The Punany Experience (28 page)

“Okay. Would you like to get the results together or separately?” Dr. Maddox asked, entering the room.

“Cut the formalities, Doc. Please. Just tell me if this bitch has gotten me sick.”

Dr. Maddox looked at Shawna and shook his head. “I’m sorry,” he said to the woman. Then he turned to Hartford. “Your text was negative, Hartford.”

“Thank you, Jesus!” Hartford said, falling to his knees and clasping his hands together.” He dropped his head for a moment, in deep thought or prayer; Shawna was not quite sure which. She was shaking now. Then, with his head still down, he turned it slowly to the right, looking at her out of the corner of his eye. “I’m going to need you to get your shit out of my house immediately. If you’re not gone by the end of the week, I’ll file charges of attempted murder against you. You cannot have any money. You cannot have any property. You cannot have my daughters. Just get your nasty, disease-ridden ass out of my fucking house.”

“Hartford,” Dr. Maddox said, snapping Hartford out of his rage. “Can you step into my office for a moment?”

“And if that baby is mine…” His tongue stabbed Shawna again. “Don’t even think about pushing it out of your sick little pussy.”

“Hartford!” Dr. Maddox yelled. “My God, man! Come in here. Let me talk to you.”

Hartford followed his friend through the waiting room door into his office.

“Have a seat, Hartford.” Hartford sat, as his friend spoke. “I know
how you’re feeling right now, having come so close to becoming exposed to the virus. It’s a blessing that you weren’t. But Shawna’s very distraught and probably unstable right now. The reason the HIV test is administered the way that it is, with on-site counseling available and
not
in the middle of the night, is so people don’t completely freak out and hurt themselves, or someone else when they get positive results. I’m telling you this, as your doctor and as your friend. Your body has been spared this time, but don’t go throwing your soul away on hatred and vindictiveness. I mean, learning you have an incurable, deadly disease is traumatizing enough, but you rubbing salt in her wounds is…well, it’s…the word
evil
comes to mind but I will just say ungodly.”

“Come on, Jim;
ungodly
? Really?”

“How about diabolical?” Jim asked jokingly. “I’m just saying, your wife doesn’t need to be alone and unsupported right now.”

“Jim, have you ever read about all those people, especially men in Africa, who find out their woman is HIV-positive and they just start stomping a hole in a bitch?”

“Of course,” Jim answered.

“Well, that’s how I feel right now. I love you, man,” Hartford said, giving the doctor a hug. “But I can’t even talk about this right now. I can’t even look at her face; I’m so disgusted. I’ll make sure she’s all right, if that’s what I have to do, but right now she has to get the fuck out of my house.”

When Hartford came back into the waiting room, Shawna was gone.

T
HE PASSENGER DROP-OFF WAS CROWDED WITH CARS
as Tisa pulled up to US Airways departing flights at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Stormy sobbed softly in the passenger seat next to her.

“Oh, Stormy,” Tisa said, freeing her hand from the grip Stormy had on it, wiping her tears with her thumb. “Why are you crying?”

“I just…I don’t want to go home.”

“Okay,” T. Calloway said without hesitation, pulling away from the curb.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m taking you to my place. That is what you want, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“Okay then. You think long, you think wrong. Women have intuition for a reason. Call your girl. Tell her you have to stay in D.C. a while longer. In the meantime, you can stay with me, and we can talk about it some more.”

Stormy dialed Korea’s cell phone, but did not get an answer. “Korea, I missed my flight. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“Stormy, why did you lie?”

“I just…I don’t want any confrontation until I figure this out.”

“No, that’s unacceptable. Call her back.”

“What for? She’s not even answering the phone.”

“Call her back. Tell her you have more business in D.C., and you will have to stay a while longer.”

“Why? What difference does it make? She’s going to be pissed off, no matter the reason.”

“Because it’s the truth, and telling the truth is for your own benefit. Do you want to spend tonight worried and riddled with guilt? I would much rather you were present when we’re making love; how about you?” Stormy blushed. “Do us both a favor, then. Call her back.”

Stormy hit the redial button.

Korea could hardly tell what Hartford was saying on the phone, he was so frantic. “Hold on, Hartford. Hold on a second, Stormy’s on the other line.” She clicked over. “Hello?”

“Hey, Korea, it’s me. I have some other business here. I have to stay a while longer.”

“Whatever.” Korea clicked her cell phone back over to Hartford. “Hey, honey,” Korea said, walking into the master bathroom. “You said you went to take an AIDS test? Did I hear you right?”

“That’s right,” Hartford said.

“Was it negative?” Korea braced herself for his response.

“Yes, of course,” he said hurriedly. “But my wife…she’s positive. I can’t go home. I can’t, I’ll fucking kill her.”

“Don’t go home just yet. Whatever’s going on, we can work it out together. Why don’t you come over here so we can talk?” Korea hung up and then drained the sink of the water that her dick had been soaking in. “Well, buddy,” she said to her little friend. “It’ll have to be another time for you.”

T
HERE WAS A LOUD CRASH AND A THUMP IN THE KITCHEN
. Alex sat up in her bed. She had heard some fighting earlier and thought, for a moment, that maybe her father had had enough and was finally whipping Shawna’s ass. But if that was the case, she was going to have to stop him. He had way too much to lose. Alex looked at the clock as she put on her robe and yawned. It was almost two in the morning.

Alex opened the door to her room and crossed the hall to Raven’s door and opened it. She wasn’t in her bed. She ran down the hall and leapt down the stairs. There was only a tipped wine bottle on the floor in the living room. She looked around and found nothing stirring. But there was a light shining from beneath the kitchen door. Through it she could hear whispering. Fear mounted her as she grabbed a wooden Ebo statue and proceeded closer to the light under the door, toward the whispering.
Alex pushed the door open with one hand and brandished the African idol with the other as she stepped into the kitchen.

The knife drawer had been pulled out of its place among the cupboards. Alex could see that from the door. There were knives scattered about the floor and blood trailing between the Spanish tiles. The whispering was coming from the other side of the island.

“Get up,” it said. “Get up.” Alex recognized the voice of her sister as she walked closer, around the island, and peered over its marble top. Raven looked up at her sister, startled. “I didn’t do it,” she said. “You did!” The little girl was tugging, trying to pull the knife out of her mother’s stomach.

“Shawna!” Alex screamed, dropping the figure, and falling to her knees at the dead woman’s side. “No, no, no,” Alex said. “Oh, my God!”

“God can’t help you now,” Raven said as she stuck her sister with the knife.

“H
ARTFORD, WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON IN YOUR HOUSE
?” Korea asked him as he stepped out of the elevator into her penthouse.

“I thought I was a man who would always know the answer to that question.” Hartford looked defeated. He crumbled into Korea’s arms and cried like a baby, explaining what he could through his wails and tears.

“It’s alright. I’ll be strong when you can’t be strong,” Korea comforted him. “I’ll be strong for both of us.”

His cell phone buzzed in his pocket. Korea reached in and pulled it out. She read the caller ID to him: “Hartford Crow.”

“It’s her,” he said, snatching the phone from Korea’s hand. “It’s that fucking cunt!” He threw the phone against the wall and watched it fall apart. He didn’t move a muscle until the morning light woke him, still in Korea’s comforting arms.

I
T DIDN’T TAKE
A
LEX LONG TO KNOCK THE KNIFE-WIELDING
eight-year-old out cold with the statue her mother had called the African God of protection. The first person she called when she found her stepmother, lying there in a pool of blood and blades, was her father. When he didn’t answer his phone, Alex got nervous, that her father may have killed Shawna. So she called her aunts, Dream Crow and Blue.

“Hold tight, Baby Crow,” was all Blue had said and she knew they were on their way before they had even hung up the phone. Even with a dead woman on the kitchen floor and an injured child on the living room sofa, Alex never even considered calling the police. That was Raven’s vindictive idea, and for a time, it would cost Alex her freedom.

“Hello?” the little girl whispered into the phone with desperation in her voice. “Is this 9-1-1? If you know some police, can you send them to get my sister? She hit me in the head and she killed my mother.”

S
TORMY AND
T
ISA HAD BEEN UP ALL NIGHT
, talking and making love. Stormy had forgotten what it felt like to be gently touched and softly caressed. Tisa was a confident lover with no inhibitions. Tisa proudly opened her legs to let Stormy see her flower and she kept them open when Stormy climbed on top and gave her the rollercoaster ride of her life.

“So what do we do now?”

“Now we find you a place.”

“Oh. Yes, of course,” Stormy said, “My own place.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, it’s just that…”

“Haven’t you ever lived on your own?”

“No.”

“Don’t be afraid. When you’re feeling lonely, I’ll come visit you. Or you can come visit me. But it’s important that you do this. You do understand that, don’t you?”

“I understand. Six months ago, I might’ve been scared. Now the thought makes me a little nervous, but I’m good with it. I’m ready. What about Korea?”

“What about her?”

“Should we call and tell her?”

“No, not yet. Never let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. She will only try to stop you.”

“Why would she do that? She doesn’t want me anymore.”

“That doesn’t matter. You’re like any of her other prized possessions. She sounds like a woman who doesn’t like to lose. When the time comes to tell her, I’ll take care of it. She’ll probably back down if she thinks you have somebody already.”

W
HEN
H
ARTFORD GOT HOME THE NEXT MORNING
, Raven was in the custody of Child Protective Services and Alex had been arrested and taken to juvenile hall on charges of first-degree murder and aggravated assault. And there was a cop car waiting outside to take him in for questioning.

He used the telephone at the police station to call the one person he knew could fix this mess, before it was too late, but Dream Crow wasn’t home.

“S
O YOU SEE, JUDGE
,” D
REAM
C
ROW EXPLAINED TO HER OLD FRIEND
. “My brother wasn’t home when his wife died. He hadn’t left the
children alone; they were at home with their mother. How was he supposed to know she would die?”

“I sure do miss you,” the judge said. “Don’t be such a stranger.” He picked up the phone and called Child Protective Services.

“I miss you, too. There’s just one more thing. The other little girl, Alex; they’re holding her in juvie, saying she killed the woman. But I’m sure this couldn’t be. I mean, they had their issues, like most teenage girls, but Alex wouldn’t kill anyone. Is there anything you can do?”

“Well, if the girl didn’t kill her and your brother wasn’t home, what do you think happened?”

“She was unstable, real unhappy. My brother said he was leaving her. I think she killed herself.”

“Still, I’m afraid I can’t help you.”

“Why not?”

“Dream Crow, I’m a family court judge. You’re talking about murder, Dream Crow. That’s way out of my hands.”

“But, Your Honor,” Dream Crow said, feeling herself slip too easily back into professional mode. “I don’t want my niece to spend another night in that place. You know the kinds of things that happen up there. She’s a good kid. She’ll be ruined. I couldn’t stand to see her end up…” She stopped to choke back her tears.

“You know, I never looked at you that way. Sure, I paid you, because that’s what you required of me, but I always…I didn’t know how to feel when you stopped taking my calls. It was like you dropped off the planet. I thought about you all the time. When I saw you on TV, singing like an angel, I was so proud, I cried. You should’ve seen the crazy way my wife looked at me, crying over some song on
Soul Train
. It was later, when I saw you and the old man on the cover of a magazine, that I realized I loved you.” Dream Crow’s eyes grew large in her head.
Is he really saying
this?
“Of course, I couldn’t do anything about it then. But she’s gone now.” The judge looked a picture of his wife on his desk somberly.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Dream Crow said, not sure what to make of the rest of his confession.

“I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable, Dream Crow. It’s just something that I wanted you to know. What you did for me back then was a beautiful thing. She had been sick for a long time and I was very lonely. You helped me through. I never thought of you as a whore, never once. You were more like an angel.”

The tears were now flowing freely down her cheeks. As Dream Crow stood up and walked over to the judge and hugged his neck, she said, “I appreciate that so much. Thank you.”

“No. Thank you,” the judge said, wiping his eyes with the sleeve of his robe. “Here…” He wrote a name and number down on a piece of paper and handed it to her. “If your brother’s wife killed herself, it shouldn’t be hard for this guy to prove it.”

Dream Crow smiled, took the little piece of paper, and kissed the judge on his cheek. “You know you’re wrong about me?”

“How is that?”

“I was ready to give you a piece to help me out, just like I always have. So I guess I’m a whore after all.”