God Don't Play (30 page)

CHAPTER 67

“A
nnette, I’m on my way over there,” Rhoda said in a distant voice.

I could still hear the telephone ringing in my ears. I didn’t know if I was experiencing some kind of delayed reaction or what. But hearing Rhoda’s voice had an affect on me: I felt somewhat relieved. At least she wanted to hear what I had to say.

“I don’t know if now is a good time, Rhoda. I got a crowd here, and it won’t be easy to speak in private,” I told her.

“So? I don’t have anything to say that your company can’t hear,” Rhoda said evenly.

“But I do,” I let her know. “I have a lot of stuff to say that…even you might not want to hear.”

I didn’t wait for Rhoda to reply. I just hung up the telephone and slumped down into a chair at my kitchen table. I didn’t know what Pee Wee had said to Muh’Dear, Daddy, and Scary Mary to keep them out of the kitchen. But I was glad that they were still in place when Rhoda arrived ten minutes later.

“Annette, what the hell did you do to my baby girl?” Rhoda hissed as soon as she roared into my kitchen with a jacket on over her white terry-cloth bathrobe.

She had left her house in such a hurry, she had on two different shoes.

“Before I say anything, you need to tell me what Jade told you,” I said, rising.

“I got the whole story from her when I told her I was on my way to see you.”

“You got
her
story. I can’t imagine what her story was,” I smirked.

“Look, I know you are havin’ some emotional problems, and that is as good an excuse as any. You are not responsible for your actions and I can understand why. But I will be damned if I stand by and let this madness you’ve been goin’ through be blamed on my child!”

“Hold on,” I said, holding up my hand. “What was it that I was supposed to have blamed on Jade?” I left my hand up in the air right in Rhoda’s face.

“You accused her of sendin’ you those notes! You accused her of makin’ those telephone calls!” Rhoda let out a maniacal laugh. “And in the state you are in, I am surprised you didn’t accuse me!”

“Jade denies doing that shit?”

“Of course she denies it!” Rhoda said through clenched teeth. “Why wouldn’t she? She didn’t do any of that shit, and I know she didn’t!”

“And you believed her before even hearing from me?”

“Look, I
know
my child. I
know
she would never pull some shit like that.”

I gave Rhoda a look that made her face drop. “Rhoda, you don’t know Jade like I do.”

Rhoda was already angry and she looked it. But now she looked puzzled, too. “What are you tryin’ to say?”

“I know your daughter better than you do, and what I know is not nice. That’s why I didn’t want to face you.”

“No, you didn’t want the truth. That’s what you didn’t want to face! And the truth is, you need professional help. But rather than admit that you’ve lost your mind, you think you can use my baby as a scapegoat! I won’t stand for it!”

“Listen to me, Rhoda.” I had to breathe through my mouth to keep from having a panic attack, but it felt like I was having one anyway. I was surprised that I was still able to talk. “Rhoda, you don’t know your own daughter half as well as you think you do. As savvy as you are, and have always been, you have the nerve to walk around thinking Jade is still a virgin! How naive can you get?”

Rhoda gasped so hard she almost lost her breath. “How would you know…”

“Because I was with her for the
two
abortions she had!”

Rhoda gasped again, and this time she almost collapsed. With her hands shaking, she pulled out a chair and sat down. “I’ll bet it was that Hawkins boy who took advantage of Jade…or that Ralston boy.”

“Rhoda, listen to me. Jade got around like a record. Just about anybody could have made her pregnant.” It hurt me to say those words, so I knew that it had to be extremely painful for Rhoda to hear them.

“Jade would never go that far on her own. It had to be…They had to get her drunk or rape her or somethin’!”

“Rhoda, I wasn’t there when it happened, so I don’t know. But I can tell you one thing, your daughter is not that innocent.”

“She made a couple of mistakes. I will talk to her and get the truth. Then I will talk to those boys’ families. Both of them are over twenty-one, so I intend to prosecute them!”

“Rhoda, your innocent daughter licked another girl’s pussy right in my house in my guest bedroom. I saw her with my own eyes, and it didn’t look like she was being taken advantage of.”

Rhoda made a noise that sounded like the cries of a wounded animal. Before I knew what was happening, she leaped up from her chair, and was all over me, beating me with both hands at the same time.

CHAPTER 68

R
hoda pummeled me for a few seconds with her fists. Then she started bombarding me with items she snatched off the counter next to my refrigerator. An empty plate cracked in two as it slammed against the side of my head. A pan whizzed past my head, missing me only because I ducked. I was on the floor, lying on my side like a seal, twisting and turning, trying to get up and away.

“How dare you! You lyin’ bitch!” Rhoda screamed.

Even though I was being beaten to a bloody pulp, I was still concerned about other people more than I was myself. I didn’t yell or cry out for help because I didn’t want to disturb Muh’Dear or any of the rest of the folks in my living room. The more Rhoda beat me, the more I pressed my lips together so that I could keep my cries down to a low, kittenlike whimper.

“Don’t you know who you are fuckin’ with?” She snatched a wet dishrag off the side of the sink and started swinging that at me, too. It cracked against the sides of my face like a whip.

I was the kind of person who would run away from a fight. Everybody who knew me knew that. I had defended myself only those two times along the way, and I had been totally justified. I loved Rhoda. She had been my best friend for many, many years. She had killed for me. But I had to draw the line somewhere.

Just as she was about to come at me, wielding a long-handled fork, I managed to wobble up from the floor, holding the tail of my muumuu, which was smeared with blood from my busted lip and scratches on my face. When I grabbed Rhoda by her wrists and shook the fork to the floor, she gasped and looked totally surprised. There was at least one advantage to being a big woman: I was as strong as a mule.

As hard as she struggled, Rhoda could not get loose from my grip. I shook her for a few moments. She felt and looked like a rag doll in my massive hands. There was a look on her face that I will remember until the day I die. She looked surprised, frightened, and sad all at the same time. When I got tired of shaking her, I pinned both of her arms behind her back and held her there, looking her straight in the eyes. I held on to her wrists the same way that Pee Wee had held on to mine when I’d attacked him in his cousin’s house.

In all of the years that I had known Rhoda, I had never seen her show fear. Until now.

“You’re hurtin’ me,” she whimpered with a look on her face that resembled a deer caught in somebody’s headlights.

I nodded. “I want you to leave my house,” I said, surprised that I sounded so calm.

Before either of us could speak again Pee Wee, Daddy, Muh’Dear, and Scary Mary burst into the kitchen, all looking like wild people.

“What in the world is goin’ on in here?” Muh’Dear wanted to know. She looked from Rhoda to me, her mouth hanging open like a dipper.

“Sounded like y’all was tearin’ down the house,” Scary Mary said, fanning her face with her hand. She almost looked amused as she padded across the floor and stood next to me.

I still had Rhoda in a death grip, my hands around her wrists like handcuffs. She was still struggling to get free.

“Annette, you turn Rhoda loose!” Pee Wee ordered, holding up his hand as he moved toward me. “Y’all done both lost your minds!”

“What she do to you?” Daddy asked me, leaning against the stove, rubbing his chest with his crooked, arthritic hand.

“It’s all right,” I said, realizing how stupid that sounded even before I got it out of my mouth. It was not all right. I never thought I’d see the day that Rhoda would raise her hand to me. And I never thought I’d see the day that I would do what I had done to her.

Pee Wee pried my hands from around Rhoda’s wrists. I think I’d surprised Rhoda more than I’d surprised myself. She had the most incredulous look on her face as she rubbed her wrists and backed toward the kitchen door.

“Will somebody tell me what in the world is happenin’ in here?” Muh’Dear insisted.

She dabbed at my lips with a wet paper towel. I was surprised to see the blood on it.

“Y’all in here actin’ like savages!”

“I want you out of my house,” I said, pointing to Rhoda. The look she gave me was downright frightening. Her eyes didn’t blink, nothing on her face moved. “I said I want you out of my house, Rhoda,” I repeated, moving toward her.

If anybody had told me that I was the only thing that could frighten Rhoda, I would have laughed. After I’d finished laughing, I would have told them that they were crazy. This was the same woman who had killed and gotten away with it so that she could kill and kill again.

Rhoda left my house through the kitchen door, dragging her tiny feet like they weighed a ton.

I looked from Pee Wee to the rest of the people in the room. “I don’t want to talk about this. Not tonight, not ever,” I said, moving toward the door.

“Girl, I know you don’t think we ain’t gwine to get to the bottom of this mess,” Scary Mary said, following me from the kitchen back to my living room. Everybody else filed behind her, looking like black sheep.

“Rhoda’s daughter was the one sendin’ them notes and makin’ them phone calls to Annette,” Pee Wee said.

There were enough gasps in the room to put out a burning bush.

“Why?” Muh’Dear shouted, a wild-eyed look on her face.

Pee Wee shrugged. “Jade got a notion in her that me and her was goin’ to be together if she chased Annette out of town,” he explained, looking embarrassed.

There were more gasps.

“What? Why—
you
? What in the world would a pretty young girl like Jade want with a dried-up old fossil like you?” Scary Mary roared. “
I
wouldn’t even want you!”

Pee Wee looked at me and snickered. I knew he couldn’t help himself.

I let out a painful sigh and then I went upstairs to my bedroom. I crawled into my bed, clothes and all.

CHAPTER 69

I
had been in bed for about an hour when Pee Wee finally entered our bedroom.

“Baby,” he said, patting the side of my hip. I had my back to him.

“I don’t want to talk about what happened between me and Rhoda,” I muttered, hoping he couldn’t tell from my voice that I had been crying. I had cried so that my eyes became so swollen I couldn’t even close them. I was sorry that I couldn’t because it hurt to see all the blood smeared on my pillow.

“That’s fine with me. I just want to make sure you are all right. You’ve been through a lot lately.”

“I’m fine,” I said. I didn’t turn over, but I did reach up and squeeze Pee Wee’s hand. He squeezed back.

I slept like a baby that night. When I woke up, Pee Wee was sitting on my side of the bed, just staring at me. He smiled.

“I think I need to take you on a vacation,” he said. “You need somethin’ to fix up your mess of a life.”

“In that case, you’d better take me on a vacation to see the Wizard of Oz,” I told him, struggling to sit up. “You didn’t fuck Betty Jean. And you certainly didn’t fuck Jade,” I stated. “Just tell me…Tell me you didn’t,” I said with a pleading look.

Pee Wee let out a deep breath, shook his head, and clasped his hands.

“I didn’t. Why should I, when I got me a queen like you?” he asked, giving me a look that almost reduced me to tears, again.

“Well, I don’t feel like anybody’s queen today,” I admitted as I rubbed the side of my face, and the top and sides of my head, all of the places where Rhoda had struck me. “Do I have black eyes?”

Pee Wee shook his head. “No, but them scratches don’t do much for you. They look like spiderwebs.”

I gave him a pensive look. “I can’t believe Rhoda jumped on me,” I swooned, rubbing the side of my face.

Pee Wee gave me a serious look before he replied, “I can.”

“I am going to miss her,” I whispered. “We’ll never get past this.”

Pee Wee stared at me with a half smile on his face. Then he broke into a broad grin, licking his lips with his tongue before he told me, “Yes, you will.”

I shook my head and gave him a thoughtful look. “I hope you can forget all this. I mean, all that shit I said about you and Betty Jean, and you and Jade.”

“Oh, I ain’t worried about none of that,” he said, making a dismissive gesture with his hand. “But I tell you one thing, I hope you don’t never hit me again. I had knots on my face and head for days.”

He laughed. I laughed, even though I was falling apart inside.

“When do you plan on goin’ back to work?” Pee Wee asked, gently touching my hand.

“Soon. That’s if I still have a job.”

“I don’t think you have to worry about that. Old man Mizelle called the other night to see how you were doin’. He advised me to keep you off work for at least another two weeks.”

“Oh.” I stared at a crack on the wall. “What did you say about a vacation?”

“You want to go over to Erie for a few days?”

I grinned and shook my head. “Pennsylvania?” I gasped. “I thought you meant a
vacation
vacation. Like a few days at a bed-and-breakfast in Connecticut or a weekend in Atlantic City.” I chuckled, even though it hurt. “I’d rather go back to work.”

“Whatever you say, baby. But if you change your mind, all you have to do is let me know.”

I didn’t sleep at all that night. We made love so many times, I lost count.

CHAPTER 70

W
hen the telephone on the nightstand rang the next morning and woke me up, I assumed it was Muh’Dear or even worse, Scary Mary. Even though I had told them that I didn’t want to talk about what happened in my kitchen between Rhoda and me, I knew that they would both badger me until I did.

“Yes,” I mumbled. Pee Wee’s side of the bed was empty. While I was clutching the telephone in one hand, my other hand grabbed a note he’d left on the nightstand: “Gone to work. Love you,” it said. There was a p.s. that said, “I took Charlotte to school. Please get some rest and be ready for me when I get home…” I smiled.

“Hello,” I said, sitting up.

There was nothing but silence and then a low whimper. “Annette.”

It was Rhoda!

“What the hell—” It seemed like every emotion known to man consumed me, all at the same time. I wanted to cry, scream, throw something at the wall. I wanted to run outside and jump up and down. I wanted peace.

“Annette, please don’t hang up. I beg of you.” Rhoda had never begged me for anything in her entire life. “
I need you!
I have somethin’ to say to you.”

“You don’t have anything to say to me that I’d want to hear, Rhoda!”

“Listen to me! Jade told me the truth last night.” Rhoda blurted the words out so loud and fast, it took me a moment to comprehend what she was saying. “She told me the truth about everything. I…I’m so sorry.”

“You should be,” I said gruffly. “You know me well enough to know I wouldn’t make all that shit up.”

“You’re right. And, like I said, I am so sorry.” Rhoda choked back a sob.

There was more silence. Finally, I spoke. “So where do we go from here?”

“You’ve always been there for me. When my…When my son died, you dropped everything and you came runnin’ right away, all the way from Pennsylvania.”

“And I’d do it again, Rhoda.” I couldn’t describe how I was feeling now.

“I need you to do it again…”

“What? What are you saying? You didn’t do anything stupid, did you?”

“Other than what I did in your house last night, no. It’s my daughter…my baby, Jade…” Rhoda stopped. She was crying so hard she was choking.

“Rhoda, calm down. Where are you?”

It took her a few moments to compose herself. “I’m at the Richland City Hospital,” she said stiffly.

“Omigod! Rhoda, what’s happened? Did you have another stroke? Why are you at the hospital?”

It was only a few seconds but it seemed like an eternity before Rhoda spoke again. “My daughter is dyin’. After I confronted her, she ran off and locked herself in her room. Then she…She swallowed…She swallowed some pills.” Rhoda paused. “I’m about to lose her, too.
She wants to die!
”