Chapter 25: Mama C. Thanksgiving and Deja Vu

(SUNDAY, MORNING.)

This morning when I got up, I found out a big shower means you may never shower alone again, not that this is a problem. We went over to Sandy’s house as we were doing a general cleanup and check on the house. The Cougar parade was impressive. A few of the neighbors came over to see what was going on when six identical cars arrived and parked in Sandy’s driveway and along the curbs in front of her house.

One neighbor made sure to let Sandy know she had a daughter who just turned eighteen when Sharon told her that all of the ladies worked for her Grandmother. Sadly, Sharon told her we were not taking any new applications at this time. After a few hours, we left and all agreed to meet at Studio 28 to see a few movies. Before going home to a very good dinner Carmanza put together, the woman didn’t lie she is a great cook, and it seems she had been asking my Grandmother and my Mom about cooking soul food also.

Starting with Carmanza the night games were fun, though I only came twice, I managed about half the group before I passed out. I was beginning to see that I was overmatched with all these ladies.

(MONDAY, MORNING.) Three weeks have passed, and since this is Thanksgiving week today is the second week of basketball practice for us guys. The girls won the City League Trophy, and were undefeated in the regular season. They had made their way into the playoffs, going on to win the Girls State Basketball Championship, with an undefeated perfect season.

Needless to say I felt the weight of the world on me to match the success of the girls’ team. On paper, we looked like we would be able to, but I intended to take it one game at a time. I wanted to be undefeated badly also, but truth be told as long as we bought home all the winning hardware that was the important part to me.

I shocked everyone by dressing in jeans and a sweater as the season was starting I didn’t need the suits as there was no way to keep them from getting wrinkled. Plus it was too many things to put back on after practice. Not to say I was done with suits altogether, I just wouldn’t be wearing them daily until basketball was all over.

I was having two identical black suits made for the Basketball team members, just like I had two identical black dresses made for the girls to wear on game day and had them dry cleaned to be ready for each game day. By having two dresses or suits means that there was no issue for not having a clean suit or dress for the person to wear in school and to the game.

I willingly made these purchases and would do so for the other teams if asked to do so. However, the simple ball gowns the girls had brought the intimidation factor even more as most saw them arrive in the playoffs looking like winners both outside as well as inside the locker room. We wanted that same magic following us to the State Championship also.

I went to lunch as Fallon was leaving to go to class as we didn’t have the same lunch. “We have a problem at home that mom, and I need to talk to you about it is urgent, can you come over after practice please,” Fallon asked.

“I will have Pam bring me over after dinner then.” I said. Fallon thanked me as she wiped the tears from her eyes, and went to class. Leaving me wondering what is going on at her house.

Pam brought me what I would have called a snack from Arby’s. I told her as much after thanking her for going to get it in the first place. She brought me some papers to see, just as a cover, as she wanted to know what really happened to Travis. “Pam, don’t ask because you were not there, therefore, you can’t truthfully know about it. Don’t be mad as I am protecting you. As I said Travis should be calling you soon about the property as I think we should buy it.” She wasn’t happy but knew in the grand scheme of things I was right.

Just like at our first practice Coach moved straight to the heart of the matter so there would be no question about it. “Listen before we get started today, there are thirty-five men still in here trying for fourteen spots, as we all know who will be the starting center. Yes we have a good chance of winning the State Championship, but any of you that have a chance to make the JV team need to head over that way now. As you are Sophomore’s right now you will be Junior’s next year and Teddy will really need you then. If you stay here you most likely won’t make it onto the Varsity team, and you may not get on the JV team at that point.

I spent most of my time shooting free throws as Coach used his other big men to weed out the bigger guys who were not polished basketball players. Furthermore, he ran plays to weed out the guards not up to snuff. His goal was to have a smaller faster team to match up with teams who had no answer for me and used smaller players, something he called ‘small ball’. He made it clear there would be teams where I would be on the bench more than on the floor. We all remembered that happening to Cathy and the girl’s team.

Coach cut seven guys that night; four had left to go back to the JV team, and two went to the freshman team where they belonged. After he thanked those who wouldn’t be making the team he let the rest of us know there were seven more going home soon, so be ready as by this time next week or shortly thereafter those would be excused as well. Just relax and play your game and let me worry about who would or wouldn’t be cut.

Pam came to get me; she had Nightwing, Windtalker, and Kelly with her, when we got to Sonja’s house, Fallon let us in. I saw a very pretty thirty something black woman sitting in Sonja’s dining room; she was introduced to me as Enid Wallace. “I asked Sonja to help me meet you as I want to ask you for your help with my son, his life is already ruined thanks to his dad I am told that he could go to this new ... er ... program something like a boot camp.” She said.

“It’s about all I can do for him as, he brought this on himself believing totally the bullshit his daddy has fed him all his life. I know money isn’t something you would take, what would it take to get you to go along with my son going to boot camp?” Enid wanted to know.

“What do you think you have to offer as we both know money is no incentive?” I asked. “Well I have nothing of value to you as I am on the verge of losing my house so money is not the answer I was really just hoping to appeal to your sense of mercy.” Enid sobbed.

“Why are you not asking for help concerning your husband?” I asked.

“That son of a bitch fucked up this situation too much to hope any help is coming for him; he got himself fired from his job thinking he was more than he was. He earned a quarter of a million dollars a year plus bonus’s, and takes it into his head to throw weight he doesn’t have up against the richest person in the state. True he didn’t know who you were then, but I told him the night before to let all this shit go. “Enid stated.

“I told him this couldn’t end well, and why would you put an innocent child in jail, his answer was because he beat up our son he wanted to make an example of you. And we all see how that worked out. Then I just found out he was after his son’s girlfriend, his own Goddaughter for sex.” Enid said.

“Teddy, I am asking you to do this for me as Enid is a close friend of mine, please,” Sonja asked.

“Sonja to be completely frank she has nothing but her body that she can really offer to me, but I bet I know a way for her to keep her house, but she would have to divorce Lyle Sr., and Lyle Jr. would be given an apartment he would have to maintain himself after the six-month prepaid lease ends, if he gets the boot camp option.” I said.

Enid’s face fell as she didn’t know if she could go through with what she was hearing. “Think about it Enid and talk to Sonja with whatever you decide to do.” I said. And with that we got up and left.

I was both tired and stressed out dealing with all of the different dramas of this day I just wanted to be alone to sleep which is what I did sleeping in one of the guest rooms.

(TUESDAY, MORNING.) Carmanza came to get me. “Wake up lover to get your day started.” I stumbled into the pitifully small bathroom compared to master bathroom took my shower. I found a pair of light blue pair of slacks, with a lighter blue shirt, with blue running gym shoes.

I showed Carmanza that I knew what to do with the breakfast she put in front of me. She did smile when I put up a fuss for more of her cooking which she just happened to have at the ready. She looked at the girls and said. “He eats more than all of you put together and doesn’t have an ounce of fat, which is against all the food rules.” Carmanza joked.

“Well I am not going to let your good cooking go to waste, so I see it as my job to show you that I know how to use a knife, and a fork, or spoon very well, and you can bet on that.” I said.

“Hush before I take a spoon to you.” Carmanza laughed. It was one of the few times we had seen her smile since we came back from Tennessee.

It was Cathy’s turn to drive me to school today in my truck, while others drove to school in different Cougars, which also changed daily so everyone’s Cougar got used.

This week would be a breeze as Thanksgiving was just days away and the teachers were letting us cruise this week. After practice, three more guys had the dreams of Varsity Basketball crushed so we knew four more would go before our final team would be set.

Susan picked me up from practice. I asked. “Where was Cathy?”

“She couldn’t come back to get you; something came up. When we walked in the door Cathy grabbed me sobbing. “Thank you, thank you baby, I love you so much.” I had no clue what had happened. “Thank you baby for going to get Mama C and moving her into this house,” Cathy gushed.

“I would love to take credit for that, but I wasn’t the one to make this happen; as you know, other things kept getting in the way of us getting to Tennessee to see her. So Pam made the suggestion to get her up here as soon as the new house was ready and move her in. I promised you we would go to meet her, as she had requested, but between Travis, and Kronis, plus getting this house and other matters, as well we never seemed to make the time to go south. So I brought the south to us.” I said.

Mama C was one hundred years of age, but looked like a well preserved seventy-five. She had lost most of the spring in her step, but she could still do most things for herself. Mama C still wanted to be independent but understood she wasn’t the young girl she used to be, and needed to both learn her new limits about moving around in the new much larger house. And stay with-in those limitations. Unbeknownst to Cathy, Mama C came into town yesterday, and stayed at our suite down there. Pam, Windtalker, Nightwing, and Susan all went to the Suite to supervise the nurses applying for the two positions we were hiring for.

The applicants had been pre-screened to get this far and would be paid well if they didn’t get the job. When we got to the final four, the other six were next door watching TV waiting until the end to pick up their exiting check. They were again asked if they would be offended knowing a large group of women were dating the same man.

One woman raised her hand. She was thanked, a check for $25 thousand dollars was made out to her, she signed a non-disclosure form, and she was led out and thanked again for her time. When she looked at the check and read it, she knew she had made a mistake opening her mouth. If we were willing to her pay twenty-five grand to send her on her way, the pay scale for the job had to be much better.

Susan went next door and asked another lady who was number five on the list, to come back into the suite and was asked the big question. Vanessa was the lady who was called back in; she asked, “Are we expected to have sex with him as well?” Others shook their heads as to say they wanted an answer to that question also.

“No, you are not; we don’t have sex out in the open, as there is a five-year-old girl, who is my Granddaughter living there too along with several other children also. Though all of the children are of aware of what is going on in the house.” Pam said.

“If you have prejudices, we need to know this now. You met with the patient and saw she is black, her Granddaughter, and her Great-Granddaughter will be living there as well. In fact, Cathy her Great-Granddaughter doesn’t know Mama C is here yet as Cathy has already been here for a few months. So as there is every color of the rainbow living in our home, and we are still fitting in with each other ourselves. Meaning that we are all finally living to together under one roof, plus other issues not important to any of you. However, if you don’t like any certain ethnic group no matter the reason, please speak up now.

“There is no room for prejudices in our home, and the man of the house is also black. Although we women run the house with a firm hand, he is our man and he does indeed have the last word. At first, I was going to hire just two of you, but all four of you may be the better fit. The four of you need to go elect a head nurse please; you can go into the next room to do this.

When they came back Mara, a lady of Puerto-Rican descent, said she would be responsible for the scheduling and such, but they preferred to work out among themselves the way the work was preformed. Vanessa was a Black woman; Monica was a White woman, but Suzy was of Japanese-American descent. Pam said she was ok with this. Living with us, you will both hear and see things you wouldn’t otherwise, we have no leaks, and we don’t want any. The last thing you should know the man of the house is nearly seven feet and very large at three-hundred pounds, but he is also only fourteen years old.

This last had Mara, Vanessa, Monica, and Suzy all picking their jaws off the floor as they could clearly see the women in this group of women were already grown women but living and having sex with a minor. This was something that was very surprising.

“While we are shocking you, there is more than one group of multi-generational women of the same families.” Pam told them.

“Lastly, Teddy is related to most of us as a distant cousin, but four of us are, in fact, his older sisters.” All were sitting down by now shaking their head.

Mara asked, “Was there anything else you want to try and shock us with?”

“No but you should know that Teddy is the richest and soon to be the most powerful man in the state, and at some point one of the most powerful men in the nation.” Pam continued.

“There are no servants in the house, we all do things ourselves. With basketball practice, games, and other things, Teddy is not home until late afternoon or evening. He is not a tyrant, or anything like that, he is approachable. Teddy’s parents live right down the street along with the mothers of Teddy and three of Teddy’s oldest sisters. We are trying to become one big happy family. So do you four think you can do the job, plus fit into this large group family setting,” Pam asked.

Four loud answers of yes were heard. Susan gave them both the non-disclosure and pre-nuptial agreement should they begin having sex with Teddy at any point during, or after their employment.

Susan went next door and handed out checks of fifty-thousand dollars, and thanked those ladies for their time and patience in this matter, as well as handing out the letters of recommendations. Susan let them know if any of the four chosen didn’t work out they would call these five nurses first. Those five nurses were shocked at the checks and the letters, but each made sure Susan knew to call them if we needed their services.

All four nurses were on hand with Mama C all five of them were looking at 6’ 6 ½” Cathy kissing 6’10 3/4” Teddy; none of them could believe they were looking at a fourteen-year-old teenager. By just the look of him Teddy appears to be a grown man. Cathy took Teddy by the hand and they walked over to meet Mama C, as well as the new nurses. Teddy took the time to look at all four nurses while trying not to drool.

Mama C looked nowhere the age Cathy said she was; I kissed the hand she offered me as we met each other for the first time, she was very soft spoken. “I sent you my baby, and she has nothing but nice words about you.” Mama C said.

We all sat down to Carmanza’s magic we called dinner as everything she cooked was going out to dinner each night. Mama C said to Cathy. “That chile ain’t scared of food at all, hell he acts like if he goes too slow it might get up and leave the table afore he does.” Mama C laughed as she said this.

“Mama C, Teddy has a big appetite and doesn’t mind showing he likes to eat.” After dinner, we all ended up in the TV room Shelly sat in my lap as usual, it seemed to her this was the best seat if it was available.

The night games that night started with Cathy, and although she was quiet, for the most part, everyone in the room knew when she got caught up in her orgasm. I made my way through about half the women in the room; it was time for me to give up the fight as I seemed to be out of bullets.