Saved Folk in the House (30 page)

After lunch, closing arguments began with the prosecution.

Mia was back in the spotlight.

“Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, everybody feels threatened from time to time. Everybody feels scared sometimes. If we tried to hurt or kill whatever or whoever threatened or scared us every time we felt threatened or scared, where would we be? The defendant should have taken time to think of a better way out of the situation instead of just killing a man. There had to be a better way,” Mia said, ending her closing argument the same way she ended her opening statement, with a graceful bow.

Jim stood and clapped again.

Zach banged his wooden spoon and laughingly admonished Jim. “Another outburst like that, and I’ll have you removed from this courtroom.”

“That’s my baby,” Jim said as he obediently took his seat, grinning from ear to ear.

JJ took the floor, for the last time.

“Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the defendant did think. He thought the man was too big for him to beat and take his gun. He thought he was going to die if he didn’t do something. The Bible says that as a man thinketh, so is he. Therefore, according to the Bible, my client would be dead if he hadn’t done what he did. Thank you.”

Zach thanked and dismissed the jurors, who went up to the kitchen to deliberate. They were back in a matter of minutes and took their seats.

“Has the jury reached a verdict?” Zach asked.

Eli, the least partial juror, stood. “Yes, Your Honor,” he said.

“Please state your verdict.”

“We find the defendant not guilty!”

The defense table jumped up and cheered, startling Damon, who was deep into his video game and still blowing bubbles.

Mia burst into tears and ran to her granddaddy. He had no trouble assuring her that she had been absolutely brilliant and that the verdict had nothing to do with her performance. He made her feel better by telling her that it would be a bigger crime if an innocent man had gone to jail just because of her terrific talent. She could live with that.

Pam congratulated Taylor on a solid case, and she didn’t feel bad about losing to Taj. As a matter of fact, the whole house was more confident than ever. Their faith that Jaron would be acquitted had been elevated because of what had come out of the mouths of these saved babes.

Zach banged his wooden spoon for the last time and got everyone’s attention.

“Guess what we’re going to do now that the trial is over, Counselors,” he said.

“What?” Mia, Taylor, JJ, and Taj asked in unison.

“We’re going to Disney World!”

The entire courtroom erupted into a shouting, praising celebration.

Chapter Fifty-two

T
he faith of the villagers was contagious. The atmosphere was filled with happiness, joy, and peace. Everyone was extremely hopeful since the mock trial. Tensions were eased, and people were smiling and laughing more. Pam and Micah accompanied Zach as he fulfilled his promise and took the trial participants to Disney World for the weekend. Mia didn’t know life could be so wonderful. She, Taylor, and Pam relaxed on the balcony of their hotel room after a day at the theme park. They had a good view of the fireworks as they enjoyed the sweet summer night’s breeze.

JJ and Taj were up most of the night explaining their concept for the national Junior Execs to Zach in their hotel room. Micah tried to watch a little TV after Damon and Ahmad passed out as soon as they hit the beds. They had worn themselves out running, riding, and eating all day at the park. Micah was soon snoring right along with them.

Even though they were not trial participants, LaKisha and Shay were invited to go with them. LaKisha thought she was too old to go on a trip with her little brother. Since Shay had been to Disney World, she opted to stay home with her grandparents.

When she sensed her granddaddy feeling neglected by Taj and Mia as they prepared for the trial, Shay poured on the love and got him through it. When the trial was over, her siblings were back and all over him. Taj and Mia, feeling quite accomplished, tried to make up for lost time spent away from him. Shay didn’t mind. All she wanted was for her granddaddy to be happy. Because they had done such an outstanding job, Jim had absolutely no problem with Taj and Mia going away for just one weekend. He wanted Shay to go too and offered to pay her expenses, but she insisted on staying with her grandparents, especially since LaKisha wasn’t going.

Shay asked Jim to drop her off at Grace’s house.

“You look nice,” LaKisha told Shay, checking out her hair with the front twisted and the back flat-ironed. “Can you do my hair?”

“You have weave in it,” Shay said.

“I can take it out. Let’s see how I look with just my natural hair done.”

As Shay worked on LaKisha’s hair, they had one of their serious talks.

“I saw your cousin Rae and her kids when I went to see my mom. Gramma told me she was your cousin,” LaKisha told Shay.

“Really! I haven’t seen her in so long. How does she look?”

“She looked good. Her kids looked happy too. My mom looked nice and happy too. She was all excited about coming home soon,” LaKisha said.

“Really? Your mom is coming home soon?” Shay asked.

“Well, we prayed, and she said she was believing God to deliver her.”

“Oh well, she’s coming home, then,” Shay confirmed.

“How do you know?”

“If she’s anything like my mom, God gives her anything she wants, especially if she is happy and believing that He will do what she prayed about. Oh, He’ll do it. He’s done it too many times for my mom. And if He’ll do it for my mom, He’ll do it for yours. My mom always talked about going to Africa and she’s there now.”

“I wish God would get rid of Essence and make Zeke like me.”

“I really don’t think Essence is the problem.”

“What do you mean? You see how she turns him against me.”

Shay was finishing up LaKisha’s hair. “Okay, now look at your hair. Doesn’t that look nice?”

“Hey, I like that,” LaKisha said, looking in the mirror. Shay had twisted her front and combed the back into a cute bob that hung just below her neckline.

“I’m going to show you how to get Essence and Zeke to like you.”

“How?”

“You have nice hair and don’t need that weave. You don’t need so many flowers all over those long nails and you only need to wear one pair of earrings at a time, two at the most.”

“What’s wrong with my flowers and earrings?”

“Too much. And they don’t go with your new hairstyle. Trust me.”

“Okay, I’ll trust you. Nothing I do on my own seems to work for me anyway.”

“Good. Let’s find something longer and looser for you to wear,” Shay said as she combed LaKisha’s closet until she found an adorable outfit. It was a pair of solid purple capris with a matching striped multicolored T-shirt. It had always looked plain to LaKisha, which was why she never wore it. Grace bought it for her, and that didn’t help her estimation of the outfit either. Shay thought it was perfect.

“Now, this is cute,” Shay said, holding it up.

“Girl, that tired-looking thing?”

“I bet Zeke will like how this looks on you,” Shay said.

Suddenly convinced, LaKisha tried on the outfit. Zeke was coming over later to look at Grace’s VCR, which had a tape stuck in it. LaKisha would find out then if Shay was right about her new look.

To her surprise, LaKisha was pleased with her appearance. Now the girls concentrated on LaKisha’s nails. She took the flowers off and painted them a very subtle pale purple to match her outfit.

“Too much?” she asked Shay, holding out her hands, shaking them dry.

“Just right,” Shay answered.

When Zeke arrived, Essence was with him.

“Dang! Why she always got to be all up under him?” LaKisha said, deeply irritated as she heard them speaking to Grace.

“Don’t worry about it. Let’s go let him see you,” Shay encouraged her friend.

Zeke was already working on the VCR when they entered the room. He did a double take at LaKisha and gave a huge, approving smile that caused goose bumps to break out all over her body.

“Well, don’t you look lovely?” Essence complimented her. “Now, that’s what I’m talking ’bout. I knew there was a pretty young lady in there somewhere.”

LaKisha didn’t know what to say. She was caught completely off guard. All hatred for Essence and attitude instantly gone, she just blushed, unable to verbalize a response.

“Doesn’t that outfit look nice on her?” Shay chimed in, since her friend was obviously at a loss for words.

“It sure does,” Zeke said.

LaKisha still couldn’t manage to utter as much as a thank-you. Joy was overtaking her. Shay was to the rescue again.

“I love it so much I think I’m going to ask my granddaddy to buy me one, in a different color, of course. Where did you get it, LaKisha?” Shay asked.

“At the mall,” she said, thankful to Shay for buying her time to find her voice.

“Hey, maybe I can pick you girls up later and we can go to the mall to find that outfit. What do you say, LaKisha?” Essence asked.

LaKisha lost her voice again and just nodded vigorously, tears of joy filling her eyes.

Zeke finally got the tape unstuck. Before they left, Essence promised the girls she would be back to get them around six.

“You were right! You were right!” LaKisha shouted as she and Shay jumped up and down, screamed, hugged, and gave each other five.

“What’s all the fuss about?” Grace asked, coming out of the kitchen.

“Essence is taking Shay and me to the mall. She likes me and so does Zeke. Yiippeeeeee!” LaKisha shouted, twirling around.

“Well, I have some more good news: Your mother’s parole hearing was today. I just got off the phone with her attorney. He said get ready because she’s coming home!”

Chapter Fifty-three

J
aron’s defense team was overwhelmed when Zach showed them the video. They convinced him they had to have Ahmad to seal the case. Convincing Zakia would take divine intervention. Zach picked up Micah, and they went to see his twin.

“You have to, sis,” Zach pleaded.

“Look, a mock trial is one thing, but a real-life courtroom and a real-life murder trial is an entirely different story. I can’t believe you want to subject my baby to that,” Zakia said to Zach and Micah.

“Jay, you see our point, don’t you? What could happen? Ahmad might be young, but that’s when they should be exposed, while we’re around to protect them and explain things, before they grow up and it’s too late. Besides, he’s the sharpest of the sharp,” Zach pleaded.

“I’m cool with it,” Jay said. “It’s up to Zakia.”

“Sis, you know I would never expose my nephews to anything detrimental,” Zach said, knowing how tough of a nut his sister was to crack, especially about her boys.

“All that money you’re paying those lawyers, can’t they do their job without my baby?”

“I’m sure they’ll do a brilliant job, but Ahmad is the clincher, the slam-dunk at the final buzzer. You should have seen the defense team watching the video,” Zach explained.

Zakia looked at Micah, who was there for one reason only, if they needed to play the sympathy card. It was being played. Micah was not saying a word. Just his presence would break Zakia down quicker than anything Zach could say.

“Dang, Micah. You know I love you and Jaron. Let me ask Ahmad,” she relented.

They called Ahmad into the room. Zach asked him if he could do exactly what he had done at his house in a real courtroom.

“Better!” he said, thinking that would be the coolest thing.

“Oh, all right,” Zakia said.

Zach and Micah kissed Zakia and left in a hurry to go tell the defense team to get ready for their surprise witness.

Sharia was about to leave her friend in jail. They cried and promised to keep each other lifted up in prayer. She assured Rae that if God got her released early, He could do the same thing for her. Besides, Rae was the one who really introduced her to God, and for that she would be forever grateful.

“I’ll write to you every week. You keep teaching and preaching that Word, girl,” Sharia said.

“I will. Oh, please tell Shay I got a postcard from Nikki from Africa,” Rae said.

“Definitely,” Sharia assured her.

“So what are you going to do after you get settled?” Rae asked.

“I want to find my sister, Karen. We haven’t heard from her in so long.”

In all the time Rae had spent with her, Sharia had never mentioned having a sister. All she talked about was her mother and children.

“I know a Karen Mitchell,” Rae said. “We used to get high together, sold drugs together, did a lot of wrong things together.”

“Short, light-skinned, whiny voice?” Sharia inquired.

“Skinny, big dark brown eyes?” Rae added.

“Girl, you know my sister.”

“Well, dang. And I know where she used to hang out too. Go right to Creighton Court and ask anybody about her. They will know that whiny voice. They used to give her drugs just to shut her up. But please, please, be careful. I will definitely be praying for you to find her all right and get her off the streets.”

They hugged, squeezing each other so tight it hurt.

“You saved my life, and now you are saving my sister’s life. God has to get you out of here,” Sharia said.

“You were here when I got here,” Rae told Sharia. “You did your time in this place, and I did the crime, so I have to do my time. Besides, I’m making a difference in here. As much as I miss my kids, they are doing okay, and I know when the time is right, God will put us back together.”

“I’m going to miss you, Rae. I love you, girl. Thanks for everything.”

Sharia moved into LaKisha’s room so that they could bond. Grace and her daughter and grandchildren spent all their time together as a family, and Shay would sometimes join them because she and LaKisha really felt like sisters. Sharia liked LaKisha’s look and had the girls help her to develop a fresh new style of her own. She started her job, which was set up for her by Zach, and attended women’s fellowship with Zakia and Eboni regularly. Everyone treated her like she was a person, and she knew she would never go back to her old lifestyle, especially with the Lord keeping her in all of her ways. One night she went to a deep level of intercession for her sister, Karen. She understood that there was a time for everything. It was time for her to try to find her sister.