“You’re truly enjoying this, aren’t you? Destroying this young woman’s life.”
“I’m not destroying shit. I’m simply living mine.”
Marcella left without saying another word, thank goodness! I went out on the balcony and watched her pull away slowly. I retrieved my bag of chips from the kitchen, came back out and sat on one of the two lounge chairs Jon had out there. About fifteen minutes later, I saw a brother that I had seen many times before leaving the building. It was way over in the morning and he had obviously just finished making a booty call to the sister in Apartment 1-C. She was the uppity bitch with a weave who always thought she was too special to even speak to Jon. One of those women who thought her shit didn’t stink and that her pussy was worth millions.
I decided to kill two birds with one stone because I had never liked that bitch in 1-C.
“Hey, you!” I called out to him as I stood up on the balcony so he could see me.
He looked up just as he was hitting the keyless entry button on his key chain to unlock a black Mercedes SLK 320. “Yes?” he asked.
I didn’t say anything. I just ripped off Jon’s pajama top, followed by her bra. Then I stepped out of the pants and underwear. I stood there naked, just staring at him seductively. Then I closed my eyes and started swaying my hips to imaginary music and palming my breasts. I heard the beep again as he locked the car, followed by his footsteps coming back up the walkway toward the building. The shit was just that easy.
I hesitated before I knocked on Momma’s door. I had no idea how I would break the news but it had to come out. I needed her, more than ever.
She saved me the trouble of knocking when she suddenly swung the door of her condo open. She was startled and slapped her right hand across her chest.
“Hello, Momma,” I said, faking a smile.
She took a deep breath and sighed. “Jonquinette. What a pleasant surprise.”
“You really mean that?”
“Yes, of course I mean it. I was on my way out to the store but come on in.” She turned and walked back into her place, leaving the door ajar for me to follow her. “In fact, I’ve been getting frustrated because you haven’t returned any of my calls.”
It was true that she had left several phone messages, both at home and at work, but I just couldn’t bring myself to call her. Dealing with the drama from Darnetta and Mason had been bad enough and I didn’t think I could deal with a lot of drama from Momma.
“I’m sorry,” I told her. “I was out of town for a while and then when I got back, some things happened.”
Momma eyed me suspiciously. “What sort of things?”
“Can I sit down?” I asked as I walked into the living room. Her place was immaculate as always. I was hoping I wouldn’t catch her at a bad time, with a man in the house, and it appeared that I had lucked out.
“Jonquinette, stop acting like you’re some sort of stranger.” Momma laughed. “Of course you can sit down. My home is your home.”
I plopped down on the sofa and she took a seat in the armchair directly across from it. “What if I am a stranger?” I asked her.
She leaned her head to the side in confusion. “Excuse me?”
“I said, what if I am a stranger?”
Momma seemed irritated. “You’re not making any sense. You’re my daughter. I gave birth to you, so how could you possibly be a stranger?”
I picked up a photo frame off her end table. It was a picture of the two of us at my college graduation. In retrospect, I guess it was a picture of the three of us. Momma didn’t say another word to me. A heavy silence just hung in the air like thick smoke.
“I live inside this body and I feel like I’m a stranger,” I finally said.
She laughed again, this time uneasily. “You must be over-heated. You’re acting delirious.” She got up from her seat and started walking away. “Let me go into the kitchen and get you something cold to drink. I made some freshly squeezed lemonade, your favorite.”
I tossed the picture onto the sofa cushion, jumped up, and grabbed her by the elbow. “Momma, lemonade isn’t going to cure this.”
“Cure what?” she snapped at me.
“My illness.” We stared at each other while I searched for the words to say. “Momma, did you never figure it out or did you just choose to ignore it?”
She yanked her arm away in anger. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
She took off toward the kitchen anyway and I was right on her tail. I refused to let her walk away from the situation. “I won’t cut any corners with this. Momma, I have MPD.”
Momma took two glasses out of the dishwater and started to get an ice tray from the freezer. She paused and asked, “MPD? What the hell is that? Some sort of venereal disease?”
“No, Momma. MPD stands for Multiple Personality Disorder.”
She dropped both the ice tray and one of the glasses on the floor. The glass shattered everywhere. “Bullshit! Bullshit!” she screamed.
Momma grabbed a dishrag and bent down to clean up the mess. She wouldn’t even look at me. “Momma, I’m serious.”
“You can’t be serious. You’re not some lunatic.”
“No, I’m not. I just have an illness and I plan to get help for it.” She continued to busy herself with the cleanup efforts like it was no big deal. “That’s why I came to see you today. I need you to be there with me. I can’t go through this alone.”
She finally stopped in her tracks, stood up, and got close enough to me to breathe on my cheek. “Who filled your mind with this nonsense?”
“I’ve been seeing this doctor, Dr. Spencer, and she’s the one who broke it down for me. She explained it and then when I spoke with Daddy, he—”
My mother’s voice went up ten notches. “Wait a minute! When did you speak to Henry? Did he call you?”
“No, he didn’t. Actually, I went to see him.”
Momma looked like she was suddenly on the brink of tears when she said, “You little ungrateful bitch. How could you betray me like that?”
I knew the mention of my father would get her upset. Momma always expected me to choose her side over his. I was determined to make her see the light, though. “Momma, going to see Daddy wasn’t about betraying you. He’s my father. I have a right to spend time with him.”
“Your father disrespected me. He went out and got that bastard child and totally disgraced both of us.”
“Daddy said none of that was true.” Momma stormed back into the living room. I was getting sick and tired of following her, but I wasn’t about to give up. “He doesn’t know why that woman showed up there that day, but he said he’d never laid eyes on her before.”
She smirked at me. “And you believed him?”
I put my hands on my hips and stood my ground. “Yes.”
“You know what I can’t believe?” she said with a snarl. “I can’t believe you’re turning your back on me.”
That’s when I felt myself getting angry. My mother had always been selfish, thinking the entire world revolved around her. “Momma, can’t you understand that this is not about you!” I screamed at her. “For once, pay attention to me! What
She slapped me across the face and I was stunned. Momma had never hit me before, not ever.
“How dare you?” she asked. “I’ve taken care of your needs your entire life. When that motherfucker deserted us, I took on sole responsibility for you.”
“Momma, Daddy didn’t desert us,” I said, beginning to cry. “You pushed him away. Maybe you’re the one that
