that no one was checking on her.
I rolled up my sleeves, found some bleach, a bucket, a broom, a mop and got to cleaning. Kaeerah entertained her grandmother with stories of her classroom, her teacher, her piano lessons, and her new brother. It took damn near three hours to get the house dust-free. I wiped the tears that welled up in my eyes as I wondered how they could allow her to live like this. Hell, this was the same woman who helped raise all of us. I put away all of the cleaning stuff and decided that I wanted to cook her a hot meal, but first I needed to clean her up. That pink, raggedy housecoat she had on was dingier than the slippers on her feet.
“Granny, I looked in your closet, and you have brand-new housecoats. Why are you wearing the raggedy one?”
“Don’t come around here sassing me, girl,” she snapped.
“Granny, I’m not sassing you. I just want to get you into something fresh and clean. And look, Granny.” I held up a new pair of slippers. “You have slippers in here that you don’t even wear. Now, let me help you get cleaned up.” I had cleaned up the bathroom real good, and Kaeerah ran her tub water. I took off her robe, balled it up, and tossed it into the corner. First chance I got, it was going into the trash can.
“Mommy, look!” Kaeerah was pointing down at Granny’s calf.
There was an open wound the size of a golf ball. I gagged. “Granny.” I gagged again. “What happened to your leg?”
“Now, there you go meddling. Get on out of here so I can take my bath.”
“Granny, no! I’m taking you to the hospital right now.” I had never seen an open wound that size before, and it was grossing me out. Now I really felt like shit for not coming to see my granny much sooner.
“Hospital for what?” she countered.
“Granny, your leg is infected, can’t you see it? This is not normal. It’s not good. I’m taking you to the hospital.”
• • •
So here I was almost twenty-four hours later, still in New Jersey, luggage probably still going in circles somewhere, never making it to California to check on Tasha. After eating all I could from the vending machine, I picked up my cell to call Angel. I needed to pass some time.
“How much longer do you think you’ll be at the hospital?” Angel asked me.
“I don’t know, but I’m sure they are going to admit her. I can’t leave her until I know that she’s squared away. She needs a nurse at home with her at least during the daytime. What about you? How soon can you get free?”
“Shit, I wish I knew. Lil’ E still likes fucking with them hood niggas. And because of that, the feds came and kicked down her door, had a search warrant and everything.”
“That girl is a white and a platinum-selling rapper. What dumb shit did she do now?”
“She ain’t do shit. It’s them hood niggas she likes to fuck with. Thank God her house was squeaky clean, because they didn’t find anything. She knows Kaylin don’t play that mess. So because of her, I’m stuck here babysitting her ass and trying to keep her squeaky clean. She’s scheduled to go on tour overseas week after next, and he doesn’t want to jeopardize that and have to cancel because of some bullshit.”
“Hold on! Someone is trying to get through. I’ll call you back.” I hung up on Angel and clicked over.
“Jaz?” It was a male voice that I didn’t recognize.
“Who is this?”
“Snell.”
“Snell? You sound different.”
“Jaz, you there?”
I didn’t like the sound of his voice. “I’m here. What’s going on?” My stomach began to knot.
“Fah told me to call you. He said to come home, now.”
“Is everything okay?” My voice cracked, anticipating some bad news.
“Just get to the house. He needs you. He’ll answer all of your questions when you get there.”
“Snell, is he okay?” I pressed. Hell, I was in Jersey, not just across the street.
Frustrated with all of my questions, he snapped, “You need to get your ass off the phone and get your ass home!”
“Snell, what . . . Snell? Snell?” He hung up on me.
“Mommy, who was that?” Kaeerah was following closely behind me. Even my daughter could sense that something was wrong.
“Your Uncle Snell.” I stood and began pacing back and forth. I called Faheem but didn’t get an answer. I had to get