Drip.....Drip.....Snip

Phone is ringing….

Chasity fumbles around in the dark for the phone wanting to avoid turning on the lamp.  She sucks her teeth as it rings for the fourth time before she slams her left hand on it and pick it up. 

    “Hello” Chasity says in a sleepy voice as she looks at the alarm clock that reads 3:30.M. “This better be important because you have interrupted my dream!”

    “D-don’t hang up” says a man in a low voice into the phone. “C. Puff is that you?”

Chasity reached over to the other side of her bed to turn on the light in a hurry. Almost falling off the bed she finally clicks the switch hanging on the side under the gray shade. Squinting her eyes from the sudden blast of light; she recovers her vision and looks at her caller ID. Placing the receiver down to her chest, she breaths in deep. Hearing a faint voice coming from the phone, she places the receiver back to her ear. 

   “Hey C, don’t hang up. You still there? It’s me, Moses. I miss you cousin. Oh please can you say something to me.”

Breathing out silently while rolling eyes, she speaks. “Moses, what are you doing calling me at this hour. Did someone die? I mean someone better be dead or I’m hanging up?”

    “Yes. I mean no, no one died but I really need to see you Chasity.” Moses answers in a low and sad tone.  Chasity looks at the phone and makes some faces of disgust for answering the phone. 

    “Oh my goodness, Moe what is this 

about?” 

    “Remember when you were working in that casino a couple of years back and we did that little thing?” He pauses and waits for her to answer, when she doesn’t he continues “well I need your help with something similar to that. Don’t worry,      I just need to use your house for a couple of days while we get the job done.”

    “Moe, you cannot be serious? I was fired and could’ve been thrown in jail after what you did?” 

    “Oh, what I did C. Puff; I saved you from that damn job. You got paid good, right?” 

Breathing hard into the phone and not caring about his feelings right now. 

   “Where are you calling me from and when did you get in town?” Chasity asked rather nasty. 

    “Just got in town not too long ago and want to drop by your place so we can talk about the details.” 

    “You and who else?” Switching the phone to the other ear. 

    “A friend of mine is all you need to know for now.”

    “Moses please don’t come over here until after 4 in the afternoon and before 8 tomorrow night If you come before or after, I won’t answer my dang door. Got it? 

     “Yes ma’am C. Puff. I knew you couldn’t say no. We will see you tomorrow.”

    “Stop calling me that!” Chasity yells.

Chasity slams the phone down in anger and confusion. What is Moses up to this time? She thought about all the other times he came around; things always went wrong.  Chasity looks up to the ceiling while throwing her hands up,

    “Uncle John, help me with your son.    What am I going to do with him?  Yes, he’s family but he’s just into too much. Don’t want to get involved in it.” She takes a deep breath in before continuing, “Wish you were here so you could deal with him. Cant go through this again with him. 

Chasity turns the light off, lays back down and goes to sleep. 

In the morning Chasity jumped out of bed and runs into the bathroom to get her day started early. Saturday was her relaxation day but there was no time to waste when Moses was in town. While getting her shower ready Chasity began to think about the first time she was burned by Moses. 

Moses and Chasity are cousins; their fathers are brothers. They are from Mississippi and Chasity moved to NYC after her uncle; Moses’ father died in 1985. The two cousins came from a very bitter and broken household in 1976 Mississippi. Chasity’s mother ran off with the lawyer who defended her after she murdered Chasity’s father.

Moses mother left him in the hospital after he was born and he’s been with his father since. 

When Chasity turned 15 years old, she began thinking about her future. Taking a job in a corner grocery store, Chasity began saving her money. Doing odd jobs for her neighbors on the block was another way she earned money. 

Moses wasn’t good at saving money but he was good at convincing people to give him theirs. He watched how his cousin hustled and saved her money and it made him want to do the same. Moses decided to make and give Chasity all his money so they can move out together. He would tell her once she got in from work. In the meantime, he decided to count the money she had saved up so far. 

Being her and Moses were the same age, they were always together. They weren’t the only kids around, just the only one Chasity was related to. Moses didn’t think Chasity would have a problem with him counting “their” money as he entered her room. He knew she kept the jar in a fake drawer and headed straight for it. Before he could open the drawer, he heard opening and closing of scissors and felt a tug at his shoulder length hair. That made him freeze and put his hands together in a prayer stance. 

    “What are you doing in my room, Moses?” Chasity was standing behind him with big scissors in her left hand and a chunk of Moses hair in the right. If he moved in the slight she was ready to snip off his hair. 

    “C. Puff, please don’t cut my hair I can explain.”

     “Hurry up and explain why you were going through my things. Explain to me why I shouldn’t call uncle John up here and tell him you are up to no good, again!”

Moses breathed in slowly and put his hands in his pockets to stop them from moving. Chasity let his hair go and spins him around. Facing one another, Moses has to pull up a chair and sit down because he’s much taller than his cousin. Chasity is glad she doesn’t have to hurt her back looking up at him while talking. Putting his hand on his heart before talking. 

    “C. Puff, I know it looks bad but trust me I wasn’t doing what you think.”

    “Moses you sound so guilty. I didn’t think anything about you being in my room, other than you being a nosy cousin. Is there another reason you were in here, Moses?

She begins walking very slowly past Moses making sure to bump him a little as she passes. She stops in front of her dresser and looks back at him. 

    “Is there something in here that you wanted? You know this is my feminine drawer?” She removes the broken drawer showing Kotex, tampons and other products to him. He makes a face. 

    “Ill you are so nasty C. Puff, why would you show me those?” 

    “Oh please Moses, if you have a girlfriend she uses one or all of those products and these…” She pulls out a pair of big granny panties and waved them at him. Moses began running as she chased him around the room. 

    “Alright, you win please stop.“ Moses stops short and begins to catch his breath. 

    “Why were you about to go in my drawer and don’t lie?”

 Moses pulls out a small wad of money and shows it to her. She reaches and he pulls back.

    “I was going to put this in there and surprise you about it when you got in. What do you think of us combining our money and moving out together?”

Thinking back on it made her mad. It was his fault she couldn’t move out because he stole all the money “they” saved. When she made it out of Mississippi to NY that next year after having to save money again, there was Moses acting like he did nothing wrong. 

As Chasity puts on her coat before walking  out the door she stopped and looked at herself in the mirror. 

    “You are not helping him anymore. It’s time to let him go and all his lies.” She locks her door and gets in her car thinking about another time Moses did her wrong. 

It was about five years ago in 2005 and Chasity was working in a casino doing the second count on the chips before the next shift. On her way back to the cage to get more chips, she noticed her coworker swooping out chips. She wanted to confront her coworker but decided to ask what her cousin thought she should do.

Right after dinner Chasity decided to inform Moses. Once she explained about watching her swap out real chips for fake ones she thought Moses was going to be on her side but he told her to also do it. 

    “Are you crazy? I’m not doing that!”

    “Jackie is her name and she’s my girl. I’m the one who fixes her the chips to switch and I want you to start doing it as well.”

    “Of all the bull you can pull, Moses. You choose this? I can get fired; she can get fired. We can go to jail!”

Chasity began pacing back and forth in their living room. Moses pulled out his phone and made a call. Couple minutes later he’s opening the door and in walks the coworker. 

The ringing of Chasity’s phone brought her out her thoughts. She looked at the phone which has no ID and sent it to voicemail.  

Sherry has done well for herself, not taking anything away from her cousin; but they are hardly on the same page. She chose a life of satisfaction, being a successful writer. Moses chooses to do things the hard way. Always scheming and involving her, she thought.

Getting into her car, she pulls down her visor and checks out herself in the mirror. Checking her rear view mirror and ducking  down low when she sees someone who looks like Moses. As he comes closer she sees it isn’t him. 

Her phone rings and this time is says Moses Blackhorn. She lets it go to voicemail. Looking at herself in the mirror again, she cried. 

She cried tears of hurt and pain for not having a mother. Tears for having such a terrible cousin who uses her and doesn’t care. Tears for not being strong when it comes to her cousin. Is it because his mother left him? Well, so did mine. She thought. “My mother killed my father.” she said out loud to herself. 

Her phone rings and again it’s Moses; she sends it to voicemail. Yelling in her car; “leave me alone!” after yelling she feels better and decides to write her cousin a letter. 

To my dearest cousin,

I love you so much. We have been close since I can remember. There are some things that I choose to not remember with us but always know that whatever you want my help with; the answer is no. No I’m not quite brave enough to say no to your face but please believe that you will no longer be able to find me. You have hurt me more than I can count, you have stolen from me and lied on me. Convincing me to steal from my job; isn’t entirely your fault but it was your BIG idea!

Please don’t contact me anymore until you have a place of your own and a business or career. I don’t know the real reason why you’re here but there is no room for me. Every time you wronged me, I forgave you. Where was the benefit for me when it came to your schemes?  Ive been fighting myself for so long about cutting you off and now is the right time to do it. This is hard for me to say; but I’m cutting ties with you today. It isn’t a joke so don’t test it, please. Asked you to stop calling me C. Puff but you haven’t. You act as if I don’t know what it means. I’m not easy to run over! You stay safe out there and please, grow up.  – Chasity 

Chasity calls her cousin and gives him instructions to a diner nearby. She watches in her car as Moses and a woman walk inside. Chasity exits her vehicle and enters the diner. She spots Moses with a woman sitting at a booth in the back of the diner. Before Moses could stand up, Chasity puts her hand up to stop him. When she gets close enough, she hands hon the letter, turns around and walks back toward the exit. She could hear Moses calling after her but she wasn’t stopping. 

Crying while walking to her car, she began to smile. She smiled because for the first time she stood up for herself; and it felt good.  

Her phone rings…