Under Abnormal Conditions (3 page)

“If you are looking for a wife, you may be in
the wrong place,” I answered with a smile. A few of the other
patrons laughed as they witnessed our exchange.

Suddenly he stood and pointed at the young
lady who was still standing at the back of the club and said, “Who
can find a virtuous woman? For her worth is far above rubies. The
heart of her husband safely trusts her; so he will have no lack of
gain. She does him good and not evil all the days of her life!”

And with that, he marched out the door. I
felt a soft hand touch my arm. It was the woman who called my
attention to him in the first place.

“Weird. I told you. He is really out
there.”

“Don’t worry about him. I’ll walk you out to
your car whenever you are ready to go.” I said.

“Thank you. I was really worried.”

I was about to walk outside to make sure he
was gone when she stopped me and said, “My name is Carmen. And you
are?”

“Drake. Michael Drake. I’m the manager here.
If there is anything I can do for you, please let me know.”

“You better believe I will,” she said in a
way that made my heart jump.

I was trying to think of something witty to
say when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned expecting a fight
but it was just Dexter, the sax man.

“You did a good there, Boss,” he said in a
fake Jamaican accent. “I had your back in case some trouble went
down. And just how are you pretty one?” he said to Carmen.

The ladies loved his hazel eyes and seemingly
flawless bronze skin. He wore his waist length braided hair loose
so it would flow wildly when he blew an up tempo song. During a
slow number he would seductively brush his long hair from his eyes
and stroke his neatly trimmed goatee. The women didn’t have a
chance.

“I’m fine, thank you,” she flirted in return.
“And I will see you later, Mr. Drake,” she said to me and walked
away. Both Dexter and myself admired the view.

“Look here, Boss man. Me needs to have some
words with you before me go on tonight. Very important if you know
what me mean man.”

“Yeah, we can go back to my office in a few
minutes. I just need to talk with Phil when he is finished
upstairs.” I answered.

Everything was pretty much uneventful until
after my dinner break, when I tried to track down Phil for our
little talk. Just when I was ready to corner him, Joey told me I
had a phone call holding at the bar. I found the nearest extension
and picked up.

“Club Cool Breeze, this is Drake. What can I
do for you?”

“You said you were going to call me today,”
she snapped. It was Ester.

“Is the baby all right?” I asked.

“She’s fine, but she misses her daddy,” she
said with a whine.

“I’m really tied up right now. Can this wait
until I get home?” I implored.

“We are tired of waiting for you. We are
tired of your broken promises. Where is her child support, and why
haven’t you come to see her?”

“You know I do the best I can, and between
work and school, I just don’t have a lot of time. You know I love
my daughter. That’s why I work as hard as I do. I want her to have
all the things I never had,” I said, hoping for sympathy.

“What about the things you did have? Like two
parents.”

“She has two parents,” I said, trying not to
lose my temper.

“You know exactly what I mean. She needs two
parents in the same house. If you care about her as much as you say
you do, we would try and work things out.”

“This is not the time or the place. I’ll call
you as soon as I get home so we can finish this. All right?”

“Fine, you better think about this. When she
is old enough to understand, and she asks me why we aren’t
together, I don’t want to have to tell her that her father didn’t
want to try. Good-bye, Michael.”

“Bye.” I tried to answer, but she never heard
it over the slamming of the phone into its cradle.

I wished she would just understand I just
couldn’t be with her anymore and I couldn’t be with her just
because of the baby. I love my daughter more than life itself. I
just couldn’t spend the rest of my life in misery because of it.
There was just too much deception and manipulation in our marriage
to go back to the way things were.

In moments of weakness, I was almost ready to
cave in and agree to get back together. Whenever my mind would go
there, I thought about people like my best friend Trey, whose
parents stayed together for the kid’s sake. It always ended up
doing more harm than good. Whenever his parents did divorce, he
felt like it was his fault.

Trey totally escaped into books and
academics. Besides, I wanted a marriage like my grandparents had.
If they ever had an argument, I never heard it. She always stood
beside him, and he supported her in everything she did. They never
spent one night apart.

I didn’t have the time to sit around and
sulk. I had to catch up with Phil, before he slipped away. When I
walked upstairs to his office, he was packing up his briefcase.

“Phil, do you have a minute?” I asked.

“Sure, Mikey. Come on in. What can I do for
you?”

“What would I have to do to take a couple of
days off . . . for personal reasons?”

After taking a long breath, he squinted his
eyes and asked, “Don’t you want to own this place someday?”

“Yes, but . . .”

“Well,” he interrupted. “You have to realize
your personal problems stay home. I’ve been married three times,
but I don’t bring that to work!”

“No, but-”

“Exactly, if you want to get anywhere in
life, you have got to keep focused. Is that your only problem?” He
asked cynically.

“Well, there have been a lot of rumors -”

“Oh, for God’s sake, be a man and deal with
it. Damn it! Are you going to be a momma’s boy your whole life?” he
said, while still packing his bag, only now a little more
viciously.

I just closed my eyes and tried my best to
block out what he was saying. If he looked in my eyes, he would see
the pain that was in my heart. I would not give him the
satisfaction.

“What? Are you mad now?” he asked as he
flicked ashes from his cigar to the floor. “That’s just a part of
running a business. You are going to have to deal with a lot worse,
if you plan to stick it out here. You know, someone is waiting in
the wings to take your place if you are not careful. Yeah, we just
might need to go in a different direction. If there’s nothing
else?”

“No, that’s all I needed. Thank you.”

Thanks for nothing.

He never had the time to listen to anyone.
The worst thing was, I ended up feeling worse after talking to him.
He closed his bag and headed for the door, when I finally summoned
enough courage to take a stand.

“Look Phil, you haven’t been listening to a
word I said or tried to say! I’ve got some time coming and I want
to use it.”

“Hold on, mister! You need to watch your tone
with me!” he shouted as he slammed his office door shut.

“And you need to learn to listen!” I shouted
right back.

“I’m not going to argue with you! You think I
don’t know about you and Sherry’s daughter?” he asked with a finger
poking me in my chest.

I brushed his hand aside and said, “Look,
Phil -”

“Why don’t you go ahead and take tomorrow
off. As a matter of fact take the rest of the week off, without
pay, of course. When you come back, I want a written apology and a
written plan of action on how you are going to change your
attitude, and why I shouldn’t fire you for insubordination.”

His breathing leveled out as the calming
effect of wielding his “power” washed over him. I stood in silence
as he deliberately flicked more ash to the floor and stormed out of
his office. He left me sitting there with no dignity and possibly
no job.

Could my life have been worse? Maybe so, but
it wasn’t going to get any easier any time soon. Phil was not
taking me seriously, and my personal life was in shambles.

I managed to dodge customers and employees
alike on my way back to the floor. Even though I knew it wouldn’t
last long, I felt comfort and relief. I sat next to a window and
stared at the moon. I hoped it would relax my tension away.

It didn’t happen.

***

“Michael, my man. What seems to be the
problem? You hadn’t forgotten we need to pass some words between us
you know.”

“Alright Dexter, it’s just us. Drop the
accent.”

“What’s up with you and my main man
Phil?”

“It’s personal. What do you need?” I asked
again.

“I heard you talking to your ex earlier. You
know what the old players always say. It’s cheaper to keep her.
See, I got me a lady right now that’s a lawyer. She said she would
put $100,000 in my bank account tomorrow if I leave my wife.”

“Is that right?” I asked, knowing what he
said was probably true. He could probably leave with a different
woman every night of the week and on the nights his wife wasn’t at
the club, he did.

“I can’t do that though. I signed them papers
so I got to stay around for a little while. It looks good to my
probation officer.”

“Well, I’m glad we had this conversation.
I’ll see you inside,” I said as I walked back inside.

Following close behind, he said, “I have a
friend who needs a job. What can you do for me?”

“I don’t think so. I wish I could help, but
you know we don’t need any help right now.”

“No, I really mean it. I need a favor. I
promise they can make it worth your while, if you know what I
mean.”

I knew just what he meant. He was a small
time hustler who had served a couple of years for possession with
intent. With his attitude I didn’t figure it would take him long to
get back into it. “No. I don’t want that in here.”

“Well, look here, Church Boy. I was trying to
cut you a deal away from the main man. I was just trying to help a
brother out. We could be running this place, but you don’t want
that. I could have gone to Phil first, but I was trying to look out
for the black man. If you think I am the fool, you better check
with the main man. Things are about to change around here.”
“You and Phil are in this together?”

“DTA, my friend. Don’t trust anyone. Man, you
don’t even know. Phil is about making them dollars. All you want to
do is throw some paint on the walls and turn this place into some
restaurant. You ain’t going to make no money with that,” he
said.

“Whatever, man,” I said as I tried to walk
past him.

He grabbed my arm and said, “You come in here
with that thick neck and big shoulders. You think I’m scared of
you? I ain’t stupid. I ain’t going to try and fight you. You know
that. When the time comes, you are going to step aside and I’m
going to handle my business.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“If I was in the game like I was before I got
locked up, you would have been gone. Look at this suit,” he said as
he brushed his jacket with his ring-covered hands. “This suit is
from France and my shoes are from Italy. You can’t even afford my
socks, which were hand made in Japan. You better watch your back,
Church Boy.”

He flashed a humorless smile and walked
inside. I walked in and sat back at my usual table. I actually
contemplated having a drink when Joey walked up and asked, “What
was that all about?”

“Nothing. Don’t worry about it. Whenever I’m
able to buy this place, he is the first one I am getting rid of.
What’s up?”

“I hate to bother you, but you’ve got another
phone call.”

“Alright. I’ll pick it up in my office.
Thanks.” I walked into my office and closed the door. “Cool Breeze.
Can I help you?” I asked.

“In the flaming fire taking vengeance on them
that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ.” the deep voice said.

“Sir, can I help you with something?” I
asked, still dumbfounded from what I had just heard.

“He will punish those who do not know God and
do not know the gospel of our Lord Jesus.”

“Sir, if you need the church . . .”

“No!” he shouted. “To Me belongeth the
vengeance and the recompense. Their foot shall slide in due time:
for the calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon
them make haste. It is Mine to avenge, and YOUR day of disaster is
near!” he proclaimed as the line went dead – just like my heart. I
gently placed the phone back on its base.

My first thought was it didn’t take long for
that psycho from earlier to find a payphone to call me from. I
wondered if Carmen was still outside and if she needed an escort.
As I was on my way to find out, I ran into, B.J., the maintenance
man. I said “hello” as he stared blankly at a cobweb in the corner
of the ceiling leading to the back office and breakroom.

He grunted a greeting in return. B.J. was a
special breed of redneck. With his dirty cowboy boots and extra
large belt buckle, he could have made Jeff Foxworthy look like a
Rhodes Scholar.

“Make sure to keep an eye out tonight for
trouble makers. Kevin Turner is off so if you see anything out of
the ordinary let me know.” He looked at me with the same vacant
expression that he stared at the cobweb. “Never mind. There are two
flats in the back, and there are some more coming in tonight,” I
said just as I was about to turn the corner.

B.J. was a slender, slightly balding man in
his late sixties. He grew up in a time where “good colored” people
knew their place.

At our Christmas party last year, he had
imbibed more than his fair share of Jack Daniel’s when he pulled me
to the side and poured out his heart. He said he wasn’t raised
around black people, but I was one of the best-colored men he
knew.

I almost felt sorry for him as he stumbled
back to the festivities feeling as if he had done such a great
deed. In his backward thinking mind, that was a compliment. Though
he may not have realized it, I knew I was a good man. Period.