stank?” She coughed into her hand and sniffed, backing up at the shock of what she smelled. “Oh shit, well… you ain’t nevuh lied, ha haaaaa,” she agreed with another cackle that turned into a harsh cough.
“Bitch, if you don’t shut the fuck up and leave my boy alone!” commanded Eric, eyes slowly opening, words slurring slightly indicating he’d had more than a few sips of the same drink.
“What you gonna do, muthafucka???” she asked, backing away from him and holding her arms up.
“Bitch, I will beat yo ass into next week!!” he retorted, as he reached for her throat with both hands. David lunged forward and grabbed his father’s arms before his hands could wrap around her throat. Having witnessed his father do this more than once with his mother, David knew it would get ugly really quickly. The woman yelped and turned around to run away. As David heard the click-clack of her cheap shoes against the pavement, he wrapped one arm around Eric’s back, put one of Eric’s arms over his shoulders, and practically dragged his father back to his car. He got him situated and belted in and made his way back to the driver’s seat.
When he’d turned the engine back on, he lowered the music, took another deep breath and looked at Eric, who was slumped against the back of the passenger’s seat.
“Take me to your mother’s house,” he said in a voice barely above a whisper.
“Not this time, dad.”
“Boy, I said take me to you goddamned mother’s house. What the fuck is your problem?”
“Dad, it’s almost dawn. She’s asleep.”
“She’ll be awake when we get there.”
“Dad, I’m not doing this to her again.”
“She’ll let me in. She always does…”
David sighed, knowing what his father said was true. Despite having left him and moved herself and her sons away from Eric, David learned that she still occasionally let him come to her home and spend a night or three there. She bathed him, gave him clean clothes, and fed him, probably cursing him out the entire time. But still, she let him in. Every time.
“Dad, why can’t you just leave mom alone and let her move on with her life? Why are you still trapping her with your shit?”
“Don’t you cuss me boy!”
“You wanna talk about me cursing when you’re sitting in my car, pissy drunk, unable to stand straight, and in need of a ride? Oh, oh that’s just great!”
“You better get to driving. Will take at least an hour to get to Janice’s house,” he continued, ignoring David completely. “Make sure you use that sella phone thing and call her to let her know we’re coming. She’ll have a plate ready for me. Damn, I’m hungry. Whew!”
David pulled out of the motel parking lot and began driving. He was unsure of where he was going, but he knew he was not going to take Eric anywhere near his mother. Maybe she wasn’t fully able to turn him away, and David tried to understand that connection, but he wasn’t going to enable it. He thought about taking him to his own apartment, but the rest he needed influenced the decision against that. He thought of the hotel strip a few miles from campus and figured he could get him a room for the night to sleep it off.
“Yanno, I ain’t shit.”
“Come on, Dad…”
“No, no, no, lemme finish. I ain’t shit. I. Ain’t. Shit!! Now ya mama, that’s a helluva lady there. Wheweee what a woman!” Eric paused before continuing, turning to look out of the window. He continued, quieter, “I really fucked that up, didn’t I?” He looked back at David, as if waiting for a real answer.
David said nothing.
“See, your mama is one of those strong women. She didn’t take no shit. She was a no-nonsense, go-getter type, yanno what I mean? She was about her business when I met her. Had her shit together! Was finishing school, had a job lined up, was really gonna make something of herself. I had to have her. Had to… You just don’t let a woman like that pass you by. Ooooh and
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