Authors: Shareef Jaudon
“All rise!” The deputy announced.
I reluctantly rose from my seat to show some non-deserved fake ass respect to the judge. Two minutes into the proceedings, my attorney requested a counseling session with me through the deputy. He wanted a chance to meet with me before my case was called up. The hallway was the special meeting place where me and my expensive attorney had our brief conference with the deputy standing close by. The lawyer stared at me through two thousand dollar prescription bi focals.
“Wasup?” I shrugged my shoulders.
He chuckled a little, “Man O man, can I get your autograph?”
“What?” I looked at him closer.
“I want to get your autograph. I mean you have to be a celebrity or royalty to get the kind of deal you just got offered.” His eyes were wide.
“What deal…what are you talkin’ about?”
He cleared his throat, “How does 60 days on a brandishing a weapon charge sound? You’ll get credit for the 30 days you already served and be released in eight days.”
I looked at him blankly, “Are you playin’ with me?”
“No sir Mr. Adkins…I most certainly am not. I just spoke with the district attorney and I have the disposition paper work all here for you to sign.”
He pulled some legal papers out of his brief case and passed them to me. I looked them over while my mouth piece used his manicured finger to point out all the important parts. I read the weapons charge info and the jail time stint. There was no mention of any murders or arson. My lawyer advised me to sign the deal before my luck
changed….and I agreed. I couldn’t believe it; what
the fuck happened? Where was that bitch ass Detective Walsh? How in the hell was this happening? I signed my name like my hand was on fire and my lawyer patted me on my back vigorously. Shit, he was happy he was getting paid without having to earn it. I was taken back into the courtroom and my case was called up next. Me and my newest fan stood at the podium across from a pissed off district attorney.
“Your honor this is case number FR48759, the state vs. Tyce Adkins. Your honor there has been a change of course in this case. We are no longer pursuing additional charges in this case and the people have reached a disposition agreement in this matter. All previous felony charges have been dropped by the people in favor of a misdemeanor weapons charge. The documents have been signed by both parties and the defendant has been advised by his counsel.” The D A spat the words out of his mouth like spoiled milk.
The judge read a copy of the document and he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He asked me if I was entering this plea of my own free will blah blah blah blah…and after he was done bumping his gums, he banged his gavel and made it official.
“Yesssss!” Angelique screamed.
Dallas was grinning from ear to ear. She didn’t say
a word, but her huge “
Kool
-
Aid”
grin spoke volumes.
“You hold on for eight more days Mr. Adkins.” My lawyer said cheerfully shaking my hand vigorously.
“No problem.” I shot back.
I winked at my girlfriends as I was led out the courtroom…before I walked through the doors I looked over my shoulder and mouthed the words “I love you” to both of them.
“We love you too!” They shouted out not caring that they were disturbing the calm of the courtroom.
Now, I really aint talk much to God but I had to give Him a shout out on this one.
Hello Again
I was ecstatic! I walked back to my skinny cell wearing a full figured smile on my face. My celebration breakfast was “
Ramen”
noodles a “
Kit
Kat”
candy bar and a glass of “
Tang.”
For some reason the snacks tasted like a three course meal from a five star restaurant…
maybe
it was knowing that I’d be out of there in eight days that added the special seasonings to my simple meal.
The afternoon rolled around and brought with it a surprise visit announcement. A jail guard named Cecil who looked like he played nose tackle for the “
Broncos”
informed me that I had company. I suddenly got impatient because I was itching to see Angelique and Dallas again; I jumped up off my bunk and followed him eagerly to the visitation room.
When I walked in my eyes searched the room for Angelique and Dallas but they were not there.
“Where’s my visitors?” I turned to Cecil.
“She’s right there.” He pointed to a middle-aged woman sitting quietly at the corner table.
I gave her a puzzled look and walked over to her, keeping with the rules of the visitation room I took a seat across from her and stayed on my side of the red line. I scrolled through my mental rolodex trying to place her face but came up blank.
“Hello Tyce.” She said in a friendly tone.
“How you doin’…and excuse me for being blunt, but
who
are you?” I leaned back in my chair.
“My name is Pamela…Pamela Adkins.”
My mind was vacant…the room went soundless…I just watched her. Neither one of us moved a muscle.
“
Ummm
…I’m the one who rescued you when you were a baby.” Her eyes began to water. “I ahhhh…I gave you your name.”
The levy finally broke and a flood of tears streamed down her blush red cheeks. She smoothed over her hair, which was pulled back into a neat bun and adjusted her position in the chair. She took shaky breaths as her emotions rode up her spine.
“I think I owe you…I mean…I feel like I owe you an explanation.” She stuttered.
I finally spoke, “Thank you for rescuing me.”
I stood up and gave her a warm hug, I squeezed
her body tight to mine, and we rocked slowly back and forth. I was breaking the visitation rules but I didn’t give a fuck. Cecil didn’t attempt to break us up he just looked the other way and let us have our moment, plus I think he overheard the conversation because he had a little grin on his face. For the first time in 26 years; I cried, I let the long abandoned tears descend down my face. I cried because I was
left
in a dumpster, I cried because I was
found
in a dumpster. I cried because I had to kill my best friend, I cried because Lil’ Flash was dead, I cried because my soul needed to air out; for years I locked my emotions inside my chest and didn’t let them out and now there was no more room in there. Pamela held me close and rubbed my back while she let her emotion filled tears flow out as well. We eventually separated and sat back down; both of us had a case of the sniffles as we wiped the water from our eyes.
“I knew a woman found me in the trash, I had visions of how you would look…to be honest I never pictured you being white.”
I was being honest, in my dreams I envisioned the woman who found me as being black. I guess in my head she was the closest thing to a mother I had and when I looked in the mirror I saw a brown
face staring back at me so naturally my imagination made her look like me.
“I didn’t mean anything by it…I’m jus’ surprised…
pleasantly
surprised
.” I touched her hand.
“I’m glad. To be honest I didn’t expect to find you in that back alley either. I believe God sent me there to find you and I’m grateful that He did.”
“Shit me too.” I blurted out. “I have so many questions to ask you…I don’t know where to start. First of all how did you know I was in here?” I put my elbows on the table ready to listen.
Pamela sat up straight in her chair and looked me in the eye, “I’ve always known where you were Tyce…I’ve kept tabs on you your whole life. Up until now I’ve stayed in the background but I saw that you were in trouble so I stepped in.”
“What do you mean you stepped in?” I asked curious.
“I ahhh, saw that you needed help so I helped.” She squeezed my hand lovingly.
And then it hit me, “
You’re
responsible for the deal today….for the charges being dropped!”
There was a long pause, “Yes I was.” She
answered quietly.
“How did you pull that off, I mean what did you do?”
“It really wasn’t that hard, it’s kind of what I do now, I’m a private investigator, I retired from the police department and went into
business for myself about six years ago.”
“Ok, so you followed me or something?” I asked somewhat confused.
“No, I followed the man that I knew could bring you trouble…I followed Detective Walsh.” She lowered her voice, “You see when you robbed Diego Alverez I knew he would send his pet detective after you, so as an insurance policy for
you
I got some dirt on
him
to get you clean.”
“You know about the robbery?” I whispered.
“I was there when it happened.” Pamela’s eyes narrowed.
“Damn. I guess you still rescuing me from funky situations huh?” I smiled.
“That’s what good mother’s do.” She smiled back.
“Yeah…they do. Thank you so much. What the hell did you have on him anyway, it musta been somethin’ real bad.”
“Let’s just say that he had a weakness for young boys.” Her eyebrows rose up.
“DAMN…HE WAS A PETOFILE!” I yelled out.
“Something like that…
whatever
he was he didn’t want it to get out in the open.”
I just shook my head. All that tough talk he was dishing out and the dude was a fucking freak. He was trying to act all hard and shit.
“Listen Tyce…I may not agree with all the things you do but I know inside you have a good heart. I couldn’t stand by and watch you get thrown in jail for the rest of your life…not while I’m still breathing.” She said confidently.
“Well I’m glad I have you in my corner.”
The ten-minute visit was coming to an end but I had to ask one more question.
I licked my lips out of nervousness, “I wanna ask you somethin’.”
“Go ahead.” She whispered.
I took a deep breath, “Why didn’t you keep me?”
She blinked her eyes rapidly and placed her palms on the table, “Tyce I ahhh, I struggled with that question my whole life, even to this day I ask myself that very question. I wonder if I’d kept you-would you even be in this situation.” She continued, “I was in a sad place when I found you. I’d just had a miscarriage and buried my birth son days before you came into my life. I kept you for two weeks but I was