Authors: Nikki Turner
Tressa snapped out of reminiscing when Wiggles rode in a souped up Cadilliac beside her and rolled down the window. Tressa was smiling. "Who Cadi you got?"
"Girl, it's mine. Well, by law it is. It's in my name.
The dude Boo-Boo paid me to register it in my name, but really it's his car."
"Oh, Ok. You keep you a damn hustle, girl."
"Girl, they all think I am a stupid dope fiend. But, I ain't a coke smoking or dope sniffing fool all the time. I still got game for days for they asses."
Tressa laughed from the depths of her stomach, although she was ashamed at how she had held such a grudge with Wiggles for so long.
"If you are on the run, I need to get you out of this lighted area." Wiggles seriously stated.
"On my way over here, I ran across this old trick and gave him some head for fifty dollars, but while I was on my knees I stuck him for a $100. So, I got $150 to help get you a room." Wiggles said.
Tressa shook her head at Wiggles bluntness, she always, seemed to amaze her. There was no shame in Wiggles game. It was just like back in the day. Wiggles still had her back and was as gangster as ever.
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"Girl, those babies are so cute, I can't believe you had twins."
Tressa parked her car on a side street and got most of her belongings out of the car and put them in Wiggles'
car. What she couldn't fit, Wiggles said she would come back later to get. "You need to get settled and put those kids to sleep somewhere comfortable." Wiggles used her ID to get Tressa checked into a cheap, one story hotel way on the outskirts of town, some place Lucky would never look.
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-9-
Money Talks, B/S Walks
The next day, Wiggles came over to the cheap, raunchy hotel room to watch the children while Tressa went to run some errands. Tressa was worried that the twins would drive Wiggles crazy whining because they were so attached to Tressa. Tressa made Wiggles promise that she wouldn't get high around her kids, and she meant it.
Wiggles knew this was the last chance for her to make things right between them. One of the reasons Wiggles started getting high, is because she couldn't live with herself after crossing Taj. Taj was a remarkable man. He was her everything and she didn't know how to cope with him being incarcerated and locked away from her. There were so many days she wished she could go back and make it up to him, but she knew after she missed the first month, and had taken his money, that there was no turning back.
She knew if Taj was ever released from jail, she would be the first person he'd want to see to seek his revenge on.
The wages of double crossing Taj was death and there was no way around it. There was no amount of time that could heal Taj's wounded and broken heart. Wiggles thought that just maybe, if she lived up to all of the expectations that Tressa had of her, coupled with knowing that Tressa was Taj's pride and joy, that just maybe he'd let bygones be bygones and spare her life.
Dressed in blue jeans, a Nike T-shirt and some Air Max sneakers, the first place Tressa went was to the 77
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housing authority. They told her that the waiting list was six months. They gave her a list of government subsidized apartment complexes. She studied the list, but she couldn't figure out which was the best place to live. So, she started going to each one, some had three year waiting lists and others were not even accepting applications.
When she called over the phone to get directions to one of the complexes, the woman told her that there was only a three-month waiting list. But when she arrived, the woman took one look at Tressa, and told her they were not accepting applications. When Tressa visited the last complex on the list, she thought, as she parked,
Lord please
let this work out.
While filling out the application, she was told there was a six-month wait. She knew she couldn't live in any hotel for six months and she surely couldn't go back to Lucky. She had to finesse a way to get moved to the top of the waiting list. She looked at the man who worked as an office assistant. He was wearing some balded up shoes that turned up at the toe, with some old Lee jeans with a cardboard crease in it. He saw her looking back at him.
She could tell off the back that he was a real buster. He was full of himself, so she made him her mark. She knew all she had to do was stroke his ego a little and maybe, just maybe, he could be of assistance to her.
"Ms. Shawsdale." He called into the waiting room.
Tressa got up and went into the cluttered office. He looked over her application to make sure she had filled it out properly.
With an impressed look on his face, he said. "This is the first application that has been filled out completely and I did not have to ask you to change or fill in missing information."
"Does that mean I get the apartment?" She asked in a humble, soft voice.
He smiled and started to stumble as he began to speak. "Ummm, ummm, ummm, there's a waiting list." The phone rang, he answered it and she could tell by his conversation and uncomfortable tone that it was a bill collector.
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Oh, so he needs money. I know good and well he is
not going to let this opportunity of free money pass him by. I
am gonna try my hand with him and see.
She considered the possibility that if he didn't bite, that she may lose the opportunity for the six-month wait list spot altogether. But what did she have to lose? She and her kids were already living in a raunchy hotel as it was.
"Excuse me, but I had to take that call."
"No problem." She said.
"As I was saying, it's a six-month waiting list and it's important that when you get a letter in the mail advising that you are next to receive a vacant apartment, you must call the rental office ASAP."
"Look, I don't mean to sound forward, but I need a place for me and my two sons to live and I need it before Friday. I'll give you $300 to move me to the top of the list and $300 more the day I get the keys. I noticed when I pulled up that they are working on an apartment. I see you the HNIC, (Head Negro In Charge) and I know if anybody can make it happen, you can. Can you make this my address by Friday?" Tressa said confidently.
His eyes lit up like a big Kool Aid smile. It covered his whole face when he heard the magic words "three hundred dollars" come out of Tressa's mouth.
"If I did make this happen, you have to keep your mouth shut! Take it to your grave, I mean it!"
"Oh, no doubt about that."
"Just come back at 11 Friday morning and we can do your walk through inspection and I'll have your keys for you then."
"Thanks so much! How much will my rent be?" He looked over the paperwork and declared. "Since you don't have any income coming in, it'll be $25.00 a month. So, you will need your prorated rent of $17.00 and a standard security deposit of $56.00 to move in." She smiled as he gave her the address to her new place, 3012 Apt J;
J as in thank you Jesus!
Her next order of business was to get a safe deposit box for her collateral. This should have been the first thing she did because it was very important. This was going to be 79
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her assurance that Luck would let them be and not try to get Tressa and the boys to come back home.
She looked at her watch and saw that she still had time. She went to look for a smaller car that she could afford. She called her younger cousin, Gator and asked him to go car shopping with her. Gator agreed to go with her. She remembered that she read somewhere that she couldn't get an expensive car because Social Services wouldn't let her get food stamps if she had a car over $6,000 in her name. Even though the BMW was in both, Lucky and Tressa's name, she got Gator to sign on the dotted line and pose like he was Lucky. She traded in her BMW wagon for a Honda Civic and some cash to make up the difference. The Civic was $4,800, and the blue Kelly book value was $5,800. It wasn't the luxury car that she had become accustomed to, but it was dependable, good on gas, and it was a Honda. Everybody knows Hondas are made to last. She was just happy to have a car that she was able to get for herself.
Next, she went looking for beds for the children's room, and the little necessities she needed to make her apartment a home. She bought towels, dishes and a few other essential things for the apartment. She looked at the clock in the car and realized that she had to get back to the hotel. She dropped Gator back off, picked up some McDonald's for the children and headed back to the hotel.
Before she headed back to the hotel, she stopped to make a phone call to her next-door neighbor, Joan. Though they were never friends, Tressa could tell from the few conversations they shared at the fence, when they were both working in their yards, that Joan was very compassionate and had problems of her own, so she'd definitely understand. Tressa had never confided in her or anyone else about the issues in her relationship, but for some reason, it seemed as if Joan felt so comfortable telling Tressa all her business. Tressa was certain that it wouldn't be a problem to get help from her, after all the times Tressa had allowed Joan's children to come over her house for ten or twenty minutes when their mom was running late.
Joan was a middle-aged, outgoing, white woman, who was fully aware that her husband cheated. She never would have the courage to leave her husband because they 80
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both had too much invested. They were loaded and, Joan was a survivor. She put up with all of her husbands bull and rolled with the punches. Joan could see the spunk in Tressa's personality and wished Tressa was Caucasian as well, because they'd surely be closer than what they were.
The phone rang two times and Joan answered.
"Hello, the Conner's Residence."
Oh, how corny can she be
Tressa thought? "Joan, it's Tressa, from next door." Tressa said.
"Yes, yes, yes. Hold for one minute. I need to get the phone in the study." Joan said in a professional voice, as if it was a business call. Joan picked up the other phone.
"Where are you? Are you OK?" Joan said in a frantic voice.
"I have been so worried about you. Your boyfriend came over in a frenzy asking if we had seen you and the babies."
"I kinda of figured that. Well, I left him."
"Oh, really?" Joan wanted to know more, but understood clearly this wasn't the time to pry.
"Yes, I don't have much time to explain. I need you to do me a small favor. If you don't want to get involved, I will understand, but I really need your help."
"What can I do? Do you need money?"
"No, I am okay on the money end." She said but knowing that she wanted to accept the money. She knew the money she had wasn't going to last long.
"I was leaving in such a hurry and couldn't get all my clothes. I put some of my things into the brand new trash cans that the city just gave us a couple of days ago, and I swapped the trash cans so that ours is in your yard and vice versa. I need you to please get the clothes out for me and swap the cans back before he gets suspicious. I will send my sister to get the clothes, but I will have her call you first. Make sure Lucky is not home when she comes, please."
"No problem, I will go do it as soon as my husband leaves. Tomorrow is trash day so I know my husband will be getting the trash together, and this week will be the last week we use the old cans. But what about you and the children? Where will you go?" Joan asked, sounding like a concerned mother.
"We will be fine as long as we are away from him." 81
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"Tressa if there's anything, anything at all that I can do, please promise me that you will call." I will. Oh, and please whatever you do, please don't tell Khalil that I called or made any contact with you at all."
"Oh, I definitely will not."
"If you hear anything about a job, I'd appreciate it if you let me know." Tressa said before she thanked Joan and brought the conversation to a close.
Once she was back at the hotel, she was surprised when she noticed how good Wiggles was with the twins. For some reason they adored her. Wiggles stayed a while to keep the twins occupied while Tressa made the necessary calls to the telephone and cable company. She thought about getting the utilities over at the house cut off, but she didn't. When Wiggles was about to go, Tressa gave Wiggles a big hug and said to her. "You were right."
"Right about what?"
"You'd always be there for me. Thanks Wiggles."
"That's what's family is for."