Lyfe Changing (9 page)

Before I could answer the
toothpick spoke up. “Your honor…Mr. Lyfe no longer has an address
his house has been put on the market and his belongings have been
reposed.” Oh hell no… now I was pissed. “What the fuck do you mean
they took my shit… all of it was paid for?” I yelled at the
toothpick. “Mr. Lyfe calm down.” The judge ordered. “The defendant
does not have an occupation and did not tax the payments he made
thus for leaving the house and other material value taken by the
state.” That punk ass D.A had the nerve to smile; I wanted to
throttle his smug ass. I dropped my head in my hands wanting to
tear my skull out. “They took everything…everything it’s gone.”
“Derrick calm done.” Matthew put a hand on my shoulder and tried to
soothe me. I looked at him as if he were crazy. “Calm down….calm
down… how I am I supposed to calm the fuck down they took my house,
my car, everything…I don’t have a fucking home. What the hell am I
supposed to do?” “Hey can live with me your honor.” An old voice
filled the room from the back seats of the courtroom causing
everyone to turn around to see who it was that had spoken up in my
defense. The judge rearranged his glasses while eyeing the old
woman who came forward. “And who are you ma’am.” I watched the
older lady make her way up front and stood beside me and Matthew.
“I’m his grandmother.”

They drive from the
courtroom was very slow and silent for me. I sat in the passenger
seat of my grandmother’s Aria and stared out the window looking for
traces of what used to be my life. My grandmother picked up on my
unusual silence and shook her head. “No need to cry over lost
money… won’t bring it back…” I closed my eyes and sighed. “Nobody
crying…” She swatted my thigh. “Then pick your lip up off the floor
and sit up…you need to be thanking God that you’re no good behind
aint in jail right now.” I hate to admit it but she was right…I
could have been locked up at this very moment but I wasn’t and I
had to be grateful for that at least. I wasn’t expecting Mr.
Matthew show up in court for me today but thank God he did…he
really got me off with a light sentence. I asked him after wards
who sent him…he just smiled and said a guardian angel.

As I sat in my grandmother’s
car I reluctantly did as I was told and sat up trying to get over
my depression. Two weeks ago I was a high roller who had everything
a man could want and then some….now I was bum with no money, five
years’ probation and five hundred hours of community service…damn
how the high and mighty fall. But what could I do now? “Oh God…” I
sighed rubbing my hands over my head.

“That’s right baby you call
him…you need him more now than ever.” I laughed at my grandmother,
never missing an attempt to thump that word at me. Ever since I
could remember I had been force feed Jesus all my life but Jesus
was not out in these streets…he didn’t have to deal with bullshit
struggles day by day. Instead of getting into a war of beliefs with
my grandmother I just decided to agree. “You right about that
grandma.” I looked at the regal older woman sitting next to me.
Rose Marie Lyfe still maintained her blemish free maple brown
complexion, soft curly pinned hair which was now dyed jet black and
beautiful face that would stop a man dead in his tracks.

My grandmother had been
there for me for majority of my life, even when my mother passed of
cancer, so I loved her more than anything else. “Boy you may be
moping around now but you gone be just fine ya hear…I got a room
already for you at the house.” I eyed her suspiciously “How did you
know I went to court today grandma?” I asked her puzzled. “Boy you
know people talk too much, especially when it makes the
newspaper…I’m just now finding out you were in the hospital...my
Lord Jesus. When I found out they were taking you to court I got on
the first thing smoking.” Deeply moved I touched her hand and
smiled.

“Thank you.” “Oh boy
please…you know whenever you need your grandma I’m there…you should
have called me.” She playfully scolded me. “I didn’t want to stress
you with this…” I explained. “Stress my foot…you needed help
Derrick and you didn’t call me? I don’t know what is wrong with you
boy, you think you can do everything by yourself.” I shook my head,
even though she was right, that was just how I was. I had to become
a man very early in life and a man didn’t take handouts. “I’m
sorry…” I said with puppy dog eyes. She finally cracked a smile.
“Well I’m here now…and you’re with me so everything is going to be
alright.” I nodded, knowing that was going to be far from the
truth. In an instant I had lost everything I had worked so hard to
build for all these years…I damn near wanted to shoot
myself.

I slammed my hand down in my
lap out of frustration…what the hell was I going to do now. We made
it to her house which was not too far from the city. Grandma Rose
and my grandfather moved here back in the day while they ran a
covenant store in the neighborhood. After making quite a few
dollars they found this place around the way and just had to have
it. It was a pretty big place and paid off. I had lived here all my
life, had so many memories of growing up, but now I felt like a
stranger in a faraway land. “C’mon in here boy.” My grandmother
called out. “Let me fix you something to eat.” I sighed deeply,
made my way on inside and was instantly filled with many memories.
There were so many pictures of me, my mother, and grandfather
scattered around the house. I picked one up of me in little league
baseball when I was about eight years old. “Dang, back then I
didn’t have any teeth.” I said in amazement. Grandma chuckled.
“Yeah they were dropping like flies baby…you still looked cute
though.” I heard her rumbling around with the pots and pans in the
kitchen and I knew my grandmother was about to go to
work.

“
Grandma don’t be going out
of your way for me…I don’t need nothing special.”

“Boy stop that lying, you
know you have been dying to taste my collard greens.”

I laughed and got
comfortable on the couch pre paring to fill my stomach.
I know that’s right,
I
thought. It had been a minute since I had a home cooked meal. There
were only so many McDonald’s burgers I could eat. Grandma fixed our
plates and came into the living room. The first few minutes I dug
into my food. We had chicken, collard greens, mashed potatoes and
all the other fixings… I was chowing down, eating like a runaway
slave. “Relax boy… it aint going nowhere.” My grandma looked at me
strangely. “When the last time somebody cooked for you?” I
swallowed down a large cup of cherry soda and thought about it.
“Honestly grandma I couldn’t tell you.” She smirked at me. “See
that’s what you get for messing around with them typical hood
rats….they can spread those legs all day but can’t seem to fry a
decent piece of chicken.”

I nearly choked on my drink
knowing my grandmother could be a little crude at times. “Grandma
really?” I said shaking my head. “What… you know I’m telling the
truth…so what are the terms of your probation?” I finished gnawing
on a piece of chicken and wiped my hands. “Check in every two
weeks, home by nine, and community service.” “Community service,
what are you gonna be doing? Picking up trash and stuff like that?”
She asked. I nodded. “I guess…” Grandma sipped on her ice tea and
nodded. “Well I’m not happy about the circumstance but I’m glad you
here baby...” I smiled at her. “I’m glad to be here
too.”

8

I remember you

Destiny

“Damn girl, I can’t believe
you went through all of that? Talk about crazy.” Cat looked at me
in shock, not believing the story I had just laid on her. She
scrunched up her face in confusion causing her looks to falter,
which was hard for her to do because she had always been very
attractive. With cocoa brown skin and a banging body, she had looks
that could cause priest to lust. My girls were at my condo
discussing the details of what had occurred over the past two
weeks. I decided to give them the lowdown about the accident mainly
because if they found out from somebody else it would be hell to
pay…and that was the last thing I needed right now. I started the
story from top to bottom leaving nothing out then gave them enough
time to digest it all. “I know right…” Lucy said looking at me in
disbelief and she being my eldest friend knew me better than
anyone. “So you really dragged him out of the car before it
exploded?”

I watched the worry appear
on her deep brown face as she pulled her beautiful curly hair back
that I had always admired. “Yeah...crazy enough I did.” I sighed,
sipping on some much needed wine as I recollected on the past
events. “I don’t know how…but I’m glad I did.” “I bet he is too…”
Cat chuckled. “Do you know if he is he ok?”

I started to think about
Derrick and the last time I saw him…how in shock he was. “From what
I heard he was recovering fine.” Alayah eyed me for a moment then
eased back on the couch, moving her long brown hair away from her
light brown eyes, bringing attention to her beautiful face. “Aint
he jail bird now…” I shot her a stern looking like she didn’t have
to say that. “What? Just asking…” Alayah laughed nervously. “He was
on trial wasn’t he?”

I shook my head as if I were
clueless to the situation. “I don’t know anything about that…”
“Really?” Cat eyed me suspiciously not buying my naivety. “Well…”
Meg chimed in. “I heard through the grapevine that he got probation
and community service.” Her emerald green eyes were filled with
interest. She stood about 5’9, curly blondish hair, with a smooth
olive skin tone. She was the closest thing to a model I had ever
seen before, why she chose to work behind the scenes I will never
know. “I did too…” Lucy nodded.

Avoiding eye contact with
them I refused to admit any guilt. “Well that’s good to know…” They
all broke out in laughter. “What?” I exclaimed. “Come off it
Destiny, we know you helped get him off….the trial that is.” Cat
laughed some more. “I didn’t have anything to do with that…” I
defended myself. “Oh…so you didn’t send Matthew Pierce to assist
him?” Alayah asked already knowing the answer since he worked at
the firm with her. I stood up and glided over to the counter for
some snacks. “So maybe I made a phone call…and sent somebody over
to help him out so what?” I admitted. They all snickered and
through shady looks at each other. “Alright…alright.” Lucy calmed
everyone down. “So we all know you did it. Now the real question is
why?” They all grew silent waiting for my answer. “I felt bad…I
mean he was still in the hospital and was about to go to jail…I
felt bad.”
I’m glad I was able to help
him.
I thought.
Hopefully now he could be able to move on with his
life.

“Hmmm…” Meg nodded. “One
might think you may have feelings for him.” I laughed at her and
shook my head. “Feelings for him…I don’t even know him?” She waved
her hands up not meaning to be accusing. “I’m just saying, you are
sure going out of your way for a man you really don’t know.” I
looked at their disapproving glares and was in disbelief. “Look,
the man was in an accident and I helped him out…he was going to
jail so I helped him out again, that’s it… end of story.” I said
putting my foot down and sipping on some more wine…damn these
hefas. They all nodded and winked at each other. “Great Destiny…”
Cat said raising her glass to me. “Nice speech…So have you
convinced yourself yet?”

I glared at her not wanting
to hear anything more about this… but I had to admit that they were
probably right. I thought about Derrick constantly more than I
should and I didn’t know why… it was bugging the hell out of me. I
sat on the couch and plopped back against the cushions. “Ok…Ok…I
think I like him. Why I don’t know? It just keeps gnawing at me.”
They all looked toward me. “I think the accident kind of made you
bond to him in away…I mean you did save his life.” Lucy finally
spoke up. “Yeah I guess.” That accident really changed a lot for me
and I constantly thought about it.
What if
I didn’t come home that night? What if I didn’t stop? What if I
didn’t pull him out of the car?
It plagued
me constantly and I didn’t know how to subside it. “I agree...” Meg
patted my shoulder. “I think there will forever be a bond between
you two because of the accident and what you did for
him.”

“Oh she wants to bond with
him alright...” Alayah chuckled and we all fell into laughter. I
looked at her in disbelief. “Why do I ask your crazy ass anything?”
She took a sip of wine and smiled. “Because I speak the truth…when
these hefas won’t.” We all continued to laugh. I smiled in the
midst of it all; it felt good to laugh after all this stress I had
been dealing with. I didn’t know what to do about the Derrick
situation…quite frankly there was nothing to do. He was fine. So
was I. I’ll leave it at that…for now.

Derrick

I wiped sweat off my
forehead as I stood in the dry heat; I wasn’t even home a good week
before my grandmother put me to work as usual. If I wasn’t working
on the car, I was cleaning the gutters, If wasn’t raking the yard,
I was tiling the roof and today I was pulling weeds from her
garden. I didn’t even complain anymore, I figured if I was going to
live like a slave I might as well work like one. I am supposed to
meet up with my probation officer soon to get started with my
community service.

I had no idea what I was
going to be doing but I figured it would be some regular yard work
such as what I was doing right now… so why not get a head start. I
took a couple of breathes feeling a little tired pulling all these
weeds and everything. It had been a while since the accident and I
was getting around much better than before but I still had my weak
moments. I pulled my hair back into a tight ponytail trying to
deflect anymore heat coming my way, cause Lord knows I felt like I
was cooking out here. “You need something to drink out there boy?”
Grandma yelled from the back door. She was wearing her green
pantsuit and apron which she always wore when she was cleaning up
the house. I shook my head and laughed as sweat rolled down my
back. “Naw grandma… drinking my spit is doing me just fine.” She
gave me a stern look, the same look that I got a lot when I was a
kid back in the day when I thought I could get smart with
adults.