Page 7 of The Brooklyn Way
Big Red took me in with an appreciative gaze in her eyes. That was one of her things. She believed in greeting her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren with a look of love in her eyes. She believed that at the end of the day—no matter the age, status, or circumstance—every child on the face of the earth wanted their parents to look at them with love.
“Come spread some love.” She beckoned me to her.
“It’s the Brooklyn way.” I giggled my response.
Since birth, my Uncle Jeff liked to associate the lyrics of Biggie’s song “Juicy” to me and my name. Whenever he greeted me, he would tell me to come spread love because it was the Brooklyn way. My family had adopted that little habit, even Big Red.
I walked into my grandmother’s open arms. I squeezed her tightly while inhaling the familiar scent of mandarin, honeysuckle, and ruby red grapefruit. Clinique’s Happy was Big Red’s signature scent. She didn’t care that the fragrance was no longer en vogue or that there were thousands of scents that cost more and were more prestigious. She said that when she sprayed herself with her Happy perfume, it made her feel… happy. And as long as it lived up to its name, she would continue to wear it. I loved her perfume. It smelled like home, acceptance, and love to me. I was glad that every time I hugged her, she smelled exactly like herself.
“Is Vince planning to help your cousins get your things loaded into the truck?” Big Red questioned, piercing me with her light brown eyes.
She was like that. I figured it came from her being so petite. She just didn’t believe in doing anything that she could get a man to do for her. Maybe it was a sign of her generation. Maybe back then, men did stuff like that because… manners. Maybe it came from her being so pretty. Maybe men were always falling all over themselves to help her and gain her attention. Regardless of where it came from, I didn’t have the same confidence in men that she did. I didn’t see men falling all over themselves to help women out in sticky situations. The man I interacted with the most (Vince) had trained me not to ask him for stuff that I could do for myself. And I was a quick study. I rarely asked him for anything.
I tried not to roll my eyes. “Big Red, I don’t mess with Vince like that. We’re not friends… We’re reluctant roommates.”
“I wouldn’t care if you two are strangers, Brookie. You’re a woman. He needs to help you.”
“I don’t want his help. I…” Before I could even complete my sentence, she had beckoned to my cousins and started off toward my building.
I walked into the apartment while a conversation was already taking place between Vince and my grandmother. My cousins weren’t visible, so I presumed they were in my bedroom, making a game plan.
“Nah, Mrs. Waverly,” Vince was saying with a smile on his clean-shaven face, “I don’t have time to enjoy much of anything. My life is lectures, surgical observations, and surgical rotations. I barely have time for anything else.” He chuckled and looked up at the ceiling. “I have to pencil in time to spend with my girl so she won’t have an attitude with me.”
The temperature of the room turned icy at the mention of “his girl.” The three of us just stood there in awkward silence.
“I didn’t even know you were coming into town.” He finally spoke into the silence.
“I know. I know you and my Brookie don’t talk to each other ever since you took up with her former client.”
His face fell, like he was both shocked and embarrassed that my grandmother knew about the dirt he had done to me. Before he could recover, two of my cousins came from my bedroom, carrying my dresser.
“What’s happening?”
My grandmother’s expression held a frown when her gaze turned to me. “You didn’t tell this boy that you’re moving?”
I frowned back at her. “No, I did not. Where I’m from, the right hand doesn’t have to let the left hand know what it’s doing.”
His arms went up in what looked like a sign of surrender. “Wow, Brooklyn. That’s wild. You decided to move, and you didn’t even bother to let me know?”
I ignored him and his fake indignation. Pulling my grandmother away from him, I led us off to the side and out of his earshot. “I don’t know that man, Big Red. That man comes and goes like the wind, doesn’t talk to me, and never tells me his agenda. Why should I tell him anything?”
She nodded slowly. “You have a point.”
“I know I do. That man could have decided to… disappear me, unalive me, or anything. I wasn’t about to give him any hints that anything was different with our situation. He didn’t give me any heads-up when he decided that he wasn’t moving out, even though his word should have been his bond. He made a unilateral decision to keep staying here… so, I made a unilateral decision, too.
“I let the management company know that I was moving. Made sure they took my name off the lease. They did the walk-through of the apartment yesterday—told me that I’ll be getting a check for half of the security deposit in the mail… at my new address. I let the light company know, as well as the internet people. Oh yeah, I also filled out one of those little cards at the post office.” I led Big Red back over to Vince, finally speaking to him. “I’m moving today. I’ve already had my name taken off the lease. I put in a request to have my name removed from both the light and internet bills. You’re gonna need to call them to establish service in your own name.” I paused for a beat. “Now, you have the particulars. Please do with them what you will.”
Vince mugged the hell out of me before turning on his heel and leaving the room.
Big Red watched him go. “You did the right thing, Brookie. I can see why you didn’t tell him. That boy ain’t right in the head.”
I didn’t respond.
My grandmother watched Vince’s back until he disappeared into his bedroom.
She glanced at me. “You ready?”
“I’m ready.”