Authors: Clever Black
“Okay, momma.”
“And definitely keep me out of it. Nobody ain’t studdin’
your punk ass daddy,” Martha ended as she watched the big
three’s reaction as Kimi and Koko approached their table.
*******
“I think we took too long down there like daddy said,”
Dawk stated in a near whisper.
“I know,” T-top responded. “That was on me, but we
got the job the done. We have to get faster when we out there, too.”
“Here they come,” Bay said as she eyed thirteen year-olds
Kimi and Koko approaching.
The big three went silent as their younger siblings approached, each
holding open shoe boxes in their hands.
“Umm, what is this?” Kimi asked as she placed one hand on
her hip and held out the box.
“What’s what?” Dawk inquired.
Koko rolled her eyes. “The straps are missing on these sandals
and this is not the brand we asked for! Did anybody, I mean did
anybody
check the merchandise before it was purchased? We
can’t wear these without the straps!”
“Talk to your sisters about that there,” Dawk remarked as
she shifted in his seat and eyed Bay and Tiva. “I was supposed
to get a couple of video games for Walee ‘nem while we was out
there.”
“You got the games they asked for?” Kimi asked.
“Yeah, they inside playing it now,” Dawk answered
casually as he smiled over at Bay and T-top.
“Walee ‘nem do the same thing to you, yeah?” Bay
scoffed as she cut her eyes at Dawk.
“I might shop for ‘em, but all I gotta do is find a toy
store and I’m good. Y’all went from store to store for
Kimi and Koko, wasting time,” Dawk chided as he shook his head
from side to side, trying to hold back his laughter.
Dawk, Bay and Tiva knew Kimi and Koko didn’t know that they
weren’t really going to Chicago, but when their siblings asked
for gifts it was no big deal. Right away, Dawk, knowing his five
youngest siblings, offered to get Walee, Spoonie and Tyke a gift.
They were easy to please and he knew everything they asked for would
be found in a toy store.
Kimi and Koko, however, when they asked for something, they wanted
that specific item and Dawk knew it; Kimi and Koko always sent items
back by UPS or FedEx if it wasn’t the right color or size. Bay
and Tiva thought they could just throw the most expensive pair of
sandals they could find from the mall they’d stopped at down in
Albuquerque, New Mexico in front of their middle sisters and they
would be satisfied. Their plan didn’t work, however, now Bay
and Tiva had Kimi and Koko all up in their face asking them about
some sandals and Dawk wanted to hear what they would say. He was
getting his kicks out of the situation.
Bay turned to her sisters and stared at them both. “What’s
wrong with the sandals, y'all?” she asked flatly.
Kimi and Koko stared at one another with their arms extended, eyes
wide and mouths hanging open in disbelief like, “
Did she
just ask us that?”
Naomi and Doss’s middle daughters were borderline prima donnas.
Everything had to be the best for thirteen year-olds Kimi and Koko
Dawkins. They were the divas of the family, but they were also the
most studious. Kimi and Koko would spend hours in one of the family’s
libraries studying arithmetic, their favorite subject, and looking up
fashions on the home computer. They were the typical teenagers who
listened to the latest music, talked to boys on the phone and hung
out at Kaw Lake Park with some of their friends from town.
“This is mauve,” Kimi said out loud as she and Koko
stared down at Bay and T-top while holding onto their sandals.
“What is mauve, Kimi,” Bay questioned, shaking her from
side to side and wishing Kimi and Koko would just let the matter die.
“Mauve is a lighter shade of purple, Bay. I got these, I mean
me and Koko both have these silk tennis skirts with the matching tops
in our closets. We couldn’t find the right color shoe when we
ordered the outfits, but I laid the sandals on top and they match
perfectly so y’all get an A for effort this time.”
“So, y’all happy with the sandals?” Tiva asked.
“We ain’t saying all that now,” Koko responded as
she through up a hand and looked Tiva up and down. “But we can
make them work.”
“Bay? You and Tiva are going to have to come correct next time
we put in an order.” Kimi followed, eyeing Bay with mocked
disappointment.
“You got the sandals, already,” Bay said in near
aggravation. “What is the problem?”
“What is the problem? What is the problem? First of all this
isn’t tangerine, Bay.” Kimi said. “This is like,
like a mauve or lavender as we’ve said already. We specifically
asked for tangerine Gucci sandals with the calf straps. Instead we
get some knock off imitation beach bum flip-flops that matches
nothing in our repertoire except for one outfit we almost sent back
to Neiman Marcus.”
“Nothing in your repertoire? A thank you would be nice,”
Tiva said as she laughed lightly.
“We couldn’t find those tangerine sandals.” Bay
remarked as she crossed her legs and looked out over the land.
Kimi and Koko both rolled their eyes simultaneously in disbelief.
“That's the best you can come up with?” Dawk asked as he
leaned back in his chair and rubbed his hands together.
“It's the truth, though. You thought we was gone lie,”
Tiva said as she smiled and cut her eyes at Dawk.
“In Chicago?” Kimi asked with one hand on her hip while
staring Bena and Tiva up and down, stirring the big three from their
private conversation.
“What is it now, Kimi?” Bay asked in an annoyed manner as
she tapped the table lightly. “Dammit, man!”
“The Magnificent Mile did not have tangerine Gucci sandals with
the calf straps,” Kimi asked in disbelief. “The Gucci
shop, which is the brand we asked for and is practically
headquartered there in Chicago? The Gucci shop did not have tangerine
Gucci sandals?”
“That’s our story and we stickin’ to it,”
Tiva remarked as the big three sniggled. The oldest three siblings
soon excused themselves from the family’s presence, Dawk
grabbing his twelve gauge automatic while Bay and T-top grabbed their
Dragunov rifles and slid the straps across the backs of their
shoulders.
“We going walk through the stockyards and practice shooting for
a while.” Bay told Kimi and Koko. “Enough of this,
already.”
“We gotta feed the chickens. We gone be down in a minute. Thank
you, though Bay and T-top. We’ll make it work, y’all,”
Kimi replied as she and Koko headed back inside to place their
sandals in their bedroom.
Just then, Walee, Spoonie and Tyke ran out the middle patio doors.
“Now when you ask for something and the person you ask for
something make something happen for real? You workin’ with a
winner, already! Madden is ridiculous on the PlayStation!”
“And MLB, too!” Tyke quipped.
“Where my main man Dawk?” Walee asked as he danced out
into the patio opening with Spoonie and Tyke on his heels.
“He going through the stockyards to go shooting with—”
“They right there I see ‘em!” Walee said, cutting
Koko’s remark short. “Come on Spoonie and Tyke! We going
catch up with ‘em.”
“They too far! Don't you three go down there by that
stockyard.” Naomi yelled.
“Never mind, momma! We just gone go feed my turtle!”
Walee yelled back as he, Spoonie and Tyke jumped down the stairs and
ran out into the open field, trailing behind their oldest siblings.
*******
The big three had crossed over into the lush pasture on the eastern
portion of the ranch and walked across the field with their guns
strapped across their shoulders. They were dressed in Wrangler denim
jeans and flannel shirts wearing $1000 dollar custom-made boots, $100
dollar ten gallon hats with $400 dollar sunshades covering their
eyes. They approached the stockyard loading docks about twenty
minutes into their walk.
It was a busy day on the Holland ranch. Livestock was being shipped
to meat processing plants so there was more traffic than normal in
the family’s huge stockyard. Big rigs were backing in and
pulling out of the family’s three loading docks constantly and
ranch hands were scattered all about tagging cattle ears, weighing
hogs and washing them down with disinfectant in preparation for
transport to slaughterhouses in Kansas and Iowa. It was a good time
for the big three to practice because their gunshots amidst the
constant noise wouldn’t disturb the land or the animals.
Numerous tractor trailers and a couple of bulldozers kept the dust in
a constantly whipped-up state and the smell was unbearable at times.
On days like this, however, when livestock was being transported, all
many members of the Holland family who knew the deal were able to
smell was money because they knew thousands upon thousands of dollars
were in the process of being made.
A long concrete sidewalk split the loading area in half. It was a
walkway used by all to cross the loading docks and head into the
stockyard, which bordered a small forest the big three used to set up
a target range. Dawk, Bay and T-top were waiting for a truck to back
in over the sidewalk towards a loading dock when thirty year-old
Flacco approached holding a clipboard.
“Okay, mi amigos. Contamos con un camion cargado. What did I
just say?” Flacco asked as he rubbed his chin slyly.
“We have one truck loaded,” Dawk, Bay and T-top replied
in unison.
“Si! You are learning to speak Spanish very well from ole
Flacco. And today is my lucky day because you three have saved me a
trip across the land back to Ponderosa.” Flacco sang as he
extended a clipboard and ran the tips of his fingers over his neatly
trimmed goatee.
“What you need a signature?” Dawk asked.
“Someone to sign the bill of lading and we’ll have one
down and four to go.”
After signing the bills to release a trailer load of cattle, Dawk,
Bay and T-top chatted with Flacco for several more minutes and
continued on down the sidewalk towards the cattle pens and out into
the forest where their shooting range lay.
*******
Walee, Spoonie and Tyke were now out in the open field, Walee jogging
backwards and Spoonie and Tyke skipping happily as the three made
their way to another portion of the forest.
“Walee,” nine year-old Tyke said as she skipped behind
her brother, “before we go and see your turtle, let’s go
see Mister Spots.”
“We’re not supposed to go over there by ourselves. We
should just go this way,” ten year-old Walee said as he pointed
to his right, where the worn trail broke off in another direction.
“Us three together can cross the yard.” Tyke said as she
pointed left towards the stockyards.
“I don’t know, Tyke. It’s dangerous because of all
the big heavy equipment that moves about over there.”
“But I wanna see Mister Spots! I haven’t seen him none
this week and I’m sure he misses me and Shima both,” Tyke
yelled as she jumped up and down.
“Let’s go another day. Today isn’t a good day.”
Spoonie folded her arms and frowned at Walee. “If we don’t
go see Mister Spots, we’re not going see your turtle. And we’ll
tell momma you be sneaking and playing the games at night and boiling
wieners while everyone else is asleep,” she demanded.
“Would ya’ really do that to me, Spoonie?” Walee
asked as she bumped his fists together while smiling and licking his
lips.
“We sure will!” Tyke snapped as she skipped around Walee.
“Mister Spots! Mister Spots! Mister Spots!” she sang
happily.
“Okay,” Walee replied matter-of-factly as he gave in and
led the way towards the stockyards with Spoonie and Tyke trailing
happily.
At age nine, Spoonie and Tyke were the hearts of the family. They
were small for their age, but they were strong and very athletic.
They loved the game of baseball, courtesy of their grandfather
DeeDee, and Mendoza, who’d started playing with them when they
were just toddlers, and they were now the stars on their little
league softball team.
The youngest set of twins in the family could best be described as
inquisitive. Petite frames with smooth, brown skin and big, round,
dark eyes gave way to the most beautiful smile ever. Their crown was
a thick, jet black Afro. Spoonie and Tyke never wore their hair in
braids or platted. They sported a natural at all times, or wore two
Afro puffs like the ones they sported on this day. That was their
only style and it fit the two perfectly.
The three prodded along and before long the dusty stockyards were
upon them with all its noises, odors, and hustle and bustle. Walee
stopped just before the sidewalk and waited to see if there were any
adults walking down the pavement, which would let him know it was
safe to cross. Trucks were everywhere, some idling with drivers
standing out front talking, a large bulldozer shoving hay into piles
and pickup trucks cruising by slowly.
While the three kids were waiting for a clearing to walk out onto the
sidewalk, Flacco approached. “Walee,” he exclaimed. “What
are you and your sisters doing down here alone?”
“I was going feed my turtle but these two wanted to come and
visit Mister Spots before we did so.”
Flacco took off his ten gallon hat and scratched his thick head of
black hair over the circumstances. He knew Mister Spots was Spoonie
and Tyke’s favorite calf. They’d known him for almost a
year now and loved to feed the white cow with tan spots all over his
body at least twice a week while petting him. The only problem with
Mister Spots was the fact that he was headed to a meat processing
plant so today would be his last day on the ranch.
“Okay, Mister, umm, Mister Spots is, he’s—”
“He’s over there in the first pen I can see from here,
Flacco!” Tyke yelled excitedly as she clutched Flacco's hands.
“I wanna go and see Mister Spots!”
Flacco looked at Walee, who only shrugged his shoulders, and pulled
him over to the side and knelt down. “Did you tell them what
goes on on a day like today, Senor Walee?”