“What are you talking about?”
She stood and shoved me against the counter.
“Where did you get that bag of money? Are you selling drugs? You better not be selling?—”
“Ma, calm down. I’m not selling drugs. You know I would never do that shit.”
“Where did the money come from? Who did you rob?”
I wanted to ask her what she was doing in my room, but I knew better. I was grown as hell, damn near a foot and a half taller than my mother, and paid the majority of the bills in this house, but she would knock my ass out in a heartbeat.
She figured out a long time ago how I got most of my money. When I was in high school, she was doing laundry and puttingmy clothes away. She came across a bag with a nice amount of cash, a black jogging suit, a black ski mask, black sneakers, and black gloves.
As soon as I walked into the house after school, she was on my ass and wouldn’t let up until I told her the truth. She was pissed, but she didn’t turn the money down when I gave it to her to buy groceries or pay bills.
Dawn Noble worked as a night janitor at a hospital. She made a decent wage, but had a hard time making ends meet because she didn’t want us living in the hood. Although she managed to keep us out of what some deemed the worst neighborhoods in the city, we still lived in an area that was just below middle-class. I didn’t want her working two or three jobs to feed us and keep a roof over our heads, so I did what I thought I needed to do.
My father was serving a life sentence for murdering his wife, who my mother knew nothing about until he was arrested, so he was no help. Ramina’s father was killed in a botched robbery when she was three years old.
“Don’t worry about it, Ma. Nobody knows it was me, so we’re safe.”
“Ro, you’ve been doing this for years. While I appreciate what you do for our family and our neighbors, your luck is gonna run out one of these days. Seymour didn’t think it would happen to him, and we both know how that story ended.”
Seymour was Ramina’s father. My mother had a thing for bad boys back then and was stuck raising their children alone.
“Why would you put that negativity out there? Seymour was an idiot. I’m good at what I do.”
“You’re good at fixing cars too. Can you focus on that and stop taking what doesn’t belong to you?”
“The people I take from are poisoning the community. They deserved to be robbed. Plus, it’s not like I’m tricking off themoney. I’m using it to help you pay bills and help the very people they’re poisoning.”
She sighed with worry. “I agree that they’re bad people and deserve no good, and I like that you use it to help others, including us, but every time you take their money, you’re putting yourself in danger. Plus, there was a lot of money in that bag, and someone will be held accountable for it missing. I don’t want it to be you.”
“It won’t be, Ma. Do you want to go to breakfast, or not?”
She hesitated but eventually agreed. I thought that conversation was over because she didn’t bring it up on the ride to her favorite breakfast spot. After we were seated and had ordered our food, my luck ran out.
“Your uncle David wants you to come and work at his shop,” she said as if we’d been talking about him.
“Uncle David lives in Onyx City.”
“I’m aware of that, Son. You could move there and work in his shop. He’s retiring in a few years and needs someone to take over.”
“Well, maybe when he retires I’ll consider it, but I have no interest in moving.”
“Son—”
“Ma, I don’t want to go back and forth with you. Can we just enjoy a nice breakfast together?”
“Fine.”
“Thank you.”
The mood was a little tense until our food arrived. Thankfully, once we began eating, we were able to enjoy a nice breakfast.
This morning,I had to go into work for a last-minute professional development. It was the middle of July, and I still had a few weeks before I had to report to work, which made having to go in today even worse. How dare they force us to come in during our much-needed summer break? I didn’t care if they were paying us.
I dressed in a blue sundress, flat white sandals, and of course, my denim jacket, as it was sure to be freezing in the building. After parking as close as I could to the main entrance, I gathered my things and headed inside.
