It took them three and a half hours to process me out. Officer Jones, whom I now knew as Tabatha, had slid me her cell phone number before I left. No I hadn’t requested it. She handed it to me in an envelope along with my property. Fuck it. Maybe I could use her for something.
“Theodore!” I heard my name and the slight accent and I immediately knew who it was. Slumdog Millionaire.
“How the… What the…”
“Don’t be alarmed Theodore. I told you you’d be out today. Now you’re free.”
“So, you had something to do with that?”
“I had everything to do with that Theodore. It’s not what you know in this world, but whom. And how much you’re willing to pay to know them. Anyone who tells you different, does not have your best interests at heart.”
“What the hell do you want from me!” I was suspicious. “I’m telling you right now “sir,” if yall got me out thinking you about to put me on some police shit, I’m gonna laugh my black ass off! Because you just got beat outta your money! Preciate ya!” Slumdog today wore a black and gray Nike sweat suit with a hood. His Air Max looked old and worn. FEDS! Flashed across my mind.
“Trust me Theodore, I can assure you that I am not connected to any type of law enforcement. I am simply doing a favor for someone I love, and at the same time paying off an old debt. If you must know, I despise police stations. Too much misery. Do you mind if we continued our conversation outside?”
“Yeah, I’m leaving. If you happen to walk out when I do, then so be it.” I grabbed my belt off the counter top and hit the door. Once outside, the terrible feeling of being alone overcame me once again. My mom dukes had been in the courtroom. I called her as soon as I’d gotten back to the cell block and told her to go home. Even though I’m a grown ass man, everybody knows that mom dukes, is always the first to rush to our side. Always down for us, no matter how old we may get.
“Listen Theodore….”
“Man stop calling me motherfuckin Theodore! And what the fuck do you want from me!” The rage inside me was screaming to be let out.
“So, what would you prefer? Teddy? Or Banks?” he spoke my name like he knew me, and it pissed me off.
“Only my bitches call me Teddy. Now what the fuck do you want?”
“I want to help you.”
“Help me? Help me? With what? You said it was you who fixed the case right?”
“That’s right.”
“Then you’ve already helped, and like I said before, preciate ya!”
“You’re hurt and upset. I can understand that. I’ve felt sadness enough myself to know what it does to a man. But a wise man, is a calm man. Even the bible says so.”
“So, what the fuck is you man? Indian?”
“No. My father was Iranian and my mother Afghan, but I was raised in Brooklyn, New York.”
“Iran and Afghanistan huh? You with the Taliban? You trying to recruit me to blow some shit up?”
“No. I’m Catholic. But this situation isn’t about me. It’s about you not going out and doing something stupid that you’ll regret later. You want revenge. It’s in your eyes.”
“Man, what’s your angle? I got shit to do.”
“No angle Banks. I’m just trying to help you, as Tika has asked me to.” There was that name again. “Man’ you keep saying Tika this an Tika that! Then where the fuck is she and what is she to you?!” I was fed up with the bullshit!
“I’ll answer your second question first. Tika is everything and nothing to me. And to answer your first question, she’s parked right over there.” Slumdog pointed across the street, and there she was! Tika. Sitting behind the wheel of a smoke gray Audi A4. I left Slumdog where he stood, marched across the street and stopped at her window, gazing down at her with fire in my eyes as she stared meekly up at me as if unsure of whether to be afraid. The Tika I was looking down at was not a girl anymore. She was a woman.
“Where the fuck did you come from?” I asked with venom.
“Teddy, could you please come get in the car? I promised I’ll answer all of your questions. Let’s just go,” She pleaded up to me.
“You goddamn right you gonna answer some questions!” I barked as I marched around to the passenger side of the car. I looked around for Slumdog before I got in but he was gone. I opened the passenger door and slid in. Despite the circumstances, I was stunned at how much Tika had evolved since the last time I’d seen her. The Alexander McQueen spaghetti strapped dress hugged her curves like she was born in it! Her skin was beaming with the glow of good living. Her feet were immaculately done in her open toed Gucci heels, while her freshly done doobie hairstyle and iced out wrist screamed “bad bitch coming through!” I didn’t dumb out though. Monique was dead. At least every five or six seconds, the same thought trampled its way through my mind. I didn’t say a word as we pulled off into traffic. Tika was listening to Mary J’s “My life CD.
“What you thinking about?” Tika finally broke the silence.
“What the hell do you think I’m thinking about?”
“Monique?”
“Yeah. And you too.”
“What about me?” she asked as we passed the Durham Bulls Baseball Stadium.
“Where the hell have you been Tika?”
“Nowhere.”
“Nowhere! What the fuck do you mean nowhere?”
“I mean nowhere. All I did was stay as far away from you, and anybody who knew you as I could. I’ve always been here. Watching over you. I know that you’re hurt and I know you need me, so I couldn’t stay away any longer, even if I wanted to. I’ll always love you Teddy. No other man could ever own as much of my heart as you do.”
“So, what you been stalking me?”
“No, just admiring you. And only from a distance. I only wanted to see you happy.”
“Oh yeah? So why did you get ghost on me like that then? And why all the fuckin distance?” I was quickly growing tired of talking in circles.
“I was ashamed.”
“Ashamed? Ashamed of what?”
Tika took a deep breath and sighed, “I was ashamed of what you knew about me and Fletch, and I couldn’t bear to look at you knowing that all you’d see in me was filth.”
“What? That’s the stupidest shit I ever heard in my life!”
“Maybe so Teddy. But it’s true.”
“Tika, you were being raped by a sick piece of shit. How the hell could I ever look at that as your fault?”
“I don’t know Teddy, but every time I looked at you I was consumed with shame. Over the years Mishka has helped me overcome some of that, but even now, it’s still hard for me to look you in the eyes.”
“Mishka? Who the fuck is that?” I asked as we pulled up to a medium sized house at the corner of Geer Street and W. Club Boulevard.
“Mishka is my friend. She saved my life Teddy. I’d like for you to meet her. She wants to help. Muhammed, Ishmeel’s nephew was her son.”
“Who the fuck is Ishmeel?”
“The man you talked to last night and today. We have a special bond. He’s very smart. He says he owes you a favor and I’ve always known him as a man who pays his debts. Don’t shun him Teddy. Embrace his friendship. Here.” Tika handed me a card that read “I-PETS” (Dogs and Cats) with a telephone and fax number across the bottom.
“What the hell is this?” I turned the card back and forth, searching for some kind of clue.
“Ishmeel owns a pet shop. Dogs and cats. Go to him and talk. He’s very wise and I know he can give you some good advice. I know you Teddy. You’re going to try and hurt somebody, I just don’t want you to get hurt in the process.”
“Whose car is this?” I asked abruptly.
“It’s mine.”
“Uh huh. This your house too?”
“No. A friends.”
“A male friend?”
“Yes.”
“Your man?”
“No.”
I glanced down at the princess cut diamonds on her wrist. “Where’d you get the jewels?”
“A gift.”
“Uh huh.” Keeping all her answers short and sweet. I was starting to get the feeling I was dealing with nothing more than another dope dealers bitch. Time for a channel check. “You got a job?”
“Yes. I model.”
“Model for who?”
“Mishka.”
“Uh huh. What’s her companies name?”
“A Star In Your Eye, Modeling Company”
Hmmm… Maybe she wasn’t sack chasing. “So, tell me what happened since the last time I saw you.”
Once again Tika took a deep breath before speaking. “After you gave us the money and left, my mother was erratic. We talked and we cried. There was so much pain in the house. Too much for us to stay, so we left. I was so ashamed that I didn’t want you to look at me anymore. I was a girl with her heart broken Teddy, so I ran. We moved around some, and then my mama started getting high. Selling her body. It was all I could take. I wandered around here and there, then stripped a little at a small, bootleg strip club in Greensboro. That’s where I met Mishka. For some insane reason, this beautiful and intelligent business woman decided at four in the morning, to step into this dingy hole in the wall strip joint after a night out on the town, and too man Tequila Sunrises. She paid me for a dance. She said I should be modeling. She drove me to the Super 8 Motel where I was staying, and picked up my stuff. The rest is history. I’ve been modeling ever since.”
“So, what’s the deal with you and Ishmeel?” I tried to catch her off guard.
“Ishmeel and I are close. He’s helped me a lot. I was there for him at a time when he needed someone. No, we are not together, though we have been intimate in the past. Mishka introduced me to him. I’m only telling you this because I don’t want you to feel that I’ve kept anything from you.”
A sliver of jealousy passed through me as I thought of Ishmeel with this re-invented Tika. Her beauty was almost breathtaking. All the way down to her strawberry glossed lips. “So, what the fuck do you think is supposed to happen now? I ain’t seen you in six, seven years, and now you pop up outta nowhere and think what? Whether you know it or not, which I know you do, MY FIANCE WAS MURDERED! Somebodies gonna die besides her! They murdered my seed! I DON’T HAVE ANYTHING! Everything in this world has been taken from me! The shit you talking ain’t producing no results! No, you should never have been ashamed! Everything I did was to make sure you never had to hang your head down again! I can’t deal with you right now Tika. I got shit to do. You say you been watching me anyway, so get back at me homegirl!” My final words to her hung in the air as I opened the Audi door, stepped out and walked away….