RIPPED & READY (S2/PART 31)

  As promised, an excerpt from another 10 postings. 

Parts 31 thru 40 will be available for purchase for $2.43 and available for dowload on 1/04/2010 by 12:00PM @

http://stores.lulu.com/enlightenment4theheart

 RIPPED & READY (S2/PART 31)

 RIPPED & READY S2/XXXI

I heard Peewee’s hideous laughter in back of me as I hurried my pace putting distance between him and I.  I hoped that he wouldn’t do something idiotic like busting out my windshield, denting my car up, or flattening my tires, but when you dealt with pea-brained, narrow minded and vindictive individuals you never knew what to expect.  He wasn’t that far away from being a monster with his abusive behaviors and animalistic antics, and I couldn’t decide on a sound and effective strategy to rid myself of him once and for all.

I hadn’t stepped foot on the tile floors off the hospital for a couple of weeks and the atmosphere felt foreign to me.  It was now 9:00AM on Monday, and my birthday was Friday after next, and I really needed to do something special for myself – something that didn’t involve fair weathered friends or hostile hoodlums. In that I had an 8 hour day ahead of me I decided to pace myself and take it minute by minute and be grateful that I was still employed – after all, had I worked for a tyrant my ass just might’ve been amongst the other unemployed Americans. 

Peewee’s surprise visit aside, the morning started off very well.  The conversation with Rafael seemed to go pretty well and he really showed promise, and my mother’s flap jacks, eggs, and bacon breakfast did hit the tummy nicely.  It was also cool to see Danita happy and excited about her upcoming graduation ceremony.  I cannot believe how filled out she is now; plump little “tid-days” and a sensational, curvaceous body, with skin the color of Sugar Babies (For you on the late crew they are caramel candies that come in this yellow bag with red writing).  Her new “do” looked tight – I liked how it tapered in the back, and complimented her oval face.  She wasn’t my little sister anymore; she was now a young woman that would be heading off to college soon. 

Sigh

Yea, I know, cut it out. 

I can’t help it though, it seemed like it was just yesterday when she sported those cute little pig-tails and wore those little Sesame Street PJ’s that had Oscar, Kermit, Miss Piggy, and Big Bird all over them. I remember she used to have the biggest crush on D’Andre Washington and whenever he spent the night she would always find a reason to knock on the door of my room.

“Uh, do you want a bite of my Twinkie?”

“Uh, do you have an extra pencil?”

“Uh, did you want me to get you a soda out the ‘frigerator?”

“Uh, can I come in and watch TV with you and D? (Blush…)”.

Girlfriend had it bad for homeboy and he never made things any better because he would baby-flirt with her, speaking to her in that mushy, sweet talkin’ little way that almost caused her to faint on more than one occasion.  Now that was a fond memory of Mr. Washington; he really used to be my ace boon coon.  I remember how jealous Collin used to get because she never gave him the time of day; she’d look at him, frown, and tell him that he needed to lotion up his ashy ass arms (Collin was a tad on the rusty side back in the day). 

Needless to say, those were all part of a past that had already been lived and now the present is here in living color, flaming brighter than the sun above, with every bit the drama of a reality television show.  In all honesty television programming really did really reflect the era we were living in.  Forensic documentaries and multiple times a week crime shows, Free-for all fighting entertainment series equipped with all of the nail scratching, fist punching, open hand slapping thrills and, let’s not forget the My Sweet 16 let me throw all of my wealth in your face shows; Cribs, I want to work for… etc..  I mean, when I stop and think about it, the rich were rubbing the shit in our faces, bluntly.

Okay, let me quit with all of the store front preacher gab, because things are as they are and all you could do is watch it or not watch it, it’s a simple as that.  Besides who really gave a fuck about my opinion on shit anyways – Yep, save the drama for your mama (LOL). Who would have thought that the ugly part of life would be so amazing to the masses?  Oh, well, I needed to get my head into this day, because something told me it was going to be an interesting one – especially since I hadn’t spoken to Anita in a few weeks.

I just knew she was going to come at me sideways, wanting to pick up where we had left off during that whole drive by and shoot up my apartment incident, but I had no intention of even getting into that with her.  Bottom line, whatever she said to try and justify her presence wouldn’t mean a “got-dayum” to me and I fixed my ears to tune out everything she was going to say.  When Molly called her a ‘frisco dyke during their argument, I almost wanted to laugh out loud because it had me wondering if she had been listening to SNOOP on the sly. 

When I approached the front desk I breathed a sigh of relief because neither she nor Molly were present.  Instead, Samantha Samonte, the cute, young, bubbly Filipino was manning the area that Molly used to man.  She looked up and saw me coming towards her and smiled. 

“Well, good morning, Mr. Thompson,” she said, intentionally addressing me formally. 

I smiled back at her and stopped in front of her. 

“Mr. Thompson was my father’s name, not mine,” I corrected her.

“I know, I was teasing you.  I really have missed seeing your warm smile though, Marco,” she said, taking a sip from her pink, coffee mug. 

“Where is Good-Golly Miss Molly at?  I’m surprised she isn’t sitting beside you with a mass picnic spread,” I asked, chuckling out loud.

She looked around to make sure nobody was in earshot before she told me the good news. 

“Molly transferred to another department last week, Friday was her last day and, Marco, I cannot tell you how glad I was that she took that other position, because I was tired of food crumbs on everything, and even more tired of her and Anita arguing all the time,” she said, taking another sip of her warm liquid. 

I lifted my eyebrows in amazement and joy. 

“Thank the lord for small favors like this one.  Lord knows I did not want to deal with her disgusting, snotty attitude this morning, I had already had more than enough drama to last a lifetime,” I told her, picking up the clip-board that had my name on it in red ink, so that I could see which rooms I had been assigned to for the day. 

As I inspected the list, one name stood out from all the rest, Beatrice Berry.  I wondered if it was the same Beatrice that raised hell with Tootchie and Denise that day, Todd’s aunt.  I made a mental note to check that room first, because if it were Aunt Beatrice, I was going to make sure I gave her extra special care.  If it was, then I had to get that information to Todd because I knew he would want to know.  

“Okay, Samantha, let me get my ass into the employee locker room and change into my scrubs so that I can get to work,” I told her, pulling my back pack back up onto my shoulders.  

“Sure thing, I’ll see you around later.  Maybe we can take lunch together later,” she suggested.

“That sounds like a plan, baby,” I told her.

When I spun around, I ran smack dead into Anita Charles.

She was the last person I wanted to see.