Entangled (10 page)

Dream turned over a cup that had been neatly placed neatly on a saucer on the table.
Janice poured the tea. “How’s school?”
“School’s fine. I have some smart kids this year. The only problem I have is that I haven’t been assigned a homeroom. I’m a floater, and so I have to walk all day.”
Janice sipped her tea. “Why don’t you come over to the high school with your father and me? I’m sure he could at least make sure you get a homeroom, and I know he would like that a lot.”
Dream knew what her mother said was true. She knew it would be easier to get a homeroom if she taught at the high school where her father was principal, but she didn’t want to be there. She wanted to be as independent of her parents as possible. “It’s really not that big of a deal. Besides, I like teaching younger children. High school kids are wild.”
“Yeah, I know those little boys in high school with the raging hormones would be all over you.” Janice laughed.
Dream blew her tea as the steam rose from her cup. “The middle school boys are just as bad.”
“Speaking of boys, where is that Jamal boy?” Janice asked.
“He’s around.”
“I think I liked the jailbird better.”
“You mean, DeVon.”
“You call him what you want to call him, but I’m going to call him the jailbird,” Janice laughed.

Jamal had stayed the night at Dream’s house. They made love and he dozed off. Dream stood over him smiling, examining his body. She liked everything about him—from his braids to his tattoos and scars, to which she was especially attracted. She looked at the scar on the side of his back. It looked like a stab wound and was shaped like a diamond. The tattoos were just as appealing. On his arm was a tombstone with
RIP Black
written in green ink, and on his back was an image of huge knife with a tag hanging from it that read
From a friend
. It was evident that both of his tattoos had some kind of meaning. She had been curious about them since the first time they’d made love, and she would finally get around to asking him the story behind the wounds and tattoos.

“Jamal, I have a few questions to ask you, and I hope I don’t offend you.”
He looked at her and wiped the sleep from his eyes. “Whatever you want to know, ask. I don’t have any secrets. What else do you want to know?”
She smiled slightly. “I noticed you have a couple of scars on your stomach and side. Did you get shot or something?”
“I’ve never been shot but I was grazed by a stray bullet when I was twelve.” He had pointed to the wound on his stomach first. “Then when I was seventeen, I got stabbed right here by my mama’s boyfriend.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yeah, the mu’fucka was beating on my mama once when I walked in on them. I had to take it to his ass. When I turned to walk away he pulled out a pocketknife and stabbed me in the side. Opened me up pretty good. I had to get twenty-eight stitches.”
“Did he go to prison?”
“Naw, I dropped the charges because he and Ma got back together.”
“That’s crazy.”
“That’s dysfunctional, but that was how things went down in my household.”
Dream’s eyes stretched with surprise. She could only imagine the kind of pain and suffering Jamal must have endured as a child. She wondered if he was capable of having a functional relationship, or whether she was simply fascinated with his imperfections. “What about your tattoos, what do they represent?”
“I got these while I was on the inside; the one on my back is kind of a metaphor. It represents a friend betraying me, stabbing me in the back. After I was locked up, I found out from Dawg that one of my so-called friends had started fucking my ex-girlfriend.”
“Are you serious?”
“Dead serious.”
“What about this
RIP Black
etched on the tombstone on your arm?”
“My homey, Black, got shot by some Jamaicans. It was a case of mistaken identity,” Jamal said with tears forming in his eyes. “I got the tattoo kind of like honoring the nigga because we was cool. We were the same age, and we did a lot together. He was there when I got my first piece of ass, you know what I mean?”
“Not really, none of my friends have been killed. Not to say that I don’t know people who’ve been killed, just none of my friends.” “Then consider it a blessing then.”
Dream walked over and put her arms around Jamal who was silent. “I will,” she finally said.

Jamal and Dream went to San Diego for Labor Day weekend. The California scenery was picturesque. The sky was Carolina blue with huge clouds, and a gentle breeze made the palm trees sway.

Horton Plaza was a huge conglomerate of shops, restaurants, and boutiques. It was like a mall without a roof. Dream and Jamal paraded through all levels of the plaza. After about an hour, Jamal had accumulated several bags, and Dream had turned down all his offers to buy clothing for her until they reached the Dolce & Gabbana store. She saw some hip-hugger jeans that she just had to have. The jeans led to a blouse and a pair of shoes. She came out of the dressing room wearing the whole ensemble. Jamal had the same look on his face that he had when they made love. “Girl, you look good enough to eat,” he said when she spun around.

“I’m gonna remember that tonight,” she replied. She loved looking sexy for him. She liked feeling desirable.
They left Horton Plaza and headed to Birch Aquarium, a popular tourist spot in San Diego. The aquarium had one of the most extravagant sea-life exhibitions in the country. It contained a huge kelp forest and live sharks.
“I didn’t know you were a nature freak,” Dream said.
“I’m just a freak,” Jamal said, laughing. “Besides, I am taking your advice, I’m trying different things.”

I
TWAS
6:00 A.M. when Dream woke up. Though she was on the west coast, her brain was on east coast time. She didn’t know where Jamal was. She could remember when he kissed her on her forehead before leaving.

She went to the kitchen and cooked some pancakes before turning on the television. The morning news was on. She turned the television set off and decided she would take a morning run when she finished her breakfast.

She slipped into a sports bra and a pair of sweatpants. After searching her bags she discovered that she’d forgotten to pack some sweat socks. She pulled Jamal’s suitcase from under the bed and looked through all of his clothes. There were no socks in sight. She discovered a small bag but it contained toiletries. She was about to give up when she noticed a leather bag pushed closer to the head of the bed. She unzipped the bag and money spilled from it. She had never seen so much money in her life. She poured it out, and it covered the entire bed. She knew it had to be at least $200,000.

Dream’s heart raced. She knew people who had worked their entire lives and still didn’t have this kind of money, but Jamal had it right at his fingertips. She put the money back in the bag as quickly as possible, trying to decide what to do next. She wanted to call Keisha. She wanted to call Jamal’s cell phone and ask him what in the hell was going on. She didn’t know what to think.

When Jamal got back to the condo, Dream was gone, and he was actually glad because he had business to take care of. Since she wasn’t there, she wouldn’t know he’d returned. He needed to recount his money, and he knew if she was in the room, he couldn’t possibly explain why he had $230,000 with him. Jamal quickly counted the money before leaving to meet with Angelo. They put the girls on the plane and when he came back Dream still hadn’t returned. When she finally did get back she looked at him strangely. “What’s up, baby?” he asked.

“Hey, honey,” she replied dryly.
“Walking the beach, huh?”
“I guess you can say that.” She sat on the sofa.
“I already said it. Didn’t you hear me?”
“Ha. You got jokes.”
“Who pissed in your cornflakes?” he asked.
She stood and walked over to the sliding doors and stared at the

“Something is bothering you. You don’t have to tell me, but I know.”
She turned toward him. “Jamal, did you bring me out here on some kind of drug deal?”
He was surprised by her question. “Where did that come from?”
“Just answer the question.”
His thoughts ran rampant as he wondered what made her ask the question. Then he remembered the bag that he had left with the money in it. He figured she must have seen it.
“Kind of, but it’s not what you think.”
“What do you think I’m thinking?”
He walked over to the kitchen sink and got a glass of water. “You probably think that we’re going to be traveling with drugs on the way back home.”
“That’s exactly what I think. I can’t believe you would put my life in danger.”
He put his glass down. “Hell no, baby. I wouldn’t do anything like that,” he said as he walked over and attempted to put his arm around her. She pushed his chest. “Get off me.” She slid through the double doors.

Dream strolled the beach aimlessly. She took the time to gather her thoughts. She had officially broken it off with DeVon for a man she thought had her best interests in mind. Had her vision become clouded? Had she let material things interfere with her judgment? She thought about her parents and what they would think if they knew Jamal had put her life in danger. “Drug dealers are lowlives,” her father would say. Never would she have believed Jamal would put her life in jeopardy. She wasn’t so naïve that she didn’t know if he were caught with drugs, she would go to jail as well.

When she got back to the condo Jamal was sitting on the sofa watching music videos. “Why, Jamal?” she asked.
“Why what?”
“Why did you put me at risk?”
“Ain’t no risk. All I did was bring my girl out here for a good time.”
“And a drug deal!” she yelled
He licked his dry lips. “You see, Ms. Dream, I didn’t come from a
Cosby Show
-ass household like you did. My friends didn’t go to college; they went to reform schools, penitentiaries, and halfway houses. I don’t even know where my parents are.”
“Oh, nigga, don’t go blaming nobody ’cause you chose to do what you do.”
He stepped to her and placed his hand underneath her chin. “Listen, baby, I don’t want to argue with you. I would never put your life in danger. Please believe me.” Jamal’s voice was sincere.
She put her head on his shoulder, and he pecked her jaw.

On the flight back to Charlotte, the mood was pleasant. Jamal and Dream joked, and though it still bothered Dream that he would bring her to California for a drug deal, she didn’t bring it up. Instead she told him how much she enjoyed the trip.

“The next time we go to San Diego, we’ll drive up to L.A. and go to Hollywood,” Jamal said.
“Only if you don’t take me shopping. You’re gonna turn me into a shopaholic like you.”
“I want to take you to the Mall of America in Minneapolis. It’s supposed to be the largest mall in the country.”
“Now, I got to take you up on that offer. I have heard so much about that place. I heard it has an amusement park and a wedding chapel in it,” she replied.
“I haven’t been there in about six years, but it’s definitely a landmark.”

After Jamal and Dream loaded their suitcases in his Expedition, he played an India Arie CD. He really wanted to listen to some hip-hop but figured he would put in something somewhat mellow. Dream was grooving to India’s sultry voice, and he was happy because the tension was absent. Then his cell phone rang. “Hello,” he answered.

“Hello, Jamal,” a female’s voice blurted out loudly. Dream turned the stereo down and turned her attention to Jamal’s conversation.

“Who is this?” Jamal asked.
“This is Candy. We met at Club Champagne.”
Jamal glanced at Dream who was looking him directly in the

eye. He knew she had heard the loud woman’s voice because her expression was no longer pleasant. They were approaching an intersection, and Jamal stopped at a green traffic light. Several cars blew their horns.

“Listen, I’ll call you back. I gotta go now.” He terminated the call and stepped on the gas pedal.
“Who in the hell was that?” Dream asked.
“It’s not what you think.”
“Somehow I knew you were going to say that. Everything is
not what I think.
What are you, some kind of magician or something? Nothing is ever as it appears with you.”
He frowned. “You know what? I ain’t got to explain shit to you. In fact, I ain’t
gonna
explain shit to you.”
“That’s fine with me,” she said as she folded her arms across her chest.
They were silent the rest of the way to her house. When they arrived Jamal didn’t offer to help her with her bags, and Dream didn’t ask.

Jamal had made seventy thousand dollars in two weeks. He had traded his Ford Expedition in for a new, white E-Class Mercedes Benz, and had put twenty-inch chrome rims on it. He bought himself a platinum Rolex and some custom suits with matching alligator shoes. He felt it was time for him to start acting like a rich man.

He hadn’t spoken with Dream in a couple of weeks and he missed her. He loved going over to her place, watching movies and giving her massages. He wanted to apologize to her, but he just couldn’t bring himself to do it. He turned to shopping and alcohol to compensate for his loneliness. He started buying liquor— Hennessy with Coke was his favorite—and he hung out at the strip clubs. He had become a regular at Club Champagne. He often paid to have sex with Candy, and most of the girls in the club knew his name. One day he and Dawg were together and Jamal suggested going to the club.

“You done turned into a booty-club bandit,” Dawg said. “What do you mean?” Jamal asked.
“Hell, you in the strip clubs at least five nights out of the week,

man. You need to call your girl back and apologize.”
“Apologize for what?”
“For dissing her for one of them trifling hoes from the strip

Jamal realized Dawg was right. He had a real woman for the first time in his life, and he didn’t appreciate her. All she wanted was some respect. He wanted to apologize, he just didn’t know how.

Mert’s Heart and Soul restaurant was located downtown on College Street. It specialized in soul food dishes, with recipes from the low country, a region in the southern part of South Carolina around Charleston. Mert’s was an African American-owned restaurant, yet most of the patrons where white. Keisha and Dream decided to get together for dinner since they hadn’t seen each other much since school had started. The two women greeted each other with a hug.