In My Sister's House (15 page)

S
kylar was not particularly looking forward to the drive into the city today. For one, it was Monday, the day she set aside as
Skylar’s
day. On Skylar’s day, she did whatever she wanted to do. Sometimes, she stayed in bed all day watching TV. Other times, she’d catch a midday movie in town and grab a bite to eat with a friend. Even Sidney knew not to plan anything with her on Monday. In fact, she didn’t even answer her phone or check messages on Monday unless it was absolutely necessary. This was just a practice that she had been doing for years. It was something Dutch did all his life.

His day was Sunday. After church, he would perhaps take a walk in the park and sit down on a bench and think about all the blessings God had showered on him. Or take a long drive alone somewhere, way out, and just see God’s land. He didn’t go into the restaurant. The staff would have to handle everything from the cooking to the cleaning.

Those memories brought a smile to Skylar’s face, a smile that disappeared quickly as she remembered why she was heading to the club. Storm!

She demanded that Storm meet her at the club at ten that morning for a discussion. For the first week or so, things had gone rather smoothly with Storm handling management duties. However, as the
weeks went on, things were changing, and Skylar had been holding back her comments far too long.

Once inside the club, she headed for the main dining area, where the meeting would take place. Pacing the floor, trying to calm down before Storm arrived, she grabbed a bottle of water from the small refrigerator beneath the bar. The picture of Dutch that Nettie had hung on the wall caught her eye.

“I’m going to need your strength, Daddy,” she said softly while looking at it.

Noticing that it was now ten-thirty and still no Storm, Skylar retrieved her cellphone from her purse. As soon as she began to make a call, the door opened and a hungover Storm entered. Storm had no intention of making eye contact with her sister until she was ready.

Dressed in an off-white designer running suit and tennis shoes, with her hair hidden under a baseball cap, she pulled out a chair from a nearby table and sat down. Skylar glared at her the entire time. There were several uneasy moments of silence.

“What’s up, Sky?” Storm asked, still not making eye contact.

“That’s what I should be asking you.” Skylar folded her arms across her chest. Storm hated when Skylar did this.

“Listen, Skylar, I’m a little tired. I did work last night you know.” For the first time she looked at her sister. “So could we have this little meeting and talk about what the hell you want to talk about so that I can go back to bed,
please?
Thank you!”

“What’s wrong with you? Huh? I thought we had an understanding,” Skylar said, still trying to remain calm.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Storm started toward the bar. Skylar told her how she had been coming in late on her shift, and that customers were complaining about her attitude. She also let her know that some of the employees had mentioned that there were times when they’d smelled liquor on her breath.

Before Skylar had finished the last statement, Storm had already poured herself a drink.

“I just need you to do your job. I know all of this is new, but I need you to be more focused while you’re here, Storm, that’s all.” Skylar
seemed exhausted and threw her hands up in the air. Storm refused to comment on anything. She took a seat on one of the bar stools and nursed her drink.

“I’ve tried to stay out of your personal life these last few weeks. But now it’s starting to affect my business, so I need to say something. I thought you had changed. The drinking, the streets, running with your old crowd. Aren’t you tired of all that shit?”

Storm slammed her glass down on the bar. “Crowd? What old crowd? Say what you really mean, Sky. You’re referring to DuBoy.” She stood up.

“Well, I didn’t think I needed to say any names,” Skylar said.

“And yes, I am tired. I’m tired of you bringing up my past,” Storm continued as she began to pace. “I just spent the last three years of my damn life locked up, and I’m trying to get adjusted to my life again on the outside, if you don’t mind.”

“I just want you to get yourself together. In fact, that’s all I’ve ever wanted for you.”

“Save that shit, Sky! You never cared for anyone but yourself. The entire time I was away, you came up to see me twice! Two damn times,
Skylar!”
she spat.

“I came when I could. You never asked for me, Storm,” Skylar told her.

“Why should I have to ask my own sister to come to a fuckin’ prison to see me?” Storm said, getting angrier.

Skylar defended herself by reminding Storm of all that she had had to deal with back here. “You know, keeping the business up and running and taking care of Daddy when he got ill. Dutch needed me. He could have used your help, too, but yo ass was locked up!” she shrieked.

“Fuck you!” Storm was beside herself with rage.

“No, fuck you!” Skylar returned the sentiment. She couldn’t believe that Storm had gotten her to the point where she was using such language. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d cursed like this.

“You know that shit was not my fault!” Storm stressed.

“When is it ever, Storm? When is it ever your fault? When are you going to grow up and take responsibility for something for a change? You did all that time because of all the crap you were involved with,” Skylar reminded her.

Storm could not believe that Skylar had said this to her. Suggesting she
deserved
to be
wrongly
locked up three years. “For
what?
All I really did was drive a car with a suspended license!”

“It was more than that and you know it!” Skylar said. “They were going to charge you with murder! You pled guilty to manslaughter, Storm!”

“I did what they forced me to do! How the hell was I supposed to know that shit? Huh? I was just driving the damn car!” Storm explained.

Skylar raised her voice. “That’s what you thought. It didn’t matter. You were there. I’ve told you time and time again that Asia and Lenora were no damn good. None of the chicks you used to roll with here were any good!”

Calming down a bit, Storm retorted. “Let me remind you, sister, that I am almost thirty years old. I was twenty-six when I went upstate, okay? To handle a life more real than you’ve
ever
imagined. I don’t need you telling me who I can and can’t run with. You are not my mother and you sure as hell ain’t my father, so you need to stop.”

“You’re right, I’m not,” Skylar stated. “But Dutch tried to get through to you, too. How many times did Daddy tell the both of us that we would be judged by the company we keep? Even he knew your so-called friends would be your downfall.” Skylar stood and again folded her arms across her chest.

Instead of blowing up any further, Storm sauntered back to the bar and poured another drink. Skylar got a disgusted look on her face and spoke out.

“See, there you go.”

“Bitch, I am grown! And if I want to drink until I pee out yellow vodka it’s my damn business!” Slamming down the bottle, she turned her back on Skylar, but could still see her in the mirror behind the bar. Softly, she began to talk.

“All I did was drive Lenora by her job before she went to the club. She called and said that her and Asia were going out, and if I didn’t mind could we all go in my car because hers was being worked on. I had no idea that those two had other plans, too. On the way to the club was when she said she had to stop by her job because she’d left her wallet there.

“I asked if it could wait until Monday, I did. But she said her ID was in there and if we got all the way down to the club and she got carded that me and Asia would be pissed. She was right, so she had us pull up to this huge house in Chestnut Hill, not the office building on City Line Avenue where I thought she worked. I asked her what we were doing there and she said this was where her last assignment was. That she had been assigned as Ida Tuttle’s home-care companion for the last month.

Skylar hadn’t heard her sister’s story before. Although she was still certain that her sister’s friends were worthless and that nothing good could come of Storm still palling around with them, she knew that she had to let Storm have this moment.

“Asia went inside with her because Lenorea said she didn’t want to go by herself. No one was home and that house could be scary. That’s what she said.” Storm walked over to a table near Skylar and continued.

“I told them to hurry up or I’d leave their asses right there. I spent the next three years, Skylar, three fucking years in a cell, regretting that I didn’t leave. Lenora was going to rob this old woman’s place, because she knew the old lady kept a lot of cash and jewelry just lying around in her room, and since Lenora came and went a lot during the week she not only had a key but she knew the alarm code, too.

“When they went in, they didn’t turn on any lights. Lenora knew exactly which room to go to and went to work. Asia went into the office and started rummaging through Ida’s desk drawers. Lenora was into Ida’s bedroom dresser, grabbing all kinds of stuff, a topaz ring encrusted with diamonds, a gold pocket watch that dated back to the 1800s, diamond rings, pearls, and a money box about the size
of a shoe box that was kept in the back of a drawer. That’s where Ida kept loose money, like fifty-and one-hundred-dollar bills. That box had tempted Lenora every time Ida had sent her in there to grab money for groceries or medicine. But Lenora never took anything other than what she was told before, because she knew that no matter how much Ida Tuttle told her she trusted her and she was
such a nice girl and all
, she doubled-checked everything once Lenora left for the day.”

Skylar just shook her head.

“But when Lenora was ready to leave, the bathroom door suddenly opened and there was frail, frightened Ida Tuttle. Without her glasses, Ida couldn’t see it was Lenora, who pushed past her, knocking her to the ground as she ran down the stairs. It wouldn’t have been so bad, but Ida had a heart attack right then and there and died.”

Storm welled up as she remembered everything about the evening.

“I caught a rap for a damn murder that I didn’t commit!” she cried.

“The tape from the closed-circuit television clearly showed your car, Storm.”

“No! That’s bullshit, Skylar. When they went into the house, I turned the car off, and there was no light in front of the house. Those two bitches turned me in. They had to say that it was me driving the car because how else could anyone know I was even there or think that I’d touched any of that stuff? Nothing in there had my prints on it. Dammit!”

She started to cry uncontrollably. Skylar watched her with no emotion. A few seconds passed. Skylar got up and took a few steps before speaking softly.

“I remember when Daddy got the call that the police had arrested you for murder. He literally fell down in front of the phone. He never believed that you were involved.”

“You did, though,” Storm said, glaring at her twin.

“What did you expect me to think, Storm? All the time you had
gotten into shit!” She threw her hands up and walked away, but continued talking. “Dutch said as long as he had breath in his body, he’d fight for your freedom. Took all his savings and military pension to get the best lawyer he could for you.”

“I had no other choice than to plead. At least that’s what my attorney said. Even though Asia finally admitted that I really didn’t know what was going down. It was too late. The damage was done,” Storm admitted. “They were sentenced to fifteen to life.”

“Dutch even wrote a letter to the judge begging for mercy for you. He was never the same after that,” Skylar remembered.

“Oh, so now you blaming me for Dutch’s death, too? You saying I had a hand in that situation, too?” Storm said.

“You know what, Storm, I’m tired of pretending. Yes, you definitely played a part in what happened to him. There was nothing Dutch wouldn’t do for you. Even put up his restaurant to save your ass. Anything for his Storm.”

“Oh, okay, that’s it. Now we’re getting to the real shit, ain’t we, Sky? Yeah …you couldn’t understand the fact that even though my shit was fucked up at times Daddy still loved and supported me….”

Storm was on a roll now. “Well, I’ll be damned! That’s it. You’ve always been the same since we were kids. Never able to stand it, how I wasn’t half as perfect as you thought you were, but Dutch still loved me more.” Heading back toward the bar, Storm started laughing. This upset Skylar, who lost it and started screaming at Storm.

“Daddy felt sorry for your ass, Storm! That shit ain’t have nothing to do with love. Before he died, he told me that he had resolved in his mind that he was going to take care of your trifling ass for the rest of your life, or his, whichever came first!”

This hit Storm hard, like a blow to the gut. “Dutch would never say anything like that about me. He would never call me out my name that way. That’s all you, Skylar. If he even thought something like that, it was during one of those times when he got pissed at me for not wanting to follow in his footsteps with the business.”

“Wow! You have got to be kidding. Dutch knew you had no business sense,” Skylar ranted. “He
never
wanted you to be a part of the
family business. He told me himself that he prayed to God I would take over when he retired, because leaving it in your hands was a sure disaster!” Skylar tossed a chair to the side and walked over to the bar.

“If what you say is true, Sky, why is my name on the deed of this place as co-owner along with yours? Huh? Yeah, my dear sister, I had it all checked out!” Storm stood and folded
her
arms across her chest and gave Skylar a piercing look.

Skylar took a moment before she responded to what Storm had said. Turning toward her, she spoke softly.

“I never tried to hide anything from you, Storm. I told Dutch to put your name back on it along with mine because I did not want any trouble with you over this property. After Dutch retired, I offered to buy it from him because I wanted to keep it in the family, and because I had dreams of opening a nightclub. And you know what he said to me? He said, ‘Baby, if anybody can make it work, you can. You have my blessings!’” Skylar patted her chest for emphasis, with tears in her eyes.