and gave him a brother’s handshake. “Yeah, John, thanks for being there for us. I know we got off on a rocky start, but you’re all right.”
Raphael and John bumped fists.
“Well, I’m going to go,” Brenda said again. “Mimi, I’ll see you and Raphael later. John, if you’d like to come by the house, you’re welcome.”
“Thanks, Brenda,” John said. Then he reached out and gave her the biggest hug.
“If you want to go now, I’ll stay with Afrika,” Asia said. “We’ve got a lot of catching up to do.”
Mimi looked up at the ceiling. “God, You are so good. I thank You for this day. And if Miss Afrika is all right, I guess we can go, Raf. John, you can ride with us. We’re in a rental.”
Raphael put his arm around Mimi. “After you, Brenda.”
Afrika and Asia watched as their parents held each other and walked out of the room.
Asia laid her head on Afrika’s shoulder. “Yes, God, You are good.”
Afrika pointed her finger to the sky. “Yes, You are.”
62
There was coldness and hardness in this new place called home. Trevor sat on the edge of the thin mattress collecting his thoughts, trying to figure out when he’d been driven to the edge to do the vile thing he had done. He knew the why, but when had his mind—the uncaring part of it—taken over and grabbed his conscience? His body jerked as he recalled the feel of the metal in his hand that ushered forth death when his mind had willed him to pull the trigger and fire.
Trevor’s eyes roamed and scanned his surroundings that contained half of a bed he was used to sleeping in, a small latrine where privacy was at a premium, and a face bowl that would hold just enough water to splash on his face or in the words of his sister, Asia, take a hooker bath. No posters of the singers Beyonce and Rihanna adorned the walls nor were there pictures of LeBron and Kobe shooting hoops, Trevor’s favorite pastime. Yes, he should be somewhere shooting hoops with his boys. College, he could forget it; no school was going to enroll a student who had been proclaimed a hardened criminal.
A shadow appeared on the floor in front of Trevor, reminding him that he was indeed in prison. He looked toward the neatly spaced bars that prevented him from enjoying his freedom. Blocking the small amount of light that penetrated his cell was a rough-looking character who flaunted several gold teeth in the front of his mouth and whose thin hair was twisted in what seemed like a million micro braids. The inmate grinned at Trevor, sizing him up as he gripped the bars of the cell.
“Yo blood, my name is Hammer. Heard you laid your daddy out.”
“What’s it to you?” Trevor said, the lines flat on his face.
“I need a young brother like you who ain’t scared to take out the competition.”
“I did what I had to do. I didn’t like what I did, I’m not proud of what I did, but I’m not apologizing for it either.”
“So you and your old man weren’t down.”
“That’s between me, his soul, and the Lord.”
“You got a lot of an…i…mosity, yeah, animosity clogging that mean heart of yours. I sure could use a mean spirit like you.”
“I hated him, okay? Didn’t deserve to live the way he treated my mother. Now leave me the hell alone.”
“Deep, my brother. But let me give you a word of caution. You’re in my house now, and I’m the daddy. Dudes here play by my rules. Comprende?”
“I’m not scared of you,” Trevor said, still sitting on the cot. “Yeah, I took my daddy out, and I’ll take you out, too, if you mess with me.”
Hammer slid his hands slowly down the length of the bars. “It’s your first day, so I’ll pardon you this time. Remember this if you don’t remember anything else. You may come from money on the outside but in here there’s no position and no protection. I’m going to rob you of your soul until you get down on your knees and beg for my attention. Young blood, welcome to Central Prison.”
Trevor watched as Hammer walked away, his swagger tight even though he wore an ugly orange jumpsuit. He felt the full breath of his words and he was afraid. Trevor lay back on the cot and cried for the first time since his father had died.
63
Loneliness was a bitter pill to swallow. Although the