Family Thang (31 page)

Chapter 27

The phone rang and rang. “Pick up the phone,” Leonard said into the cell phone. “I know you’re there, pick up the phone.”

He knew Victor was back in Chicago because he himself had left the answering machine on. The ringing continued. He folded the cell phone.

Already he was desperately missing Victor. What if Victor sought solace in the arms of his ex, Dwight. The mere thought made him sick to his stomach.

If he and Victor didn’t get back together, what would he do? Go back to dating? A risky proposition in itself. Liars, players, whiners, haters, baiters, all dressed up in pretty packages, but not one worth the pain and trouble.

Could he roll the dice again and find another Victor? Honest, compassionate, intelligent, handsome, responsible and faithful.

He thought he heard something and went to check on his mother. She lay in bed snoring, the sheet covering her entire body. He could scarcely detect her chest rising and falling.

Mother, he mused, still believed covering up the monsters would overlook you. He closed the bedroom door and stepped into the kitchen.

His mother was another reason why lately he felt so uneasy. He didn’t believe, couldn’t believe, she was capable of murdering anyone.
Yes, but she keeps confessing to murder!
He wondered if profound grief
could convince someone they had murdered a loved one. If Victor was murdered, he could imagine blaming himself, but seriously doubted he would start confessing he’d killed him.

The damn gopher poison in her closet didn’t help matters, either. Not one bit.

He made himself a cup of coffee and stepped out onto the front porch. Heat worms wriggled from the street and roofs of neighbor’s homes. Patches of dead, sunburned grass spread throughout the front yard. As usual, the neighborhood, comprised mostly of senior citizens, was quiet. A sewage odor wafted from the paper mill, less than five blocks away.

Why am I still here?

His home was in Chicago, where his job was, where the love of his life was. Why had he so casually let Victor walk out of his life?

He took a handkerchief out of his pocket, spread it out on the top step and sat down.

The money!
The reason I’m still here
.

Sheriff Bledsoe had warned him not to leave town--an empty threat; he hadn’t murdered his father. He took a sip and said, “The damn money!”

Someone, Shirley most likely, could have looked after his mother had he gone back to Chicago with Victor. In fact, his mother seemed perfectly capable of taking care of herself.

An impulse: get up, pack your stuff and catch the next flight to Chicago. No, he couldn’t. Leave now and all the time he’d invested here would have been for naught. And why run to Chicago only needing to return a few weeks later to sign the papers for his share of the money.

There’s a such thing as a fax, you know
.

No, he would wait. If Victor went back to Dwight
, then to hell with him.

A cruiser pulled up in the driveway, and Leonard  remembered he was scheduled for a polygraph test.

The back window rolled down and Ruth Ann poked her head out. “Leonard, is Shirley here?”

“No, she isn’t.”

Sheriff Bledsoe got out and opened the door for Ruth Ann.

“Sheriff Bledsoe,” Leonard said, “I’m ready for the polygraph test.”

Sheriff Bledsoe ignored him, opened the trunk and retrieved two garbage bags and a pillowcase and tossed them on the driveway, splitting one of the bags. Then, without so much as a good-bye, he got into the cruiser and sped off.

“What’s the matter with him?” Leonard asked Ruth Ann. “PJ’s in vogue now?”

“Have you seen Shirley today?”

“Saw her earlier. Why?”

Ruth Ann hobbled up to the porch and sat beside him. “Momma in the house?”

“Asleep.”

Ruth Ann combed back her hair with both hands. “Whew! It’s been one hectic day.”

“You’ve recovered miraculously from your heart attack, haven’t you?”

“What are you insinuating?”

“Nothing. Just yesterday you were in the hospital, a heart attack, allegedly. Now you’re on your feet…” He took a sip of coffee. “…running from Shirley.”

“Who said I was running from Shirley?”

Leonard worked his gaze from her blisters to her eyes. “Shirley.”

“What else did Shirley say?”

“Not much.” He took another sip. “She mentioned something about you jumping out a window and running when she came to your house.”

“Was she angry? I mean, really angry?”

“Well,” Leonard said, drawing the word out, “I guess you can say she was angry. A more accurate description, stark-raving pissed off.”

“Damn! What time did she come here? What did Momma say? Did she upset Momma?”

“She didn’t come here. Mother didn’t say much, and yes, Mother was upset.”

“Damn! Back up. What you mean she didn’t come here?”

“She didn’t come here. We were at Robert Earl’s house.”

Ruth Ann took the cup from him and sipped. “Don’t you believe in sugar? Shirley called a family meeting to discuss my business?”

“No, not exactly.
Your business
wasn’t the main reason why Mother and I went there.” He waited till she put the cup to her mouth. “We rushed over there because Shirley was pressing Robert Earl for a gun.”

Ruth Ann spat the coffee out and started coughing. Leonard patted her hard on the back.

“I’m…okay!” Ruth Ann said. “Wh-why did she want a gun?”

“Aw shucks, Ruth Ann. You can’t pay Shirley any attention. You know how she carries on when she thinks someone done her wrong. She’s liable to say anything, the first thing pops in her head.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Why she want a gun?”

Leonard took the cup out of her hand, took a quick sip, and handed it back. Ruth Ann took a sip, and Leonard said, “To bust a cap in your slimy ass. Her words, not mine.”

Ruth Ann started coughing again, but this time Leonard did not pat her back. “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”

“How could you, Ruth Ann? You know Shirley worships the ground Eric walks on.” She stared at the sidewalk, speechless. “She worshipped you, too. She’s devastated. The two people she loved the most betrayed her. The least you can do is apologize to her.”

“And get shot!”

“I don’t think she’ll shoot you. I really don’t. A day or two she’ll cool off. She’ll still be pissed, but by then she’ll have come to her senses. Then you should go to her and apologize. She won’t accept it at first, but she needs to hear you say it. You know how she is.”

“I most certainly damn do! Remember when Robert Earl shot her favorite doll with a BB gun?” Leonard shook his head. “Maybe you were too young. I remember. She hit him in the mouth with a baseball bat…two weeks later!”

“Is that how Robert Earl lost his teeth?”

“I guess, I’m not sure. All I know, Shirley doesn’t cool off, not the way normal people do. She has to hurt someone, spill blood, expose guts, break bones, then she cools off!”

Leonard laughed. “Ruth Ann, she was just a kid then.”

“Damn that! I’ll apologize later, next millennium!”

“Robert Earl didn’t give her a gun.”

“She may have gotten one from someone else.”

“I doubt it,” chuckling.

“Leonard, if she were gunning for you, I doubt you’d be so amused.”

“I would not have slept with her man.”

Ruth Ann snorted. “Oh, really? How can you be so sure?”

Leonard stared at her, not blinking, his face instantly hot. “Fuck you!”

“I’m sorry, Leonard, I shouldn’t have said that. I’m sorry.”

Leonard stood up. He didn’t want her near him another second. “I guess you’ll be staying here,” he whispered, tempering his heat.

“If you don’t mind?”

“It’s not my house.” If it were his, she wouldn’t be allowed on the lawn. He started for the door.

Ruth Ann got up. “Leonard, wait. I apologize. I don’t want you mad at me, too. Sometimes I open my mouth before I think.”

“My being gay is the great equalizer, isn’t it? Correction, the great dehumanizer. Isn’t it? Stab your sister, your only sister, in the back, yet that pales in comparison to my sexual orientation?”

“No. You’re reading too much into what I said. I was being flip. I’m sorry.”

“I’m going inside. There’s soap and hot water in the bathroom. You stink!” He stepped inside, slamming the screen door in her face.

An hour later, his mother still asleep, Ruth Ann rumbling around in her old room, Leonard’s face remained hot, had actually heated up several degrees.

He’d tried to cool off and simply couldn’t. Of course he’d heard worse, had been called worse. Yet any comment on his sexuality by a family member, especially Ruth Ann, burned him to no end.

He tried to redirect his thoughts to something positive, but
“Oh, really? How can you be so sure?”
kept playing inside his head. He picked up a book, couldn’t complete the first paragraph, and tossed it aside.

He heard footsteps padding to the bathroom…running
water.
Perhaps she’ll slip and fall.

If she were a man he would have…He picked up the phone and called Robert Earl’s number.

“Hel…lo,” Robert Earl said, food in his mouth.

“Robert Earl, how do you get in touch with Shirley?”

When Ruth Ann, freshly showered, wearing a T-shirt, blue jeans and a pair of faded pink tennis shoes, stepped into the living room, Leonard had managed two pages of the book.

“A good read?” Ruth Ann asked.

“Nope,” not looking up.

“Momma still asleep?”

“Yup.”

“You want something to eat?”

“Nope.”

“You sure?”

“Yup.”

“You’re still mad at me, aren’t you?”

“Nope.”

“Yes, you are.”

He didn’t reply.

“Maybe later you and I could go catch a movie or something. A Madea movie is playing at the Dollar Cinema. I heard it’s good. You wanna go?”

“Nope.” He could feel her eyes burning holes in the side of his head. She walked into the kitchen and he heard the refrigerator door open and close.

“Leonard, we could ride over to the mall in Greeneville. I’ll drive.”