life. He hasn’t found a buyer yet and I am taking this time to research properties in the same area that may be in my price range. Or maybe try to get a loan to buy it from him, but so far, that doesn’t seem feasible.”
“Hmmm, since he got all this money comin’ in, maybe he could loan you the money with interest.” She rolled her eyes.
“Daddy, that’s a circular agreement. He wants out of this and that still would make him obligated and involved in some way until the loan was paid back. This man and I aren’t friends, he doesn’t know me from Adam, all right? I could default on the loan and then what?”
“Well, shit! Banks don’t know us, either, but they give loans. They look at our records, our finances, see how responsible we are, if we’re gainfully employed, things like that. Here you are, a sista with her own business, and a successful one, too! My daughter is a businesswoman.” She smiled and shook her head as her father got all worked up. “You own your house, got your car paid off, and don’t have a bunch of debt, at least not that I know of. You are college educated, no kids! What is there not to trust? What? They think you got some hidden drug habit or something? He could loan you that damn money, Lauren. It would be no sweat off his nose. See, that’s just being plain greedy. Creed Construction got plenty of money. They should be called, Greed Construction. I bet if you were White he woulda just given you the building, signed it over right then and there, and tossed in a bag of chips, too!”
“You know you sound insane, right? See, this is why I ask Mama to not involve you in this sort of thing. I’m going to have to stop telling her things too, I see.” She chuckled, but she meant it.
“Have you told him about this plan of yours to try and get a loan from the bank so you can buy it from him?”
“He’s not stupid. I am sure he knows I have that as an option. I’ve got six months.”
“You need to tell him. That way he can keep you in mind, Lauren, and see that you’re trying. You aren’t handling this right. Right now, I like that you’re in a safe part of town. Sometimes you leave from there late you say, and that would bother me if you were in, say, Oakland City or Grove Park. That’s where you might end up if you don’t get this worked out. The rent is cheaper there for a reason. If you wit’ the White folks that got a little money and the college kids, you’ll stay safer. Otherwise, you might get robbed or worse, killed.”
Daddy always did a lot of double talking. On one end, he’d get on her about not hiring more Black people for her store, claiming she was discriminating, which wasn’t remotely close to the truth. On the other hand, he thought a White neighborhood was safer.
She’d already explained to the man time and time again that Black people weren’t the ones applying for the positions the majority of the time when she had vacancies or if they did, they had no retail experience or felt like she wasn’t paying enough. This happened far too often, even though she paid higher than minimum wage and offered paid sick days, too.
Then, he’d also get on her about being around a bunch of Black people when she went out with her friends to certain eateries and bars, saying she might end up in a heap of trouble. Nevertheless, she understood the basis of his concerns. Daddy had seen a lot in his time according to Mama and her Uncle Huggie, but the world was changing and he seemed stuck in the middle of an era that had long passed by.
But the current state of the world makes me think all of that stuff didn’t happen so long ago, after all. Georgia got blood on its hands, blood in the soil. Georgia is home. My home is haunted. The legislatures won’t do right. It’s not just here, it’s everywhere. Politics over people. Running around here registered to vote, but can’t vote because they are closing the polling places or saying our license is expired when it’s not. I’ve seen too much occur. I know what’s happening, and it’s sickening…
“I won’t be somewhere unsafe, Daddy,