Sweet Baby

One

"Happy New Year, Prince. 1991 is gonna be a good year." My friend Andre said to me on the phone. I was a little tipsy on the phone, and had been drinking since midnight, but I knew I was falling asleep. "Happy New Year, Andre. You spending time with Bernadette, still?" "You know I gotta spend time with my mama on New Year's, man. What you doing to kick off the new year? You got a girl over, or girls?" I laughed and stood up feeling wobbly. "Honestly, no. Just me and myself. I kinda wanna keep it like that all year since I got some big plans for albums." I started walking to the kitchen following the phone cord to the wall. "Well, alright brotha. You stay chill, now. Let me know if you need-" "Yeah, yeah I know. I'll talk to you soon, Andre." We ended our call and I went off to bed.

As I was laying there with the room spinning, I didn't know what this year was going to hold. A New Year was perfect for new opportunities. Unfortunately, my opportunities were a little limited with the record company I was with. I rolled over onto my back and sprawled out absolutely enjoying my large bed by myself and folded my arms behind my head. Maybe I'll meet a girl this year, one that could maybe be my forever. Who knew, it was honestly a lot to weigh on my drunken mind.

I got woken up by the phone blaring in my ear. I used my hand to feel for it and picked it up from my nightstand and answered it under my covers. "Andre, it's early." "Is this Prince Rogers Nelson?" It was a woman, and DEFINITELY wasn't my mother that was using my full name. "Um, yes? Who am I speaking with?" I asked the woman. She seems nervous, and sad. "Listen, I'm going to be honest with you, and you better not hang up because this is some serious shit. I'll keep it short and simple. Your baby's mother just died and as her sister she wanted me to let you know of this."

I never sat up so fast in my life. "Excuse me, this is a serious allegation you're-" "NO. You listen to ME. She said you might be quick to disagree with me, but I'm just doing what I'm told. She has had a ROUGH pregnancy and just passed away giving birth to your daughter." My heart was racing as I was so confused. "Who is the mother?" "Muna Gonzales, but you probably know her as Isis. She worked at Deja Vu in Minneapolis." Oh no...the Deja Vu. I threw my legs over the side of my bed. The Deja Vu was one of my favorite nightclubs because the music was good and it had beautiful women, but a girl named Isis didn't ring a bell.

"Okay, let's say this is all true. What do you expect me to do about it?" "Look, you egotistical asshole. I'm seventeen years old, my sister just died because of you getting her pregnant, and it's either this baby goes to you, or it goes to foster care tomorrow morning." She sounded very angry now. Shit, how was this possible? No, surely there's a mistake. "Okay, fine. I'll be down at...?" "Abbott, and you better be quick before my daddy gets here. She wasn't supposed to be pregnant, you know." I sighed. "I'll be down there in half an hour."

I slammed the phone down and quickly got dressed. Isis? I didn't know a girl named Isis, or Muna...or ANY Gonzales. If this was fake, I was going to sue for sure. I got into my yellow BMW and sped down to Abbott as soon as possible. I sped into the parking lot and parked before fixing my curls in the mirror and pulling my jacket close. Thankfully I had my thick white trench on over a half casual suit because it was too cold tonight

As soon as I walked into the waiting room, a doctor met with me. "Prince, we need a swab of your cheek." He said. Didn't ask how I was doing, didn't compliment me on my outfit, he just immediately wanted DNA. "What's going on?" I asked him. "It's for paternity reasons. Ms. Gonzales' demanded one as soon as you got here." I blinked quickly in disbelief. "Can I see...the girl? Or-" "Um...at this stage it's best you see her at the funeral. We're performing an autopsy on her soon. We're thinking it was an overdose of crack cocaine. Speaking of...your child is a crack baby." I was in shock. The way he said it was so brutal it almost hurt me. "Excuse me?!" The doctor took me to his room where I let him swab my cheek.