Family Tithes

The Waiting Game

I shrug my shoulders.

"I'm sorry I put you in that predicament. It'd never happen again," He vows.

I know he must feel guilty cause he doesn't even lecture me about not locking the doors or paying attention. I really hope things went over well with Caesar's boy, Reese, cause although Ace would never admit it, I know I just fucked them over big time.

Caesar comes down the stairs in an all black ensemble. Black hoodie, black jeans, black Air Force 1s. So that's why he needed to change?

"I know y'all not thinking bout doing something to Big Tony," I say.

Caesar tosses a black shirt, a pair of jeans and a black ski mask at Ace. My stomach folds into itself. They couldn't kill Tony. He was only doing his job. He wouldn't even be on the hit list if it wasn't for me.

"Stay out this," Caesar tells me.

"Fuck that. Y'all can't kill that man for doing his job," I protest.

"So snitching apart of his job?" Ace asks, stuffing his legs into the jeans.

"Who says he snitching?"

"He will," Caesar pipes out.

"You don't know that," I say.

"Exactly. We need to be sure he ain't gon say nothing," Ace pulls the shirt over his head.

"Ace, you can't be serious."

"This ain't on you, Candy," Ace lies.

"But--"

"Just chill here and we'll be back tonight," Ace cuts me off.

Him and Caesar walk to the door.

"Wait here, Candyce," Ace says.

"And don't invite none of them nappy-headed hoes to my house. Don't post on social media at all and stop sharing yo location with everybody," Caesar says.

I roll my eyes.

"Candyce?" Ace calls.

I look up.

"Listen to me this time," He says and pulls the door closed behind him.

...

When Ace said they would be back tonight, I didn't think they actually meant tonight. Six hours has gone by and all I've been doing is scrolling Instagram without being able to like anything, which is harder than it sounds. I flick through the stations on the flat screen that's mounted to the wall. I mostly look through what Caesar has recorded. I wrinkle my nose at his various baking shows, Game of Thrones and other boring shows. I don't know what I expected, but it wasn't this.

As the clock strikes 9, I'm at my witts end. Since I was ordered not to leave the house, I head to the kitchen. I didn't have an appetite, especially knowing what was happening to Tony, but I was curious to see what type of stuff Caesar ate. A bunch of healthy crap covered the shelves, which wasn't that surprising cause girl, have you seen his body? I find his hidden stash in the pantry full of Snickers bars, and oreos.

I head barefoot to the bathroom I cleaned up in. I smell the hand soap. I sit on the toilet and flip through the magazine he has in there. I notice Caesar's name enlisted on the cover for the subscription. Flipping through it, it's marked with notes and post-its next to different furniture pieces. His handwriting is too small to understand but I recognized the words "NYC" and "Colorado".

In his bedroom upstairs, guilt keeps me from searching through his room. I do, however, pick up the novel next to the table.

"Catch Me If You Can," I read out loud.

I flip to the first page and skim through it. I carry the book back downstairs and read through it. All I can make out from the book is that it's some guy's life story about escaping police custody before I'm dozing off. 

I didn't realize how sleepy I was but my quick nap turned to a complete snooze fest. I'm pulled out of the comforting quietness of my dreams when voices erupt around me.

"Is she sleep?"

"Yeah."

"Nah don't wake her up."

"You know she safe with me."

I'm in and out of sleep trying to make out the voices around me.

"Shit I guess so. Bring her with you tomorrow."

"Aight. Be safe, bruh."

I fall back to sleep when the door closes. I wake up again when a blanket is laid over me. Caesar stands above me. He's out of his black get-up and dressed in a white tank top and grey sweats. He's eyeing the book on the table that I stole from his nightstand.

"I got bored," I mumble.

He looks back at me.

"It's all good. Go back to sleep," He says.

"I didn't know you read," I confess.

"Everyone reads. You can't get through life without it. Some read more than others, that's all."

"Is there a particular reason you reading books about evading the police?" I ask.

Caesar shrugs.

"I figure if I'ma be doing illegal shit then I should at least know how to get away with it. Go back to sleep, Candy Red," Caesar calls me by the nickname he gave me when we were kids

"You remember that?" I ask, half-awake, half-asleep.

"Even if I didn't, you reminded me last night," Caesar avoids the question.

"So you do remember it. What else do you remember?" I mumble.

"Go back to sleep, Red," He says.

It's only cause I'm halfway sleep anyway that I let him off the hook. I close my eyes and let my dreams take me.