Kenney: Still Waters Part 2

Chapter 12

                                     *** MATURE CONTENT AHEAD ***

A few weeks later, mama still hadn't come back to get us and I could tell that Charity was hating being at Jazz's more and more. She was getting antsy and grumpy and started throwing temper tantrums all the time. She hated being inside, but Aunt Jazz wouldn't let us go outside because of Uncle Rico's business. She said she didn't want anyone to try to "use us as leverage" over him. I didn't understand what that meant and I didn't care. I was just happy that I got to spend so much time with Jazz and my uncles. There was always something going on over there. Mama's house was too quiet. And sad. The silence and the sadness over there were deafening. Even to my eight year old ears.

Every time Chauncey came around after that night at the party, Charity would disappear real quick. I never knew what happened, but it must have been really bad. Because the longer we stayed there, the more tantrums Charity would throw. Poor Aunt Jazz didn't know what to do with her. I could tell she wanted to send us home, but something was wrong with mama, so she couldn't

One day Charity threw the biggest fit that I had ever seen her throw. It started in the kitchen. I was washing the dishes like I usually did, and Aunt Jazz asked Charity to chop up the straight drop. It was on the counter, and it was just this big white thing that looked like candy - only we couldn't eat it. All she had to do was hit it with the kitchen hammer and break it into little pieces.

That's all she had to do to earn her keep.

Me and Jazz did everything else.

I didn't see what the big deal was, but all of a sudden Charity screamed "I hate this shit!" in the worst high pitched voice you could imagine, and started throwing Mason jars and pots all over the place, and then she threw the cocaine up against the wall. Me and Jazz both froze for a minute when she did that, because that was money, but Charity just kept going. She was really tearing the kitchen up.

Aunt Jazz started looking really scared when she started throwing the cocaine around, and tried to put her hand over Charity's mouth and hold her down to keep her from throwing anything else. She kept saying "Hush up! Hush up! Hush up before Rico comes in here!"

But Charity wouldn't stop and me and Jazz couldn't hold her down. All of a sudden Rico stormed in the kitchen and grabbed Charity by her neck. He yanked her away from us and pushed Jazz into the stove when she tried to stop him. I think she burned herself bad, because she screamed and immediately started running cold water on her arm.

Then Rico dragged Charity into the back room and threw her down on the floor. He took off his belt and started beating the mess out of her. He beat her so hard that bright red welts started popping up as soon as he hit her. I threw myself on top of her to keep her from getting hit anymore, but Rico threw me off like I weighed twenty pounds and got down on top of her. I started kicking him and trying to pull him off, but it was like I was a fly and he was a huge bull. He started trying to take Charity's pants off and she started kicking at him and screaming, and slapping at his hands.

"Aunt Jazz! Aunt Jazz!" I called her as loud as I could and she ran in with a towel wrapped around her arm. She grabbed Rico by the throat and jumped on his back. When Rico twisted to the side to dump Jazz off of him, Charity got out from under him and grabbed me.

Jazz jumped up and tried to grab Rico again. "Run Charity, run! He's gonna rape you!"

I didn't know what that meant, but all of a sudden Rico picked the belt back up and started beating Jazz twice as hard as he beat Charity. Aunt Jazz tried to fight back, but he punched her in her mouth. When she fell to the ground, he started ripping her dress off and got on top of her. Then he started beating her some more.