The Fourth of July Read online

  “Mr. Leland, would you like something to drink?” I asked, crossing over him to look in my bags. “Got some pop or bottled water.”

  He came over, Stepping over my empty boxes from the move.

  “Yeah, you’re not from here. Who in the world calls a Coke a pop?”

  I shrugged and handed him a room temperature Pepsi. “Well, you knew what I was talking about. I just want to thank you again for saving my behind today.”

  He put his finger to his lips. “Shh, you go ‘round telling folks that I’m a good guy and I will lose all credibility in the neighborhood. I am what you would call the resident bad boy of Planters.”

  “Oh, really. I’m sure the one hundred or so residents of Planters thank you for your contribution here. Every town needs one, “he said, taking a bottled water out of its plastic casing.

  Taking his hat from his back pocket, he said, “If there is nothing else, I got to get going. I’m still on the clock.”

  Lifting the can of pop up, Leland headed for the door.

  The dust clouds that he made from his boots made me grimace and think of Pigpen from the peanuts.

  I got to work and began to put the food away.

  “Do you fellas want some sandwiches?” I yelled out.

  “Yes, please!” my son yelled back.

  “Your mom is pretty cool, huh?” I heard Ernest say.

  I didn’t hear my son’s reply but I guess it was nothing more than a shoulder shrug.

  I smiled anyway.

  Two sandwiches each and a gallon of Kool-Aid were gone on lunch. My neighbor thanked me and promised my son another round of killing anything that moves. The sun was coming down and so were my eyelids.

  “Anthony, honey, come down here!” I shouted from the bottom of the stairs.

  The rumble of his size eleven feet banged down the hall into the landing.

  “Yes?”

  I waved my hand for him to follow me to the kitchen.

  “Ok, I start work in a few days, so you know the rules.”

  Anthony slumped down in the normal teenage posture in the chair. “No running the streets and have the house cleaned before you get home.”

  “You can have Ernest over, but just don’t forget your chores, and please the two of you don’t eat me out of house and home, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  “I need to get a lawn mower. They are calling for rain in the next few days and the backyard will look like a jungle soon. Okay?”

  He nodded.

  “That’s about it. This is a new neighborhood. I need for you to act like you’ve been raised.”

  “I’m not gonna get into any trouble, Mom."

  “I know, but I just want to remind you. Now go wash your stinky butt, I’ll have tacos on in a minute.”

  His attitude softened at the thought of my tacos.

  The boom of his feet was something I had to get accustomed to. If Dumbo had ears, my son had feet.

  Once the food was done, he took his plate upstairs to watch something that I probably didn’t approve of.

  My curtains were pulled back just how I’d left them this morning. It felt that I hadn’t been in this room in years.

  After a long needed shower and a new cotton nightgown, I was asleep before my head touched the pillow.

  Chapter 2

  “Mom. Mom, you gotta wake up.” My son stood over me shaking my shoulders. “There’s someone outside the house, Mom. Mom, come on.”

  In the dark, I saw my son’s frame hanging over me.

  It took me a second to get my bearings.

  “Go get your bat.”

  Living alone while raising a boy I had to do what I had to do.

  In the dark room, he handed me his bat and took a step to the side. My child knew me and knew me well.

  “I’ll call the police.”

  His bare chest heaved.

  “You just stay in the house. If I don’t come back in two minutes, call 911, you understand?”

  He nodded and his blonde hair went crazy all over his head.

  I crept down the stairs to the front door. This only being the second day in this house, I was mindful to be careful not to trip over anything. Disengaging the lock, I took a step on the cool wooden porch. There was someone out here, someone in my driveway. The length of the garage obstructed my view. There was a long shadow that loomed in the driveway. If he was trying to rob me, he was the worst. The noise he was making was rattling the rest of the neighborhood. I held the bat high and tiptoed off the porch and down the steps.

  My bare feet stepped lightly on the paved walkway, rounding the corner.

  I lowered my weapon, put a hand over my heart and sighed, “Why are you here at this time of night?”

  Leland balanced a tire between his knees and turned his ball cap backwards. “Was I loud?” he asked in the loudest whisper I’ve ever heard.

  Stepping on loose gravel on my driveway, I continued to walk towards him.

  “That didn’t answer my question. Why are you here?”

  “Well, after I dropped you off here at home, I just went back to work. I caught a couple of beers over at Ernest’s when my shift was over. I was ‘bout to leave then saw your car still leaning, so a buddy of mine owed me a favor and here I am.” He hunched his shoulders. He wasn’t lying about the beer; I could smell it on him. “I know that you’re new in town and you probably haven’t made any friends so I’ll fix it up for ya.”

  “How much do I owe you?”

  My bat was still low, but I held with a death grip.

  He smiled at me and my weapon.

  “Nothing. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. You don’t have anyone here to take care of ya so I thought--”

  “Stop thinking!” I shouted and I heard a dog bark in the distance. “I appreciate all the help, but I can take care of me and mine. Now, please tell me how much for the tires and labor, and I can go back to sleep and you can go back to wherever you come from.”

  He constricted his fist and I matched his action by gripping my bat.

  “Your main concern should be getting some clothes on. Neighbors will talk.”

  He looked up and down the street to a row of dark houses.

  The hem of my nightshirt fell to the middle of my thighs. Everything inside of me pushed for me to grab the bottom of my sleepwear and cover my exposed legs, but I couldn’t take my hands off the bat.

  “Are you almost done?”

  Knocking on the tread of the tire between his legs, he answered, “Yup, about to take this one out for disposal. You didn’t lock your car, so I put the spare in the back.”

  “Thank you, but next time, could you at least knock on the door and let someone know that you are here? Or, you can even wait until the sun could have a chance to come up. You scared my son half to death.”

  Before I finish my sentence, the flashing blue and red lights raced up the street.

  “You called the law on me?” He laughed out loud. “It looks like I didn’t just scare your son.”

  A barrel-chested man stepped out of his police cruiser with his hand on his weapon. “Leland?” the cop said, and Leland replied with a simple nod. “You move here?” he asked, looking up at my house.

  “Nope. Still got my place over on Pike.”

  The cop finally turned to me. “Ma’am, I would like if you came down to the station and get this sorted out,” he said, removing a pair of handcuffs from his belt.

  “What? Wait. This is my house. My son called because I thought I had someone on my property.”

  The cop still approached me like he was trying to tame a lion. His tubby body was crouched down, moving slowly. “If you don’t resist, this will go a lot quicker for you. I don’t want to hurt you, now come in the car.”

  “NO I will not. I know my rights and I haven’t done anything wrong. I thought your friend here was trying to break into my house!” I shouted.

  “Mom,” my son called, coming to my side. “The cops are here.”


  “Anthony go back into the house.”

  “Son, are you being held against your will? You can tell me, I’m an officer of the law. This woman doesn’t have to scare you any longer,” the officer cooed.

  My son’s face contorted in confusion.

  “She’s my mom and I’m not going anywhere with you.” Anthony took a step back from the officer’s reach. “What the hell is going on? I called you to help us.”

  “Watch your mouth and go back inside. I got it handled. Now go.”

  Despite the warm night air, I began to shiver. From the corner of my eye, I saw my son stomp back onto the porch and watch.

  Taking my wrist, the cop yanked me to ground. “Now come on, lady. Don’t resist, and don’t think about using that bat. I will light you up like a Christmas tree. Let the bat go. NOW!”

  My knees were scrapped to hell after being forced down by the officer’s hand on my shoulder and with a gun poking me in the back of my head.

  Feeling the pizza from earlier begin to rise from my stomach and getting trapped in the middle of my chest, I knew I was going to be sick.

  “Forrest, you need to take your hands off this woman. I came over here without her permission to fix a tire. She got scared and called you. I was wrong. I should have let her know. Now let her go.”

  During my exchanges with Leland, his voice seemed harsh, but now it was menacing and brutal.

  “I don’t want to tell you again. Let her go.”

  The officer pulled me up by my nightgown from my kneeing position,

  in the process exposing my lower stomach and panties. Once on my wobbly feet, for good measure he pushed me, making me stumble backwards.

  “You call the police when there is real trouble,” he said, snarling at me.

  Taking a notepad from pocket, he began to write.

  “Here, this is for indecent exposure.”

  He gave me a hard look and rolled his eyes at Leland.

  “Three hundred and fifty dollars, are you serious?”

  The throbbing from my knees and the pain in my head was beating the hell out of all my senses. I couldn’t speak. My eyes began to water and the cop implying that Anthony was some kid I snatched off the street was all I could hear.

  “Told you to put some clothes on,” Leland said, handing me back my bat that had rolled down the driveway.

  I gave him the evil eye and walked back to my waiting son.

  Hearing his footsteps behind me, I raised the bat above my head.

  “Whoa whoa now. I was just picking at ya.”

  He looked at the officer that watched us for a moment. Shortly after, he gunned the engine, kicked it in reverse and then sped back down the dark street.

  “I’m sorry, do you want me to come in and make you some tea? I heard that helps when you’re trying to get back to sleep.”

  “I will Ken Griffey your head in the middle of next week if you don’t leave me and my family alone.”

  Leland put his arm up to shield himself.

  “I will be arrested for murder if you don’t get away from me. Go.”

  Anthony stood beside me and growled, “Leave us alone.”

  Leland took a step back. “I’m sorry…for everything. Just wanted to help.”

  “By damn near getting me arrested? Really? Please, just leave us alone.”

  I put my hand on Anthony’s chest to push him back and noticed I was trembling. I walked backwards, keeping an eye on Leland until I shut the door.

  “Go upstairs and try to get some sleep.”

  Anthony didn’t budge.

  “I could see where someone would think that I wasn’t your son, but why did he want to take you to jail, Mom? I mean that guy was at our house.”

  I could see that he was more agitated than confused by the situation. At this point, so was I.

  “Honey,” I started. “Some people have their feelings and thoughts about me--”

  “How? That cop didn’t even know you,” Anthony interrupted. “How could he have any thoughts or feelings?” With only the hall light on, I could see the light sheen of sweat on Anthony’s forehead and the bobbing of his Adam’s apple. “Racist asshole.”

  “Hey,” I pointed. “You stop that and now. This move has gotten both of us tired and uneasy, but I don’t need your language to add to it. Yes, people are bias, and for the most part, people stick to their own kind. But, you and I are together on this one, okay? So, you stay on the straight and narrow and so will I.”

  “Yeah, you were so out of line for having some home invader come and make you scared enough to have the police called. How dare you, Mom."

  I almost wanted to laugh at my son. He was so young and naïve to think that our world was just filled with good people that wore capes, and the bad people were sneaking around in the dark. “I’m a rebel, what can I say.” I kissed him on the forehead. “Forget this, just try and get some sleep.”

  At least someone should try and sleep because I knew I wouldn’t be getting a wink.

  I took my second shower of the night and laid in bed.

  That situation could have gone so far left.

  I rolled over and stared at my clock. It was a little after three a.m. and I knew that sleep wasn't going to find me anytime tonight.

  ★★★★★★★★★★

  “Did we scare her real good?” Forrest asked, propped up on his police cruiser. “That look on her face, I’ll tell ya, that look never gets old.”

  Cracking probably his eighth beer of the night, Leland stood by the officer and laughed.

  “You scared the hell out of her and her kid. Now I got to do something else to fall back into her good graces. Gotta make her secure for a little bit longer,” he said, demonstrating by squinting his eye and putting his pointer finger and thumb close together. “She’ll be squealing back to whatever ghetto she come from.”

  “How did you know that she would call the police? I mean, you know her kind likes confrontation and they’re aggressive,” Forrest asked, taking a beer out of the Leland’s cooler and downing it.

  “That was a lucky guess,” he chuckled.

  Leland hunched his shoulders and smiled.

  “She’s all alone. She got the boy to tend to and she loves him. Regardless of what she is, she’s a mom and they take care of their own.”

  Forrest huffed, “Hell, if that were true them bastards wouldn’t be killing each other in the streets. They wouldn’t be robbing, stealing and raping if they took care of ‘em. They wouldn’t be killing them in the womb and such.”

  Leland opened his mouth to speak, but Forrest continued, “And don’t you go getting soft on me about this colored girl. And don’t say that she’s different; they all the same in my book. They will steal sugar out of a cookie if you leave ‘em in a bakery too long. Can’t turn ya back on them for a second.”

  Forrest wiped beer foam from his mouth and smiled. Even though it was just the two of them alone, he leaned over and whispered, “Did you get a look at them panties she had on?”

  Leland rolled his eyes and bit at his bottom lip. “Damn, I would work that till she bleeds, man. Nice ass, too.”

  Forrest slapped him on the back.

  “I did that for your benefit man. I wanted you to be thinking of that while you are trying to get her defense down.”

  He laughed.

  “Looking at that makes me want to make her get down…on her knees.”

  Both men slapped each other’s back and laughed.

  “She’ll be running for the hills soon enough, you just wait.”

  The dead end street where the two had gathered was interrupted by the sound of a pick-up truck.

  “Looks like the real party has started.”

  Leland took the cooler from the passenger side of his truck and put it in the street.

  “Did you lock her up?” Marvin laughed out loud, pitching himself out of the truck with his brother close behind.

  “Na, the nigger lover wouldn’t let me,” Fo
rrest poked at Leland’s side. Then, Forrest went into the exchange that led them to this point. “If you would have seen the look on that’s coon’s face. She looked like she could have messed herself.”

  Ernest sat on the tailgate of his truck with a slick smile on his face. “Don’t know why she would be afraid of jail; all her people are there anyway.”

  “She’s probably got a record,” Marvin chimed in. “If they ain’t on they momma’s tit complaining about this or making excuses about that, they are in somebody’s jailhouse.”

  Leland stood. “True, but she’s smarter than most--”

  “No such thing,” Ernest interrupted. “They just think they better than us. Uppity is what my daddy use to say. They don’t know they place. Dogs like that think they can run our country. Come over here live in our neighborhoods and go to our schools, shit, that dog really needs to be tamed.”

  “It makes me sick. Is that a section eight house that she’s living in? Black woman on her own can’t afford something like that,” Forrest hollered. “Must a got it from some grant or hand out from the government. There’s just no way. They don’t like to work no way.”

  “So, how’s it working on your son’s end?” Leland asked, taking a gulp of his Miller Lite.

  Ernest wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Hell, fine I guess. Told him to stick to the boy.” Ernest’s eyes leaped with a thought. “How about we all go fishing this weekend. Take the boy with us.”

  Leland was the first to disagree. “Not into hurting some kid. If that’s how we play it, I’m out.”

  “He’s just a boy, and besides, he ain’t colored like his momma,” Forrest said as all the men drew closer in a circle.

  “No, no, no,” Ernest slurred. “Maybe get some info on her. Learn some more from the inside, ya know what I mean. Maybe a bit of divide and conquer. The boy has no understanding in what he is. He is white and needs to find his true potential in life without it being crushed by some nigger. Come on fellas, we will be doing this boy a service if you help him out.”

  Wrapping his arm around his brother’s neck, Marvin clinked his beer bottle with his brother’s. “Ernest is right. The boy is being ruled by her and not the other way around.”