Crimson Footprints (17 page)

John turned to Deena and
smoothed out the white polo he wore. “John Tanaka,” he said and
extended a hand.

Deena took it. “Deena
Hammond. Pleased to meet you.”

John shook his head.
“Pleasure’s all mines. Finally, I get to meet the great warrior
that conquered Takumi Tanaka,” he lowered his head.
“Honored.”

Deena giggled. “I don’t know
if ‘conquered’ is the right word.”

John raised his head and
smirked.

“
Trust me. It
is.”

Tak sighed. “And if ever you
wondered whether John could keep a secret,” he nodded towards
Allison. “Here’s your answer.”

“
What! With all the secrets
I’ve kept for you? You ungrateful louse.”

John grabbed him and the two
tumbled to the floor.

Allison, Deena eventually
learned, had a father who taught international law at Columbia and
a mother who taught economics at NYU. John’s girlfriend was a pert
and saucy blonde with Jersey panache, while he had Tak’s
predisposition towards silliness, and seemingly, Daichi’s hunger
for success. It took Deena but a moment to decide she liked them
both. A lot. And quickly, the evening out they spent with the
couple ranked up there as one of her favorites on the trip. Though
behind, of course, one that was especially memorable.

It was past noon, and Tak
and Deena should’ve been seizing the day. Instead, they were in
bed, having risen only to accept room service, with no more than a
passing desire to leave. They were like two colts at play, him
nuzzling her, teasing her with exaggerated kisses and her
squealing, pretending not to enjoy it. She could’ve spent a
lifetime in that city, in that bed, in his arms. When the silliness
stopped, it was only because her phone insisted on
ringing.

“
My grandmother,” she
said.

Tak collapsed on the bed
with a groan. “Don’t answer,” he said even as she said hello. “Emma
Hammond never had good news,” he muttered. “Never.”

“
Chile, where you been?”
Emma cried. “I’ve been calling you since yesterday!”

Deena sighed. “I’m in New
York. Is everything o.k.?”

“
No! Everything ain’t okay!
That sister of yours was round here tussling with Keisha behind
something, and that’s on top the fact that it ain’t no food in the
house.”

No food? Her grandmother
received welfare, food stamps, income from the VA and four hundred
dollars a month from Deena. All that was to support her and a girl
who was never there.

Deena glanced at her watch,
noting the date. “Didn’t your check from the VA come? Grandpa’s
pension?”

“
Girl, who think you are,
asking me about that? And anyway if it did come, it ain’t for me to
be spending on that fast ass sister of yours.”

No, that’s what the welfare,
food stamps and everything else is for, Deena thought. She
sighed.

“
You should have something,
Grandma. Did you use up all the emergency money, too?”

Emma sucked her teeth.
“Chile that money been gone. Two Sunday dinners ate through
dat.”

“
Sunday dinner! You weren’t
supposed to treat the whole family with it! It was supposed to be
for necessities for you and Lizzie.”

“
Chile, you act like you
left some big time money.”

“
I left four hundred
dollars extra. That’s eight hundred this month. It’s not a lot, but
it was all I could afford.”

“
Yet you got money for New
York.”

Deena sat up with a sigh.
“So, basically you’re calling for more money? Right?”

“
That’s it. I need you to
bring more money over.”

Deena paused.

“
Grandma, please. I can’t
bring it. I’m in New York City.”

“
Well how the hell I’m
supposed to get it?”

She shook her head. “See,
this is why I tell you to get a bank account! You listen to
Caroline, who’s always going to these predatory lenders. How do you
function like this?”

“
I don’t need no bank
account! Mr. Evans up at the liquor store cash whatever kinda check
you got. Been cashing my checks for thirty-something years. So
don’t tell me about no bank.”

“
I bet Mr. Evans has a bank
account.”

“
How I’m supposed know what
Mr. Evans got?”

“
Well anyway, I can’t wire
money to Mr. Evans at the liquor store.”

“
Then you just gonna have
to come back then. Cause we out of money.”

Deena thought about the
cities that lay ahead and the possibilities—Philadelphia,
Baltimore, D.C. She thought about all the moments they’d shared—the
Waffle House in Atlanta, the Screamin’ Eagle in St. Louis, Lake
Michigan in Chicago, him making love to her in New York. And as her
grandmother shouted, her eyes began to water.

“
Grandma, I’m nowhere near
Miami. I could wire you some money but, but—”

Deena brought a hand to her
face.

“
Listen. I don’t deal with
nobody but Mr. Evans. Now, unless you gone get this money to him,
you need to find yourself another idea.”

Deena wiped her face. She
should’ve known she could never get away with such freedom; that
she could never get away with happiness. She was forever tethered
to this family, forever a Hammond.

Tak touched her
shoulder.

“
Call her back,
Dee.”

She looked at him and turned
away. He repeated himself, sterner. “Call her back.”

“
You want to ask me about
this little bit of money I got. You wouldn’t even have nothing if
it wasn’t for me! You want to be selfish and talk about what you is
and ain’t gone do?” Grandma Emma spat.

Tak took the phone and hung
it up. Deena stared at him, eyes shimmering.

“
I—I have to call back. She
wants me to come home now.” Deena swallowed. “She needs more money
but she won’t let me wire it because she doesn’t trusts banks
and—and—”

“
Do you want to go
home?”

She drew back, horrified.
How could he even ask her that? After all this? All that’s
happened?

“
Of course not.”

“
Then stay.” He tossed the
phone onto the bed.

“
But she needs money. She
needs me.”

“
She doesn’t need you. What
she needs is a lesson.”

He swung his legs out from
the bed and stood. “Show her how valuable you are. That you’re not
at her beck and call.”

Deena lowered her gaze.
Lowered it because she knew that she was.

“
All right, have it your
way. If she really needs money, then we’ll wire her
some.”

“
But my grandmother doesn’t
have a bank account! And—and she’d never go to Western Union. She
only deals with Mr. Evans at the liquor store.”

Tak’s gaze narrowed. “No one
who needs money would put so many stipulations on how they get
it.”

Deena sighed. “Well it’s not
like I want to go. I want to stay here. With you,” she added
miserably.

His face hardened. “Then do
that. Call her back and tell her we’re wiring money to a Western
Union. She can pick it up if she wants to or not.”

Deena looked at him
doubtfully. Sure, it made sense, but, well…she just didn’t
know.

“
Tak, please. I’m not
strong like you. It’s hard for me to stand up to
people.”

He sighed. “What’re you
talking about, Dee? You’re as strong as they come. Just look at all
that you’ve done with the little you’ve had.”

She shook her head, slowly.
He just didn’t get it. This was Grandma Emma. Telling her no
meant…well, she didn’t know what it meant.

Tak stood. “Listen to me.
Life’s not fair, believe me, I get that. And I know a lot of things
have been beyond your control,”

He rounded the bed to her.
“But not this. You decide how this turns out. For better or
worse.”

CHAPTER
TWENTY-TWO

With the sun perched hot and
obnoxious in the sky, the Hudson River meandered at the side of Tak
and Deena, Allison and John. It was a pleasant day, especially warm
for New York, warm enough even to shirk sleeves. The Tanaka cousins
walked side-by-side, steps ahead of the girls, careful to speak
low.

“
You seem to be taking life
a little more seriously these days,” John said.

Tak shrugged. “I guess. I
don’t know if ‘more seriously’ is the term I’d use.”

John raised a brow. “I
would. The last time I saw you, your biggest gripe was that Ferrari
had discontinued the 360. We’ve been out here for half an hour now
and you haven’t mentioned your car, your art or a piece of ass
once.”

Tak grinned. “Speaking of
ass, how’s that weird ass brother of yours?”

John snorted. His older,
Mike, an MIT grad with a major in computer science was the painful
sort of geek usually reserved for cinema and stalking-type
cases.

“
Good, I suppose. Still in
Seattle. Ma’s wants him to settle down.”

“
Yeah,” Tak said. “Good
luck with that.”

“
I know, I know,” John
rolled his eyes.

While Mike was similar
enough to John and Tak, he still managed to diverge from them
radically in appearance. The bulky black frames, the pointed and
protruding ears, the inexhaustible supply of tucked in screen
tees—

Ghostbusters, Marvel Comics,
Star Trek—good Lord, he had enough Star Trek to leave with excess
after a geek convention.

“
Mike’s of the opinion that
he’ll meet a beautiful woman with a brain to match his.” John
said.

Tak frowned. “I’m not sure
there is a brain to match his,” he said, considering his cousin’s
near perfect SAT score.

John shrugged. “Well, if she
does exist, I’m not sure she’d want to spend her days watching
B-rated horror.”

Tak paused at the inverted
railing for a view of the Hudson at the promenade in Battery Park
City. The World Financial Center was in their sights; a mega
complex of power corporations like Merrill Lynch, Dow Jones, and
American Express, all clustered in this concrete-laden, carefully
constructed prism of nature.

He caught a glimpse of Deena
and Allison a few yards back, their arms entwined like two old
ladies as they talked. He thought of Deena standing up to her
grandmother and wiring the money with a declaration of “it’ll be
there if you need it,” and smiled.

John followed his
gaze.

“
I think they’ve given up
on us. My guess is that they’re seeking solace in each other’s
arms.”

“
Yeah. I could see why
Allison would give up on you. She’s had enough time to see you’re
not worth it. But me, what have I had? Three days?”

John smiled. “Well, your
shortcomings are painfully obvious.”

Allison stared at her
boyfriend of three years and scowled, before turning back to
Deena.

“
So I told him, Deena,. I
said, ‘John, I’m no bimbo. You either commit to me or I’m out of
here.”

“
And that
worked?”

Allison smiled. “I’m still
here, aren’t I?”

Deena lowered her
gaze.

“
Still, Tak’s such a free
spirit. He’s always talking about how he needs to live
untethered.”

“
And what about what you
need?”

“
I’m not sure I know what I
need.”

“
Okay, fine. Let’s
clarify.” Allison turned to Deena, placing a hand on each of her
shoulders. “What would you do if this absolutely stunning woman,
and I mean stunning—big breasts, narrow waist, long beautiful
hair—if she just walked up to Tak and kissed him?”

Deena recoiled.
“Cry.”

Allison sighed.
“Cry.”

“
Go home?” Deena tried
again.

Allison stared at her.
“Jesus, Deena. You’re in love with this guy. I’d like to think
you’d kick some ass. His, hers, somebody’s!”

Deena lowered her gaze.
“I’ve never hit anyone before.”

“
Well then, let me tell
you, sister. It’s one of those wrong things that feel absolutely
great. You know what I mean?”

Deena thought about her
grandfather, calling interracial couples an abomination, and then
remembered Tak making love to her.

“
Uh, yeah. I
do.”

“
Alright then. So, you’d
probably sock him.”

“
I could never hit
Tak.”

Allison watched John out the
corner of her eye. “I bet you could if he stumbled home drunk one
night with lipstick on his collar.”

John leaned over the
railing, watching as the two women stood just out of earshot,
Allison’s hands on Deena’s shoulders.