Possession

Tamera

1987

Jean drove up to the one story brick house, pulling up the driveway next to a green Cadillac. The cardboard box she pulled from the trunk was so wide that she almost couldn't hold it. She hobbled up the sidewalk and was attempting to press the doorbell with her elbow when the door swung open. A woman appeared, her skin the color of dark caramel. Her brown eyes widened and her face burst into an expressive smile. She simultaneously tried to hug Jean and grab the package at the same time.

"It's not heavy, it's just very large," Jean said as the woman gripped the package. Though she was not much bigger than Jean she seemed to handle the bulky object with ease.

"Let me take that off your hands," she said as she disappeared into a hallway. She felt the breeze of cool air wiping her sweat away as she entered the living room. She took her shoes off and walked barefoot across the white carpeting, questions peppering her from the other room.

"How's it going? You doin' OK down there?"

"Oh, you know," Jean said, sighing. "Things are as they are."

"Well that doesn't sound good."

Jean walked to the kitchen where a tall, bull shaped white man with a shaved head was picking through the cabinets. He smiled at her and nodded in her direction.

"How is it, Jean?"

"It's goin, Todd."

"What's the 'goin' bullshit?" said the woman from behind her. "It's goin good or bad, which is it?"

"I don't know, Tam," Jean replied. "I don't know which way it's goin."

Tam turned to Todd and motioned to the row of liquors in a glass cabinet.

"Can you make us some drinks baby? We're gonna find out which way it's goin."

They sat by the pool, three drinks in, the blazing light reflecting off the blue waters lapping at their feet. Jean felt the exhaustion draining from her. Tamera chewed on an orange slice, her large oval glasses covering half of her face. Jean leaned back in the chair and sighed into the air.

"They don't know what they're doin, Tam. They got the police up their ass and don't think anything of it."

"Hmmm," Tam said, putting the chewed orange slice on a plate. "You're right about that. You talk to what's his name again?"

"Dan? Yeah, I tried to. Again. He said that it's not going to be a problem."

"He really believes that?"

"I don't think so. He's tense as hell, but he won't say anything. He doesn't know what to do."

"He's just gonna assume the driver isn't going to say anything?"

"He says the driver doesn't know anything and it won't go far."

"And who is this driver?"

"He doesn't work for Dan."

"Oh, Christ," Tam said, finishing her drink. She took off her glasses and set them on the table. "He's hauling stolen goods across the state in this dude's own trailer with his name on it."

"I know, Tam," Jean sighed. "I know. But I can't do anything."

"Anyone call you yet?"

"Yes."

"Who?"

"Jesse."

"What'd he say?"

"They wanted to know what the fuck was going on."