“Good morning, baby,” Ma said as she walked into the kitchen, dressed in a white-and-red-rose-printed robe, her salt-and-pepper hair done up in big pink and turquoise rollers under a nylon purple scarf.
“Good morning, Ma.” I was sitting at the kitchen table, picking over a bowl of soggy Raisin Bran with my spoon.
“Coffee smells good,” she said.
“I just made some fresh.”
Ma got a cup from the cabinet above the microwave and poured herself a cup. “How did you sleep last night?” She pulled a chair out and sat down next to me.
“Not too good. I tossed and turned all night. If anything, I’ve only been able to close my eyes two to three hours at a time and when I do manage to go to sleep, I keep having this same nightmare.”
“About Bree?”
“I’m standing at the end of this long, dark hall at the jail, and at the other end is Bree with her arms outstretched, reaching out to me. I start running toward her, but the faster I run, the further away from Bree I move. I run and run, never drawing closer. She’s crying and hollering my name, but I can’t hear her. There’s no sound coming out of her mouth. Just when I think I’m getting to her, the bars of her jail cell slam closed and I wake up drenched in sweat.”
“Baby, don’t worry. Bree will get through this. She knows she’s not alone, that she has you and that she has family.”
“Thank you, Mama, but how can I not worry? I’m frustrated because I feel helpless at this point.”
“Have you talked to Kent Crump? What did he say?”
“He told me that the cops found Bree’s fingerprints on the doorknob of the house.”
“Lord, Jesus,” Ma sighed. “Did she tell you what happened?”
“She said she was going over to just talk to Katiesha about what happened here at the house that night.”
“Do you believe her?”
“I know that what someone says they’re going to do and what ends up happening are two different things, but, yeah, I believe her. Ma, you should have seen Bree. I took one look in her eyes and knew she wasn’t lying. She was scared to death, and there isn’t too much she’s afraid of. I don’t think she did it. I don’t think she killed Katiesha. Look at the neighborhood Katiesha lived in.”
“That’s true. I’m always seeing on the news about someone getting shot and killed on Pepper Drive.”
“That’s what I know, and Kent told me that the girl was on drugs and was a stripper, so with her track record, anybody could have killed her. Maybe it was a boyfriend or some pusher she did wrong.” I pushed the bowl of soggy cereal away from me. My stomach was in too many knots to eat.
Ma rested her hand on mine and said, “You just have to keep your head up and pray to the good Lord that Bree will get through this mess, baby.”
“Ma, do you believe she’s innocent?”
“Kashawn, it’s not about what I believe.”
“She didn’t kill Katiesha.”
“No, I don’t think she did it. It sounds like she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I know that things have been rough for you two, and I haven’t made it any easier with my talking bad about her. When I get in front of her today, I want to apologize for the way I’ve been acting. I want to make it up to the both of you.”
“Good morning, y’all.” Yvonne walked in, wearing one of those one-size-fits-all T-shirts with a teddy bear on the front and purple sweats. Her round, fat face was covered in this light-green goop.
“Good morning, ba—. Girl, what in the world is that mess all over your face?”
“It’s called a guacamole mask. It’s supposed to clean all the dirt and bacteria out of your pores.”
“On you, it’s an improvement. I think you should walk around with that goop on your face for the rest of your life,” I said jokingly.
“Oh, you got jokes. That’s good, I like that. Let me call Steve Harvey, tell him we got the next king of comedy right here in Tallahassee.”
“Y’all stop.”
Yvonne rummaged through my refrigerator like it was her house. She and Ma were spending the night, being that Ma couldn’t bring herself to sleep at her house without Uncle Ray-Ray. I told her that she could stay as long as she wanted. That invitation wasn’t extended to Yvonne the moocher, though. A big three-bedroom house and she’s scared to stay in it. If she got herself a man, she wouldn’t be scared of nothing. Instead, she wanted to be all up in everyone’s business because she had none of her own.
“Kashawn, you don’t mind if I go with you today to the arraignment hearing, do you?”
“Of course not, baby,” Ma said. “Bree needs to know that we’re here for her, that we’re family, and family sticks together no matter what.”
Yvonne turned to me as if she needed to get an official okay from me to be in the courtroom.
“Yes, you can come.”
“I know we have our differences and whatnot, but I want to squash all that and be there for you. For Bree, too.”
“Thank you, Yvonne. I appreciate that.”
“Is Deanthony coming?” Yvonne asked.
“I hope not,” I said.
“I want y’all to stop this, Kashawn,” Ma said. “He’s your brother and I want you to make things right between the two of you. It breaks my heart to see the two of you at odds with one another. With the loss of Ray-Ray, I have realized that life is too short for mess.”
“We wouldn’t be at odds if he hadn’t have slept with my wife.”
“And that’s the elephant in the room you two need to get from under. If it takes you two fist-fighting it out to get past this, then do what you have to do, but I’m tired of all this mess, so fix it.” Ma finished the rest of her coffee and placed the cup in the kitchen sink. I got up, walked over to her and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “What’s that for?”
“I love you.”
“Child, tell me something I don’t know.” She laughed. “Now y’all, come on. We have to get dressed. Bree’s going to wonder where we at if she doesn’t see us in the courtroom.”
I picked up the phone and dialed Deanthony’s number. It rang twice before he picked up.