“Give me a few weeks to gather up some money and I’ll move you anywhere you want to go,” Darryl said.
“What about Shay?”
“Fuck Shay!” Darryl exclaimed. “I love my kids and will always provide for them but that bitch has made my life hell.”
Omar pulled out his .45 Magnum and cocked it. Darryl jumped to his feet. Omar fired a shot, shooting Tandy in her neck. She fell to the floor. Omar then pointed his gun at Darryl.
Darryl knelt down beside Tandy and checked her pulse. “Look what you’ve done,” Darryl wailed. “I can’t feel her pulse. I think she’s dead.”
Omar shook his head in disbelief. He didn’t mean to. He didn’t want to kill her. His eyes bulged, revealing his feelings of terror and remorse. He thought about all the times he’d savagely beaten Tandy. How could he have done that to her? She was his high school sweetheart. Things had gone horribly wrong and he couldn’t fix them. Omar put the gun to his head.
“Brah, no,” Darryl shrieked.
Omar pulled the trigger and his limp body fell to the floor.
Tears ran down Darryl’s face. He pressed his face against Tandy’s face and cried.
Tandy opened her eyes and then grabbed her stomach and sobbed.
“Thank God,” Darryl said. “Hold on, Tandy. Please stay with me.”
Darryl called the ambulance for Tandy. He then called his mother to tell her that Omar had killed himself. His mother and two sisters arrived as quickly as the ambulance and police. They walked into the bedroom as Tandy was being put on a stretcher. Darryl gave his statement to the police and explained why he was there. He conveyed what he had been hesitant to tell his family all along.
Benita collapsed to the floor after hearing that Omar had turned his gun on himself after finding out Darryl and Tandy were having an affair. Melissa attacked Tandy while she lay on the stretcher, helpless. Darryl’s mother beat Darryl with her Bible as she screamed Leviticus 20:21. “And if a man shall take his brother’s wife, it is an unclean thing; he hath uncovered his brother’s nakedness. They shall be childless.”
The officer questioning Darryl restrained Reverend Moore and another officer restrained Melissa, then put her under arrest for assaulting Tandy.
Darryl’s mother disowned him.
Tandy miscarried on her way to the hospital. The bullet in her neck couldn’t be removed. Tandy thought the bullet protruding from her neck was God’s way of reminding her that she’d committed adultery. A year later, Darryl and Tandy got married and Tandy became pregnant with Darryl’s son. Darryl decided that his son’s name would be Damar, a combination of his name and Omar’s. Tandy thought Darryl wanted their son to bear the name because he felt guilty about betraying Omar, but she agreed to it. She would do anything to ease Darryl’s conscience. Sometimes Tandy found herself feeling guilty about her infidelity but she managed to convince herself that she didn’t do anything wrong; that all’s fair in love and war.
The Jewelry Dreamer
Kweli Walker
It was impossible not to notice the only man in a Metrorail car, especially a fine, tall, well-built, impeccably dressed, clean-shaven, attaché-carrying man who jumped to give his seat to a sixty-something black woman with obviously bad feet. You could smell the estrogen filling the car. Once standing, he became the center of all—and I mean all—attention. Bras got readjusted, skirts got hiked, legs crossed, perfume sprayed, eyelashes batted, smiles went off like the Fourth of July, and hair (real and synthetic) got flipped, shaken, and smoothed. If the Metro car was a universe, he was surely its sun!
His lavender-blue silk shirt was expertly tailored and fit smoothly across his broad, firm chest. With even his sl
ightest movement, it peeked seductively through his unbuttoned trench coat. His beautiful, honey-colored face smoldered in a quadrant of golden morning light, while his dark-brown eyes darted through the Metro car like two wild birds of prey, shamelessly feasting on the candy-box assortment of tits, asses, hips, and legs. Unexpectedly, they locked on to my smooth, African agate necklace, but only after devouring every square inch of my 38DDs, jiggling and swaying with the motion of the car. His unbroken gaze was unapologetic and lusty.
Being a stickler for fairness, I ogled his upturned cock, rigid with desire. Finally, he smiled and started finessing his way through the Monday-morning mob toward me. He settled so close, I could feel his body heat and smell the breathtaking scent of his earthy cologne wafting from his stylish coat. It was then I noticed his incredible choker, made of very rare, Neolithic, clear quartz beads. He began his cunt quest with some interesting gemstone lore about my beads. I didn’t expect an ordinary line from such an extraordinary man, and he did not disappoint!
“Botswana agate can be helpful for those struggling to be genuine. It also protects a wearer from bad dreams.”
“Genuine? I’m probably one of the most real people you’ll ever meet, Mr.—?”
“Todd Oliphant.” He extended his hand. “And you are?”
“Lisha Lane.”
I held out my hand to shake his, but, instead, he wove his fingers through mine and drew our joined hands to his solid chest. It was an extremely intimate gesture from a stranger, but I found it sexually thrilling.
“You’re a very attractive man, Todd, but I’m really not into all that mumbo jumbo about stones and dreams. I love beautiful beads, but I just string ’em up and wear ’em. And as far as dreams go, I haven’t had a dream since grade school; let alone a nightmare.”
“Really?” His smile never wilted. “How do you know this isn’t a dream?”
I don’t remember blinking or looking down, but I must have. When I looked up, our car was empty. I looked into the adjoining car and it was also empty, except for Todd. There he stood, smiling and signaling me to join him. I couldn’t resist.