Marriage Mayhem (9 page)

Meanwhile in Pasadena, Karen was a nervous wreck, sitting on the floor in a crack house. Like always, she pulled out her knife after taking a hit and began getting suspicious of everyone around her.

“Nobody move, nobody get hurt,” yelled Karen, holding the knife in striking position.

The people that Karen was among had known her for years and were used to her tripping this way whenever she was high. They knew that as long as no one bothered her she would not harm them, but if she felt intimidated or threatened, then it could mean trouble.

Karen had a habit of searching people for weapons who entered a crack house, thinking that they were sent to kill her. Knowing that was how she tripped when she was high, incomers voluntarily let her search them to get it over with so that they could hurry up and get high.

During Jermaine's hunt for Karen, he had finally run across an addict who had recently seen Karen at a known neighborhood crack house. “Man, I'm telling you, I know where she's at, but I ain't goin' inside that damn house anymore. Too many people have gotten killed in that house already, and I ain't about to be another statistic. But I'm tellin' you, man, I just left her about an hour ago, homey. Matter-of-fact, she was standing by the door when I left, holding a long butcher knife, and she was paranoid as hell. That's how she trip when she's getting high, you know what I'm saying. And she ain't the type that'll take a hit and then walk the streets, so I know that she's still inside,” said the raggedy man.

The addict told Jermaine that for the price of twenty dollars he would lead him to her.

Jermaine had no choice but to trust the man.

He showed Jermaine where the house was and hopped out of the car, disappearing in a flash. After forty-five minutes of impatient waiting, Karen still had not come out. Then finally he built up courage enough to get out of the car and knock on the door.

“Who is it?” asked Karen, holding a long butcher knife at her side.

The others were caught up doing their thing and paid no attention to the knocks

“It's Dino. Open up,” lied Jermaine, saying the first name that came to mind.

Karen slowly opened the door and saw her husband standing there bug-eyed like a fish. She instantly dropped the knife, and then embraced him with a hug. They stood crying together.

“I'm sorry, baby. I'm so sorry,” cried Karen.

“It's okay, baby. Everything is gonna be all right, okay. I love you so damn much, Karen, that it hurts me. Love hurts, baby, but you know what; no matter how much it hurts I'm gonna keep on loving you till the day I leave this earth. Now let's go home.” Hugging her, he led her to the car.

Karen broke out in tears during the ride home and openly confessed to relapsing during the party, confessed to exchanging her expensive wedding ring for crack, and had even admitted to having sex with different men in exchange for crack. After hearing her confessions, Jermaine felt saddened and disillusioned, but somehow managed to put it all aside and be thankful for having his wife back in his presence.

Once they'd made it home, Jermaine ran his wife a nice, hot tub of water and then began preparing some soul food for their evening dinner. While sitting inside the tub Karen began thinking,
Damn, this man still loves me after all that I told him. He's damn sure not the average man. He's heaven-sent, and I really appreciate him. I've got to straighten out my life and start doing the right thing before I lose him. He's the best thing that has ever happened to me and my kids. I shouldn't have taken that hit, but thank God that's over now. I'll treat him to some good head and ride his dick like a bull rider rides a bull. That's a start.

A few hours later while sitting at the dinner table, Jermaine noticed how fast and sloppy Karen ate, as if she had not eaten in months.

“Slow down, sweetheart. The food isn't going to run away.”

Karen slowed down just a bit but still gobbled the food more quickly than Jermaine had ever seen.

After dinner, Jermaine thought that a serious conversation with her was extremely necessary, but he figured that first he would take a nice, hot, shower.

I hope and pray that everything works out between Karen and me, because I can't and will not tolerate any more nonsense or bullshit from her. I love her dearly but I'm not used to that type of lifestyle and I don't plan to get used to it. All I wanted was to have a soul mate that would love me, respect me, and appreciate me for who I am and for what I do. And as desperately as I want some sex from her, there's no way in hell that I could think about it after what she told me. I'm horny as hell, but I can't let my little head overrule my big head. I've got to take her to a clinic to have her checked out before we have sex. I've got to protect myself
, thought Jermaine, while showering.

When Jermaine entered his bedroom, Karen was lying across the bed naked, playing with her clitoris, while watching a porno movie.

“Bring it to me, baby,” demanded Karen, but Jermaine's mind was far from sex.

“I don't think sex is a good idea tonight, sweetheart. The logical thing to do based on what you've been doing is to first take you to a clinic to make sure you're okay. Besides, we still need to talk.” Jermaine then sat at the edge of the bed.

Karen continued fingering herself.

“I need you, baby, and I need you right now. Don't worry, I'm clean. If I had a disease I would know it,” she replied, rubbing her clit, never taking her eyes off the movie.

“No sex until I take you to have you checked out,” clarified Jermaine. The finality of his words annoyed her.

“I don't have a goddamn disease, Jermaine! Goddammit, if I had one I would know!” she replied, raising her voice.

“I don't sense an attitude, do I, Karen?” He could not believe that she copped an attitude because he wouldn't have sex with her.

“Fuck it then, I'll get myself off.” She then closed her eyes and imagined Tyrone's huge penis while twirling her pearl tongue piercing in a circular motion. In less than a minute she came. Minutes later she fell asleep.

Dammit, I still didn't get a chance to talk to her. What the hell; I know she's tired from running the streets. I'll talk to her in the morning,
thought Jermaine. He then climbed into bed, said a prayer, and then fell asleep.

Jermaine awakened at 5:00AM the following morning. After showering, he then went downstairs and began cooking breakfast. During the course of cooking he seated himself at his computer and attempted to work on his manuscript, but impulsive thoughts of Karen's recent words and activities kept attacking his mind.
I can't hold it any longer. I've got to get this off my chest, right now,
he thought. Then he made his way back upstairs.

He walked around to her bedside and stared at her a few moments. Two weeks of smoking crack and street life had deconstructed her whole damn face. Her jaws were sucked in, her eye sockets didn't look the same, she was already thin but had dropped at least ten more pounds. He shook his head as he looked down at her.
Damn, Karen, why in the hell did you mess yourself up like this? You were so beautiful and innocent looking, but now—

“Karen, wake up,” said Jermaine, but Karen did not respond. She lay there, snoring with her mouth wide open and slobber leaking down its sides.

“Wake up, Karen, we've gotta talk,” Jermaine said again, but this he shook her.

“What? Leave me alone. I wanna sleep, baby. I'm tired,” replied Karen, without ever looking at him.

Realizing how important having a talk with her was, Jermaine attempted again to awaken her.

“Wake up, Karen.” He raised his voice a few notches. “We need to talk right this minute; not in a couple of hours, not tomorrow, not next year, but right now.”

Sensing the firmness in his voice, she opened her eyes and gave him a hard look.

“What is more important than my fuckin' rest, Jermaine?”

“Hey, don't get an attitude, okay? I told you last night that we need to talk.”

“I know what you said last night, Jermaine, but why in the hell did you have to disrupt my sleep to have a fuckin' conversation? That's disrespectful; that's very fuckin' selfish and disrespectful.”

“Excuse me? Did you say that waking you up was disrespectful? Karen, you're unbelievable sometimes, you know. First of all, you disrespected yourself, me, and the kids when you took that hit of crack. Secondly, you completely disrespected me by fucking and sucking other men. Thirdly, and the list goes on, you have no defense whatsoever in the matter of this bullshit, so if I were you I would be grateful and thankful that my mate cared enough for me and had enough love for me to rescue me from the streets.”

“What is it, Jermaine? Go ahead and take the stage,” replied Karen, propping a pillow underneath her head.

Jermaine sat at the edge of the bed and looked at her.

“First of all, the only way I'm accepting you back is that you go to rehab, a clinic, and to see your probation officer. Do you have a problem with these requests?”

“No, Jermaine, I don't have a problem with them.”

“Good. Most importantly, Karen, I want you to know that I'm very disappointed with you, but I do forgive you because I have not been an angel my whole life and God has forgiven me.”

“I tried to show you my appreciation last night, Jermaine, but you—”

“Giving me a head job or riding the hell out of my dick is not a way of displaying appreciation, Karen. Sex is merely for pleasure; not for showing thanks or gratitude,” Jermaine explained.

“Whatever, Jermaine. Can I go back to sleep now?”

“I don't think so. We've got lots of business to take care of today so get up and get yourself ready. Breakfast will be done by the time you get downstairs.”

Their first stop was at the probation department. A few moments after they seated themselves in the lobby, Mrs. Carter appeared. “Well, hello, Mrs. Missing in Action,” greeted P.O. Carter. Then she led them to her booth and continued talking.

“You don't know how blessed you really are to have a husband who cares so much about you. If it wasn't for him, I would lock you up right now without even hearing your sad story, Karen. I thought that you were on the right track, but once again you had me fooled and manipulated.”

“I'm sorry for relapsing, Mrs. Carter. Believe me, I regret it and I know it was a stupid thing to do after all the positive things I have going on in my life. It was a combination of the party, the friends I grew up with that I hadn't seen in years, and the alcohol, that caused me to lose my focus and self-control, which led to my relapse. Once I had taken that first hit, that was it,” explained Karen.

“You're always making excuses for your failures, Karen. Ever since I've known you, you have made excuses for being late to your appointments or for not showing up, for relapsing, for not having a job, for being broke, for not having transportation, for having your kids taken away from you, for violent acts that you've committed on people, and basically for just about everything. You cannot go through life making excuses for your failures. I know that your system is full of crack, therefore I am not going to ask you to test, but what I am going to instruct you to do is to enroll, today, into a six-month live-in drug rehabilitation program. Your other option is prison. Actually, you don't have an option, but because of your husband and his concern for you and your kids, I'm giving you the easy way out. Don't fuck up anymore, Karen. This is your last chance from me,” said the P.O. firmly, staring hard at Karen.

Their next stop was the clinic. It was a good thing that Jermaine followed his first mind by not having sex with Karen. Her blood sample revealed that she was positive for syphilis and gonorrhea, and she also had crabs. It was a good thing she came when she did. After the results were given, Jermaine pulled the doctor to the side and asked him a question.

“Doc, I feel ashamed to ask you this question, but it's something I really need to know. Is it possible for a man to catch a disease by receiving oral sex from a woman?”

“That's a very good question, sir. If more people asked that same question, there would be a tremendous decrease of sexually transmitted diseases. The answer to your question is yes, simply because women carry more germs inside their mouths than they do inside of their vaginas. Think about it; a rotten tooth, an abscess or bad breath, each contribute to germs and bacteria, which will sooner or later trigger a form of a disease or infection.”

“Thanks, Doc.”

“No problem. Remember, no question is a stupid question,” said the doctor.

Damn,
thought Jermaine, walking back toward Karen.
Hell, I can't even get some head from her.

Then he approached her.

“You see, you could have given me a damn disease, Karen. I'm glad I didn't let my little head outthink my big one.”

“Yeah, you do have a little one,” Karen mumbled, but not loud enough for him to hear.

“What did you say?”

“Nothing.”

Karen was not shocked at all when hearing the test results.

“Shit happens when you're in the street, that's all I have to say,” replied Karen. She remained emotionless and unashamed.

Their next stop was to see the kids at Jewell's house. Figuring that Jewell's husband Bobby would have something negative to say, Karen really did not want to go there, but she had to see her kids before leaving for the drug rehab.

After she walked inside, Bobby stared at her with those huge red eyes and shook his head in disgust. Then he took a long gulp of beer and continued silently staring at her. His look spelled hatred.