Second Chapter
The next week Landi cooked one of her favorite meals for Sean – a menagerie of eggplant parmesan, baked catfish – lightly breaded with cornmeal – broccoli rabe and baked potatoes; for desert she made sweet potato pie. She had an uncanny ability to combine disparate foods into delicious meals, one of the reasons she was Jim’s cook for years. Her talents were truly unique.
“So Mr. Allen, what are you doing for Christmas?” she inquired during the second course.
“I’m going to my folks back in Massachusetts,” he replied in between bites. He took a sip of wine, a cabernet sauvignon he brought, and wiped his mouth with the napkin. “We have a quiet Christmas dinner every year.”
“Do you have any brothers or sisters Mr. Allen?” asked Elijah.
“I have a younger brother. He lives in the same area where we grew up and is completing his residency.”
“What’s that?” asked Elijah.
“He’s almost a doctor and residency is the time he has to spend in a hospital to complete his studies.”
“That’s cool.”
Sean smiled.
“Yeah, it is. I’m proud of him.” He glanced at the Christmas tree in the living room, a small one with some decorations and a few presents around its base; scattered around the apartment were a few ornaments of angels, Santa and Jesus. It was a festive atmosphere.
“How about you, Ms. Odell, what are you doing for Christmas?”
Landi smiled.
“We’re going to my Momma’s for the day. She always has us over her place, although it’s the smallest between me and my sisters, but she likes us there so that’s where we go.”
“Do you do the cooking?”
She laughed.
“I like to and she finally lets me do some. But, she’s my Momma and still wants to be in charge. So she does most of it – I make a dessert.”
“Grandma’s a good cook too,” said Tanya. “Guess she taught you how to cook, right Momma?”
Landi nodded her head.
“Yes honey, she taught me, got me started. But I learned the rest on my own. With lots of help,” she added, glancing into the kitchen where her cookbooks lined the shelf.
“It’s a great time of year you know,” said Sean. “Brings families together, reminds us how important this time of year is. Very peaceful, very warm.”
Landi nodded. “Agreed.”
“You have a girlfriend Mr. Allen?” asked Tanya out of nowhere.
“Tanya! Don’t you go on asking questions like that,” retorted Landi. “That ain’t none of your business. You apologize to Mr. Allen.”
“Sorry Mr. Allen,” she said, her voice descending with each word.
Sean grinned. Everyone he knew was aware of his relationship with Brenda, although very few knew the circumstances surrounding it; certainly anyone associated with DMS knew. Many assumed they were lovers, some thought they were seeing each other exclusively and the rest surmised they were dating occasionally; only the last group was closest to the truth and he wasn’t sure to which group Landi belonged. How could she not know? he wondered.
After all, Brenda continued to watch them play ball on Saturdays and they continued to date regularly, usually for dinner, at Victor’s Improv or to the local theater in Brenda’s town; afterwards they would talk for a couple of hours, mostly about school, and see each other again on Monday morning. Sean normally dropped her off at her condo and the last two times he didn’t even walk her to her door; their relationship evolved, or more accurately, devolved into a strong friendship. It seemed to work fine, at least for him, and he was quite content having her as a friend, oblivious to her need for something more than friendship.
“That’s OK Tanya. No need to apologize.” Landi glanced at him venomously.
“Did I say something wrong?” he asked nervously. Sean hadn’t realize the depth of their visceral animosity. Landi’s feelings were probably closer to hatred; just the thought of Brenda seemed to enrage her.
“No, you didn’t say anything wrong,” she stated icily, emphasizing ‘wrong’. “I just don’t think it’s proper for a girl to get involved with adult business,” she said, moving her eyes toward Tanya, as if to say, ‘You should know better than to say something like that.’
“Sorry Momma,” she said remorsefully, replying to the statement that was never verbalized.
The once festive mood was now rather dour and replaced with tension. Fortunately Elijah mitigated it.
“Hey Mr. Allen, you want to play NBA 2011?” he asked, referring to the X Box game. He was hoping to receive the 2012 version for Christmas.
Sean let out a silent sigh of relief.
“Sure, why not? But I have to warn you, I’m even better with X Box than I am on the courts,” he said, tossing a challenge to Elijah.
“Elijah, Mr. Allen don’t need to play this game with you. He probably needs to get going,” interrupted Landi.
I guess that’s my cue to leave, he thought.
“Your Momma’s right, Elijah,” he said, chagrined. “I have some things to do and I should get going.”
“C’mon Mr. Allen, just one game.”
“Elijah!” reprimanded Landi. “Don’t you dare talk back to me. Mr. Allen says he has to go so you just let him be. You go and play the game with Tanya and let Mr. Allen get doing the things he needs to do.” There was finality in her voice
The blood raced from Sean’s face, exacerbating the contrast of his white skin against Landi’s color. He stammered as he said, “Ms., Ms. Odell, at least let me help you clean up. It’s the least I can do. You made such a wonderful dinner and I appreciate your hospitality.” He looked at her and she turned away, carrying a few dishes into the kitchen and defiantly placing them into the sink. Sean collected a few more and walked into the kitchen with them.
“Mr. Allen, please,” she retorted. “I don’t need your help and you should get going.”
Sean walked back to the table and stood there for a moment. Elijah and Tanya peered at him from the living room area.
“OK,” he said quietly, “I really should get going.” He looked back at the kids; they were visibly shaken. “I hope you all enjoy Christmas at your grandma’s and have a great time. I’ll be back next year after the break and we’ll all be rested and ready to resume work. OK?”
“Next year,” replied Elijah.
“See you next year Mr. Allen,” smiled Tanya.
Landi said nothing.
As he turned toward the door there was a loud obnoxious repetitive knock.
“Landi, open the door!” a deep voice commanded from the other side.
“Shit!” exclaimed Landi, loud enough for them all to hear but not loud enough for the person on the other side of the door to hear. The pounding continued.
“Shit!” she repeated; her eyes were filled with fear and hatred. Elijah and Tanya shared the feelings. Sean looked at around at each of them and felt like deer in a hunter’s sight.
“Who’s that?” he asked tersely.
“Landi open up the damn door!” boomed the voice from the other side.
“Jake,” she answered. “It’s Jake. I knew I never should have asked you here for dinner. I knew he would come around when you were here. Now he’s here and you’re here having dinner with us. Shit.”
“Landi!” screamed Jake, “open up this mother fuckin door. Now!” he yelled, continuing to pound it with his fist; he may have been kicking it as well.
“Just wait a minute!” yelled Landi, “I’m getting there. Wait a second!”
“Open this fuckin door before I break it down!” he yelled, more apoplectic than before; the door was shaking from the pounding and kicking. “What’s going on in there? Open the fuckin door!”
Like a lost sheep Sean asked, “What should I do?”
“Just stay there, don’t move,” commanded Landi as she walked from the kitchen to the door, wiping her hands in her towel. “I’m opening it!” she yelled to quell the pounding. “Stand back Jake!”
She unbolted the chain, flipped the deadbolt, turned the handle and in a fluid motion opened the door, stepped outside and closed it behind her.
“What are you doing out here?” screamed Jake. Sean and the kids could hear him through the door. Landi spoke quieter and her voice was muffled through the door.
“Jake, you be calm. Now!” she ordered him.
“Who you yelling at?” he screamed.
“Jake!” she yelled so loud they could hear her through the door. “Stop it!” she yelled a bit lower. “Stop now. Stop it,” she said softer, her voice not penetrating through the door.
“What you doin?” yelled Jake, his voice now lower. “That white boy teacher in there with you, ain’t he? I told you I didn’t want no teacher here for my son. He don’t need no teacher. What he doing here this time? He should be long gone by now. What he doing in there?” he yelled, his voice once again rising.
Landi looked at him with as much vengeance she could assemble. “You stop yelling or we done talking,” she said with authority.
“Who you talking to bit…?”
“Jake!” she screamed at him, cutting off his word before he could finish it. “I told you to stop it. Now you get control of yourself and talk. No yelling, no cursing. You talk and I’ll tell you what you want to know. Act like a real man,” she said chiding him.
“You bit…!”
“Stop it! Just stop it!” Her veins were protruding, sweat was forming on her brow and her hands were shaking uncontrollably. “Stop it now!” she yelled, both pleading and demanding simultaneously. “Get yourself together,” she said, quieter. “What do you think the children are thinking? Get calm and we’ll talk.” Her body was shaking, waves undulating up and down through it.
Jake stood quietly for a moment, not saying anything, looking at her ferociously. She’d tamed this beast many times in the past.
“Om,” he said quietly. His eyes lost some of their ferocity. “Okay, talk, I’m listening,” he said gruffly. He couldn’t be heard from the inside of the door.
God almighty, she thought, he’s getting worse.
“First, I thought I told you not to come over unless you ask. Didn’t I?” she asked him indignantly. He didn’t say anything, just nodded his head slightly.
“Second, I told you that the tutor was going to come here to give Elijah the help he needs.”
“I said I don’t want no…!” he started to yell.
“Jake!” she yelled tersely, looking at him with the authority of a military policeman. “Listen, just listen. OK?” He nodded his head slightly.
“I told you that Elijah needs to get a tutor so he ain’t like…”
“Who, me?” he growled, his anger reflecting through his eyes.
“Yes,” she replied quickly. “Like you. Look at you, all mean and bad and shit. A big man on the streets, doing shit that ain’t right. Yes, I don’t want him to be like that. I want him out of here, out of the streets, out of this mess and away from all this shit. This ain’t no way to live, like you doing and I don’t want him to be like you.”
“Don’t you go saying this shit to me, woman,” he threatened.
“You just be quiet and listen.” She didn’t give him time to respond. “I’m raising the children, not you. You ain’t around.”
“Because you won’t let me around.”
“No, because you’re always too bad. Too mean, too stubborn. You think you control me and you don’t. You can’t even control yourself and I ain’t letting you control me or the children. We’ve had this talk many times and you know why you can’t come around. Don’t you go playing no games.”
Jake stood there, shaking with rage.
“Yes, the tutor’s here and I invited him to dinner.”
“Dinner!” he shouted.
“Jake!” she shouted back. He took a step back. “I invited him to dinner because Elijah is doing real good and it’s Christmas time. He’s been here for two months and he’s helped Elijah.” She lowered her voice almost to a whisper. “Your son.”
Jake grunted.
“So you can come in even though you didn’t ask to be invited. You come in and meet the tutor. Don’t act like no fool, you be nice. You understand?”
Jake stood in one spot, breathing hard and deep. Like a horse that had just been broken. He shook his head yes. The ferocity in his eyes diminished.
“OK?”
“Yeah, I’m okay.”
“Smile.”
“Bit…”.
“Jake!”
Horses don’t easily break.
“Smile,” she said, smiling momentarily; something for him to mimic.
He flashed an unctuous smile.
“That’s better. Now you’re ready to go in. Control yourself,” she scowled. He grunted back.
Sean and the kids saw the door open and a large black man appeared. Dressed in black shoes, pants and shirt, he wore a black felt fedora, a gold earring, a small gold chain around his neck and a gold Rolex fitted with diamonds. The scars on his face and his physical bulk accentuated his menacing image; Sean lost his breath for a moment when Jake entered the room.
“Daddy!” yelled Tanya as she ran and hugged him around his huge neck. She was as fearful of him as she was enamored. He picked her up as though she were still a baby and hugged her back.
“How’s my baby?” he asked, his deep voice cutting through the air like a wrecking ball.
“Good Daddy. I’m glad you could come. Look at our Christmas tree!” she said excitedly as she pulled him into the living room area.
Jake glanced at the tree and smiled. There was an underlying warmth in his smile which surprised Sean.
“That’s real nice. You decorate it?”
“We all did, me Momma and Elijah.”
Jake looked at Elijah.
“Hi Daddy,” he said, walking up to Jake.
Jake smiled, holding him an arm’s length and scanning him from head to toe.
“Look at you Elijah, getting bigger every day. Pretty soon you’ll be bigger than me. I hear you learning from the tutor?” He didn’t look at Sean yet; Sean wasn’t too upset.
“Yeah Daddy, I’m learning. Doing good in school too. Mr. Allen’s helped me.”
Elijah took a step back and Jake looked at Sean. Sean smiled, waved his hand over his head and walked over to Jake.
“Nice to meet you Mr. Odell. I’m Sean Allen,” he said, extending his outstretched hand to him.
“I’m Mr. Davis,” Jake growled at him, letting Sean’s hand waver in mid-air.
“My mistake, Mr. Davis. Nice to meet you,” replied Sean, his hand still extended.
“Yeah, nice to meet you,” said Jake, grabbing onto Sean’s hand and squeezing hard for a second before letting go. His hand was large and strong, and the tactic of engulfing the hand of the person to whom he was shaking and squeezing it was his way of parading his dominance. Sean squeezed back, attempting to show he wasn’t intimidated by the tactic. Or by Jake.
“So you been teaching my boy here?”
Sean nodded his head.
“Yes I have for the past two and a half months. And let me tell you,” he said, pausing for effect, “he’s very smart and a very good student. He almost made the honor roll this past semester.”
“That right?” Jake asked, looking back at Elijah, his voice rising an octave. “You been doing that good?”
“Yeah, I have. Would’ve made it too ‘cept for Mr. Allen. He didn’t give me an ‘A’.”
“Why’s that?”
“Cause he says he would lose credibility since he’s my teacher and my tutor.”
“Sounds like Mr. Allen got some sense.” He looked at Sean and smiled unctuously.
That’s one for me, thought Sean.
“I think that Elijah will make it next time, as long as he continues to keep up with his studies and ask the right questions,” he added.
“Well you better keep on studying,” said Jake, his voice deep and melodic. Sean also had a deep voice but Jake’s was different; Sean’s was akin to the sound of a 1960’s muscle car whereas Jake’s was a Harley – deep, guttural, growling and menacing.
“So you eat dinner here often Mr. Allen?” asked Jake in an accusatory manner.
“Jake, I told you to control yourself,” admonished Landi.
“That’s okay, Ms. Odell. Mr. Davis deserves an answer.” Sean kept his eyes on Jake.
Landi was standing behind Jake, furrowed her eyebrows, pursed her lips and shook her head no three times.
“Mr. Davis, it’s the first time I’ve had dinner here. Since it’s almost Christmas and I won’t see Elijah for another two and a half weeks and since he’s improved so much Ms. Odell thought it would be good to celebrate Elijah’s victory.”
“Victory of what?” growled Jake.
“Victory of staying out of the streets,” intoned Landi.
“Humph,” retorted Jake.
“You know Mr. Davis, I also tutor two other students and I’ve had dinner with each of their families at least two or three times. So it’s nothing unusual.”
Jake stood still for a moment.
“Yeah, guess not. But you are a white man and it don’t look real good to be in a black women’s house without her man around.”
“Jake,” Landi said sternly. Jake ignored her.
“So you just gotta watch yourself in this area. This our area.”
“Jake,” Landi said more forcefully.
“And it don’t matter too much that you a white man but you in someone else’s house and you gotta be careful.”
“Jake!” she shouted. “Control yourself.”
Jake reeled around as though he was about to strike her and instead looked directly into her eyes.
“I’m under control,” he stated sternly. “Mr. Allen and I are having a conversation, you know man-to-man, so we don’t need no interference by a woman.” He turned to Sean. “That right Mr. Allen?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“So where were we? Oh yeah, you gotta be careful because there some real bad people in this area and you a target. You gotta watch yourself.”
“I’m perfectly capable of watching myself,” replied Sean.
“Ha!” roared Jake. “Just because you play ball and teach and shit, you don’t know the streets. The streets can eat you up and spit you out like you made out of paper. You come from a white neighborhood and don’t know the streets so you gotta be careful.”
Sean didn’t reply; he stood still, trying hard to belie his intimidation.
“And another thing,” continued Jake, “lots of folk know what you do, where you go, who you see and shit. You’re always being watched by someone and if they want to get you they can. Just like we all know you seeing Brenda Sykes.”
“Jake!” screamed Landi. Jake knew the right button to push. “Get out, just get out! Don’t you come here no more. I don’t want to see your ugly face again. Just get out!” she screamed as she pushed him toward the door.
Jake resisted Landi’s attempts to push him out the door.
“Just remember, Mr. Allen, you being watched all the time,” he warned as he allowed Landi to push him out. She slammed the door, turned the dead bolt and slid the chain in place.
They heard Jake roar with laughter as he trounced down the stairs.
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