Mr. Tan

Chapter 57: Show Me Your Battle Scars

Earl and I relaxed in the tub together in a bubble bath during a rainy Saturday night. Earlier this morning before the rain came through, he made Ava sweep off the back porch. According to the news, Bolivar county was under a flood warning right now due to the significant rain fall. Now Ava was busy doing laundry after I assigned her the chore of mopping the kitchen floor. Yes, Earl kept his promise and pawned Ava's TV, video games and console. He got back a pretty good amount of $500.00 dollars cash. The plan was to spend it on things for the house and on our soon-to-be son Roman. Thunder echoed softly in the distance as sheets of rain fell. We relaxed in a bath filled with warm sudsy, lavender scented water. A patchouli and rose scented candle sat on top of the toilet tank. I leaned back, allowing my head to rest against Earl's strong chest as I sat between his thighs. His big hands gently caressed my seven month old baby belly as he laid soft kisses down the side of my face. This felt nice after the hectic week we had; Ava's suspension, Earl having to fire a female server because of her drug problem, and a physical fight that happened down the street from us that turned deadly. Whoever this female server was, poor girl showed up to work too many times high. When she wasn't at work, there were too many seedy looking people dropping by Earl's Place looking for her. Some guy showed up to his juke joint Thursday afternoon with a pistol threatening to shoot up the place if Earl didn't tell him where this female server was.

"Hm, yeah, so I got my Beretta pistol outta my drawer an' I told dis hairy ass mothafucka ta do his worse", Earl said. Dis dude mean mugged me, like dat was gonna do sump'n, an' he left.

"Baby, I'm just glad you or anyone else wasn't hurt", I replied, as I gently kissed the back of Earl hand.

"Baby, dem drugs is turnin' da inner city into a fuckin' war zone", Earl replied. When dat guy showed up, dat was da straw dat broke da camel's back. I had ta fire 'er, I hated ta do it but I had to do sump'n or loose my bidness. Hell, she was a good waitress when she wasn't high on God know's what. Friday night when I was leavin' work, I done heard some gunshots in da distance.

"Things are getting pretty bad everywhere", I replied.

"Mm, hm", Earl replied. Well, uh, dis young lady comes in my juke joint, usually 'round da end of da month beggin' fo' milk fo 'er baby.

"She comes to your juke joint begging for milk?", I asked.

"Yep, she got da baby wit' er, too", he replied. It's been some days she'd be outside my juke joint waitin' fo me ta open up.

"Why is she coming to you for milk?", I asked. I mean, there is a convenient store in walking distance of your Juke Joint.

"Well, da las' of the month is usually real hard fo' folks who ain't got much, an' plus she's probably feedin' her addiction an' ain't got money ta feed 'er baby. I asked one day why can't she jus' walk on down ta "Wong's Food Mart" an' get 'er baby some milk. She tol's me they don't want 'er down there panhandlin'. So, I jus' go in the bar fridge an' get her whateva' whole milk we got's in there. I do it fo' da lil' baby, not so much fo' her.