Visibly shaken, Paula stretched out her arm. "Please stop it! I can’t take it anymore," Paula cried. "I don’t want to hear this mess. It ain’t nothing but the devil. Pure devil at work," she used both hands to cover her ears and started crying.
Cricket walked to the bathroom and came back with tissue. "Are you okay?" she asked as she gave Paula the wad of toilet paper.
In between sobs, Paula nodded, but didn’t say another word. She accepted the tissue.
Persha looked at Kelsa and said, "Okay, you’ve done enough. Can you leave now? I hope you feel good about upsetting my mother."
Extending one finger, Kelsa stepped closer to the bed and replied, "Oh, baby, I’m far from done. After I take this maid for everything he’s got, which ain’t much. I’m bringing you and his lover boy over there down right along with him. When you fuck another woman’s husband, you should expect to pay the price!" She looked at Antwone. "And that goes for you too. While this one ain’t got nothing more than the shirt on his back, I know you stand to lose a lot. I sure hope the booty was worth it." Persha’s eyes bulged. Kelsa looked between Persha and Clarke. She snickered. "Oh, girl! Don’t even tell me you didn’t know! Yeah, I was like that at first too when I found out. Yeah, Michelle has the proof, trust. It’s true, Clarke here likes boys too. Isn’t that right Michelle?"
Antwone’s wife looked at her husband and shook her head. "I was such a fool for you," Michelle said to Antwone. I had no idea. And who knows just how long this has been going on?"
Finding all of this too hard to swallow, Persha closed her eyes. "Clarke, you’re gay?" she asked, her shaky voice barely above a whisper.
"Hell Nah. We ain’t gay!" Clarke and Antwone snapped in unison.
Persha looked at the two handsome men standing in
front of her. How could she have known? There were no signs, or maybe there were but she chose to ignore them.
Clarke stepped forward. "Persha, we’re not gay. They got it all wrong," he pleaded. "Kelsa’s hurt. She’s trying to say whatever she can to make you leave me."
"Oh, no you didn’t!" Kelsa screamed. "Don’t make me pull out the pictures," she threatened.
"We’re not gay!" Antwone insisted.
"Well, I’ve got a tape that says otherwise," Michelle threw in. With confusion on his face, Antwone’s shook his head and asked,
"What are you talking about?"
"Well, let’s just say I’ve always looked out for my best interests. I put a security camera up in the carriage house," Michelle said. "I’ll admit when I did it at first, it was because I wanted to make sure no other woman was gonna be all up in my house. But never did I suspect I had to worry about another man! What do they call it, brothas on the DL?" She shook her head in disgust. "Oh, It’s been up and running, taping everything you two did back there. I finally got the heart to look at it after Kelsa told me what Clarke had done right under her own damn nose!"
"Girl, wasn’t that some skank shit?" Menesha added.
Antwone was speechless. Clarke looked sorrowful.
"We’re not gay," Antwone insisted. And as if to prove his point, Antwone offered, "You’ve never seen us actually having sex have you? Think about it. Check all the tapes you want. We were never humping each other." He turned to Clarke. "Were we?"
"I don’t hump men!" Clarke insisted.
Kelsa threw her hands into the air and said, "Well, damn, okay. So we’re getting technical here. If you only give each other head, you’re not really gay? Phhuuuleeeese! Get real!" Kelsa looked at Persha. "He’s all yours, girlfriend. And I really hope he’s worth it because all three of you," she pointed her finger among Persha, Antwone, and Clarke, "You will be real sorry by the time I’m through taking each of you for every worthless thing you have. I’ll make all of you sorry you ever crossed me."
As if on cue, Kelsa and her friends turned and sauntered out of Persha’s hospital room.
"Ah, Persha?" Clarke said as he eased up to her bed, which was the closest he’d gotten since arriving at the hospital.
Her eyes narrowed as she looked at him. She didn’t feel the urge to cry. The strength she had prayed for to deal with this situation had finally arrived.
Before he could say anything else, she cut him off.
"I don’t care whether you’re gay," Persha said. "I don’t care what you did or did not do with Antwone or anyone else. I love you."
Paula gasped. Cricket threw her hands up and Kori frowned. Persha briefly looked in their direction and then turned back to address Clarke.
"But loving you has caused me so much pain, misery and shame I don’t know if I’m coming or going," Persha stated. "I don’t know who I am anymore. You’ve sucked up every inch of self-respect, self-confidence and even self-pride I’ve had. I’m exasperated. I don’t have anything else to give you."
"But Persha," Clarke cried.
She shook her head. "No, I need to finish this. The thought of being with you is no longer soothing to my soul. I don’t know who or even what I’ve become. Again, you took me through this once before, and like a fool longing for pain and abuse, I walked right back into your trap. I’m tired. And I have to be strong for that beautiful little boy of ours. I want you." She put up a finger. "No actually, I need you to leave. Right now!" Clarke stood there for a few minutes. "I mean it, and take him with you!" She nodded toward Antwone.
As they walked toward the door, Kori, Cricket and Paula stood and started clapping.
"You’ll be just fine, baby," Paula said.
When Clarke extended his arm to reach for the handle, the door swung open, pushing him back and nearly into Antwone. Clarke Sr. stepped in.
"Sorry, son, I was held up on a business call," Clarke Sr. said.
At the sound of the loud gasp, everyone turned toward Paula. She went still. "Sweet Jesus! Be still my heart," she uttered before collapsing to the floor like a lifeless doll.
***
When Clarke saw Persha’s mother sprawled out on the floor like that, his first instinct was to break out into laughter. That’s what the old hag gets, he thought. He tapped his father on his shoulder.
"C’mon pops, let’s get outta here!" Clarke said as he turned ready to leave.
"Boy, are you crazy? We’re not leaving!" Clarke Sr. said. "This woman could need help." He rushed over to where Paula was lying on the floor.
When he finally was able to look down on the floor, he jumped back. "Shit!" he screamed, clutching his chest as he feverishly tried to make his way to the door.
"Pop! Wait, man, whassup? What’s wrong?" Clarke said as he ran to catch up with his father.
Down the hall, near the bank of elevators, Clarke Sr. moved pacing back and forth. "I’ve got to get out of here!" he said.
"Whoa! Pop, slow down, man. What’s going on? What happened back there?"
Still pacing back and forth, Clarke Sr. took his stare up to the numbers atop the elevator doors. It was like he never heard his son. Unsure of what to do, Clarke stood there trying to figure out what went wrong in the room. He went over it again and again in his mind. By now Antwone caught up with them.
"Is everything okay?" he asked, still holding the papers in his hands. He knew they’d never get to the conversation he and Clarke needed to have.
"Pop! Man, talk to me," Clarke demanded.
Just when the elevator cab pulled up, Clarke Sr. turned to Clarke. He held the door open then said, "You don’t understand. That woman back there… that’s the one I was telling you about earlier. We had an affair years ago. I didn’t think I’d ever see her again."
"Yeah, but man, that’s water under the bridge. You even told me yourself. You said you cut things off and you never saw her again."
"Son, I never saw her again, but I didn’t tell you that when I met with her that final time to say I was choosing you and your mother, she confessed to me that she was pregnant. Then about a year later, she sends this letter, giving me an update about her daughter. I burned that letter, hoping, thinking it wasn’t my problem. Messing around with Paula had caused me much more than I wanted to think about. But the point is, I never tried to find out. When your mother took me back, I just wanted to move on with my life. We moved and I never saw her, nor heard from her again."
Clarke moved back! "Wait man!" His head started pounding and spinning at the same time. "What are you trying to tell me? What are you saying?"
"All I’m saying right now is, I need some air. I need to get out of here and breathe."
With horror plastered across his face, Clarke looked toward the room down the hall, then back at his father standing inside the elevator. What the fuck! What the hell? he thought. This made no sense to him. Turning back toward the room, he stood there. When the elevator bell rang, Clarke turned back to see the doors closing. Before the doors closed, he saw tears running down his father’s cheeks.
Antwone, put his arm on Clarke’s shoulder and said, "You all right man?" he asked Clarke. "Let’s get out of here."
Clarke pulled himself away. "Do you know what this means?" he asked Antwone.
Antwone answered by nodding. "That’s why I’m saying we need to get out of here. You need some air too."
"You mean to tell me that all this time I’ve been fucking my own damn sister? And now, now we have this child together?" He slammed his fist into the wall, turning every head nearby.
Consequences
Moments after Paula came to and was helped up off the floor, she was still trying to catch her breath. She knew her day had come. Suddenly the room felt as though it was closing in on her.
"Ma! You had me so scared," Persha said. "What was that all about? One minute you guys are cheering on my courage, the next we’re calling a nurse for you."
Paula walked up to Persha’s bed. Looking down at her daughter, she struggled to steady her voice. She trembled as she spoke.
"I have so much to tell you. I don’t even know where to start," Paula said, swallowing back tears.
Unsure if she really wanted to hear another dark secret, Persha closed her eyes. When she opened them, she looked at her mother and struggled to remember a time when she’d ever seen her so distraught.
"Whatever it is, Ma, can we just make it short and sweet. Do you really think I can handle another thing, considering all I’ve already been through today?"
"I know, I know, and this is my fault. I needed to tell you this so very long ago, baby. And as God is my witness, the only reason I did what I did was to protect you. I didn’t want you to go through what I had been through. I only wanted better for you."
Persha sighed. "What is it, Ma? I’m sure it can’t be any worse than what I’ve already heard."
Paula looked down at the sheet. "Well, that man, Clarke Hudson Sr., he’s your father. I know I told you your father was dead, but I lied. I lied, baby. It’s just that simple."
With her face twisted and frowning, Persha started to cry. She began clutching toward her stomach and grabbing the sheet and her gown.
"OMIGOD! What?" She felt the bile moving around in the pit of her sore belly.
"When I heard him refer to Clarke as son, I don’t know what happened, I lost it." Paula started crying. "I’m so sorry. If I had a thousand tongues, I wouldn’t be able to say those words enough to you. I’ve ruined your life," she sobbed.
The cold stare across Persha’s face lingered as her mother cried. She didn’t know why she was being punished. Of all the men, gay men at that, in the city of Houston, more than four million people to be exact, why did she have to run into her own damn brother? This started way back in Arizona. How could the sickness have followed her here?
Persha shook her head, with snot running from her nose and her eyes burning from the tears that wouldn’t stop rolling, she sat defeated and slumping.
Cricket and Kori rushed to her bedside.
"Persha, this is not your fault! How could you have known? You can’t blame yourself," Cricket said.
Kori didn’t say anything. She stood there hoping her presence showed just how much she really cared. She didn’t know what she could possibly say.
Cricket turned to Paula. "It seems like you two have tons to talk about. We’re going to step outside. Maybe we’ll see the doctor and ask about the baby."
Putting her hand up to her mouth as the word ‘baby’ spilled from her lips, Cricket quickly left the room. Kori couldn’t move. She was so sickened by the mere thought that Persha had slept with her own brother and didn’t even know it. Soon, she ducked out too.
Alone in the room with her daughter, Paula didn’t know if she should try to explain or allow the horrid mess to sink in.
"What can I do?" Paula mumbled. "You tell me and I’ll fix this. What can I do?"
Still… nothing from Persha.
Suddenly, Clarke burst back into the room.
"We tried to stop him," Cricket said, standing at
the door behind him.
"How could you let some shit like this happen?" Clarke tossed his words toward Paula. "This is some sick and twisted shit!"
"I don’t know what to say," Paula countered.
"What else is there for you to say?" Clarke said. "I guess that means it’s true. You’re the ho who fucked my father and tried to tear up my folk’s marriage."
Still crying, Paula barely blinked at his insults. There was nothing he could say to her that she hadn’t already said to herself. She was embarrassed, felt like a hypocrite and any other demeaning words she could think of.
"Your verbal abuse isn’t helping this situation," Persha finally found her voice to say. She focused in on Clarke. "I don’t know what to tell you. I don’t know how we’re gonna get through this, but attacking my mother isn’t helping. Why don’t you leave?" She didn’t have any more tears left. Her heart felt heavy and tired.
"You’re so stupid," he spat at Persha. "I didn’t want you to begin with. When you saw my father, why didn’t you put two and two together? My pops told me all about your mother. How she couldn’t keep her hands off him, she wouldn’t leave him alone. First his brother, then when that didn’t work, she zeroed in on my pops. Even after he told her that he wanted us! He wanted his family, not you!" He was in Paula’s face, pointing at her. "But no! That wasn’t good enough for you! You stalked him, even followed him to the city we lived in and still kept calling. What’s wrong with women like you? Why can’t you just keep your fucking legs closed?"