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  For the past year and a half, Matilda had been saving pieces of her Social Security check. Her plan was to fly out of Nashville nonstop to Philadelphia, spend a week with her sister, and then go back down South. Now, it was too late. Her older sister was gone. It was a feeling of loneliness that Matilda had never felt in her life. It was one thing to lose her ma and pa. That made her no one’s child. It was another to lose her last and only family member. Seemed like all her memories of her and her sister growing up on the farm flashed in front of her, and she broke down in a pool of tears, feeling lonelier than she ever had in her life. She wanted to see Abigail, had to see her, had to bid her one last good-bye, and in her heart she knew the journey to Philadelphia from Murfreesboro would be well worth it. She explained the situation to her daughter, Kimmie, whom everyone nicknamed Kimmie Sue, and they began their trip to Philadelphia for Abigail’s funeral.

  “I’ll call you from the road and let you know we’re all right.” Tildie called Daisy back and let her know that her family, what little she had, was on the way and everything would be all right. Daisy hung the phone up feeling a tad bit relieved. She knew her aunt would be there for her. She had also felt better knowing that she’d have someone there to lean on. She had never thought in a million years that her mother would pass so unexpectedly. Daisy drew in a deep breath as she wiped the tears off her face. She had to make another call, to Hawkins Funeral Home on Fifty-fourth and Haverford. She spoke calmly with one of the directors and began making arrangements for her mother. Daisy had it all figured out, and she ordered nothing short of the finest for her mother to be laid to rest. She agreed to meet the director at the hospital once the body was released by the medical examiner. As long as there was no foul play, the results of the autopsy would be in shortly and the death certificate would be issued. And that was all she needed, that death certificate.

  Her next phone call was to the insurance company that had issued a life insurance policy on her mother. She pressed the number to speak with a representative. Daisy was nervous and overwhelmed looking at the policy paperwork. One hundred thousand dollars, damn, that’s a lot of money right there. She couldn’t help it, thoughts of cussing Calvin’s evil ass out ran through her mind.

  “Get on out of here,” she could hear him shouting now.

  “Fuck you, Calvin. I don’t need you or this sorry dump you fake ass pimp.”

  “Hello, ma’am, are you there?” the representative asked a second time.

  “Oh, I’m sorry, yeah, I’m right here,” Daisy said as she stopped daydreaming.

  She gave the woman all the pertinent information as she read it off the policy declaration page she had found in her mother’s bedroom. She gave the operator the policy number and waited while she was placed on hold.

  After a few seconds the representative came back to the line.

  “I’m sorry, ma’am. It appears that policy was canceled for nonpayment five months ago. Do you have another policy number you’d like me to search for you?”

  “What?” Daisy asked, not hearing her clearly. “What do you mean, canceled?”

  “Well, ma’am, the policy was canceled for nonpayment. We sent out a notice to your mom and it doesn’t look like she responded to it. And the policy won’t stay open if it’s not paid up. I’m so sorry.”

  “No, wait a minute, I got the paperwork right here, it’s for one hundred thousand dollars.”

  “Yes, ma’am, but back in May we didn’t receive a payment, and in June a cancellation notice was sent out, and after we didn’t receive the payment in June the policy was canceled. I can check another policy for you, if you like.”

  Why didn’t she tell me? There’s no life insurance? How am I going to bury her?

  “Ma’am, I’m sorry, would you like me to check another policy for you?”

  No, bitch, check the policy I got right here. Fuck, how will I bury my momma?

  “Umm, no, ma’am, that won’t be necessary, thank you.”

  “I’m sorry I couldn’t be of better service to you. Have a wonderful day.”

  “Eat a happy dick!” Daisy wanted to scream so bad, but she didn’t.

  “You, too, thank you.”

  Just as she hung up the phone the funeral director rang.

  “Hello,” Daisy answered.

  “Ms. Fothergill, I got that quote for your mother’s services for you. It’s only $8,762.23,” the director said, quite charmingly.

  Eight thousand dollars, is he crazy? She’s dead, not alive, I’m not spending no eight thousand on no dead person.

  Daisy couldn’t think straight. It was simply overwhelming. Her mother’s passing over, no insurance policy, no hundred thousand dollars, and a funeral director trying to G her out of eight grand. Lord have mercy.

  “I’m so sorry, sir. I just got off the phone with the insurance company. It turns out Momma doesn’t have no life insurance to cover this. I just don’t know what I’m gonna do.”

  There was a pause for a moment, and by the time the director was finished feeling Daisy out, realizing she was broke and had no money to bury her dead mother and no policy to sign over to his funeral home, there was only one possibility left.

  “Well, we can pick her up from the coroner’s, cremate her, and place her ashes in a lovely small urn for you for only $1,987.92.”

  That’s my two thousand from my investigator, Daisy thought to herself, her plans now really ruined.

  “Ma’am, would you like to do that?” he asked her again.

  Having no other options, she agreed.

  “Fine, then, I’ll meet you at the hospital when the body is ready and you can sign the release there.”

  She hung up the phone, lay down on her mother’s bed, and wiped the tears from her eyes. Daisy was tired and wished she could take a midmorning nap. But she only had a few hours before she would have to meet the director at the hospital. She picked herself up, grabbed her pocketbook, and locked the apartment door behind her. She saw the mailman as she made her way downstairs.

  “Hello, I’m 3C,” she said, extending her hand so he wouldn’t put the mail in the box. “Thanks,” she said as she fanned through the envelopes. Ooh, Momma’s Social Security check. She knew that envelope. It was either Social Security or a tax refund, but the brown-windowed envelope with the Statue of Liberty chick always meant some dough. She opened the envelope: Eight hundred, fifty-nine dollars and thirty-two cents. Dag, Momma, I need this money, she said to herself, knowing that technically it wasn’t right to cash her dead mother’s Social Security check, but what the hell. She was a signer on the bank account, so technically it couldn’t be that bad.

  Detective Delgado and Detective Ross walked into the ICU ward and over to the nurses’ station. They asked for Saunta Davis and were pointed over to bed thirteen.

  “Ma’am, I’m Detective Delgado and this is Detective Ross. We are here to help find the person who did this. May we ask you a few questions?”

  “She’s really heavily sedated,” a nurse said. “So, if she doesn’t respond, you might want to come back, just keep that in mind.”

  “Thank you, we will,” said Ross, smiling at the woman, wanting desperately to let her know they did not need her advice at all.

  “Ms. Davis, do you remember what happened?” Delgado asked.

  Saunta barely opened her eyes, her mouth dry and her body feeling not much pain, thanks to her morphine drip. She had just come out of recovery, after being operated on for the better part of the night.

  “DaShawn,” she whispered, in such a low voice Delgado couldn’t make out what she was saying.

  “Ms. Davis, do you know who did this to you?” Ross asked again, realizing the woman could speak.

  Saunta, her eyes barely open, looked at Detective Ross and shook her head “Yes,” then nodded back to sleep. Detective Delgado was ready to shake her back awake.

  “Excuse me, I’m Dr. Sternberger, and this is my patient.”

  “Yes, I’m Detective Delgado, an
d this is my partner, Detective Ross. We’re here investigating the shooting of Ms. Davis and the murder of her son,” Detective Delgado said, extending his hand to the doctor.

  “I understand that, but she can’t answer your questions right now. She’s heavily sedated and needs rest. As soon as she comes out of sedation, I will call you, but you will have to wait until I feel she is up to answering your questions.”

  Ross immediately looked at her partner, knowing what could possibly come out his mouth next, and quickly stepped in. “Thank you so much, Dr. Sternberger. You know, it’s so important for us to bring her assailant to justice, we just need you to contact us the minute you feel she’s ready to answer just a few simple questions.”

  “You have my word, I will.”

  “Thank you,” said Delgado, being polite, as they all shook hands.

  The two detectives made their way out of ICU as Merva shook her head at her partner. “Don’t you know you won’t get no bees with vinegar.”

  “I’m not interested in bees, I’m interested in finding a killer that’s running around the streets of Philadelphia on the loose.”

  “Well, you sure won’t find him like that.”

  Just as they were exiting the elevators, a young woman wearing blue jeans, a light blue T-shirt, sneakers, and a gray sweater bumped into them as she brushed between them trying to catch the elevator.

  “Oops, ’scuse me,” she said as the elevator doors closed.

  “Wow, did you see her eyes?” said Delgado. “They were an odd green.”

  “I didn’t know you like black girls,” joked Ross.

  “Why do you think I keep you around?”

  “Oh, I thought it was for my charming personality and stunning good looks.”

  “Stunning good looks and charming personality?” he jokingly questioned.

  “Whatever, I’m hungry.”

  “That’s not surprising.”

  “Yeah, I got a taste for a Lee’s Hoagie House.”

  “Let’s go eat, wait and see if Dr. Sternberger will let us talk to this Davis woman any time soon. I have a gut instinct she knows who shot her and she knows something about the Three Musketeers from down the hallway.”

  “My gut’s telling me tuna, mayo, provolone, sweet peppers, lettuce, tomato, salt, pepper, and oregano.”

  “I’m serious, Ross.”

  “So am I.”

  Calvin watched the floor and the bar. He took notes of every little thing, who was at what table, who was dancing, who was on a lap, who was going in the back, who was drinking and how much. He counted every last drop of liquor in his bottles and watched the bartenders like a hawk. They had better not even think of stealing one penny from him. No, Mr. Stringer was on his job. At the end of the day, everybody around there knew who was in charge.

  “What’s the matter with Daisy? She don’t seem like herself,” he asked Dallas as he sat at the bar and watched all the transactions around him.

  “Yeah, I think her momma died. Trixie was saying something about Daisy. She’s trying to hold it together,” said Dallas as he wiped off the bar with a clean rag. “You want another one?” he said as he looked at Calvin holding up his shot of Royal Crown.

  “Naw, naw, I’m good,” said Calvin after slinging the shot back. He got up and walked over to where Daisy was hanging upside down from a pole on the left-hand side of the stage.

  “Come on down here and let me talk to you,” said Calvin, yelling above the bass, looking up at Daisy.

  “What, can’t you talk to me right here?” she hollered down to him.

  “Your titties is hanging upside down,” he hollered back.

  “What?”

  “Your titties,” he said pointing.

  “What about them?” asked Daisy as she tried looking upward at them dangling downward toward her chin.

  “They’re upside down,” he hollered.

  “What’s that got to do with your mouth?” she asked him back as he began to grow irate.

  “Look, get down here so I can talk to you,” he said, watching her turn her body upright and slide down the pole.

  “What, Calvin, can you talk to me now because my titties ain’t upside down no more?”

  “Don’t be sassy,” he barked, pointing a finger at her. “Come on, let’s go in my office. I want to talk to you.”

  “Aww, Calvin, come on, you just looked me over yesterday,” said Daisy, figuring he just wanted to get his rocks hard feeling on her as usual. He could try it all he wanted, she saw the bulge from the crotch in his pants every time he pretended to be some type of Mad Hatter gyn inspecting the goodies between her legs.

  “Daisy, come on in here and sit down.”

  Daisy went in his office, removed her thong, and sat down in the chair next to his desk.

  She knew, like everybody else, that you weren’t allowed to wear clothes in Calvin’s office. Whenever you were in the office, that meant business, and Calvin’s line of business was pussy, and while in his office, that’s what he wanted to see.

  “What’s going on with you?”

  “What you mean, Calvin? Nothing.”

  “Man, I’m watching you out there and I don’t know what you’re doing. You look… awkward, off balance, no rhythm, no sex appeal, just a body hanging upside down. What’s going on?”

  “Calvin, I’m sorry. I just got so much going on. My momma died and I just been—”

  “Your momma died?”

  “Yeah, four days ago. She was all I had,” said Daisy, fighting back tears. “And I ain’t have no money, so I can’t bury her, and my aunt is coming, but she don’t know I had Momma cremated.”

  “Wasn’t no insurance to bury her?”

  “Nope, the policy lapsed for nonpayment.”

  “Well, don’t start getting sad on me. Pull yourself together, Daisy. It’s going to be okay. I’m sorry to hear about your momma. I think it probably be best if I let you take some time. Sometimes, in cases of death, in this line of business, the two don’t mix.”

  “I can’t take off Calvin, I need the money. I need my tips. I have to work,” she said. She appreciated the gesture, but realistically it just wasn’t economical.

  “Don’t worry about the money. Here, take a hundred dollars from me. It’s something I want you to do for me.”

  Daisy looked at the money as if Calvin were insane. What the hell am I gonna do with a measly hundred dollars?

  “Listen, I’ve been thinking. And with your mother passing and all, this might be just what you need right now anyway. Yeah, this could work out better for you and for me,” he said, throwing out brighter possibilities her way.

  “What, what you talking about, Calvin?”

  “I think it might be better if I put you over in my new spot. What do you think?”

  “The Honey Pot?” she asked, confused.

  “Yeah, I need you over there. I really do. You got a good client base from here and they’ll follow you. Trust me, you’ll make good money, more money than you make here, because you’ll get to keep your extra tips all to yourself.”

  “For real?” said Daisy, thinking of Calvin’s greedy fingers letting her touch her money. “Okay, I’m in, I’ll do it, but Calvin, I need more than a hundred dollars to get me through the rest of the week.”

  “Aaww, damn, no you don’t. See, there you go, always got to mess up a good thing,” he said as he slid another hundred off the wad of cash he had in his pocket.

  “Thanks, Calvin,” said Daisy as she kissed his cheek. “You know what, Calvin. You sort of all right.”

  “You just sort of be all right when you come back to work. Shit, don’t make no sense. All upside down on a pole, looking like you the one that died,” he said, mumbling to himself.

  Tildie and Kimmie Sue arrived two days later, just in time for the memorial service that Daisy had planned in her mother’s honor. Tildie, a devout follower of the Trinity Spirit Worship House of God, was utterly dismayed by the fact that Abigail had been cremate
d. She literally refused to sit in the same room with the ashes and was so angry at Daisy once she found out what Daisy had done with her sister’s remains that she cried her heart out.

  “Why did you do that to my sister!” she screamed at Daisy. “Why didn’t you call me? I would have buried her, I would have buried my sister. Why did you do that? Why?” Daisy didn’t understand faith or beliefs and the principles associated therewith, but she learned enough that day to know that the last thing her aunt would have done was cremate her mother.

  After the memorial service, the three went out to eat. A small local restaurant that served soul food was only a few blocks down the street. Kimmie Sue was taken in by the big-city streets and big-city signs. The lights, the colors, the fast-moving traffic, and a brick on top of brick city opened Kimmie Sue’s eyes to a world that she hadn’t known existed. Her mother would be packing up and leaving to head back to Tennessee in the morning, and of course, Kimmie Sue would be going with her. She wished she didn’t have to. She wished she could stay and get to know her cousin, get to know Philadelphia. It seemed like a nice town, with much to offer.

  The next morning, Kimmie Sue and Aunt Tildie piled back into their Chrysler and made their way onto I-95 headed back to Tennessee. Daisy watched the car as it traveled down the block.

  In her head, she could see her cousin. “I sure do wish I could stay right here with you. You are so lucky living in this big city and all. It’s sort of scary. You don’t get scared?”

  “No, not scared, more tired than anything, I guess. City life is a harder life, I think, than living in the country. Just something about the concrete that makes living in the city a little tougher, I guess.”

  “I guess too,” said Kimmie Sue. “But, I’m fittin’ to come back here real soon.”

  “I want to come and visit you too, Cousin Kimmie Sue.”

  “Well, you’re welcome, just come on down and I’ll be waiting for you.”

  They hugged each other and then Kimmie Sue pulled out a small button from her jacket pocket.

  “This was Aunt Abbie’s.” She handed the button to Daisy, who stood looking quite confused. “It come off her shirt one day. Momma said they were schoolgirls and it was the most embarrassing thing ’cause Momma said Aunt Abbie’s titties flew out her shirt right smack in front of Wilson Carter, who everybody in the school had a crush on. Momma said Aunt Abbie wouldn’t come out the house for a week, she was so embarrassed. Momma gave it to me and after she told me the story she said to always remember to keep my buttons buttoned so I don’t reveal nothing that nobody needs to see.”