****CHAPTER ONE****
“I would never have imagined a day in January standing on the flawless green of the V.A. Cemetery in Memphis giving a last farewell to my father of eighty years.” she thought, deeply. Dok held on strong keeping her emotions at bay, as she watched the small group around her broken. Her cousin Fish was most surprising since he was known not to have an emotional bone in his body. It must have been the guilt that finally got the best of ‘em, since he and Brooks always competed with each other, and now his competition had left him. Brooks was the last of his four siblings and survived by his only daughter.
“Thanks for coming Langston, it’s good to see you.” she smiled solemnly, giving a hug.
“No problem Dok, good to see you too. Sorry ‘bout everything.” he said, in his most southern drawl.
“Yeah…” she nodded, peering across the cemetery.
“So how are things in Chicago?”
“Cold… I flew out in a big snow storm.” she replied, making her way to the car.
“That’s Chicago alright.” he spoke, giving a nervous grin. “So are you goan be here for a while or you headed back to Chicago?” he asked curiously.
“I don’t know what more I can do here Langston, my father’s gone now. He was the only reason I had to come back down here since he and my mother divorced.” she paused. “This place doesn’t have anything else for me so I won’t be back… too many memories.”
“So how is ‘yo moma?”
“Aw Libby’s fine. She didn’t come she didn’t want to remember him this way.”
“Yeah I can understand that.” He hesitated for a second before asking something that had been on his mind all day. He felt intimidated by Dok, but admired the way she carried herself. He watched her blossom into a finely tuned, educated well spoken young woman. Her stance and the way she wore a suit demanded the attention of anyone around her and she was well respected. She wasn’t afraid to kick off her stilettos and pop the hood of a car either if the need arose. That she learned from her father.
Langston knew something she hadn’t about Brooks and has known this information for many years. The problem now was he needed to try and figure out the best way to approach the subject.
“Say, lemme ask you sumthin Dok.” he said, leaning against the car. “So what’re you gonna do ‘bout the house?”
She looked towards him a bit puzzled by his question, resting her purse on the roof of the car. “I’m flying out in the morning so it looks like I’m going to have to come back in a couple weeks to settle the affairs and clear out the house. He’s got a lot of stuff in there and I’m not ready to dig though all those memories right now.” She gave a half smile reaching for her purse. “One sadness at a time, you know what I mean?” she said, opening the car door.
“Well if you need any help just let me know.”
There was something in the way he spoke that seemed to bother her, but she tried to blow it off and pushed forward. As she turned the key in the ignition she could see Fish heading in her direction, and she didn’t want to deal with him at that moment.
“Alright I’ll keep that in mind, you take it easy Langston.” she said, driving away. “Where Dok headed?” asked Fish, nearly out of breath.
He and Langston never saw eye to eye and he gave a half hearted response. “She took off; she headed back to Chicago in the mornin.”
“In the morning… where she stayin?”
“I don’t know… she never really said, or maybe I didn’t ask.” he shrugged.
Fish thought for a moment, taking a long pause. Langston took his keys from his pocket, moving in the direction of his parked car.
Fish cut his eyes towards him. “So why did you really come today? I don’t think you have any business being here.” he spoke sharply.
“Well that’s a matter of opinion ain’t it?” Langston replied giving it right back to ‘em.
“Brooks was not ‘yo daddy and ain’t no need of you bothering that girl with ‘yo nonsense. He dead and goan now let it stay with ‘em.”
Langston held his ground and stood in front of him. “She don’t know now, but she will. I’ve already contacted my attorney.”
“‘Yo attorney huh…?” he laughed. “Now where you got money for that?”
“Don’t worry ‘bout it.”
“I’m not… cause you ain’t getting a damn thing, I’m gonna make sure of that.”
“So what’s ‘yo problem Fish huh…?”
“Problem is I never liked you. Brooks had a good life, a good marriage then he fucked around with ‘yo moma and got you. Nobody else knew about that but me and Brooks. I think Libby might know sumthin but I ain’t sure.”
“Look I’m trying to be nice here Fish.” he warned, clinching his teeth together tightly. Fish was a man of sixty-five and his body was frail from the alcohol of years past, and Langston could easily take him on without a problem, but he had a conscious. He struggled to keep his anger at bay, as Fish continued his tirade.
“Yeah I use to see you when you was a boy. Down there sneaking around lookin in the windows and shit. Just pathetic.” he lashed. His words cut into him like a knife.
Langston paused for a moment taking a deep breath before he spoke. “See I’m gonna walk away before I kill you old man.” He shot him an angry look, backing away.
“Yeah, you go on and crawl back into whatever hole you came out of, and keep it that way you hear me!” he yelled.
“You will never know what I’ve gone through or what it felt like for me growing up.” he shook.
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