Two years had passed, and Tracy was hanging out with her mother regularly. They went to the malls, parks, museums and theaters. Tracy grew to love and respect her mother’s points of view on everything. Mommy wore nice clothes, so Tracy wanted nice clothes, too. They watched TV together. They chose Patti’s dates together. They did everything together, just like girlfriends. But nothing seemed to satisfy the void of Tracy’s father. He still hadn’t decided to come back home and stay with them.
Beth picked Tracy up from school, and Tracy would stay with them until her mother got in from work. But Raheema’s home, although it was full, wasn’t as warm and cheerful as hers. Their home seemed lifeless and dreary, even with all of its members.
Raheema’s older sister, Mercedes, did nothing but homework. She and Raheema went to Catholic elementary school and wore uniforms. Raheema and Tracy would sneak around the house, getting into trouble and then drag Mercedes into it, making her life miserable. Their father, Keith, was strict and intimidating, so Mercedes stayed moody behind closed doors.
Mercedes was thirteen, and she had matured enough to communicate with boys. Keith would have more than he anticipated on his hands in due time. Young teenagers were starting to walk Mercedes home from school and hang out with friends who lived on her block.
“Ay, Mercedes, come here for a minute,” a rather plain-looking boy said. He was nothing to get excited over. Mercedes’ walnut-brown complexion, dark eyes and long silky hair aroused him, though. He thought she was gorgeous. She had the “Indian look.”
Mercedes walked over to him. The boy stood with one foot in the street and one on the sidewalk. Beth was inside the house cooking, and Keith was not expected home for another three hours.
“Yes?” Mercedes asked the boy, keeping a good distance from him. She didn’t like him or anything, she only wanted to see what he wanted.
“Come here. I ain’t gon’ bite ’chew girl, dag,” the boy said with a smile.
Mercedes didn’t want to be any closer to him. “What?” she asked.
“You got a thorough-ass name,” he told her. “Ay Kev, ain’t ‘Mercedes’ a decent name?”
“YEAH!” his friend shouted from across the street.
Mercedes smiled at that. She was flattered. She waited for the boy to ask her something else. She liked talking to boys but didn’t want to get serious with them, yet.
The plain-looking boy studied Mercedes’ white, blue and gray uniform. “So you go to Catholic school, hunh?”
“Yeah, but I don’t like it,” she said.
“You don’t?” he asked, pointlessly.
Mercedes sucked her teeth and answered, “No.”
“Why not?”
“Because I just don’t.”
“Uuuuww, Mercedes talkin’ to a boy!” Tracy squealed, bolting from the house with Raheema.
“Yuuup, we gon’ tell,” Raheema warned.
“Hold up, I’ll be right back,” Mercedes told the boy. She ran to the patio steps. The two little ones ran inside the house and up the stairs to Raheema’s room. Mercedes chased after them.
“Why you do that?” she hissed, yanking her sister’s arm.
“Because daddy don’t like you talking to boys.”
“So, who cares what he likes? I hate him anyway. And you better not tell on me, either.”
“Did you like ’dat boy, Mercedes?” Tracy asked excitedly.
“No. He was ugly,” Mercedes answered.
“Does he like you?”
“I think he does. He wanted to talk to me.”
“What did ’ju say to him?”
Mercedes looked down and frowned at Tracy. “Dag, girl, you writin’ a book or something?”
“Well, what did ’ju say?” Tracy repeated.
“I didn’t say that much. He just asked me about school and stuff.”
Raheema remained silent, with her lips poked out.
“Mommy, Mercedes was talkin’ to this boy today, and she said he was ugly.”
“Mercedes is talking to boys now, hunh?” Patti asked while she searched through her closet for something to wear.
Tracy plopped on her mother’s vanity chair inside of the bedroom. “Yup, and me and Ra-Ra saw her.”
“You did?” Patti said, picking out a dark green dress.
“Yup, and then he chased us.”
“He did what?” Patti responded, giving her full attention.
“I mean, she did.”
“Oh, okay. I thought maybe you were out there playing or something.”
“No, me and Ra-Ra was in the house.”
“Well, we’re going out to eat tonight, sweety,” Patti said, changing the subject.
“Who we goin’ wit’? Jus’ me and you, mom? Hunh?”
Patti paused for a minute and gave her daughter a stern look. “What I tell you about talking so fast? I can’t even understand you sometimes. Everything that you do, you just have to be so fast about it. Slow down sometimes when you speak.”
“Okay,” Tracy perked.
“Now, mommy has a date, and I’m going to take you with me. So go wash your hands and face.”
Patti scooted her daughter toward the bathroom.
“Okay,” Tracy said, running.
Patti wanted to establish a family feeling with the new man she was getting close to. If Dave wasn’t going to show any consistent responsibility, then Patti was ready to open up her options for a man who would.
Paul Greggory was tall, with smooth caramel skin and a mustache. He drove them to a romantic restaurant in his sporty Camaro. The service was impeccable. That was a plus for Paul. Tracy never liked waiting long.
The food was well prepared. Paul cut Tracy’s steak and potatoes, buttered her bread and wrapped her napkin around her neck. Patti was impressed with his manners. Then he ordered ice cream for dessert, their favorite.
“Hey, mom, he got us ice cream,” Tracy said cheerfully.
“Yup, he sure did. So do you like it, honey?”
Tracy hunched her shoulders in her tan dress. “It’s okay, but I liked that place where dad used to take us better.”
“And where was this?” Paul asked her.
“I don’t know, but it was a long way though.”
“And did they have cherry-vanilla ice cream there?” Paul asked her while winking at Patti.
Paul wore a navy-blue sports jacket and a cream-colored shirt with no tie.
“I’on know,” Tracy answered him.
“We used to get sundaes,” Patti said.
“Oh, okay. Well, we could’ve gotten a sundae. Would you like to still go get one?” Paul suggested to Tracy. He leaned over the table and smiled at her.
“I don’t care,” Tracy told him.
Patti watched to see if her daughter liked him.
They drove to the ice cream store where Dave used to take them. Tracy fell asleep in the car.
“Okay, Tracy, we’re here,” Patti said, grabbing on to a limp arm.
“Stop, mommy,” Tracy whined.
“Don’t you want the ice cream, baby?”
Tracy dropped her head back into the seat. “No, I wanna go to sleep.” Patti got Paul to pick her up and walk her around, despite Tracy’s protest.
Patti wasn’t quite ready for her date to end. It was only eight o’clock.
They all sat with their sundaes at a small window-view table, where Tracy watched cars zip past on the highway.
“Mommy, I wish he had a car like that,” she said, pointing at a red 911 Porsche, parked outside.
Paul chuckled. “Wow, she has expensive taste for a little girl, doesn’t she?” he said to Patti.
“I’m not a little girl,” Tracy responded to him. She started to kick her feet under the table while eating her sundae. She accidentally kicked Paul.
“What’s wrong with you, girl? Stop that!” Patti yelled, grabbing her daughter’s feet.
“That’s okay, she didn’t mean it,” Paul interjected.
Tracy gave him an evil stare. “I gotta go pee,” she said.
“You have to use the ladies’ room,” Patti sternly corrected her. She then rushed, hand in hand with her daughter, to the bathroom, leaving behind the half-finished sundaes.
Patti turned Tracy around by the shoulders once they had entered the bathroom. “What’s wrong with you, girl?”
Tracy stared down at her patent leather shoes. “I don’t like him. I wanna go home.”
Patti looked startled. “He’s a nice man, honey. Why don’t you like him?”
“Because he gets on my nerves.”
“He hasn’t done anything to you, girl,” Patti said, looking into Tracy’s eyes. “Well, do you have to go or what?”
“N-o-o, I just wanna go h-o-o-me.”
Patti sighed and led her daughter back to the melted sundaes at their table. “Look, Paul, she wants to go home. I’m sorry about this.”
Paul nodded to her. “Don’t worry about it. I know how kids can get,” he said, setting a dollar tip on the table.
Tracy reached out to take the money.
“Put that back, girl!” Patti shouted at her.
Tracy cracked a mischievous smile. “I was just playin’.”
Patti snatched her by the hand. “Now you’re getting on my nerves. You’re eight years old, and still acting like a spoiled baby.”
Tracy giggled and climbed into the car for the long ride home. Patti knew that Paul had failed. Tracy didn’t like him. It was unfair, but there was nothing that Patti could do about it. She would have to turn Paul down. Tracy didn’t seem to like any of her mother’s dates. And she definitely was not ready for anyone to take the place of her father.
“How ’bout we do this again sometime?” Paul asked when they arrived at Patti’s front door. She had never invited a man inside of the house. Dave was still paying the bills, and Patti gave him that respect.
She answered Paul with knifing eyes, “I’m sorry, but I really don’t think so.”
“Well, we’ll just leave the girl home next time,” Paul suggested.
Patti unlocked the door. Paul tried to follow her in after Tracy. Patti glared back at him, stopping him before he strutted in. “And what are we gonna do, have a relationship without my daughter being involved?” she piped at him.
“No, I’m not saying that, but you and I need a little more time alone before we can work things out with her.”
“No, that’s all right,” Patti said. She wished to end the date as quickly as possible, but Paul was making it difficult.
“Well, okay, I had a nice time. How ’bout you?” he asked, still appearing cheerful.
“Please, let’s not get into this,” Patti told him. “I have to think about things before I decide to go out with you again. And I’m sorry for the inconvenience.”
Paul nodded and said, “Okay,” as Patti slowly closed the door on him. He paced to his car, finally pissed off. “Damn kid!” he mumbled as he headed down the walkway.
Patti shook her sleepy daughter from the couch. “Wake up, girl, and go on upstairs to bed,” she huffed.
“What, mommy?”
“You’ve just ruined my night, girl, that’s what.”
“You wanted me to g-o-o.”
“You still didn’t have to act like you did, Tracy.”
Tracy struggled to her feet and began a sullen walk up the stairs.
Patti calmed herself as she followed her. Tracy’s comment surprised her, but she was right. Patti had wanted her daughter to test the man, and he had failed. Plain and simple.
“Ay Mercedes, come here for a second,” the boy named Kevin called from behind. He always wore a baseball hat shoved down on his smooth, dark-brown face, right above his thin eyebrows. Kevin lived across the street. Mercedes had watched him playing football in the street with his friends for years.
“So you ’sposed to be talkin’ to my boy Wallace?” he asked her.
“No, I don’t like him,” she answered with a frown. “Why?”
“Because, I wanted your phone number,” Kevin told her nervously. He had watched her over the years as well.
“I can’t give out mine. But I can take yours, though.”
Kevin wrestled out a piece of paper and a pencil from his book-bag. “That’s a bet,” he said, writing his number down.
“Umm, Kevin, don’t tell your friend that I don’t like him, because I don’t want him getting all mad at me. Okay?” Mercedes asked him. She was well aware of how boys acted when they were rejected. Her father had been a good example of that. Keith had fits all the time. Everything had to be his way.
“Oh, aw’ight. But when you gon’ call me?” Kevin said to her.
“Tonight.”
“Oh, bet. Like what time?”
“Like around eleven-thirty, when my father goes to sleep.”
“What, you can stay up that late? I thought you had to go to sleep early.”
Mercedes smiled at him, bashfully. “I do, but that’s the only time that I can talk to you without my parents jumpin’ down my back, because they’re real strict and all.”
Kevin smiled. “So you gon’ risk getting caught to call me? Oh, I must be the man then.”
“Yup,” Mercedes told him with a laugh. “So you’re gonna be up?”
“Yeah, I’ll be up.”
Mercedes grinned. “All right then, I’ll call you.”
Kevin nodded and said, “Cool.”
Mercedes walked into the house, smiling from ear to ear. She wanted to show her father that he could not rule her life. She had done everything that he had asked, and was still punished, getting beatings with her younger sister. Mercedes despised her father. And if Keith had anything to say about her boyfriends, she vowed to make his life as miserable as he had made hers.
Mercedes called Kevin that night and the other nights that followed. She began to smoke cigarettes in school with her girlfriends, buying Wrigley’s chewing gum to hide the smell. She collected more phone numbers from neighborhood boys who were attracted to her. She turned down most of the “Catholic-school boys.” Mercedes wasn’t interested in them. And in a matter of weeks, she had met enough new boys to become an item.
“Hello . . . Kevin,” she whispered on the phone.
“Yo, it’s me. What’s up, girl?” he answered, watching the late-night Benny Hill Show. “Ay, tomorrow there’s no school. Can’t talk to me regular?”
“Unt unh. I’m still supposed to be in bed, even if we do have off from school tomorrow,” Mercedes told him.
“Dag, that’s messed up.”
“Ain’t it though? That’s why I hate my father.”
“What ’chew gon’ do tomorrow?” Kevin asked her.
“I don’t know. Why?” Mercedes quizzed, having a good idea of what was coming next.
“You wanna come see me tomorrow?”
“I don’t care,” she whispered.
Kevin then fell silent as he thought of a fantastic idea. “Do you have any dogs in your driveway?” he asked her.
“No,” Mercedes whispered.
“Are you still dressed?”
“Unt unh.”
“How long would it take you to get dressed?”
Mercedes grimaced. “Why?”
“ ’Cause, you could sneak around to my basement through the driveway, if you’re not scared to.”
“I’m not scared,” Mercedes told him. She felt sneaky excitement, like an actor in a spy movie. The enemy was her father.
“Well, are you down or what?” Kevin challenged her.
Mercedes thought about it. Just do it, girl. Say, Yeah, she told herself. “Yeah, I’m coming. Give me like twenty minutes.”
“For real, you comin’?” Kevin asked her. He was surprised. He was just trying his luck. He didn’t really think that she would sneak over to his house at night.
“Yeah, I’m serious,” Mercedes assured him.
Kevin cracked a broad smile. “Aw’ight then. I’m gon’ open the back door for you.”
Mercedes hung up the phone. She tiptoed back to her room, put on some loose jogging pants with her white uniform blouse and a jacket. She walked into the bathroom and flushed the toilet to muffle her escape. She then snuck down into her basement and out of the door, making sure she kept it cracked so she could re-enter. She sprinted around back, filled with elation, and got to Kevin’s. Kevin was at his door, grinning like a cartoon cat, awaiting her arrival.
“I thought you was jokin’,” he whispered.
“Nope, I told you I was coming,” Mercedes said.
Kevin’s baseball cap was off, and for the first time Mercedes could glimpse his hair.
“You got a nice haircut,” she commented. “Why you wear your hat all the time?”
“I take it off in school, but when I’m out on the street, I always wear a hat. I’on know why, it’s just my thing. I like hats.”
“Oh,” Mercedes responded, forcing herself not to seem nervous. Oh my God, I’m in his house! she panicked. She noticed that Kevin looked even better with his hat off. He was a handsome teenager, wearing a high fade haircut with a long part on the left side.
Kevin walked over to her and unzipped her jacket. Mercedes didn’t move to stop him like she wanted. “What, ’chew scared or something?” he asked, sensing her tension.
“No I ain’t,” she lied to him as he rubbed his hand up her lower back.
Mercedes was a well-developed thirteen. She got her pert body from her mother.
Kevin began to caress her breasts through her uniform blouse and leaned over to kiss her. But Mercedes didn’t know how to kiss. She puckered her lips to his as she thought it was supposed to be done. Kevin then moved her toward the couch.
Mercedes rubbed up and down his back as Kevin ran his fingers through her smooth, long hair. He then unbuttoned her shirt, unclipped her bra and began to kiss her nipples.
Mercedes was quickly aroused. Kevin dropped to the floor on his knees and pulled down her clothes. Mercedes then went for his shirt, to undress him. Kevin, stripped naked, laid overtop of her in a push-up position. He struggled to guide himself in.
Mercedes whispered, “It hurts, Kevin.” She moaned, quietly, as her nails began to scrape his back. And then it felt good to her, the friction and the increased energy. Her body loosened and folded in on Kevin as she squeezed him.
“Do it feel good?” he asked her, breathlessly. He made note to be as gentle as he could with her. He knew that Mercedes was a virgin. She had never had a boy even kiss her before him.
“Yeeeahh,” she moaned.
Kevin increased his speed, beginning to lose control. He flexed and sucked in air as his body jerked uncontrollably. Then suddenly he pulled himself from her and grabbed the towel that he had set on the floor alongside the couch.
Mercedes watched him as he strained and breathed, crazily. And she was upset that he had stopped.
“Why you do that?” she asked him.
Kevin looked at her, confused. “You don’t wanna get pregnant, do you?” he asked her with a frown.
Mercedes shook her head as he climbed back on the couch with her. “No,” she told him.
“Well, I had to pull out. I ain’t go no rubbers.”
“Oh,” Mercedes responded, realizing she had a lot to learn about sex.
“That was good as shit though,” Kevin told her. Mercedes began to smile as he cuddled her. She leaned up and kissed his pretty brown face, sparkling inside and planning on “doing it” with Kevin again, and as much as possible.
“Mommy, why do I have to go over Mr. Keith’s house?” Tracy pouted.
“Because I’m going out.”
“Aw, you don’t want me to go?”
“No, because it’s Friday, and I’m not coming home no time soon. All you’re gonna do is mess up my date and fall asleep,” Patti said, grabbing her purse.
“No I’m not, mom. I promise. Ple-e-ease,” Tracy pleaded.
“No! Get your jacket and bag. I am not taking you with me,” her mother persisted.
“Aw, see, I was gonna be good, too,” Tracy said with a long face.
Patti chuckled. “You’re a trip, girl.”
They walked next door, hand in hand.
“Beth, I’m gonna let her spend the night, because I don’t know how long I’m going to be out, and she’s only gonna mess up my date. Is it okay?” Patti asked.
“Sure,” Beth told her. “We’re not going anywhere. I haven’t been out, except for the movies, in a long time,” Beth said with a grin.
“Well, girl, you better do something before you start to rust in here.”
Tracy ran up the steps to play in Raheema’s room.
“What are you doing here?” Raheema asked her.
“My mom said I could spend the night.”
“She did? Y-a-a-a-y! We can play all night then,” Raheema cheered.
“No we can’t, ’cause Mr. Keith gon’ make us go to bed,” Tracy argued.
Raheema piped down. “I know. But we can play when he thinks we’re sleeping,” she plotted.
“Where your sister at?” Tracy asked her.
“In her room, sleeping.”
They went into Mercedes’ room. Mercedes was stretched out. She reminded Tracy of Snow White. Tracy decided that maybe Mercedes had been dreaming about boys and needed a kiss to wake her.
Tracy looked into Mercedes’ face. It was expressionless. Mercedes did not toss and turn, make noises or anything. Her hands were firmly grasped around her pillow, as if she had fallen asleep thinking of holding someone.
The two little ones left and went back to Raheema’s room.
“She pro’bly dreamin’ ’bout a boy,” Tracy said.
“Yeah, that ugly boy who was out there talking to her,” Raheema responded.
“No, it’s not him, Ra-Ra. Mercedes don’t like him.”
“Well, that’s the only boy she talks to.”
“You don’t know, Ra-Ra, ’cause you don’t see who she knows in school.”
“So, she probably don’t talk to nobody in school.”
“Shet up, ’cause you don’t know nothin’. You still a baby,” Tracy snapped.
“I’m older than you. My birthday is before yours. Now!” Raheema retorted.
“So, Ra-Ra, you still act like a baby.”
The two faced off, and neither would back down.
“You can’t beat this baby,” Raheema challenged.
Tracy slapped Raheema in the face. Raheema tripped on her toys and bumped her head on her low-leveled bedpost. She immediately screamed out in pain.
Keith, just in from work, ran into her room, followed by his wife.
Beth catered to her daughter. Keith looked to Tracy for an explanation.
“What the hell is goin’ on in here?” Keith asked, sternly.
Tracy cringed, but she hinted a smile. “We was fighting.”
Beth noticed Tracy’s gleeful expression and said, “You could have hurt her real bad, Tracy. That’s not funny.”
“I’m sorry, Ms. Beth. I just got mad, that’s all.”
“Well, where the hell is Mercedes? She should have been in here watching them anyway,” Keith shouted.
“She, she in her room, sleeping,” Raheema stuttered, wiping tears from her eyes.
“She’s sleeping?” Keith asked, baffled. “Is she sick or something?” he asked his wife.
“No, but she’s been sleeping all day,” Beth answered.
Everyone followed Mr. Keith into Mercedes’ room to see what was wrong with her. Keith clicked on the light and woke her up. Beth, Raheema and Tracy looked in from the door.
“Wake up, girl! Are you sick or somethin’?”
Mercedes wiped out her eyes with closed fists. “No, I’m just tired,” she muttered.
“You’re tired? Girl, you didn’t even have school today. What ’chew do to be so tired?”
Mercedes squinted her eyes from the glaring light. “I’on know.”
“Well, get up. It’s time to eat,” her father told her. “And you make sure these kids don’t get in any more fights.”
Mercedes felt overjoyed about her secret. Keith didn’t seem as smart as he used to be. He wasn’t as scary either. He thought he had everything uptight, but Mercedes had proved him wrong.
She ate dinner silently. She washed the dishes, pondering over her passive mother. Beth had allowed her father to be God in their house. He’s not God, Mercedes thought to herself.
She cleaned the floor, the kitchen table and the refrigerator without a complaint. She then watched television, ignoring Raheema and Tracy. They contributed to her torture. Mercedes was beginning to hate them as well.
She wondered how Keith became her dad in the first place. He was too damned mean to have a woman like her mother. What did she see in him? she asked herself. He doesn’t even act like he likes us. All Keith seemed to do was pay the bills and control their lives.
Patti stayed out late. She picked her daughter up early Saturday morning. Tracy didn’t bother to ask her mother how her date went. She daydreamed about her daddy coming over to see them. Dave hadn’t been to see them in a few months. He mailed Tracy’s allowance checks to the house religiously, but Tracy wanted badly to see him. Dave added the needed spice to her young life.
“So did you have fun last night?” Patti asked her.
Tracy was watching Space Ghost in her room. She was sitting on her bed with crossed legs and her face in her hands.
“No, ’cause we didn’t do nothin’,” she pouted.
Patti frowned. I know she can speak better than that, she told herself. But she decided to ignore it. She sat down and joined her daughter on her bed. “You didn’t?”
“No. We started fighting.”
“Fighting? Why?”
“Because, Ra-Ra don’t know nothin’.”
Patti was confused. “Well, what were you two talking about?”
“We was talkin’ ’bout: don’t girls sleep in the daytime when ’ney thinkin’ ’bout boys?”
“What I tell you about trying to talk so fast?” Patti snapped.
“Okay,” Tracy said with a nod.
“What does sleeping in the daytime have to do with anything?” Patti asked her.
“Because, Mercedes is talking to boys, and she was sleeping all yesterday.”
“That doesn’t mean that she was necessarily dreaming about a boy. She could’ve just been tired.”
“No she wasn’t. She never sleeps in the daytime.”
Patti pondered the subject. “I don’t know, girl,” she said to Tracy. Mercedes was old enough to mess around. Tracy could have been right. But if Mercedes was seeing boys, it would serve Keith right. He had tortured her enough. And whatever it was that she was doing, it seemed to be making Mercedes’ personality a lot stronger. Patti had noticed the recent glow on her face. Hmm. Maybe Tracy’s onto something.
DING DONG!
“Mommy, somebody’s at the door!” Tracy yelled.
Patti walked out from the kitchen wondering who it could be. She looked through the peephole and was shocked.
“Who is it, mommy? . . . Who is it?” Tracy repeated.
Patti finally answered her. “Guess who, honey?”
“DAD-DY!”
Tracy jumped into his arms, and Dave kissed her on the lips, spinning her around the living room.
Patti watched with a smile. She was still happy to see him. And she still loved him. Nevertheless, he should have called first, she thought.
Dave just thought he’d drop by. It was still his house.
“So how’s my little girl?” he asked, sitting on the couch with Tracy on his lap.
“I’m okay, daddy.”
“You’re still talking a lot in school?”
“Not like before.”
“You cooled off a bit, hunh?”
“Yup, because ’dey stupid in school, anyway. They don’t know nothin’.”
Again, Patti frowned at Tracy’s speech. “I’ve been trying to get her to slow down and pronounce her words when she speaks to people, Dave.”
Dave nodded his head. “I see. She wants to talk so much she can’t get all of her words out,” he commented with a laugh.
“It’s not funny,” Patti told him.
“But you’re still a little brainiac, right?” he asked his daughter.
“Yup,” Tracy answered him with a glow.
Patti watched them enviously. She was begging for Dave to say something to her. He hadn’t even looked her way. She felt an urge to sit down beside him, but her pride wouldn’t let her “kiss up.” Her nerves pushed and pulled, torn between love and dignity. Then Dave intensified her struggle.
“So what has your mother been up to?” he asked Tracy.
“She been goin’ out to dinners and stuff.”
Patti was pissed as well as embarrassed. Now how is he gonna sit up in here and ask Tracy that when I’m right in his damn face? she thought to herself. “Why not ask me?” she said to her separated husband.
Dave turned to face her with a seductive smile that made Patti nervous. “Well, what have you been up to?” he asked.
Patti took a deep breath to maintain her composure. She was about to explode on the inside. “I got a new job at this abortion clinic. I had enrolled in a night-school training program, and—”
“Where was Tracy while you were doing this?” Dave asked, cutting her off.
“She was next door.”
“Yeah, dad, I was at Mr. Keith’s house.”
“Okay. But you know what, my little girl? Daddy bought a surprise for you.”
Patti left the living room for the kitchen, annoyed that he had led her on. “Damn, he gets on my nerves!” she mumbled. “I don’t even know why I tried to talk to him.”
Dave pulled out a small box and opened it, displaying a gold chain to his daughter.
“Wow, daddy, that’s for me?” Tracy asked.
He put it around her neck. “Yup, sweetheart, it’s for you all right. Now go show your mother.”
Tracy ran into the kitchen to show it off. “Look what daddy bought me, mom.”
Patti looked down at Tracy’s neck and felt a spark of jealousy. She couldn’t help it. Dave didn’t bring her any presents. He didn’t even want to talk to her. Hell, she felt like throwing his ass out. But it was still his house.
This motherfucker got me trapped, he knows it, and he’s toying withme! Patti snapped to herself. “That’s nice,” she told her daughter while hiding her rage.
Tracy ran back into the living room and jumped on her father’s lap.
“What did your mother say?” he asked her.
“She said it was nice.”
Dave smiled and shook his head. “Go tell your mother I got a surprise for her, too.”
“Okay, daddy,” Tracy responded, running back to the kitchen.
“Daddy said he got one for you, too, mom.”
Patti tried to hold back a colossal smile. See that! He’s fucking with me! she fumed. Her smile exploded through anyway. “Ask him what it is.”
“What is it? dad, mommy said.”
“You tell her I said to come here.”
Tracy loved the message game. She ran back to the kitchen again. “He said come and get it, mommy,” she fibbed.
Patti slowly walked out into the living room and sat on the couch. She then took Tracy into her arms and held her daughter on her lap.
Dave laid back against the couch and waited for Patti to say something.
“Well, what do you have for me?”
“Nothin’. I just wanted to look at you.”
Patti felt bubbly with joy. “Why do you want to look at me?” she asked him with a slight blush.
Dave sat up and ran his fingers from the back of her neck and through her hair. “Because you’re so pretty.”
Patti rocked her daughter, letting off some of her swelling anxiety. She was about to ask her husband why he left her when Dave leaned over and kissed her on her neck. Patti responded, lifting her head. He was touching her, passionately, for the first time in years.
Dave stopped and chuckled to himself as he got up to leave.
Patti was frantic. “Where are you going?” she asked him hastily. She stood up so quickly that she unintentionally dropped Tracy to the floor.
“Hey, mom,” Tracy yelped.
Dave responded with a grin, “Calm down, girl. I’m coming back. I’m just gonna run out to the bank and get some money so we can go out today. Okay? Is that all right with you?”
Patti mellowed out with a smile. “All right,” she said, feeling a bit foolish. Dave still knew how to push her buttons.
The Ellisons went out to the suburban Willow Grove Mall. Dave bought his daughter a few new dolls and dresses and a new book-bag with bright neon colors. He bought Patti a pair of shoes to match a gold dress she had purchased. They hadn’t shopped as a family since Tracy was four years old.
They sat inside of the mall’s restaurant area and ate lunch. Dave looked around curiously while Patti sneaked peeks at his hazel eyes in blissful silence.
“Daddy, why do people sleep in the daytime?” Tracy asked him with a French fry in hand.
“Well, some people sleep in the daytime when they have nighttime jobs. Or you might have a hard day, or exhaust yourself doing something physical, like playing sports or something.”
“But what if you a girl and you don’t have no job yet?”
Her father grinned. “Oh, well, in that case, I’d say she’s running around with boys at night and tired herself out. Boys can take up a lot of your energy,” Dave said, creating a big story to amuse his wife with their memories.
Patti beamed across the table.
“See, mom, I told you. Dad knows I’m right,” Tracy said.
Dave raised his brow. “What is she talking about?” he asked Patti.
“She thinks that Mercedes is running around with boys, because she slept late yesterday.”
Dave responded, smiling, “Yup, that’ll do it.”
Patti grinned. “Not necessarily, Dave.”
“Well, as long as we’ve been living next door to them, that girl ain’t did nothin’ to be tired. How old is she now?”
“Thirteen,” Tracy answered, butting in.
Dave shook his head and laughed.
“What’s so funny?” Patti asked, smiling herself. She was overjoyed to be with him again. Marriage and a child with Dave had created a comfort zone between them that none of Patti’s dates seemed to be able to reach. Dave felt the same way about her. After two years, he thought he was ready to come home.
“I was just thinking about this girl who everybody was after when I was young,” he said. “Her name was Rita. Her father was mean, too, and that girl did everything she could to get into something.”
Patti nodded. “Unh hunh. I knew this girl like that, too. She was just as quiet as she could be. And she was nasty as can be.”
Tracy got a kick out of hearing her parents talk about their youth. She was learning about “the birds and the bees” much faster that way. If her parents only knew how much and how fast Tracy picked up on things, they would not have spoken so loosely around her.
“I know one thing,” Dave said, “Keith damn sure ain’t the most charming man. I think he must have scared Beth into marrying him.”
In the passing weeks, Mercedes collected more phone numbers from only cute guys. She had increased her popularity around the neighborhood. She was still seeing Kevin whenever she got a chance. But Kevin was bored with her and started to avoid her calls. Mercedes was learning her first big lesson about boys: never become a submissive sidekick.
“Ay Mercedes, come here for a minute,” said a light-skinned boy named Hakeem. He had spoken to her before, and he was known as a fighter and a troublemaker. He lived on the rougher side of Germantown in a row-house, across Chelten Avenue.
Hakeem had wavy light-brown hair and sleepy eyes. Those eyes attracted Mercedes. She liked his boldness as well. And he had a voice that demanded attention, so Mercedes remained apprehensive as she walked over to him on her way home from school.
“Are you still talkin’ to Kevin?” he asked her. His rowdy friends hung close by.
“Yeah,” she answered.
“Well, you know what? I wanna talk to you anyway,” Hakeem told her. He looked over her body, imagining what it looked like through the Catholic school uniform. “So what’s up with that, Mercedes?”
Mercedes was afraid to alarm him. She immediately changed the subject. “Where are you coming from?” she asked pleasantly. She wanted to avoid his question. Her heart was still full with Kevin.
“Look, can I get your number or what?” Hakeem pressed.
“I can’t give out my phone number.”
“Why not?”
“Because my father doesn’t allow me to.”
Hakeem shook his head, defiantly. “Naw, I’m not tryin’ to hear that, slim. Ay Lou, write my number down, man, ’cause she gon’ call me,” he said to one of his friends. “Now you better call me up, ’cause I’m not playin’ wit’ ’chew.”
Just like that, Hakeem had won Mercedes over. He knew what he wanted and how to get it. She started to imagine what he would be like in bed.
“What time do you want me to call you?” she asked, peeking at his six-pack of friends, who were patiently waiting for him.
“I mean, whenever you get a chance. I ain’t in no hurry. As long as you call me this week.”
“All right then, I’ll call you,” she told him.
She memorized his phone number, repeating it over and over again before she tore up the piece of paper that his friend had written it on and threw it away. The word on the street was that Hakeem could box anybody his age. He was her new champion, and he was well respected.
Mercedes dreamed up fantasies while doing her math problems. But although Hakeem was a new kid who had jumped into her heart, she still felt for her first love. She refused to let Kevin go. She still preferred him over any other boy. Kevin wasn’t as decisive or as respected as Hakeem; she just couldn’t break his love spell.
She crept down to the kitchen phone that night and dialed.
“Hello . . . Kevin.”
“Ay Mercedes, why don’t you stop callin’ me for a while?”
“Why? What I do?” she whispered.
“Look, I’m just tired of you. Okay? Damn!”
“Why you gotta treat me like this, Kevin?”
“ ’Cause we had a little somethin’, and now I wanna move on.”
There was a moment of silence while Mercedes thought it over. “I hate ’chew then, boy,” she said, hanging up on him. “I’on need him,” she mumbled to herself.
She then dialed Hakeem’s number.
“Hello. Can I speak to Hakeem?”
“Who is this?” a deep voice boomed.
“Mercedes,” she answered.
“Hold on. YO, PUNCH! The phone is for you, man!”
Mercedes was amazed that there was so much noise in Hakeem’s house after eleven o’clock at night. He would probably have a lot of stories to tell of staying out all night. She could imagine him taking her to adventurous places on the weekends. His crew probably did wild and crazy things every day, just for the hell of it. Mercedes could not wait to be with him!
“Hello,” Hakeem answered.
“Hi, it’s me.”
“Me? Me who?”
“The girl you gave your phone number to.”
“Oh, what’s up, girl?”
“What’s up wit’ ’chew?” Mercedes asked, attempting to sound “cool.”
“I thought you was gon’ call later on this week.”
“Well, I surprised you, didn’t I?”
“No, ’cause I knew you was gon’ call me eventually, and if you didn’t, I was gon’ punch you in your mouth for lyin’ to me.”
Mercedes heard laughter in the background. She suspected that Hakeem had company over, or a lot of brothers. “That’s why they call you “Punch’?” she quizzed him.
“You don’t wanna find out why they call me Punch,” he told her.
Mercedes grinned. Hakeem was tough as nails, and rambunctious. “You got a lot of company over or something?” she asked.
“Naw, my cousin, Lou, lives wit’ me. Him and my brothers are drunk.”
Mercedes thought they probably got drunk every night and acted like fools, like her father would do whenever his friends came over. That was the only time Mercedes could stand her father. Keith was entertaining when he was drunk.
“How many brothers you got?” she asked.
“Three. What about you?”
“I got a little sister.”
“So you’re the oldest, hunh?”
“Yeah, but I know you’re not,” she guessed.
“Nope, I’m the baby. But I’m still the man, though.”
“What do you do to have fun, Hakeem?”
“Talk to pretty girls like you.”
Mercedes turned giddy as a baby. “I’m serious, Hakeem,” she said with a huge smile.
“I told ’ju already,” he responded. “Sike, girl. You wanna know what I really do to have fun?”
“Yeah, Hakeem, tell me.”
“Well, as soon as you come over, you gon’ find out,” he joked.
Mercedes could see that Hakeem wasn’t for beating around the bush. He was into cutting down trees.
“How we gon’ do anything when your brothers gon’ be there?” she asked, starting to play it his way.
“Oh, they not gon’ be in here. Plus, I got my own room. Two of my brothers stay in the basement.”
“What about your parents?”
“Most likely, they gon’ be at work when you come over.”
Mercedes heard footsteps. “Hakeem, I gotta go. Okay?” she said quickly. She turned the light on and got a tall glass from the cabinet. By the time her father walked into the kitchen, Mercedes had a glass of water in her hand as she squinted her eyes to act as if she had just woken up.
“Hey girl, you had to get some water too, hunh?”
“Yeah, my throat was dry,” she said in a husky voice, faking sleepiness.
Hakeem was it! Mercedes would give him his chance and he would give her excitement. She figured it was a fair trade for a relationship. And her body would be her ammunition.
Hakeem was on the prowl, looking for Mercedes after school that next day.
“Yo, Mercedes, come here!” he yelled after waiting on the corner for her. He was standing with his crew again.
“I know what you gon’ say, and I only hung up because my father was comin’.”
Hakeem walked over to her, smiling with slit eyes. “Well, what’s up? When you gon’ come over to see me?” he asked.
“Whenever you want me to,” Mercedes answered seductively.
“Oh, shit! I like that attitude,” Hakeem told her. “I think me and you gon’ do lots of things.” He reached out to hold her hand.
“I hope we will,” Mercedes responded to him with a smile.
“Aw’ight then. Call me tonight,” he told her.
Mercedes headed up her block.
Hakeem turned to go with his friends.
“Yo, Punch, she sounds like she on you, like a champ,” his cousin Lou said.
“Yeah, I know. I like her too though, now. At first, I just wanted some ass. But now, I think she’s aw’ight. She’s thorough as shit, Lou.”
“Yeah, cuz’, she’s real pretty,” one of his friends commented with a nod.
“Yeah, I know she is,” Hakeem told him, grinning with confidence. “I’ma make her my girl, cuz’. Straight up.”