Office Meeting

Office Meeting

Jai sat behind his desk, drumming his fingers lightly on the
surface. He had called Taylor and was a little disappointed that his
call went directly into her voicemail. He wished that he had been
able to get a hold of her so he could bounce the idea of what would
be the best way to approach Nate about his involvement with the
dealing going on in North Philly. The only piece of evidence that
Matt Prescott had was a single picture of Nate on the scene with a
package in his hand. It was nothing incriminating. Suspicious?
Yes, but not incriminating. It placed him in the area and that was it.

Unless Prescott knew something he didnʼt. Tim seemed to know
Prescott well. Maybe Tim could tell him if Prescott was a standup
kind of guy or if he was a cop always kept an ace for himself in the
card deck of life. Jai was almost certain that he was the latter.
He leaned back in his chair when his phone began to ring.
Hoping that it was Taylor, he reached for the handset.

“Yeah?”
“Jai?” The female voice asked.
“Yeah?”
“Itʼs Sylvia. I have someone out here in the lobby to see you.
He says that heʼs your brother. Nathaniel Whitfield?”
Nate? It took a moment for it to register. Jai sat up in his
chair. “Send him in Sylvia. Thanks.”
“Not a problem.” She chirped.

Now what would Nate want with him? He guessed that he
didnʼt have to ask Taylor for any input on this issue. In a few
minutes, he would have the answers that he wanted, even if he
didnʼt like them all. Nate entered his office thirty seconds later,
appearing a little disheveled despite his fine, expensive clothes.
He didnʼt say a word as Nate stepped in and closed his office door
behind him.

“Have a seat.” Jai gestured to one of the two leather armchairs
facing his desk.

Nate seated himself in one and reached into his jacket pocket
for a cigarette.

“Donʼt smoke in here man.” Jai said a bit too sternly.
Nate paused and looked at Jaiʼs desk. “Then whatʼs the
ashtray for?” He said.
Jai glanced at it for a moment and then back at Nate.
“Thatʼs for clients who smoke. Are you going to employ me?”
Nate shook his head from side to side, mumbling something
that sounded like “this muthafucka” to himself and tucked the pack
of cigarettes back into his jacket.
“Whatʼs on your mind?” Jai asked.
“Damn, can you get out your lawyer mode for a minute?” Nate
was agitated. “I need to talk to you about something.”
“Good, because I need to talk to you about something too.
You go first.”
Nate swallowed for a second, staring into his brotherʼs eyes.
“Is Tim Walsh your boss?” Nate began.
“Tim?”
“Yeah. Is he your boss?”
“Heʼs a partner but I wouldnʼt exactly call him my boss.”
“You work for him donʼt you?”
“I work for the firm. Heʼs a partner in this firm.”
“Well, then heʼs your boss!” Nate snapped.

Jai took a deep breath. He could feel the tension building in
the room.

“Look, you and Tim need to concentrate on your clients and
leave anything that doesnʼt concern you alone.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You know a cop called Matt Prescott?”
“Weʼve met.”
“You need to leave him alone.”
“And since when did you become an authority on what I
need?” Jai suddenly felt he wouldnʼt have to approach Nate about
his possible dealing. He would have all of his answers he needed
without opening his mouth.
“Look, this cop ainʼt no good. Heʼs gonna wind up getting you
and Tim killed.”
“How so?”
“Canʼt you just back out of this like I asked you without asking
any questions?”
“No. No I canʼt. Iʼm a lawyer. Iʼm nosey for a living.” Jai sat
up in his chair.
“You need to leave him alone Jai. Seriously man. No bullshit.”
“Why donʼt you start by telling me what youʼre into?”
“Iʼm handlinʼ my business!” Nate replied defensively. “I just
want you to leave this Prescott person alone before somethinʼ bad
happens.”
“Why?”
“Leave it alone Jai. You donʼt want none of that. Just leave it
alone and everyone will be okay.”
Jai glanced out of his office window. He knew that if he were
going to get any kind of direct and honest answer, he was going to
have to play the family card.
“Do you remember when we were younger Nate? When Ryan,
you and I used to go to the matinee on Sundays? Mom would give
us money so that we could head up to the Esquire at Broad and
Olney. That was before the invasion of the mall theatres. We used
to split the biggest tub of popcorn and I would get the Milkduds, you
would get the Raisinets and Ryan would get the Sugarbabies.
Back then we used to just hang out and talk and laugh. We used to
do a lot of laughing.”
Jai turned to look at Nate who was sitting quietly in his seat.
“Whatever happened to that man?” Jai asked softly.
“Shit happens.” Nate responded. “Life happens.”
“But we used to be so close man. We used to laugh all the
time. And then one day, we stopped laughing.”
“Daddy died.”
“But we didnʼt.”
“Look, donʼt take me down memory lane, just leave Prescott
alone awwʼiight?”
“What are you into Nate? Are you into something that you
canʼt get out of? Are you in over your head?”
“Iʼm fine!” Nate stood abruptly.
“Because if you are into something bad, we can get you out.
I would go to the mat for you man! You know that!”
“Iʼm not into anything that I canʼt handle.” Nate turned to
leave.
“Are you dealing drugs?” Jai blurted it out before he realized
that he had.

Nateʼs back stiffened.

“No, Iʼm not dealing.” Nate said, as he turned toward Jai. “Iʼm
not dealing drugs.”
“You can tell me anything man. You know that?”
“No, I donʼt know that.”
“Well, if you donʼt then Iʼm telling you.” Jai stood up. “Prescott
showed me a picture of you with some kind of package in your
hand down in North Philly. He wants to nail you so please, tell me
how deep you are into this drug thing man. If youʼre not dealing,
are you using?”
“Itʼs a bit late for you to be playing big brother, ainʼt it?”
Jai took a deep breath. “No. Itʼs never too late. Just like itʼs
never too late to tell someone that you love them.”
“Unless theyʼre dead.”
“But youʼre not…and, I can still tell you.” He walked around his
desk. “I love you man and if you need me for anything…. Just
please donʼt close the door on us.”
“I didnʼt close the door on us to begin with.” Nate said dryly as
he started toward the office door.
“What are you talking about?”
“You fuckinʼ left me!” He whirled on him, shouting at Jai from
the top of his lungs. “You left me man! None of yaʼll were there for
me because you were too busy doinʼ you!”
“What in the hell are you talking about?” Jai asked, surprised
by the sudden outburst until he caught the look of hurt and anger in
Nateʼs eyes. Something was there but it was out of reach.

“Just leave Prescott the fuck alone Jai. You, Joshua and
Taylor will be so much better off if you just leave that cop alone.”
Jai shook his head, approached his brother and placed a hand
on his shoulder. To his surprise, he found that Nate was trembling.
“We can get through this Nate. But youʼve got to trust me. We
can do anything. Remember? Three Musketeers?”
Nate raised his arm and brushed Jaiʼs hand from his shoulder.
“Just leave Prescott alone.”
“Iʼll leave him alone if you talk to me. I swear to God that I
wonʼt talk to him ever again if you promise to come by and talk to
me.”

Nate inhaled deeply.

“You always had the Raisinets. Iʼll never forget that.” He
looked at Nateʼs face. It looked like a jigsaw puzzle struggling to
put the pieces that didnʼt fit into place.
“You leave Prescott alone. Iʼll come by and we can talk.”
“When?”
“Let me call you.”
Jai looked at his brotherʼs face, into his eyes and saw that they
were becoming misty. “Call me tonight, okay?” Jai placed his hand
on his brotherʼs shoulder once again.

Nate nodded and started toward the door before another word
could be said. He was out the door and down the hall in a flash.
Jai turned toward his desk, hoping that Nate would be a man
of his word. As he sat down in his chair, he thought about the
Sunday afternoons that he, Ryan and Nate used to spend at the
movies and his heart began to ache with nostalgia. That had been
a completely different era. There was no crack, no drive by
shootings, no one came to school with guns to kill their classmates.
That was a time that he was fortunate enough to have experienced.
He remembered trick or treating at Halloween, the birthday parties
that Thandi used to throw them. He thought even more and
remembered the good old days. He remembered the neighborhood
girls playing double-dutch and he remembered when the chalk
outlines on the street were for hopscotch instead of bodies. What
ever happened to that? What happened to dodge ball, wall ball
and playing touch football - the boys against the girls. And if any
boy had the ball, the girls would catch him and beat him up. What
happened to the late show and the late, late show? What
happened to the shoe shine kit he used to have? What happened
to games like Freeze Tag, One-Two-Three Redlight, Mother, May I
and Hide and Go Seek?

Damn.