Chapter Thirty-Five
Lydia and Janelle were taken to the hospital to be treated for trauma. Janine was glad to have her baby girl back safely.
Ladelle held Lydia in his arms like she would disappear if he let her go. ”Did he put his hands on you in any kind of way?” he asked her.
”He hit me once, and he tied me up and put socks in my mouth,” she replied.
”I swear to God, if I get my hands on that nigga, I’ma kill his ass,” Ladelle said.
”I think he was smoking some stuff, because the house smelled funny when he came out the bathroom. Then he just started to act real different,” Lydia said.
”What—he was smoking trees or something?” Ladelle asked, wondering what she could be talking about.
”I don’t know—something I never smelled before.” Lydia continued to tell Ladelle how Kalif just started tripping, and talking about aliens and worms.
After being examined Lydia was released. The doctor had told her to go to her regular physician for a follow-up.
Lydia was shaken up and didn’t want to stay in the apartment. Ladelle took her to his mother’s house for the night.
The Hostage Rescue Team had agreed to meet with Lydia in the morning so she could make a statement. She wasn’t ready to deal with all of that, but she knew she had to so Kalif couldn’t walk the streets anymore.
Ladelle went back to their apartment and put some clothes and personal items in a bag for Lydia. He went to his stash spot and took out some money. The last thing he wanted was for the police to find it and start asking a bunch of questions. He called Lydia at his mother’s house. He told her that he was on his way back over there, and he asked her if she needed anything else.
”No, just get here,” she said. Ladelle told her the authorities were still at the apartment and they couldn’t stay there if they wanted to. They’d be there until further notice.
Ladelle just wanted to take a shower and go to sleep. He prayed that tomorrow would be a better day.
A week later, Will and BJ’s aunt were making arrangements for his wake at Convent Baptist Church on 145th Street and Convent Avenue. The church was packed with all of BJ’s co-workers, family, his peeps from the hood and some of his old college classmates. Venus knew the majority of the people in attendance, but she didn’t know how loved BJ was until now. It made her cry even more. Almost everyone he’d come in contact with in his twenty-six years had come to pay their respects. BJ didn’t have a large family, but his street fam came from as far as Georgia and Virginia to lay their brother to rest.
The preacher gave a beautiful sermon that put everybody in tears. Some people spoke about BJ when he was younger and how good he was on the basketball court as a kid growing up. Will spoke about how BJ had turned his life around after coming back from up North. He had been determined to do the right thing and never look back. That made Venus cry even more; she remembered how motivated BJ was when he started going to college.
When BJ’s aunt began to sing Black Butterfly, the whole church was in tears. She sang the song even better than Deniece Williams did. Everyone shed tears for their brother, who had passed away before his time.
A female in a black dress approached BJ’s casket as his aunt continued to sing. ”Oh, God!” she screamed, as the tears began to roll down her face.
Venus wondered who she was. ”Who is that?” she asked turning to Will.
”Nobody. Believe me, she’s a nobody,” he replied, hoping that Venus would be satisfied with his answer. She wasn’t.
”Will, don’t lie to me at a time like this. Tell me who she is,” Venus insisted. Will looked at her and contemplated on it. He finally told her that the crying woman was Annette.
”What the hell is she doing here?!” Venus said furiously. She told Will to get her out of there immediately. Will just looked straight ahead, ignoring her request.
When the song was over, several people got up to take one last look at BJ. Annette was still standing at his casket when Venus walked up to her and said, ”You don’t belong here. Leave now.” Annette’s tears stopped in an instant. She turned them off like a faucet. Venus told Annette who she was and then told her to bounce.
Annette spazzed out. ”Oh, so you’re the old lady he was messin’ with?” Venus took a step back and started to size up Annette. ”Did he tell you I was having his baby?” she added. ”Oh, I guess not! He always talked shit about you anyway—especially that you were seven years older than him...now I see why he was always at my house—look at you!”
By now there was a crowd of people staring at Venus, who had said nothing to defend herself. But when Annette started to sound off again, she grabbed her with the quickness and threw her to the floor. She jumped on her and pounded her like a nail in the wall. Venus got to her feet and pulled Annette up off the floor, punching her and knocking her into two other mourners. She grabbed Annette’s hair with one hand, and with the other hand she uppercut her in the ribs. A group of people had to tear Venus off of Annette, who continued on with her tirade until Venus told everybody that she was out on bail for BJ’s death. That’s when everybody went ballistic, pushing Annette out the door. ”Get the fuck outta here!” they all shouted.
Annette hopped down the stairs with one shoe in her hand. She looked like she had been ambushed. Venus stood at the entrance just staring at her. She was ready to jump on her again.
Everyone was ushered back inside the funeral home. Venus addressed the other mourners, apologizing for the disturbance. Will got up and hugged her, and she began to cry in his arms as everybody prepared to go to the gravesite at Woodlawn Cemetery.
