Authors: Kevin Bullock
Daddy Dearest (25 page)
“You’re sick, man. Those people…All of us confided into you, and you betrayed us by killing our family!”
“I helped each and every one of you! Can’t you see that? I was the one that got your daughter back twelve years ago. I made that happen!”
“You actually think that you helped me by killing the mother of my child?”
“Would you have preferred that your friend Ron, done it?”
Hammer was suddenly reminded of something. “You killed him, too, huh?”
“It wasn’t in the script, but God is good.”
Hammer jerked his head to the window when he heard a dog barking wildly somewhere near. The Chaplin seized the opportunity to reach for his gun, but a groggy Ching kicked it out of reach.
“Oh, no you don’t!”
“I should have shot you immediately,” the Chapin sneered.
Hammer aimed the gun at his former friend/confider. “Your killing spree ends here.”
“No, daddy!” Cataya stepped in front of the gun. “Don’t do it!”
“Move, Cataya!”
“No! You will be just as bad as he is if you kill him.”
This made the Chaplin laughed.
“Silly child. God’s deeds are only bad in the eyes of the sinners. Let him kill me if he wants, I am ready to meet my Maker.”
“Shut up! You’re not going to get off that easy. I want you to rot in a cell so you can think about all the wrong you’ve done.”
“Listen here, dear child. I’ve done no wrong. I’ve only done God’s work. And if you consider ridding the world of sinners like your mother, Ron, and all those other screwed up people that I killed, then I am guilty in your eyes. In reality, only God can judge me, so you can go to Hell early.”
Hammer couldn’t take anymore of the Chaplin’s Mercenary 1010 course. He maneuvered around Cataya to end the ordeal, just as a bullet exploded through the window, and then, Hammer.
In the same instance, a gang of uniform officers rushed in the house, looking for Steve’s assailer.
–—Epilogue–—
“I need to see you picture I.D., please, the white correctional Officer said to Cataya. He confirmed that she was indeed on inmate’s visitation list, and gave her the logbook to sign.
“If you would be so kind, I need for you to sign this.”
She complied.
“Thanks.”
“You’re quite welcome.”
She had only taken a few steps when he called out to her. “Excuse me, Ms. Bobbit. You forgot your I.D.”
“Oh, thanks. I forgot that quick.”
He smiled.
Cataya was surprised to find out that the visitation room was semi-crowded on Father’s Day. Guilt washed over her when she thought about all of the Father’s days that her father had spent alone, as if he wasn’t worthy to be acknowledged.
Granny told her that a person should never live with regrets, but that was one thing that she wished that she could take back.
Just the thought of Granny brought tears to her eyes. Six months had passed since Mrs. Billups has succumbed to her heart complications, and she still hadn’t gotten over it. It had been so sudden and unsuspected, that even the doctors were stunned.
She rose to her feet smiling, when a handful of inmates poured in through a side door. “Happy Father’s Day!”
“Thank you,” Rafeal said, as he hugged her. “And thank you for coming to see me.”
Send her ass to get about four sandwiches, two bags of chips, a candy bar, and two sodas. I’m hungrier than a muthafucker!
“You don’t have to thank me. I told you from the start that I was going to stick with you through this.”
“I know.”
They sat down.
“So,” he continued, “how was college life been treating you?”
I know she’s fucking out of both pants legs. That’s all those college bitches be doing. Eat and fuck. Damn, I can’t wait to get the fuck out of here!
“I’ll have to say, good. I’m just glad that the first year is over with. It drug by.”
“I bet it went faster than my time in here.”
“Don’t worry, you don’t got long.”
It’s always a muthafucker that ain’t ever done no time that says that shit! Tell that bitch to switch places with us, since we don’t got long.
He took her by the hand. “Taya, I know I’ve told you this already, but I’m…I’m truly sorry about what happened to your dad. It’s all my fault.”
Man mutha-fuck Hammer! He’s a bitch, but he still caught more actions than you. All you caught was a slug to the back and chest.
She dropped her head. “Granny use to say that everything happens for a reason. And if we don’t know the reason in the beginning, it will reveal itself eventually.”
That’s a goddamn lie! Why the fuck are we locked up in this bitch?! Why the fuck G-Baby off of “Hard Ball’ get killed for? That was some bullshit!
For a short moment, either one of them spoke. They were individually scanning the room.
“See that guy over there kissing that woman?” he asked, gesturing with his head.
“Yea, what about him?”
“He goes by the name ‘Shawny’ back in the dorm.”
“Shawny? That sounds like a girl’s name.”
“It is. His boyfriend sleeps right across from me.”
Did you see him in those tight ass shorts last night? Boy! If he had some tits to go with that ass, I might have to…Nah, I’m tripping again.
“His boyfriend?”
“Yep.”
“But he’s sitting there kissing that woman like he’s straight.”
“That’s the games some dudes in here play.”
“That’s disgusting!”
“I’ve seen some strange shit since I’ve been in here.”
Tell her about the white boy that got raped the other day. For real, for real, I think it was consensual. Both them were buck-naked smeared in olive oil.
She gave that some thought. “Answer this for me. I’m trying to figure out why you subject yourself to this kind of torment when you could’ve went back to hospital.”
“Because…”
They don’t play fair at the hospital. And the bitches are stuck up.
“…I was tired of living as the victim. I understand that they consider my condition to be serious, but I refuse to let it dictate my life. I got to start taking responsibility for my actions, that’s why I told the judge I knew exactly what I was doing.”
His ugly ass. Looking like Boss Hog off ‘Dukes of Hazzards’. Ask for the food, my nigga. You shy?
“I’m proud of you, Uncle Ra-Ra.”
“Have you talked to Fannie lately?”
Fuck her and Dehila’s dead ass. That bitch is probablyinI hell snorting ashes and shit! Fuck her, I’m glad she’s dead.
“Really, there’s no reason to. I feel bad for her over what happened to Dee, but the way that she used me wasn’t cool. I can’t forgive her for that.”
“Yeah, that was plain out wrong.”
Yeah. That was fucked up.
She changed the painful subject. “Do you want something to eat?”
Hell yeah! About time! Get me one of everything!
“No, thank you.”
What! This shit is crazy! Your locker is so empty. You can see the yard form it. Come on, man! Get me a cheeseburger or something!
“I’mma wait to eat with Gwen and the baby. They should be here any minute now.”
“I still can’t believe that you have a baby.”
Ugly ass baby. She looks like the Beetle Juice guy that use to have the columns in the magazine. I hate that fucking baby, it made you softer.
“I can’t either,” Rafeal remarked, ignoring the voice like he regularly done nowadays. “I don’t really want one at first because I knew I had three years to do in here. I’m glad I did now.”
I don’t know why, the way that Gwen is out there fucking. That ain’t your baby anyway.
“I never did any time, but three years ain’t nothing. You’ll be home before I finish school.”
There she go again. She needs to come do this shit for you then.
“Three years is better than the death sentence that Chaplin Stephens got.”
“Hey, baby,” Gwen walked up, holding their four month old daughter. “Hey, Taya!”
Get that food up, bitch! Smelling like twelve Jamaicans in a closet with no deodorant on.
Both Cataya and Rafeal stood to greet them. Cataya played with the baby for a little while before she announced that she had to go.
Once she was outside, she laughed when she got to the car. Ching and Hammer were immersed in a boxing game on the X-Box’s newest game system.
Hammer had become addicted to playing ever since the doctor told him it could serve as physical therapy for his bullet wounded shoulder. Now he found himself playing non-stop since he got out of prison seven months ago.
“Who’s winning?” she asked.
Hammer sighed. “He’s killing me.”
“Don’t worry, you’ll get better.”
Ching did his best imitation of the famous D.J. “I’m the best””
They laughed.
“Come on, y’all. End the game so we can get back. We have reservations that we can’t miss.”
Ching obediently turned the game off and got into the driver’s seat. Hammer seemed unordinary pleased by this.
“Yes! I finally won!”
This made Ching frown. “No, I won. The ref about to count you out.”
“He would’ve if you wouldn’t have forfeited by quitting. You know the rules.”
Ching reluctantly handed him a five-dollar bill.
“Y’all are something else,” Cataya mused.
“That’s just five of thirty that I lost. Did you tell Raf that I’m still mad at him for getting me shot?”
“I didn’t get the chance. He expressed his remorse as soon as he sat down.”
“How is he holding up?”
“Good. He’s determined to overcome his sickness. Plus, Gwen and the baby are keeping him in good spirits.”
“Family always does.”
Cataya felt a pain in her chest. She turned around in her seat with tears in her eyes. “Daddy. I’m so sorry for the way I treated you in prison.”
“Come on, Taya. Quit crying. We have been over this subject a hundred times, and I told you that I understand why you did what you did. I would’ve done the same thing.
“You make it sound so simple, like it wasn’t an issue.”
“Taya.” He placed a hand on her forearm. “I experienced that worst of the worst while I was in prison. The only thing that kept me sane was the fact that I was going to get a second chance to make right with you. And now that I have, I’m content to make it right with you. And now that I have, I’m content.
“I can’t keep living in the past, you can’t either. That doesn’t mean I don’t think about your mom or mine, because I do. I miss them terrible. We have to take what we’ve learned from the both, and use it to get ahead in life. Understand?”
She nodded.
“I love you, Taya. And I promise that I’ll never leave you again until it’s my time to join mama and eLe.”
“I love you, too, daddy.”
They hugged.
“Good. Now can ask your boyfriend to give me back the rest of my money?”
(Back Cover)
After Carl “Hammer” Bobbit was sentenced to fifteen years in prison, he became obsessed with his daughter, Cataya. Through his best friend, Ron, he controls every aspect of her life. He regulates where she goes, what she watches on television, and who her friends are. He knows that Cataya hates him, but his fatherly instincts won’t allow him to lighten up, or confess his guilt.
Now that Cataya is a senior in high school, she has been living with her father’s mother ever since her own mother had been found murdered, twelve years prior. She has very little contact with her mother’s side of the family, but has learned through them truth surrounding her mother’s unsolved death.
She proves that she is cut from the same cloth as her father when she formulates and icy plan that would punish her father for the role that he played in her mother’s death. But, she gets sidetracked when Hammer escapes from prison, with intentions of putting in a little work of his own…….
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