"Yo, Clarke man," the stranger said. "I need to holla’ at you real fast." He then looked around the room, but didn’t greet anyone. He looked as though his patience was running thin.
"Antwone!" Clarke yelled. "What the hell! How’d you know where to find me?"
"Antwone!" Cricket screamed.
Kori pulled up a chair and said, "Oh this is about to get real real good."
The doctor looked around the room. He wore a look that implied he wasn’t sure what to do.
By the time the entire scene registered in Persha’s head, Antwone had already moved toward Clarke and grabbed his arm. Clarke looked down at Antwone’s hand on his arm.
"We need to get out of here. We’ve got trouble brewing," Antwone said. "I don’t know if Michelle followed me here, but when I left the house she was talking to Kelsa. We need to talk."
"Hold up a sec," Clarke said as he pulled away and held his hand up.
"I don’t think you understand," Antwone stressed, "we need to bounce! I mean like right now. I don’t know what’s going on here, but you don’t want Kelsa and Michelle in the same room together."
Unable to figure out just why she’d suddenly become nervous, Persha started looking at the two men standing near her bed.
"Did you have to bring this here, to my hospital room? Don’t you know we just had a baby?" Persha said.
Antwone gave Clarke a look no on else could read, and then produced his papers. "A baby?" Antwone howled, with a frown on his face, "Ww-hhat’s going on, man?"
"Not now, dawg. We’ll have to talk later," Clarke said as he tried to dismiss Antwone with the wave of a hand, but Antowne wouldn’t go away.
"So you’re the Antwone Johnson named in the lawsuit," Persha asked. "Why would Kelsa be suing us both for ending her marriage?"
"Yeah, something ain’t right with this picture," Kori said, eyeing the two men suspiciously.
Confusion washed over Persha. She wished her mother was gone. Maybe she could handle what was coming next, but she was positive her mother wouldn’t be able to.
"Kori, why don’t you take Ma down to the cafeteria?"
Shaking her head, Kori blurted out, "Nah-ah. I ain’t stepping foot out of here ‘till we find out what’s going on with these two." She looked at Antwone and Clarke. "What are y’all waiting for? Start talking!" she demanded.
As if recognizing the others in the room for the very first
time, Antwone sighed. Again he looked into Clarke’s eyes and tried to appeal to him.
"We really need to go some place private to talk about this," Antwone said. "I don’t want Michelle and Kelsa to come and find us here."
Clarke looked at his friend and said, "At this point, it really doesn’t matter what they say. I don’t want Kelsa back."
"I don’t think you understand the seriousness of the situation here. Man, we really need to talk," Antwone insisted. "You know, in private," he hissed.
"Obviously, he ain’t leaving, so why don’t you just go ahead and spill it?" Kori urged.
"Michelle and Kelsa know, man. It’s over," Antwone said somberly.
"What?" Clarke asked.
"That’s how I knew you were here. A friend of Kelsa’s from here called her up. She had us all served with these papers, then she called to tell Michelle about it. Man it’s about to go down. We need to split so we can talk."
"How the hell did she find out?" Clarke asked, thinking out loud as he took the papers from Antwone.
"What’s about to go down? Find out what?" Kori asked, out of her seat and near Persha’s bed.
Antwone looked down his nose at her. "Ah, this is a private matter," he said.
"Clarke, you are not going to leave with him. This is our child we’re talking about here. You need to decide what’s important to you," Persha said with authority.
Turning to face Persha, Clarke glanced down at the paper, then back at her. "I don’t have time for this. You need to let me know what’s up with the baby and I’ll get back with you some other time." He looked at Antwone. "I don’t have my ride, so I’m gonna have to roll with you."
After hearing that, Paula stepped forward. She held up one elegant finger and started up again. "Okay, so let me understand this. My daughter risked her life and that of her unborn child while you were off doing God-knows what, then you show up here for a hot minute, bringing all this mess in with you, and now you’re skipping out because you don’t want your wife to catch you in your mistress’s hospital room?" Paula stepped in front of the door and placed her hands on her hips. "As far as I’m concerned, she needs to come and find your trifling tail. Now I’m a Christian woman, so I’m not gonna say too much about what it looks like with you and Mr. Antwone and whatever secrets you two got going on, but maybe my daughter needs to talk with this wife of yours."
The look on Antwone and Clarke’s faces were indescribable. They looked at each other, then back at Paula. Horror had found its home in their stares.
"You’ll leave this room over my dead body!" Paula finally stated.
"Ma’am, this has nothing to do with you or your daughter. I just need to talk to Clarke and we can’t do it here. So if you’ll be kind enough to step to the side, we can take this elsewhere to sort things out."
"Ah, I don’t mean to break this up, but does anyone want to know about the baby?" the doctor spoke up.
All eyes focused on him, but no one spoke up. Persha was afraid to hear what he had to say. Cricket, Kori and Paula were more interested in what Clarke had to say, and he and Antwone had other things on their minds.
Before Dr. Blendshe could provide information to the new parents and others concerned, his pager went off. Looking down to the pocket of his smock he grabbed the pager and started pressing buttons.
"Oh, my," he exclaimed as he reached for the phone. Again, everyone in the room grew silent as hey watched him make his call. "Yes, this is Dr. Blendshe. Ah, yes! I’ll be right there." He slammed the phone back into its cradle and headed toward the door. Paula couldn’t move fast enough. "Ma’am, it’s imperative that I get down to the neo-natal unit. It’s the baby. I’ll send word as soon as I know something."
Paula didn’t move.
"Ma! Please, move away from the door! If something’s wrong with my baby, he needs to go," Persha hissed.
As if she suddenly snapped out of something, Paula quickly stepped aside. But as soon as the doctor walked out, she resumed her post in front of the door.
Persha closed her eyes and turned her back to the group. She said a silent prayer, again begging God to spare her child’s life.
~ Clarke
This shit has got to be straight outta the twilight zone, Clarke thought. This can’t be happening; Stuck in a room with a bunch of crazy bitches and a flaming fool! Think fast! Think fast! There’s got to be a way out before any other parties to the drama decide to show up. Clarke didn’t know what to do.
He thought Antwone was stupid for showing up at the hospital. He should’ve known things weren’t cool. Hadn’t he gotten the message when none of his friggin’ calls or messages were returned? Shaking his head, Clarke was tired of mad-mugging Persha’s nosy-ass Mama.
He threw his hands up in the air and shrugged his shoulders. "Let the motherfuckin’ chips fall where they may!" he said in exhausted defeat.
"What? Dawg? What are you saying? Are you saying what I think you‘re saying? I can’t go out like this! You don’t understand. I’m not some fucking maid. I got way too much to lose."
Fire started raging in Clarke’s eyes. His jaw tightened and his fist began to ball at his thigh. He just knew this fool wasn’t trying to flash on him like this.
"Maid?" Kori said as her arched eyebrows shot up. She rose from her chair, taking center stage. She looked at Persha then looked back at Antwone and Clarke who were about to square off.
"Girl, I thought you said he worked for some AD agency," Kori said to Persha while looking at Clarke.
Clarke didn’t need this shit. He knew it would come out, but never envisioned it happening like this. He closed his eyes. He was fuming. He wanted to use his bare hands to rip Antwone’s head off, then he’d take care this loud mouth, who was slowly pissing him off.
With her back still turned to the circus, Persha willed herself to a better place, she didn’t need the drama.
"Persha!" Kori screamed. "He is a maid?" she shouted.
Turning slowly, Persha looked at Clarke. He didn’t have the courage to look her in the eyes. She didn’t know. No one knew but those who were closest to him.
"Clarke? What’s going on? This is all scaring me," Persha confessed.
"Look, stay out of this. It ain’t got nothing to do with you!" Clarke snapped, still staring Antwone right in the eyes.
"It does have something to do with me. What are you saying? We have a child together," she reasoned.
"Okay, hold up a sec," Kori said as she approached the bed. "Is he some big shot AD executive or is he a maid? That’s what I want to know."
By now, Paula had slacked off on her post. She and Cricket stood near the window watching the drama unfold. No one answered Kori’s question.
"I repeat," Kori screamed, louder than before, "is this man a maid or does he work for an advertising agency?"
"Well, that depends on who you talk to!" A voice entering the room answered.
At the sound of the familiar voice, Clarke looked
toward the door. His heart took a nose-dive when he saw Kelsa stroll into the room with Michelle and Menesha in tow.
~ Persha
"Who the hell are you?" Kori asked, glancing in Kelsa’s direction.
With one look, Kelsa dismissed her. After making her dramatic entrance and answering Kori’s original question, she stood there poised, like the winner in the Ms. America pageant. After a brief second, Kelsa pointed at her own chest and said, "Me? I’m wifey. But then again, I’ll bet your girl knew that!" she spat.
"Lawd have mercy!" Paula cried.
Menesha and Michelle highfived each other, then Kelsa.
With pain from her stitches burning like an out of control wildfire, Persha still managed to inch her body into an upright position. At the sight of Kelsa, she wanted desperately to get up out of that bed and walk over to physically claim what was hers. She hoped the woman wasn’t there to try and get Clarke back.
"Why are you even here? It’s over between you two. You can’t have him back," Persha cried, before she could think better of the comment.
Persha was struck by Kelsa’s beauty. There wasn’t any one thing that stood out more about her, except maybe her brilliant hazel eyes that seem to light up the room. She was dressed in a tailored navy suit, her hair freshly done, and her body was thin, but shapely. She oozed confidence.
How could she not be good enough for him? Persha wondered. Persha winced at the pain, determined to appear half as confident as Kelsa looked. She fought the urge to break down. Why wasn’t Clarke speaking up? Why hadn’t he thrown Kelsa out of the room. And what was she doing there in the first place?
"As I stated before, it really does depend on whom you talk to about good ole’ Clarke here. See, his crafty business cards that he ordered off the internet himself would lead you to believe he’s the Vice President of some huge Ad agency here in town. But what he fails to tell most people is that, AD stand for Artistically Domestic," Kelsa said as Menesha reached up and gave her a high five again.
"Read ‘em girlfriend," Menesha said.
"And for those of you who are slow, artistically domestic is a cleaning service," Kelsa continued. "You know, like Maggie Maid. So while he no longer cleans the houses of the River Oaks elite, he does clean their offices."
"Wait, hold up," Kori interjected. "You mean to tell me this boy ain’t running things over at some up and coming advertising agency, but instead he cleans houses?"
"Houses and office spaces. He has been promoted. He is talented after all," Kelsa snickered, looking at Clarke.
"So it never really surprises me when some little silly trick sees the card, the car that I helped buy, the jewelry that I bought, and thinks she’s struck it big with a real baller. I’m used to it. But I know what’s really popping."
"I know you not talking about my baby, calling her a silly trick," Paula snapped.
Kelsa’s stare quickly turned to Paula. "Well, let’s see. If she’s the same woman who moved into the spare bedroom of the house I pay the mortgage for, at the urging of my husband, while I was working hard to maintain our lifestyle; the one who snuck in and out of my bed sometimes while the sheets were still warm from my own damn body; the same one who was caught buck naked, sucking my husband’s dick in the middle of my living room like the place and his dick were hers, then she is the silly trick ho’ I’m talking about," Kelsa said with no shame.
"Emph Emph emph," Menesha added.
With her mouth dropped wide open and a hand over her chest, Paula stumbled back into her chair. When she looked at her daughter, her eyes were filled with tears.
"Is this true?" Paula managed to ask Persha.
Persha cut her stare away from her mother. She was struggling not to break down. How could she? How could Kelsa walk up in this room and turn her world upside down like that? Where was her mercy?
"Girl, speak up when your mama’s talking to you," Kelsa urged with a smirk on her face.
Michelle snickered.
Persha rolled her eyes at Kelsa and Michelle. This wasn’t supposed to happen. And right in front of her sanctified mother. If she could, she’d take Paula into her arms and say just how sorry she was for letting her down. She could only imagine the pain and shame her mother was feeling.
"Okay," Kelsa said as she shifted her weight to one side and used her hands to express her words. "Since the cat got her tongue, let me answer that for you. Yes! It is true. All of it."
Paula turned to Persha and just shook her head.
"Girl, you didn’t tell your mama how lover boy here ran to save his own skin when I turned that gun on him?" Kelsa directed at Persha. How he left you outside naked running down the street, or how he left you sitting up in jail after all that mess?" Kelsa sucked her teeth. "Well, quite surely you told her how he pimp-slapped your ass down to the ground at the gas station about a month or so ago. Well, shoot, you were pregnant then, right?" She turned to Clarke. "Yeah, I saw your ass. Saw the entire thing. Boy, if that was me, your ass would be six feet under right now!" Turning back to Persha, she said, "well I guess I wouldn’t want my mama to know that kind of stuff about me either." She tisked, "Shame on you, girlfriend. Shame, shame shame!" Kelsa shook her head.