The Other Children of God: The Alley Cats Read online

  Sally

  “Shit,” Sally said as she woke up to the screeching alarm clock. It was 6:30 a.m. and time to get up for work. She looked over at Mad Dan and rolled her eyes as he slept like a big snoring baby, not fazed one bit by the droning of the clock. It was always at this time of the day when she would evaluate why she was with him, never coming to any conclusion that she would act upon.

  Sally got up to turn off the clock because letting it drone on was not having the desired effect. If it bothered him she sure couldn’t tell. She didn’t have to be at work until 9:00 a.m. but she had to get up early to make it to work on time. She worked at a furniture store near Summerville S.C. and making it there on the bus from downtown Charleston was a bit of a hike.

  “I need a car, I’m tired of havin’ ta git up this early every mornin’ to make it on this piece ah shit job,” she said loudly as she started the shower. “Maybe if I had some help I wooden have ta struggle so hard!” Mad Dan seemed to be sleeping soundly though he shifted a bit.

  “Bunch ah sorry bahine dudes in this town…”

  “Look bitch!” Mad Dan barked as he jumped naked from the bed, “I’m tired ah dis same shit every mornin’, you tryin’ to start wid me. If you doe want me here I can get the hell on. Talkin’ ‘bout you ain’t got no help. Let me see da man who go sit ‘round here and watch six churn while you go ta work!”

  “Dais othah people who could watch the churn while you and me go ta work,” Sally rebutted with her hands on her hips.

  “Well I tell you what, you can just get dem othah people right now, I’m outta here,” he said as he picked his underwear up off of the floor. Sally panicked, she could hardly afford to take any more days off from work and Mad Dan knew that. She really needed her job because after her arrest two years ago for selling dope she was kicked off of City Housing. That meant that she was no longer qualified for any type of housing assistance, at least not in this town. Trying to house and clothe six children without the housing assistance she had been receiving was hell. She didn’t have to pay for food for the most part because of food stamps, but at the end of the month some cash would have to be spent.

  Before Mad Dad could put his foot through the other leg hole of his underwear Sally was on the floor with her arms wrapped around his leg. “No Daddy, please I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it,” she said as she kissed him on his leg, then on his thigh, then on to what he called the promised land. He fell back on the bed as her head bobbed up and down on his penis. He groaned and she stroked and sucked until he reached his climax and swallowed what she called his milk and honey.

  The shower was still running so they both got in together and had wild jungle sex, then miraculously everything was all right again. She was right back where she started, getting ready to go work while her trifling ass man stayed at home and “watched” the kids.

  Creola

  “Doozy choose alley? Humph! What kinda name is that foe ah place ta live?” Nellie said with her hands on her hips and her head cocked to the side when Creola, her daughter, told her where they were about to move.

  “What difference do it make Mama, it’s a place ta live, and right now dat’s what mattas,” Creola said in an exasperated tone. “If you have any place bettah in mind, now would be a good time ta say so. We doe have much money and we gotta be outta here by the middle ah nex week. Just in case you didn’t know today is Friday.”

  “Well you doe have to be sich a smart-ass ‘bout it,” Nellie said as she turned to lay back on the couch and continue watching her favorite soap.

  Creola was feeling pretty pissed off as it was after being out all morning in ninety-degree weather looking for a place to live while her mom laid around smoking cigarettes, drinking beer, and watching t.v. Then she had the nerve to complain about where they were going to have to move.

  In all honesty Cre wasn’t looking forward to moving in the alley either, but it was the only place that her pockets said that they could go and she was still short. The name of the street where she and her mother were headed was McGuire’s Lot, but Do as You Choose Alley was what it was called. The name fit because anything goes in that particular part of town. If you asked someone in town where McGuire’s Lot was located one in ten people may be able to direct you, but if you asked where Do as You Choose Alley was ten of the ten could point you in the right direction. Every and anything illicit that one wanted could be found in Do as You Choose Alley, and if by chance it wasn’t there it could be found, for a small fee of course.

  It wasn’t that Cre was a stranger to the alley, she just didn’t want to live there. She would go there at least four to five days a week after work to get coke, weed, or both. She worked at different odd jobs, hotel maid, restaurant worker and things of the sort just to keep a roof over she and Nellie’s head and food in their mouths and of course to get her shit. Cre wondered when their roles had reversed, when and how did she become the caretaker. That’s how it’s been for years, but she was certainly ready for a change.

  She thinks that the transformation occurred when she started messin’ with hustlers, big ballers, as they called them. The guys with the fat pockets. When she was thirteen Big Paulie was her man. He was twenty-three years old with an ego the size of Jupiter. He was the big man on the block with everything, as far as the most popular street pharmaceuticals were concerned. He had cocaine, heroin, and weed. He set his eyes on Cre because of her light skin and long hair. She had a cute shape, but she had the face of one of those full breed dogs, the name of the particular pedigree escapes me at the time.

  Things got pretty easy on Nellie and Cre when Big Paulie crash-landed into their lives. He took over every bill from the rent to school clothes for Cre. I guess this must have been in exchange for not going to jail for being a pedophile. He ain did nuthin' but basically pay Nellie fa me, Cre thought as she reminisced on how she became Nellie’s mama. But Cre wasn’t complaining either back in those days because she got all of the desires of her heart. Besides, she liked screwing, that’s what her mama called it, and she liked the way he screwed her. As far as she was concerned she was in love. And of course she was the queen of the town, being Big Paulie’s old lady and all.

  Nellie was gone from the house most days now, but not to go to work at the South Battery for the judge and his wife. She was off playing bingo and joker poker with money supplied by Big Paulie of course. He all but told her that she didn’t have to work anymore. Yeah…life couldn’t be any better for her or for Nellie. They were both dressed well, eating well, and for once all of the bills were paid. The bills weren’t much because of the run down place they were living in, but that wasn’t to be for long. Big Paulie moved them on up and out.

  “Creola, git me ah glass ah watah!” Nellie yelled from the other room pulling Cre out of her thoughts and into reality.

  Peaches

  Peaches woke up in a chair at Miss Eva’s house which happened ever so often so she wasn’t startled by her environment.

  “Good mownin’,” Miss Eva said taking a sip of her coffee as she watched Peaches stir. “Mornin’ Miss Eva, what time is it?” Peaches said as she wiped her eyes.

  “It’s a quarta ta eight. You want some coffee and suppin’ ta eat? I got some grits, bacon, and eggs ova dere on the stove.”

  “I can’t eat this early Miss Eva, but I do need some coffee. After last night, my head is spinnin’.”

  “Afta all lat Gin you drink in heah las night, playin’ strip pokah what duh hell you expeck,” Miss Eva said laughing as she took a puff off of her cigarette.”

  “Yeah, but obviously I won the game ‘cuz I’m sittin’ here fully dressed and with a pocket full ah money.”
br />   “From where I’m sittin’ lookin’ at you, I don’t know if winnin’ is the word I’d use chile.”

  “Yeah, I hear ya Miss Eva, but from where I’m sittin’ lookin’ at my pockets I’d sure say that I’m a winna,” Peaches said as she counted her money.

  “Well,” Miss Eva said, “if youse a winna dat mean eyes ah winna, lemme have my cut please.”

  “I know Miss Eva, I know,” Peaches said as she passed Miss Eva her cut and sat down to drink her coffee. Miss Eva counted the money and looked up over the top of her glasses at the young woman. “What de hell is dis?” she said.

  “Whatchu mean Miss Eva?” Peaches said truly perplexed.

  Miss Eva reached over from her seat to the drawer of the bureau that served as a bar at night. She reached in and grabbed her calculator. “Les see you win de pot in de strip pokah game which wuz five hunded, fifty ah dat is mine, and you been upstaize foe time, forty ah dat is mine, and you git two half pints ah gin before de game stahted das six dollahs, all toll dats ninety-six dollahs you owe me. Dis ain’t but eighty dollahs.”

  “Oh yeah, I forgot ‘bout the Gin and ‘bout Lawrence. Here you go,” Peaches said as she passed Miss Eva sixteen more dollars.

  “Thank ya Ma’am,” Miss Eva said as she stuffed the wad of money in a brown paper bag and put it in the bureau. “You know speakin’ ah Law’ence, Minny come by heah wit de baby fo day dis mownin’ lookin’ fuh him,” Miss Eva said looking at Peaches for a response. After a brief moment Peaches looked up after taking a sip of her coffee to find Miss Eva’s eyes on her. With raised eyebrows she looked at Miss Eva and said, “And?”

  “Well…and nuttin’, I was just sayin’…”

  “Just sayin’ what Miss Eva?”

  “I dunno I jis fine it hard ta lie ta dat sweet chile…”

  “Then don’t!” Peaches interjected. “Maybe next time you should just invite her in and tell that sweet chile that he in the bedroom right next to the bathroom gittin’ his dick suck and face sit on, how ‘bout dat Miss Eva?”

  “Well I wouldn’t go dat far, but I jis feel sorry fuh de girl and dem chiren, not havin’ enough ta eat and gettin’ beat the way she…”

  “Well, what the hell I got to do wit dat Miss Eva? And furthermore if you feel so sorry for her maybe you shouldn’t let her husband come heah and spend his money the way he do on Gin, cards, and me.”

  “You always got some smart ass ansa fa somebody, you need ta start thinkin’ ‘bout some ah de thangs you say and do befoe…”

  “Miss Eva, no disrespeck, but you need to sweep up in front ah yo own doe befoe you start sweepin’ in front ah mine.” With that Peaches got up to leave, “I’ll see ya later tanight Miss Eva, you have a good mornin’.” She chuckled as she walked out the door knowing that she left Miss Eva pissed off. She felt that little tongue-lashing was exactly what Miss Eva deserved sitting in judgement of the whore who worked in her whorehouse. “That’s like the tricks that fuck me and call me a ho,” Peaches mumbled as she walked along. “Now I have to deal wit dis shit,” Peaches said as she approached her front door. She lived less than a minute from Miss Eva’s. Peaches knocked hard on the door knowing that her mother was going to take her sweet time answering it. Another one sittin’ high ‘n mighty on the throne ah judgement, Peaches thought.

  Eula Mae answered the door with her usual stony mask. She looked at Peaches from her head to her feet with a look of disgust before moving out of the way so she could enter.

  “Good mornin’ to you too Mama,” she said as she sauntered by. I bet when I give her dis fifty-dollars that’ll put a crook on her lips, she thought.

  “Are the kids up Mama?” Peaches asked without looking back at her mother.

  “If you been heah like a mama should be den you’d know,” Eula Mae snapped.

  Peaches didn’t respond, she rarely talked back to her mother, she merely passed her mother the fifty-dollars as she turned to open the door to her children’s room. She smiled at them as they slept. She loved them. Even though she still had a hangover and a headache, she could hardly wait until they woke up so she could see what they wanted to do for the rest of the day.

  Mindella

  Minny sat at the emergency room for four hours with three cranky children. It was 4:00 a.m. when Lawrence Jr., Lenny for short, woke up crying. That was a rarity because he’d been sleeping through the night practically since birth. She rushed over to his crib trying to get to him before he woke Cassie and Maya up. She took Lenny back to her room, “What’s the matta little baby?” She said to him as she stroked his head. “Oh my God, you’re burning up.”

  She ran across the street to Miss Eva’s house and banged on the door. “Miss Eva, I don’t mean to bother you at this time of the morning, but I’m lookin’ for Lawrence, is he here?” Miss Eva’s eyes shifted from her to the baby, “Er, ah, no I ain’t seen ‘em.” Minny knew Miss Eva was lying.

  “Well, Miss Eva, Lenny is sick and I really need to take him to the Emergency Room and I’m gonna have to take the other kids with me too. I hate to ask you this Miss Eva, but could you lend me a few dollars so I could take a cab down there and back home?” “Ain’t no problem what so evah chile, hole on I’ll be right back.” Miss Eva closed the door some, but you could still hear cards slapping on the table in the background and men talking shit. “Man a queen, get that bitch off the table! Here it is! The big man is back!” Minny recognized the voice but she couldn’t put a face to it.

  Miss Eva came back to the door with twenty-five dollars. “Here chile, dis’ll be enough to get dem chiren suppin’ to eat while you wait, ‘cuz you know you might be in fah jis dat. A wait...ah long one. Lemme know suppin’ when you git back.”

  “Yes Ma’am, and thank you Miss Eva.”

  “You welcome chile,” Miss Eva said as she closed the door. “Dat damn Law’ence is a sorry son of a bitch,” she mumbled under her breath as she sat down on the couch. She felt bad but what was she to do, tell Minny to hold on while she went upstairs to get him. “Okay fellas I’m go shut it down in ‘bout thirty moe minutes,” Miss Eva said feeling every bit of her 65 years.

  Minny had every one up and out by 4:30 a.m. and they were back home by 9:00 a.m. Turns out that Lenny had an ear infection. Minny was tired as hell but she sure couldn’t just go and lay down; what would she do with the kids? Cassie is ten years old, Maya is three, and Lenny is ten months old, which meant no rest for the weary. She was at least grateful that they were fed and that Lenny was asleep. They ate at the hospital cafeteria thanks to Miss Eva.

  “Cassie, I’ll be right back, I’m gonna go to Miss Eva’s for a minute and thank her.”

  “Mama, I wanna go too,” Cassie said looking sad.

  “Baby I’m goin’ right across the street, I’ll be right back, I need you to keep an eye on Lenny.”

  “Man Mama, I…”

  “Just come on Cassie. Maya come on Baby.” Minny picked Maya up and they headed across the street. Cassie was elated to go outside even if it was just to go across the street. They were never allowed to go outside without Minny. So if Minny didn’t go outside, nobody went outside. Minny knocked on the door, “Miss Eva,” she called out.

  “Yeah Baby, I’m comin’.” Minny could hear Miss Eva’s bedroom shoes slide across the wooden floors. “How’s dat baby chile?”

  “He’s sleeping right now, turns out that he’s got an ear infection. I just wanna thank you again Miss Eva.”

  “Ain’t no problem chile. I seed Law’ence on his way ta work dis mownin’ and he paid me back. So don’t worry ‘bout nothin’. You jes take care ah dem chiren.”

  “Yes Ma’am, I got to get back over here to the baby now, so I’ll see you later,” Minnie said as she turned to leave. I wonder who this gray haired bitch thinks she’s talkin’ to, Minnie thought. She saw Lawrence on the way to work this mornin’, like I dunno Lawrence was in her house this morning fuckin’ one of her whores, that damned Peaches more ‘n likely. Just then she looked to the lef
t and noticed Peaches sitting on the steps of her mother’s house.

  “Hi Peaches,” Minny said. Peaches just looked at Minny and nodded.

  “Ole whorin’ bitch,” Minny said under her breath.

  “Ole phony bitch,” Peaches said under hers.

  Creola

  “Sometimes I really hate that bitch,” Cre mumbled as she walked to the kitchen to get Nellie some water. She actually had to pass by Nellie to get to the kitchen.

  “You plannin’ to cook suppin’ for dinner?” Nellie said as Cre passed her the water.

  “Seems to me Mama that you kin at least do dat,” Cre said with an emphasis placed on Mama.

  “Whatchu mean the least I could do. I already done the least I kin do when I brought you heah. You always been an ungrateful little bitch. Who you think took care ah you all these years?”

  “Not you!” Cre said yelling to the top of her voice. “Yeah you brought me heah but das all you did. You stopped takin’ care ah me a long time ago lady. As a matter of the fack I can’t remember you takin’ care ah me. All I can remember is me takin’ care ah you. We been livin’ off ah dis,” she cupped her hands around her vagina, “since I was raped all those years ago, by your fuckin’ friends.”

  Nellie choked on the water and found it hard to catch her breath. She wasn’t used to Cre cursing her it’s true, but to bring up the rape and the fact that her friends did it was too much to bear. They never ever talked about it. As a matter of the fact Nellie thought or hoped that she had forgotten about it, or somehow never put it together that they were her friends. Didn’t she think that they were just bad men who came to play cards? Not her friends!

  The choking didn’t faze Cre one bit, she stayed right where she stood and waited, infuriated by being called an ungrateful bitch.

  “What kinda way is that to talk ta me, you…”