Chapter 11

Yes, it was blazing hot outside in the park. Mosquitoes swarming about made a simple existence
unbearable, but there was always something alluring for humans to be outdoors on a day where the
luxury of air-conditioning was nowhere to be sought.

It was 95 degrees, and it seemed as though people were only fighting the heat rather than escaping it.
Some dared the humidity to overwhelm them as some played with their dogs, frolicked at the jungle
gym or in the Glovers case, barbequed underneath the timid, cool shade of two maple trees while
listening to The Commodores', 'Brick House' on a tiny transistor radio that sat atop a bench table where
hamburgers, hot dogs, buns and condiments were already spread out.

Running through an open field within the park were little children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews,
eight in all, with Lynnette chasing after all but one.

The woman felt as light as a feather as she romped about in the sunshine with her nieces and
nephews, while all the time ignoring her own son that was doing his best to try and keep up with his
mother that was steadily trying to make believe that he wasn't there to begin with.

When Lynnette had finally had enough playing hide and seek she ran back over to the same table
where her three sisters, Jackie, Bernadette and Lavonia were all casually seated smoking underneath
one of the trees.

Sweating, huffing, puffing and laughing like one of the other little ones, Lynnette dropped herself down
next to her heavyset sister Bernadette.

The sisters all stared oddly at the young lady as she wiped her face with the bottom portion of her t-
shirt.

"Damn, I must be gettin' old," Lynnette caught her breath, "I can't believe I got winded that quickly."



The three sisters just continued to puff along while giving one another quaint, offhanded glances.

"Mama," Isaiah came running up to his mother crying. "Gina hit me!" The boy wailed.

Rolling her eyes, Lynnette just gave the child a quick look before yelling, "What do you want me to do
about it?"

At that, Isaiah went away crying even louder than before while the sisters once again handed one
another rolling glimpses.

"Regina, quit hittin' people!" Jackie yelled at her daughter.

"Damn kids get on your nerves, man." Lynnette moaned as she turned and focused her attention to her
sisters. "What ya'll up to?"

At first, the sisters didn't reply, they all just sat and smoked away as to say their baby sister wasn't even
there. But their individual, haughty eyes made sure to keep studying Lynnette all the same.

Lynnette, feeling the weight of her sisters' silence bear down upon her, took a cigarette of her own and
lit it before saying, "Your mama was acting real strange last night."

"She ain't the only one acting strange." Lavonia all of the sudden spoke right up.

Lynnette stopped smoking long enough to study her sisters one by one. A cold wave slipped down the
small of her back just then.

"What do you mean?" Lynnette nervously grinned.

The sisters all twisted their lips in unison before Bernadette remarked, "Just who do you think you're
foolin'?"

Trying to laugh off her embarrassment, Lynnette persisted, "What is goin' on?"



In between puffs, Jackie said, "Look at you. You're lit up right here, of all places."

Trying to conceal her blushing face, Lynnette turned her head in the opposite direction as so her eyes
would no longer connect with her sisters.

"Look at your arms. You see, you can fool George and Weezy over there." Jackie pointed to her
parents. "They still think this is the 1940's. But you can't fool us, girl."

"You're black butt is higher than the Goodyear Blimp right now." Lavonia said.

"No I'm not!" Lynnette protested. "Just stop, Lynn." Bernadette calmly placed her hand on top of
Lynnette's. "You might as well just be cool and don't make a scene at their square ass barbeque."

"Yeah, they don't want us around, but they don't mind draggin' us all the way out here in this hot ass
heat for some cookout." Jackie belligerently stated.

Lynnette knew her sisters well, and vice versa. She was aware that trying to conceal her shame was as
pointless as trying to keep the sweat off of her brow.

Lavonia looked Lynnette dead in the eye, and in a low tone she asked, "Is it true that you're fuckin' with
Clavell?"

"What?" Lynnette's eyes opened wide.

"You might as well stop foolin'," Jackie said, "It's all over town that he's back."

Giggling like a fool, Lynnette shook her head, "I don't know what you all are talking about."

"Just so you know, Clavell ain't one of these little nickel and dime niggas like we got here in this city."
Jackie continued. "Nope, this brother is the real deal, baby girl. He not only has New York, Chi-Town
and Detroit locked up, but they even say that he's nearly got Houston under his boot."



"Yep, I heard he got shot twelve times while in Chicago." Bernadette mentioned. "And he still had the
nerve to get up the very next day and get the people back for doin' it."

"Next thing you know, he'll not only have you strung out, but he'll have you out there on 32nd Ave
trickin' for 'em." Lavonia said.

"And you thought Isaac was bad, Clavell will eat you alive if you fuck up." Jackie grinned.

All Lynnette could do was sit with her still smoldering cigarette dangling in between her fingers. No
longer could she even stand to look at her sisters. The cold wave that had slithered down her back was
gradually making its way to her stomach and causing it to growl.

With her lips poked out and her forehead beginning to sweat all over again, Lynnette looked hard at all
three sisters. "What the fuck do you all know about Isaac?"

Jackie, Bernadette and Lavonia all sat and stared strangely at Lynnette as though the woman was
turning into another being right before their eyes.

"Hold on, we're just tryin' to—

"The burgers are done!" Their father shouted from the barbeque pit.

"Fuck those burgers." Lynnette attempted to get up and away from the table. But before the young lady
could even hit the grass, she saw something from out of the corner of her eye.

There were plenty of people in the park jogging and walking around, but there was one person among
many that Lynnette's eyes just couldn't seem to part from. Amongst all the revelers, the aromas of meat
cooking on a grill, the joyous screams of children playing, all Lynnette could seem to connect with was
the black woman that was jogging across the field from where she and her sisters were sitting.



"Why are you getting mad at us?" Lavonia also sat up. "Don't be mad because we're tellin' your ass the
truth!"

But Lynnette was paying her sister no attention whatsoever; instead, she kept her focus solely upon the
jogging female that seemed to be drawing closer to her vicinity.

"What are you looking at?" Bernadette frowned.

Lynnette stood and pointed at the woman with a jittery, aggressive index finger. "That black bitch over
there." She grunted. "I've been seeing that same bitch now since last week."

All three sisters stopped smoking and spun around. One by one Jackie, Bernadette and Lavonia slowly
got up from the table.

"Who is she?" Bernadette questioned.

"I don't know, but she's been jogging around in mama and daddy's back alley like she knows me."

"Hey, skank," Jackie all of the sudden shouted out as she and the other two began advancing towards
the woman.

Lynnette, however, wasn't as precarious as her sisters. She gave chase, but not to where she was side
by side with the pack. The woman held back a few steps just to see what her sisters were ultimately
going to do.

Taken off guard, the jogging woman eventually stopped and looked at the sisters in the most puzzled
fashion.

She was a young woman with afro puffs, and dressed only in a t-shirt and a pair of shorts, but beyond
those features Lynnette had no other visual.



"Yo, bitch, what you doin' stalking our sister?" Lavonia ran up to the woman's face.

All the woman could do was stand in silent amazement before Lynnette finally caught up with her
sisters only to see something that she wished to God her eyes had never come across to begin with.

At that point, Lynnette wished that she had never even arrived at the picnic, let alone bring up the
woman's presence at all.Lynnette saw absolutely nothing else on the woman, nothing that is, but her
eyes; two stunned, auburn eyes that stared endlessly right back at her.

By then, Lynnette began to stumble backwards, nearly falling to the grass in the process as her sisters
ranted and yelled at the woman before attacking her with fists and feet.

Soon, both the parents and all the children came running and screaming, but Lynnette could hear
nothing by then.The young lady just stood back and watched as her sisters laid waste to the strange
woman on the ground while their parents tried to tear them off of her.

But Lynnette just kept on slowly backing away from absolute fright before Isaiah came rushing to his
mother's side crying. Lynnette didn't even acknowledge the boy, she just nonchalantly shoved him out
of the way before turning and running as hard and fast as she could away from the entire scene
altogether.


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