Dark Corner (13 page)

Sitting on the couch, Mama was wrapped in a green
house robe and slippers. She had rollers in her hair, and a
mug of coffee at her side. A crossword puzzle and a pencil
lay across her lap, and she was wearing her glasses. Mama's
eyes were alert, ready to probe.

I wish she'd get a life, Nia thought. Her mother had never
remarried after Nia's father died twenty years ago, deciding
to focus her energies on raising her three children. Nia and
her brothers all graduated from college and established successful lives-but the downside of them growing up was
that Mama hadn't had anything to occupy her time, outside
of work and church. When Nia moved back in, however,
Mama regressed into serious mothering mode.

"Mama, please," Nia said. "I'm tired."

"Don't Mama, please, me, Miss Nia James. You know
better. Did you lose all your good sense while you were living in that evil, immoral city?"

In her mother's opinion, any city with a population greater
than twenty thousand in other words, most cities in the
world-deserved two labels: evil and immoral. But Mama
had never lived outside of Mason's Corner. Her distasteful
opinion of cities was formed by the unending series of sensational TV news and cop shows that she consumed for
hours a day programs that exhibited crime, filth, immorality, and everything else that Mama found worthy of
loathing.

"I'm twenty-seven," Nia said. "Not seventeen"

"I know how old you are, young lady. You're old enough
to know better. I can see that this Hunter boy is going to be a
bad influence on you. But considering his father, I would've
expected nothing less."

Nia folded her arms across her chest. "David's a nice guy.
You can't condemn him because of his father."

"Like father, like son," Mama said, with the familiar,
Mama-knows-best tone that always set Nia's nerves on edge.
"You don't know anything about this boy. You've known him
for one day and already you're swooning over him."

"No, I'm not. We went to lunch and dinner; we had a
good time. It's not like I'm having his baby."

"Not yet," Mama said. "The way that you and him were
carrying on outside, it won't be long before you'll be announcing that you're pregnant. And he'll leave you then, yes
he will, like his father left his mother. The fruit doesn't fall
far from the tree"

"Why do you keep bringing David's father into this?" Nia
said. "They are two completely different people."

"The man was a whore," Mama said. "An immoral, whorish man who used his fame to manipulate women"

"Like you?" The words spilled out of Nia.

Her mother's face darkened. "That's none of your business."

"So why are you in my business?"

Her mother spread her arms. "Because you don't know
any better, Nia. Look at what happened in Houston "

"Okay, I'm going to bed," Nia said. She spun and
marched down the hall, toward her bedroom.

"I'm only trying to help you!" Mama pleaded.

Nia rushed inside the room, slammed the door. She
dropped onto the bed. Heart pounding, she stared at the ceiling.

She felt as though she were in high school again. This
was crazy. What had she been thinking when she had accepted Mama's invitation to move back home? When she
had told David that she and her mother were close, she was
telling the truth. But she had gotten along much better with
Mama when she had lived in Houston.

I have to get out of here, she thought. Mama is going to
drive me nuts.

But where would she go? Atlanta? Charlotte? She had
plenty of friends in both cities, which would help ease the
transition, but what if she moved away from home and
something bad happened again, like it had in Houston? Her
friends couldn't save her from that. Mason's Corner was
dull, but safe. She was one of the town's golden girls: everyone respected her, admired her, looked out for her. Respect,
admiration, and neighborly concern were tough to come by
in a big city.

One of the worst aftereffects of her stalking experience
was her damaged self-confidence. She used to possess an adventurous, easygoing spirit. Not anymore. Although it had
been over a year since the madman had terrorized her, he visited her when she slept, his leering face creeping into her
dreams with upsetting frequency. Sometimes, she took sleeping pills in order to achieve a peaceful rest.

Considering how deeply Mr. Morgan had shaken her, it
surprised her how quickly and willingly she had opened up
to David. A distrust of men had kept her on guard. But David
was different. He was special. No matter what Mama said
about his father.

I will not let Mama ruin this for me, Nia thought. She will
have to get with the Program.

Before she turned in for the night, she checked on her
mother. Mama was finishing a crossword puzzle.

"I invited David to dinner tomorrow," Nia said. "I'm
cooking. I want you to meet him, Mama"

"Hmph. I'll meet him," Mama said. "I'll give you my
opinion, too. One of us has to show some good sense in this
house."

Nia let the comment pass. She kissed her mother on the
cheek and went to bed.

She slept without nightmares.

Junior had never worked so hard in his life.

For over four grueling hours, Junior and Andre plunged
the shovels into the earthen wall. The dirt was hard and
packed tight. At times, it was like trying to dig into concrete.

Junior had a strong, work-toughened body, but he thought
his muscles would be plenty sore come tomorrow morning.

Mamu did not help them. He walked around, occasionally
pointing out an area in which he wanted them to dig.
Sometimes he tinkered with the equipment that lay nearby.

Mamu did not allow them to take a break for any longer
than a minute or two, which was hard for Andre. Andre
hardly ever worked outdoors, and he smoked all the time, so
he kept breathing hard and taking a long time to lift his
shovel. During one of their breaks, Andre complained that
he was thirsty, and Mamu tossed them bottles of water and
went back to fiddling with the equipment.

When Mamu was out of earshot, Andre leaned close to
Junior.

"I bet we diggin' for treasure, cuz."

"Huh?" Junior took measured sips of the water, knowing
from past experience that drinking too quickly would give
him muscle cramps. "What kinda treasure?"

"Gold, jewels, something like that, man." Andre nodded
toward Mamu. "Look at this operation, cuz. That cat is gonna
blow a hole to get in this cave when we done diggin'. You don't
go through all this trouble unless you gonna get some loot."

"You think so?" Junior said. He turned over the idea in
his mind. Gold. It made sense. No wonder Mamu could afford to pay them so much money. It was nothing for him to
pay them five hundred dollars if they were gonna help him
dig up a treasure chest of gold.

"I bet that Ed Mason cat buried some stuff in here."
Andre tapped the side of the cave with his shovel. "He was
rich, man. Rich folks always hiding money and shit."

"Heck, you just might be right, Andre. I ain't never thought
about that"

Andre winked. "Watch and see, cuz. If we can stay around
long enough, maybe we can lay our hands on somethin' when
French boy ain't lookin'."

"Gentlemen, please resume working!" Mamu said.

Andre smiled at Junior, his gold tooth glimmering. They
went back to work.

Junior couldn't get Andre's idea out of his head. As he
slammed the shovel into the ground, he stayed on the lookout
for anything that sparkled in the dirt. It wouldn't do for him to
hit gold and miss it.

After they had been digging for about another half hour,
they hit a wall of solid rock.

"Yo, man!" Andre said to Mamu. "We can't dig no more.
We done hit some rock"

"Excellent!" Mamu said. He had taken off his suit jacket and rolled up the sleeves of his fancy white shirt. He wore a
yellow hard hat, goggles, and gloves. "Gentlemen, stand back,
at least ten feet. I will begin microshaving."

"Huh?" Andre said, but he moved away, and so did Junior.

The French guy looked liked he knew what he was doing.
Using a hammer drill, he bore a hole in the rock. He stuck a
long soda straw in the gap, a thin wire trailing from the tube
to a small device he held in his hand. Then he stepped backward several feet and pressed a button on that handheld gadget. The stones broke apart with a loud crack.

"Ain't that something," Junior said.

"Load the crushed rocks into the buckets," Mamu said
crisply.

They did as he ordered. After they had cleared away the
crumbled stones, he commanded them to stand back again.
He set about drilling another hole so he could blow up more
rock.

As Junior watched, he became aware of another presence
nearby. He turned, looked in the darkness beyond the circle
of light.

A tall, slender man, draped in black, stepped out of the
shadows. He was dark-skinned, like Junior, but he was a
couple of inches taller than Junior, who stood six-three. The
man wore a black shirt, black slacks, and shiny black boots
with silver buckles.

Junior's first thought was that the guy was some kinda star.
He acted cool and in control. When he walked, he seemed to
glide. It was weird.

The man floated past Junior and Andre, saying nothing to
either of them, only nodding. He approached Mamu, and he
and the Frenchman spoke too softly for Junior to understand
what they were saying. But it was plain that the man in black
was the one in charge. Mamu looked like a servant.

When they finished chatting, Mamu stood back, and exploded another rock.

Junior realized that the guy in black had vanished.

One second he was standing beside Mamu; the next, he
was gone.

Junior had never looked away from the men. He had only
blinked. The man had disappeared, literally, in the blink of
an eye.

No one could move that fast. It was impossible.

Coldness seeped into Junior's bones. And this cave digging, that scared him, too. All of it was too strange and
scary. Who were these people, and what was in the cave?

His cousin's eyes were as wide as hubcaps.

"Where'd that man go?" Junior whispered. "I feel like
somethin' bad's going on, Andre"

"I'm ready to get out of here, cuz," Andre said. "Don't
know if I want that gold no more"

"Ain't no gold," Junior said, and he could tell that Andre
believed him. "Somethin' else is in there"

"But what the hell is it?" Andre said.

Mamu approached them. "We are not finished yet, gentlemen. We must continue to displace the stones"

"Aww, shit," Andre said. "Man, when you gonna let us
go?"

"Soon. Come now."

"What happened to the dude dressed in black?" Andre
asked. "He cut out of here with the quickness. I ain't never
seen nobody move that fast."

Mamu gave them another of his strange smiles. "My employer will be returning soon"

It took all of Junior's courage for him to drag himself forward. His stomach was in knots.

They spent another hour watching Mamu blow up stones,
then coming behind him to load the junk into buckets. Finally,
Mamu said that he felt cool air coming from inside the
cave-a sign that they were almost done-and ordered them
to pick up the sledgehammers and start whacking away.

Swinging the hammer at the rocks, Junior's arms felt as if
they were ready to fall off. He could not wait to get home
and go to bed. In spite of the good money he was going to
earn, he didn't ever want to do something like this again.

They chiseled open a good-size doorway in the cave.
Using the shovels, they cleared away the crumbled stones.
Mamu actually helped them this time.

A terrible smell drifted from inside the cavern: an old,
rotten stench. Junior couldn't see what was in there because
it was dark, and he wasn't sure he wanted to know what lay
within. He only wanted to get his money and go home.

At last, Mamu set down his shovel. He dug his hand into
the pocket of his slacks and retrieved the money clip.

"Your work is done, gentlemen," Mamu said. He peeled
off several crisp bills. He handed Andre a portion, then gave
Junior his share. "You are free to go ""

"I must impress something upon you before you leave
us," a deep voice said, and Junior jumped as if someone had
thrown water in his face. The man in black was suddenly beside them; he was the one who had spoken.

Junior's legs were watery. How had this man gotten there
so quickly, without making a sound?

It ain't natural, Junior thought. This man, I don't know
who he is, but what he does ain't natural.

The thought came to him, unbidden, that maybe the man
in black wasn't a man at all.

"You must not tell anyone in town what you have done
this night," the man said. "Give me your word that you will
keep it secret"

Andre looked at the bills, then stuffed them into his pocket.
His voice was shaky. "All right. I ain't saying nothing."

"Me, neither," Junior said. He shook his head adamantly.
"Nothing."

The guy in black nodded. "You may go" He flowed past
them and slipped inside the cave, as swiftly as a shadow. Mamu winked at them, then picked up the lamp that lay on
the ground. He switched it on and entered the cavern's dark
mouth.

Andre looked at Junior. "Cuz, what the fuck is happening?"

"I ... I don't know. I ain't sure I want to know. I want to
go home"

Andre's eyes narrowed. "These cats is up to no good,
man. Come on."

"Where you going?"

"I want to look inside and see what they doing."

"Andre, get back here!" Junior grabbed his shoulder.

Andre brushed away his hand. "Only wanna take a quick
peek. I done busted my ass helping these cats. I wanna know
what they doing."

Junior groaned. His legs trembled. But he followed Andre.
Both of them moved quietly and lowered their heads as they
stepped underneath the jagged ridge of the entrance.