Copyright ©2020 by Creole Gaudet. All rights reserved.
No part of this chronicle may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system – except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a magazine or newspaper – without permission in writing from the publisher, Creole Gaudet.
FEBRUARY 4, 2020
CHASE BANK – MACARTHUR – 3:48 p.m.
“That went easy.”
“You’re done already?”
“Yup. I have a checking and a savings account… I used the hotel address.”
“You didn’t do online banking? I wanted you to do…”
“Yeah, everything is online. They still needed an address for their records and to send my card.”
“Your debit card?”
“Yeah, I’ll receive it in a few days.”
“So, how do you feel?”
“I feel good! I’ve never had my own bank account before.” We exited, walking towards the car. “You were right. I’m now a citizen. Like… I’m going places, you know?”
“You are going places.”
“What do you want to do now?”
“Let’s just ride… Burn some gas.”
“I know where I want to go…”
“Where?”
“Let’s cruise the stroll.”
“Harry Hines?”
Sway blushed. “Yeah.”
“You’re just looking for trouble, aren’t you?”
“Maybe… Might get lucky.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I don’t know… We’ll see.”
We’d turned onto Harry Hines from Royal Lane. Sway looked across towards the Delux Inn. She stared. “That’s all over, Sway.”
“I know.” She paused, counting with her fingers. “How long has it been?”
“When I met you?”
“Yes.”
“I think it was… It had to be on the… The twenty-fifth? I know it was a Saturday. What was the last Saturday in January?”
Sway pulled her iPhone, checking the calendar. “It was…” Sway counted again. “It’s only been ten days, Andre.”
“Since we met?”
“It seems like forever.”
“Sway…”
“What, baby?”
“This is going to be embarrassing for me… I don’t remember us saying or even talking about it, but… When is your birthday?”
Sway broke into laughter. “I know, right? What the fuck? It’s November first.”
“I’m October thirty-first.”
“You’re a Halloween baby!”
“So… You only missed it by a day.”
“What year were you born?”
“Ninety-six.”
“I’m two thousand two.”
“Yo ass is barely legal.”
“Yup… You almost fucked a minor.”
“I’m six years older than you are? Damn…”
“How’s this young pussy though? You like it? Is it good?”
I laughed. “Fuck yeah, it is.”
We were approaching Walnut Hill when Sway noticed the girl walking along the sidewalk. “Ooh, Andre, slow down! Stop! I know that girl! That’s Cami!”
“She’s all busted up. Look at her.”
“I used to see her all the time.” Sway powered down her window. “Cami!”
The girl looked to Sway, then to me, then to the donked Monte Carlo resting on a flattened lot across the boulevard.
“Sway, her pimp is watching her.”
Sway pointed. Cami walked towards the direction. “Baby, pull over. I want to talk to her.”
I turned at the light, stopping at the driveway entrance of the auto parts store. Sway hurried towards her as she came close. “Cami! I almost didn’t recognize you.”
Sway lifted the jet black hair from the side of her face. “Aw, baby.” Cami’s bright green iris, swirling in a sea of red, peeked through her swollen, puffy cheek and lid. “Oh, fuck, Cami…”
“It’s okay.”
“No, it’s not. Fuck it. Come with me… Come with us, and I’ll get you off the street right now.” Sway looked to me. I nodded. “That’s my new man, Cami.”
Cami stole a look, then cut her eyes to the Monte Carlo. The pimp was now standing outside his car. “He’s going to kill me if I do, Sway.”
“He’s killing you now. You only have so many beatings in you before you’re broken. You deserve better than this. He’s shit. You’re never going to go anywhere with him. He doesn’t know how to put anything together with you.”
Cami paused. “Can you protect me?”
“Look at my man. Does he look worried about anything?”
Cami peeled me again. “No.”
“Is your pimp even coming? His coward ass is still fucking standing over there like a bitch… Let me see your phone… Unlock it… Look at that. He hasn’t even texted you. What if you were in trouble right now?”
Creole Gaudet
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