No Justice No Peace (14 page)

            “That’s my son,” I shouted.

            “Sir, you need to back up.  You can’t just come onto the field like this.”

            “You didn’t understand what I said, did you,” I said through gritted teeth. “Now, get your hands off my chest and let me go see about my son.”

            The guard backed away and I ran onto the field to where Desmon was.  He had his helmet off and was moving back and forth on the ground while holding his leg.  It was obvious he was in excruciating pain. 

            By the looks of it, I could tell his injury was serious.  How serious was the question.  The coaching staff called for the trainer, and shortly after, they took him off the field.  Before going into the locker room with him, I politely walked over to the other side of the field where the other team stood waiting and watching.  I walked up to the player who had purposely injured Desmon’s leg, giving him a threat I truly intended to live up to.

            “If he doesn’t play football again, or if this injury prevents him from being all that he can be in this game, you’re gonna lose both of your legs.  You messed with the wrong one this time, partna, and you’d better hope like hell this ain’t as serious as it looks.”

            My words put fear in his eyes, and since I didn’t want to get arrested, I hurried off to the locker room to see about Desmon.  When I got there, I could hear him screaming as I stood outside of the door.  I knocked, and after one of his coaches let me in, Desmon turned his head to the side and looked at me.

            “Why…why don’t you just leave me alone, damn,” he said.  I could see the hurt/pain in his eyes, as a few tears had fallen from the sides of them.

            I ignored Desmon and talked to the trainer. “So, what’s going on with his leg?”

            He shook his head. “It doesn’t look too good.  An ambulance is on the way and we’re going to take him to the hospital for x-rays.”

            Desmon held his eyes tightly together, continuing to grab his leg.  I walked over and took a look at it.  It certainly wasn’t a pretty sight. “Can’t you all give him something for the pain?” I asked.

            “We will.  As soon as the ambulance gets here.”

            “I don’t won’t no…no damn medicine,” he said, starting to cry. “I wanna finish my game.  Man, help me up so I can finish my game.”

            I was too hurt to say anything. The assistant coach walked over and talked to Desmon. “Not right now, Desmon.  We need to get you taken care of, and then you can finish the game.”

            He opened his eyes. “Where my mama?  Would you go call my mama for me?” Desmon asked his assistant coach.

            “Sure.  I’ll go call her right now.”

            A huge part of me was disappointed.  There I was standing right before him and he had the nerve to call for Ginger.  She didn’t even have the decency to have her ass at his game, let alone, show up at the hospital when his coach asked her to come.  I didn’t say shit because I knew exactly what was about to go down.

            I followed the ambulance to the hospital and stayed in the room with Desmon until the doctor came back in.  We hadn’t said two words to each other, but as long as he knew I was there, that’s all that mattered to me.  The doctor said Desmon had torn ligaments, but said he certainly could play football again as long as he allowed his leg to heal.  Loving football as much as he did, Desmon was crushed.  He acted as if it was the end of the world, and when I reminded him that he could play next year, he told me to stay out of his business and asked me to leave.  The doctor soon left the room and let us have at it.

            “What did I tell you about disrespecting me, huh?” I said.

            “And what did I tell you about being in my business?  I don’t even know why you’re here.  Don’t you get it, man?  I want you out of my life.  You have caused my mother and me nothing but pain and suffering and I don’t want anything else to do with you.”

            “You almost sound like Ginger.  I guess she’s manipulated you into believing I’m no good for you?  You’re a smart kid, Desmon.  And, as soon as you wake up and see things for what they are, you’ll be even smarter.  Now, I’m deeply sorry about what happened to your leg.  But maybe, this will allow you some time to get your grades in order.  Those come first, and you need to remember that.”

            “Get the hell out of here with that!  I don’t need your advice—Dad!  I’m gonna play football whether you or the doctors like it or not.  So, see ya.  Go back to wherever you came from.  These past few weeks have been peaceful without you.”

            The assistant coach came into the room and said he’d left Ginger a few messages on her answering machine.  He stayed for a while, and after they put a splint on Desmon’s leg his coach left. 

            Desmon waited around for Ginger to come, and when I asked to take him home, he declined.  I told him I’d see him later and left.  Not intending to go anywhere until I knew he had a ride home, I waited on the parking lot for Ginger to come.  I could see Desmon sitting in the waiting area and I watched as he continued to dial out on his cell phone to call her.  I even called her myself, but still got no answer.  After another hour had gone by, I finally pulled my car in front of the hospital and blew the horn.  He looked out at me and came outside.  Being stubborn, he pulled the handle on the door and tried to get in without any help.  When I got out of the car to help him, he insisted that I get back into the car.  I wasn’t up to arguing with him, and before I knew it, he was inside of the car.  His crutches were on the back seat and he reached for his jacket to get something out of his pocket.

            “Would you mind stopping at the pharmacy to get my prescription filled,” he asked.

            I took the prescription from his hand. “Is this your pain medicine?”

            He nodded. 

            I drove to the pharmacy and once I got his prescription filled, I walked back to my car.  Desmon was on my phone and when I got inside of the car, he ended his call. He handed my phone to me.

            “Where’s your phone at?” I asked. “Didn’t you just have it?”

            “I think I lost it when I got into your car.” He paused.   “Did you know that we lost the game?”

            “Yep.  Without their number one player, it was bound to happen.”  I looked over at him and smiled. He turned his head to look out of the window.

            I drove off and when we got halfway down the road, Desmon confronted me. “Do you wanna know why I’m really mad at you?” he asked.

            I shrugged. “No, I really don’t care why you’re mad at me.”

            “Yes, you do.”

            “Really, no I don’t.  You being mad at me don’t mean a damn thing to me, Desmon.  I just hate you got all of this anger inside of you for nothing.”

            “Yeah, whatever.  But the reason I’m so mad at you now is because, not only did you have my Mom’s face all fucked up, but why…why did you have to go fuck my best friend’s aunt.  She’s like a mother to Antonio, and out of all of the women, why her?”

            “Aw…so, you know about Anna?  Did Ginger tell you about her?”

            “Yep.  And, I talked to Anna too.”

            “What did Anna say?”

            “Other than that you’re a no good, low-down, back-stabbing ass liar?”

            “Yes. Other than that, did she say anything else?”

            “She said a whole bunch more.  But, it’s gonna cost you if you want to know.”

            “Then, I don’t want to know.”

            “Cool,” he said.  We didn’t say another word to each other until we pulled in front of Ginger’s townhouse.

            Anxious to know what Anna said, I parked the car and turned off the headlights. “So, how much is it gonna cost me?”

            He smiled. “I need some new threads, man.  My shit getting out dated and a new pair of tennis shoes wouldn’t be a bad idea either. My car down and so is Antonio’s.  We really could use some money to get them fixed.”

            I looked over at him. “Those cars will stay broke, but how much, Desmon?  Stop beating around the bush.”

            “A thousand doll…”

            “Shit, you out of yo mind.”

            “So, are you telling me, you wouldn’t pay a thousand dollars to hear what Anna told me about you?  I think you’d really want to know.”

            “Well, ain’t nobody paying you to think.”

            “Alright,” he said, opening the door to get out. “Your lost, not mine.”

            I grabbed his arm. “Okay.  Close the door.  I’ll give you five hundred dollars if you tell me.”

            “Nine-Hundred.”

            “Seven.”

            “Eight-Fifty.”

            “Eight…and that’s my last offer.”

            He closed the door. “You would really pay me eight-hundred dollars to find out what she said about you?”

            “Yes.  Now, tell me what she said.”

            He hesitated, then looked at me and grinned. “She said that she was in love with you.”

            “Man, I already knew that.  Tell me what else she said.”

            “That’s it.  She just told me she’d fallen in love with you. So, give me my eight-hundred dollars.”

            “I ain’t giving you no money for something I already know.  I thought she said something else about me.”

            “So, that’s how I get played?  I told you what she said, and now, you holding back on the money.”

            I reached in my back pocket and counted out one thousand dollars, giving it to Desmon.  The look of excitement was written all over his face.

            “I can’t believe you’d kick me out like this for telling you Anna loves you.  That’s crazy, man.”

            “Desmon, wise up, okay?  I will give you the shirt off my back, if you asked for it.  The money I gave you has nothing to do with Anna.  If you want to buy yourself some clothes and shoes, then go do it.”

            Desmon put the money in his pocket and opened the door to get out.  I got out to help him and grabbed his crutches from the back seat of the car.  As we walked towards the door, he turned.

            “Listen. That’s my Mom’s flavor of the month car over there,” he said, pointing to a brand new white Lincoln in one of the parking spots. “Please don’t come in here and cause any trouble, au’ight?”

            I nodded, intending to keep the peace.

            “Promise me,” Desmon said.

            “You have my word.”

            Desmon unlocked the door and limped inside.  Music came from Ginger’s bedroom and the door was closed.  I could tell the lights were out because I could see darkness from underneath the door. 

            “They must be sleeping,” Desmon said, still standing, while putting little pressure on his injured leg.

            “Aren’t you going to wake her to tell her what happened?”

“I’ll tell her later.”

“Why wait,” I said, getting ready to walk towards the door. “Let’s tell her now.”

Desmon grabbed my arm. “Let me tell her.  Why don’t you just go home and I’ll call you later.  Seriously, I don’t want no trouble.”

“Man, it ain’t gon be no trouble.  Trust me.  In the meantime, you need to think about coming to live with me.  I got a nice place, you can have your own room, and I promise to stay out of your business.”

“Maybe, but go home.  I’ll let you know soon.”

I turned towards the door, and soon after, changed my mind about leaving.  “You know what, I think I got some unfinished business to take care of.  Why let it wait until Sunday, when I can take care of it today?”

I walked past Desmon and went straight to Ginger’s bedroom door.  I lightly tapped on it, and when she asked who it was, I told her it was me. 

“What do you want?  I’m busy,” she yelled.

Desmon interrupted. “Ay, I got hurt at the game today.  I’ve been calling…”

She opened the door, closing it behind her. “Hurt,” she said, typing her robe  “How’d you get hurt?”

“I injured my leg,” Desmon said.  She walked past me and went into the living room.  When she turned on the light, she looked down at Desmon’s leg.

“I told you about playing that damn football.  What happened?” She picked up a cigarette and lit it.

“It’s a long story.  I’ma take my medicine and go lay down for a bit.  Will you fix me something to eat?”

“Yeah, baby,” she said, blowing the smoke out of her mouth.  “I’ll fix it in a lil bit, okay?”

Desmon turned and headed downstairs to his room.  Before he did, surprisingly, he thanked me.

“Anytime,” I replied and then got after Ginger.

“Do you got my money yet?”

“I got some of it.  If you want all of it, you’ll have to wait.”

“I’m not going to wait for long.  So, you lay on your back as many times as you have to, to get it.  And if you get tired of fucking, then get on your knees.  I got a feeling that getting the rest of my money won’t be a problem for you.”