Two Tears in a Bucket (9 page)

“
Daddy, I need a favor. Now, before you say anything, keep in mind that I haven’t asked you for a thing in a long time.”

“
Uh-oh.” Thomas chuckled. “I guess you ’bout to make up for it now.”

“
No, not really. I just need a few dollars.”

“
A few dollars for what?”

Simone sighed. “I lost my job a month ago, and I’m a little short on the rent.”

“
Simone, why you just now calling me? How much you short by?”

“
Six-fifty.”

“
How much is your rent?”

“
Six-fifty,” she replied shyly.

Thomas snickered. “I don’t know what to tell you, baby girl. Why you wait ’til the last minute to call me? Is the rent behind? How’d you lose your job anyway? You were doing so good. I was proud of you,” he ranted.

“
See, Daddy, that’s why I didn’t call you when it first happened. I wasn’t fired. The company dissolved. I paid the rent for August. I just don’t have September’s.”

“
Have you called your momma?”

“
See, now you tryna be funny.” She could hear her father laughing. “She wouldn’t give it to me if she had it.”

“
Yes, she would. You just have to ask her.”

“
Daddy, she won’t have it. I told you she took an early retirement, so now it’s all
Ricardo’s
money, and I’d live on the streets before I ask him for anything.”

“
Why you hate him so much?” Thomas asked.

“
I don’t know,” she lied. She’d never shared the Ricardo incident with her dad. She made the mistake of sharing it with Kevin and had to work overtime to keep him from retaliating. She knew her father would act no differently. Simone simply wanted to forget the incident even happened.

“
Well, Simone, if I don’t have it and you can’t get it, I guess you gotta pack it up and move in with me. I thought you were too young to be moving on your own anyway.”

Simone gasped her disapproval. After being on her own for a year, there was no way she wanted to move in with her father, Nana, or anyone else for that matter.

“
Even if I came up with the money, what you gon’ do about October’s rent?”

“
Daddy, I’ma find another job.”

“
Well, it’s already been a month and you haven’t found one. Where’s your little boyfriend at? Hell, why can’t he pay it? He laying up there with you, ain’t he?”

“
He was gonna pay it, but he got robbed.”

“
Robbed?”

“
Yep, robbed.”

“
Baby girl, I know you hate to hear it, but I think you know what you need to do,” Thomas advised. “It won’t be forever, just until you get back on your feet. You not over there starving, are you?”

“
No,” she moped. “I have some money, just not enough for the rent.”

“
Well, if you find the money, let me know. That’ll give you another month in your place. Otherwise, I’ll be there next Saturday. That’s Labor Day weekend, ain’t it?”

“
Yeah,” she said, forcing the words out, “I think so.”

“
I’m off that weekend,” Thomas mumbled more so to himself. “Don’t sound so down. Hell, its two tears in a bucket. You know what comes after that, right?” He chuckled.

“
Yeah, I know.”

“
I’m still proud of you. You did good out there for a year. Hell, look at your so-called big brother. Stan’s twenty-three and still leeching off me. Talkin’ ’bout he wanna open up a damn recording studio. His ass needs to go and get his own place. I’m tired of sitting on the nest. You ain’t but nineteen, but at least you tried,” Thomas said.

Simone didn’t respond.

“
Well, unless something changes, I guess I’ll see you next weekend.”

Hanging up the phone, Simone looked around her room, taking it all in. In a matter of days, her apartment would be nothing more than a memory.

Chapter Seven

Labor Day, 1988

Simone jumped from her bed and rushed to the bathroom, thankful she was home alone. There was no way she could tell her father she was pregnant. Not after losing her job and her apartment. There was no doubt in her mind that he would want her to have an abortion, which was no longer an option. She was having her baby.

Flushing the commode, Simone heard the phone ringing and rushed to answer it.
This has to be Kevin,
she thought as she snatched up the cordless.

“
Hello.”

“
You okay?” Kevin asked, recognizing her hurried tone.

“
Yeah, I was in the bathroom doing what I do best. I figured it was you. It’s after two,” she said, glancing at the clock. “You just getting up?”

“
Yeah, I didn’t get to sleep till ’bout six this morning. You just moved yesterday, and I hate this already. I’m so used to waking up next to you.”

“
Well, since you miss me so much, maybe now I can get you to go to a movie or something. We still haven’t gone on a single date.”

“
Well, let’s go today.”

“
Today?”

“
Yeah. I need to see you.”

“
Wow, just like that? I should’ve moved a long time ago. I’ll call Melanie. I know her and Nic are doing something. She’s leaving tomorrow.”

“
Dang, I forgot she was going away to school,” Kevin said. “Call Lavon, too. See if she wanna go. If she need somebody to go wit’ her, I can call James.”

“
Yeah, right.” Simone chuckled. “I don’t have to call her, though. I’m right down the street from her and her mom now.”

“
Oh, y’all met around there?”

“
Yeah, I met her and Melanie around here. Melanie moved a few years ago.” Simone heard a faint tapping sound. “Somebody’s knocking on your door?”

“
Yeah,” Kevin said as the taps turned into anxious banging, echoing throughout the apartment as he headed to the door. “You can hear it?”

“
Yeah, real good now.”

“
BOY, I BEEN OUTSIDE KNOCKING ON THIS DAMN DOOR…” an angry female yelled.

Simone’s natural antennas shot up. “Kevin, who’s that?”

“
I’MA CALL YOU BACK!” The phone went dead.

What the hell?
Simone thought.

She called Kevin back, but his phone rang several times with no answer.
Okay, I know I ain’t stupid,
Simone said to herself, knowing damn well she’d heard an irate female. Something wasn’t right.

She snatched off her nightie and threw on the sweatpants and T-shirt she’d worn to move in. She stepped into her tennis shoes and pulled her silky tresses into a ponytail. Unable to sit still, she paced the floor and tried calling Kevin again.
You better answer this phone.

“
Hello!” a female answered.

“
May I speak to Kevin?” Simone asked, a slight edge in her voice.

“
For what?” came the response.

“
Excuse me?”

“
I said, for what?”

“
Is your name Kevin?”

“
Ah, no, but he’s my boyfriend. So whatever you have to say to him, you can say to me.”

“
He’s your boyfriend?”

“
Yeah, bitch! What, you deaf?”

Simone chuckled sarcastically. “You know what? Let Kevin know his
pregnant
girlfriend is on the phone.”

“
What?”

“
Yeah, bitch,” Simone replied. “Now who’s deaf?”

Sucking her teeth in pure ghetto fashion, the female said, “Bitch, I will fuck you up!”

“
Please, you’ll get fucked up. Give the fucking phone to Kevin. I didn’t call to play with you.”

“
Here, take the phone, you sorry-ass muthafucka.” Simone knew she was yelling at Kevin. She could hear their conversation.

“
What the fuck you doing?” Kevin asked.

“
Take the fuckin’ phone!” she yelled. “You got some bitch pregnant?”

“
Girl, hang up the got damn phone!”

“
No, muthafucka, talk to your pregnant bitch.”

“
HANG UP THE MUTHAFUCKIN’ PHONE!” Kevin ordered, and then the phone went dead.

Simone’s entire body shook in a heated fury. She denied the tears pooling in her eyes permission to splash down her cheeks. There was no time for a pity party. She was too pissed to cry. She needed to get to Kevin’s house. She picked up the phone and called Melanie.

● ● ●

“
Who the fuck told you to answer the phone?” Kevin yelled, grabbing Rhonda’s arms as she flipped out, swinging crazy punches. He’d been so engulfed in his conversation with Simone that he’d forgotten about Rhonda’s surprise call earlier that morning. Worse yet, Kevin knew his outlandish reaction on the phone just now would probably make Simone think he was cheating on her.

“
You got some bitch pregnant?” Rhonda screamed, snatching her arms from Kevin as tears flooded her face. “I don’t fucking believe this shit! What the fuck did you want me to come over here for, huh?” she said, pushing him in his chest.

“
I told you. I needed to talk to you.”

“
About what?” Rhonda asked through her sniffs. “The bitch you got pregnant!”

Shit
, Kevin thought as Rhonda stood there crying. He let out a deep sigh.

“
Look, just calm down,” he said, embracing Rhonda and her madness. She accepted his embrace and bawled into his chest.

Oh my God, Simone
, Kevin thought, knowing she was probably going crazy and there was no one to comfort her. His mother’s warning danced in his head. He should’ve called Rhonda months ago and let her know that this time he was really done with her. Now she stood before him in a cloud of havoc. Such was life with Rhonda.

Rhonda had called that morning at the crack of dawn, announcing she was in town for Labor Day. “You know I gotta come see my baby,” she’d purred into the phone.

“
Good,” Kevin mumbled, half asleep, “’cause we need to talk.” This was his opportunity to sweep up the remaining crumbs of their so-called relationship and toss them into the trash where they belonged.

“
Talk?” Rhonda had snickered. “Yeah, we can talk afterwards. I’ll be over later.”

Whatever,
Kevin had thought as he hung up the phone and drifted back off to the slumber he’d just captured. When he awoke, the only thing on his mind was Simone.

“
You want something to drink?” Kevin had asked Rhonda when she walked in.

“
Who was that on the phone?” Rhonda asked as he sat the phone on the coffee table.

“
Damn, how you walk in the door jockin’ me? Do you want something to drink? Yes or no?”

“
No,” Rhonda said seductively. She strutted over to Kevin and eased her arms around his neck. “I want a kiss.”

He moved her arms.

“
Ugh, why you acting all whack? What… you mad ’cause I ain’t been calling? Shit, you ain’t been calling, either. So, stop buggin’ and give me a kiss,” she said, replacing her arms around his neck. Kevin pecked her quickly on the lips, leaving Rhonda dumbfounded. “What the fuck was that?”

The phone started ringing. Kevin moved her arms again. Rhonda’s eyes bounced back and forth between the phone and Kevin’s uneasiness.

“
Answer it,” she said.

“
For what?” Kevin asked. He knew it was Simone, but there was no way he could talk to her now.
I’ll explain it to her later,
he thought, as the phone finally stopped ringing. “You want a soda or what?”

“
Or what,” Rhonda said as she plopped on the couch, looking at Kevin suspiciously. “I wanna know why you acting so funny. Normally, by now you’d be pounding me in your mother’s bed.”

Kevin ignored her and headed down the hall to the secret stash of sodas his mother kept in her walk-in closet.

Shit
, Kevin thought. Rhonda was right. Normally, they’d be on their second wind. Rhonda took the it however, wherever. Just the mere thought was getting him aroused.

Where the hell the sodas at?
Kevin dug farther and farther through the closet. He moved a shoe-box out the way and couldn’t help but laugh at the weight of it. A few sodas were hidden inside. He grabbed two cans and put everything back where he’d found it.

I’ll buy you some more sodas, Ma
. He knew why she hid them. LeCount guzzled them one behind the other, as if he’d bought them himself. As he closed the closet door, he heard Rhonda yelling.

Who the fuck she talking to?
Then it dawned on him as he hurried down the hallway.
Oh my God! Simone musta called back.

“
Here!” Rhonda yelled. “Take the phone, you sorry-ass muthafucka!”

● ● ●

“
I can’t believe this! See, men ain’t shit!” In her sweatpants and tennis shoes, Lavon paced back and forth as they waited for Melanie. “And you fucking pregnant.”

“
Yeah, but I’ma take care of that as soon as I get another job.”

“
Girl, you need to go with me on Tuesday to take the civil service test. I’m trying to get a job in the government.”