The Circle: Rain's Story (17 page)

She
hadn’t had an ounce of fight in her, only confusion. She looked around and noticed a plain looking white woman in her fifties, wearing a distinguishable nursing outer wear that she saw in hospitals. Her face was like a shallow mask, she ordered Rain to have a seat, pointing to a nearby bolted steel stool, with another stool and steel table in the middle. Rain followed as ordered and sat down, both security apes eyeballing her every move. The nurse carried over a yellow plastic basket, which was complete with all the necessities for a field paramedic’s kit. The nurse worked on Rain’s gaping and jagged ugly wrist wound expertly and methodical, never once facing her, nor asking her any health questions.

Holding several long cotton swabs, the nurse wearing surgical plastic gloves ordered her to open her mouth. She did. The portly looking stern nurse wiped three different swabs inside of her mouth
and gums one by one, and put them in separate bags. Rain found it strange that was the first thing the nurse would order her to do when she had such a cavernous open wound and not take care of that first.

The nurse then lifted Rain’s arms and closely examined them both. She op
ted for the left undamaged arm then reached in her plastic bin and removed a long rubber hose and began wrapping it around her arm above her elbow as a tourniquet, stopping her blood flow. Tapping her arm, the nurse removed a butterfly type needle and pricked and injected it into her vein. She filled only two tubes, removed the needle and tourniquet, then put a gauze and bandage around her arm.

Rain
watched her seal the tubes of blood in separate plastic bags also, then watched her hand it immediately to one of the security men, who in exchange walked to the door and handed it to the man in gray and walked directly back to his position.

After cleaning and
putting antibacterial ointment on her wound, she applied appropriate adhesive bandages to hold a wound together, wrapped it with gauze and surgical tape and she was done.

The nurse nodded to the men at the door and they immediately walked over to Rain and snatched her up to feet again, and out the do
or again. An instant later, they stood at another door that required access. Yet again, the man in the gray suit appeared, used a digitally strip card and swiped them in. The room was well lit, bare and empty, other than the same bolted to the floor stool and this time, a mounted television monitor that hung from the wall and an attached bar that went into the ceiling. The two men exited the room immediately.

After another hour, the deafening silence was excruciating. But nothing was worse than to be waiting for something devastating to happen and not be able to do a damn thing about it, Rain pondered worrisome. Just then, Rain snapped her neck upward towards the wall monitor, as fizzing white speckles consumed the screen and came to life.

“Right now, we’re coming to live from WVHT Virginia. Tragedy unfolded today, while
viewers were watching live, as FBI, ATF and local and state police, gave chase to bank robbery suspect and fugitive Rain Porter that led to a tragic suicide.

Wat
ching on live television late this afternoon, a car chase, with police in hot pursuit of an unknown driver and a fugitive suspect passenger ending with the driver being cornered in a field and giving up with the fugitive suspect taking her life, after an eight hour standoff. Then a powerful detonation and explosion of her and the van she was riding in. We are not going to show the moment, but here is what led up to it, and the debate that immediately followed.”

Rain was in awe, when
she saw a picture of her flash across the screen. She literally had to pinch herself to see if it was in fact a dream.

Here's
what Stan Barres is. Now he's off the freeway.

“
This afternoon, Sky news was doing live coverage of a fugitive suspect fleeing police from Baltimore, Maryland. Police wasn’t sure what the suspects would do when they came to a dirt road, as the man pulled over and sat for about an hour, threw his hands up and got out of the van and surrendered, leaving who we now know as federal bank robbery suspect Rain, who is alleged, along with other siblings, were responsible for robbing over fifty banks in the DMV area over the past several years.”

Rain listened and looked on in extreme confusion and perplexity when she watched footage of the same van she was arrested in, explode
d to smithereens before her very eyes. They went on for another twenty minutes, even giving the background of their whole family upbringing, including pictures of Dayvid, Fallon and Autumn, and how dangerous they were. Rain was glad to know that at least her two sisters were still at large and hadn’t been caught, as sudden as the monitor came on, it suddenly went off.

What was going on?
Rain began to wonder. Where was she? Something wasn’t right. This was no ordinary arrest and being thrown in jail. Why would they show that she was dead and committed suicide, when she was sitting here breathing and alive? As she questioned the variables, in walked the man in the gray suit, which waved to her to follow him. Not a word being exchanged. Rain meekly stuck her head out the door, and was surprised that the two security apes were no longer with him. He was alone.

Rain followed him all the way to the very elevator which brought her up to floor and walked inside. The man in gray operated the elevator to one of the lower floors, and when it came to a stop and the door open
ed, Rain was surprised to see people working in a vast open office setting, paying little to no attention to her. It was like Wall Street, as employees bustled and raced to and from as if it was financial extravaganza or circus.

The man once again used his card to gain access into another wing of the floor, this time it was the same setting and quietness as the floor she just left. He came to
a room door, but this time it had the words, ‘CONFERENCE ROOM”

When Rain walked in, she was shocked beyond measure to see her sitting there. She frowned, in a sad sort of way when
she saw her sitting at the end of the long conference table. It was Miss Jackie.

Behind her, Rain heard the door slam closed, and they were not totally alone. She stared at
Miss Jackie for a long moment, but was unequivocally dumbfounded to see her there unaccompanied. Unsure what to say, or how to react, Miss Jackie spoke first.

“Have a seat Rain.” Rain didn’t budge, standing as she
was, recalling through memory of the knowledge of deceit and distrust that led up to this.

“I understand why you are so apprehensive, but
if you sit down and just listen to me, you will understand.” Rain stared into Miss Jackie’s determined and pleading eyes and studied them closely. She had nothing to lose at that point and slowly pulled out a chair at the polar opposite end of the long conference table, and sat down glaring at her wearily.

“What I’m abou
t to tell you will be very hard to fathom or understand, but I want you to just listen to me and I’ll try to explain the best I can.” Miss Jackie didn’t wait for a response and continued, as she readjusted her seating in the chair.

“A long time ago, me and your mother had just graduated from high school and
we got our first jobs working at McDonald’s. It was the summer, and we were doing everything any young girl would do in the city: have fun, brought clothes, hit the clubs and flirt with niggas.” Miss Jackie took in a breath.

“Anyway, at the time
your mother had just started talking to your father, but they weren’t really dating or nothing, they were just kicking it from time to time, maybe a movie or two if I remember right.” Miss Jackie smiled and said. “She always liked them high yellow, light –skinned niggas. They looked good together, but your mother was adventurous, kinda like your Aunt Rachel, but prettier and stuck on herself.” she chuckled. “Your father was a real nice dude and he really, really loved your mother, even more than he loved himself. Whatever your mother asked he would do it, and gave her anything she wanted. But your mother……” Jackie frowned, “She was the kind of girl that liked a challenge, even in boys.” She shrugged and looked Rain in the eyes. “Your father at the time was like most of the boys our age; they were slow and predictable. That was the only thing she didn’t like about him. She figured him out, she just liked older guys who knew how to take control, she liked them rough.” Jackie said, reminding her with certainty. “Don’t get it twisted, she was far from a niggas putting their hands on her or just settling for rough neck, or drug dealer. She couldn’t stand those types. She liked strong minded kind of guys, you know, the ones who were going places and sure of their future.” She adjusted her seat again and got down to the point. “Anyway, all the type of guys she liked all were from college campuses and shit like that. I hated their arrogant asses because they all thought since they were in college, they were better than you if you wasn’t. She used to wanna drag me to Howard University or Morgan State frat parties all the time, but I didn’t want to go, but she always talked me into going anyway.” Miss Jackie shook her head and smiled as she reminisced the old days.

Rain listene
d intently, wondering in her mind where she was going with this and what it had to do with her ratting her out, then watched her face grow cold. “At this one frat party, your mother said she met this dude. He was a senior at either Morgan State or John Hopkins. I don’t remember which, but she said she never met nobody like him before and that he came from a wealthy and powerful family from out of DC. I think his father was some type of politician or a judge or something. I don’t remember, but I know she was so fucked up over him that she started dressing and talking different like she was trying to fit in with him, and no longer wanted me tagging along because she said I didn’t know how to act in front of people.” Miss Jackie laughed. “I just assumed she felt a need to impress him.” She paused and let out a sigh. “I warned your mother to leave him alone, because all them kind of dudes wanted was some pussy and didn’t want no hood rats like us. I was joking about the hood rat part, but your mother took it overly personal and cursed me out and stopped fucking with me for a long while, and kept going up there without me. We didn’t talk for like two months, then one day, out of the blue, she shows up at my apartment, crying like somebody died. We went to my bedroom, and that’s when she told me she was pregnant.” Miss Jackie eyes was in a daze, but continued.               “I didn’t ask who baby it was because I knew how your mother was. She would shut down at a moment’s notice and not talk to you for weeks, so I didn’t press her.”

Rain suddenly began to feel a pit forming in her stomach. “Next thing I know, your father and mother was an item. They were now boyfriend and girlfriend, and months later, your mother and father got married downtown a
t the city hall, then you and your brother Dayvid were born.” The room grew soundless. Rain and Miss Jackie stared at each other in total silence. Neither had the courage to ask or continue.

“So, what does all that have to do with you snitching on me Jackie?”
Rain said with dripping sarcasm.

“It has everything to do with you and your brother Rain!”
Miss Jackie blurted out. “I didn’t want to see you or your brother die and give your real father a chance to help you!” Rain was stunned and speechless. She was clearly taken aback. The shock of her revelation showed on her face. She could not believe what she had just heard. She wanted to say something, but the lump in her throat that formed was simply too large.

“
The man you thought was your father wasn’t Rain. I know because your mother told me the truth. I’m the only one she ever told this to, and she also told who he really was and his name. She made me promise to swear on my soul to never tell you or your brother the truth. Up until now I would have never said anything but since you and your family got caught up the way y’all did. What you was about to do, I couldn’t allow you to do that Rain, so I contacted your real father.” Miss Jackie’s eyes narrowed with sadness. “I just wanted to give you and your brother a chance to live, that’s all.”

“
Real father…..”
Those words hit her like a bolt of lightning again. Rain grew resentful and only saw a lying ass dope fiend who was trying to save her own ass. As Rain jumped to her feet, and was about to rebuke her with scathing contempt for such an outlandish lie, the door suddenly swung opened and in stepped a tall, powerfully built, important looking man, wearing a dark suit. Rain was halted in her tracks, overwhelmed and stricken with paralyzing horror, and had to blink twice— no several times. It was as if she had seen a ghost, because the man that stood before her, who stared directly back at her in dismay, was a spitting image of her brother Dayvid, only older and Caucasian.

CHAPTER
28

They stood staring and studying each other for what seemed like an eternity, both absent of state or time at that moment.
Rain remained motionless, still unsure, eyes focused steely on him.

Rain watched his gaze shift away from her and at the ground, more like a broken look, embarrassment, clearly riddled with sadness.
Rain watched the man loosen his expensive looking tie, and then wiped beads of sweat that was falling from his brow. He then took a valiant step towards her, stumbled, and fell dead backwards into a chair, eyes fluttering, gawking upward at the ceiling. Several men in suits came rushing to his aide, but he waved them off immediately, as he quickly regained his bearings, backing them away instantaneously. It wasn’t hard to see that the man was someone important, very important she supposed, by the way the men behind him followed his instruction with just a wave of his hand. She watched him recoup and gain his composure and stood erected again, heaving in a clean breath of air. He was obviously as shocked as she was. He turned his attention towards Miss Jackie, who sat watching the whole thing unfold before her now tearing eyes. He nodded to her his thanks, then seconds later, without being told, one of the suited men approached Miss Jackie, gesturing to her to follow him. Miss Jackie stood up and just before she left the room, she gave Rain a genuine smile of encouragement and walked out the door.