The Johnson Sisters (17 page)

One of the officers lifted Tyree from the ground and escorted him to the police car. Juanita smirked at me as she looked at Tyree being put in the car. It wasn't long after that the ambulance arrived to take Juanita to the hospital. She was still lying on the ground, playing her poor, defenseless role, while I stood to the side, watching and holding their son. Juanita was placed into the ambulance, and I heard her call one of the officers over to her. He walked up to the ambulance where she was. I couldn't hear what she was saying, but when he looked at me, I knew whatever he was being told was not going to be good. He spoke something into his walkie-talkie on his shoulder as he stared at me.

I looked over to Tyree sitting in the patrol car. He was looking at me with so much anger on his face. I smiled and he tried to return it. I knew how hard this was on him, and I had to wonder, in moments like this, did he regret ever getting involved with someone like Juanita?

It wasn't long before I found out what Juanita was talking to the officer about. He approached me to inform me that social services was on their way to get little Zamir from me. When I questioned him about this, he informed me Zamir couldn't stay with me because I wasn't a family member. I asked him what that had to do with anything, since I was with Zamir's father. He went on to explain Juanita didn't want him around me because she felt I was mistreating her son. I told the officer this was another fabrication on the part of a crazy, jealous, spiteful woman, but he told me he still had to let Zamir go with this social worker until everything got resolved.

To see little Zamir grasping at my clothing as the social worker peeled him from my arms broke my heart. Tears streamed down my cheeks as I watched the woman walk a screaming Zamir to her car and strap him into the car seat she had centered in her back seat.

I was furious. Juanita was so hell bent on making me and Tyree pay that she couldn't see she was making her son pay in the process also. She would rather have him go into the system than see him safe with us, and that was trifling. Did she think about what could happen to her child once social services got involved? They could take him away from both of them and place that little boy into a foster home until they decided it was fit to put him back into either of our homes. Did she realize what people did to children once they got them? A lot of individuals taking in foster children weren't in it because they loved these children. Most of them were in it for their own selfish reasons, and the main one was money. It really sickened me when I considered what the next one was. Children were sexually abused all the time in the system; yet Juanita didn't care. She was willing to take that risk, which went to show what type of unfit mother she was. And she had the nerve to be having another one, so she said.

I stood in my yard a minute, watching as all the vehicles left the scene. I had not had a cup of coffee yet, and I had already dealt with guns drawn on us, the arrest of my man, a fight with Tyree's baby mama, a pregnancy test thrown at me, and social services taking Zamir away. This was too much to be dealing with this early in the morning. Now I had to get dressed, go downtown, and see what I needed to do in order to get Tyree released. But before all of that, I needed to go in the house and check on Nevaeh to make sure she was okay. I was worried about Zamir when I needed to be worried about my own daughter.

 

Once the officers took statements from our neighbors and ran Juanita's name in their database to see the restraining order I had against her, they let Tyree go. There were too many witnesses who corroborated our story on what went down. As hard as Juanita had tried to press charges against Tyree, it didn't work. Now the so-called victim was found to be the perpetrator of this entire event, and the cops knew this. She was now facing multiple charges, including her assault on me. I would have given anything to see the look on her face once she found out Tyree was freed and she was the one who was having charges filed against her. That would teach her not to mess with us.

One thing Tyree was charged with was failure to pay child support. He had to go to court to appear in front of a judge in a month to handle the issues with that. Still, that was nothing to us, since the charges he would have been facing were more serious to the point he would have had to pull some jail time. I knew not paying child support also could land him in jail, but after Tyree showed the receipts and other documentation showing what he had contributed to Juanita, we were pretty sure the judge would throw the case out, finding that Juanita was a spiteful baby mama looking to cash in.

Needless to say, when we got home we were exhausted. Tyree was still in his basketball shorts, wife beater, and slides when we walked into the house. On our way home, I attempted to pick Nevaeh up from Vivian's home. I had asked Viv if she minded watching her while I went to get Tyree out of police custody. My sister jumped at the chance, excited that she could do this for me. She acted like she didn't want to give her up when I came by to pick her up. When she offered to keep Nevaeh while we rested, I didn't look that gift horse in the mouth. I took her up on her offer. Now it was just me and Tyree, alone in our home, and I couldn't wait to get back in my bed and take a nap.

“I'm so glad this is over,” I said, plopping down on my sofa.

“Me too, and I'm glad I filed for custody of Zamir. He doesn't need to be with her.”

“I'm happy you did, too, but you do know it's going to be hard for a judge to take a child away from his mother and give the child to the father. That rarely happens,” I said.

“I know, but I have to try. We have—or rather, you have—collected evidence of how she's taunted us. The judge has to see it our way.”

Tyree went to the fridge and pulled out some turkey, cheese, lettuce, and tomato to make himself a sandwich. “I'm so hungry. I haven't eaten anything all day.”

“They didn't feed you there?” I asked.

“I didn't want that food,” Tyree said, frowning.

“I bet you would have eaten it if they kept you for a few days,” I said.

“Probably so, but lucky for me I didn't have to go through all of that.”

“If you would have listened to me, Tyree, things might have turned out differently.”

“I know. I should have. I was so mad though. Seeing my son crying like that pissed me off,” Tyree said, taking out the bread and pulling out two slices and placing it on a plate.

“That's all Juanita wanted was for you to act a fool, and you fell right into her trap,” I said, kicking off my shoes to bring my feet up on the couch.

“I know that now,” he said, spreading mayonnaise and mustard onto his bread.

“Juanita is good at trapping you, Tyree.”

He looked over at me, saying, “Why you say it like that?”

“She tossed me a pregnancy test showing me she was expecting.”

There was a slight pause, which I didn't like at all. It was one of those moments when the hairs on the back of your neck stand up and you know things aren't right.

“And you believed it?” Tyree finally asked. “You know Juanita ain't right. She probably rummaged through somebody's garbage until she found it. Or maybe she got one of her chickenhead friends to pee on it for her.”

“That may be true, but my gut is telling me she's not lying,” I said, crossing my arms, waiting to see how Tyree would react. I watched him, paid attention to his mannerisms to see how he reacted to my line of questioning, and I didn't like what I was seeing. He kept looking down like he was concentrating that hard on making that damn sandwich. He would glance my way but never looked into my face fully, like he was trying to avoid eye contact. But I wasn't going to get mad. Not now anyway.

Tyree looked up to see me still staring at him. He paused long enough to say, “Honey, come on. It ain't true. You know you can't believe anything she has to say.”

“Tyree, you know I love you, right?”

“I know this, babe. I love you too,” he told me.

“If you slept with Juanita, I hope you would be man enough to tell me, because if I find out some other way, things aren't going to go well for us,” I threatened.

He sliced the completed turkey sandwich in half and then grabbed the bag of sour cream and onion chips out of the cabinet.

“You did hear what I said, didn't you? Or are you trying to ignore me?” I asked.

Tyree paused, leaning against the counter like he wanted to say something.

“Tell me the truth,” I told him.

He looked over at me, and it was an expression I hadn't seen from him before. The look was enough for me to feel an ache in the pit of my stomach. I crossed my arms tighter to squeeze the pain away as I stared him down. I was waiting for him to come clean. As much as I wanted to know the truth, I didn't really want to know, because that meant what we had had been a lie.

Tyree came over and sat next to me with his turkey sandwich, potato chips, and a glass of Kool-Aid in hand. He set his drink down on the coffee table along with the chips, but held on to his sandwich. He glared at me for a moment too long to deny his innocence, and I knew then that he had indeed slept with her.

I closed my eyes in anguish.

“Serena, it was one time,” he said as his words cut me like a hot knife through butter.

“When?” I managed to mumble.

“A few months ago. I went to see my son, and things just happened,” he said regretfully.

I nodded slowly, tongue to cheek. He placed his hand on my knee and said, “Baby, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for any of this to happen.”

“This explains why Juanita has been acting nuttier than ever. She thinks you two still have a thing.”

“But we don't.”

“But you do. As soon as you slept with her, Tyree, you let her know she still has a chance. All that taunting she's been doing to me and our baby, yet I'm the one looking like the damn fool in the end.”

“Baby.”

“How do you think that makes me feel? I believed you, and you made me look stupid. I was giving birth to your daughter and this crazy bitch was wishing death upon us. Hell, she still is. Got your son calling us bitches. The phone calls, the herpes letter in the mail, and now this,” I said, beginning to cry.

“Serena, please don't cry.”

“All of this happening wasn't enough to make you not want to fall into her bed?” I asked.

Tyree set his sandwich down on the coffee table. He attempted to move closer to me on the sofa, but I held my hand up for him to remain where he was. He didn't know how hard I was trying to control my anger right now, because all I wanted to do was get up off this sofa and beat the living hell out of him.

Taking a deep breath, I managed to ask, “Do I need to get checked? Was the herpes test a lie, or was there some truth to it?”

“No, baby, it was fake.”

“Juanita is crazy enough to spread disease, Tyree. Especially if she thinks it's going to affect us in any way. She'll do anything to get back at you and me.”

“Serena, no. It was forged. I don't have anything,” he said assuredly.

“How do you know?” I asked. “Did you get checked?”

Tyree couldn't answer.

“Exactly. You don't know for sure.” I turned away from him and got up off the sofa, saying, “I need some time to think.”

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“I don't know. Somewhere quiet. Somewhere away from you,” I said, picking up my purse and keys from the counter, and then I was out the door.

 

I didn't know how I managed it, but I did it. I got my sisters together for dinner again. We hadn't eaten together since that night things exploded between us over five weeks ago. For us not to all be together for that amount of time didn't seem customary. We'd always been close. As crazy as we were, as much drama as had happened, we still never went more than a week without speaking to one another.

I made the decision to have dinner at a restaurant this time. I hoped this would alleviate some craziness with us being in public; but just in case, I asked to be seated in a room in the back. We were a boisterous bunch. We all spoke our minds, and I knew even this restaurant might not keep us from exploding on one another.

The waiter sat me down at a round table covered in white linen. “Can I get you something to drink?” the brunette man asked.

“Just water for everyone now, thanks,” I said, and the guy left me to myself.

I was so happy tonight was not a busy night. The room we were seated in was empty. I had to wonder if that was a sign. Did something happen here and that was the reason the restaurant didn't have many patrons? I hadn't heard anything about it. At the same time, I didn't watch the news much or read the paper to find out. That's usually where you hear about places not being up to code. It wasn't like it was Friday or Saturday, which seemed to be the busiest for most places; still, I wondered if everything was okay here. I had had one too many bad experiences with restaurants. To this day the thought of this one place I used to eat at frequently made my stomach churn in disgust.

It was about two years ago. I used to order Chinese food from this place. I had to admit it was really good; that was, until I saw them on the six o'clock news. The crew was shooting footage of the back door of the kitchen open and the cooks having the meat sitting in a large metal bowl near the door on the floor. Like that wasn't bad enough, they showed a damn dog come up and start licking the meat in the pan. One of the workers tried to catch the dog, but the dog scampered away. The man then picked up the pan of tainted meat and took it back in the restaurant to cook. I mean really. He didn't rinse it or nothing, not that water running over the meat would have mattered much. He threw some of the meat on the grill like it was nothing. Who does that? That couldn't have been the first time they did that. Then it was suspected the meat they cooked was cats and dogs. That's why they had the pan of meat sitting by the open door to lure the animals so they could catch them, kill them, and serve them up like some General Tso's chicken. I was sick for days after that footage.

And don't you know they didn't shut this restaurant down. I mean, they did for a few days, until they got things up to code, but they were back open within a week, and people actually still showed up to eat. Don't get me wrong; I know different cultures eat different things, but let me be the chooser of what goes in my mouth.

More power to them. I knew I was a customer they lost for life. It's one thing to not know what they do to the food in the kitchen of these restaurants, but it was another to find out the meat you were eating could be someone's pet dog Rover. To this day I couldn't eat Chinese food for fear it was man's best friend.

I took a sip of the water the waiter put before me, wondering where my sisters were. I looked at my watch and realized I did arrive early. Twenty minutes early, to be exact. For some reason I was nervous. I didn't feel like any arguing tonight. I wasn't in the mood, but my love for my sisters pushed me to go through with this.

“Hey, sis,” Serena said, walking in with Phoenix.

“What the . . . ?” I said in shock.

“I know. I'm on time,” Phoenix said. “You can thank Serena here,” she said, leaning down to give me a quick hug.

She looked cute in a pair of dark denim jeans, caramel-colored riding boots, a white tee, tan jacket, and orange scarf. Serena had on jeans also, with a white tank, gray jacket, with a pink scarf and gray boots.

“Don't y'all look cute,” I complimented them.

“Thanks,” Serena said. “I think Phoenix was looking through my window when I got dressed.”

“Girl, please. You're biting my style. We all know I'm the fashionista of all of you guys, so don't act like you don't know,” Phoenix retorted, looking Serena up and down.

“You wish,” Serena joked, knowing if she kept pushing the issue, this would get Phoenix started.

“Boo boo, look at me. You better recognize. I know you biting. Just admit it and sit your little tail down,” Phoenix countered.

“Please sit down,” I said, giggling. “Phoenix is the cutest sister. You happy now?” I said, looking at her.

“I know that. I don't need you telling me that, but I appreciate the love.” She grinned. “So who's sitting where?” Phoenix asked, looking at the four empty chairs.

“I think you should sit beside Vivian, and we will sit Shauna beside you. That way you and Shauna will not have to sit by Dawn,” Serena suggested.

“I think that is a good idea,” Phoenix said, pulling out the chair beside me and sitting down. “I'm going to tell y'all like this: I'm not in the mood for Dawn's BS this evening.”

“Please don't start,” Serena said, sitting down and leaving an empty chair between her and Phoenix.

“I'm just saying. Y'all know how I am. If she decides to diss us like she did the last time we were together, I'm going to shut her mouth with my fist,” Phoenix said.

“There is not going to be any fighting here tonight,” I said.

“That's why you had us meet here, isn't it?” Phoenix asked.

“Exactly. We all know if this had been at any of our houses, things would have turned left real quick. I'm hoping being in public will make us rethink our actions,” I said.

“True,” Phoenix agreed.

“We are sisters. We shouldn't be taking it to the point of hand-to-hand combat anyway,” I said.

“I'm just saying if Dawn wants to bring it, then I'm going to get to swinging,” Phoenix said, rolling her eyes as she picked up a straw the waiter placed on the table and put it into her water to take a sip.

“Dang, I don't know who's more upset, you or Shauna,” Serena quipped.

“Does it matter?” Phoenix retorted, positioning her diva sunglasses on the top of her head. “I got a headache and I'm not for the bull tonight.”

“Why didn't you take something for your headache?” I asked.

“I wanted to, but I'd be 'sleep right now,” Phoenix said.

“What are you taking that's going to have you 'sleep?” Serena asked. “I know Motrin don't put you to sleep.”

“My doctor prescribed me muscle relaxers because it helps with my tension headaches. I was this close to not coming,” Phoenix said, holding her pointing finger and thumb an inch from each other. “Y'all better be glad I love y'all.”

“We love you too. Hopefully this won't take long. Then you can go home and pop you a pill to go to sleep,” I said.

As hard as Serena was trying to look happy, I could tell she wasn't. Something wasn't right with her either, and I had to wonder if it had to do with the crazy baby mama she talked to me about the other day. When she picked up Nevaeh, she was obviously upset, but she refused to talk about what was wrong, so I left the situation alone.

“Serena, are you okay?” I asked, looking at her sincerely.

“Yes, I'm okay.”

“You see. Even Vivian noticed something is wrong.” Phoenix turned to me and said, “I've been trying to get whatever is bothering her out. On our car ride here she was quiet as a church mouse, and when have you ever known Serena to be quiet?”

“Serena, come on, sis. You can talk to us. Remember, I'm here for you no matter what,” I said, looking at her with a smile. “You were there for me, so let me return the favor and be here for you.”

Serena managed to smile even though it was a bleak one. She put her elbows on the table, bringing her hands together and leaning her face against them. Water began to form in her eyes.

“Oh, hell no,” Phoenix said. “Who do we got to beat down this time?” she asked indignantly. “Say the word and it's done.”

“Phoenix, why does it always have to end in violence with you?” I asked.

“Because most times that's the way it is. Individuals never get it when you trying to be nice. You always have to act a damn fool in order for them to understand the picture. If someone is bringing my sister to tears, they need to get dealt with,” Phoenix explained, getting as ghetto as she could.

“You guys, I'm okay,” Serena struggled to say.

“No, you not,” Phoenix yelled. “You're messing up your makeup and everything. You are not all right.”

“Really, Phoenix. You had to go to her makeup?” I asked.

Phoenix pointed to Serena and said, “She's starting to look like a raccoon. Her eyeliner and mascara is running all over the place.”

Serena giggled through her tears as she picked up a napkin, which surrounded the silverware, and unrolled the utensils from it. She placed the silverware down on the table and dabbed at her tearstained face.

“Make her feel better why don't you,” I said.

“I'm just saying,” Phoenix shot back.

“We can talk about this another time if you like,” I told Serena.

“No, it's fine. We can discuss it now,” she said, sniffling.

Both Phoenix and I looked at her while she got herself together enough to tell us what was wrong with her.

Our sister looked up at us dejectedly and said, “Tyree told me he cheated on me with Juanita a few months ago.”

“What?” Phoenix said, hitting the table with her fist hard enough for the silverware Serena placed on the table to clank.

Serena nodded and continued to say, “And it gets worse.”

“Worse?” Phoenix bellowed.

“She might be pregnant with his child.”

“Hold up,” Phoenix said, raising her right hand. “Tyree cheated with nutcase Juanita.”

Serena nodded. “There was an altercation in front of our house. Tyree bust her window out. Me and Juanita got into a fight. The cops came. Social services came to take Zamir. Tyree went to jail, and—”

“Whoa, slow down, Serena,” Phoenix said. “When did all of this happen?”

“A few days ago. To make a long story short, this trick had the nerve to toss a pregnancy test to me, showing me that she was knocked up supposedly with Tyree's child,” Serena continued to explain.

“Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,” Phoenix repeated. “Let's back this thing up. How in the hell did she toss a test to you in the first place?”

Serena went on to explain about the incident. Here I was thinking today was going to be about resolving our sister-issues, and it looked like all of us had our own personal ones to deal with. So far this was not turning out like I expected; but at the same time, I should have expected this, because this was what always seemed to happen with us. The great thing was that Serena was getting it out and letting us know what had been going on instead of holding all of that in.

“I can't believe we are just hearing about this now.”

“Phoenix, I haven't had time to register this information myself. This is hard for me,” Serena said, starting to cry again. “I love him so much, and we've been through a lot with this crazy-ass woman. For him to do this after everything we've had to deal with regarding her, I don't know if staying with him is worth it at this point, especially when I can't trust that he won't do it again.”

“Leave his ass. That's what you need to do,” Phoenix blurted.

“Phoenix,” I called out to calm her.

“What? You know I'm right. I'm so sick of all these dogs thinking it's okay to go from one bitch to another. He was dead wrong. What he needs to do is apologize and then pack his belongings and leave. You did kick him out, right?” Phoenix asked, looking at Serena like, “You better have.” I could see her hesitating.

“No, I didn't kick him out yet,” she said.

“Yet! Do you need me to help you dispose of his possessions?”

“No, Phoenix,” Serena said, giggling.

“'Cause I can do that for you. Call me Sister Kick a Negro Out, 'cause I can make that happen.”

I couldn't help but laugh at Phoenix's antics. My sister never held any punches. As many difficulties as Serena was having I did believe Phoenix's foolishness brought some happiness to her today. I hoped she would make the right decision for her and Nevaeh. Tyree was a good guy. He made a bad decision, but sometimes you have to make difficult decisions based on what is going to be in your best interest. I wished I could take my own advice.