Homecoming Weekend (37 page)

“Well, corporate law is not as exciting, which is fine for me,” she said. “The emotion of both sides of the family in a murder case would be a lot for me to stomach. So I do my boring job, which I actually like, and go home and not have images about broken families because of a heinous crime.”

Jesse studied her. “You know, north Jersey where you live is not that far from Philly,” he said. “I've got this big event coming up two weeks from today. I need a date. It's the 100 Black Men of Philadelphia. I'd like you to come with me.”

“I'm assuming then that you do not have a wife, mistress, girl-friend or stalker,” she said, smiling.

“No to all that,” he said.

“Well, have your people contact my people and we'll see what we can do,” she said.

“I'm going to take that as a yes,” he said.

“As you know, counselor, I reserve the right to change my mind,” Rochelle said.

“Under what statute?” Jesse said.

“U.S. Code I'm-a-woman-and-I-can-change-my-mind-if-I-want-to,” she cracked.

Jesse smiled and nodded his head slowly. He was feeling her wit and charm. “I like you,” he said. “And I'm going to enjoy getting to know you.”

Across the ballroom, Don found old college friend Renee. They'd had a serious attraction to each other but somehow never crossed that line. He respected her so much that he actually was afraid to broach romance with her. It was truly a case of not wanting to ruin a friendship that was pure and real.

She got married years before Don, and he made sure he was at the wedding to support his friend. A part of him, though, wished he were standing across from her when the vows were read. He got over that feeling and eventually married Nona, a registered nurse with a love of sports and cigars. He called her “a man's dream.”

“So, Don, you've been having fun this weekend?” Renee asked.

“I have,” he said. “And I needed it. I needed to come back to
the campus, see my old friends, like you, and just get away from it all. I was telling Jesse, I don't know anywhere else other than homecoming I could go and feel the love I feel this weekend—not all directly aimed toward me, but the love of everyone around me for their old classmates and our school. There's an unbelievable spirit, a spirit of family and community.”

“I know,” Renee said. “I teach at Norfolk State, so I'm over there every day. And it feels like a college. But when homecoming comes around, it transforms itself. It becomes a big home and all the family comes back to visit. Like any family, some of them you'd rather not see. You know what I'm saying? But you deal with them.”

“Who don't you want to see, Renee?”

“Well, let's start with that Henry Molden,” she said. “Did you see him at the game? This man, who never said two words to me in college, comes approaching me all friendly about joining some multilevel marketing scheme.”

“What?” Don said. “Selling what?”

“I don't know; you think I was listening to him?” she said. “I was just waiting for him to take a small pause from talking so I could excuse myself. I wasn't going to be totally rude, but don't come to me with that mess any time, but especially at homecoming. I'm trying to enjoy the band and he's talking about selling whatever.”

Don laughed a good laugh. “He's here; I saw him from a distance,” he said. “I'll be sure to
keep
him at a distance.”

“And the other person I don't want to see is that damn Jessica Dennis,” Renee said.

“What did Jessica do to you? She's sweet,” Don said.

“She
is
sweet,” Renee said. “But you know what else she is? A pain in the ass. She will talk about herself and her children all night if you let her. And I'm talking about the most minute, inane,
silliest detail about something they said or did. I've met her kids; they ain't that spectacular. But if you let her tell it, one is about to be an astronaut and the other one built the spaceship.”

“Girl, you are a trip,” he said. “I'm glad I'm on your good side.”

Renee joked: “I'm just saying. What do the little kids say? ‘I'm keeping it one hundred.'”

As funny and brash as she could be, Renee also was smart and sensitive. She expressed joy when he told her of his new business prospects. And she could see in Don's expression when she asked about his wife that he was hurting.

“Well, Don, can your marriage be saved?” she asked.

“Here's the amazing thing about getting your life saved—you're able to look at things clearer,” Don said. “With all that shit swirling around me, everything was blurry. Now I can see that the problem wasn't my wife. It was me. I was borderline depressed. The last few months have been so stressful, trying to make the business go, not knowing if I would have to close my business, hoping and praying I wouldn't have to go back to a nine-to-five.

“I wasn't a good husband. I was moody and petty and hard to be around. But you know what I really was? I was scared.”

“Of failing?” she asked.

“Of not being able to provide for my family,” he said. “For a man, that's it: being able to take care of your family. I'm blessed that I have been able to do that all these years. But when it looked bad, when it looked like it was over, I was lost. I felt my manhood slipping away. It was hanging on by a string when I got here. I got stronger the longer I was here. Now, I'm ready to get home and explain to my wife why I have been so crazy lately.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” Renee said. “And don't forget to apologize while you're at it.”

Don smiled. Then he felt a vibration in his suit jacket. It was a text message from Venita.
I'm on my way. How is it?

He leaned over and hugged Renee. “This is my girl Venita. I've got to give her a call.”

Don excused himself and stepped into the reception area outside the ballroom. He dialed Venita's number. She did not answer. She was preparing to speak to Janea, even though she was unsure of what to say. Diamond and Janea came over to her hotel around nine-thirty, smiling and laughing. But Venita was serious. So she got to it right away.

“I'm glad you came to talk to me,” she said. “I understand how you can be wary of talking to your parents. But the first thing I will suggest you do is to talk to them. They love you more than anyone. And they might not be happy at first. They might be mad. But that won't last. And it's the right thing to do.

“But let me ask you: Where are you right now in your thought process?”

“Well, everything is scary, really,” Janea said. “I'm scared to have a baby and I'm scared to have an abortion.”

“And you should be,” Venita said. “It's a serious thing—both options. I'm going to tell you a story. Only three people know this story—a man named Gary and my friends you met today, Don and Jesse. But I'm going to tell you in the hope that it helps you. You have to decide what to do. I can't do that for you, Diamond can't, your parents can't and the young man who got you pregnant cannot.

“Anyway, there was this young lady about twelve, thirteen years ago who was in college like you, who had dreams of becoming a human resources manager and consultant. She identified her career early and did the things necessary to make her dreams a reality. She had a 3.8 GPA and had done internships between her sophomore
and junior, and junior and senior years. She had done all she could to put herself in prime position. Bank of America called and offered her a job after graduation.

“She knew better, but she began to have sex with her boyfriend without a condom or any protection. You—Janea
and
Diamond—have to be adamant about safe sex. Please . . . So, it's two weeks before finals and a month before graduation and her cycle does not come. She's pregnant. She's scared. Her whole life is out there waiting for her and now there's this very real situation.”

The sadness on Venita's face scared Diamond.

“She does not talk to her parents, does not talk to the boyfriend. She tells her two best friends—two men—and they try to get her to listen to reason and to talk to her parents. Well, she didn't. She had her two friends go with her and she had an abortion. It was the saddest day of her life.

“She went on to achieve what she wanted, but she has been unfulfilled all her life.”

With tears streaming down her face, Venita looked at her niece. “To this day, every day, I wish I had made a different decision.”

Diamond came from the other side of the bed and hugged her aunt, and they cried together.

Earl and Catherine

C
atherine, Starr and Earl arrived at the Best of Friends party at the height of the night. There was congestion at the table, people pulling out money to pay their admission and others displaying tickets. They continued walking into the party.

Earl had carte blanche. He was among a group of guys who founded the Norfolk State Best of Friends group, along with Kent, Kevin and Hank Davis, David A. Brown, Kevin Jones, Kerry Muldrow, Keith “Blind” Gibson, Sam Henry, Troy Lemon, Kris Charity, Ron Payne, Joe Cosby and Gerald Berry. Most of them lived in the River Oaks apartment complex down Princess Anne Road, near Military Highway.

For twenty-five years they put together an upscale event that grew into the must-attend occasion of homecoming. On this night, it was rocked by the appearance of Earl and Catherine together, hand-in-hand.

By the time they settled into a table on the left side of the ballroom, Earl's frat brother Myron had been approached by a half-dozen women asking about Earl and Catherine. It was a couple that made sense, really: two good people deserved to be together. But it still was shocking to see because hardly anyone was clued in that they were so close, much less in love.

Catherine could not sense the interest in their arriving together. Earl could. Even his friends who knew but had not seen them together stared. Catherine looked as beautiful as advertised, and she and Earl, who wore a chocolate brown suit, looked ideal together.

When he went to the bar to get drinks, he was virtually attacked by friends who wanted to know the deal.

“You're with Catherine?” “How did this happen?” “When did this happen?”

Earl smiled and carried on without saying a word.

“Boy, you and Catherine have this place buzzing,” Myron said. “Honeys are tripping me out. I'm telling them, ‘It's obvious they're together. Why you asking me?' Listen, forget that. I know her from school but I want a formal introduction.”

“All right,” he said. “We have a table in the back left. Just come on back there.”

When he got back to the table, Catherine introduced him to some of her friends he did not know and some he did. “Earl and I are together,” he heard her say to some old friends Mike and Brigitte Booker-Rogers, who also knew each other in college and reconnected many years later.

“You threw me off when you asked me if I was going to ride with you to the party,” Earl told Catherine at the table. “It made me think you didn't want me to.”

“Oh, I'm sorry,” she said. “I wasn't sure how you wanted us to be seen to our classmates. So, that's why I asked.”

Earl said: “Well, I finally said, ‘If she doesn't want me to go with her, she's just going to have to tell me.”

“Well, I'm glad you did, baby,” Catherine said, holding his hand. “That's what I wanted. I want the whole world to know that we're together and that I love you.”

Then she leaned in and they kissed, and it seemed the entire ballroom was looking. They posed for photos and danced and enjoyed each other as they always had. They were having their own little private party within the party.

One by one, their friends made it over to their table, interested in saying hello and confirming with their own eyes that they were together. Earl was reserved and subdued in how he dealt with their friends. Catherine was direct: “This is my man, Earl,” was how she introduced him.

Their relationship was hardly a secret, but not many people knew. This was their coming-out party, and they did it with a bang.

“We've got to talk,” Leslie, Earl's friend, said when they connected for a moment. She and Earl kept in touch, but had not spoken in several months, so she was surprised to see him with Catherine.

Earl went outside the ballroom and admired what he saw: Alphas and Ques and Kappas convening, as one; Deltas and AKAs posing for photos; women complimenting each other on how they looked; brothers laughing and joking; old cliques still together, twenty-five years later; cameras flashing all over the place.

“Eddie,” Earl called out and Eddie Keith turned around.

“Oh, shit,” he said loudly when he saw Earl. They had not seen each other since 1981. They hugged and laughed and recalled going to the closed-circuit viewing of the Sugar Ray Leonard-Tommy Hearns welterweight championship fight at the Scope.

“It was September 16, 1981, to be precise,” Earl recalled. “I had thirty dollars to my name. That's it. It cost twenty-five dollars to go see the fight. It was a Wednesday night. I left myself with five dollars. I wasn't going to miss that fight.”

“That's a hell of a college memory,” Eddie said. “Sugar Ray won in an epic fight. Great night.”

Catherine had not been to homecoming since her divorce, although she lived in the area. Many of her old classmates had not seen her over that time, so it was especially nice for her to see familiar faces, especially so many of her sorority sisters.

But as nice as that was, it was all about Earl for her. And it was all about Catherine for him.

Earl's friends joked with him about all the attention he gave Catherine. And he didn't care.