Ch. 1- Making Moves (Keegan)

I sat at my workstation with my head down on my desk. I was tired, not just from lack of sleep, but I was tired of the sorry excuse of a life that I was living, and I wasn’t even yet twenty. People always said ‘well, honey, you have your whole life ahead of you’, and I just laughed. Nobody really knew who I was, and if they did I wonder if they would have said the same then. I lifted my head up and looked around the lobby. There weren’t many people who even paid the motel I was working in any attention, and I didn’t blame them. It was hot, the air barely worked, the rooms were nasty looking, and the service was nothing better than bull shit. All I did was hand out keys and take up money, and if we got a call I answered. Then there was Willis, the manager. Three words defined this man: fat, funky, and nagging. If he owned the Hilton, or simply the Motel 6, I would understand why he acted like he was the shit, but he didn’t, and that didn’t keep him from acting like we were on top of the world with AC and new carpet instead of no air and a carpet that looked like it had been under a 1989 pickup truck with an oil leak. He was about to come to the lobby and find something to complain about, I could hear those damn run down flip flops he wore with the toe out hitting the floor when he was about to turn that corner. I had a plan, and sure enough he hit that corner wearing those khaki spotted slacks (where did those spots come from?) and white T shirt.
“Keegan, run over to the store and get me a drink. Why are you sitting there just looking? Get to work, I got a motel to run!” he said sneering at me.
“To that first statement, no. The second, we don’t have any customers and we wont unless some homeless guy runs in, and only then because he’s desperate,” I said reaching for my purse and walking from behind the desk. He gave me a look like I had just stolen his car or something.
“You getting real close to being out of a job.”
I laughed.
“So, you finna go get my drink? I want a Coke,” he said as I headed to the front door.
“Nope, I quit,” I said walking out and I left his sorry ass standing there looking stupid. I drove home in my mother’s car, walked in the living room and sat down.
“What the hell you doin’ comin home so early,” my mother practically yelled at me when she walked in.
“I quit,” I said nonchalantly.
“You did what?!” she yelled.
“I quit. I left. I walked out. I don’t work there anymore, get it now?” I asked rubbing my eyes.
“Well you need to be looking for another job. You always laying around here doing nothing, and you need to go to school!” she stated. I looked up at her.
“I just graduated last month, momma! And for your information, I’m leaving in less than a month to go to college.”
She sat there and didn’t say anything, I knew she was drunk anyway. I could smell it. I got up and left to go to my room. It was time for me to get a hold on my life and do something worth while. I looked out of my bedroom window as darkness set in. I need to get it together.
“Keegan!” my momma called from the living room.
“Yes,” I said not bothering to get up.
“Girl, you come to me when I call you!”
“Whatever,” I mumbled getting up and walking in to face her. She was standing there whop-sided with her hands on her hips glaring at me.
“What is this talk about you going to college in two months?” she asked, saying ‘college’ like I was going to stay in a dog house. I suppressed a laugh at how she changed her mind so quickly.
“One month. And its exactly what I said. I’m going to leave for college in one month,” I said looking dead in her eyes.
“Look here,” she staggered a little and pointed at me. “You won’t be going anywhere no time soon.”
“I hear that a lot, lately. You just told me I need to go to school,” I said with a hint of an attitude in my voice.
“Well, I just changed my mind,” she stated moving closer to me. I stepped back a few steps just before she lunged at me. Unfortunately I didn’t move far enough because just before I turned around I was crashing into the wall. I pushed her slightly overweight frame off of me and stood up.
“Woman, what’s wrong with you?!” I yelled pushing her out of my way so I could go back to my room. “I’m tired of this shit.”
“What did you just say, Keegan?” she asked three steps behind me. Damn, that drunk moves fast I thought and had to force back a laugh.
“I said I’m tired of this shit,” I repeated and slammed my bedroom door in her face and locking it. I took a luggage case from my closet which was already packed and placed it by the window. Following that move, I went to my dresser and pulled out all of the drawers and reached for the underside of the dresser to pull the envelope I had taped there free. Stuffing it in my pocket, I opened my window. Momma was ramming into the door by that time and it wouldn’t take long for her to come through. Making my movements a little quicker I threw my luggage out first, secondly I dropped a shoebox carefully down on the ground. I pushed my luggage case out and followed it myself. My feet hit the ground softly and I reached up to pull down the window. I could hear the door giving way so I grabbed my case and shoe box and ran around to the side of the house. I heard her yelling from my window about thirty seconds later, then I could hear her storming around through the house. Oh shit! was the first thought. Run was the second. I held on to my things and ran across the next two backyards with no problem at all. Throwing my things over a fence I looked back to see Momma looking dead at me. I hopped the fence with a quickness when I saw the pistol, grabbed my shit and ran like hell to the side of the next house. I heard two shots and ran to the front, noticing both shots were in the back. I ran on across the street after making sure the coast was clear and ran at least two more blocks before I stopped in front of a gas station with a local fast food burger joint inside. I ran inside and sat in the middle of the restaurant, placing my things beside me. Then I pulled my cell phone from my back pocket and dialed Mo’Feir’s number.
“Hello,” I sighed with relief when I heard his voice. “Keegan?”
“Yeah, I’m here,” I said sitting up and looking out to the street for any signs of momma or her friends. All drunks, ex strippers, strung out, or hoes in my opinion.
“What’s going on?” Mo’Feir asked.
“Umm, well, I quit my job, momma tried to attack again-”
“You had your shit packed and hopped like you said huh?” he said like he already knew.
“Yeah. She came out with her buddy,” I said. “I had to run like hell with all my shit in hand.”
“Where are you now? She had the pistol? Damn,” he said. I laughed and checked my back pocket for the envelope.
“Yeah, I’m about to leave the gas station on Sway Street and I’m about to walk up to the-” I said before he cut me off.
“Nah, stay there, I’m right up the street now. See you in a minute,” he said before he hung up. He did that, I knew, because he wouldn’t take no for an answer. I looked around to see a few people staring my way, then I stood up, picked up my things and glanced out the window. Mo’Feir truck pulled up just in front of the door, which back then was a white Suburban. I ran outside just when he got out. He looked at me and opened the back door and I put my stuff in.
“Where you wonna go?” he asked once I got in the passenger seat and he closed my door. He appeared in the driver’s seat less than 5 seconds later.
“I don’t know. Let’s just ride out for a while,” I said looking outside.
“You straight?” he asked leaning over and turning my face toward him. I nodded. He shook his head and started the truck.
*****
I was thinking about how Mo’Feir and I had met as I sat in the truck while he went in another store for some drinks. When I began working at M.D. Low’s Hotel I was sixteen and he was eighteen, working the front desk when I got there. When I walked in he gave me a smile and I waved. He was cute to me then, just a young guy who was probably too old for me was the thought I had. He gave a quick nod and I was led to the back, where I started working, cleaning bedrooms and all of that lovely labor. I didn’t see him again until I got off work.
“You like it here so far?” I was sitting out front waiting for my uncle to pick me up when I heard a guy ask from behind me. I turned to see him. Tall, dark copper skin tone, almond shaped eyes that gave him a soft look, and a smile that was bright enough to blind in the middle of the day.
“Well, I guess so far,” I said with a sigh. He sighed along with me.
“What’s your name?” he asked stepping beside me. “I’m Mo’Feir Dwel.”
“Mo’Feir,” I repeated marveling at how nice and unique it sounded. Moe-Fee-Air. I snapped from my thoughts and held out my hand. “Keegan. Keegan Sheers.”
He looked at my outstretched hand. “I don’t usually shake hands with females, I’d rather get a hug or something. You don’t mind do you?”
“Huh? No, oh no,” I said and he leaned forward and gave me a quick hug. It seemed like after that hug there was something more to us. We were friends, close friends, but I had never seen him as a person I would actually get in a relationship with. Don’t get me wrong, I liked him, but I never let that feeling get me, and I had had no business with guys so far, and didn’t need any. Still clean. Still pure. Still untouched. That was me.
I was jerked from my thoughts as Mo’Feir got back in the truck, then wondering why I had even thought back on them.
“Where you wonna go, Keegan?” Mo asked.
“Where can I go?”
“We can go back to my place,” he said and there was an awkward silence at that moment. Even though we’d known each other nearly two years I’d never been to his place, or he to mine. That was one thing we had never done. Whenever we hung out, it would be at the mall, book store, other little hang out spots, and also at the hotel up until he quit. Any other place besides our homes.
“Um, yeah that’s cool. New, but cool,” I stated. “Where do you stay?”
“Ah, about forty-five minutes from here,” he said. “I keep my brother and sister. Twins. Seventeen.”
“Oh…how did you get where I was so fast then?” I asked. He put the truck in drive.
“Business is business,” was all he said.
*****
We drove for roughly forty minutes before going through this suburban neighborhood and pulling up at a two story house on the corner. The lights downstairs were off, but upstairs the most of the lights were on.
“This is you?” I asked getting out of the car before he cut off the ignition.
“You didn’t expect me to stay in the middle of nowhere in a shack did you?” he said with a small smile.
“No, but you’re so young…and living here. That’s amazing,” I said getting my shoe box as he got my suitcase.
“It was already bought, I just happened to be the right age at the right time when something went down,” he said. “Other than that it was work and hustling that got all the rest.”
I stood in a slight state of confusion. He walked up the steps on the porch and I followed, and before he unlocked the door he turned and kissed my forehead.
“Don’t worry over it, Key, I’ll tell you one day. Right now I just wonna talk to you about where you’re going and what your plan is.”
I nodded, and with that he opened the door and he led me through the living room, then up a hall to a room at the end, on the right. It was obviously a guest room, with a neatly made bed, two side tables, a chair in the corner, a dresser, the usual closet and a bathroom. He showed me all the works of my room, put my things down, and led me by the hand across the hall to another room. When he switched on the light I noticed that this room was slightly dark, obviously his. There was a king sized bed on the right and a computer desk on the left. On the wall, the same wall where the door was, there were five shelves from wall to wall. Two shelves held hats of all colors, the other three held shoes of all kinds. I had never seen such a neat display outside of a retail store.
“Um, you want anything?” he asked stepping beside me as I looked at the display.
“Nah, lets get down to business,” I said and we sat on the end of the bed.
“Okay, what’s your plan?” he asked leaning back on his elbows.
“Well,” I said sliding down to the floor and sitting Indian-style, “I have all the cash I need to get an apartment down in Atlanta before the semester starts, and add a few pieces of furniture…”
“Hold on, hold on, exactly how much money do you have?” Mo asked scooting down on the floor with me. I looked at him, then reached in my back pocket pulling out my envelope.
“Well,” I said opening it carefully and letting rolls of cash fall out, “Over the last two years I have saved up exactly nineteen-thousand-five-hundred dollars.”
He looked at me incredulously. “How much did you spend?” he asked shaking his head.
“Maybe four grand.”
“You can’t be serious, what made you save it like that?” he was leaning forward a little now and counting some of the money that was spread out before us.
“Watching you,” I said watching his hands as he flipped through stacks and rolled them back up, placing the rubberbands back around them. He placed that roll on the floor and looked up at me slowly.
“Oh my damn, you’re kidding, right?” he asked. I shook my head. “You watch me like that often?”
“I just, well, yeah. I mean, I observe how you are, how you do things, opposing to these other people around here spending their money and all that on silly stuff, you know. Yeah, I observe your actions, to answer your question,” I admitted.
“Well, I wont say that I’m too shocked, but you did surprise me. I was thinking that you were observing at some moments, but I didn’t know you were acting on your observations,” he paused and shook his head smiling. “Anyway, so where bout do you plan on staying in ATL?”
“I don’t know yet, I mean, I just have enough money for an apartment and all that now…but I don’t want to rush trying to find somewhere to stay. I have three weeks or a little more to get something together, so at the moment anywhere is good.”
“Okay, how bout this, my cousin Unique stays in ATL with her husband and her baby, and they have like three extra rooms that aren’t being put to use. I can see if she would let you stay with her for a while or until you get a place of your own.”
I was putting my cash back in the envelope and stopped.
“No, I don’t want to cause any problems…no I can’t…I can’t do that Mo,” I said shaking my head.
He slid over closer to me, finishing what I had stopped doing. “Come on, trust me, they would be more than happy to let you stay for a while. When you go there, its always something going on, I mean they have a lot of good friends and you could have people to have your back while you’re there. Keegan, for real this would be good for you,” he said.
“Look, Mo I can’t…”
“No, Key, what I’m trying to say is this, its better to move somewhere and be able to know someone than to move and know nobody around you, you know. I mean I can ask her to come up here to meet you before you go, or you can talk to her on the phone, that way at least you can get acquainted with her,” Mo’Feir cut me off.
I sat in silence for a moment then spoke up. “We’ll see, Mo, okay?”
“Yeah…think about it for me, Keegan.”
“Okay.”
“You hungry?”
“Um, no, just tired,” I said standing on my feet. He stood up and I looked up at him.
“What?” he asked before he yelled out, “Carthez and Reighn!”
I heard some running down the stairs and within seconds two teens, not too much younger than I, came in the room. The boy, well, young man was tall, about 6’5 with long wavy hair, but he looked just like Mo’Feir, the dark skin, the eyes. The girl was about 5’9, same skin tone and eyes also, with short dreads, and she had a nose ring.
“You two know the friend that I tell you about?” he asked them.
“Yeah, Keegan,” the young man said. His voice was deep, he even sounded like Mo. “Is this her?”
“Yeah.”
“Hey, Keegan, my name is Carthez,” he said reaching out and taking my hand. “It is nice to finally meet you. Mo talks about you a lot.”
“Yupp, all the time,” the girl said smiling. “I’m Ca’Reighn. I‘ve been asking him how long was it going to take to meet you.”
“Well,” I said lifting up my hands, “here I am, and its really a pleasure to meet the both of you.”
Ca’Reighn laughed and took my hand. “Come on let me show you around. I’m pretty sure Mo took you on a lovely, one-bedroom-tour, but he never finishes the job. Tell me, how much of the house have you seen already?”
“Just the guest room,” I said as she led me out into the hallway. She looked at her twin and smiled. I looked and saw him eyeing me and blushed in the dark hallway, thankful that the lights were off. He nodded at his sister.
“I knew he wouldn’t show you much. You want to see all of it now, or do you want to wait until the morning?” she asked me, letting go of my hand.
“I’m kinda restless, so it doesn’t matter by me,” I said.
“Well, I’ll show you downstairs and Carthez will show you upstairs,” she said looking over at him. He was putting a hat back in Mo’Feir room and looked back at me.
“Yeah, I can do that,” he said with a warm smile. “I have to talk to Mo for a minute though, so you can go on, Reign. I’ll be ready by the time you’re through showing her the kitchen.”
“Okay, let’s get moving then,” I said and Ca’Reighn nodded.
“I’ll take my time, sometimes when they talk it can be a minute…so where do you want to start?” she asked.
“Doesn’t matter,” I answered and with that she grabbed my hand and my grand tour began.