The Johnson Sisters (6 page)

 

I had to think of other ways to please my man, and I used to let my lips do the talking, but after that party tonight, the first purchase I made was that pocket pussy thingy. As much as Tyree wanted to get deep inside me, I couldn't let him, because I had to wait at least six weeks before we did anything, since I had just given birth to our daughter, Nevaeh. My scared behind was paranoid, because I didn't want to get pregnant again. I had a couple of friends who let their men sweet talk them into doing it, and when they went for their six-week checkups, their behinds were pregnant. So I wasn't going to be doing anything. I was going to wait. This toy would have to suffice.

Tyree was against it at first, but when he stuck his finger into that toy, his eyes lit up with curiosity. I laid that man back and slid that rubbery toy onto his manhood and watched as my man climaxed with pleasure minutes later. Before this, I was licking this man into a deep coma, but my jaw muscles could relax for a change. Nothing worse than giving and not being able to receive. My monthly was still present, so I had to suffer until I had the go-ahead.

The banging at my door woke me up out of my sleep. I had just dozed off good and was not happy my slumber had been disturbed. Unlike me, Tyree didn't budge. He was dead to the world.

The person banged again, and I hoped the loud knocking wouldn't wake Nevaeh up like it did me. I nudged Tyree to get up, but he moaned, never waking from his sleep.

Pushing him again, I said, “Tyree, get up. Somebody is at the door.”

He never budged. He just moaned again, but never awoke from his sleep. I didn't understand how he couldn't hear this loud knocking. Whoever it was really wanted to get in, but I didn't want them on this side of my door. It was after two in the morning. I didn't feel like leaving the comfort of my bed. It was a cool night, and I was snuggled beneath my warm covers with the ceiling fan above giving me the light breeze I needed to sleep even harder.

The banging on the door persisted. I sighed as I slowly willed myself out of my comfort zone and to this door to see who in the hell had the audacity to wake me up this time of the morning. I prayed it wasn't Tyree's baby mama, Juanita. I swore if it was her, we were going to have a problem. She would do something like this. The last time she showed her face on our doorstep, it was after two in the morning, and the trick came over because Zamir, Tyree's son, was running a temperature of 99.7. She wanted Tyree to go with her to the hospital to have him checked out. At the time I didn't have Nevaeh, but even I knew a 99.7 temperature didn't warrant an emergency room visit. All it was was she was jealous Tyree didn't want her trifling behind anymore, and she was doing any- and everything to make our lives miserable and using their child to do it.

The knocks became more tenacious, and I prayed this crazy woman wasn't on the other side of my door. When I swung the door open, my sister Shauna ran in my house. She pushed me out of the way and slammed the door to my place like some maniac was chasing her.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” I asked, looking at a hysterical Shauna. For a minute I didn't care about the state of mind she was in. I was pissed that she pushed me back, almost causing me to fall, and slammed my damn door.

“Are you going to answer me or not? What the hell is going on, Shauna?”

She still didn't answer. She put her face against my door, hugging it like it was her lifeline. I could see she was trembling. Then I could hear her crying uncontrollably. This stunned me to the point of fear, because Shauna didn't cry. She was so hardcore it wasn't funny. This was the same sister who fought guys in the street and didn't give a damn about nobody, so to see her like this frightened me.

I placed my hands on her shoulders, and Shauna jumped, causing me to back away. Once I paid full attention to how she was looking, I noticed she looked a hot mess. Her face looked like she rubbed Vaseline all over it. It was so shiny. I think it was actual tears that had encased her face as water poured from her eyes. Shauna was always the talker of our family. There was never a time she had nothing to say, so for her to stand there and not say anything caused my panic level to increase an octave.

“Is it Mama? Is she okay? Shauna, tell me what's wrong,” I said as my sister came over to me. She dropped to her knees, wrapping her arms around my waist, and she sobbed loudly.

“Shauna, you can tell me anything,” I encouraged as water filled my own eyes to see my sister like this.

Shauna continued to weep hysterically. I tried to bring her to her feet and managed to do so as I walked us over to my sofa. Sitting her down, I sat beside her. She pushed her long, untamed hair out of her face, asking, “You don't see it?”

“See what?” I asked.

She kept pushing her hair back from her face, saying over and over again, “Look at me, Serena. Look at me.”

I did as she asked, but I couldn't see anything. Really I was still trying to wake up, so I didn't have my wits about myself to focus clearly on what was going on.

“How can you not see this?” she asked desperately.

“See what?” I questioned, feeling like maybe Shauna was losing it. She was not the emotional sister. Well, let me take that back. She was, but most of the time her emotion was anger, not hysteria.

“Look at me. Look at me,” she yelled repeatedly, looking at her body, and it was then I noticed she was in my living room in a T-shirt and socks. I couldn't tell if she had on underwear because the shirt was long.

“Why are you over here like this?”

Shauna didn't answer as she broke down in tears again. She dropped her head, causing her hair to fall down around her face. I tried to push her long hair from her face, but when I attempted to do so, she began to shriek.

“Oooouuuuuch.” She winced. She smacked my hand away as she tucked her hair behind her ear.

That's when I saw it; a huge knot was near her temple. It came into view because she turned her head, giving me a better visual as the knot protruded from her head. I reached out and touched it, not thinking, causing Shauna to recoil in pain.

“What happened to you?” I asked worriedly, feeling the tears she had shed start to dwell within me.

“Cal tried to kill me tonight.”

“He did what?” I asked as rage entered me. And then my thoughts immediately went into beat down mode.

“I told him I was tired of his crap and if he didn't like what was going on with us, he could leave. Evidently he didn't like me telling him to get out my house, since he doesn't have a pot to piss in. Yet, I guess he expected me to kiss his ass and beg him to stay or something, but you know me, Serena. I don't beg no man to stay with me. Hell, I prefer to be by myself. Next thing I know he just snapped.”

“What did he do to you?” I asked, trying to listen calmly, all the while thinking how I was going to get at dude. He put his hands on a Johnson sister and Cal had to pay.

“I was sitting there smoking my cigarette, and all of a sudden he punched me in my face.”

“He did what?” I belted, not believing, or maybe it was the fact that I didn't want to believe this man had the nerve to do this.

“Look at my lip,” she said, but nothing was showing. It was then Shauna pulled her lip out. I could see where her tooth cut into her inner bottom lip.

“What did you do?”

“I couldn't do anything because he jumped on me. He picked me up off the bed and slung me across the room. The way I fell, I hit my head on the corner of my dresser,” she said, reaching for the area where she'd hit her head.

“I hit the floor, and Cal jumped on me again. He straddled me and punched me in my face I think three times; I can't remember. It could have been more because I was still stunned after hitting my head on the dresser. He was yelling he was going to kill me. I tried to scratch at his hands, chest, and face to get him off of me, but it was like he didn't feel anything. Then he tried to choke me,” she said, touching her neck.

“He choked you?” I yelled, moving her hand out of the way. I saw some cuts, like his nails dug into her skin. There was some slight swelling and some discoloration to her skin. Fury began to grow within me.

“He kept squeezing and squeezing, still telling me he was going to kill me. I tried to beg him to let me go, but he wouldn't. I guess when I didn't pass out or die, he began to bang my head into the floor over and over again.”

I sat there listening intently, already getting in my head the cousins I was going to call to go beat this punk down. First I was going to call our cousin Big Ray. Then I was going to call Gerald and Pookie. All I needed was them three and I knew the job would be done. Pookie was going to come strapped. He stayed strapped and had no qualms about putting a bullet in anybody. At this point, I didn't care. He could shoot Cal and I wouldn't care. Cal had hurt my sister and tried to kill her tonight, and I wanted the punk to get dealt with.

“Serena, I must have passed out, because the next thing I remember is waking up on the floor and seeing Cal stepping over me with his packed bags. I just lay there like I was still passed out until I heard him go out the front door. As soon as I realized he was outside, I got up and ran to the front door, closing it and locking it.”

“He has a key, don't he?” I asked.

“He does, but he doesn't have it to the deadbolt.”

“How did he leave? He doesn't have a car,” I said.

“He didn't. He was still there when I left.”

I shook my head at this story, not knowing what else to say. Shauna continued, “He tried to come back in the house but realized he couldn't get in. I sat in my room, trying to wrap my mind around what had just happened. I could hear him outside screaming at me to let him in so he could apologize.”

“Apologize. It's too late for a damn apology. And he's screaming at you to let him come in so he could do this. That sounds really sincere,” I said sarcastically.

“He kept tapping at my bedroom window for me to open the door so he could come in, but I wouldn't. I just wanted him gone. After I didn't hear him anymore after a while, I figured he had left.”

“How did you get away?”

“I ran to my car thinking he was gone. Once I got in I locked the doors, and that's when I saw him sitting in the yard chair outside my house.”

“Did he say anything?” I asked.

“He came over to the car and started banging on the window, saying he was sorry and to open the door. I ignored him and pulled off.”

My sister began to cry again. My anger hadn't diminished. I really wanted to get this man, or shall I say coward, who thought he could put his hands on a woman.

Shauna gathered herself enough to say, “I wonder if he planned to do this.”

“Why do you say that?” I asked.

“You know the bat I keep beside my bed?”

“Yes.”

“It was gone. I think he moved it knowing that would be the first thing I would go for. My blade was in my purse, but I wasn't able to get to that. I guess that's a good thing, because I could be sitting here telling you how I murdered this fool.”

“He would deserve it. It would have been self-defense. But you don't have to worry about revenge, because I'm calling Big Ray,” I said, getting up off the sofa. Shauna grabbed me by the wrist, stopping me.

“Don't,” she belted.

“Don't what? This man tried to kill you tonight. He needs to get the same beat down he put on you tonight so he will know how it feels,” I said assertively.

“But Big Ray and them will kill him.”

“And?”

“And I don't want him to die,” Shauna said.

“You just sat here and said if you could have got to your blade you would have stabbed dude to death, so why you worried about his livelihood now?” I asked irritably.

“It's different, Serena.”

“How? Dead is dead regardless of how it's done,” I argued.

“Why should Big Ray and them get in trouble for somebody like Cal? You know Big Ray probably already on parole,” she said convincingly.

“If Big Ray is involved, no one is going to know about it. You know that. He's been around way too long to not know how to get away with beating this punk down.”

“Please, Serena. Don't call him. Then he's going to get Gerald and Pookie, and you know any one of them will shoot Cal.”

I had to laugh at her saying it, since I had just thought it.

“Please sit down with me for a minute,” Shauna begged, still holding my wrist so I wouldn't dial up the entourage.

“Shauna, don't you know you could be dead now?” I said, causing tears to cascade down her face again.

“I know,” she said, dropping her head in shame.

“The thought of that scares me, sis,” I said with tears welling up in my eyes. “You are my sister and I couldn't stand losing you. Not after . . . Not after . . .” I got choked up and sat down beside my sister. We looked into each other's eyes and understood the pain the other felt.

She nodded and said, “I have done a lot of foul things in my life, but I've never had a man beat me like this. I still can't believe I allowed it to happen.”

“You didn't allow this to happen. Now, if you stay with him after this, then yes, you are allowing it, but now, it's not your fault, Shauna.”

“I can't believe this,” she said, massaging her scalp through her hair. “My head hurts so bad.”

“I think I need to take you to the emergency room to get checked out,” I suggested.