Scandalous Heroes Box Set (47 page)

Mama had been late then just as she was now and hadn’t left the key for her. Back then she hadn’t been scared all the time. That was before the dead little girl, and Tino and what Donald had done to the little girl that he had caught behind the school trailer. She had been sitting on her stoop doing her reading assignment while she waited for her mother to come home.

“Whatchu doing?” So absorbed in her homework that she hadn’t even seen Anthony Johnson approach until he was standing right in front of her, she jumped. He was in her class and had been since pre-school. She wasn’t friends with boys but Anthony was smart and he never picked with her or pulled her hair like his friend Donald. He was also the blackest kid she had ever seen. Sometimes people would cap on him and joke about him being black like midnight or mistaken for his shadow. She could tell that it bothered him but he took it good-naturedly. She had heard the term ‘gentle giant’ and had instantly thought of Anthony because despite being big enough to beat up people he generally never fought.

“Sorry,” he grinned when he saw that he had spooked her.

“I’m doing that homework Miss Kerns gave us.” She went back to her reading but looked up a moment later when Anthony was still standing in front of her, moving nervously from one foot to the other as if he needed to pee. “Did you do your reading yet?”

“Nah.”

“Do you want to do homework together?”

He looked surprised by her offer but nodded and then sat down next to her on the stoop. She passed him the book and turned it to the beginning of the chapter.

“You can start reading. I already read that part. Let’s read out loud.”

He was looking at her but he nodded and accepted the book. His smooth clear voice read the words with no hesitation. She listened to the story intently even though she had already read it just moments before. She liked the sound of Anthony’s voice when he read. It was nearly like watching a movie or seeing the things happening.

He continued to read without stopping until he had read the entire assignment even past where she had stopped. He passed the workbook back to her and she turned the pages to the back where the questions would be listed.

Anthony cleared his throat. “Where’s your mother?”

Vanessa had tossed one of her braids back over her shoulder where it had flopped down onto the book. “At work.” She glanced at Anthony who was watching her hair as if something was in it. She reached up and scratched her scalp and he gave her a half smile.

She saw a Daddy Long Leg next to her leg and squealed and jumped up, dropping her book and ready to bolt. Anthony jumped up too. “What’s wrong?”

“Daddy Long Leg!” She raised her foot to kill it.

“No, don’t.”

She gave him a look like he was crazy. You killed spiders or they would end up in your bed one night crawling in and out of your mouth, nose and ears! Everybody knew that.

Anthony reached down and picked up the little spider by one leg. It waved its remaining legs which resembled tendrils of hair, and goose bumps ran down Vanessa’s back and she had to suppress a desire to scream.

But Anthony didn’t seem the least bit afraid of it. He dropped the bug into the palm of his hand and amazingly it sat there for a while. Vanessa peered at it…but from a safe distance. Anthony nudged it gently with one finger and the spider began to move across his palm. He turned his hand so that the spider wouldn’t drop to the ground and soon it was on the back of his hand and Anthony continued to rotate his hand so that the spider stayed upright.

“You want to try?” He asked her.

She nearly shook her head, but she did want to try. She held out her palm but Anthony advised that she might want to first try by picking it up by one leg. She did as suggested and watched the little spider struggling in the air. She wondered if it hurt to be picked up like that, forgetting that bare moments before she had planned to flatten it with her shoe.

She allowed it to crawl over the back of her finger and she shivered at the feel of its tickly legs moving over her skin. She looked up to see Anthony staring at her and before she knew it he bent forward and quickly smashed his lips onto hers.

The force of the kiss caused her to take a step back as his teeth clanked against hers. Obviously he hadn’t stolen a kiss from a girl on the regular. The feel of the spider moving up her wrist caused a shrill shriek to escape her lips and she jumped and shook her hand in disgust, ridding herself of the spider’s tickly legs. Vanessa then blinked at Anthony, not in fear but in surprise. She quickly moved her tongue over the empty space that her front tooth had just been, only to discover a shallow and sore hole. She felt the missing tooth on her tongue as her mouth filled with the coppery taste of her blood. 

She was just getting ready to laugh and to tell him that the tooth was finally out when she noted the horrified look on Anthony’s face as his eyes took in the blood in her mouth and on her lips.

His mouth worked silently like a fish out of water and he took a stumbling step backwards before turning tail and running away. She watched him curiously before spitting the blood on the ground, careful not to spit out the tooth. She intended to collect her half dollar from the tooth fairy later that night.

As she saw the bloody spit on the ground her lip curled up in amusement. Anthony thought he’d knocked her tooth out—although he’d helped it along, it was going to come out in a few days anyways. However, after that Anthony never ever talked to her again.

~***~

“Scotty. I need to see you after class.” Scotty made a face but when school was over he lingered behind and met Mr. Price at his desk. The teacher was big like a football player. His slight Afro was dotted with grey and his light brown eyes were friendly yet firm.

The teacher searched his student’s eyes and then held up a paper with a big red C marked on it.

“What in the hell is this Scotty?”

Scotty peered at the paper. “That’s the test we did last Friday.”

Mr. Price rolled his eyes. “I know that! What I’m asking is why didn’t you answer all of the questions?”

Scotty met the teacher’s eyes wondering why people asked questions that they already knew the answers to. In fact, why did people always have to talk? He liked when he was able to find moments of calm because everything in his life moved rapidly and required quick thinking to avoid unnecessary strife.

“Scotty you answered just enough questions to pull a C.”

“I know.”

Mr. Price gave him an incredulous look. “But you could have pulled an A! Every question you answered you answered correctly. If you had finished this test you would have pulled a sure A. And Scotty, I know you had time to complete the rest of the test because I saw you finish long before most people did!”

“Because all I need is a C average in this class.”

“What are you talking about Scotty? We’re in the beginning of the school year. Are you telling me that you’ll never do more than what you need to do in order to get a C in this class?”

Scotty took a moment to consider his words. He liked Mr. Price who talked to them on the real and not like they were a bunch of thugs. He respected that. He met his teacher’s eyes. “Mr. Price I’m not going to college. In two years I plan to drop out-”

Mr. Price’s eyes widened. “You have this all figured out at fourteen? Scotty the world can change for you by the time you’re sixteen. You’re…you’re really smart. You took the Walnut Hills test but you didn’t do well—not bad but not good.”

Scotty looked at him in surprise. That had been two years ago. What was he doing checking on things that had happened back then when he wasn’t even his teacher?

Mr. Price nodded. “Yeah I checked. You didn’t answer all of the questions in each category. Some thought you ran out of time. But you just answered enough to get by, am I right?” There he goes asking questions that he already knows the answer to.

The Walnut Hills test that Mr. Price was referring to was a specialized test for children in the Cincinnati Public School District. It was used to select children with above average scores to attend the college preparatory high school.

Mr. Price cocked an eye at the teen. “What I’m beginning to put together is that you cheated on the Walnut Hills test. A boy as dumb as you couldn’t have answered nearly every question that he even bothered to answer as well as you did.”

Scotty gave him a half smile. “Reverse psychology doesn’t work on me Mr. Price. You know I didn’t cheat. Why would I bother when all I care about is doing enough to get by?”

Mr. Price was not impressed by the kid’s attitude. “I could strangle you, you fucking idiot!” Scotty’s clenched his teeth but didn’t otherwise react to the insult. “I want you to take the test again.”

Now it was Scotty’s turn to frown. “Why would I do that? I’m not going to Walnut Hills High School Mr. Price-”

“And that’s your decision to make if you’re even offered an opportunity to go. But I want you to take the test again and this time do the very best that you can.”

He shook his head. “No,” he said flatly.

“Why?!”

“Because I don’t have to.” Scotty responded, his voice bordering on insolence.

Mr. Price sat back in his chair and regarded Scotty. “I’m going to fail your ass. I don’t care if you pull your straight Cs. I don’t care if you drop the occasional A. I’m going to fail you Scotty Tremont.”

Scotty shook his head and suddenly he felt old and very tired. “I was planning to drop out at sixteen anyway. You’ll just make me do it sooner.” He turned to leave but Mr. Price stopped him.

“Shit. Scotty, wait!” He turned.

“I’ll pay you, okay?”

The teen finally appeared interested. “How much?”

“Twenty bucks,” Mr. Price sighed.

“Fifty.”

“Fifty?!”

“Fifty.” Mr. Price hesitated and Scotty left the room. “Okay! Fifty.” He heard the teacher cursing under his breath. Scotty poked his head back into the room.

“Okay. When?”

“Now. I have the answers and I can have the results tomorrow morning.”

Scotty re-entered the room. “And what if I have to go straight home after school?”

“Then I would wonder why I always see you hanging with your buddies after school.” Scotty raised a brow at that. “Besides then I would know that there’s no way for you to cheat because you wouldn’t have had time to prepare.”

“Yeah, but I also wouldn’t have time to study.”

“It’s only arithmetic and reading. What do you need to study?” He held up the test paper with its bright red C marked in an angry scribble in the upper corner. “You passed this with flying colors. Guess what Scotty, it wasn’t the same test that your classmates took.” Scotty gave him a surprised look. “Yep. I slipped you an advanced math test.” The boy searched his teacher’s face for a lie but only saw triumph.

Scotty nodded in defeat. Yeah, Mr. Price got one over on him.

“Fine. Let’s do this then Mr. Price. But I want to see the money first.”

“Little dude, do you really think that I carry fifty dollars around in my pocket while at
this
school?”

“We’ll have to do it tomorrow then. And don’t worry I won’t cheat. You can stand there and watch me.”

“Damn, you don’t trust anybody, do you?”

What another dumb question. Scotty just left.

Chapter 5

After school Scotty headed to G’s and they, along with two other guys made their way up to the basketball court. It seemed that every young man in the ghetto had the talent to make the NBA and that included Scotty. He was a beast on the basketball court—but mainly because hitting the court, playing stickball and touch football was free and therefore the thing that everyone could do well. Scotty would watch the Harlem Globetrotters on television and then see dudes doing the same routines the very next day.

He and G teamed up against their companions; Martray and Kenya. They played hard, shedding their sweat soddened shirts within the hour. The basketball court in question wasn’t really that. It was the parking lot of the abandoned complex where a dead little girl had been found. Someone had climbed two opposing utility poles and suspended a makeshift basketball hoop. The hoops were missing nets but did have backs although that part got knocked down every blue moon when someone tried to play as if they were Kareem and dunked too hard. When that happened there would be an outcry of trying to ‘show off’ until someone made the climb to replace the back or the hoop. 

The complex had been emptied several years ago as a company purchased up the land above Winton Terrace in order to build the modern homes of Garden Hilltop. This level was supposed to be stage three and the buildings were supposed to be demolished long ago but the EPA had gotten involved and were forcing the company to pay a tremendous amount of money to protect the surrounding community from the resulting fall-out. So now it was just a waiting game to see who would win out; the fight against urban blight or government red tape.

Even though it was early October, the weather was hot. Preparing for the coming winter and trying to get as much Vitamin D as possible, more people were out and about. Several people had gathered around the ‘court’ to watch them play; because again, watching guys playing basketball was free entertainment. Then some older guys came along and took over the court. Normally that didn’t happen when Scotty was around because for the most part people knew that Tino was his brother. But on this occasion Tino was one of the older guys that took the court from them. And not just the court, but Kenya’s ball.

As the younger boys left, moping and talking shit under their breaths Kenya mugged Scotty in the back of the head. 

“You going to get my ball back from your brother!” Kenya said with fire in his eyes.

Scotty swung around and pushed him hard in the chest. “Don’t put your hands on me.” His voice threatened violence and Garry stepped between them, placing a calming hand on Kenya’s shoulder.

“Whoa, dude, watch yourself.”

“Man, fuck you and your white boy!” Kenya smacked at G’s hand and then looked like he was going to cry as he stormed back down the hill to his home, talking loudly about ‘not being able to have nothing in this place without somebody taking it’.