Page 101 of In the Safety's Zone
I hung the phone up gripping it in my hand tightly to settle my nerves. My mind ran through the people I could call to settle me but only one would truly understand why I was so tight because he’d suffered through it with us.
“Where y’at?” My smile was immediate hearing the way he answer the phone.
“Awrite, you got a minute?”
“Always for you my boy. Sumin’ heavy on you I can feel it. Woke up early and threw some food at the swamp, felt like they might need to be putting in some work soon.”
Silas’ ass had to be the descendent of a root worker or Marie Laveau with the way he could sense so much about the world around him.
“You and them feelings.” I grinned thinking of when I stayed with him and observed some of the things he’d done.
He huffed playfully because he knew I wasn’t testing the veracity of his gifts. “They ever been wrong?”
“No suh neva.”
“Then tell me who I might need to feed to the ancestors.” He truly did take care of those gators like they were family and I had to wonder which part of his bloodline he felt they were from.
“Ion’t know if it’s all that bad.”
“My gut is saying it is. Just like when Flash decided he was gonna call me up to handle that vermin that was messin’ with his Rye. But I thought you might’ve called me sooner.”
“About?”
“You know what. I swear you boys think I’m dead just cause I’m older. I ain’t got but thirty years on you. You’d never know what I might be able to do to some of them same young girls y’all running after.” We both laughed cause Silas’ ass was a confirmedbachelor and known heartbreaker around the whole state. And that was just what we knew about.
“Them girls would give you a heart attack.”
“Don’t count ol’ Uncle Silas out. But I wouldn’t want a young girl anyway. Give me somebody fine and forty-five and I’ll be good. Now tell me about your problem and then you’re going to tell me about your lady.”
I laughed but I didn’t bother to try to deny it. He knew me better than most especially after we spent so much time together after Choo got married. Uncle Silas helped me get my mind right and cleanse it for all of the bullshit I’d been fed by my mother. Even after I got a regular job, I was still trying to handle everything for her. It upset me some when Antwan cut her off because she just demanded more from me. It was misplaced and he helped me see that. I already knew it deep down but I was taking out my frustrations on the easy target.
“Jill called.”
“‘Course she did. She saw the news like everybody else did. I’m sure she’s tried her hardest to get the lead on what you’ve had going on all this time. Y’all have kept stuff pretty locked down before July.” Silas’ voice never changed inflection so I could assume he too had expected this to happen.
I smirked at his words because Wimbledon did put me onto a national stage and I wasn’t upset about it at all. “I don’t understand what she thinks she’s gonna get now.”
“She thinks she still has your undying loyalty. Flash gave her his ass to kiss when he finally came out of the haze, she’s hoping there’s some smoke left around you to keep her true face hidden.”
My scoff was filled with disdain at the thought of my mother thinking she could still manipulate me after everything she’d done.
“That’s long since gone. Do you know she’s saying she has cancer.”
“You talk to her doctor?” I laughed because he’d said the same thing I had.
“Of course not. But I mean she’s been smoking like a chimney for longer than I’ve been alive so it’s possible.”
“Even if it was you know she ain’t gone do right. You think Jill’s stubborn ass is going to stop smoking? Or drinking for that matter? Her greatest accomplishment in my eyes is that she didn’t get cracked out.”
“Not you thinking she was gone turn to smokin’ rocks.”
“I’d tell you to give up on her but I know you weren’t. You’re going to have to hit this point the same way Flash did.”
He was right. I felt bad, that inkling of doubt and what if that would haunt me forever. She couldn’t get money out of me but if she was sick I’d be sympathetic.
“Why do you think that is?”
“Because y’all are still good boys despite the way that you were both raised. You should’ve been bitter, angry, hate filled. And for a while maybe you were. Both you were able to come out of that and I’m happy to see it.”
