The Realest Ever - By Keith Thomas Walker Page 0,80

get a lawyer to represent his dopefiend ass. Try to take me to court with his jail record and his needle marks. Tell him to bring all of that to court. I wish he would. You can tell him I said that.”

Aunt Ruth was unfazed. “You ain’t no saint yourself, Kyra.”

Kyra’s heart froze. She stared into her aunt’s beady eyes. “Leonard told you something?”

“Kyra, everybody in Little Rock know what went on with you. And yeah, Leonard was mad. He told me a lot of stuff.”

Kyra’s nostrils flared. Her aunt was smiling, without smiling. Kyra had to assume Ruth knew everything. She looked away, remembering how bad it got in Arkansas. How bad she got. But Kyra wasn’t like that anymore. There was no court in America that would take Kat away from her, not today, no matter how much Leonard cleaned himself up.

“I’m not calling him,” Kyra stated. “And don’t give him my cellphone number.” She left the kitchen and went to check on her children.

≈≈≈≈≈≈≈

Kyra met Leonard four years ago. She wasn’t a total party girl back then, but she did frequent the club scene on Friday and Saturday nights a little more than she should have. She usually left Quinell with her aunt when she went out, or with her grandmother. Leonard was a regular at a club called the Shark Tank. He was a high yellow dope boy with long corn rolls, flashy jewelry and a nice wardrobe.

Leonard didn’t do too much dancing when he went out. He usually sat at a table with his partners and drank hard liquor while puffing on Newport 100s. Leonard wasn’t a boss or even a mid-level dealer, but he made wise investments and saved more money than he spent. He was never broke, and he rarely went after women. Leonard had pretty boy looks; a baby face with light brown eyes. The girls loved him. They crowded his table every Saturday night, which is why Kyra was surprised when he approached her as she exited the dance floor.

“What’s up, lil mama. Who you here with?”

Kyra smiled as she looked him up and down. Back then she was completely stuck in the hood, mentally and physically. But Kyra had no idea that she lived in a bubble. There were no single doctors or carpenters or businessmen available, at least none that she ever came in contact with. Kyra was attracted to the same type of men her girlfriends were attracted to. And in those regards, Leonard was a ghetto star.

“What’s your name?” she asked him.

“L Boogie. Or just Boogie. What’s yours?” His eyes rolled down her frame and back up. Leonard liked what he saw. Kyra wore a short skirt with a sexy top. Four guys already approached her that night. She didn’t give any of them the time of day. But Leonard had a certain appeal.

“Kyra,” she said. “What’s L Boogie? How you get that name?”

“I used to could dance,” he said.

Kyra grinned. “I never seen you dance.”

“That was a long time ago,” he said. “When I became a man, I put away my childish ways.”

Kyra didn’t know that quote was from the bible. If she had recognized it, she would’ve been turned off by a thug spitting bible verses. “What’s your real name?” she asked him.

“Leonard.”

“Can I call you Leonard?”

“What’s wrong with Boogie?”

Kyra thought his moniker was childish, but she didn’t tell him that. “I just like to call people by their real names,” she offered.

“That must mean you plan on saying my name a lot,” Leonard said. “If that’s the case, yeah. You can call me Leonard.”

“Alright.” Kyra beamed. She liked the way he talked. She liked the way he was looking at her, too. At that moment, Kyra had been single for more than four months. Her friends thought she was more than ready to get back in the saddle.

“You wanna come kick it with me at my table?” Leonard asked.

Kyra shook her head. “You got too many people over there. Plus I don’t wanna be around all that smoke.”

“You don’t smoke?”

“Nope.”

“You get high?”

“I smoked weed before.”

“We can go get a table by ourselves, if you want.”

“Alright.” Kyra was still grinning. “Let me go tell my friends, so they won’t be looking for me.”

She and Leonard got a table and kicked it together for the rest of the night. After a few drinks, Kyra wanted to dance. Leonard didn’t accompany her to the dance floor, but he watched her every move as she shook her tail