Red Light Wives. Mary Monroe

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СКАЧАТЬ woman ought to know that,” Odessa said with a smirk, giving me a stern look and adjusting a pillow under my head. She had on a man’s shirt, unbuttoned over a T-shirt and a pair of baggy flannel pants.

      “Since when do you know so much about men?” I teased my best friend about being a lesbian as often as she teased me about being a fool.

      Odessa rolled her eyes and tugged at the limp ponytail hanging off the side of her head. “I know more than you think, Lula. I’ve had more than a few dicks in my life to know they ain’t all they cracked up to be. And, you don’t grow up in a house with six brothers and not learn everything else you need to know about men. Shit.” We both laughed.

      “I should have known somethin’ wasn’t right when Larry tried so hard to make me get an abortion,” I said lamely, sipping cold water from a plastic cup. My throat was so dry, it hurt when I swallowed. I felt like I hadn’t eaten in days. The hospital food tasted like paper, but Odessa had smuggled me in some fried chicken. I couldn’t wait to gnaw on it. I was anxious for things to get back to normal, but I knew that was something I wouldn’t experience for a long time.

      “Well, was that all you was suspicious of? What about him not lettin’ you know where he lived?” Odessa snapped. With a grunt, she rolled up the sleeves of her plaid shirt and folded her arms.

      I sighed. “I didn’t need to know. I know where he works. I’ve called him there dozens of times. He likes havin’ his space as much as I like havin’ mine. I was the one with an apartment all to myself. He lives way across town somewhere, and he has four roommates—”

      Odessa gave me a stern look, shaking her finger in my face as she talked. “Four roommates that turned out to be a wife and three kids. Don’t you defend that punk because he ain’t worth it.” She had nosed around like Shaft, gathering more incriminating evidence than I needed to get Larry out of my system. “He played you like a piano, girl. Oh, that nigger had him a good thing goin’.”

      “I know, I know. You don’t have to rub it in. Anyway, I’m glad this is all over,” I said sadly, rubbing my stomach. “Givin’ birth sure ain’t what it’s cracked up to be. I feel like holy shit between my legs.”

      Odessa lowered her head and leaned closer toward me, looking at me through narrowed eyes. “Uh, you seen his other newborn? The nursery is right around the corner if you want to take a peek.”

      “I don’t want to,” I said, sniffing so hard the insides of my nostrils burned.

      “Well, I peeped in the nursery. You had the cuter baby. That other one looks like a Peking duck. And bein’ a girl, she goin’ to catch hell the rest of her life.”

      “But that other baby lived, mine didn’t.” A dark shadow slid across my face and my chest started aching. My son who had looked just like Larry had lived only two hours. A congenital heart defect had returned him to God.

      Odessa touched my forehead and said in a soothing voice, “I know, sugar. I know. But the sooner you get over that, the better. If he was goin’ to die anyway, it’s better that it happened now, before you got too attached to him. You still young enough. You got a few more years to have babies. But first, we got to find you a new man. A real man.”

      “Don’t you start up that mess about me hookin’ up with one of your recently divorced brothers.” Another man was the last thing on my mind. My life needed a complete makeover. A new location was what I needed. I just didn’t know where to go, and even if I did, I didn’t have the money to go too far.

      Odessa shook her head. “Bo, my brother that’s here from San Francisco, he ain’t never even married.”

      I had never met Odessa’s middle-aged brother, Bo. But she talked about him so often, I felt like I had. He was an independent musician who roamed around the world blowing a saxophone with whatever band would have him. He had performed with some of the most famous people in the business. I had seen pictures of Bo. Not only was he plain, but he was cross-eyed, too. It was no surprise to me that the man had never been married.

      I certainly had no interest in Odessa’s brother. He was a sorry specimen of a man compared to Larry. Then she said something that did peak my interest, and that same cross-eyed brother suddenly sounded like the man I’d been looking for all of my life.

      “Bo’s goin’ to be movin’ back to San Francisco in a few weeks to find work with another band. If I was still into men and Bo wasn’t my brother, I’d go after him myself,” Odessa said smugly, giving me a sideways glance.

      I perked up right away. It was like a lightbulb lit up inside my head.

      “Your brother is movin’ back to California?” I asked.

      “Uh-huh. Next month. Me and Verna goin’ to give him a little goin’ away party, and you better come.”

      “I will,” I said, so tired and confused I said the first thing I could think of.

      “If y’all do hit it off, maybe he’ll ask you to go back with him. I hear San Francisco is one happy town.”

      I looked at the wall behind Odessa, all kinds of thoughts going through my head. “And I just might go with him,” I said.

      Chapter 4

      ROCKELLE HARPER

      “Where you goin’ this time, Miss Rocky?”

      “Uh, just to visit a sick friend.”

      “The same one you went to visit last night?”

      “Uh-huh.”

      “What’s wrong with your sick friend?”

      “Look, Helen, I’m in a hurry, and I don’t have time to stand here talking a lot of nonsense. Where are the kids?”

      “Oh, you don’t have to worry about them little dudes. I tucked ’em all in the bed, and they are sleeping like logs. Can I go watch music videos on BET now?”

      “Yeah, yeah, go on,” I ordered, snapping my fingers. “There’s soda and chips in the kitchen. And you stay away from my beer! Your mama would have a cow if she knew about you drinking over here.”

      “Yes, ma’am.”

      I closed my bathroom door as soon as Helen stumbled out, pouting like she usually did when I hollered at her. Helen Daniels was a good friend to have. She came in real handy. A lot of it had to do with the fact that she was mildly retarded. At nineteen, she was more like ten or twelve. But she was mature enough to run errands for me and babysit when I didn’t have to be away from my house for too long.

      It was convenient having Helen living right next door. Her elderly parents eagerly allowed Helen to help me with the kids. Even before Joe took off with that bitch of his, Helen spent a lot of time at our house. In addition to keeping an eye on my three little monsters, she loved doing the things around the house that I didn’t want to do.

      One of the few good things I could say about Joe was, he liked to live well. We had rented a nice big house in a safe, quiet neighborhood. He’d let me spend as much money as I wanted to decorate the house. I’d spent a fortune on black leather couches, smoked-glass coffee tables, an entertainment center, and carpets so thick and shaggy, it felt like СКАЧАТЬ