After that whole ordeal, Earl sat outside with something to smoke and some Kentucky bourbon. I just got out of the shower. My naked body was wrapped up in my black satin robe and my short hair was wrapped up in a light blue towel. After I went into our bedroom and threw on a clean pair of pajama bottoms and a pink tank top. I ran my fingers through my damp, sweet smelling hair as I went outside to the front porch to check up on him. It was 6:30 and dark outside, and the air felt cool on my bare arms and face. Earl sat in a red plastic lawn chair he kept on the front porch. The porch light shown on his face. There he sat in a crisp white wife beater and in his dress slacks, rolling a joint with the bottle of booze by his feet. The black cordless phone sat in his lap. Believe it or not, I wasn't all that big for 8 months pregnant. I carefully perched my butt on the wooden railing of the front porch, not too close to Earl and his marry jane as he lit it up and inhaled deeply.
"How long have you been out here?", I asked.
"Long enough", he replied as he exhaled a thick plume of white smoke. Jus' got done talkin' ta my baby sista 'bout Ava's situation.
"So, what did she say?", I asked.
"Sheila Rae agreed ta take in Ava fo' a lil' while", Earl replied.
I raised my eyebrows at his response.
"Really?", I asked. So, you're really gonna go through with it, huh? Call Ava out on her bluff?
"Mhm", Earl replied, nodding his head. You heard how my lil' girl, my own flesh n' blood was disrespectin' me, an' you? Lexi, baby, I ain't gon' have it no mo'. I love 'er ta def but she ain't gon' be da death o' me. She gon' live in my house, she gon' go by my rules.
Earl flicked the ashes of his joint onto the porch.
"How did it feel to spank her?", I asked.
"What chu think? I hated it but she done went too far mouthin' off to ya da way she did", Earl replied.
By the reflection of the porch light, I saw tears in Earl's eyes as he lifted a shaky hand to his mouth to take another puff.
"I hated.......havin' ta.......hit my lil' girl", he said in shaky voice.
Before anything else could be said, Earl quickly got up from his seat, leaned over the side of the porch and vomited onto the front lawn. I went to his side and gently rubbed his back, giving him words of comfort.
YOU ARE READING
Mr. Tan
Teen FictionTeenage Alexis Bethany Hathaway who is reunited with her nonchalant mother and her verbally abusive husband after her loving grandmother's death. Once she discovers that she is pregnant, her mother tells her she has a certain amount of time to get a...
