Fall 2009

Momma Dean recovered the week after the incident at Englewood Community Mart. In fact, she dropped off Chenille and Christopher that very morning. Derek went to Emerald Park for a solitary basketball game. He returned home to finish his homework in time for class tomorrow. Around 1:30pm, his Sony Ericsson W580 started ringing loudly. It was an unknown number. He rejected what he thought was a spam call. However, the same number called again. The college student groaned in frustration. He answered at the third ring and was astounded upon recognizing the caller's voice. "Took you long enough. What's up, D?"

"Malakai? How the—where are you calling me at?"

"The bus terminal on Kedzie and 63rd Place. I'm on my break."

"What do you want?"

"Maybe I want to wish my boy happy birthday. Not everybody gets to live to be 25."

"We ain't boys, alright? You told me, 'Kiss my ass, you punk-ass b*ch'."

"True, true." Derek thought he heard Malakai sigh, something he knew the latter hadn't ever done. He earnestly muttered, "Man, I was an idiot."

"So, why are you trippin' off me?"

"It's a long story. Look here, I'm staying at Cornerstone Residential Reentry Center for Men. Pull up sometime if you wanna know where I've been." The call ended following that. Derek immediately decided he wouldn't go. Last month was the only time he would allow himself to see Malakai. The college student shouldn't care how his former best friend had been up to. On the other hand, the parolee did seem repentant and genuinely reformed. What if he was planning to get back at him for whatever reason? And how did he got his phone number anyway?

If Derek was happy about one thing during the phone call, it was the zero mention of Sara. He wanted to think about her as little as possible. Twice he saw the Juilliard alumna, and twice she made no subtle hints on her aversion for him. Yet it was now harder to avoid ruminating about his second ex-girlfriend without bringing her daughter into the mix. Derek remembered how Samara received his hand so trustingly. She wouldn't get why he was her mother's least favorite person until she's older. The youngest Johnson couldn't know more about him than what she already did. For now, she and Derek were mutual acquaintances. He and her mother were… basically next to nothing.

Derek felt indifferent about his birthday. It was hard to celebrate being a quarter century when he had seemingly done nothing worthwhile. The only accomplishment he was proud of, besides graduating from high school, was getting accepted to Georgetown. If the college student had gone there, he'd already have his bachelor's degree and entered medical school by now. He would still be on his way to becoming a pediatrician. Yet, Derek's long-term departure would make Christopher the man of the house. He couldn't do that to the boy after his father let him and his mother down. He had to stay for his family.

Although Derek wasn't in a celebratory mood, it stopped neither his grandmother, sister, nor nephew from observing the day in question. Momma Dean baked and iced a six-inch round chocolate cake with buttercream frosting. Christopher made a card for his favorite uncle. Chenille didn't purchase a birthday present for her brother, but she had something else in store for him. The young mother waited until their grandmother and her son were out of sight to address the birthday boy. "Do you have any plans?"

"I have midterms on the 21st next month. After that—"

"No," she interjected. "I'm speaking long-term."

"I just turned 25, Chenille. I don't have everything on deck."

"Well, it'll be a whole new decade in less than three months."

Derek raised an eyebrow in confusion at her. "What are you getting at?"

She firmly responded with a question of her own. "Why haven't I seen you hang out with Eric or Mike?"

"Eric is working his way up at a tax law practice. And, y'know Mike hasn't been around for almost three years. Active duty."

"Oh, right." Chenille winced from the very thought of it. "Good thing Snookie didn't have the same idea."

"No cap. For real, though, what's with the third degree?"

The career-oriented mother once again had a solemn expression on her face. "You used to be one of the most social people I knew, Derek. Now, you keep everybody and they mamas at arm's length."

The college student lukewarmly replied, "What do you expect?"

"Look, I just wanna make sure you're happy—"

"I am happy," he immovably declared.

"But for whose sake? I ain't asking you to settle down. Meet new folks next time you go out—and I don't mean when you start job searching or when you're dropping Christopher off at school. Who knows? Maybe reconnect with someone you haven't seen for a minute."

Derek didn't like it whenever his sister was in his business. Chenille meant it well, but she could be pestering sometimes. Her words unfortunately had shadowed him for three weeks. At the same time, it made him reconsider Malakai's invitation. Derek had more questions that the parolee could easily provide answers for. Among them, the college student occasionally inquired if his former friend knew about Samara. Malakai must have seen her when he saw Sara after all. It wasn't like Derek had the schedule for the Line 63 bus memorized.

The freshman arrived at the campus library to use one of the computers. He dissuasively researched the name of the halfway house Malakai had given over the phone. As it turned out, there was such a place off the Dan Ryan Expressway. Derek scribbled the address and phone number on the back page of his notebook. He spent the rest of the day thinking how he was going to tell his family about Malakai's release. Momma Dean wouldn't like the news, much less Chenille. Still, they were bound to hear about it sooner or later.