We Didn’t See it Coming (32 page)

“Wonderful dreams, pretty lady,” the officer said.

Too excited, Aniyah ran over and held on to the cell bars. She watched the correctional officer check the next cell. She called, “Hey, do you need an escort?”

The tall, well-built officer came back to her cell. “And where are you going to escort me?”

Aniyah pulled the rubber band out of her hair. She opened the top button of the uniform to expose her ample breasts. The officer flicked the flashlight he had in his hands on her breasts. He then flashed the light on her face to see that she was blowing kisses at him.

“I can escort you anywhere you want to go. I can escort you to your wildest fantasy,” Aniyah said as she batted her eyes. She shook her breasts, and then she moved her hips in a circular motion.

“I bet you can with boobs like them,” he said, flashing the light back on her breasts.

“Come closer to me.”

The officer cautiously came close to the bars of the cell. She puckered her lips and he kissed her between the bar rails.

“Sweet lips,” the officer said.

“See, you pay me money and I'll escort you. We both win.”

“Pay you? Lady, you're nuts. Go to sleep.” He laughed.

Aniyah saw that he wasn't buying what she was offering. “I can show you more.” She dropped her uniform to her knees.

The officer shined the flashlight on her body. “Hey, Kev,” he called to another officer. “Take a look at this. We have a free peep show.”

The officer's partner came over and took a look.

Aniyah was annoyed. She snatched up her uniform, slipping it back on because the officers laughed at her. She figured that the officers weren't worthy of her.

“Hey, pretty lady; give my partner a kiss, too. He may want some escort services.” The officer laughed.

“No one makes a mockery of me!” she yelled, pointing her finger. “Forget it! You don't have enough money to take care of me.”

The officer hit his club against the cell bars. “Shut up, and go to sleep. You're a fruitcake.”

Aniyah spent the rest of the night fantasizing that she was the owner of the Houston Estate Escort Business and the Houston women were her workers.

Watch out, world, because when I get out of this hell hole, I'll have a new plan to score big money.

I
F YOU ENJOYED
“W
E
D
IDN'T
S
EE
I
T
C
OMING,” PLEASE BE SURE TO CHECK OUT

BY
C
HRISTINE
Y
OUNG
-R
OBINSON

C
OMING
S
OON FROM
S
TREBOR
B
OOKS

At last, Aniyah Sanchez would no longer be like a lion locked up in a cage. After spending four years in a South Carolina prison for fraud and kidnapping, she was being released.

As she stepped out of her cell, a male prison guard whispered in her ears, “Fruitcake, I'll see you when you get back.”

Sniffing the odor of fish that escaped from his breath, Aniyah turned up her nose. Didn't he know after lunch to eat a peppermint?

“Good bye, Slut,” an inmate yelled from another cell to her.

“You better get your last feel, Officer Mann,” another inmate added.

The inmates laughed throughout the ward, including the guard who sported a broken front tooth. He cupped Aniyah's left breast with his right hand. Then he took the club he held in his other hand and placed it between her legs.

“I don't think so!” Aniyah snapped her head, brushing him away. “Your time has expired.”

During her prison term, she had fulfilled the guard's sexual needs in exchange for protection from conflicts that she had endured with other female inmates.

Aniyah, almost jogging, hurried ahead until she came to a point where she met up with another guard, and other inmates that were being released.

Once the official documents were finalized, the guard let Aniyah out of the last door that gave her back her freedom. A chill ran through her
body, but it quickly disappeared once the doors were slammed shut behind her.

Turning around, she took one last look at the place of residence she had called home. The fourth inmate in line, and in loafers donated by church volunteers, outside of the prison her feet made contact with the concrete ground.

Aniyah adjusted her eyes to the sunlight that blinded her. She pulled down on her red spandex dress that had risen up to her hips. It was the same dress she wore before she became a part of the prison system.

Her once slender hips stretched the dress to its limits, but Aniyah strutted as if the garment was brand-new. She faulted her excessive weight-gain from her no longer being able to shake her hips in the nightclubs because, in prison, most of the time she sat on her rear in her cell or in ongoing therapy sessions.

Under her armpit, she carried a plastic bag of her belongings and a pair of pumps. Her hands free, she twisted her flowing black hair up in a bun.

Other released inmates stopped to say farewell to each other, but Aniyah kept walking, too afraid that she might be called back by one of the guards.

Two female inmates ran past her, once they saw familiar faces of loved ones waiting to take them home. Aniyah was not looking for any family to come to her rescue. She would not know her father from any other black man on the streets. He was her mother's one-night stand with no name.

Julia, her mother, had died two months ago in Mexico, during the time dye eggs were given to inmates for holiday treats. Aniyah remembered the day the warden delivered the news to her. Guilt troubled her, since she had run away from home at the age of sixteen, leaving her mother behind to suffer a broken heart.

The only family she had left was her mother's sister, Tessa Sanchez-Chavis. And she was not counting on her self-righteous aunt to come to her rescue.

Where am I going? I have no idea.

As the heat beamed down on her forehead, sweat dripped down her neck. The spandex dress felt like rubber against her body.

“Rosie Aniyah Sanchez.” She heard a name echoed in her ears.

Her eyes lit up, when she recognized the familiar voice. She locked eyes with her aunt. The solemn look on her face turned into a bright smile. “Aunt Tessa.”

She studied her aunt, noticing how much she had aged. Streaks of gray highlighted Tessa's jet-black hair. Aniyah, elated, ran into her aunt's arms. “I can't believe you're here.”

“You're family,” her aunt said humbly, in her Spanish accent, giving her niece a kiss on the cheek.

Together, they strolled to a parked black Mercedes-Benz.

Admiring her aunt's ride, before prison life, without hesitation, if a man were driving the Benz, Aniyah would have easily flagged down the ride. She would have unraveled her bun to let her hair fall past her shoulder, propped one hand on a hip, and batted her dark-brown eyes. Then she would have worked her charm on the man behind the wheel, giving him her middle name instead of using her first name, Rosie. Simply played him for a sucker.

With all the counseling, her former lifestyle of being an escort and manipulating people, especially men, was supposed to be her past, but only time would tell.

Tessa unlocked the car door, and quickly Aniyah jumped in and took a seat on the butter-colored leather seats. It was not a man, but a free ride from her aunt would do.

“How did you know I was getting out?”

Tessa gave her niece another loving hug. Then she became emotional. “I've been keeping up with you. And although I can't forget what you did to the Houstons or me, you're still family. I have made peace with it.”

“How about your lawyer-hubby, Baron?”

“He's Mr. Chavis to you for now on. And, he'll never forgive you for what you did to the Houston family, nor him,” Tessa admitted with a hint of bitterness.

“It's not like it was his money.” Reaching down between the seats, Aniyah picked up a bag of boiled peanuts. She cracked open the peanuts, tossing a few in her mouth. While chewing, she continued to speak. “The Houstons are garbage people. Mr. Houston was a male whore. How can you defend him?”

“Don't speak of the dead in a bad way,” Tessa argued. She recalled
working as a young woman in the home of Mr. Rupert Houston, owner of Houston Commercial Construction Company. He was a man who loved to have his way with his beautiful female workers.

Aniyah sucked her teeth. “Mr. Houston can rot in hell. And so can his spoiled-ass daughters.” She slouched back in the seat.

In past years, Aniyah had crossed paths with her aunt's prior boss, Rupert. Her greed for money led her to become his mistress. He had promised her a false dream on Lake Murray, South Carolina, to later do away with her.

Aniyah vowed to get revenge on him. To keep her quiet, Rupert included her in his will.

Aniyah took a few more peanuts, folded the bag, and placed it back where she'd gotten it.

“I still say you were more loyal to his spoiled-ass daughters than you were to me,” she said.

Staring at her aunt as she drove, Aniyah wanted to grab and shake her. Rupert's unexpected death left her a happy and wealthy young woman, instead of his three daughters until Tessa discovered her wrongdoings. Instead of living the life of royalty, Aniyah landed in prison.

Tessa sensed Aniyah was still bitter. “I believe in doing what's right. You had no right to do wrong.”

“I didn't want to be a maid like you and Mama. I could have sent plenty of money to Mama.” Aniyah lowered her voice. “Now she's dead.”

Tessa was surprised. “I asked the warden to not tell you about Julia.”

“You should have come and told me yourself.”

“I didn't want you to be hurt. You couldn't go to Mexico to your mama's funeral.”

“Did you go?” Aniyah asked sadly.

“I went to visit her in her sickbed a month before she went to her heavenly home. She wanted so much for you to come to her bedside. I simply couldn't tell her that I found you. You were in jail for doing bad things. It would have destroyed her. I stayed by her side to the end.”

Tears flowed down Aniyah's face. “I'm glad you didn't tell her.”

Tessa softly patted her niece on the hand. “Your mama loved you with all her heart.”

“I know…I miss her.” Aniyah wiped away her tears.

“Let's go shopping. You don't need to dress like you're a loose girl.” Tessa had witnessed her niece's dress code. The dress had risen up on Aniyah. It resembled a tunic shirt.

“I'll go shopping. But I'm not throwing away this dress.”

“It's too little.”

Aniyah saw her aunt glancing at her. She tugged at her dress, trying to cover her exposed thighs. “So I gained a few pounds. No big deal.”

“After shopping, you'll trash it.”

“This hot dress stays with me.”

Tessa concluded that it was going to be a long day for her. The sooner she took her niece shopping and got her settled, the sooner she would be rid of her. She sighed. “Aniyah, you have always been difficult.”

“I think for myself. No one tells me what to do.”

• • •

After shopping, Tessa drove Aniyah to a two-story apartment complex nearby the downtown city of Columbia.

Aniyah looked out at the buildings as Tessa parked. Startled, she said, “This is where you and Baron live now. What happened to his house?”

“We still have our home. This is where you're going to rest.”

Aniyah voice escalated. “Are you for real? Here?”

“I'm sorry, but there's no way Baron will let me bring you into our home.”

“I'm your niece. He can now trust me.”

“I'm afraid not.”

Aniyah marveled. She heard the nervousness in her aunt's voice. She was flattered that her aunt thought of her as a threat. In the past, she had seduced her aunt's husband, prior to their marriage, in order to manipulate him to get to his client's fortune.

They got out of the vehicle, carrying shopping bags by the handles. Aniyah followed her aunt to the front door. Unlocking it, they entered the one-bedroom apartment.

She proceeded to the middle of the living room, while Tessa, clenching on to her handbag, stayed put near the door.

Aniyah felt her aunt's eyes pierced on her, well informed that she was uncomfortable being alone with her, but her attention was focused on her living arrangements. Next to a small wooden table, she tossed the
bags that she held on a futon. Then, she headed to see where she would sleep; leaving her aunt on edge to figure out if she would show any signs of psychotic symptoms.

Inside the bedroom, Aniyah spotted a four-drawer chest and twin-sized bed that was the bottom half of a bunk bed. Second-hand crap.

“I hope you like it.” Tessa dropped the bags on the linoleum floor.

Aniyah mumbled under her breath, “No bigger than a jail cell.”

Returning back into the living room, Aniyah decided not to complain. She was convinced without her aunt rescuing her, she might be sitting on a bench like a homeless person.

Aniyah grinned. “It's good.”

“There's food in the refrigerator. I've stocked it with a few things, sodas and sandwich meats. In the cabinets, there're cans of corn, black beans and a five-pound bag of rice.”

“Any steaks, lobster tails or shrimp?”

Tessa laughed. “There're frozen foods, and chicken for you to cook. Tonight you can heat a frozen chicken TV dinner.”

Aniyah went directly into the kitchen adjacent to the living room. She looked in the freezer to see that few products loaded the freezer, including one iced tray. She slammed the freezer door shut. Then she opened the refrigerator section. Removing a can of orange soda, she snapped it open and took a swallow, quenching her thirst.

Tessa entered. As she watched her niece's every move, she noticed the spandex dress Aniyah wore had risen up her thighs. “I say you should change into something more appropriate.”