LITMIR.BIZ

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When I was done, both of my parents were giving me a standing ovation.

      My father popped his fourth beer open and my mother said, “You don’t need to be drinking all of that!”

      Why? Why did she say that?

      “Who the hell are you talking to?” my daddy snapped.

      There was no turning back now. It was officially on.

      My mother tried to back out, but it was too late. “I don’t know why I even said anything to you!”

      Me either.

      I turned on my heels and went into my bedroom. For a moment I thought about taking off my clothes and putting on my nightgown. But then I remembered that if she called the cops I needed to be dressed so that I could go with her to the police station to press charges. So I changed my mind and instead laid down and waited on my wall to start thumping.

      BAM!

      The wall jumped and scared me out of my sleep. I didn’t even know I’d fallen asleep until I heard the weekend music that makes my mirror shake. BAM! There it was again. “I’m not gon’ let you beat on me!” I heard my mother scream as the entire apartment felt as if it were convulsing. I couldn’t take it. I hated this. If only she would learn to keep her mouth shut!

      BAM!

      I looked over to my sister, who was stirring around in her bed. Tears were running down her cheeks as I touched her on the shoulder. “Shh,” I said as I sat on the edge of her bed. “Don’t cry. It’ll stop in a few minutes.”

      “I’m scared.” She wrapped her arms around me.

      “Don’t be. We can stick this out.”

      The more the room shook, the more Hadiah cried. I did my best to comfort her but after a while I couldn’t take it anymore, so I took her by the hand and we crept out of the apartment and up the stairs.

      Malachi and his family lived in the apartment directly above us, so he was the only one who really knew my story. His place had been my retreat for the last year. One Friday he heard my parents fighting and the next day when he saw me coming back from the police station with my mother, he whispered in my ear if I ever wanted to get away I could come to his place. He claimed his parents slept hard as a rock and seeing that they didn’t wake up the times Hadiah and I came into their place, I believed him.

      As always, during times like this the door was unlocked. Me and Hadiah walked in quietly. The apartment was small so we didn’t have to travel too far down the hall to get to Malachi’s room. There were a few boxes in the way that hadn’t been there before, but I managed not to trip over them. I eased into Malachi’s room, and he was asleep in his bed.

      I looked down on the floor, and the pallet of blankets that he made for Hadiah was lying there, and as if this had become our second home, Hadiah laid down and fell asleep. I eased onto the bed next to Malachi. He slid back to give me room, shared his cover with me, and eventually we fell asleep.

      A few hours later when I heard sirens blaring I woke up. That was the cue my mother had called the police. “I have to go,” I said to Malachi, who was now awake. “I’m sorry about how I acted earlier today at school.”

      “It’s okay,” he said as a stream of light came into his room from the street lamp. “I want to give you something before you go, though,” he said.

      “What?” I picked up my sleeping sister from her pallet.

      He handed me a gold-plated ring with a heart on top and the word wifey written in small letters in magic marker. “It’s a permanent marker, and it won’t come off.” He hunched his shoulders in defeat. “That’s if you ever decide to be my girl.”

      I smiled. I couldn’t help it, I swear I was cheesin’ hard. “Didn’t you read the note?” I asked him.

      “No.” He hunched his shoulders. “I figured you said no.”

      I shook my head. “I said, ‘yes,’ silly. Of course I’ll be your girl.” That was the extent of me admitting my feelings. I couldn’t stand being sappy too much longer so I grabbed Hadiah’s hand, hurried out of his room and down the stairs. Just as I was entering the apartment, the police were slapping handcuffs on my daddy. “My kids shouldn’t have to see this!” my mother shouted. I wondered if she even noticed that we’d just come back into the apartment. “I’ma be right behind you pressing charges, officer,” she said with confidence as she grabbed our hands and said, “Let’s go.”

      When we arrived at the police station, I was beyond embarrassed, especially since the officers knew us by name. “How are you, li’l Miss Zsa-Zsa and sweet Hadiah?” the officer, who we saw every week, said to us as he handed us each a lollipop. He looked at my mother. “Another weekend, huh?”

      “I just can’t do it” was her response every time. “I get tired of trying to make this work for my children, and it ends in disaster.”

      “So are you going to follow through with the charges this time?” the officer asked.

      “Yes. It has to stop,” my mother said as she filled out paperwork, wrote down her recollection of the event, and handed the forms to the officer.

      “Your court date will come in the mail.”

      “Thank you,” she said, grabbing us once again by the hand and leading us out the door.

      The ride home was a short one, and the sun was rising by the time we got there. I was quiet as we headed to the apartment, and like clockwork as soon as my mother opened the door, I could hear the telephone ringing. I looked at her. The shiners on her face gleamed like black and blue gold. I wondered what she would think of herself when she looked in the mirror.

      She turned her head once she realized I was looking at the marks on her cheeks and forehead. The phone continued to ring as my mother said, “Don’t answer it.” So I didn’t. I simply sat down in the chair next to the phone because I knew that the phone would ring again.

      Brrrrrnnnngggg… I didn’t even look at my mother. I simply answered the phone. “You have a collect call from,” the recorded operator said, and then paused as my daddy said his name. “Zach.”

      “Will you accept the charges?” the operator continued. “If so, press two. If not, hang up.”

      “Press two?” I asked my mother, knowing she would say no but meant yes.

      “No. Hang up that phone!” She paused. “Know what? I can’t put you in the middle of this. Press two and give me the phone.”

      I handed her the phone. I started to go into my room, but then I remembered I had to keep my clothes on for when she dropped the charges.

      “Zach,” my mother said into the phone, “I can’t keep going through these changes. I want more than the constant fights and arguments.” She paused. “But you say that every time.” She paused again. “I love you too, but I need more than love. I need respect. I need for you to keep your hands off of me.” She paused. I knew he was offering gifts, because she started to grin. “You don’t have to buy me diamond earrings, just do the right thing…. Okay, I’ma give you one last try and that’s it. If you put your hands on me again, you got to leave and that’s all to it.”

      My mother’s smile was so wide that the bruises on her face ran into her curled lips. “I’ma drop you and Hadiah off with your aunty Grier. Me and your daddy need to talk.”

      My aunty lived around the corner so it only took us a few minutes to get there, and judging by the look in my aunt’s eyes when we arrived, she knew what my mother was up to.

      “Did you look at yourself before you came here?” my aunty said to my mother as she opened the door for us to come in. My twin cousins, Seven and Toi, were standing behind their mother as me and Hadiah walked past her. “What happened?” they whispered. “They were fightin’ again?”

      I nodded my

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