Jai

Jai

The music of Miles Davis drifted through the speakers of his
minature shelf-unit sound system. He leafed through a stack of
papers before setting them down in the bin that sat on the edge of
his desk. His comfortable office was small in comparison to the
other lawyers at the firm of Jenkins, Banks and Walsh. The walnut
colored walls were decorated with various awards and certificates
of achievements. Jai was proud of them and if given the
opportunity, he could probably tell you the exact date and time that
he received each one. He hadnʼt expected to work so long this
Sunday afternoon but the upcoming deposition was too important
to leave anything to chance. He wanted to have all the details of
the case in place before going into Judge Miriam Wallaceʼs
courtroom.

He sat behind his desk in stocking feet while reviewing the last
of thirty-two documents associated with the case. He didnʼt
necessarily mind putting in the extra hours although he knew that
Taylor did. Each time he had decided to put in additional time to
prepare for a case, Taylor would give him what he called, the
“Black Womanʼs” version of the silent treatment. This usually
meant that she would express herself, sometimes loudly, followed
by a few hours of silence accompanied with the occasional
slamming of a door. Normally after a few good slams, she would
pick up the discussion where she left off. This would be followed
by more silence, usually the length of silence running in direct
correlation to the intensity of the argument.

She was headstrong; he had to give her that. She had the fire
that complimented his easy-going nature and for that he felt truly
blessed. He knew that Taylor would be honest with him no matter
what. If she were pissed about anything, he knew that she would
tell him. There would be none of the head games that some
women played. He disliked the kind of game where they wouldnʼt
say a word to their husband or boyfriend, but when asked what was
wrong, the reply would be one simple word….“nothing.”
Taylor wasnʼt like that. She had no problem in telling him or
anyone else what she thought. She knew when to express herself
and she knew when to say nothing, especially if she were angry.
This was the primary reason why she and Thandi got along so well.
In many ways, they were very much alike.

He looked down at his watch. Four fifteen. It was time to head
home to play with Joshua and maybe catch part of a basketball
game on one of the sports channels. He hadnʼt realized how long
heʼd been sitting. What time did he get to the office? Nine? Ten?
He wasnʼt exactly sure.

He was a tall man; six feet, four inches without shoes. His hair
was tapered short and cut even over his head. His eyes were
hazel, the same color as his mothersʼ and his brown skin was the
rich shade of coffee with just a little bit of milk added for flavor. He
was lean, almost lanky. And it was for this reason why most
people mistook him for being younger than his thirty-nine years.
He slid his feet back into his black leather shoes. He had
dressed for church, expecting to be in the office for only an hour or
so. But after reviewing the first ten documents, he decided to finish
what he started. He didnʼt realize that it would take him the better
part of his day to get the work done. One of the things that he had
hoped to accomplish was to take Joshua and Taylor to his motherʼs
church. Thandi had invited him a few weeks earlier and he
accepted with a bit of hesitation. He wanted to talk to Taylor about
it first before making a commitment. As it turned out, the idea was
well received. She wanted to bring their son up in church and
agreed whole-heartedly with Thandi that a child should have a
strong sense of God, starting at a very early age.

“Enough work.” He said to himself. He had plenty of
information for the deposition, at least for now.

The cell phone in his jacket pocket rang interrupting his train of
thought. That was probably Taylor wondering how long he was
going to be at the office. He reached into the pocket of the sport
coat that was draped over the high-backed office chair.

“Hey.” He said, expecting to hear his girlfriend.
“Hey boy!” It was Cleo.
“Whatʼs up Baby Cakes?”
“Now, I told you not to call me that.”
“Awww shut up.” He chuckled while shutting down his
computer. “Whatʼs on your mind?”
“I need a ride to a friend of mineʼs house. My car is actinʼ up
again.”
“Where do they live?”
“She lives in Chiselhurst and I know that I can take the train
there but Iʼm already late and Iʼm right up the street from your
office.”
“Oh, so you planned this?”
“More like calculated.” She replied, her voice coming out
feminine, light and cheery.

His chuckle became a low laugh.

“So how quickly can you be outside my building?” He asked.
“Funny you should ask. Iʼm actually right outside your front
door.”
“So what…you were going to ambush me when I walked out?”
“After I found out when you were leaving for the day.”

He laughed.

“Youʼre a piece of work girl. Sure, Iʼll run you out there. But if I
hear any static from Taylor, Iʼm going to direct her to you.”
“Iʼll deny everything.” She joined him in his laughter.
He shook his head, crossing the room to turn off the stereo.
“Iʼll be downstairs in five minutes.”
“Iʼll be waiting.”

Ten minutes later, they were cruising down I-95 while Cleo
rummaged through a CD case that sat on the floor in the back seat
of Jaiʼs BMW X5. She found a CD, looked it over thoughtfully and
then pushed it into the CD player. After a brief moment, a melodic
saxophone solo filled the SUV.
“Thatʼs unusual for you.” Jai said while glancing down at the
CD control panel. “Not listening to male vocalists today?”
“Itʼs Sunday. Iʼm low key on Sundays.”
He shook his head smiling. “So where exactly am I taking
you?”
“Mandi Ricciʼs house. Sheʼs going through a thing right now
and I promised her that I would come by.”
“What kind of thing?” He asked.
“She and her husband are going through tough times. I think
that sheʼs just feeling a dose of the ʻwhy meʼs?ʼ So what weʼll do is
talk a little girl-talk, eat some pizza, watch a couple of DVDʼs and
before itʼs all said and done, sheʼll feel better and I wouldʼve done
my good deed for the day.”
“Isnʼt this the blonde girl that youʼve been friends with since
high school?”
“You remembered.” Cleo seemed genuinely surprised. “Sheʼs
the only one that I really kept in contact with since we graduated.”
“Yeah I remembered her. I used to call the two of you ʻfrick
and frackʼ.”

Cleo smiled warmly. “So tell me something, are you still taking
Joshua to your momʼs church?”
“Umm hmm.” He nodded. “Wanted to do it today but I got sidetracked
with this case that Iʼm working on.”
“Thatʼs cool. I take it that Taylorʼs all for the idea?”
“One hundred percent. We both want Josh to have that sense
of God and letʼs face it Cleo, we need Him.”
“Who you telling? I go to church. You think Miss Winnie
would have it any other way?”
“Well, youʼre grown now girl. You can do what you want.”
“I know that. I use my mother as an excuse but the truth of the
matter is, I donʼt know where I would be without God. Just canʼt
imagine it.”
“Maybe you should educate Nate then.”
“Nate?” Cleo glanced at him disbelievingly. “Youʼre kidding,
right?”
“No. That boy needs something.”
“He barely listens to Aunt Thandi. What makes you think heʼll
listen to me?”
“It couldnʼt hurt.” He shook his head humorlessly. “He seems
to be going down the wrong path. Every time I see him, he seems
to be distant, like heʼs pissed off at the world.”
“He probably is.” She turned in her seat to face him and
unbuckled her seat belt.
“Hey, put that seat belt back on. Itʼs the law you know.”
“Ok, fine.” She swiveled back in the seat to face the
windshield. “So tell me something, do you think heʼs working now?”
“No. I think that he went for an interview on Friday. I donʼt
know if he got it. Iʼm hoping that he did. Still, he does have a way
of making his money stretch.”
“I suppose. But he needs to keep on keepinʼ on like all of us. I
get the impression that he thinks that working at an entry-level
position is beneath him.” She said while looking out the passenger
window.
“Nate thinks that just about everything is beneath him. Thatʼs
part of his problem. He wants the finer things in life and heʼs smart
enough to get them but he doesnʼt want to work for it. He thinks
that what he sees on TV is real life.”
“Well, it is real life…for some folks. Some people were born
rich. Being rich is their reality. Some people are poor and
unfortunately, being poor is their reality. Anyone can change their
reality but the greater the extreme, the more time itʼs going to take.”
“But Nateʼs not poor.”
“Maybe he thinks he is.” She said while closing her eyes.
“Maybe. But for someone that doesnʼt have a job right now,
heʼs not doing badly. He has a roof over his head, clothes on his
back…and not cheap clothes either. He drives a car thatʼs paid for
and he always seem to have some money in his pocket.”
“That would be fine if he were willing to settle for that being his
reality. I think he wants more.” She said while opening her eyes.
“Then heʼs going to have to learn to work his ass off like
everybody else.”
“Preach on Reverend.”
“Donʼt make fun of me.”
“Iʼm not making fun of you. Hell, I agree with you but getting
Nate to do the right thing isnʼt going to be easy. He has to want to
do the right thing first of all.”
“Yeah, I know. And I do agree with you that he just seems to
be too angry. If you get rid of the anger, youʼll find the smart
brother thatʼs inside of him.”
“Probably.”
“Okay, enough about Nate and all of this seriousness.” She
looked at the CD player. “And enough of this sax. Iʼm ready for
some edge.” She pushed the eject button, reached into Jaiʼs CD
case and removed a Maxwell CD. For the remainder of the ride,
Maxwellʼs voice served as their companion as they continued down
I-95.