Kenney: Still Waters Part 2

Chapter 73

** Author's note: In the published version of Still Waters (Now on Amazon!) I changed Hampton, Va to Amrmistead, Va**

Morning rehab every single day was wiping me out. I slept all the time. Rehab was the only thing I stayed awake for. Nobody came by, so there was really no reason for me to stay awake. But I woke up one day, and Wallace was sitting by the bed watching the game. I looked at him. As soon as I saw him, I started to ask him about mama, if she really came by. I decided against it, but it was like he already knew what I was thinking.

"Your mama said she came by here a few days ago, son. Brought the girls with her." He looked away from the game and over at me. "Today is Sunday." He knew by the look on my face that I thought she had just been there. Time was warped in that place. He studied me. "How ya feelin'?"

"Aight."

"They still treatin' you good?"

I thought about my favorite nurse and smiled. The one who stood toe to toe with mama when mama found out that I was there with Sammy every day instead of at school. The one who would come into the room and talk to me every chance she could, ice cream in hand. She still did that. She still brought ice cream, too.

"Yeah."

"Good." He nodded and looked back at the TV. "Thought any more about school?"

I looked at him for a long time before answering. "Wallace...you ever been shot?"

He looked at me briefly and then back at the TV.

"Yeah."

Then he looked at me again.

I was surprised that he actually answered me. He never talked about his thuggin' days.

"By your father?" Rico didn't exactly shoot me, but that was all him.

That whole setup was all him.

Wallace's eyebrows shot up. I guess it never occurred to him that I thought of Rico as my father. Silently, I wondered exactly what kind of family dynamic he thought he was looking at all this time.

"Nah." He shook his head and looked back at the TV.

"Ever been...ever not been able to walk?"

"No." He shook his head again.

"I didn't think so." I looked away from him and laid back into the pillows. Staring up at the same ceiling tiles that I had been staring up at one too many times to not feel crazy, I sighed deeply and said "If you had, you would know that I'm not in the mood to hear that shit right now."

Then I closed my eyes and went back to sleep. When I woke up, Wallace was still sitting there, watching a different game.

"Hey, Wallace." I was watching him for a while before I ever spoke. He knew it, and was waiting for me to say something.

"Yeah?" His eyes stayed on the game.

"How'd you get out?"

He glanced over at me and then back at the TV. "Went to college."

I chuckled. "Word?"

"Yeah." He looked me in my eye. He was serious.

"How'd you get in?"

"My grandmother knew some people up at Armistead, in VirginiA."

"Word?"

"Yeah." He continued to look me in my eye.

"You went all the way up there?"

"Yup."

"To Virginia? By yourself?"

"I wasn't by myself. My grandmother was there with me." He watched me and waited.

"Huh..." Interesting.

"She's still up there."

"Word?"

"Yeah." When I didn't ask him anything else, he continued. "She still know dem folk, too."

"Word?"

"Yup."

"How'd you pay for it?"

He looked back at the game, and then at me. "Son...you know how I paid for it." He didn't skip a beat after that, and neither did I. "Played ball when I got there." He looked back at the TV. After a while, he looked back at me. "I can teach you. She still know the coaches, too. All of 'em. I can get you in to talk to a few."

I nodded and then looked back at the TV. Wallace observed me for a while longer, and then went back to the game.

"Wallace..."

"Yeah?"

"How's Aunt Jazz?"

"She doin' good. Real good."

"Why she ain't come by to see me?"

He looked over at me, and then back at the game. "She'll come by as soon as she can, son."

I didn't like that answer, but let it ride for now.

"Huh." I sat back and stared up at the ceiling tiles some more.

Then I fell back asleep.