Three months pregnant and cold, Tameka sat at the bus stop, hundreds of miles from home. The truck driver was kind enough to drive her as far as he was going before he turned to go back. Tameka assured him that her ride would be coming to pick her up within the hour and that it was fine for him to leave her there. Tameka had no idea what she would do or where she would go, she just felt that her grandma would not understand why she couldn’t terminate this pregnancy. She just had to find somewhere to live until she had her baby, and then she would go back to grandma for help. It was getting late and Tameka had been sitting at the bus stop for about five hours, and had seen bus after bus leave the stop without her. Stomach now growling, and head beginning to hurt from hunger, Tameka held her head in her hands. She began to think that she should just go back home, find a ride, apologize to her grandma, and pray she would let her keep her baby. “Hey beautiful, why are you still sitting here? I rode by here hours ago and just knew that you would be gone by now.” Tameka was looking at one of the most attractive men that she had ever seen, and he was driving a very nice red sports car. He looked familiar although she couldn’t remember where she knew him from. “You don’t remember me do you?” Tameka looked at him a little harder and then said, “I’m sorry I don’t.” “I stopped by in a blue truck. I stopped and asked you if you were riding the bus downtown.” Tameka remembered the fine driver of the blue truck as soon as he said he stopped earlier. The guy looked so much different without the hat and sunshades he wore during the daylight hours. Without the hat and shades, she saw that he had some coal black eyes along with the most beautiful eyelashes she had ever seen on a man. His eyebrows seemed to be arched, but they were just naturally dark and shaped to perfection. He was about 5’ 10’’, 230 pounds, and had an athletic build but had a small gut. The diamonds he had in each ear had to be about 2 carats a piece and they glistened each time he turned his head. He smelled like heaven, and had a smile that could make peace in the middle of a war. He wore a dark Caesar haircut that was sharp as a tack! Each piece of the designer clothing he wore was perfectly matched up. “Well ma’am what is your name, and do you need a ride somewhere?” “Tameka, and I don’t need a ride anywhere because I don’t have anywhere to go.” “Well you don’t look homeless to me, you sure you don’t have anywhere to go?” “Come back by here tomorrow and you will see that I am still here with nowhere to go.” “Well I have a roommate, but I’m sure he won’t mind the company. Would you like to stay with me for the night?” Tameka thought of the night ahead of her and that she could possibly freeze to death if she didn’t go with him. She thought maybe she shouldn’t go, being that she didn’t even know his name, but he seemed cool and he was too cute to be crazy. “You won’t hurt me will you? I’ve met some real crazy dudes in my life time. What’s your name anyway?” “No I am not crazy, but only time will prove that. My name is Rashard and I have no reason to hurt you. There are a lot of crazy dudes out here, but I am not one of them, how old are you anyway?” Tameka lied and said with confidence she didnt know she had but knew she needed because there was no way anyone could know she was only thirteen and said, “I’m eighteen.” “Cool, why don’t you get in the car, I got the heat blasting, and you look cold.” Freezing cold and legs shaking uncontrollably, she lied again and said, “I’m not that cold.” Tameka couldn’t get into the car fast enough, she couldn’t even feel her toes she was so cold. She was so happy to be inside the car, she didn’t even ask Rashard why there was no key in the ignition. Tameka glanced in the back of the car and saw so many bags, she wondered what was in them specifically, because she could only see that they contained clothing. The apartment was in the center of the hood. This neighborhood made the hairs on the back of Tameka’s neck stand at attention. There were people standing outside around a barrel that was engulfed in flames. There were little kids, as young as three years old, running around outside and it was after 11pm. The sound of people arguing filled the hallways of the building. Everyone was not arguing though, she heard some loud love making as she passed one door. The bulk of the noise came from loud televisions that all seemed to be on the maximum volume. Rashard explained to her that people played their TV’s so loud to drown out the drama going on throughout the building and neighborhood. Tameka tried her best not to touch the walls in the hallway. They were nasty and the hallway smelled like old trash juice and soiled baby diapers. Going back to grandma’s house was looking better and better to her as she ascended up the stair case stepping over people that had fallen asleep on them. Once they reached the third floor Rashard was like, “here we are!” Feeling like she was about to throw up because of the stench. Her sense of smell had been very keen the last couple of weeks due to her pregnancy, with her skin crawling, “You think that you can take me back to the bus stop?” “Sure, let me put these bags in the house ok? You want to come in for a second?” “No thank you, I will just stay out here and wait.” She forgot she had to use the bathroom, once she walked through the halls of the building. She was gonna hold it as best she could before she used the bathroom anywhere in this building that smelled like a nasty sewer! That was until something shifted in her stomach and pressed against her bladder letting her know that she wouldnt be holding her pee much longer. She quickly turned and knocked on the door, once Rashard came to the door, she could not believe what she saw. . . . Tameka looked beyond Rashard and saw a home that was better than anything she had ever seen anywhere, even on television. Rashard must have had knocked down the walls and had the whole inside remodeled. There was a huge open floor plan that took up the space of three apartments on the floor. Tameka could see everything in the house from the front door, except the bathrooms and the bedrooms. There was a 93 inch television built into the wall in the living area, microfiber sectional that was bigger than the average sectional, four fish tank pillars, and 50 inch televisions on every other wall. The kitchen had granite countertops and a island that contained a separate sink and Jenn Air counter top grill. There was a Sub Zero stainless steel refrigerator with matching stainless steel appliances. Hardwood floors where shining and the colors in the house were indescribable. It felt like a home there, even the dining area was laid out with oversized furniture that fit perfectly in the space. The surround sound was amazing and played at the perfect volume. The beauty of the apartment took Tameka’s breath away. “What’s up baby girl, I’m coming right now!” “No, I am not trying to rush you, I just needed to use the bathroom real fast, may I?” “Of course you can, just walk straight ahead and look to the right you will see it the door is transparent, once you get inside just hit the switch on the left and no one will be able to see inside.” Tameka did as she was told and walked straight ahead and just like he said there was a clear door, and behind it was a bathroom of marble everything. There was a standing shower for four, a urinal, double stand alone sinks, and a toilet with a heated seat. She walked inside the bathroom hit the switch on the left like Rashard said and nothing happened, she could still see out of the door. She then walked back out of the bathroom, looked back into the bathroom and couldn’t see into it, she figured that the door must have been designed to see out but not into once the switch was on. Once Tameka used the bathroom she pushed a button and screamed at the top of her lungs, water shot up and hit her in the butt, she didn’t know what hit her, she laughed when she realized it was just water. “Hey you alright in there?” “Yeah, Im fine, this water just hit me in the butt and I didn’t know what it was.” Rashard laughed and said, “Oh that’s a bidet.” “A what, Rashard?” “A bidet, it’s from overseas.” Tameka walked out of the bathroom looked at Rashard and asked if he would mind if she took a shower. She still had the residue from the gel they used in the ultrasound at the clinic on her stomach. Rashard told her that she didn’t just have to take a shower, but she could use his bathroom and take a nice hot bath. He took his shoes off and she did the same to walk into his bedroom where he had plush snow white 100% berber on the floor. He led her to the master bathroom, on the way there she saw no TV and that surprised her, but she saw a sweet chest at the foot of the bed. He had an all white sitting area that sat in front of a huge book case that was full of books. She wondered if he read instead of watching TV. She asked him why he didn’t have a TV in his room. He then went and grabbed a remote, hit a button, and a 50 inch TV rose up out of the chest that sat at the foot of the bed. Tameka didn’t even ask any more questions, she went into the bathroom and saw that the water was already run and was at the perfect temperature. Once she got inside the water, she relaxed for the first time in weeks. She looked and saw a black book with a light bulb on the front whose source of light was in the shape of a heart, “The Relationship Handbook: The Guide to Increasing Your Relationship IQ” by Edward Fairley. She wondered why he was reading a book like this, so she flipped through the pages and instantly fell in love with how easy the book was to understand. She continued to read and wondered what a relationship with Rashard would be like. He seemed thoughtful, kind, and loving. She had no idea what he did for a living and at this point didn’t care. She called for him and asked him for a towel. He bought her the softest towel and robe she had ever felt, “Hey Tameka, once you dry off, just put the robe on and come into the room.” Tameka began to worry a little and thought that Rashard was gonna make a move on her all ready. When she walked into the bedroom, she was fully clothed back into the clothes she had on when she got there. She looked on the bed and saw a beautiful bra and panty set, socks, a sweet brown sweat suit, and some brown and white converse style Coach shoes. Beside the outfit was a comfortable Baby Phat pajama set and slippers. Rashard had every product that Bath and Body works and Victoria’s Secret had ever produced, placed neatly out on a dresser. “Why did you put those dirty clothes back on?” “They are all I have.” “Well if you still want to go, you can put on the sweat suit here but if you want to stay put the pajamas on and I will show you to your room, either way I’m cool and I will be waiting on you to come into the living room. Tameka couldn’t believe that she had met such an amazing guy, and sat on the bed to decide what she was gonna do with her life. Rashard went to the living room and organized and sorted the items he would put into the gift bags he had brought. He had 20 bags to hand out tonight, hats and scarves for everyone he walked past. It had just gotten cold enough for the gift to be appropriate. He turned once he heard Tameka open up the door of the bedroom. His heart dropped when he saw she had the outfit on! “So I guess this means you want me to take you back to the bus stop?” Tameka just nodded her head yes and didn’t know why she was leaving. She just didn’t want to trust anybody. Tameka couldn’t wait to ask Rashard why he was passing out these gift bags to everyone in the halls and to the people in front of the building. Once they got into the car she asked, “why do you do that and how do you afford all of this?” “Well I have to take care of everybody, and that way they look out for me, I could leave my house, and not even lock the door, and no one will touch anything. I get everyone straight for back to school, and keep them fresh all year long. I’m a booster, and I lead a team of the best boosters around, you name it we can get it! Ok we here now, take this coat, and you be safe, take this phone and give me a call if you need anything, my number is the only one stored in there. Aight, be safe! Tameka got out of the car feeling like she had made another mistake. He had given her a real nice Northface coat, and when she reached into the pocket of the coat there was $1000 inside. Tameka felt so overwhelmed by Rashard’s kindness. She’d thought of calling him a thousand times since he left her at the bus stop. Tameka knew she had at least four more hours before the buses started to run again, so she closed her eyes and thought about how much she like Rashard. As she thought about how kind he was, she all of a sudden saw red as she felt a sharp and powerful pain in her abdomen. Tameka then felt blood race to her nose and cheeks as a headache showed up instantly to the back of her head. The cold wrapped itself around her body as her coat and shoes were snatched away. Tameka’s ears were burning because of the blows they received. As she balled up to protect herself she felt one more pain that felt like life had excused itself from her body. ~~ “Where am I, and why does my body hurt so badly?” “Young lady, you were mugged at a bus stop, and witnesses say that it was done by a group of girls. Do you have any enemies around here?” “No ma’am, is my baby gonna be ok, please tell me that my baby is fine.” “What is your name young lady, do you have any family in the area?” “HOW’S MY BABY?!!” “I’m sorry baby but your child did not survive the attack, there was a lot of trauma to your womb.” Tameka broke down weeping and felt weak and all the pain seemed to triple in strength, she felt as if there was no reason to live. She finally heard the nurse say that they needed to know her name and answered, “My name is Tameka, and I don’t have any family that I can call.” “You sure there is no one at all you can call, because we don’t really have a lot of space here, and you will only get to sit around here for a few more hours, especially since you don’t have any insurance.” “Are you serious?” “So serious baby, sorry but that’s our policy, you already been here a week now. ” “I have been here a whole week, oh my goodness, I can’t even remember my last name, but I can remember this number, I don’t know who it belongs to, but can you dial it for me?” “Sure baby.” The nurse went and dialed the number, no one answered so she just left a message. The nursing staff had dressed Tameka and was sad that she had to leave the hospital by herself, so one nurse volunteered to let Tamika stay with her for a couple days until her memory came back. There was someone at the front desk to pick Tameka up, but Tameka had no idea of who it could be. Once the young man walked around the corner, the nurse asked Tameka if she knew this young man. “Of course I know him, He is my boyfriend and his name is Rashard.. .” Rashard smiled and said, “Hey baby, you ready to go now, I have really missed you. . .” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The plane had begun to shake uncontrollably, but the flight attendants tried to act as if this was normal. Once the shaking lasted beyond what they were used to, the passengers began to notice the anxiety on their faces and started to panic. The flight attendants didn’t know what was going on, because the captain hadn’t informed them concerning the status of the plane. Marcel kept Wanda calm until the oxygen masks fell from the ceiling. Marcel had been on many flights were the turbulence had lasted a little longer than usual, but he had never been on a plane when the oxygen mask fell down. Everyone’s hearts skipped beats when the captain came over the intercom and announced that they would be preparing for an emergency landing. People were going crazy, most people were crying and screaming, while others sat quietly praying, trying to prepare themselves for the crash. Marcel and Wanda had a conversation, “Wanda, there isn’t much we can do now, Marlon has been given instructions to handle and care for our children in the event that something happens to us both, so they will be fine. Baby, I can’t get my heart to slow down, but it’s not beating fast because the plane is falling but its beating fast because our whole life together just past my eyes and I just want you to know that I have a crush on you.” “Boy you know you crazy! You can make me smile in any situation, I love you Marcel. I pray our son turns out to be just like you and I pray that our daughter finds a husband just like you!” The captain was able to pull the nose back up on the plane at the last possible point where he could save the plane from crashing into the earth. His voice on the intercom was music to the passenger’s ears. Once things got settled, the flight attendants were the ultimate professionals and nurtured everyone on the plane as best they could. “Can you get my items from the black box ma’am, here is my ticket.” “We normally don’t do this sir, but we normally don’t almost crash either, so I will be right back with your items.” Marcel took the voice recorder and began to speak life into it. He shared everything that he could think of with his son, from loving himself to loving others. He told him how proud he was of the man he was becoming and that he knew that he would be a great man one day. Marcel then spoke to Sheree and told her to never look for love through physical pleasure, and that she should never settle no matter how lonely she felt at any time. He shared with her all the game he ever knew, and ended his stream of words with telling her that she knows what love from a man feels like, so don’t ever lie to herself in order to feel good about what she receives from other guys if in fact it is not love. Marcel passed the recorder to Wanda and she spoke to her daughter about her prize, and how only one man was deserving of it, so she should be careful not to give it away prematurely. She shared with her daughter every mistake that she had ever made, and told her what she could have done differently. Wanda then spoke to her son and shared with him everything she loved about his father and how she wanted him to be even better than his father could have ever been. Even though they were safe now, they wanted to take this moment to get everything out just in case, while everything was fresh in their minds. Marcel motioned for the flight attendant, and asked her to put his items back into the box. She walked away with the items as the captain came over the loud speaker to let everyone know that they were ready to land. Marcel looked at his wife, his lover, soul mate, and best friend and kissed her softly on her lips. They got lost in each other’s stare as the captain came back over the intercom with bad news that he wouldn’t be able to land the plane safely and it was too low to pull back up. As the captain spoke, Marcel spoke, “I thank God for Him blessing me with a love that could come only from you!” “I thank God for blessing me with a husband who had eyes that never gave me a reason to doubt his love for me!” They kissed again, never hearing the captains announcement, and never feeling anything else but that kiss.. . -- “Hey Rah, what’s wrong with you? Why you looking like that?” “Well Ree, I’m a little confused, at one time, momma and daddy’s heart was going berserk, but then it calmed down and stayed calm for a while so I was cool, now I can’t find the beats.” “Oh Rah, just relax they will be calling us soon, to let us know they got there safely, maybe they are too far away for you to feel it you know?” “Yeah maybe you right, they are just too far away.” Rosa jumped up and looked frantically for the kids, and didn’t see them. She then ran a jumped on the internet and typed in Wanda and Marcel’s flight number, and then immediately started crying. With heart heavy she walked back and looked at the television and saw the blazing inferno that used to be a plane as it sat on the runway of the Vegas airport. Reports stated there were no surviving passengers, and families would be notified as soon as possible. Rosa looked outside and saw Ree Ree hugging her little brother and tears began to flow down her face. How could she tell them this? Tell them that their parents have died, that their role models had gone away. How would she tell them that they would have to go and survive in foster care, and eventually get split up because there aren’t many people that would take two children at their ages. When Rah walked in with his sister, he glanced at the TV and then he looked at Rosa. Rah hugged his older sister and walked her to the back room, she had no idea what was going on with Rah. Rah sat his sister down and said, “I need you to stay calm, but there is something I have to tell you.”
Posted on: Sat, 11 Oct 2014 04:21:11 +0000
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