Shut Up & Listen - Chapter 70: Chapter 70

August 13, 2022
2:13 pm
Lonnie sat uncomfortably on the couch in the large two million dollar Birmingham home. It was white, all shades, everywhere. And so many windows that Lonnie felt as if the whole world was peeking at him. Maverik sat beside him, rambling, "Do you think your mother was ready to have a kid?" He'd been talking for the past hour. "Mm mm." He shook his head, "She wasnt. Do you think i was?" He asked, only pausing for a second too short to receive a response.
"I thought i was. But i wasnt. I didn't expect... i wasn't ready to see myself. I never seen myself until i saw you. Scared me. He chuckled, I felt like i didnt have any control over anything. You were me. Shit, you are me."
Lonnie side eyed him feeling as if this was something of an apology. It unnerved him.
"Then why do i scare you?"
Maverik nodded. "Its true, I still feel uncomfortable when I see you, I mean, not with my eyes, but you know, whats inside." He gestured with hands going back and forth from his body. "I know whats inside of me and I can see it in your eyes. But, you don't have the control I got. I learned it. I never taught it to you. And, i'm still afraid of whats gonna manifest from my own son. My first born." He explained, still giving hints of responsibility that Lonnie had never received before.
"What do you think im capable of?" He asked, curious.
"Murder."
"Murder?"
Maverik nodded. "I told you. I see me in you.  Maybe if you saw me, you'd understand yourself better."
Lonnie nodded, "well i'm outta luck then."
Maverik scoffed.
"I'm not you motherfucker. I'm me."
"And me and ya grandfather and his father and so on and so much. I robbed you. And i'm deeply sorry for that. Whatever you've done is all on me."
"Aight, cut it, pops." Lonnie waved his hands, dismissing it all. "You giving yourself too much credit homeboy. And on top of that, I don't know what'chu mean. What did i do?"
Maverik smiled, "We don't gotta talk about nothing you don't want to man. I want you to feel at home here. Feel free to grab anything out the kitchen, you seen where everything is. Wash room, Bath stuff and whatnot. Anything else, ask one of the twins or Holle."
"Where Reese at?"
"That boy don't live here no more. And if you see him around here, remind him of that for me."
"Damn, switching out one son for another? What the hell he do?"
Maverik straight faced him, reminding him of the night they spent in the hospital with Maurice and iLeah.
"Over a baby?" Lonnie asked, perturbed, "Where he staying at?"
"I didn't ask." Maverik pursed his lips, leaving the room.
"So how long before you kick me out?" Lonnie yelled after Maverik who was already gone. He laughed to himself. Then sighed, palming his dome through his fitted cap.. He looked around the living room from his seat. "The hell I done did?" He mumbled, leaning back to rest his head on the couch. He fell asleep for almost an hour only waking up because he heard voices.
"Who is that?" Kalil whispered, walking through the front door. His twin brother, Kwame, shrugged, walking right past the sleeping man. "How are you not bothered? There's a stranger sleeping on the couch."
"If he was a stranger he wouldn't be so comfortable in our house Kalil. Use your context clues."
"If we don't know him, he is a stranger. I'm calling dad."
"Would you chill?" Kwame pointed his hands towards Lonnie who was now awake and looking at Kalil who was still standing in the door.
"Dad? Um." He said into the phone, now nervous to express his discomfort for the stranger to his face, "Um, there's somebody here."
The room was silent as he waited for his father to finish speaking on the other end of the phone call.
"My brother?" He asked, confused. "Okay?" He said, putting the phone away in his pocket. "So Kwame, this is Lonnie." He started walking towards his brother who was walking towards Lonnie. "He's our brother."
"How come i've never heard of you?" Kwame asked, sitting next to him, turning the TV on.
"Gotta ask ya pops about that l'il man."
"How old are you?" Kwame asked.
"Twenty-five. How old are you?"
"We're eleven." Kalil answered for him.
Lonnie nodded.
"It's a lot more of us, little brothers. But, you gone find out that we got a big 'ole family."
"Like cousins?" Kwame asked, excited.
"Yeah, and a sister. Another brother."
"Another brother?"
"A sister?" Kwame nearly gagged, "That's gotta be weird. Like imagine living with two of mom." Kwame made a stank face. "Where did you come from?"
"Yeah, why are you here?"
They were now sitting on either side of their big brother. "Well, that's a long story."
"Does it have to do anything with the bruises on your face?" One asked, looking over his appearance. He noticed some on his arm too.
"Bruises?" Lonnie asked, not knowing he had bruises.
"Yeah. Doesn't it hurt?"
"How could you not notice?"
"I'll get you an ice pack."
"And ask mom what she uses to make sure marks go away. I can't ever remember what it's called." Kalil added as his twin walked away.
"What the hell?!" Holly screamed walking into the livingroom. All three boys were startled. They looked behind them to see her standing there. She was clutching her chest, startled herself. When she recognized who Lonnie was, she sighed and laughed to herself, "Boy! You done scared me half to death."
"Mom, you know him?" They asked in unison.
She nodded. "That's your brother, Alonso."
Lonnie observed Holle's demeanor, "Maverik didn't tell anyone I was staying here?"
"What do you mean, staying here?" She asked.
"My daddy dropped me off a few hours ago. He said it's the best place for now."
"Best place for what?" She raised her eyebrows. "Lemme find out what the hell Maverik done got me into."
"But if it's not cool with you, I have somewhere else I can go."
"Are you homeless?" Kwame asked.
Holle whipped her head around after hearing the invasive question, "What did I tell y'all about growth folks business? Gone head and change out them school clothes."
She walked into the kitchen, kicking off her pumps by the island. "Mav, why is your grown ass son in my house while my baby is out in the streets?" She put the phone on speaker and sat it down on the counter as she washed her hands to start cooking.
"Nobody told him to leave. That was his choice."
"Yeah nigga, after you told him that he wouldn't make a good father as if you could—-"
"Huh? As if I could what?"
She put her hands on the edge of the sink gripping the cold porcelain.
Maverik let out a throaty exhale, "I never EVER bring up our past but you stay with my kids and their mother's name in your mouth. He needs fucking help and I'm doing the least that I can which is inviting him into OUR home. Is that alright with you?"
"HELL NO!"
"Holle."
She smacked the counter top. "Where is Maurice? Huh? He is the one who needs your help daddy. Huh? I don't mind helping out but you ain't even got your own shit together."
"Lonnie is my child too."
"Alright Maverik."
"What?"
"Nothing. I just find it odd that you suddenly claiming children and whatnot."
"Ohhhh okay baby. I gotchu."
"You got who?"
"We gone close it right here ma." He mumbled.
"Nah, we gone pause and talk later so you can have a moment to come up with some more bullshit to say to me." She huffed, "In the meantime, FIND MY FUCKING SON."
"Bye." He hung up. When she turned around to talk to Lonnie, he was gone. She sighed, opening the drawer to grab a knife and a cutting board.
"Mom." She heard a low voice from the garage area. She turned around, looking through the small window on the door. It opened, a head peeking through. "I didn't see dad's car."
"Get on in here boy." She walked over, grabbing him. "Oh my God." She sighed into the hug. "Where were you?"
"I'm staying with Damon and Sadé for now."
"That's good, how are they?"
"Good. It's good practice for me too I guess."
"You hungry?"
"No. I was just coming by to pick up some clothes and stuff."
Its been an hour or two since Lonnie left Maverik's house. He'd walked far enough away from the suburbs to find a bus stop heading west. He waited, not knowing when it was coming or if it would take him where he wanted to go, and when it arrived, he got on and sat in the front seat near the driver.
"Hot as fuck out here, man." Lonnie said, looking at the driver who had a fan blowing directly on his face which was still nearly covered in sweat.
"Man, you telling me? They need to fix the got damn air." The driver complained. "Got me feeling like a damn rollie pollie in this bitch."
"Not a rollie pollie." Lonnie huffed, "This bus go downtown?"
"I can take you to the Rosa Parks Transit Center. That's close as I go."
Lonnie nodded, "Okay." Looking ahead as the driver slowed down to pull up at a busy stop. It was the after school crowd.  A whole bunch of kids were huddled on the curb with a few adults and teens mixed in.
"School badges out!" The bus driver said loud. The kids went through quickly showing their IDs and moving along to the back of the bus. "How long you been driving?" Lonnie asked him.
"Eight years next week." He shrugged, "Might retire with DDOT."
"Hell nah, man. How old are you? Talking 'bout retiring."
"I'm thirty-nine."
"That's crazy as hell. You telling me you're willing to drive a hot smelly bus for thirty more years? They gotta be paying you at least eighty k."
"Aye, it's a good job."
"Yeah but you giving career years to a job."
"What do you do?"
Lonnie shrugged, earning a roaring laughter from the driver and a few others on the bus. But, Lonnie paid the onlookers no mind.
"You think trappin' is more secure than driving a bus?"
"I'm not a drug dealer. I got a degree and everything. Thinking about applying to grad school."
The bus driver frowned in approval, "Okay brother. That's good. What did you go to school for?"
"Clinical Psychology. Graduated with honors but no job offers. Niggas wanted me to be a unpaid intern and shit."
"You ain't have no grad school acceptance letters?"
"I did but didn't get any full scholarships so couldn't afford it. I made a deal with my pops, since I didn't make my end, I went with his plan. Ended up never going back to school. Now I'm almost thirty."
"My brother went back to school for his masters at thirty-three." A random lady spoke up, "He graduated with his Ph.D last year. Now he's fourty and owns his own practice up state. It's never too late."
"And the older you are the more discipline you have." A man added onto the conversation.
"Why didn't you do loans?"
"I was taught that if you can't afford it, you can't afford it. To this day I don't have any debt. I don't even owe anybody twenty dollars."
"You should think about getting a trade license. Them jobs make a lot of money and you might get a job that will even pay for your tuition for continued education."
"I don't know about all'at. I'm not into no manual labor."
"You look my age," Lonnie gestured towards a upping man sitting across from him, "What do you do?"
"I'm a deputy director at a trucking company called Doose Logistical."
Lonnie squinted his eyes at the young man. Scratched his nose and nodded. The name was familiar but he didn't want to speak on it knowing the whole front half of the bus was watching and listening. The remaining ride to the transit center was quiet for the most part. He kept taking glances at the guy across from him.
When they arrived, everyone got off of the bus and Lonnie went to find a map to see which way to go. While standing at the wall with the maps, someone walked up to him. He looked over noticing it was the guy who was sitting across from him on the bus.
"I know you, right?" He asked, "I'm assuming you were trying to figure out if you knew me."
"I think I just know Doose." Lonnie answered, picking out a map of downtown.
"From just around or?"
Lonnie shrugged, "My pops uses y'all sometimes." The furrowed his brows, "Back in the day."
"Oh, who is your dad?"
"Who is your dad?" Lonnie retorted, taken aback by the probing.
"I don't have a dad. But, my mom owns Doose."
"Kauliva?"
"Yeah, that's her."
"You're an Armstrong. Damn, what up family."
The guy laughed.
"Why you on the bus? What's ya name?"
"I do every once and again. And i'm Amiris. You?"
"Black."
"Black?"
Lonnie nodded.
"You know all about me and all I can get is a nickname?"
"The price of fame." Lonnie chuckled, taking the cigarette from behind his ear and lighting it.
"Well my bus is about to pull up. Bye." Amiris mumbled, walking away.
"I'll see you later, Amiris." Lonnie called after him with furrowed brows and cigarette hanging loosely from his lips. He folded the map back up and put it in his pocket. He was pleased to realize he was merely three short blocks from Cole's building.
Minutes later, he opened the lobby door of the large building Cole & Cecil's family has lived in for decades. He attempted to walk past the security desk but was stopped by a guard. "Can I help you?"
He shook his head no, walking as he usually would down to the elevator. The guard called after him, "Apologies sir, did you hear me?"
"Yeah bro. I'm good."
"Sir, you can't go up."
"Why not?" He asked, annoyed. The guard looked down at the desk and held up a photo.
"This you?"
Lonnie looked at the photo. He put his hands out with a scrunched up face. "The fuck I do?"
The guard shrugged, "Just following orders."
"Nah, where's Lamont? He knows me. Or Mike. He run all this shit. Where he at?"
"Lamont ain't here. He's on medical leave. Some guy attacked him. Broke his neck, fractured his nose." The guard listed off. "It was a resident."
"Damn. I hope he still getting paid."
"You know he is. But I still can't let you up big boy. Not unless you're let in by a resident."
"How do you know i'm not a resident?"
"I... can tell."
"What's your name?"
"Hollis."
"Fuck you, Hollis." Lonnie said forcefully before passing the guard desk and making his way to the elevators. He put in the code for Cole's personal entrance and stepped on the elevator unbothered by the Security officer.