Relapse: A Novel (19 page)

“Hell naw, not until this bitch gives me my shit.”

“Okay, well let’s work it out, but first, Ma, put this housecoat on.” Beijing tried to put the housecoat on her mother again. She calmed her mother down a bit: “Ma, we going to get all of this worked out. Don’t worry. Now calm yourself down before you give yourself a heart attack.” Beijing began to button up the muumuu.

“This shit is too damn hot, you don’t understand.” Willabee snatched it open. “I’m hot and these flashes keep hitting me.” She raised her voice, pointing her fingers, “And this trifling, begging-ass bitch needs to give me my shit back.”

Thank God Marsha wasn’t fueling the fire. Most of the neighbors knew that Willabee wasn’t working with a full deck.

Greta called Beijing to tell her she was less than a minute away, and Beijing asked her to stop and pick up a carton of eggs. Greta was there in less than five minutes with a twenty-four-pack of eggs in her hand.

Everything appeared to be under control until Willabee spotted
the eggs in Greta’s hand. “Thank you so much,” she said to Greta with a smile. “You are such a thoughtful woman and I appreciate you so much.”

Then Willabee turned back into her former self and began to throw the eggs at Marsha. Marsha had quick reflexes and managed to duck the first ones, but the last one Willabee threw fell right on her head. The yolk slid over her ear in a thin yellow line. Beijing grabbed the rest of the eggs and gave them to Chyna to take inside.

Woop-woop!
It was the familiar sound of the police. A green warrant had been issued to take Willabee down to the mental hospital so she could be evaluated. She could be released once her meds were back in her system.

Meanwhile Beijing talked to Greta and the police, working out all the details on what psych ward Willabee would be taken to and who was going to take care of Chyna. Greta agreed to be responsible for Chyna, getting her to and from school until Willabee got herself together.

Willabee had calmed down. She reached into her bra and retrieved a pack of cigarettes and lighter. As Beijing looked over at her mother, she wanted to cry but she just shook her head.

Four months had passed. Beijing’s twenty-ninth birthday came and went and there wasn’t much of a celebration except as usual with her father and Greta. She had flown in the day before from Texas to spend her special day with her family. Beijing’s birthday was one of the few days, if not the only day, that Sterling would take a day off work. Though both Greta and Sterling had gone to great lengths for her, the gathering somehow turned into a disaster.

Beijing and Greta had been out all day—half a day at the spa followed by lunch and of course shopping. Sterling had the house smelling like a prizewinning restaurant as he prepared a surf-and-turf meal: shrimp and crab fondue for appetizers, and for the main course filet mignon, prawns, and his famous meaty crab cakes. He also made his famous homemade sweet potato french fries as well as steamed veggies.

“A man with many talents,” she said to her dad as he put the
finishing touches on everything. Beijing knew there was nowhere else in the world she could get home-cooked food this great. “Daddy, you can do everything: run a business, tow, fix, transport, repossess a car, cook as good as if not better than any five-star chef,” she said, admiring the way her father was putting the garnish on the plates. “And you raised a very thankful daughter who loves you with all her heart.”

“Is there a price tag on all those honey-dipped words?” he joked. “I haven’t heard you give me that many compliments since you talked me into buying you that Honda Prelude on your sixteenth birthday.”

“No, Daddy. I’m not trying to flatter you, it’s the truth,” she said.

He shook his head. “It’s so hard to spoil you like I used to because you make so much money that you run out and buy yourself everything you want. I remember a time when you used to have a list as long as my arm for your birthdays and Christmas. Now you’re so independent. What you making, six figures now?” he proudly asked.

“Something like that, Daddy.” She switched the subject, because the last thing she wanted was to spend her birthday taking one of her father’s financial workshops, which he tended to give her on a regular basis. There was no denying that when it came to managing and investing money, he had it down to a science. She valued all the information Sterling gave, but tonight wasn’t the time or the place. “But seriously, Daddy, you really did a wonderful job raising me and I love and appreciate you for all that you did.”

“Hey, hey, hey, he can’t take all the credit,” Greta interrupted.

“I know you helped, but you know he’s the reason why I am even here, because he had his stuff together and enough good sense to rescue me from my momma.”

“Speaking of which, did your mother call you to say thank you
for the flowers you sent her?” Sterling asked. Before she could answer, they heard a loud commotion and then glass shattering.

“Go hide right now,” Sterling directed Beijing and Greta. He ran upstairs for his pistol. Beijing and Greta hid in the closet. From the sound of things, someone or a few someones were in the great room throwing around furniture. But why would anyone want to destroy the house?

“Do you think it’s someone who had their car repossessed by Daddy?” Beijing asked Greta.

“Naw, I think it’s someone high on crack,” Greta whispered.

“Holy shit!” they heard Sterling yell. Beijing couldn’t help it. She stuck her head out the closet door and saw Sterling standing on the table with his gun pointed at a three-hundred-pound deer. Their dinner he’d slaved over all afternoon was scattered all over the floor.

The deer was tossing his head around wildly and jumped over the leather couch. Beijing and Greta came out of the closet as the animal dashed desperately down the hallway.

“Oh my God,” Beijing exclaimed, startled by the sheer size of the beast. This was something that her self-defense class had not prepared her for.

Sterling put a clip in his gun while directing Greta to call 911.

“There’s a deer running around in our house. Yes a deer, a fucking deer like Rudolf,” Greta screamed into the phone, clearly annoyed that the operator didn’t seem to believe her.

“I don’t know how he got here; I didn’t invite him for sure. Look, just get someone out here in a hurry. He’s trying to destroy everything in his path, including us.”

Sterling had his trusted Beretta in hand, ready to defend his family and his house from the deer. Beijing was on her father’s heels. When they heard the sound of lamps and glass being knocked around from the back of the house, they took off for the guest room. Beijing got there first and stared at the buck that was
backed into the room. He looked so scared that for a second she thought she saw herself in his large dark eyes. He was lost, in the wrong place, and completely desperate as he stood there, huffing and closed in by four walls. She knew exactly how that animal felt. Trapped and alone, because that’s how she had felt without Lootchee in her life.

Sterling stepped in the doorway beside her and turned his gun on the animal. He was about to squeeze the trigger when Beijing slammed the door, trapping the animal inside and impeding her father’s shot.

“Don’t kill him, Daddy, he doesn’t know any better,” she said. “Let the animal control people get him.”

“As long as his ass stays in there, he’s okay, but the minute he comes out and we’re in any danger, he’s a goner!” Sterling stated, dead-ass serious.

Sterling looked around at the destruction the animal had done to their house. His wedding picture and Beijing’s high school graduation picture that had been hanging on the wall were on the floor shattered.

“Fuck that! He has to die.” He was reaching his hand out to turn the knob when they heard sirens coming up the driveway.

“Okay, baby girl, we’ll let the police deal with it.”

Moments later, the animal protection people were all over their house. They herded the buck outside, where it ran off into the woods. Still, the creature left lots of damage to Sterling’s house, so they got a two-bedroom suite at the Tabby in Raleigh.

Through all the excitement and drama of the day, Beijing had not received a single call from Lootchee to wish her a happy birthday. Although she hadn’t heard from him in over four months, she thought for sure that he would have at least called to wish her a happy birthday. Wishful thinking! She would have liked to tell him the story of the deer, the crazy buck that had somehow wandered into their house.

Her father came in to say good night and couldn’t help but notice her long face. “Baby, why do you look so sad?”

“No reason.”

“You know you can’t lie to me, girl. Tell your father what the problem is.”

“Just wished I’d heard from my friend, that’s all.”

“That guy that you transferred your job to Texas for?”

“Yes.” She nodded, not really wanting to discuss it with her dad.

“Well, you know, when you let someone into your heart, it’s so hard to get them out.”

“You are right. Well, I just wish I could get him out of my system.”

“Only time can.” Sterling took his time to choose his words because he knew by the look in his daughter’s eyes how volatile the situation must be. “You two met and you fell for him really quick. Always remember two things when you deal in matters of the heart: fast and fragile but slow and sturdy.” He then added, “Some men don’t appreciate a good woman until she’s gone.”

“That’s what I keep telling myself, but it’s been four months since I’ve heard from him.”

“Do you want me to call him? Because I will.”

She thought to herself about how the conversation with Lootchee and her dad would go, and then she smiled. “No, Daddy. That won’t be necessary.”

Sterling took her in his arms. “I love you, baby.”

“I know you do.” She realized how blessed she was to have a father to love her the way hers did. She had a father who had his shit together, a job she loved, and now she was about to start her own business. She knew she had to focus on putting the plans in motion to make her passion and the job she did at the hotel work for her.

Before allowing the birthday blues to set in, she took a hot
bath, drank a glass of red wine, and went to bed. Alone. Deep down she felt a little bit of guilt because she did have a fabulous life and her sister Paris didn’t have a crutch to stand on—and Paris didn’t have Sterling when Willabee fell to the wayside. Thinking back, she wished that they’d shared the same father or that her father had rescued Paris as he had saved her. But that still didn’t excuse Paris’s actions.

Beijing got up the next morning and went to work. The day was pretty much uneventful, except for a call from Fiona.

She looked at the caller ID.
No, this ain’t that crazy bitch
.

Beijing answered the call in her coolest professional voice, wondering what in the hell that woman could want with her.

“Hello. Beijing speaking,” she said.

“Oh, thank God you answered.” Fiona let out a sigh of relief. “I need your help immediately!”

“May I ask who this is?” Beijing said, though she knew that voice from the get-go. She just felt like toying with the woman.

“It’s me! Fiona, your client, your guest, the author, and I need your help. You are the only one who can get me out of this mess,” she said in a desperate tone.

“Oh, hello, Fiona,” Beijing replied. “What seems to be the problem?”

“I’m at a store in Seattle.”

“And that’s a problem because …?”

Fiona whispered into the phone, “I’m in the security office. Beijing, they’ve got me on videotape and they’ve left me alone in the office. I wasn’t intending to steal anything. I just could not resist.”

“You mean you got caught shoplifting?” Beijing said.

There was a long pause on the other end.

“Well, I wasn’t really shoplifting. That wasn’t my intention.” She rambled on and then finally said, “I have a problem, Beijing. It’s psychological. I’m sure you’d never understand because
you’re so goddamn perfect, but I have a compulsion to take things. I can’t help it.” Fiona sounded so pitiful that Beijing finally wiped the smirk off her face.

“How can I help you, Fiona?” she asked.

“Don’t you know anyone who can convince these people to let me go? I’ll pay whatever I need to pay. I have a few thousand on me. But I can’t go to jail. Imagine the field day the press would have. It would be like that Winona Ryder fiasco. I can’t face it. I’ll kill myself.”

Beijing didn’t think the world would be any worse off without Fiona in it, but she couldn’t be hard-hearted enough to turn the woman down. One thing she was sure of, though, and that was Fiona would be reimbursing the hotel for all her past compulsions.

“Tell me the name of the store, the address, and the value of the things you took. I’ll make a few calls for you,” Beijing said.

Fiona gave her the name of the store—the most exclusive place in town, of course. And the value of the items? A purse, two blouses, a pair of shoes, and a fox fur coat all totaling up to twenty-six thousand dollars.