Gold Hill (24 page)

“
I can’t go,” Tanesha
said. “I can’t face the bus and those women and what about my
classmates and Jeraine fucked everyone on the planet
and . . . I should have known.”

Mike chuckled. Tanesha
looked at him. She’d known him almost all of her life. He’d driven
them everywhere when they were kids. He bought them milkshakes when
they won the city track meet and ice cream sundaes when they lost
state. He was Jill’s big brother and the only big brother Tanesha
had ever known. She saw only kindness in his face.

“
Tell you what,” Mike
said. “How about if we drive there together. You and me. If we get
there and you still don’t want to go, that’s fine; I’ll buy you
breakfast and take you to the Castle. You can hang out with Jill
and Val all day. But let’s just take a drive.”

Tanesha had to smile. He’d
said almost the same thing when she was too afraid to run her first
race in Catholic School. She’d run track all the way through high
school then run at Howard all four years. Running was one of the
few things that kept her sane in the middle of her crazy life. Mike
gave her running. Relief coursed through her veins.

He helped her up and took
her book bag. They walked to his Bronco. He helped her in and went
around to the driver’s side. The old Bronco smelled like sun and
her favorite tea.

“
There’s a cup of tea for
you in the cup holder. You left yours on the bus.
And . . . ” he reached in his pocket and pulled
out something wrapped in a napkin. “I don’t know what this is but
it’s from Katy.”

Tanesha opened the napkins
to see a crumpled Strawberry frosted Pop Tart. Katy was only
allowed to have these once a week; she had given her favorite treat
to Tanesha.

“
How did you know?”
Tanesha sniffed back her emotions.

“
Me?” Shaking his head,
Mike turned onto Montview Boulevard and drove toward the School of
Medicine. “I have a newborn. I can barely tie my shoes for lack of
sleep and . . . ”

Tanesha laughed at the idea
that a man who never slept was sleep deprived. Mike glanced at her
and laughed.

“
The first person who told
me was Jake,” Mike said. “He asked on Thursday if I would mind
being on this street at 6:45 a.m. this morning. He gave me a map
but not a reason why. He said I’d know when I got there. I didn’t
find out why until Delphie pulled me aside yesterday and asked if I
would mind helping you. I told her I already had plans for this
morning, but she was quite sincere. Jill asked last night. But the
kicker was Katy. She was standing outside our door this morning
with your treat. She followed me around to make sure I wasn’t
late.”

Tanesha shook her head at
the psychics.

“
You’re well
prognosticated,” Mike laughed.

Tanesha laughed. He threw a
handkerchief at her.

“
That’s from Jill,” he
said. “So what happened?”

“
Some girls got on and
started talking about . . . ” Tanesha’s shame
and sorrow welled. She shook her head and stopped
talking.

“
Jeraine, huh?” Mike
nodded.

“
You act like you expected
it,” Tanesha said.

“
I live it,” Mike said. “I
was out of the VA, I don’t know, maybe two weeks when the first guy
started bragging about screwing Val. On and on he went. He threw in
all kinds of details. I wanted to kill him but Delphie was there
and . . . ”

Mike shook himself like a
dog.

“
I want to kill myself,”
Tanesha said.

“
That too,” Mike said.
“When we were in LA last time, I was fawned over by all these women
who wanted to fuck me and ‘enlightened’ by all these men who said
they fucked Val. It’s disgusting.”

“
Bizarre,” Tanesha said.
“These girls knew details about him. I mean he must
have . . . ”

“
Or they read those stupid
magazines,” Mike said. “I’m not saying Jer wasn’t
promiscuous . . . ”

“
He screwed everybody,”
Tanesha said.

“
Everybody talks,” Mike
said. “Those girls might have had sex with him, or more likely,
they’re just mean. They saw you on the bus and wanted to make you
feel bad as bad as they feel.”

“
How do you know?” Tanesha
asked.

“
Because that’s what
Delphie told me when I was going to kill that guy,” Mike said.
“Plus, is it really normal behavior to brag about the intimate
details of your sex life in front of strangers? Would you do
that?”

“
No way,” Tanesha shook
her head.

“
So why would they?” Mike
asked. “Think about it. What are they doing?”

“
Bragging,” Tanesha
sighed.

“
Trying to boost their
ego,” Mike said. “Everybody knows you and Jeraine now. Everybody
knows you’re going to med school. They had to know what you were
doing.”

“
You don’t think I just
overheard them,” Tanesha gestured out the window. “I could go
anywhere and a billion women are going to be ‘he’s so big’
and . . . ”

Mike laughed.

“
What?” Tanesha
asked.

“
At least I don’t have to
hear about the size of Val’s . . . whatever,” Mike
said.

Tanesha laughed. Mike
crossed Peoria into the University of Colorado campus.

“
Where are we going?” Mike
asked.

“
Over there,” Tanesha
pointed. “Jer and I came out here yesterday to make sure I knew
where to go.”

“
And what did he say this
morning? What was he going to do today?”

“
We had a great morning,”
Tanesha smiled. “So fun and he was great.”

“
What’s he doing
today?”

“
He’s going to therapy,
for his brain, and then he has to sleep at least an hour. His mom’s
taking him because he’s not supposed to drive after treatment. The
movie people show up around noon,” Tanesha said. “He meets a new
trainer at six. The trainer was recommended by the brain people –
work the body and the mind. Then Jer’s working late with the movie
people.”

“
So he’s not screwing some
random girl on the bus,” Mike said.

“
Oh,” Tanesha said. “I see
what you mean.”

“
I’ve had people tell me
they were with Valerie when I
knew
she was working. I knew she was working because I
was there,” Mike said. “These liars don’t realize how much work it
is to make a movie or music. They think it’s all what they see in
the movies or music videos.”

“
Never thought of it,”
Tanesha said.

Mike pulled up to let her
out.

“
Why do you do it?”
Tanesha asked. “Why do you stay?”

“
Because Val brightens
every color, every thought, and every moment of my life,” Mike
said. “She’s my world. And I’ll tell you Tanesha, when you’re with
Jeraine?”

Tanesha turned to look at
him.

“
You brighten up,” Mike
said. “I know he does the very same thing for you.”

“
Then how am I going to
deal with this?” Tanesha asked.

“
Headphones,” Mike said.
“Seriously. I wear them when I’m in public. Delphie tells me, ‘What
other people think and say is not your business until they make it
your business.’ It works. Jill gave me an iPod for you. Do you want
it?”

Tanesha nodded.

“
Good girl,” Mike said.
“Now get going. Class starts soon.”

Tanesha grabbed her book
bag and got out of the car. He gave her the mug of tea and her
precious Pop Tart.

“
Katy said to tell you
that lots of babies need you to come here,” Mike said. “So get
crackin’”

Tanesha laughed. Mike
raised a hand to wave good-bye and drove off. She looked at the big
building in front of her. Nodding to herself, she joined the stream
of students into the building.

~~~~~~~~

Monday morning — 8:40
a.m.

“
You’ve been fired from
Lipson Construction twice,” Rodney Smith said to Pete. “Why should
I even give you an interview?”

“
Because I know every job
in the company,” Pete said. “This job is so far east, you’ll have
to transport everything in and out. You need someone who knows the
transportation department. I know everyone there. I can facilitate
the transportation aspect of the job.”

“
You have a bad drug
problem.”

“
I’ve been sober for
almost a year,” Pete said.

“
You have an honor
problem,” Rodney got up from his desk chair went around the desk to
sit on a corner near Pete.

“
I’ve had an honor
problem, sir,” Pete said. “I’ve hurt everyone I know with my lies.
I’m here today with the hope that I can regain the trust I
lost.”

“
Why Lipson?”

“
I like the company,” Pete
smiled. “I can take my drug addict self to almost any company in
the city and get a job on my skills. I like the no drug policy. I
like that you ask me about honor. I like that I might have a chance
to own the company I work for.”

“
You know there’s a line
of men and women who want this very job,” Rodney raised his
eyebrows. “No drug problems. No honor problems. No prison time. Why
should I hire you over them?”

“
You probably shouldn’t
hire me over them,” Pete said. “I’m sure ninety-nine out of a
hundred experts would tell you not to hire me.”

“
So why should
I?”

“
Because I’ve dedicated my
life to facing my demons every single day,” Pete said. “I know the
shape and texture of the places I need help and I’m willing to
learn. You take a chance on anyone. I’d rather take a chance on a
man who knows and faces his demons, than one who seems not to have
any.”

“
I saw you at Sandy’s
place last Friday night,” Rodney said.

“
Sandy works late on
Fridays,” Pete said. “She’s the first person who gave me a job and
a place to stay after I got out. I only work there when she works
late.”

“
Why?”

“
Because it’s not safe for
her to be there late.”

“
No, I mean, you don’t
work for her now, why stay?”

“
Sandy took a chance on
me,” Pete said. “I won’t ever forget that.”

“
Aden said you stood up
for him in prison.”

“
I don’t remember,” Pete
said. “We got a beat down
and . . . ”

“
So you’re loyal,” Rodney
gave Pete a hard look. Intimidated, Pete nodded. “Good. You went to
school with my daughter?”

“
Tanesha?” Pete looked
surprised. “We went to Machebeuf together. I mean, she graduated
early and . . . ”

Rodney gave Pete a long,
deep look.

“
Here’s what I need,”
Rodney said. “I need an assistant who can not only handle
transportation, like you said, but can also interact with all the
different types of people here – men, women, black, Hispanic,
Asian, and whatever mix comes along. How are you with all kinds of
people?”

“
I speak Spanish,” Pete
said. “I learned it in high school then working
and . . . ”

“
How do you feel about
having a black boss?”

“
Are you fair? Will you
treat me fairly?” Pete asked. “That’s what I care
about.”

Nodding, Rodney got up and
went around his desk to his seat.

“
There’s word we’re going
to have some problems,” Rodney said. “One of your old bosses
will . . . ”

“
In the past, I made
decisions based on a different set of values than I have today,”
Pete interrupted. “If I were to get this job, my loyalties would be
with you and this project.”

“
And what about the men
you’ve been loyal to in the past?”

“
Where were they when I
was just out of the hospital with nowhere to go?” Pete shook his
head. “Everyone was happy to hire me when I was a drug addict, but
no one wanted to be around me when I decided to get my life
together.”

“
Except Sandy.”

“
Except Sandy,” Pete said.
“And Aden, and eventually the most important person in my world, my
wife, Molly gave me a chance.”

“
And who are you loyal to
now?”

“
Myself,” Pete said, “my
family and anyone who’s willing to take a chance on me.”

“
You need to give notice
at your other job?”

“
No, it’s pick up work.
Good money, no commitments,” Pete said. “And I don’t foresee this
position affecting my capacity to stay with Sandy when she works
late.”

“
I don’t either,” Rodney
smiled. “I’ll give you two weeks. Prove to me that you should have
this job, and it’s yours.”

He tossed a clipboard
jammed full of scraps of paper across the desk.

“
First task, get this
transportation sorted out, because it’s a mess,” Rodney gestured
toward a desk along the wall. “You’ll work right there so I can
keep an eye on you.”