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Authors: Victor McGlothin

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BOOK: Down On My Knees
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“That is something she could use, a good whacking,” Shelia added, while continually studying the “W” section of her black book. “Grace, you didn't happen to get Hollis Williams's home number while you were eye to eye with his Pocket Pal, did you?”
Linda waved off Shelia's ridiculous question. “She's hopeless, but what are you going to do about this teacher dude?”
“Nothing. I set him straight but good.” Grace didn't really believe that was the last time she'd be pitted against the quick-witted Wallace Peters.
“Good, then it's settled. We'll go to the Kappa's Annual Casino Night on Saturday and have ourselves a ball.”
After having been reminded of the best man feast in town, Grace grimaced. She'd promised to spend more time with André, and had gone out of her way to get courtside tickets to watch Allen Foray and the Mavericks take on the Los Angeles Lakers. “Ooh, I'm going to pass on Saturday. I have a date with Dré, and I'd hate to break it.”
“That's on you, girl. Me and Linda will be knee deep in Crimson and Cream. Those Kappas know how to roll out the red carpet. It'll be packed.”
“Yeah, I remember last year's event,” Grace said quietly. “Let me talk to André about it, and then I'll get back to you.”
Shelia went back to slurping on coffee when she'd finally given up on finding her old boyfriend's contact information. “So Grace, you say that Hollis is doing well for himself?”
Hopeless!
18
All Bets Are Off
B
y the time André made it home from Skyler's varsity basketball game, Grace had worn a path in the den. She was serious about spending more quality time with him, but she also craved harmless interaction with normal adult males, if she could get it. The local Dallas graduate chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi threw in with their upper-crust brothers from two bordering suburban bedroom communities, combiningtheir efforts to stage an exciting casino-styled extravaganza.The proceeds were given to charity, but hundreds of single women traipsed through the star-studded affair to try their luck in the dating game, which started the minute they walked in the door. Grace loved the people-watching aspect it presented, because that was the only time she could see high-class African-American men and women drink too much and reduce themselves to heat-seeking enthusiasts. She did not want to miss that.
While wringing her hands over the decision to ask André if he wouldn't mind going with Skyler to watch Allen Foray take on Los Angeles from the first row, her son hit the door with a ravenous appetite. “Hey Ma,” he said, dropping his backpack at the door. The look in his eyes, she'd seen before. The poor boy was starving. Within moments, he had his head stuck in the refrigerator and palms resting on his skinny knees. “Mama, do you still have some of that lasagna left over from Tuesday?”
“Yes, honey, it's in the Tupperware container on the bottomshelf,” she informed him. “Tell you what, why don't I heat it up for you while you stop by the restroom to wash up? Go on now. I have something important to talk to you about.”
“Thanks, Ma, stack it high. I'll be right back.” No sooner than André dashed off, Grace felt like a deadbeat parent for even thinking about putting him off on someone else just so she could have a grown-up evening at the Grande Hotel ballroomwith three hundred of the most handsome successful men in the area.
Shame on her
.
A steaming plate of lasagna was waiting on the counter when André returned. Grace noted his carefree attitude when he straddled the bar stool to dig in. He closed his eyes and placed both hands in front of his face like Grace had taught him when he was three years old. She took a deep breath and blushed with pride, thinking back on how far both of them had come, on their own.
André shoveled food into his mouth, one forkful right after another. He smiled at Grace, who was continually lookingon and still bursting with pride. It had been a number of years since she'd thought about André's father, who had once loved her like a hammock loves to sway in the wind until he decided that finding himself and making it big as an attorney didn't include her bearing his child. Grace was in college then, pregnant and on the Dean's list. When she graduated with honors, André was the newborn in the first row screaminghis head off because it was his feeding time and Grace's mother had forgotten to pack an extra bottle. Grace smiled when she remembered how he could really open his mouth back then, too.
“So, Ma, what did you want to talk about? I mean, if it's about giving Skyler's grandmother my sock-drawer money, I know I should have cleared it with you first.”
“Actually, Dré, sharing your personal savings to help out Miss Pearl and Skyler was the right thing to do. I'm not upset about that. But since you asked, I made a commitment to do more things with you, and that's why I got those courtsidetickets from Allen Foray.”
“Oh, yeah, Mama, that's tight. I wufff tuffing to Sky'nem 'bout ...” he mumbled with his mouth full before Grace objectedto his table manners.
“Uh-uh, Dré, I know that you know better than to talk with half of Italy hanging out of your mouth.”
The boy poured a heaping swig of grape juice down his throat, then swallowed hard. “Sorry, but I was telling Sky and them about it. They think I'm the luckiest because you're always doing stuff like this, like the NBA gear you got for me and Skyler, like coming to my games even in the rain.” Suddenly, André's expression changed. He'd been grinninggleefully, then it shifted.
“Dré, what's wrong?” Grace asked as she took two steps closer, fearing that he might have been choking.
“Ma, is there any chance we can get another ticket for Skyler? He's never been to a professional game before, and I have several times. Can you call Mr. Foray for one more ticket?”
“Sorry, but the game was sold out weeks ago. Maybe we can take your friend another time. There will be other games.” Instantly, an idea popped into Grace's head. “Speakingof that, I have something that just might work. I was just talking to Linda and Shelia. They told me about a stuffy old charity event I wanted to attend but it happens to be on the same night as the game. I was wondering if you wouldn't mind giving my ticket to Skyler, and then I could do the charity thing with the girls. What do you say?”
“Are you kidding me? Mama, you know I love you like a new pair of Air Jordans but I'd really like it if we could start doing more of the mom-son thing
after
me and Skyler come back from the Lakers game ... and after you've done the girls-gone-wild thing at the Kappa Casino Fund-raiser.” When he looked up and saw Grace's surprised expression, he nodded his head slowly like an old mobster making her a deal she couldn't refuse. “Yeah, all the kids talk about it at school. Rich black people getting all Gee'd up so they can check out other rich black people all Gee'd up. I have to go through the same thing on the first day of school, so I know what a trip that is to watch.”
Grace was speechless, shocked, and impressed all at once. “Uh, okay, then that's that. I'll call Miss Pearl and discuss it with her. Thank you for your time,” she said in a staccato, rhythmic manner. After speaking with Skyler's grandmother and seeing to it that André would catch a ride home with his friend, Grace wasn't completely convinced that he hadn't brokered a better deal for himself than she had, but it worked out swimmingly, just like it needed to, for the both of them.
Friday night came right on schedule. Grace spoke to André at halftime, on her cell phone, as an extensive line of expensive cars inched toward the busy valet stand. She told her son to behave himself and call her once Skyler dropped him off. Then she flipped her phone shut and checked her makeup in the overhead vanity mirror. Red-jacketed valet attendants darted back and forth to accommodate the multitudeof high-strung clientele, all extremely eager to get insidethe main ballroom. Annually, the distinguished men's fraternal organization held their fun-filled Las Vegas–style mix-and-mingle to help underprivileged neighborhood kids but many of their guests arrived hoping to take home a specialgift or two for themselves. That's how Grace had met Tyson. She'd made a striking appearance, wearing a tightly fitted red hot cocktail dress, and had flounced around playinghard to get, when in actuality she was in the mood to give. Tyson shooed away a flock of women, pursued her, and the rest was history.
This time around, it would be different,
Grace thought. It was a good thing she wasn't willingto bet her own salvation against the house or she'd have lost it all.
“Hey, Grace!” Chandelle shouted over the noisy hubbub spilling into the women's restroom. “Nice dress, nice dress, but I'd have gone the I-want-a-man route, instead of the I-got-a-man-but-he-won't-let-me-wear-my-sexy-clothes-in-public route,” she added, leering at Grace's basic black spaghetti-strap number.
“Chandelle, I don't have time for this tonight,” Grace told her flat out. She stared at her reflection as she dabbed a tissueacross her forehead and cheeks. “Uh-uh, not after you had me barging into that conference room like Scarlet O'Hara in
Gone with the Wind.
”
“And what was wrong with being assertive? Grace, the man did leave the conference room smiling like you'd just promised to give him some.”
“The man was practically married, and happy as a punk in prison about it, too. From now on, I'd appreciate it if you'd stay out of my business and let me be single, if that's what's meant to be. If I can accept it, you should be able to.” Grace gazed past her own reflection in the broad mirrorto find Chandelle sulking like a kid sister who'd gotten her feelings hurt. “What?” Grace barked, feeling a tad guilty for putting Chandelle in her place when she meant no harm.
“I'ont have nothing else to say,” Chandelle muttered under her breath. “A sistah I happen to care about just told me to shut up. What can I, a loving friend of hers, say after that?”
Grace turned around to face that loving self-proclaimed friend of hers. “Now, don't go getting all gloomy because I asked you to butt out. You did make me realize that I had been shortchanging myself, but just because I want somethingdoesn't mean I'll get it. Let's go out there and have a good time. Suddenly I feel like flirting.”
Chandelle made a miraculous recovery. Her bruised ego suddenly healed, and a devious grin replaced the protruding lips poked out like a third-grade Girl Scout down to her last box of cookies. “That's the Grace I'm talking about,” she cheered. “Too bad, though. If you're expecting the men out there to flirt back, you wore the wrong dress for it. I'd have put on a dress so tight that it would have taken some wigglingaround on the floor to get into it, know what I'm sayin'.” Although Chandelle was out of line, as usual, Grace couldn't do anything but laugh.
Linda spotted the two of them exiting the powder room, talking like lifelong pals. “Shelia, there she is, with a pinup Boomshieka Barbie.”
“Where? Oh, I see her now.” Shelia took one look at Chandelle's long legs packaged in her tiny satin beige dress, then tugged at hers to reveal more breasts than she was previouslycomfortable with. “You were right. This year's competitionis stiff. Good thing she can't compete with the likes of the twins. Breast men love the twins.”
Grace hugged Chandelle and said so long when her husbandseemed annoyed that she'd been absent from his companyfor far too long. “Bye, girl. Don't keep that man standing around here all by himself. A woman like me might get him,” Grace kidded. When she noticed the girls motioning for her to join them outside the main ballroom, she headed in their direction.
I should have known
, Grace thought to herself while looking at her friend's cleavage o' plenty.
Shelia's showing off the twins
. “Look at y'all,” Grace beamed, “all regal and refined. I like it.” Both women were adorned in long extravagant gowns tapered at their waists.
“Don't get to liking it too much,” Linda suggested. “This one is going back to the store tomorrow, which reminds me.” She spun around to foster a fake pirouette. “Is my tag showing?”Grace snickered. It had been a long time since she'd pulled the same stunt. Having a good time without funking up a pricey dress to be returned immediately after a swanky affair was a difficult feat to accomplish. “Cool, let's get in there so those high-fallutin Negroes get a look at us before I start to sweat.” Shelia propped up the twins again and followedbehind Linda and Grace.
The Grande Ballroom was arrayed in deep red and cream-coloredsashes and streamers. Bright lights and big smiles illuminated it throughout. Portable slot machines aligned the opposing walls. Roulette wheels, craps tables, and other games were placed in the middle of the room. Grace forked over two hundred dollars to the man sitting behind a makeshiftteller window. In return, he handed her poker chips redeemablefor prizes donated by major corporations.
“How can you tell who the members from the Dallas chapter are?” Shelia asked, appraising the most pleasant gathering of businessmen ever to don tuxedos. “You know I'm always up for a man-fest, but I hate having to drive home the morning after I've spread my wings all night in the suburbs. Passing by all of those big houses, I get an inferioritycomplex every time.”
“I think the ones from Richardson-Plano wear the white dinner jackets, and the others go with the standard black,” Grace pointed out to the best of her recollection.
Linda grabbed a complimentary glass of champagne off a serving tray as a white-jacketed host strolled by. “I'ont know Shelia, I'm willing to do the 'burbs if brothas like him are serving champagne out there, too.” She sipped from the glass with her pinky finger outstretched. “Uh-huh, I could get used to this.”
“A grown man like him is what I'd like to get used to,” Shelia confessed softly as she pointed out a very attractive man worth noting. Both Linda and Grace observed who she was talking about. An attentive group of women surrounded a dashingly handsome blackjack dealer who was mesmerizinghis audience by reciting Shakespeare as he fleeced them eloquently, all in the name of charity. When the dealer's concentrationwas interrupted by spotting Grace, he made no qualms about disappointing his loyal fans and asking anotherdealer to man his station.
He made his way toward Grace, through the crowded room. As he approached the gleesome threesome, his confident swagger caught the attention of several additional females along the way. Linda was prepared to shake what her mama gave her at him, and Shelia was ready to put in her bid likewiseby introducing him to her surgically enhanced accessories.Both ladies were immediately thrown for a loop when the blackjack dealer's eyes remained locked on Grace's. Green with envy, Shelia whispered, “I wonder who he is, and could there be more of them?”
BOOK: Down On My Knees
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