A Hustler's Wife (33 page)

Yarni didn't need any extra help around the tanning salon but she told Kenya that she would help her out. The woman showed up at Yarni's tanning salon with a good attitude. She took pride in all her work and she had plenty of initiative. She got a lot accomplished in the three hours she was there. She was a blessing to Yarni. She swept the floors, and at times ran errands for Yarni. She did whatever needed to be done.

Kenya expressed to Yarni that she was going to have to be off the following Friday because she had to go to court for child support. Later that Friday night, Yarni called Sister Kenya.

"Hey, Sister Kenya," she said, "How did court go?"

"Sister Yarnise, girl, I tell you. I am so at the end of my rope with my children's father and the court systems. He isn't going to pay me child support. He can spend money for a lawyer, but is so much in debt to me for child support. As bad as I need the money I want to withdraw the claim. I am sick of it. Why should the white man have to make a grown man take care of his child?"

Yarni sympathized with her. "I feel exactly what you are saying. You know I seen this number on T.V. that I'm going to definitely get it for you. It's a number for deadbeat dads. I am praying for you also. I know it's so easy for people to tell you, just pray on it. Kenya, I am praying for you and have faith that it's going to be O.K." Yarni comforted her.

Kenya responded, "I know it's going to be O.K. I believe that God is going to supply all my needs and riches beyond my wildest dreams." Yarni's line beeped.

"Kenya, I hate to interrupt, but I got a call coming in. I'll see you at church Sunday."

"Yarnise, thanks for calling. I really needed to vent".

"Not a problem" said Yarni. They both said, "Be blessed" to each other and hung up.

Kenya came over to Yarni after church to give Yarni a hug.

She also told Yarni, "Sister Yarni, ooh, I like those shoes."

"Thank you," said Yarni as Kenya's children all came over to give her hugs too. Yarni was collecting money from the singles of the church. They were going to a Gospel play at the Landmark Theater.

Yarni told Kenya, "Wait a minute, I need to speak to you." Kenya waited patiently until Yarni was finished.

Yarni asked Kenya, "Sister Kenya, do you have ten dollars?" Kenya went in her pocketbook with no complaints, questions or comments; and pulled out a $10.00 bill and gave it to Yarni.

Yarni said, thanks to Kenya. Kenya said, "Not a problem. I'm just glad that God blessed me so I could be a blessing to you." Yarni went in her pocketbook and passed Kenya the deed and keys to her building. "I'm glad that God has blessed me to be a blessing to you." Kenya was confused.

"What's this?"

"I don't have the time to focus on the tanning salon any more since I've enrolled into law school now. You are dedicated to the shop more than I ever was. I know for a fact that you will be able to generate a steady income for you and your children."

"Oh, Yarnise," she said with her eyes filled with tears. "I can't accept this."

"Yes, you can."

Kenya said to Yarni, "We're going to have to work out some kind of payment plan."

"You've paid me for it, $10.00," Yarni said as she brushed the lint off the sleeve of her coat.

"Thank you, Yarnise. I am eternally grateful to you." Yarni knew in her heart that God had a bigger plan for her.

She knew that she would be blessed astronomically.

Jack's wife left a note on the refrigerator that said she was leaving him to be with her tennis instructor. Jack was heartbroken. He began to look fatigued. Jack turned to alcohol. He drank heavily. People at the firm were whispering behind Jack's back about how he was losing control. Yarni expressed to Jack how she could smell the liquor on him coming out of his pores, and the fact that he WAS falling apart. Jack confessed to Yarni that he had been drinking heavily and had even experimented with LSD.

During the conversation, one of the partners barged in and informed Jack that his reputation was at stake, and the other partners suspected that he was on drugs judging by his appearance. He denied the accusations. The partners demanded a drug test from Jack. Jack was at his lowest point. He was certain that his career was out of the window. Jack contemplated suicide.

Yarni listened as the partners spoke harshly to Jack. The partners instructed Jack to report for the drug test within the next two hours. On that note, Yarni interrupted, "Jack I will drive you because I've got to go over that way to drop some paperwork off anyway. You look like you could use the company and support." Yarni spoke out, grabbed three folders off of the desk and as she walked off, "I'm ready now. I just have to grab my purse." Yarni grabbed her Gucci pocketbook that matched her Gucci pumps, and they exited the building.

As soon as they were in Yarni's spanking new black convertible Jaguar, Jack let his guard down. "What the hell am I going to do?" He screamed.

Yarni calmly said, as she looked in her rear view mirror as she backed out of the parking space, "You are going to calm down and pull yourself together." Jack looked at Yarni and said, "Has it sunk in that there's no way that I am going to pass a drug test." He slowly stressed to Yarni, "I USED LSD last night." As if she didn't understand what he was trying to spell out to her. Yarni unpretentiously stated,

"Has it sunk in that I do have street sense, and in the streets, there's always two ways to skin a cat." Jack didn't understand how to possibly get around this situation. He gazed at Yarni.

"Please explain how I am going to skin this cat alive?"

"Just trust me, O.K.?" Yarni said as she glanced over at Jack, while still trying to keep her eyes on the road.

Yarni pulled in the drug store's parking lot. She looked Jack straight in the eyes.

"I am going to get you out of this bind this one time.

However, you will get help. You've got to accept the fact that your wife is gone and that it's her loss. Your pity party is over TODAY!!" Yarni said.

Jack's eyes were glassy looking, filled with tears as he agreed, shaking his head. Yarni told him to wait while she ran into the drug store.

Yarni returned from the drug store with a pill bottle and a Styrofoam cup. She pulled into the gas station across the street from the drug test center. She entered the restroom, removed the pill bottle and cup from her purse. She emptied the pills out in the trash, preceded to wash the bottle out thoroughly with hot, scorching water and dried the bottle with a paper towel. She urinated in the cup. Then poured the pee in the bottle. She wiped the bottled off and wrapped it in a paper towel. She carefully placed the bottle in her purse. As she exited the store, she stopped by the counter to purchase a pack of gum.

She returned to the car and opened her pocketbook. She reached in and pulled the paper towel and bottle out. She handed him the bottle. She instructed him, "Put this against your skin to keep it warm. You've got to keep this body temperature." He examined the bottle and then quickly inserted it in his pants. She instructed him, "As soon as you walk through the door, act as if you've got to pee, as if you cannot hold it. DO NOT leave the bottle in the bathroom." She dropped Jack in front of the building and waited patiently.

Jack came back to the car with a large smile on his face. He informed Yarni that they had tested the urine while he waited.

"Thanks, So much, Yarnise!" He said graciously. "Take me to the bank. I could never repay you, but I've got to give you a monetary token of my appreciation." Yarni, straightforwardly said, "I won't take you to the bank, nor will I accept your money."

"You have to, Yarnise."

"Jack, I didn't do anything helleva. I simply had your back.

That's what friends do. They have each other's back unconditionally Right?" Yarni said.

Jack said to Yarni nodding his head, "You're absolutely right." Yarni sat at her desk as she looked over the letter she had gotten the day before from Des. Enclosed with the letter was his answer from his parole hearing, another turndown. She began to weep, when the energetic secretary buzzed in her line, "Yarnise, it's your mother on Line 4." Yarni weakly said, "Alright, put her through."

She picked up the phone, "Yeah, mommy." Gloria could immediately hear in Yarni's tone that something was majorly wrong. She could feel the pain and hurt in Yarni's voice. "Baby, what's wrong?"

Yarni cried to her mother, "Everything!"

"Yarni, if you don't tell me I can't help you, advise you or sympathize with you," Gloria said.

"Mommy, I am lonely. The man I love is in prison for a crime he didn't commit. They're never going to grant him parole. I'm tired of going through all the unnecessary drama with the penal system every time I go to visit him, getting searched; they imple-ment a new rule every week. I am at the breaking point.

Mommy, I understand God don't put more on you than you can bear, but at the same time, I'm only human. God must feel that I am awfully strong. Mommy, I'm going to always have Des'

back as long as they keep him. I am going to be there for him, but when is justice going to prevail?" Gloria got emotional as well. She knew Yarni's plight. She'd been down that same road with Yarni's father.

Gloria listened. This is the one time that she couldn't argue Yarni's point because her daughter was absolutely right. There was no bright side to this situation.

Gloria replied, "Yarni, God has a way of working out every situation, believe that. Where is your faith, my child? There's nothing God can't do."

"Yeah, I know, mommy," she said slowly and still in a crying mode.

"I'm not going to preach to you, but remember this: No great victories were ever won without great trials! Also, I'm making Baked Ziti tonight. I need you to come over. I have something extremely important to talk to you about." Yarni cut her mother off, even though Ziti was her favorite.

"I just feel so overwhelmed right now. I feel like this system is so jacked up. Mommy, I'll talk to you tonight. What time is dinner going to be ready?"

"Sevenish." Gloria said.

"See you then." Yarni said.

Jack knocked on Yarni's office door. She tried to pull herself together before she allowed him to enter. He noticed her eyes were puffy. He placed the file folder on her desk aside. "Care to share?" he asked, as he took a bite of his apple and sat on the edge of her desk.

"No, I don't" Yarni said.

"Yarnise, listen, you've been nothing but a friend to me. You saved me from the bottle, and losing my whole career that I busted my butt to achieve. You got me into a twelve-step program.

You even brought me balloons and a cake and attended my graduation. Not to mention the countless times you had to cover for me while I was attending sobriety meetings. How come I'm always on a need-to-know basis with you?"

"Maybe the things I'm going through are too heavy for you to even understand," Yarni said while tapping her felt tip ink pen on the desk.

"Well, why don't you try me and see." She explained to him about the situation with Des. She gave him the lawyer's name who she had working on his appeal. Jack instructed Yarni to bring in all Des' transcripts and any paperwork she had on his trial. He told her that he was very interested in the case and that he had a friend, Larry, who was a Federal Attorney whose son was executed by electric chair and treated unjustly because of the bad relationship his friend and the governor had. Jack promised her that he would go through Des transcripts with a fine-toothed comb. Yarni felt relieved.

Jack said, "That's what friends do. They have each other's back unconditionally."

Yarni drove to her mother's house. She listened to "Dear Momma" by 2Pac. She listened to the words of the song, which made her think of her very own mother. Tears formed in her eyes, thinking of the countless times her mother had came through for her. When there was no one else, there was always her mother, through the bad, good, happy and sad, countless times her mother was always the last one standing when the dust settled.

When Yarni arrived at Gloria's house, she could smell the Baked Ziti cooking as she approached the door. Her mother asked if she felt better since she'd spoken to her earlier. Yarni told to her mother what Jack said to her earlier that day.

After they were finished with dinner, Yarni did the dishes as she always had, from the time she was twelve years old.

"Mommy, you're so old school. Why do you have a dishwasher and still require me to do the dishes by hand? Why do you have a dryer and yet you still hang your clothes on the clothes line?" Gloria just laughed and said, "Your generation is too spoiled, so when you come over here, I have to enforce my old school ways to keep you from getting caught up in this new generation lifestyle, Sweetie." She pinched Yarni's cheeks, then filled the teakettle with water.

Gloria made them some hot tea. She carried the tray with the teacups on it out into the dining room and placed it on the table.

She had a serious look on her face. Yarni noticed earlier that Gloria had appeared uptight since she had arrived at her mother's house. Yarni asked, "Mommy, what's wrong?" She told Yarni, "I told you over the phone, I've got something extremely serious to speak to you about." Shivers went up Yarni's spine. She was afraid. Was her mother sick? Did she have cancer? Was it her father? Yarni couldn't imagine what could've been so serious.