Raunchy (3 page)

After Estelle finished yelling at Harmony, she pulled back into traffic and drank some more vodka. On the sly, Harmony examined the beautiful Benz she was driving, the diamonds in her ears and the rings on her fingers. She knew immediately that her mother was a liar. But what could she do? And what could she say? She didn’t have her father to protect her anymore.

While her mind was on her father, the jewelry in her panties dug at her undeveloped mound. She was about to ease some of the jewelry out when Estelle redirected her attention toward her again.

“
Harmony, I know you only care about your damn daddy, but you gonna have to get use to the fact that I’m all you got. So you best start showin’ me some respect. If you don’t, I ain’t got no problem puttin’ you in one of them foster homes I hear about all the time. Maybe then you’d learn to ‘ppreciate me.” She paused looking over at her with an evil glare. “So what’s it gonna be? Tell me now, ‘cause I’ll get rid of you with the quickness. Ain’t but one pussy can be in charge at a time, and it damn sure ain’t yours.”

“
I’m gonna try and do better, mama.”

As if nothing happened, Estelle smiled and placed her hand on her leg. “Good. Drink some of this, it will make you feel better.”

Harmony’s eyes widened at her mother’s offer. She had never touched alcohol a day in her life and was told many times by her father to leave it alone. But since it made Estelle feel better about her betrayal, she decided to see what it could do for her, too.

Taking the bottle slowly, she moved it to her lips, the bittersweet smell made her uncomfortable. But wanting to forget her problems, she closed her eyes, and poured a lot into her mouth. It burned the inside of her chest and she wanted to spit it out, but it was too late, it had gone down her throat.

“
Yuck!” She said wiping her lips with the back of her hand. “That’s nasty.”

Estelle laughed, took the bottle back and said, “Yuck now, but feelin’ betta later. Trust me.” Then she drank some more herself. “Keep sipping on this, and you won’t give a fuck about shit else!”

Within a few minutes she noticed her mother was right. Suddenly her problems seemed somewhat insignificant. Sure she didn’t want to go to her grandmother’s house, which was smack dab in the middle of Southeast Washington, DC. But unfortunately, she didn’t have a choice.
Now
as she sat quietly in her seat, she felt warm and tingly all over. It would be the beginning of one of the biggest downfalls in her life. And soon so much violence, hate and deceit would fill her life that she would be unable to remember this moment.

What did Cornell have to tell her about her mother that he couldn’t finish saying? She remembered. And what would he be sending me later?

She shook her head again in an attempt to forget everything about the night and then she remembered last summer at her grandmother’s house. Suddenly she realized there was something to smile about after all, and his name was Jace Sherrod.

Grandma Monster

2 Months Later

Southeast, Washington D.C.

Shirley Pointer owned a medium sized brick house on Central Avenue in Southeast Washington DC. And although it was in a bad neighborhood, it was furnished from head to toe in expensive furniture. Each room had a huge TV and the bathroom had a small TV bolted to the wall. Everything Shirley owned was a compliment of Estelle trying to win her mother's love, but you'd never know it to hear Shirley tell it. She made it sound as if her fat ass had bought everything on her own when the bitch didn’t even have a job.

It was eight o'clock in the morning and Estelle and Harmony were busy in the small green kitchen preparing for Shirley's fish fry, which was nothing more than a drunken fool party.

“Harmony, hurry up over here with those potatoes! I know you can move faster than that, girl! We got way too much to do for you to be lollygaggin’ around.”Yelled Estelle from the stove.

Harmony wasn’t trying to ignore her mother but she was ear hustling and could’ve sworn she heard the phone ring.

“
I’m not accepting no collect calls,” said Shirley before hanging up.

Could it have been her father? Harmony thought. She hadn’t heard or seen his face in months and she missed him terribly.

"Harmony, what you doin’? Get your ass over here!"

"Oh, I’m sorry, ma!"

Harmony straightened up, lifted the large blue bowl of raw potatoes off the brown kitchen table a few feet from the stove, and walked them slowly over to Estelle. One wrong move and the potatoes would have toppled to the floor, angering Estelle even more.

Estelle yanked the bowel out of her hands and dropped them into scolding hot water. Droplets plopped on Harmony’s arm, burning her skin.

“Ouch!” She yelled rubbing the area that burned. “That hurt!”

On instinct, Estelle smacked her so hard in the face that her loose tooth fell from her mouth and bounced on the floor.

“Didn’t I tell you to be quiet?” Estelle pointed her long finger in her face. “Now you gonna have your nana come in here hollerin’ and screamin’ and shit. And I’m not hardly tryin’ to hear her fuckin mouth.”
Everything Harmony did angered her and it was apparent that there was no love between them.

Shirley Pointer, with her large robust body came barreling into the kitchen swinging her meaty arms back and forth. Her dark skin was ashy and her eyebrows were pulled together in anger.

"I know ya'll not crazy!" She yelled, her lips pressed closely together. The old smooth black bullet wound on her face glistened against the ceiling light. “What the fuck is goin’ on ‘round here?! And why the fuck is ya’ll makin’ all this noise in my house? If Preston was here, I’da throwed both of ya'll's asses out on them streets."

Preston was her boyfriend of two years who only came over when her refrigerator was full and her attitude was nowhere to be found. He could put up with a lot of things…but fussin’ and cussin’ was not one of them.

“Sorry, mama! Harmony done fell and knocked a tooth out of her mouth. You must’ve heard her when she yelled.” She said picking it up off the floor. In Shirley’s presence, Estelle acted like a scared child.

“What you mean?” She said walking up to Harmony. She squeezed her jaws forcing her mouth open. After examining Harmony's tooth, she pushed her away using her jaws, causing her to stumble backwards. “You sure you ain’t hit this child? You never did have much in the way of patience when it came to kids."

"No, mama. It was all her grown ass!"

"Well, I’ma have to ask your daddy for some money to get this fixed. The next time he call collect, Estelle, accept it, and tell him we need some money to fix her mouth.”

“He don’t want to talk to me and he’s locked up."

"And he won’t have to talk to you. But he still got a child here and access to money, too. I guarantee it."

Harmony knew neither her tooth nor her hands would see any parts of the money if Cornell bothered to give it to either one of them slick bitches.

"How it happen anyway?"

"She was tryin’ to help me make the food for the party tonight when she fell on this here stove and bust her mouth open. Ain’t that what happened, Harmony?”

Harmony was in so much pain she wouldn’t dare say anything to the contrary.

“Yes, mam. That’s what happened.”

“Well I don’t care, if ya’ll don’t get it together there's gonna be problems. You ain’t got your little maids waitin' on you hand and foot in Concord Manor no more. You in my house now, and 'round here, everything has to be cared for personally, including my peace and quiet!”

Shirley waddled back in her bedroom and Estelle continued about the meal nervously. It was easy to bully Harmony, but when it came to standing up to her mother, she failed miserably.

All Estelle’s life Shirley belittled her and made her feel as if she could never stand up to her brother Charles, who was locked up for raping his seven month baby girl, killing her instantly. In Shirley’s mind, Charles was a good man who was put in a terrible position by his wife Carmel. To hear her tell it, had Carmel bathed her own baby, instead of asking Charles to do it, little Debbie Pointer would still be alive today. No…in Shirley’s mind Estelle could never measure up, no matter what she did, including giving her all of the money she’d stolen from Cornell.

Although Shirley Pointer ridiculed her only daughter, this bitch was far from an angel. In fact, Estelle was a product of her freak-whoreness. Many years ago, before Estelle was born, Shirley was supposed to be working for the Whitesdales, a wealthy white couple in Maryland. She was the family maid, yet she gave extra special attention to Todd, Mrs. Beverly Whitesdales's husband.

At the time Shirley was very beautiful with her wide smile, large breasts and cooking skills, which could put the meanest beast under her trance. But her real skills were in the bedroom because Shirley had sucked and fucked her way into some of the most prestigious homes in DC and was the rich white man’s secret. In fact, they shared her amongst themselves, no man being allowed to keep her longer than a year. But when Todd got greedy, and extended his time to two years not being able to part with the way Shirley wrapped her mouth around his dick, one of the husbands in the secret club got mad since he was next, and secretly told Mrs. Whitesdale.

At the time Shirley was four months pregnant by Todd and barely showing when Beverly walked up to her in the kitchen and shot her in the head. The bullet didn’t enter her skull and took no more than a few months to heal. But the gig was up because none of the wives wanted her in their homes. So she lived off of welfare most of her life and officially sold pussy from time to time to make ends meet. But on January 16, 1968 her hardships ended all together. Because it was the day that her beautiful daughter Estelle, went to a cabaret and met DC Drug lord Cornell Phillips.

Five hours after Harmony's tooth was broken, Shirley’s large brick house was packed with every cousin’s uncle who got an informal invitation. Moochers, greedy bastards and fake friends didn’t mind filling every available seat and floor space in the house. And Shirley made sure her white Cadillac and Estelle's Benz was washed and sitting in the front of the house to represent luxury.

“
Estelle…Bring me some more gin! And some ice, too!”

Estelle who was already running back and forth for her mother and her friends sighed heavily. Had she thought with her mind and not her heart, she would have never betrayed Cornell. At Concord Manor she lived like a queen, and now outside of the rings on her fingers and jewelry around her neck, no one would know she was once a hustler’s girlfriend although never a hustler’s wife.

“
Okay, mama.” She said. “Just give me a second to check on the ribs in the oven.”

“
Gin now, the food later!”

Estelle sighed and said, “Okay, ma.” She fixed her drink and handed it to her and was on her way back to the refrigerator.

“
And be careful with that fridge. You know it’s so stuffed with food that I had to put tape on it.” She bragged.

“
Damn, Shirley! Ya’ll really are doin’ good ‘round here.” Lola said. “You need another daughter?” She laughed heartedly, before slapping her knee.

“
Bitch, I ain’t happy with the one I got. What I looks like takin’ in more?”

“
I heard that, look at her…she ain’t so upitity now though is she?” Lola laughed, looking at Estelle.

Estelle heard Lola but tried to block her out. It was a mistake to give Shirley all of her money because out of the fifty thousand she'd stolen from Cornell, she only had a couple thousand left.

In the room, Harmony lie on the bed in tears, wishing her life was different. Wishing she could have warned her father that her mother was working with the DEA. But she knew nothing about what her mother put into work two weeks after learning about his continued involvement with Irma. Now because of Estelle’s jealousy, Cornell was locked up, partially blind and confined to a wheel chair. The officers had beaten him so badly after Estelle and Harmony left, that they thought he was dead. In fact that was their chief aim and it angered them that unlike the successful murder of their partner, Cornell Phillips was still alive. They compensated for their failure by beating him regularly in prison. Almost every bone in his body had been broken and no matter how hard his lawyer fought, there was nothing he could do to have him moved. He killed a white man and a white police officer. In society's eyes, they were two different circumstances, both of which carried heavy penalties.

ROOF, ROOF, ROOF! Harmony looked out of the window at Shirley’s dog Dingo. Kalive Miller, Kreshon Myter and Paco Carry taunted the dogs by throwing rocks at its face.

“
Roof, Roof!” Dingo barked at them viciously. “Roof, Roof, Roof!”

Knowing the dog was liable to jump over the gate and chase them was why they taunted him. Already young, they lived dangerously.

“
Get your black asses away from my animal!” Shirley yelled, breaking away from her party. “I’m tired of you little niggles fucking with my dog!”

The boys ran away laughing the entire way. When Shirley went back inside, Dingo continued to bark wildly at Harmony who was still staring at him through the window. Although she hated Dingo, she despised her mother even more.