URBAN: In Love with A Boss Nigga (28 page)

“Nothing that I want to talk about right now.” Giselle snapped back. “And don’t let the scholarship let you down.”

“But what about the kids?”

“I told you, you can’t worry about that.” Giselle sighed. “You have to have faith that something good will happen.

“That’s something I could never standby. Wait on faith.”

“Why not?”

“Just look at my life.”

Giselle was going to correct her, but she was so tired. It was minutes away from midnight and she wasn’t so used to sleeping back at the foster apartment. Usually, she would be up late talking to Lionel. It didn’t matter what they were talking about, but they would spend hours and hours just getting to know each other. When they weren’t talking about their whole lives, they would just tell jokes or just chat.

“Well don’t get so down about a scholarship. Most people who get them are usually happy. At least you know what you’re going to do with your life.”

“You still haven’t figured out yet what you want to do?”

“Not really. I think I just have to get back home to North Carolina. Once I’m there, I’ll be able to know what to do, at least I hope I do.”

“What do you mean by hope? That doesn’t even sound like a plan.”

“I know.”

“Listen, I know that you and Lionel are a touchy subject but you should really take some time out for you. You need to make a real plan for the future because if you think that you’re just going to go to North Carolina and everything will be okay, you’re crazy. What is it you want to do?”

“I don’t know. I’ll think about it.”

“No, stop putting it off. What is it you want to do?”

“I think go to college?”

When Giselle said it, it came off more as a question than as a statement. Laura was a bit disappointed. She hated to see someone just drift around. Being through the foster system, she’s seen so many lost souls and didn’t want Giselle to be another one. When she first met Giselle, she could tell that Giselle was a bit spoiled and lived very differently than she ever did. But as she saw how lost Giselle was, it was clear that she needed some guidance.

“You should go see your counselor at school.” Laura suggested but Giselle just shrug her shoulders. “No seriously, it’ll do you some good. I was lost for a minute and my counselor helped me out.”

“I don’t want people in my business.”

“Except for me and Lionel? How is that working for you?”

“Fine. I’ll do it.”

“On Monday?” Laura yawned and started to make her way back to her bed.

“Yes Monday” Giselle laughed.

Just then they heard someone at the door. Giselle and Laura exchanged looks. Ms. Rita stumbled in. She slammed the door and one of the youngest children woke up.

“No.” Laura stood firm next to her. “I told you that you can not do that shit here. You have to respect the other people that live in this house.”

“Little bitch, I’m tired of you thinking that you run this house. Who the fuck do you think you are?”

“You’re high.” Laura moved back. “Go to sleep in your room, but be quiet on your way there.”

“You think that you can tell me what I can do?” Ms. Rita laughed loudly. She raised her hand to hit Laura, but Giselle stood up. Ms. Rita saw Giselle coming towards her and she stopped. “Oh I see, you got this uppity bitch with you, so you can be brave.” She laughed wickedly again.

All seven of the children were awake. The oldest of the youngins, was only 13, but he wrapped his arms around the four toddlers. The three other kids were 6, 8, and 9, and were cowering in their room. They hated Ms. Rita. She would neglect them throughout the year and only pay them attention as soon as a social worker came around. They were glad when Laura started to take over the house. Ms. Rita got high elsewhere and just came home to sleep. Every now and then when Ms. Rita broke the rules, Laura would remind her of their arrangement, but even the kids could see now that Ms. Rita wasn’t going to do anything easily tonight.

“It’s okay.” Laura smiled at them. “Jeremy,” She called out towards the young teen. “Take all the kids to your room. You can make a cot on the floor for any of the kids that do not have a place to sleep. Remember what I told you?”

“Lock the door and don’t come out until you say so.”

“That’s right.” She smiled wider trying to put the children at ease. They all followed Jeremy and soon the door locked behind them. Laura’s smile faded as she saw the children were gone.

“You go into your room and you sleep this shit off. I don’t give a fuck about what you do outside of this apartment, but in here, you are going to do what I say. So go sleep it off!” Laura pointed to her room. Ms. Rita laughed and pushed Laura and Laura pushed her back. It didn’t take long for a fight to break out. Ms. Rita went to punch her but she moved out the way. Giselle grabbed on her to hold her back, but Ms. Rita shook her off and then went for Giselle. She wrapped her hands around her neck and squeezed. Giselle was in shock for a second but quickly pulled on her hair. Ms. Rita let out a scream. She pushed the drug addict to the floor and started to kick her. Laura jumped in and got a few kicks as well.

Finally they stopped and Ms. Rita was still going after them. In her drug induced state, it was almost as if she was invincible. No matter how much they were hitting her, she still got back up. Giselle opened the front door and threw her out in the hallway.

“You fucking bitches!” She screamed and it echoed throughout the hallway. She lunged at them both and they both started fighting. Some people came out in the hallway to watch them. Giselle punched her in the face, but got a hard slap in return. Laura then put her in a headlock as she was squirming around. Ms. Rita reached up and started clawing at Laura. She cried out in pain and let her go. The three of them stood there looking at each other.

“What the hell is going on?” Yvette, Lionel’s mother said as she got to her floor. She had just finished a double shift at work. She was looking forward to a long relaxing bath and her bed, but she wasn’t expecting to see a fight right next to her door. “Giselle? Laura? Are you guys okay?” She asked walking over to them. She saw the scratches on Laura’s face and the huge red mark on Giselle’s. It didn’t take her long to put it all together. “You have really got a problem.” She said to Ms. Rita. She knocked on her own apartment door. Minutes later a very sleepy Lionel came to the door.

“Ma, you lost your keys?” He yawned as he rubbed his eyes. He then saw the commotion in the hallway.

“Take my purse and things inside.” She handed over her things to her son. “And then call the police.”

“Ma, I got this.”

“Lionel you heard what I told you.” He nodded his head and did what he was told. He kept the door open in case his mother needed him.

“You will no longer lay a hand on any of these children. We should all be ashamed of ourselves for not doing anything while you ran the streets, but that is no more. Enough is enough.” She had her finger in Ms. Rita’s face. “Girls,” She still had her eyes dead locked on Ms. Rita. “Girls, you go and check on the other children, I’ll be keeping her under my watch.” She leaned back and crossed her arms. Ms. Rita tried to move, but Yvette just laughed at her. “Now, you know better than that.” She blocked her. “These kids may not be able to whoop ya ass, but you and I both know that I can.”

The police came twenty minutes after. They arrested Ms. Rita. One of the cops stayed behind to get a statement from Giselle, Laura, and Yvette.

“So, she is in charge of all the children?” He asked writing everything down. He didn’t want to leave out anything out of his report.

“Yes, but as you can see she’s not the most suited.” Yvette said.

“Yeah.” He sighed. “But that means I have to get in touch with Child services.”

“What is going to happen to the children?” Yvette asked seeing the look of panic coming over Laura’s face.

“I can’t really tell. Usually they are taken away and put into another home.” He informed them.

“No.” Laura shook her head. “We’ve been through enough. We can’t keep having shit happen to us. I’m almost 18, I can take care of them.”

“It’s not that easy sadly. It’s this whole process and sometimes it can take up to a year.” He informed them.

“It’s so early in the morning. The kids are asleep and they are fine. I’ll look in on them and-”

“I know ma’am, but rules are rules.” He told them but Yvette took his hand.

“Come with me.”

She led him to the foster apartment next door. She signaled for him to be quiet, as the children were still asleep inside.

‘Look at this.” She showed him the almost empty fridge. He leaned and look at the dingy walls, the mildew in the air, horrid stench that was coming from Ms. Rita’s room. There was a mattress on the floor in the middle of the room. As the cop walked in, his feet stepped over crack pipes and they shattered under his weight.

“Oh shit.” He cursed. “What is this?”

“This is where that beast sleeps. And as bad as her bedroom is, I want you to take a look at the kids’ rooms.”

When she opened the doors, the cop’s eyes opened wide. The clean and pristine room came as a shock. The bunk beds were filled with sleeping children, stuffed animals. In the corners there were books, toys, and games. He tiptoed his way out of the apartment. Lionel’s mother followed right behind him. He shook his head and couldn’t believe what he saw.

“The apartment is a mess but the kids’ rooms were great. If she didn’t care about these kids, why did she give them such great rooms?”

“You think that’s from her? You’ve seen the drugs in her room. The reason that place is any good is because of that girl right there.” She pointed to Laura. “You can’t take these kids away. Not tonight.” She pleaded with him. “I know that it’s your job to do it, but I’ll look in on the kids and…” She drifted off. “Just give us some time with them.”

The cop thought long and hard. The hallway wasn’t as filled with those nosey residents as it was before. There were a few people here and there, but most of the residents went home and gone to bed. It was now three in the morning and a lot of them had to be up later for work. He could see the desperation in the eyes of people there. It was obvious that Ms. Rita was as crooked as they came. He didn’t understand why nobody locked her up, or even called the police. But the more he thought about it, he knew what the relationship the police and the neighborhood had. For all he knew, they probably tried to get her locked up, but it seemed like Ms. Rita knew how to work the system.

“Look,” He took Laura, Giselle, and Yvette to the side. “I’m going to personally give you my cell phone number, and you call me if you need any help. I’m not going to call child services-”

“Thank you.” The three ladies said at once.

“At least if there isn’t another incident. I’m going to try to keep that lady detainment and not in prison for as long as I can.”

“Why not just lock her up and get rid of her?” Laura asked teary eyed. She thought her nightmare was over.

“Because there’s a chance that she might be put in the system. I don’t know how it works, but once she has an arrest, who’s to know when Child Services finds out. They might just take the children. So if I keep her in detainment, she won’t get a record. Or at least I’m going to try. While I’m doing that, you guys have to find somewhere safe and permanent to place these kids.”

“They can stay with me.” Laura chirped in happily. “I’ll just stay here and take care of them all. It’s like we’re a family anyway, so it won’t have to be somebody new.”

“That’s very admirable of you, but I think they will find you too young for this. You guys help them find a great place and then you go from there.”

“There's nothing else you can do?” Laura asked.

“I think he’s doing more than he’s supposed to.” Yvette pointed out. “Thank you. We are so grateful.” She extended her hand and they shook hands.

The cop left and Laura breathed a sigh of relief. She didn’t get the news she wanted, but at least the kids could stay with her for awhile. She could help them get up in the morning and pick them up after school. She would also try to pick up some work so that they would have money around the house. She still had the checks from what the city gave Ms. Rita for fostering the children, but the extra money could only help her some more.

“We got to find these kids a safe home.” Yvette said out loud but she was really speaking to herself. “They need some room and place to stretch.”

“We can clean up Ms. Rita’s room.” Laura’s brain was working overtime trying to find solutions. “That way if ACS comes here, the first thing they’ll see is a completely clean room. They never went back there and if the first time they see it, it’s neat, that’ll look good, won’t it?”

“You’re going to go crazy trying to do this all on your own.” Yvette told her. “We’ll put our heads together Monday after school and see what we can come up with. I’m guessing the younger kids were with her for daycare.”

“She got extra money for that, I think.” Laura confessed.

“I have a friend that owns a daycare. I think I can get her to watch the little ones there.” Yvette yawned. “I just did a double to come home to this.” She started walking to her door. It was wide open. Lionel was standing there watching it all. “Let’s all go to sleep. You girls hit the bed.” She started moving towards the bed but noticed that Giselle wasn’t moving. “Aren’t you sleeping here with us as always?”

That’s when it was awkward again. Giselle shook her head that she wasn’t. Lionel’s mother was far too tired to get into their business. She just walked to her bedroom and went to sleep.

“So, what happened?” He asked them. Laura took her cue and walked toward the apartment.

“I’ll leave you two alone.” She went back to the apartment to check on the kids and then go to sleep.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah I’m fine.” Giselle answered barely in a whisper. It was still weird between them and as an attempt to smooth things over, Lionel thought that he should apologize again.

“I know I’ve said it a million times, but I’m really sorry. I should have never said that about your parents. I didn’t mean them any disrespect by saying it.”