Forgiven (6 page)

The director looked puzzled so he said,
‘Before I can process your papers I have to ask you something. When
you were in that room I heard two different sounds. I’m familiar
with the click sound of the gun, but what was that other
noise?’

The woman smiled and said, ‘Well, when I shot
him, I realized that you had put blanks in the gun. So, I picked up
a chair and beat him to death with that.’” Mattie held her stomach
and began laughing so hard she rolled off the couch.

“See, I knew I didn’t want to hear it,”
Cassandra said as the phone rang again. She got up to answer it
while still shaking her head at her mother. “Hello.” There was
silence and then Cassandra heard heavy breathing. “Hello, who is
this?” she demanded.

The caller continued to take deep, seductive
breaths and then released them into Cassandra’s ear.

“I’m hanging up if you don’t say something.”
They kept breathing, so Cassandra hung up and returned to her
seat.

“What was that about?” Mattie asked.

“It was stupid really. Whoever it was
wouldn’t say anything, just kept doing all this heavy
breathing.”

“Heavy breathing, huh?” Mattie said as she
looked at her watch, then back at Cassandra. “It’s six in the
evening, do you know where your husband’s at?” She was mimicking
that popular commercial that used to come on years ago at eleven
every night, asking parents if they knew where their children
were.

Cassandra had been in high school when that
commercial used to come on and she and Mattie would laugh every
night. The running joke between mother and daughter had been, When
your child has a strict 9:00 p.m. curfew, you always know where
she’s at.

But Cassandra wasn’t laughing now. Mattie
jumped out of her seat as she watched her child sputter and gasp as
she struggled to breathe. “What’s wrong? Oh my God, Cassandra,
please tell me what’s going on.”

“I… need… air,” was all Cassandra could eek
out as she held her throat and continued to gasp and struggle to
breathe.

Aaron turned away from the TV and came over
to his mother. “What wrong?” he asked, looking just as puzzled as
his grandmother.

“Move, Aaron. Let me take your mother
outside,” Mattie said as she opened the sliding glass doors, ran
back to Cassandra, stood her up and rushed her outside.

Cassandra breathed in the evening air and
tried desperately to think soothing thoughts. JT had told her to
quote the 23rd Psalm when a panic attack threatened. So that’s what
she did. She couldn’t speak it, but her heart said, “The Lord is my
Shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures… Yeah though I walk through the valley of the shadow of
death, I will fear no evil.”

And that’s when it hit her. Quoting the 23rd
Psalm while her mother and son looked at her like she was a freak,
she realized that Dr. Clarkson had been wrong. She wasn’t angry.
She was scared to death that her life was all a lie, that JT hadn’t
changed and that she was going to wake from this dream and find the
boogie man chasing her.

JT woke early the next morning. He hadn’t had
much sleep the night before due to the constant round of nurses
that came in to check on Lamont. Every time that door opened he
thought Erica would come into the room. But she never did. As he
drifted off to sleep he thought of the night he and Jimmy were
holed up in a hotel hiding from Lester Grayson. JT had gotten shot
that night as he and Jimmy ran from the dope house they’d attempted
to rob. It was only by the grace of God that JT hadn’t bled to
death that night, since he didn’t get to the hospital until the
next day. By the time JT was being admitted into the hospital,
Jimmy was being booked for the robbery he’d attempted the next day
without JT. That was where the two men parted company.

JT had been young and impetuous. But he’d
never envisioned himself as a lifetime criminal. As a matter of
fact, that wild night of thievery with Jimmy was the only time in
his life that he had ever stolen from anyone. He had been angry
about his mother’s death and his first wife’s betrayal, so he threw
caution out the back door and went on a ride that would eventually
cost him more than he wanted to pay.

But that was the reason he was standing at
Lamont’s bedside now. He still owed a debt to Jimmy. He promised
him that he would look after his only son, and by God, that’s what
JT was determined to do. He bowed his head and prayed out loud.
“Lord, thank you for allowing Lamont to make it through the night.
Thank you for health and strength in his body. But most of all,
Lord, I pray that you open Lamont’s eyes. Help him to understand
that to truly live, his life must be in Your hands.”

The door opened and Lamont’s nurse walked in.
“I need to take his vitals,” she told him.

JT stepped away from the bed so the nurse
could handle her business. Looking at the white board, he asked,
“Is Erica off duty?”

“Yeah, but don’t worry. She told me that our
patient had no family here, but that you were clergy.” She took
Lamont’s blood pressure and then turned back to JT. “His vitals are
looking good. Once he wakes up we should be able to move him out of
ICU and into a regular room.”

“Thanks,” JT said as he sat back down and
prayed that Lamont would wake soon and be ready to listen to
reason.

JT got the answer to part of his prayer an
hour later. Lamont groaned and then lifted his right hand and
touched his hip bone. Lamont had scraped himself up pretty good,
but he didn’t have any broken bones. The surgeon had put a patch
over the wound and Lamont was trying to rip it off.

JT jumped up and grabbed Lamont’s hand.
“Don’t do that. You’ll start bleeding if you rip your stitches
out.”

Lamont turned groggy eyes toward JT.
Recognition flickered in his eyes as he said, “You… came?”

“What else was I supposed to do? Some woman
calls to tell me that you were in a bad accident; did you think I
would just sit at home and wait on someone to call back and tell me
whether you made it or not?”

“You meant it, huh?” Lamont said and then
fell back to sleep before getting his answer.

But JT knew exactly what Lamont was talking
about. It had taken JT three months after Jimmy had given him
Lamont’s name to track Lamont down. He’d flown to New Orleans
immediately and met with Lamont’s mother, Peaches. She reminded JT
of his own drug addicted mother. One look at Peaches and JT knew
how Lamont had grown up. He could imagine how many times the boy
went to bed hungry because his cracked out mother sold the food
stamps to buy more drugs. He knew that the boy had lit candles on
the numerous occasions the power company had turned the lights out
for non payment, just so he could see clear enough to get to the
bathroom.

He was there to deliver money to Lamont. The
money he owed Jimmy was now supposed to go to his son since Jimmy
would be doing at least ten-to-twenty more years behind bars. But
JT couldn’t give Lamont the money without educating him. Not with
the current condition the boy was living in. The money would be
gone within six months and Lamont would have nothing to show for
it. So he took the boy to lunch and told him about his past
friendship with Jimmy.

Lamont had been uninterested, until JT told
him that Jimmy asked that he give a hundred and twenty-five
thousand dollars to his son. “What? You’re kidding, right?”

“Jimmy and I want to help you succeed in
life.”

Lamont opened his hands. “Well then show me
the money.” He threw his head back and laughed. “I can’t believe
that my old man actually came through on something for me.”

“Jimmy is very serious about doing this for
you. He thinks that you could even become President of the United
States one day.”

“Go ‘head on somewhere with all that. Just
give me the money and I’ll decide what I’m going to do with
it.”

JT shook his head. “That’s not the way it’s
going down, Lamont. What you need to know is that I have a hundred
and twenty-five thousand dollars with your name on it. But to get
the money you’ll have to come to Cleveland with me. Work with me
for a year, and then I’m hoping that you’ll use the money for
college and to buy a home.”

Lamont laughed in JT’s face. “Look here,
mister, whoever you are. I ain’t no college boy. And what do I need
to own a home for? So some fat-cat banker can come and take it from
me? I may only have an eleventh grade education, but I do watch the
news.”

“You didn’t finish high school?” JT asked,
and then rebuked himself. Hadn’t he just met Peaches? Of course the
boy dropped out of high school. He’s probably been involved in
every penny ante hustle New Orleans had to offer just to survive.
Can’t be a high school student and survive on the streets too. JT
had almost dropped out of high school when he was a kid himself.
But Eloise put down her heroine needle long enough to find an after
school program for youth at risk. JT went to the program. The first
week he met several guys that had dropped out of school and were
just hanging around doing nothing but smoking dope. That wasn’t
what he wanted out of life, so he decided to finish school.

“What I learn on the streets is way more
educating than anything them school books was teaching me.”

“All right then. I’ve just added a third
thing you need to do in order to get the money.”

Lamont had this smirk on his face that said,
there’s always a catch when he asked, “What’s that?”

“You’ll need to get your GED.”

“What? Man, are you crazy, what do I need a
GED for?”

JT had simply smiled and said, “You can’t get
into college without your GED.”

Lamont got up and walked out of the
restaurant without looking back. JT paid the bill and then ran
after him. “Wait up, Lamont. I drove you here, remember? Are you
going to walk home?”

Lamont turned angry, accusing eyes on JT.
“You got my hopes up for nothing, man. Where I come from people get
shot for less than what you did to me today.”

“I come from the same place you come from,
Lamont. And I’m not selling you empty promises. Jimmy and I want
you to have a future. Now are you coming back to Cleveland with me
or not?”

“What business do you own in Cleveland?”

“I’m a preacher. I’m building God’s church
and I could use your help.”

Lamont looked heavenward and then turned back
to JT with his arms crossed around his chest. “Now I know you’re
crazy. You tell my dad that I said, ‘Thanks for nothing as usual.’”
Lamont turned to walk away from JT.

JT put his hand on Lamont’s shoulder. “Wait a
minute, son.”

Brushing JT’s hand off him, Lamont said,
“Don’t touch me. I’m not your son and I’m certainly not the son of
your jailbird friend.”

JT pulled his wallet out of his back pocket,
took out his business card and handed it to Lamont. “If you change
your mind, give me a call. I believe that God has something special
for you. You just have to give Him a chance.”

Lamont put the business card in his pocket
and said, “If I’m in need of a Bible or a sermon, I’ll give you a
call.”

“Whatever you need, Lamont, I promise I’ll be
here for you.”

“Yeah, okay. Well, thanks for lunch,” Lamont
said as he turned and walked away.

JT had gotten Lamont’s cell number from his
mother, so even though Lamont never called him, JT checked on
Lamont from time to time after that day. Their conversations were
always quick, because Lamont, the high school drop out, always had
some important business he needed to take care of. Each time JT
would call, Lamont would say, “Is my check in the mail yet?”

JT would respond, “Are you ready for that
plane ticket to Cleveland?” JT felt in his gut he was doing the
right thing. Money in Lamont’s hand right now was like water going
down the drain. So JT continued to hold out. Now he wondered if he
had done the right thing. Maybe if he’d given Lamont the money
three months ago, he wouldn’t be standing next to his hospital bed
now.

Lamont stirred. He turned on his side and
faced JT. He watched JT for a second without saying anything.
Clearing his throat, he asked, “You still need help in Cleveland,
Mr. Preacher?”

“I sure do. I’ve been waiting on you to wake
up so I could try to talk you into coming back with me again.”

“All I want to do is check on Sonya and then
I’m out of here as soon as they release me.”

Since Lamont’s mother’s name was Peaches, he
had a feeling that the woman he wanted to check on was the very
same one who’d died yesterday. He hated breaking this kind of bad
news, especially while Lamont was trying to heal. But he didn’t
think he should let Lamont reach out to the girl’s family, since
they wanted to kill him. So he asked, “Is Sonya the person who rode
on the motorcycle with you?”

“Yeah. Have you seen her? Is she all right?
Has she been in here?”

JT chewed on his bottom lip for a moment.
Jimmy should be here. Why hadn’t he thought enough of his kid to
put down his gun and get a real job? If he had, another man
wouldn’t have to see his son through this difficult time. Jimmy
would be here delivering the bad news. With the most compassionate
tone JT could muster, he said, “Lamont, I’m sorry to be the one to
tell you this, but… Sonya died yesterday.”

Lamont closed his eyes as a single tear
rolled down his face. “Sonya’s dead?”

“Yes, son, I’m afraid she is.”

He shook his head. The pain in his eyes was
unavoidable as he rubbed his temples as if he were suffering from a
massive migraine. “She wanted to ride, but I didn’t have an extra
helmet, so I told her she couldn’t. She jumped on my bike anyway
and I took off.” “Sonya is… was my ex-girlfriend. But we’ve always
been cool, more like sister and brother than anything else. I
should have made her get off my motorcycle.”