HAM (Hard As a Muthaf**ka)

Full Disclosure

Full Disclosure

                    “Hey there, Jacoby…how you been?”

                    I stared in awe…this, is Miss Millie’s place?!?

                    “Sorry for the whole hush-hush thing goin on. Not too many people know that ol’ Millie lives here,” she said, all normal, as if we were at the restaurant. “I prefer it that way. C’mon in, and pickup ya chin off the floor,”

                    I obeyed her, as she closed the door. Her place looked very immaculate, as if she had been livin that way for a LONG time…if so, then what went wrong with Renata?

                    “My late husband was a military vet,” she said. “When we first moved here, he had bought this land, and we had this house built. He was the one that taught me to save instead of spendin…that’s how them white folks stay rich- savin and investin,”

                    We walked into what I believed was the Family Room…I looked on the wall, seein pictures of Miss Millie and Renata. Renata looked fine as hell in those pics- make up on right, lip gloss shimmered…she even had pearly whites. I saw a few pics, in which there was a third lady in there, who looked just like Renata, a little.

                    “That’s her mother,” said Millie. “She ran out onto the streets when Renata was seven. It’s funny how she followed in the same footsteps of her mother…I just wish”- she paused.

                    “I’m so sorry about Renata, Miss Millie,” I said. “You gotta believe me- I aint kill her. I was cool with her…I wanted to see her kick the habit,”

                    “I know you aint kill her, boy! If you did, why would I have bailed you out of trouble, when I did?” she stated.

                    “You hired Vernon Hayes?” I gasped. “You ballin like that, to have him on retainer? What else, do I need to know that you aint told me yet, Miss Millie?”

                    “If you’d shut ya damn mouf, boy, I’ll tell you everything you need to know,” she snipped. Since Miss Millie was like a grandmother(of sorts) to me, I shut the hell up, as we sat on the sofa. She took a sip of water, to clear her throat. “After Gibson died, the army carried out his last wishes, and signed his pension checks over to me. We were okay, but not well to do. Charonda, my daughter, was sixteen- and pregnant…and I was workin part time wiping old white folks’ butts at a convalescent home in Sandy Springs. Soon enough, Charonda gave birth to Renata, and things really started to get tight…I had to figure out somethin,”

                    “So, I get on the bus to go to work, and I ran into Martha Holloway, who I went to church with…she was tellin me about Mos’ and how he had returnt from Iraq, and had that ‘Gulf War Syndrome’, and how the government was coverin his treatment on that, plus kickin him extra. She told me that Mos and Riddell opened a lil restaurant, and a tire joint in the neighborhood…I was lookin to invest some money, so I decided to give him a look,” said Miss Millie. “The part that she didn’t exactly tell me, was that Mos was usin the restaurant, as a front, to distribute crack…at first, I was against it- but then I sat back, and thought things over. I had a teenage daughter wit a baby- and I wasn’t as young as I used to be…I needed to make sure that we had enough to survive,”

                    Daaaaaaayuuuum...!

                    “So I decided to invest into Mos’ ‘business’…I have to admit, for the most part, the money has been good. I keep my hands clean, and I keep the books while workin along alongside Mos in the restaurant. The only time I’ve given any thought to the consequences of my actions was when Charonda was killed by Skinny Benny, that wannabe pimp…and today, when I lost my granddaughter to this shit. Somethin is wrong with the world, when a parent outlives their child, and their grandchild,” Millie said, as her eyes began to water. “I was sure this last time, that Renata was done with that shit. We had a long talk, and she told me, that she was tired…she said, ‘I’m tired, Granmama…I’m just so tired now’. She was doin well, helpin us out at the restaurant…and then she end up stealin that money out the register. Mos was angry, and I offered to pay him back…he said he couldn’t take my money because he respected me so much- or so I thought,”