"Were, Persha? Were, as in past tense? I mean where’s this going? What’s gonna happen with you two?" Cricket said.
"Well, if you really must know, he really is going to leave Kelsa, and eventually we’re gonna get a place together and go from there," Persha said with authority.
"Work it, gurl!" Kori said as she snapped her fingers a few times and reached over to give Persha a high five.
Cricket cocked her head to the side and looked at Persha through narrowed eyes. "Didn’t you learn anything from what you went through with him before? Why put yourself through something like that again?" she reasoned.
"It’s gonna be different this time around. I have a strong feeling. Since we’ve had this time apart I think we’ll actually be better for each other now. Sometimes it takes someone else for two people to realize how much they really mean to each other," Persha insisted. She had already decided she was going to keep seeing Clarke, and nothing would change that.
"And, gurl, he has always looked so damn delicious!" Kori said, licking her lips for effect. "You bet’ not let him get away again." She warned.
But Cricket took a deep breath and with a pained expression on her face said, "I don’t want to see him hurt you again. Know when something’s no good for you and know when to walk away and stay away." She shook her head and added, "Persha, how could you possibly forgive and forget? Don’t you remember? Loving that dog nearly destroyed you."
Persha took in her friend’s words. Back then, it was safe to say that Clarke was a dog who had trampled on her like a frightened little kitty. But now she was grown, and even more so at the age of 29 ready to prove for sure that, every cat has nine lives.
~ Clarke
Turning over for the third time, Clarke struggled to shield his eyes against the sun's penetrating rays. He had stopped hitting the snooze button a good 20 minutes ago and knew he'd be late, but his job came with some perks.
On Fridays he had the option of not going to the office at all if he really didn't want to, but he'd already decided to go in for a few hours. Afterward he'd head out to his weekend sleepover.
His bag was already packed for his get-a-way with his lovely companion. And both were excited about spending two entire nights together. It had been years since they were able to be alone for days with no one else around.
Clarke never really considered himself a ladies man. In fact, he remembered the days when girls wouldn’t give him a second look, much less thought. That was before he crafted his skills on the basketball court.
Back then he witnessed how smooth his father was with the ladies, but considered himself the complete opposite. After his mother passed away and he was alone with his old man, they never wanted for anything.
Most of the women in the working class neighborhood he grew up in looked out for them with well-cooked meals and anything else his father needed. Clarke didn’t hang around much, after his mother passed away. He was two years away from college by then and well focused on his game.
In high school he had two girlfriends and both of those were during his senior year. By then he was captain of the basketball team and spent lots of time alone. His father owned a trailer rig and was constantly on the road during those years, so Clarke was independent long before most young people his age.
The more serious of his two high school girlfriends, Nancy, was devastated when he was accepted at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. She thought they’d both go to school in Arizona and get married after college, but that was the last thing on Clarke’s mind. What girls didn’t know back then was that his first and only true love was basketball. That was what he and his father had in common. Clarke Sr. loved basketball and Clarke knew if he wanted to win his father over, he had to be not just good, but great at the game. And his game earned him a full ride to UNLV, leaving his father awestruck. He would be the first Hudson to attend college.
Clarke met Persha within days of his arrival on campus. Over time he came to realize she loved him far more than he could possibly love her, but she was good to have around and made his time in school easier.
The main concern he had with her back then was her lack of motivation. He struggled to remember her major back then but couldn’t. Yes, she was pursuing a degree, but she really had no idea of what she wanted to do with the rest of her life. She had no vision, no dreams, so she latched on to his. He seemed to be the only thing that she was passionate about.
Clarke knew Persha wanted to be his wife, and that would’ve been enough for her, but not him. He understood that then, and even though he never told her, he always wanted a woman who posed a challenge, a woman who was passionate about something, something other than a man and not afraid to pursue that passion.
Clarke knew when he left UNLV that he’d be leaving Persha, and he knew she’d find someone else. But even knowing that didn’t make leaving her easy. He had learned something very important from her. Clarke realized back then that when a woman was passionate about a man, that man was comparable to king of the world. Everything he desired was a possibility. If Persha merely thought he wanted something, she’d make it her mission to see to it that he got it. And he liked that more than anything else. So Clarke vowed back then that he’d always find women who loved him more because it was easy for women to become passionate about him. He’d leave the challenge for someone else.
When the phone rang, he snapped out of the past and caught it on the first ring.
"Hello?" he said, hoping to hear the voice of someone in particular on the other end, but instead it was his wife‘s.
"He-eey what’re you doin' at home still?" Kelsa asked.
"Why'd you call if you didn't expect me here?" he asked, trying to mask his disappointment.
"I tried you at the office and they said you weren't in yet, so I figured I'd try you at home. So what gives, don't feel like going in today?"
He eased his massive frame back onto the bed and sighed.
"I'm going, it's just a slow start that's all."
"Well, I have a surprise for you," Kelsa giggled.
Clarke sat up as his heart started racing. He didn't like surprises, but he didn’t say anything. He just waited.
"You still there?" she asked.
"Yeah, I'm here, whassup?"
"Well, if I told you, it wouldn't be a surprise now would it?"
"Kel, I'm not in the mood for games, okay? What's going on?" He didn’t attempt to hide his agitation.
Clarke started wondering why he didn't get up when the alarm first went off. He'd probably be stuck in traffic and would've been able to avoid this call all together. He knew something bad was coming.
"Remember I was supposed to work a double? Then go to the retreat?" She giggled, but Clarke didn't see the humor in what he knew was bound to come next.
"Yeah?" he managed
"Well, looks like I'll be home a lot sooner." Clarke didn't respond. "Hheeeelllo?"
"I'm still here," he said impatiently.
"I thought this would be good news. Now you don't have to worry about spending the weekend all alone." There was a pause. "You don’t even sound happy," she sobbed.
"Oh, Nah, I'm cool. That is good news,I just…" He sighed. "I'm happy."
"Well, damn, I'd hate to hear you handling bad news."
"So what time are you coming home now?"
"I'll be there by six or seven."
"Hhmm."
"Is something wrong?" she asked.
"Nah, I'm cool."
"Clarke, I think I know you by now, you are my husband, and I know when you're not happy. What's going on?"
"I don't want to talk about it," he said.
"But I do," she persisted.
"Well, it's just that I already made plans with the fellas. You know how that is. They already talkin' about how much I've softened up since we got married. But it's okay. I'll just break the news to 'em."
"You can hang with them anytime. I thought we’d go somewhere for the weekend," Kelsa suggested.
"Yeah, but we’ve kinda had these plans since you said you were going to the retreat. Everyone has changed schedules and juggled a few things for me. I guess I’ll just have to…" He heard her sigh.
"Well, um, wait," she said.
Silence hung in the air for a moment.
"You know what? Why don’t you go ahead and hang with the guys. I just thought we could do something real nice tonight, but you know, I'll probably be tired anyway."
"You sure baby?"
"Yeah, I'm sure. You go ahead. We'll be able to do something some other time."
"Are you really cool with that, Kel?"
"Yes! I insist. Who're you hanging with anyway?"
"Antwone, Jay and a few others. We're going fishing," Clarke replied, quick on his feet.
"Fishing?" Kelsa gasped.
"I know, it's something different for me. But since I haven't been hanging lately, I basically had to agree to whatever they wanted to do."
Silence blanketed them. A few seconds later he barely heard her voice when she conceded, "Maybe I will go to the retreat after all."
When he hung up the phone, he didn't hesitate to get out of the king sized sleigh bed and make a dash for the bathroom. He wasn't about to wait around for her to call back with anymore surprises.
~ Persha
Persha hadn't been feeling well lately, and this morning was no exception. When she tried to get out of bed, her head felt light and she was tempted to lie back down. She couldn't quite put her finger on the true source of her problem, but she hadn't been feeling herself for at least the last two months. And there were no signs of improvement.
After naps or a full night of sleeping, she always felt weak, like her body was never fully rested. Determined to go to work and meet up with Clarke later, she forced herself into an upright position in bed.
Maybe if I take it easy, I can make it, she thought. She eased up, but even as slow as she was moving, her head started doing that floating thing she was becoming accustom to. And that only made her stomach get that sick feeling all over again.
In addition to the sickness, the mildew odor that had seemed to have been haunting her house, reappeared despite the various plug-in air fresheners she'd bought and placed throughout the house.
Suddenly, she was making a quick dash to the bathroom for the third time that morning. The first woke her out of her sleep at about 3:45 a.m. Her stomach had roared, grumbled then ached like she'd eaten something that didn't agree with her.
Diarrhea had become a common thing for her as well. If she didn't know better, she'd think she was pregnant. But she took her pills religiously, like an addict getting a daily fix, so she knew that simply wasn’t possible. Or was it?
It was her second trip to the bathroom a couple hours after the first when she noticed blood in her stool. It shook her up a little bit at first, but then she told herself that if it happened again, she'd call somebody to take her to the emergency room.
As Persha sat in the bathroom holding her stomach, her mind wandered to Clarke. She wondered when he was going to let her know whether he was coming over tonight or not. During their dinner date on Wednesday, he eluded to the fact that Kelsa would be attending a retreat and that meant he wouldn't have to sneak off from their time together in the wee hours of the morning like he had been doing since they had rekindled their romance.
But here it was Friday, and she still hadn't heard anything else about it. He hadn’t even called. The only phone messages she received were daily prayers from her mother.
Honestly, she felt so weak that she'd be lucky if she could even make it through the day, let alone have enough strength to entertain Clarke. But the mere thought of her forthcoming rendezvous with Clarke made the challenge worth what little effort she could muster.
After using the restroom that third time, Persha was relieved to find that her stool was normal and that she didn’t have to rush to the doctor's office. She convinced herself that a long steamy hot shower and a large feast, maybe something from the Macaroni Grill, one of her favorite restaurants, might get her back in the groove of things. She'd make it to the office, and if Clarke didn't want to hang out tonight, if she was up to it, she'd catch up with Kori and Cricket and go from there.
By the end of the day, Persha felt like she was struggling to hang on to what little energy she had. She had felt a little better earlier throughout the day, especially when she was outdoors and breathing in the fresh air, but she didn't feel up to going back home.
Sitting at her desk, she thought back to her conversation with Clarke earlier that afternoon. First off, when she called his office, she sat on hold an uncomfortably long time before he picked up. And when he did, his voice didn't have that happy-to-hear-from-my-sweetheart-sound that it normally depicted.
"Clarke, is everything okay?" she had said as she toyed with the cord from her phone. She always fidgeted when she didn't feel quite comfortable.
"Ah, just a busy day around here, you know how that is," he said.
"Yeah, so are we hooking up tonight or what?"
"Emph," he cleared his throat. "Let me close my door; get some privacy around this camp." After a few more minutes on hold, his voice rang back in her ear. "Okay, well, I have some bad news. I told you Kelsa was going to that retreat, but she called and said she was able to get out of it."
"Really?" Persha said kind of flat. She didn't want to come across too disappointed, because she knew he worked hard to spend time with her and she appreciated every second of the stolen moments they shared.
"Yeah, tough break, huh? So I was thinking, maybe we could meet for a drink after work, but I can't really hang. How's that sound to you?" he asked.
"Well, let me check with my girls because I told them we'd do something if I didn't have plans."
"So you giving a brotha the boot just 'cause he can't make it for an all-nighter?" he joked.
"No, not hardly!" she answered. "But a sistah has to keep up with her situation too. It's hard trying to share yourself."