Working Girls (11 page)

 

The sound of her buzzer startled Jewels. Since Rome had left, she had been a little jumpy. She had gotten used to having a male presence around her place. She had been tempted to make up a bogus reason or an excuse to convince him to stay a few more days, but in the end she had sided against it. When they'd parted ways with a hug, Jewels remembered feeling weird, but not in a bad way. It had almost felt as if he didn't want to leave or let her go. She had sat and thought about it the whole day, until Kareem had called her and invited her out to be his escort at an event he was attending in the city. Jewels hadn't realized she had dozed off while watching
The Man in 3B,
a movie she had been dying to see all week. The buzzer rang for a second time.

“I bet you it's this bitch, Sassy,” Jewels cursed under her breath.

It had been a week since she had last heard from or seen Sassy. She had been trying to reach her ever since they had parted ways at that downtown restaurant.

“Stop playing on my damn buzzer,” she blared through the intercom.

A male voice came across the intercom. “Excuse me?”

“Oh, I'm sorry. Who is this?” she said apologetically.

“Postal service.”

“Who are you looking for?” she questioned. She hadn't ordered anything, and she was not expecting anything.

“Uh, a Ms. Jew—” he began, but before he could finish, she hit the buzzer.

Jewels cautiously looked out the window as the mail carrier drove through the gate. When she opened the door, he handed her a certified letter that required her signature. She couldn't believe her eyes when she read the return address. The name Melody Walker meant everything to her. She hadn't seen it or spoken it in quite some time, she realized.

Damn, she is good. I've never heard of someone sending a certified letter from where she is at. She must have the guards hooked, but she always did have that effect on men
, thought Jewels as she opened the letter from her mother.

Jewels smiled as she read the letter over and over again. She hadn't realized it had been that long since she'd last seen her mother. She had been so busy on a paper chase that two years seemed like a week. There was nothing to think about. Next week Jewels would be going to see her mother.

Jewels's gut kicked in and told her something was wrong.
Why, after all this time, would my mom want me to visit? She knows that place is not my style. There is only one way to find out what is up.

Men with assorted weapons lined the walls. Rome looked around. He made eye contact with each man posted up, then drew his attention back to the person he was there to see.
Who the fuck this nigga think he is? The African Pablo Escobar or something?
thought Rome as he did so.

“Yo, Africa,” Rome called out to his connect. That was what he'd been told to call the man responsible for putting him in a better position in the drug game. He really didn't care what he'd been told to call him. The only thing Rome cared about was getting better prices so he, Red, and their crew could turn it up in the streets. The competition was saturated for many different reasons. In Rome's case, the prices he was paying prevented him from taking their operation to the next level. “Man, you killin' me with these numbers,” he admitted.

“What do you mean?” Rome's connect replied, his voice booming. “I give you the best coke money can buy,” he bragged. “What is the problem? You are a drug dealer, aren't you?” Africa continued in a condescending tone. It was apparent he had taken offense at what Rome had said.

Rome's face twisted up.
Who the fuck this nigga think he talkin' to?
he asked himself. His chest swelled. Although he was in a room full of armed African soldiers, he refused to back down.

Rome tried to reason with his connect. “Man, it ain't the quality of the product. No doubt, your shit. You got that A-one, but you killin' me on the prices. I can't compete with the dudes that got A-one too, who got them birds for cheaper than what I'm movin' mine for. I know you can understand that.”

“Nobody has better product than me,” Africa replied arrogantly.

Rome took a shot in the dark and pressed his luck. “Yo, how do I know you not the one supplying my competition with the same product and better prices?” He looked Africa square in the eyes. He searched for any hesitation or doubt in his eyes. He knew he was risking it all with his accusation.

Red had always told him, his mouth would be the death of him, and he knew his tongue had just thrown him in a potential frying pan. He expected the best and prepared for the worst. He was willing to handle what came behind him speaking his peace. He expected bullets to be flying over the disrespect he had just spat at his connect. Rome had just accused him of not playing fair. According to the rules he followed and the laws he lived by, those words were punishable by death if not proven correct. Instead of being met with lead, he was met with questionable words.

“How dare you accuse me of something like that!” his connect started off with. “For weeks now, I've been taking care of you. Who sells and what somebody sells it for are not my concern. My only concern is what I sell it for. You have a choice. Either pay the price or not. You can take it or leave it. Now, what you going to do?” Rome's connect matched his stare.

Rome laughed on the inside. He knew his connect had no idea just how loose a cannon he was.
Yeah, okay, Kunta
, he thought. Rome knew now was not the time or the place. But he'd never forget this day. He took his time before he spoke. He did a quick scan of the room. He might have made some stupid moves in the past, but he was no fool.
Live to fight another day
, he reasoned with himself.

“No doubt, Africa. We good,” Rome said as he offered a gentlemanly handshake.

Rome was far from stupid, and fucking up his only connect over some over rated price he didn't like would undoubtedly be a reckless move. Although the price was not to his liking, he was sticking with it for now, but as soon as he found another, Africa would no longer be needed.

Jewels was just a kid when her mother was convicted for killing a trick. Her mother was sentenced to life without any possibility for parole. She was charged with first-degree murder. Jewels remembered being taken to the huge courthouse building by Sassy's mother. It was the last time she would see her mother as an innocent child. During the trial she didn't even recognize her mother, because she looked so different dressed in loose-fitting clothes. She looked like a schoolteacher, thought Jewels. Her mother's words to her that day after the judge sentenced her had stuck with Jewels.
You take care of yourself out there. Don't be no weak bitch!

Her father was dead, and her mother was going to prison, so Jewels was pretty much on her own. She took her mother's words to heart and did just that: took care of herself and never showed any signs of weakness.

Ever since Jewels had gotten that letter from her, Melody had been weighing heavily on her mind. She couldn't stop thinking about how things had been before she went away. How they had fed the whole community during the holidays, how she had helped her mom plan the dinners and the parties for the top pimps and hoes to show how her dad was ballin'. While she herself had been living the life, Jewels had never met or come across anyone more thorough than her mother. It seemed that ever since she had read that letter, something about her mother and her childhood had surfaced in her mind every day.

Before she knew it, it was Sunday. Visiting hours at the prison were from eight until three. It was already nine in the morning, and she had a three-hour drive. She didn't want to look too fly, so she decided to dress down and put on an Adidas jogging suit and some Adidas sneakers. She put on a baseball cap and let her hair hang out. She grabbed her bag and hopped in the awaiting car from the service she'd hired. The car jumped onto the highway and made it to the prison in two and a half hours.

The sign read ST. LOUIS CORRECTIONAL FACILITY FOR WOMEN THREE MILES AHEAD. Jewels's driver navigated the Lincoln down I-70 until he reached the exit ramp that led to the prison for women. At the front gate to the prison, the driver brought the car to a stop, jumped out, and made his way to one of the back doors of the vehicle. He gave Jewels a helping hand as she stepped out of the car. All eyes were on her as she was let off in front of the front gate of the institution.

“You can just find a park spot, and I will text you when I'm done,” she told the driver, and then she walked toward the entrance. She now realized why so much time had gone by since the last time she had visited this human warehouse. A butch-looking officer degradingly searched and groped her before she was allowed admittance. She was glad she had left her bag in the car, because they were ripping those bags up as they searched through them.
I pay too much for my shit
, she thought. They told her that she would go back with the next group and that she should have a seat.

For some reason, Jewels was a little nervous to see her mother. Out of nowhere her hands started shaking.
Bitch, it's your mother, the woman who raised you, not the first lady,
she joked to herself. Jewels shook it off. She waited for about an hour before they finally let her see her mother. She was the last glass partition on the end. Jewels walked slowly toward her. It felt like the hall just kept getting longer and longer to her.

There she was, looking better than she had looked in years. She had put on a few pounds, but she wore it well. Her hair was cut short, unlike the last time Jewels had seen her. It had once been down to her ass. She looked like a goddess to Jewels. She could actually see herself in her mother. She definitely had gotten both her body and her beautiful features from Melody.

“Look at you,” was what Jewels's ears were met with when she picked up the phone hanging to her right. “You look like me when I was your age,” Melody added.

Jewels smiled. “No. Better!” she shot back jokingly.

“All right now.” Melody chuckled.

For a moment, it felt like old times. Despite the circumstances, they shared a mother-daughter moment.

“You don't look so bad yourself,” Jewels offered. “Considering that beige is not your color,” she said, adding a little humor.

Melody smiled. “I'll take that as a compliment.”

“It was.” Jewels chuckled. “Your locks got longer since the last I seen you,” she observed.

“Yeah. I gotta wash and grease them, though,” Melody replied. She grabbed a handful of her dreadlocks and smelled them.

Jewels smiled. She did the same thing with her natural hair whenever she felt it wasn't up to par, even if it was tight. “Is everything okay?” she asked, wasting no time. Ever since she had gotten her mother's letter, she hadn't been able to sleep. It was not like Melody just to write and send a random letter. Even though she seemed to be in good spirits both in the letter and in person, Jewels knew there was something her mother was not telling her.

Melody took a deep breath. She could tell her daughter was searching for answers in her eyes. She stared at her daughter proudly. She didn't need glasses to see that Jewels was at the top of her game. The fact that she always dressed down each time she came to visit Melody told her what type of woman her daughter was. It showed her that Jewels was a confident woman and that clothes did not make her. She made them.

“I'm dying,” Melody blurted out.

At first, Jewels thought her ears were playing tricks on her. A look of shock and disbelief instantly appeared on her face. Before she could even respond or comment, Melody spoke again. “They say I have HIV. Shit. I'm not even surprised. But that's the bed I made a lot of years ago, and now I have to lie in it,” she explained. “On another note, I sent you another letter. It has some important contacts in it. Use them if you ever need to. A lot of good peoples in there,” she said, abruptly changing the subject.

Jewels was still speechless. A lump formed in her throat. She was trying to conjure up some comforting or consoling words for her mother but found it difficult. She didn't want to display any type of weakness in front of her. Her mother hadn't made her feel this way since she was a little girl. She couldn't believe she had just dropped that bomb on her and then had moved on, like she hadn't even mentioned it. Jewels wanted to cry but knew she couldn't. Instead, she fought and suppressed her tears. So many questions floated through her mind. She cleared the lump from her throat.

Her mother stared at her, waiting for her to say something.

Jewels finally spoke. “How long do you have?”

“Shit, I don't know.” Melody shrugged. “Tomorrow, next week, a month, ten years. That's not the point,” she said. “I told you because I felt you needed to know. I didn't want you to get a phone call saying I was dead from HIV. I would rather you hear it from me beforehand.”

Jewels was silent as her mother spoke. She didn't know what to say. She actually wanted to scream and cry. She knew she couldn't. The last thing she wanted to do was disrespect her mother by showing what her mother viewed as weakness. The two locked eyes.

“So, you're not going to say anything?” Melody asked.

Jewels took a deep breath and sighed. “What's there to say?” She grimaced.

Melody ran her hand down her face, then across her short dreadlocks.

Jewels watched as her mother fidgeted on the metal stool. Her mother started looking everywhere but at her, from the ceiling to the floor. She even picked at her nails and peeked at other inmates' visitors. Then the strangest thing happened.

“Ma?”

“Just go!” Melody waved Jewels off.

“What?” a confused Jewels questioned.

“You heard me!” One tear could be seen escaping from Melody's eye. “Get the fuck out of here!” Melody stood and banged her fist as hard as she could on the Plexiglas. The boom echoed on the other side of the glass. Jewels was surprised at how loudly and with what force she had banged on it. She was sure the COs would drag her away for being out of order. Before Jewels could say a word or the COs made a move, her mother stormed off, leaving the telephone receiver dangling.

Jewels stood there and watched as her mother disappeared through the steel-gray doors. It wasn't until an officer tapped her on the shoulder that reality set in. Jewels exited the visiting room and then the facility. She slipped on her Dior shades and pulled out her phone to text the driver. Once she spotted the car, she scurried over to it. The driver saw her approaching and hopped out to get the door for her. Jewels flung herself in the backseat, and moments later she was heading back home. She couldn't help but replay the tape in an effort to figure out what had just happened with her mother.

Surprised would be an understatement for what Jewels felt. Her mother's outburst was not the cause for the way she was feeling, though. She had seen her mother become explosive on more than one occasion before she went off to prison, so the fact that she had a temper wasn't a shock. What Jewels hadn't expected at all was that tear. In all the years she'd had with her mother, Jewels had never seen her mother shed one tear, until today.

Melody had never broken down in front of her, or in front of anyone else, for that matter, as far as Jewels knew. As a kid, she used to think that God had removed the ability to cry from her mother. Had she not felt it growing up from her mother, she never would have thought that her mother loved her, because Melody was not an affectionate woman or the type who released her emotions by shedding tears.

The thought that today might be the last day she ever saw her mother again saddened Jewels. And for the first time in a long time, she wept.
Why would she do this to me?
she wondered.

Deep down Jewels knew why, but she just didn't want it to be true. Knowing what her mother was, and recognizing that weakness was something her mother never showed, made it possible for Jewels to accept the fact that they would never see each other again. And it gave her some comfort.

As the car drove and the tears flowed, Jewels pulled out her phone. She wiped her tears and cleared her throat. If there was anyone who could reverse her feelings, it was Sassy. She wouldn't relate the incident to Sassy, but she could find comfort in talking to her until they saw each other later. Jewels dialed Sassy and then put the phone to her ear, waiting for a snappy greeting, but there was no answer. She opted not to leave a message and to try again later.