XXIII
“Well, from what I can remember and from what I was told, my dad was a big-time cocaine dealer,” Brandon says. “He wasn’t home a lot, so there’s not a whole lot to remember about him. The one thing I’ll never forget is how coldhearted he was. And although I was barely old enough to remember, I still have the memories of how mean his a-- was.
“I have this one memory that I can’t get out of my head, no matter how hard I try. It was of him roughing up my older brother DJ. Every time he would beat my mom up, DJ would jump in to protect her. I was a coward and just sat there crying as I looked on. DJ is a few years older than I am, so we were pretty close and did everything together.”
“Oh, so you do have family then, right?” says Donnell.
“Not really, Mr. White.”
“Wait a minute . . . I’m confused. Didn’t you just say you had a sibling named DJ?”
“Yes. I also have a younger brother named Jaylen, but we call him Jay Baby. Me and DJ were raised by our grandma, and Jay is being raised by our aunt.”
“OK, now I’m really confused. How do you have not only one but two siblings and Child Protective Services doesn’t know this?”
“Oh, they know about it, Mr. White. As a matter of fact, they know everything about me. I have a long and complicated story. You have no idea what I’ve been through, and it will take a lifetime to tell you it all.”
“Well, today must be my lucky day. I just so happen to be available to hear what you have to say.”
“Talking about this isn’t easy for me, Mr. White. If you talk about this to anybody, we’ll never be cool again.”
“Are you for real, Brandon? You mean to tell me that we’re still on that? So I’m back to proving myself to you again, huh?”
“You don’t have to prove yourself to me, Mr. White. This is so deep, and I can’t share this information about myself with just anybody. This affects more than just me. It affects my family as well.”
Donnell looks Brandon square in the eyes and says, “What we discuss will remain between us. I mean that, Brandon. On the surface of things, I get the feeling that your parents may have messed up pretty bad to lose their kids.”
“My parents are dead, Mr. White.”
“Are you speaking of physical death or just an emotional death, as far as you’re concerned?”
“No, Mr. White. They’re really dead, like six-feet-under dead.”
“OK, I understand now. Do you mind if I ask how they died?”
“That’s part of what I meant when I said my story is long and complicated, Mr. White.”
“I have the time to listen, but it’s up to you if you feel comfortable talking about it, Brandon. If not, I understand.”
“I’m OK with us talking about it, Mr. White. It’s been years now, and it doesn’t bother me anymore. Basically, my dad was a very abusive man. I had to be around eight or nine years old at the time, but I’m not sure. I am sure of how old DJ was, though. At that time, he’d just turned eleven and had his birthday party the day before everything went down.
“The next day, my parents got into a fight. My dad punched my mom in the face, and blood gushed from her nose. DJ ran into the bedroom and got Daddy’s gun. He walked up behind Daddy and pulled the trigger repeatedly, but nothing came out. My guess is that the gun wasn’t loaded, and DJ didn’t know it. To this day, I believe that had that gun been loaded, DJ would’ve killed Daddy and my mom would still be alive today.”
“That’s a pretty harsh thing to say, Brandon. Don’t you think?”
“When you hear the rest of the story, you’ll know why I feel this way, Mr. White. My daddy must have heard the clicks from the gun or something. He turned around to see DJ aiming the gun straight at him. He looked at DJ and said, ‘What, you trying to shoot me, you little muthaf--ka?’ Sorry for cursing, Mr. White, but that’s how he said it.”
“You don’t have to explain yourself, Brandon. This is your story, not mine, and how you choose to express yourself is not for me to judge.”
“OK, so DJ starts crying because he’s scared and don’t know what Daddy is about to do to him at this point. He drops the gun and runs into the laundry room, locking the door. I personally thought Daddy was gonna kill him, but to my surprise, he didn’t. Matter of fact, he didn’t do anything but pick the gun up and leave. He did the strangest thing before he left, though. As he picked the gun up and headed toward the door, he noticed me standing there watching. I swear to you it looked like he had a guilty look on his face. For a few moments, he just stared at me before walking out the door.”
“Wow! Where was your mom during all of this?”
“She was in the bathroom trying to stop her nose from bleeding, I think. Daddy was gone by the time Mom came out of the bathroom. I took one look at her face, and all I could do was cry. He really messed her face up. She asked me what was wrong and why was I crying. I didn’t say anything of course.
“She asked me where my dad was. DJ and I told her what had happened between them. She got DJ and sat us both down and apologized for what had just happened. Mom loaded us into the car, and we all went to the hospital. She cried the entire way there. The crazy thing is she didn’t call the police on this dude. The hospital notified the authorities, but she made up a story to protect my dad from being arrested. The time we spent in the ER of that hospital seemed like an eternity, and my dad was nowhere to be found. The hospital finally released Momma, and we went home. Little did I know that the next day would be the last time I’d see either of my parents alive again.”