tennessee sun was beginning to turn it sandy blond.

“You hungry, Daisy Mae? You want something to eat?” asked Kimmie Sue, ready to sneak her a sandwich or some chips from the
kitchen.

“No, I’m okay. I’m just tired a little, ready to lay back.”

Kimmie Sue got a pillow and a blanket out of a closet for Daisy. She turned on the television, made sure that Daisy Mae was
comfortable, then curled up on a love seat next to the sofa. The two girls talked and talked until the wee hours of the morning,
falling asleep only hours before it was time to wake up.

“Hey there, Daisy Mae,” said Aunt Tildie, as she stood above Daisy, waking her out of her sleep. “Girl, look at you. Ain’t
this something?” she asked, as Daisy opened her eyes. “How was your drive down?”

“Good,” said Daisy, smiling at her aunt.

“Well, get on up, we best be heading out to church. Sunday services, Kimmie Sue, so let’s get moving. I got some biscuits,
sausage, eggs, rice, and gravy upstairs if you want some.” She walked over to the love seat. “Hey, do you hear me, Kimmie
Sue? I’m talking to you, come on, we got to get a move on, I’m fixing to get on out of here. Let’s go!” She smacked Kimmie
Sue across her bottom.

“Ma, come on, it’s too early,” said Kimmie Sue.

“Kimmie Sue, if I’ve told you once, I’ve told you twice, the Lord is always on time, so we must be too. Besides, the early
bird catches the worm, right, Daisy Mae?”

I’m not trying to catch no worms. I’m trying to catch up on my sleep.
But she opened her eyes and sat up as she watched her aunt moving around the basement room picking up from the night before.

“You hungry, come on and eat, before services.”

Services, what services is she talking about?
“What services, Aunt Tildie?”

“Church, we go to church every Sunday and every Wednesday night for Bible study. I’m sure you will enjoy yourself praising
the Lord with us at the Trinity Spirit Worship House of God.”

Daisy almost choked.

“Goodness, you okay, honey?” she asked as Daisy absorbed her twang and the hold she had on words, stretching them out as she
talked. She shook her head that she was fine as the word “church” rang through her ears, dissected itself, and punched her
brain as if Sonny Liston himself had delivered the blow.

“Oh, and you want me to go?” she said, already knowing that she wasn’t doing nobody’s church, not today, not tomorrow, not
happening.

“Of course,” Tildie demanded. “Of course, I do. Besides, it just wouldn’t be right to leave you and not make sure you were
included in the glorious praising of our Lord,” said Tildie as she ascended the stairs.

“Yes, it would be,” mumbled Daisy to herself.
I ain’t never been inside a church, outside a church, or nowhere near a church. Oh, damn, damn, damn. Let me get up. Did she
say something about Wednesday nights? She’ll probably take us to church Thursday too, while she’s at it. Thursday night is
ladies’ night at the clubs, or at least it is in Philly, how am I gonna be up in somebody’s church and at the club.

“It’ll be okay. I met my boyfriend, Dusty Mitchell, at the Trinity Spirit Worship House of God. Trust me, you’ll like it.
Maybe you’ll meet some people there. Dusty will be there, he’s in the church choir. He’s real smart too,” said Kimmie Sue,
nodding with every word she spoke. “Oh, I’m so glad you’re here. I can’t wait to show you off to everyone at the church. This
is going to be so great, right,” asked Kimmie Sue, filled with confidence.

“Yeah, I guess it will be,” she said, smiling at her cousin. “I guess it will be,” she said in a lower tone to herself.
Oh, no, she wants to show me off. What am I going to do?

She followed Aunt Tildie upstairs to the kitchen. Aunt Tildie had it all laid out on the counter. Some sausage, biscuits and
gravy, rice, and some scrambled eggs.

“Go on, help yourself and hurry on and get dressed.” Aunt Tildie didn’t really remind her much of her mother; they were two
completely different types of women. Aunt Tildie was the country mouse and her mother was the city mouse. Aunt Tildie was
very, very neat. Abigail cleaned up after a mess, maybe the next day or the next. Aunt Tildie made the beds, old school with
the hospital corners, made all the meals, did the cleaning, and stayed on top of Kimmie Sue like a hawk. Even though she was
only a couple of years younger than her sister, she was better preserved and much healthier, getting around on her own with
ease, still capable of driving, whereas Abigail needed help just standing. The two sisters had lived completely separate and
different lives, and Abigail’s life had been a little harder, less fortunate, and less financially secure than Tildie’s.

Tildie had eaten and bathed, then made breakfast. She went to her room to get dressed.

“So, where’s there to go.”

“Oh, nowhere much, where do you want to go?”

“They got clubs down here?”

“Yeah, they do. They got night clubs and party spots. But Momma would probably die. Oh, my, Daisy Mae, you go out in the big
city and all?”

“Yeah, don’t you?” said Daisy.
The club, shit, my ass is the damn party. The club, hell yeah!

“Shhh, don’t talk so loud. Momma says them kinds of places is filled with whoremongers and heathens and the Lord did not intend
for our bodies to gyrate against one another unless a union amongst souls has been blessed, so I don’t know how to dance.
Shhh, don’t tell nobody,” said Kimmie Sue matter-of-factly.

She’s serious, is she… either that or she’s crazy. What have I got myself into now? If it ain’t one thing, dammit, it’s another.

“Wow, you’ve never been to a club, and I’ve never been to church. Isn’t that something?”

“No, it’s not something, it’s pretty bad if you really think about it. How have you never been to church? Aren’t you saved?”

“I don’t know,” said Daisy Mae, shaking her head, not having a clue and not even sure what “being saved” entailed.

“Shhh, don’t let Momma hear you saying that,” warned Kimmie Sue as Tildie came around the corner.

“What you was saying, don’t let me hear you saying what?” she asked, seeming stern and tall even though she was only five-four.
“And why ain’t you dressed, Kimmie Sue? Come on, girls, I don’t want to be late.”

“Okay, Momma, I’m getting dressed now,” said Kimmie Sue.

“I’m not sure what to wear,” said Daisy as she thought of how she spent most of her Sundays resting up. That night life of
dancing, stripping, and rubbing on men sure did tire her out by the week’s end. She didn’t have a formal dress, just a few
hooker-looking shoes for dancing up and down on her pole and some jeans and T-shirts. Not one pair of dress pants. Maybe she
had a few dresses in her bags and boxes, but they were party dresses, short, revealing, way too sexy, nothing she could possibly
wear after looking at her Aunt Tildie’s Amish motif, very plain, simple, nonrevealing, and gray.
Damn
,
what in the world is going on down here? What is Aunt Tildie fucking wearing?