Chapter 6: "2"
"The city of PASADENA, CALIFORNIA"
A very homey three-bedroom house in the affluent suburb of Pasadena, California. A purple Dodge Neon sits parked in the driveway. A tricycle, a big wheel, and a few toys sprinkle the grass on the front yard. A mailbox with the name "The BELLS" on it sits out in front of the lawn.
The car door open and close. Then the Bride walk up to the door and pushes a doorbell. The front door opens and an attractive black housewife the same age as The Bride stands in the doorway. The housewife's face shows immediate recognition of the Asian on her doorstep. The Bride attacks The Housewife. The Asian woman and the black woman fly into the center of the living room, crashing onto her coffee table in front of the sofa. These two wildcats go at each other savagely, tumbling over the couch, clawing and scratching all the way, landing together on the plush carpet. The housewife kicks The Bride, sending her crashing backwards into the small table where the phone, a note pad (for messages), and the mail is kept. The Housewife scrambles up on her feet, but is caught by a flying tackle from behind by The Bride that sends them both into…An ornamental iron and tempered-glass bookcase that has framed family photos, display toys, some African art, and a collection of painted commemorative plates depicting the negro experience in the American military. Starting with a plate featuring Cripis Atkins in the revolutionary war, negro troops in union blue during the civil war, Buffalo soldiers fighting Indians, the Jim Crow troops of the first world war, the colored troops of world war two, Korea, Vietnam, and finally Colin Powell…The Bride and The Housewife crash through all this reducing everything to rubble. They land hard on the floor covered in broken glass, locked in grapple, each trying to get the best of the other one…When the Housewife head butts The Bride in the nose. The housewife hops off The Bride, runs into the kitchen, opens a drawer and comes out with a HUGE MOTHERFUCKIN BUTCHER KNIFE. The Bride rises from the floor, and whips out a knife in a sheath hanging from her belt known as a SOG. (A SOG is a long, double-edged knife that's as sharp as a razor, and is what Navy Seals use to kill humans with.) The Bride backs up into the mess of the now totally demolished living room. The two women stalk each other, each holding her blade, each looking like they know how to use it, each waiting for the other to make a mistake so they can plunge their blade deep into the other one. Blood and sweat drip off of the faces of the two women locked in life and death combat…when they heard the school bus arrived dropping off a kid. It was the housewife's kid. the 2 locked in stance but the housewife was silently pleading not to fight in front of the kid. Then in the back kitchen-door opens, and a four-year-old little girl, carrying a lunch box steps inside. "Mommy, I'm home!"
The two warrior women whose eyes reflect only combat concentration, suddenly switch upon hearing the four-year old's voice. The Housewife's eyes flash a look of pleading to the eyes of The Bride. The Bride seems to answer back; "Okay." The Black woman and the white woman hide their edged weapons behind their backs, as the Four-Year-Old Little Girl walks into the newly destroyed living room. The Housewife switches to her mommy voice. "Hey baby, how was school?"
The Little Girl is flabbergasted at the mess, and the condition of her mother, who looks like she's just been in a bar room brawl. "Mommy, what happened to you and the T.V. Room?
The housewife replied, "Oh, that good for nothin dog of yours, got his little ass in the living room and acted a damn fool, that's what happened."
The little girl asked, "Barney did this?" She says it with the slightest hint of skepticism, then tries to enter the living room.
Her mother stopped her. "Now baby, you can't come in here, there's broken glass all over the floor, and you gonna cut yourself." The little girl's eyes go to the Asian lady in the living room who she ain't never seen before, who also looks like she's been fighting. The Bride smiles at the confused Little Girl. "This is a old friend of mommy's I ain't seen in a long time."
The Bride said, "Hello sweetie, I'm *(BLEEP)*, what's your name?"
The shy, suspicious little girl doesn't say anything, she just stares at the lady. "Her name is Nikkia."
The Bride said, "Nikkia. What a pretty name for such a pretty little girl. How old are you Nikkia?
Nikki still says nothing, only stares. Her mother said, "Nikkia, *(BLEEP)* asked you a question."
Nikkia said, "I'm four."
The Bride said, "Four years old, aye. You know I once had a little girl. She'd be your age right now. Maybe you two could have played with each other."
The housewife said, "Now baby, me an *(BLEEP)* have some grown-up talk to talk about, so you go in your room now and leave us alone till I tell you to come out." The child doesn't move, so the mother repeats herself. Her mother snapped her fingers to get her attention. "Nikkia - in your room - now." The little girl slowly walks away and disappears behind the door of her bedroom. The two women turn to face each other, masquerade and combat both finished. "Want some coffee?"
The Bride replied, "Yeah, sure."
The two women move into the kitchen. The Bride re-sheaths her SOG, and The Housewife puts the butcher knife back in the drawer. The Bride sits down at the kitchen table, while The Housewife pours both of them coffee. "Cream and sugar?"
The Bride replied, "Both, please." This Pasadena homemaker's name is Jeannie Bell. Her husband is Dr. Lawrence Bell. But back when we were acquainted, four years ago, her name was VERNITA GREEN. Her code name was "Copperhead"…Mine was Black Mamba. The two combat fighters sit at the kitchen table, drinking coffee out of Vernita's coffee mugs. "Were you expecting me?"
Vernita replied, "Yes and no. Mike got in touch with me right after you woke up, and your episode in Japan. So, I suppose it's a little late for an apology, huh?"
Bride said, "You suppose correctly."
Vernita asked, "Even if I was sincere?"
Bride said, "Oh. I'm quite positive you're sorry, now."
Vernita says to the Bride across the table furiously but with low volume; "Look bitch, I need to know if you're gonna start anymore shit around my baby girl!"
Bride said, "You can relax for now. I'm not going to murder you in front of your daughter. Better that and have mine in my womb."
Vernita said, "That's being more rational than Mike led me to believe you were capable of."
Bride said, "Well that's a demonstration of Corleone's complete ignorance when it comes to the subject of me, and what I'm thinking, and what I might do. It's mercy, compassion, and forgiveness I lack, not rationality. I'll wait for now, but I won't wait for long. I'll allow you to choose a time and place for us to meet again, preferably as far away from Nikki as possible. I could have just HIT you, I didn't, I demand respect for that. Since this is not a HIT, consider it a DUEL. And as two former Deadly Vipers, we will observe Viper rules of honor. One on one - no help – no bushwhackin - no treacherous weapons - on weapon of choice – our skill and our bodies."
Vernita says her name; "*(BLEEP)*"
Bride said, "I'm not through telling you. Failure to keep our date, or duplicity of any kind, will result in me putting a xoxo hollow point bullet into the back of your skull from a window of a building across the street from Nikki's elementary school. Now, feel free to respond."
Vernita said, "Look...I know I fucked you over. I fucked you over bad. I wish to God I hadn't, but I did." The Asian listens to the black woman with a poker face. "If I could go back in a machine I would, but I can't. All I can tell you is I'm a different person now."
The Bride said, "I don't care."
Vernita said, "Be that as it may, I know I do not deserve mercy or forgiveness. However, I beseech you for both on behalf of my daughter." She showed the Bride a picture of her family.
It didn't faze her. "Bitch, you can stop right there." The B-word stops Vernita short, almost like a cold-handed slap in the face. "Just because I have no wish to murder you before the eyes of your daughter, does not mean parading her around in front of me is going to inspire sympathy. You and I have unfinished business. And not a goddamn fuckin thing you've done in the subsequent four years - including getting knocked up - is going to change that."
Vernita said, "You have every right to wanna get even –"
The Bride interrupted her. "But that's where you're wrong, Vernita. I don't want to get even. To get even, even Steven. I would have to kill you, go into Nikki's room, kill her, then wait for your old man, Dr. Bell, to come home and kill him. That would be about square. No, my unborn daughter will just hafta be satisfied with your death at her mother's hands."
Vernita knows no matter what else is said, blood will spill. "When do we do this yellow (AN: sorry)?"
The Bride said, "It all depends nigga (AN: again, sorry). When do you want to die? Tomorrow? The day after tomorrow?"
Vernita asked, "How bout tonight, bitch?"
The Bride said, "Splendid. Where?"
Vernita said, "There's a baseball diamond where our little league has its games, about a mile from here. We meet there around two-thirty in the morning, dressed all in black, your face covered, and we have us a knife fight, we won't be bothered." Then she said, "Now if you excuse me I have to fix Nikki's cereal."
As they continue to talk, Vernita pulls down a cereal bowl for her daughter and lays it on the kitchen counter. The Bride said, "Corleone said you were one of the best ladies he'd ever seen with an edged weapon." Vernita moves to another kitchen cabinet, and pulls down a box of the sugar cereal, "Kaboom."
Vernita said, "Fuck you, bitch, I know he didn't qualify it, so you can just kiss my motherfuckin ass, Black Mamba." Then she snorts. "Black Mamba, I shoulda been motherfuckin Black Mamba.
As the two females continue to talk, Vernita reaches her hand inside the cereal box. The Bride said, "Weapon of choice? And if you want to stick with your butcher knife, I'm cool with that."
Vernita turned to her and said, "Very funny bitch. VERY FUNNY!" Vernita fires a gun from inside the cereal box at The Bride…The bullet explodes out of the cardboard box.
The bride kicked the coffee mug at her direction and as she kneels just before the next shot was fired, she threw the knife at Vernita and it got her right in the heart. She died instantly. The Bride removes her Sog, looks up and sees little Nikkia standing in the doorway of her room. The little girl sees her mother dead on the floor, lying in her own blood. And she sees the Asian lady standing over her mother, bloody knife still in her hand. But oddly enough, Nikki doesn't cry. The little girl locks eyes with the big girl, and holds her stare. As she talks to the little girl, she removes an already stained with blood white handkerchief with the name "MIKE" sewn on it. And the Asian wipes the girl's mother's blood off her blade. "It was not my intention to do this in front of you. For that I'm sorry. But you can take my word for it; your mother had it coming. When you grow up, if you still feel raw about it, I'll be waiting." And with that apology, statement, and invitation, The Bride walks out the kitchen side door, leaving the little girl to her mourning. The Bride walks down the dead woman's driveway to her vehicle. She glances at the lawn toys one more time as she makes here getaway. She climbs into her big, yellow pickup truck, with the words "Pussy Wagon" written across the flatbed's hatch door in a pimpy font. She takes out a ringed notebook and turns to a page that's headline reads; DEATH LIST FIVE. On the pager are five names numbered going down the page written in red ink. The first name has a line drawn through it with black ink. The second name on the list is; VERNITA GREEN (COPPERHEAD). The Bride takes a black felt pen and draws a line through Vernita's name. Turns on the truck's engine and drives out of the residential district. For those regarded as warriors…when engaged in combat…the vanquishing of thine enemy can be the warrior's only concern. Suppress all human emotion and compassion…kill whoever stands in thy way, even if that be Lord God, or Buddha himself. This truth lies at the heart of the art of combat. Then the Bride's eyes un-slit and asked, "So guys, where's next?" The tattoos on her back glowed telling her which direction to go. "Lead the way."