Push Comes to Shove (17 page)

Thomas shot to his feet with the shovel cocked. “You had me dig up a dead goddamn goldfish…a stinking fish!” He swung the shovel, dislocating Hector’s shoulder.

Hector yelped as the pain registered. “I thought that’s who you were talking about.” He held on to his shoulder. “My fucking arm… I think you broke it. That’s the only body I know about.”

“Smart ass, you think you can toy with us like we’re some clowns?” Thomas drew back with the shovel.

Hector tried to shake the pain.
Does he really want me to answer that
? “I did what was asked of me. I showed you the only body I know about. I came home a week ago and found Pablo floating in his bowl. I had him for years. He was my main man, you know. It was only right to give him a proper burial.”

“Who does this murderous…asshole think he’s talking to?”

Crutchfield saved Hector from a second blow. “Fuck him, Thomas. He’ll slip up on his own or by my design. Either way, we’ll get him…” He tugged on the cuffs with a force that sent shock waves of excruciating pain through the damaged limb. “…And we’ll bring Squeeze down.”

Hector fell and soiled the knees of his designer slacks.

Jewels wheeled the Escalade onto the avenue leading to GP’s home.

Kitchie shifted Junior from one side of her lap to the other. “You shouldn’t do this. I don’t want us to get into any more trouble than we’re in, Papi.”

“What else am I supposed to do? None of us have any clothes and there’s a couple hundred dollars in there, which we need. Unless you have another suggestion, I’m going in.”

“There’s fifty dollars in my pants pocket on my bedroom floor, Daddy.” Secret leaned on Kitchie, holding on to her hand.

A crease stretched across Kitchie’s forehead as her brow furrowed. “Where did you get that type of money?”

She explained her possession of the money to her parents.

“Kitchie, everything is gonna be all right. I’ll be in and out like a heist.”

“In reality, that’s exactly what you’re doing.” Jewels parked in the driveway. “But what’s fucked up is you’re breaking into your own house to steal your own shit.”

GP looked at the children’s bedroom window. “I sure would’ve liked to watch my baby make that climb.”

Secret smiled.

“She almost peed on herself, Daddy.”

“Shut up. You’re lying.”

Their meddlesome neighbor, Mr. Irvington, strolled his compact lawn mower down his drive with his nose in the air. He paused, looked over the shrubbery dividing the two driveways and into GP’s aggravated face, then scanned the other members of the Patterson family.

“Let’s go.” GP released the door handle. “Nosy old bastard has diarrhea of the mouth.”

“Mommy…I asked Secret, but she didn’t know. Does Daddy tell you…” He whispered the rest into her ear.

Kitchie’s eyes widened; her mouth fell open. “Boy, you have no business. Don’t you ever, ever let me hear you say that again. Where did you learn that…filth?”

“Me and Secret heard that man, Brandon, say it to his girlfriend, Shea. I saw her titties, too. They’re big.”

Jewels frowned at Junior through the rearview. “I told you to leave all that out for now.”

GP turned in the seat. “How did you see her chest inside his car?”

Junior lowered his head.

GP shifted his gaze to his daughter. “Secret, tell us everything, and this time don’t leave nothing out.”

Mr. Irvington noted the Escalade’s license plate number as it backed out the drive. He went into the house and removed a business card stuck to the refrigerator by a banana magnet.

He put on his glasses to make out the blurry numbers on his telephone’s keypad. He punched the extension in.

“Department of Social Services; how may I direct your call?”

Mr. Irvington adjusted his hearing aid. “Child Services, please.”

“One moment.”

Eight seconds later, a man’s voice was on the line. “Child Services.”

“Uh, yes—” Mr. Irvington read the name on the card. “May I speak with Nancy Pittman?”

“Nancy, line two!” he yelled to a cubicle to the right of him.

“Got it.” She picked up. “Hello.”

“Ms. Pittman, this is Carmichael Irvington. I met with you yesterday evening.”

“Good afternoon, Mr. Irvington. I take it that you thought of something that’ll help me locate the Patterson children.”

“Better than that; I know exactly who they’re with.”

“I’m gonna give somebody hell if I catch their fiending ass smoking that stinking shit in this hall.” Jewels checked her mailbox and fanned the crack smoke.

“Achoo! Achoo!” Junior pinched his nose. “That smells like the same stuff Brandon and Shea was smoking.”

“Junior, you and Secret go upstairs with your father. Let Mommy talk to Aunty Jewels for a minute.”

GP held the vestibule door open for the women. “Can’t y’all—”

“GP, please.”

“Come on.” He led the children up the stairs to Jewels’s apartment.

Jewels leaned against the mailboxes. “What’s up?”

“Thanks for everything.”

“Don’t sweat it. Y’all would have done the same for me. Girl, I know you didn’t want to thank me for that in privacy.”

“You’re right. I’ve asked you not to encourage my children to do wrong. Secret looks up to you. You teach her to fight, use foul language, and, now, you’ve overstepped the boundaries of your influence when you advise my children to hold back information from their parents.”

“Damn, Kitchie, don’t trip. I don’t feel like going through this with you again.” Jewels threw her hands up. “I only told them to
keep their mouths closed for a while; I didn’t want them to rattle your nerves with a bunch of shit none of us can do anything about. Seeing all that you’ve been through, I was trying to let you get your pain in small doses. Y’all got enough to worry about, other than some dude getting his dick sucked.”

Kitchie folded her arms and sighed. “You have a point, and I appreciate your concern. Always have. You’re special to all of us. But let GP and me be the parents.”

“We had to eat.” Secret pouted. “What else were we supposed to do?”

“You’re getting mad at us for stealing; we only did what you do.” Junior’s innocence oozed from his gaze.

GP sighed. “I’m not mad.”

He wasn’t angered at all, but he had just been wounded by his son’s words.

“I know why you did it. All I want you to understand is that stealing is wrong. No matter why you did it.”

“Then why do you steal? Why is it wrong for us but not for you?” Secret folded her arms.

At this moment, Secret reminded GP so much of Kitchie. Her cocky, inquisitive attitude. The prove-your-point attitude her body language communicated. Like mother, like daughter.

“Just because I’m known for doing some things in the past doesn’t mean it’s cool for either one of you to do it.”

“Aaunk! Wrong answer.” Kitchie strolled into the room with Jewels close behind. “Answer her question. I want to know, too.”

Junior rested an elbow on the arm of the couch. “Well, Dad, why
are
you allowed to do it?”

“This ought to be good.” Jewels plopped down onto the love-seat. “Your own kids got you on the ropes; going to your body real good.”

GP visited each set of eyes staring at him for a brief moment. “Stealing is wrong for me, too. It’s not something I’m proud of. Stealing is self-centered. When you take something that doesn’t belong to you, you’re only concerned with the benefits you get.” He took Junior’s hand. “Stealing one small thing can hurt a lot of people in a big way.”

“So, you don’t care about other people when you steal, Daddy?” Junior bit his bottom lip.

GP looked at Kitchie, hoping that she would come to his rescue.

“I won’t help you.” She shrugged. “I told you that you’ll be confronted by this one day.”

“Man-up, homeboy, ’cause you’re definitely on front street.”

GP scratched his head. “No, Junior, I don’t. The times I’ve stolen, at the time, there wasn’t anybody I cared about but your mother, you, and Secret. That’s wrong for me to think like that.”

“If you know all of that—” Secret stretched. “—then why do you do wrong?”

“Oomph, good goddamn question.” Jewels leaned back on the loveseat. This was getting good.

“My teacher said, ‘Once you know something,’” Secret said, “‘you’re held accountable for what you know.’”

“Your teacher is a very smart woman.” GP shifted his gaze from Secret to Junior. “Tell you what: I’ll make a deal with you. You won’t ever hear about me stealing anything again. But you have to promise me that neither of you won’t ever take something that doesn’t belong to you unless your life depends on it.”

“Deal.” Secret kicked her shoes off.

“Throw my bike in there and you got yourself a deal, Daddy.”

“Bet.” GP shook his son’s hand.

Jewels turned the TV on. CNN was doing a news brief on yet another entertainer turned pedophile. “Freak is going to jail this time. They finally got his confused ass trapped off.”

Kitchie sat down beside her. “You think he’s guilty?”

“You motherfucking right! Ain’t no question. He lucky it ain’t nobody I know, ’cause I’d break his ass off—literally. Show him how that shit feels. Anybody that tampers with kids in any type of way deserves to be done in. Fuck him, perverted queer.” Jewels turned the channel. “It’s some bags on my bed. Some of the hottest gear out. It’s something in there everybody can wear. Y’all take whatever you need. It might be a minute until things is back right.”

“Booyah!” Secret sprang up and darted toward the bedroom.

GP threw up a hand, stopping her. “Hold up a minute.” He turned back to Jewels. “You need to hustle those clothes so—”

“Don’t sweat it. Y’alls bond money already set me back. I’m a player, though. I’ll get another opportunity to make some major paper. Them stolen clothes don’t mean shit to me. Take them all and get right. Family comes before money.”

Junior turned. “Aunty, you stole, too?” His brow rose.

“Boy, don’t you even go there with me. Ain’t no telling what Aunty might do. Steal, kill, wheel, and deal.”