Tatsu - The Threat

Chapter 5- Hello and Bye

Returning to Houston had been the best decision Latasha could have made. Things were going well for her and her family. Tyree had returned with a good attitude, reflected in a kind smile. He found work in a mechanic shop where he was hired to do oil changes. A great achievement for a young black man with a criminal record. He did continue to smoke a joint from time to time to calm his anxiety. And while this may seem morally unacceptable to some, Tyree was really trying to change. We are all more demanding of others than we are of ourselves. As if we were better than the others. Tyree was on his way to a better life. The joint was symbolic of the past that was passing. Things were indeed looking good.

One day a man in a beautiful 1988 Royal Blue Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham came in asking for an oil change. "Take good care of my baby," said the client, walking towards the waiting room.

Tyree, pressured by the elegant man's appearance, wanted to do everything possible to offer good, prompt, quality service. He poured his heart into it. When he finished, he closed the hood and noticed that the Cadillac ornament on the hood was missing. He clearly remembered that the emblem was there when he opened the hood. Someone in the shop stole it while Tyree went to get the oil and filter from the warehouse.

With cold sweat and shaking hands, Tyree made his way to the manager's office to report the incident.

The manager immediately noticed the tension on Tyree's face, "What's wrong son?"

Fearing that he would be fired and worried about what the car owner might do, he began to stutter as he gave a brief summary of the situation. The manager was well acquainted with the client's reputation and responded coldly by pushing Tyree out of his office, "That's not my problem. You lost it, so you deal with it. Don't bother me!" He slammed the door and locked it.

Tyree took a deep breath and went over to the customer in the screeching blue suit to hand over his keys, but couldn't say a word about the missing piece.

"Sir, your car's ready!"

"About damn time!" He tipped Tyree with a twenty-dollar bill showing off his gold watch and the gemstone rings on each finger. "Have a soda watta on me, boy!"

The man inspected his car all over, except for the front without noticing that the emblem was missing, and left happily.

The next day, Tyree's day off, the man came furious and threatened the manager.

"Where's my damn emblem?"

"I don't know, sir. Tyree was the one who worked on your car. I'm sure he has it."

The man hit the manager in the face and left like crazy. He drove around the neighborhood terrorizing folks asking them for Tyree's address.

Around 8:00 p.m., while dining at home, Latasha told Tyree how proud she was to see him work and striving to do something good with his life. Keisha and Latasha looked at each other and smiled glad to see a big change in Tyree.

Brian was half a block from Keisha's house. He was rushing to kiss her goodnight before heading home. He had that gaze in his eyes. He felt that if for some reason he did not see the light of another day, he would leave this life happy knowing that he said goodbye to his girlfriend. If it were possible to take her along, he would, but perhaps not, since this would require her to die as well. So much enchantment had spoiled Brian's mind. Who would have seen Brian thinking stupid stuff like this? But his goal that night was just to kiss her, and there were many excuses to do it.

"Tomorrow they'll give me my first check at work, ma!" said Tyree enthusiastically at the table.

"Wow, that's awesome!" said Keisha. Everything was perfect. The air was breathed with pleasure as the gleam shined off their faces. And just like that, at that moment, when the smiles were sincere, a hail of bullets pierced the walls, bursting the lights and punching holes everywhere. The three of them quickly threw themselves to the floor.