Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 73556 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 368(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73556 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 368(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
‘Mama, you’re bleeding,’ I said. My shaky voice frightened me. I couldn’t understand why I was having trouble speaking. I figured I should be screaming like Mama had been. Now she was quiet. Or maybe I should have been yellin’ like Daddy had been. He was quiet now, too.
Mama didn’t seem to pay that blood no mind. After a long silence, Daddy apologized under his breath. His deep voice, usually laced with confidence and bravado, sounded like each syllable was underwater. Drownin’ in a pool of red blood, pepper, salt and despair. He looked rather sorry, or maybe I was just too young to know what real guilt and remorse looked like. Daddy was good at pretending he felt one way, when he really felt another. Mama says I got that from him. Says I do it, too. I make jokes, or get violent. I don’t know a middle ground. Mama used to say I sound like Daddy, too. That day though, that voice of his flowed through the room real slow, hanging in the air like thick train smoke. He said it again. ‘I’m sorry, baby…’
He apologized two times to mama. She ain’t respond. She just kept gathering broken pieces of a married man and woman.
After a while, Daddy turned and walked out of there. I don’t remember what they was fussin’ about that particular day, but I know Mama was mighty upset. Then she said something that perplexed me.
‘Why’d he throw himself, instead of me?’
Roman sat in the dental office that smelled of fresh oranges. One of the three front desk staff sat behind a sizable semi-circular desk that was the color of undercooked shrimp, and slowly detached the fruit wedges away from the pocked peel. Pinging the thick slivers of rind into a trashcan with a flick of her thumb, she hummed to the music playing—Ravyn Lenae’s, ‘One Wish,’ featuring Childish Gambino. A lanky, short teenage boy, who appeared to be Mexican, entered the lobby. His black headphones were awfully large, but he seemed to not be bothered by it, from the way he bobbed his head as he signed in on the arrival sheet. Roman thought the kid looked a bit like Lennox in the face when he was around that age. I need to give Lennox a call. Check in on him.
The boy spoke to one of the receptionists in broken English, but not unintelligibly, while Roman scanned the lobby. He hadn’t really done so when he’d first arrived—all he wanted to do was get some help with his bothersome tooth, but since it was taking a while, his thoughts and attention wandered. The lobby was modern with taupe and maple colored furniture, and minimalistic large paintings on the walls. A good-sized flatscreen television hung above the front door, set on a news station on low volume, closed captions enabled. He rubbed his sore jaw with a gentle touch as he noticed an old woman peering over her red glasses, looking down at her phone with puzzlement. Another older woman sat across from her gripping a home decor magazine, but it was closed shut and tight between her pressed fingers.
“Roman Wilde?” A side door swung open, and out popped a young Black woman dressed in light blue scrubs. She had dark red- and cream-colored sister-locks that were pulled back in a thick ponytail.
“Yeah, that’s me.”
“Hi. I’m Dianne. You can come on back now.” She waved him forward. He got to his feet and entered through the workplace door behind her, to find a series of muted lavender and sapphire painted rooms, some with doors open that allowed him to see patients receiving services. The same music continued to play there as in the lobby, and he slowed down a bit to admire a large aquarium.
“Nice tank.”
“Yes, it is. We all take turns feeding them. That’s Dino.” Dianne laughed, pointing to a puffer fish. “He’s looking right at you. He gets a lot of attention. I take it you like fish? They’re sure pretty and relaxing to watch, too.”
“Yeah… I like aquariums like this,” he said. “My brother had a nice one at his place, too. I’d like one, but it won’t happen anytime soon… wish I had time to take care of one.” He continued to follow right behind her as she began to walk once again.
“Busy schedule?” She tossed him a glance from over her shoulder.
“Often. Thankfully I just so happen to have a couple of days off but usually I’m jam-packed. Speaking of time, I want to thank y’all for takin’ me in at such short notice.”
“Oh, no problem.” They entered a room, and his eyes scanned the treatment chair, then the colorful posters all along the walls. One of them demonstrated the stages of tooth decay and gingivitis. “Have a seat, Mr. Wilde. Make yourself comfortable. Genesis said you think your tooth is cracked, right?” the woman questioned as she opened a cabinet.