TWELVE DAYS OF REIGN

A CERTAIN JOHN

A dark blue pickup truck pulled up to my corner two in the morning. I chucked my cigarette away and approached the truck. The window came down.
    "Hey baby," I forced a smile on my face as the customer turned his head towards me,    "Looking for a good—"
    My smile faded like morning fog. The breath left my lungs and I instantly opened my purse to get my utility lighter, stepping away from the truck. The man got out and was walking around the front of his vehicle. I quickly kicked my heels off and ran but his long legs caught up with me and snatched me up, walking me to the alley on the dark side of the dumpster.
    I pressed the button on my utility lighter but he snatched it out of my hand and flung it in the darkness.
    "No! Wait!" I called as he shoved me against the brick wall, "Help!"
    "Shut up, Reign!"
    The back of his hand came across my jaw. My head snapped to the side. My teeth cut into the inside of my cheek at the blow. The taste of blood filled my mouth. He gripped my chin, forcing me to face him.
    "Reuben."
    "What the hell are you doing with my father, Reign."
    "I didn't know the preacher was your father," I confessed. "I swear it. How could I know? He's black for Pete's sake!"
    Reuben's blue eyes hardened like stone.
     "Is it my fault I look as white as my mother?"
    "No, I didn't mean anything by it, Reuben."
    He fell silent for a moment. "Did you tell him about us? About me?"
    "No," I shook my head. "Of course not. You're just another John to me."
    His back straightened and looked down at me. His eyes lowered on my mouth. I flinched as his hand lifted to my face again.
    "Easy Reign," he said thumbing away a trickle of blood that oozed from the corner of my mouth. "I believe you. The one thing I know that you are is honest. So, I believe you. I'm sorry for letting my anger get the best of me. I just—didn't expect to see you, of all people, come into my father's hospital room."
    His hand trailed down to my shoulders and began sliding my jacket off my arms.
    "My father's been a lonely old man for years. I can't imagine him sleeping with you, even as your husband. You being a whore and all. It just doesn't seem like he would be that desperate."
    I didn't say anything, but it was obvious, Reuben knew his father well. We were legally married, with papers and all, but the preacher never laid a hand on me. Why would he? Just like Reuben said, I was a whore.
    "You're so beautiful," he whispered on a breath. He dug in his pocket, got his wallet out and handed me everything he had in it before returning his wallet to his back pocket. I glanced down at the bundle of money. The stack was in hundred-dollar bills. More money than I had made in two full weeks. He dug in my purse for me and took out a condom, knowing well I never slept with a John without one. He unzipped his pants, turned me around to face the wall, and took me.

______________

True to his word, Joseph was there to get me early in the morning. He had even come with a cup of coffee knowing I had been on the corner all night, but my busted lip did not go unnoticed.
    "Who did that to you?" Joseph asked as we walked to the elevators.
    "A John," I answered. "It's nothing."
    Joseph left it alone as we rode the elevator up to the preacher's floor. We went into the room.
    "Hi, Dad!" Joseph greeted.
    "Hi, Jo! Good to see you son."
    "I brought someone with me," Joseph stepped aside.
    The preacher's lips curved upward. The golden specks in his eyes whirled at the sight of me.
    "Reign! What's your tonic?"
    "Childless old men," I smirked. "They give me less stress."
    He laughed.
    "Can't win them all."
    He patted the side of his bed for me to sit down but just as I went to comply a hand gathered under my arm and spun me around. The small cup of coffee I had slipped from my fingertips and splattered on the floor.
    Benjamin!
    "What are you doing here?" he asked red faced. His blue eyes burned into my very soul. His grip was as stern as the keeper of death itself. Any moment I knew my spirit would be ferried into the underworld.
    "Didn't my sister tell you not to come here again?" he shouted.
    I stammered. "I—I was asked to—"
    "Get your hands off my wife, boy!" The preacher's voice boomed like thunder, making my eyes widen. I had never heard the preacher shout before. I didn't know he could. Before I could blink Joseph yanked my arm out of Benjamin's grasp and shoved him backward. I stumbled into the edge of the bed at the inertia. Joseph was shouting and pushing his baby brother all the way out of the room and shut the door. I could hear them both arguing in the hallway over me.
    I sighed inwardly. Coming there was a mistake.
    "I'm sorry my son did that," the preacher's hand fell on my arm bringing me down to the bed. "Joseph won't let that happen again."
    Joseph.
    Strangely enough, he was the only one on his father's side when it concerned me. Not that he approved, but it was his father's wish that I be there. He respected that. The preacher reached around and turned my face towards him.
    "What happened to your lip?"
    I laid my hand over his and brought it down to my lap. "It comes with the job. It's nothing."
    "Nothing?" he questioned. "The devil is a lie. I pray the Lord would cause the one who did this to you to be found out, and that—"
    "Preacher," I placed my hand over his mouth knowing full well the power of prayer, especially a dying man's prayer. It was more potent than anything I ever ran across. Besides, this was his son's doing. Surely, if he knew it was Reuben who struck me, he would take the prayer back. Besides, I was a whore. I had no worth for God to take vengeance. Not for a woman like me.
    "The John who did this to me apologized and paid me well. So, don't reign down fire and brimstone upon him, okay?"
    The preacher rested his head back on his pillow and took my hand in his.
    "Reign, I've told you, and tried to show you, you're worth more than the dollars men fling at you for a good time because you are a child of the Most High God. If you pray with a sincere heart and ask the Lord to take you away from the life you live on the streets, he will hear you, and take you away, far away from all of that because you accepted Christ as your Savior. Do you understand, Reign?"
    I nodded. "I understand."
    "Then why are you still on the streets selling yourself for nickels, when Jesus Christ paid his blood for you?"
    I pressed my lips together not able to respond. I couldn't answer him in a way that would appease him, so I stayed quiet. I had been saved for only seven weeks. I was sure that the Lord saved my soul. I felt it when it happened. I felt like I had been cleansed, reborn when I confessed my sins and let Him in my heart. But, at the end of the day, I was dropped off on my corner because, that's where I belonged, on the corner. I knew then that the Lord could save my soul from Hell, but He had no intention of saving me from my life. I was a whore after all. My mother's words were right. A whore was all I'd ever be, saved or not. Besides, it's not like the Lord would come and snatch me off the corner even if I begged Him to or take me out of the hands of a John if I prayed. The Lord wouldn't dirty His hands on the account of a woman like me.
    Joseph charged in the room huffing and puffing. His chest heaved catching his breath.
    "Reign, we have to go."
    I silently got up and followed him out of the room. Debbie, Benjamin, and Monica were there already as if they had called to meet up early in the morning to see their father. Reuben was coming down the hall towards the room.
    "I told you to stay away from my father, skank!" Debbie shouted swinging a fist towards me.
    "Debbie, stop!" Joseph screamed catching her arm before it could land on me. She scuffled with him a moment but Joseph was too strong. Shockingly enough Reuben grabbed Debbie from behind and pushed her back to the wall.
    "Stop!" he shouted. His voice/ echoed off the walls.
    "But this hooker is—"
    "I said stop, Debbie! You're making things worse." 
    Reuben turned around to find Joseph had tucked me behind himself, holding my arm. I glanced around Joseph broad shoulder to find Reuben standing in front of Debbie, blocking her from moving or even looking at me.
     "Reuben, I'm bringing her back here tomorrow morning at this time."
    "Then none of us will be here," he answered.
      "What?" Benjamin exclaimed. "You mean we're gonna let that whore—"
    "Shut your mouth, Benjamin," Reuben countered throwing up white-knuckled fists in the air at him. "I said we're not going to be here and that's what I mean. Dad is dying and his only request has been to see her. Listen, we all know Dad's not going to make it back home, so let the man have what he wants and stop arguing about it in front of him. Do you want to kill him before his time? Do you two even think before you act?"
    Reuben turned back to Joseph. "Bring her in the mornings like you planned," he ordered giving me a glance. "We won't come until noon."
      "Thanks, Reuben," Joseph said pacing to the side with my arm still in hand. He walked sideways a couple of steps more keeping me behind him, and an eye on his other two siblings until we were halfway to the elevators. Once he felt I was safe enough he let me go.
    "Are you alright?" he asked assessing me.
  "I'm fine," I countered with an arched eyebrow. "Are you alright?"
    He shrugged. "Now that Reuben's in our corner, I am."
    We took the elevator to the main floor. I followed behind him to his car. He drove me to my corner and left.
     I barely remembered what happened as I walked down the street headed to my shabby apartment. I had been up a long time and needed to shower and rest before coming back to the corner for the night. I walked into my one-bedroom apartment that was six hundred square feet. I peeled everything off and took a shower. When I closed my eyes though, all I could see was the space between Joseph's shoulders when he set me behind himself, guarding me against his family. I glanced down at my forearm where his hand was locked around it. I could still feel it. His hands were rough and calloused but he held my arm so delicately I nearly lost my breath at the touch.
    I ran the towel across my face and could not help but wonder, why?