“I’m glad he’s being understanding. With you, Jacob, and Montie, Junior and Montana have more than some children will ever get in life. They are blessed,” Tasha said with a smile. “By the way, have you run into any brothers, distant cousins, long lost uncles… any more good Turner men?”
“His father is the only other Turner man I’ve met, and he’s pretty much smitten with Mama,” I said as I continued to wrap my mind around the idea of my mother rekindling things with Jacob’s father. “That, oddly enough, is about all I can deal with at the moment.”
“Hell, it’s not odd to me. Aunt Clara is just getting her payback and her groove back, that is all.”
“Well, she needs to put her groove back where it was. I don’t know how to feel about her hooking up with Jacob’s father.”
“When I called her the other day, she sounded like an angel on the phone. I should have known something was up. She was so pleasant that I almost hung up and redialed the number. I was sure I had the wrong house. It’s a change for the better.”
“This is definitely a change for Mama,” I said, just as a group of older women approached our table. I didn’t pay them much attention, until the lady bringing it up the rear spoke and I recognized who she was.
“That’s the home wrecker’s daughter right there,” Mrs. Tammy Turner said. She was walking with Martha Parker, who was Justine’s mother, and another woman wearing a hideous floral pantsuit.
“Humph, if that’s her offspring, don’t look like he left you for much,” the woman in the floral suit said as she turned up her snoot.
“Excuse me?” I stood up and asked. I could take disrespect. But there was no way I could stay seated while these old biddies talked about Mama.
“I was speaking to my friend, not to you Pestiny… Ooops, I mean Destiny,” Mrs. Turner said as her evil eyes glared straight through me.
“See, this is that shit that get folks fucked up,” Tasha said, standing beside me and taking off her earrings. “I was trying to turn down, but you bitches bout to get it.”
“Oh, and I assume your foul mouth is supposed to scare me,” Mrs. Turner said, feigning fear by clutching her chest.
“Mrs. Turner, we were not bothering you. You were talking about me and my mother, and that’s the only reason I even addressed you,” I said, without addressing the name slight.
“I most absolutely was talking about you and I’m pretty sure you heard what I said. Your mother is a home wrecker,” Mrs. Turner said. “I was reading somewhere that you young people call what your mother is doing something specific these days. What was it? Oh, thirsty… that’s it, thirsty,” she said with a snap of her fingers. “And what is this other word you people use? Oh yeah, thot is the word I am looking for. Yo’ mama is a thot,” she said in slang.
Martha and the other woman laughed, both repeating, “thirsty… thot,” as they cracked up beyond control. “And from what I heard, the apple don’t fall too far from the tree,” Martha added as their laughter died down.
“Mrs. Parker, you have no room to talk about how far an apple falls from a tree when you have raised Justine, one of the most violent, narcissistic psychopaths of this century.” I turned my attention back to Mrs. Turner. “And my heart goes out to you. Not because you are losing your husband, but because you are too stupid to understand why.”
“Why, I’m sure that you, Destiny, with your high level of intelligence, could enlighten me as to what John sees in your mother. Whatever it is I can’t see it with my eyes.”
“You’ll have to ask him what he sees in her. However, she wouldn’t have been able to come into your home and wreck anything, if your marriage wasn’t already broken,” I said.
“Is that what you people think, that my marriage was broken?” she asked stepping closer to me. “I’ll have you to know I made John a very happy man over the years and I continue to make him happy. He’s never complained before and he’s still not complaining,” Mrs. Turner raised her eyebrow as if her words had a double meaning.
“You would think a woman your mother’s age would have more respect for a woman’s husband, but then again I don’t expect much from your kind,” the lady in the floral pantsuit said.
“They both are just trying to find a way to get a part of the Turner fortune,” Martha said.
“Well, guess what? That will be over my dead body,” Mrs. Turner said.
“I don’t see a problem with that!” Tasha said, with her dinner fork in hand. “Destiny might take kindly to you standing over our table talking shit about her and my aunt, but I don’t. You and your little posse better clack your heels on these bricks and get your asses out of our faces before this becomes a 911 situation.”
The lady wearing the floral gasped, while Martha took Mrs. Turner’s hand and pulled her along. “I’m not scared of her,” Mrs. Turner said once they were a few feet away. “If she touches one hair on my body, I will have her hauled away for the rest of her pathetic life.”
I followed her saying, “Mrs. Turner, I love your son and I have nothing to do with what happened in my mother’s past. I’ve tried to be respectful to you. Lord knows, I really have. But you’re making it nearly impossible to have even a cordial relationship with you. I think we both should try to at least be cordial, for Jacob.”
“Even if your tramp of a mother wasn’t trying to steal my husband, I never would’ve liked you. Jacob and John may think it’s fine to pick up strays, but I will never play in the hay with you, little girl. I don’t approve of my son stooping to the level of marrying you. I hope he comes to his senses before it’s too late. After this conversation, I want you to be clear on how I feel about you, so that you will never, ever attempt to talk to me again.”
“Fuck you!” I said as my mind went black. “Fuck you!” My hand reared back and slapped Mrs. Turner so hard that her entire left face immediately filled with raging blood vessels. “I’m not an animal and my mother is not a tramp!” I said as I spat in Mrs. Turner’s face, before swinging at her again.
“Oh, my God,” Martha said as she frantically took out her cell phone to call 911.
“Come here, bitch!” Tasha said, grabbing Martha by the arm and yanking her cell phone out of her hand. She threw it to the ground and stepped on it. “All of you disrespectful hoes are about to get what you deserve.”
“You have no right to step on her phone,” the lady in the floral suit said as she swung her purse and hit Tasha in the face.