Kenney: Still Waters Part 2

Chapter 11

               ***WARNING:MATURE CONTENT AHEAD***

I walked around the corner and saw Rico's new friend Chauncey pushed up on my sister like he was tryna holla at somebody his own age.

"Fuck you doin'?" I demanded, boldly walking up to them and taking my sister's hand. Chauncey pulled his nasty hand out of Charity's shirt and laughed.

"Nah lil nigga, fuck you doin'? I'm mindin' my damn bidness."

I kicked him in the shin and took off running. "Uncle Rico!" He followed me and snatched me up before I could say anything else. Covering my mouth, he growled "Shut the fuck up." I bit his hand and kicked him in the nuts, just like Sammy always did when she fought boys bigger than her.

He dropped me as soon as I did that, and I was about to call Rico again when my sister walked past, buttoning her shirt back up and looking pissed as hell. But she didn't say anything else about it, so I just let it ride, too, and followed her back out to the party.

About a week later I walked up on Chauncey again, pushed up on my sister in the back hallway. Only this time she looked scared. Real scared. And she was crying. Her being so scared made me scared, and I thought twice about rolling up on them. But he had my sister pinned up against the wall. This time, her dress was up and he had his hand on her thigh.

And his other hand was around her neck.

So I had to.

Chancey was huge, towering over me and Charity both.

I knew I couldn't take him by myself.

I was only eight years old.

"Take your hands off my sister!" I yelled it as loud as I could, hoping that Rico would hear me.

He did.

Rico ran up and punched Chauncey so hard he was out cold on the first hit.

"Don't ever fucking touch what's mine!" he barked, and then him and Remmey dragged Chauncey out of the house, down the porch steps, and tossed him out into the yard like he was a bag of trash.

After that, the party just went back to normal like a grown man hadn't just tried to push up on my ten year old sister.

Aunt Jazz ran up while Rico and Remmey were dragging Chauncey out of the house and rushed me and Charity into the back room. As soon as she closed the door behind us Charity started crying and screaming "I want my daddy! I want my daddy!" Aunt Jazz just held her, but she couldn't get Charity to calm down.

I walked up behind Charity and reached up to put my hand on her back, trying to help Jazz calm her. Charity was scared, I could tell. That's why she was acting like she was mad. She always did that. I started rubbing her back slowly up and down, like I did for Sammy when her nightmares made her scared, but it didn't work. Charity was shaking so hard. I wondered what Chauncey did to her before I walked up, but I knew she couldn't talk right then, so I didn't ask.

Jazz held Charity tighter. "Sweetie, calm down. What happened?" Charity just shook her head. "Tell me what happened so I can tell Uncle Rico." Charity started shaking even harder and calling for daddy even louder.

By this time, I wanted daddy, too. Nobody used to mess with us before, when he was around. Nobody crossed daddy. I started crying then, as loud as Charity, because I didn't know what we were gonna do. I wasn't big enough to do everything daddy did yet, to pay bills and keep men off of mama, Charity and Sammy.

Jazz just stared at us, like she wanted to send us home to mama, and then she pulled me to her, too. Once I calmed down, she let go of me and put both hands on Charity's arms. She could tell Charity was afraid, too, and was just acting bad because Chauncey scared her.

Jazz was on her knees, on the ground with us, so she was looking almost eye to eye with Charity when she said softly, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want..." She put her hands softly on Charity's face, like Sammy always did to calm mama down. "Charity," Jazz stroked her face slowly, "honey...he maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters..." Charity's sobs got a little quieter and she finally looked at Aunt Jazz. "You know this, sha. Say it with me."

Charity shook her head no, so I started saying it with Aunt Jazz instead. And I took Charity's hand in mine. She looked down at my hand and then back at Aunt Jazz.

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil..." Jazz still had her hands lightly cupping Charity's face. "Come on, sha," she looked at Charity expectantly and Charity looked right back at her. She was stubborn, but she finally gave in.

"...for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me..."

We all said it together, and the more verses we said, the more Charity calmed down.

Me and Jazz stopped at the end and Charity said "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

We all said "Psalms 23: 1-6" together, because daddy always wanted us to remember where to find the scripture in case he wasn't around to show us.

"I know your daddy gone, sha, but he still here, yeah." Charity nodded. I knew what Aunt Jazz meant, too. He was just like grandma and grandpa now. "Right here." She pointed to Charity's heart, then mine, then her own. "We won't forget what he taught us." Charity nodded and looked so tired. She wrapped her arms around Jazz's neck and Jazz wrapped her arms around Charity's waist, hugging her tight. "Some days it seem like it's too hard, with your sister still in the hospital, and your daddy gone, but we'll get through this together, ok sha? All of it. Together."

Charity nodded, her head still buried in Aunt Jazz's neck. "Ok Aunt Jazz."

Jazz sat all the way down on the floor and held Charity in her lap like a baby. Then she looked at me. "Ok, sha?"

I nodded. "Ok Aunt Jazz."

I looked down at Charity. She was already asleep.

I helped Aunt Jazz stand up because she was still holding Charity, and we put her in the bed together. Then Jazz told me to stay in the room with Charity and look after her for the rest of the night. I didn't want to. I wanted to go back out to the party with Jazz. But I didn't argue with my aunt about it.

Or about anything else.

I never did. 

Hey Moonbeams!

So "sha" in this book is like how they say "cher" in Louisiana, because Jazz and Kenney's mom are from Baton Rouge. Is that clear, or should I spell it a different way?

Also, Part 3 Jazz's story coming soon!