ODDS OF LOVE : SEASON 15

Episode 90

At Sista Brews cafe in Hyattsville, Maryland, just a rock's throw from the Mall At Prince George's, during the slight lunch rush , there was a fierce discussion of sorts brewing within the small kitchen between the owner / cook / head sista in charge Keisha Duncan and one of her three children.

And , Keisha didn't like it.

Nicole and Justin had been the kids she had butted heads with the most as they grew up. Nicole because she thought she knew it all like most if not all thirteen year olds in the planet. Justin when he graduated high school and went to college, the second in the Duncan family after Jeremiah to head towards the post education world. But Jamal had always been her nice easy cheerful sweet boy. Even from birth. He had been her easy baby. He had barely cried as a baby; just smiled peacefully in his crib at the world surrounding himself. Until the damn accident. That damn Dodie Angeletti had changed her son and Keisha hated that as much as she hated the rich White woman who dared to run for office.

Keisha stomped out of the kitchen with her second born son following her. She grabbed the simple black and white campaign sign that Winston Jacobs had dropped off the day before.  She usually wasn't one to get involved in politics. Most times if it wasn't a presidential election she didn't care really. But this one was personal. Van Owen was a bigot who hated single parent homes which meant he hated her home. Lazarus Jones was a grifter fool whose podcast had inspired her teen daughter to go taking hostages at the courthouse. And , Dodie Angeletti had ruined her son Jamal.......That just left Spencer Norland - Lane as the only one viable option she would support for mayor of the area she lived in. She went over to place the sign in a most prominent spot in the large front window. She would plaster this cafe with Norland -Lane's smiling face. She would knock on all her customers's and neighbors's doors. She would do text and call making all night long. She would do anything to ensure the man in the wheelchair won over the others. And , she knew that Oscar Oswell would always be by her side as she did it all. A smile hit her dark skinned face as she pictured his beloved face in her head but it slid away as she turned to face her son.

" Go to school. Why are you not in school? You have not been there since you demanded to leave the Moss Center. "

Jamal eyed his mother as she grabbed the pot of coffee and went to refill the cups at the few occupied tables they had that day.

" I told you. I'm dropping out. Wwwhy do I need ssschool ? "

Her eyes shot out darkened flames towards him as she stood with one hand on her lean hip , the other holding the coffee pot. " You're too smart for that, boy. You're the smartest of all my kids and the others smart as whips. Sometimes. You are not dropping out of anything. You are taking your behind out of here to school. You are graduating. You are going to college next fall. If you drop out what do you plan on doing with yourself? "

Jamal lifted his head defiantly. Something else different since the accident. He never had back talked or went against her before. "I don't need it. I can.... barely.... barely do mmmy wwwork now. I'm going to work here. Help you here. It's a fffamily business, isn't it?"

Then he went over to the register to ring up a customer who had just came in for the tail end of lunch.

Keisha swallowed the cuss word she dearly wanted to say as she put back the coffee pot and headed to the kitchen again. Fishing out her phone from the spacious pocket of her red and black Sista Brews cafe apron she dialed up her brother's own cell phone.

" What's up , sis ? I'm about to leave for court. Kids okay? Nic ? "

Keisha sighed. " Nic is fine. She's going to be released on Friday from the hospital in fact. I hear Luci and the cop will too. And , Justin is at college. I hope. I barely see him anymore unless he comes in to work a shift. I think he's dating some little college boy. He doesn't come home most nights lately. The problem is Jamal. What's going on with the case against that woman?"

Jeremiah stood in the hallway outside his law firm. " What's wrong with my nephew? And, we're scheduled to meet on Friday. Be there at ten. It'll be me , you , the bitch in question, her lawyer, and Jeff Kendall. Don't worry. We're going to nail her ass to the wall. She'll be in bankruptcy court before she ever wins mayor. Now what is wrong with Jamal ?"

Keisha glared at the back wall with the old gold framed picture of herself with the younger Jamal, Justin and Nicole as well as her parents and Jeremiah back when he was still Janice that hung next to the faded poster that demanded everyone wash hands. " What has been right with him since that damn accident? I ask you that. "