AmeriKKKan JustUS by DeLena Slayton

Author:DeLena Slayton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Emerald Books
Published: 2020-08-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

Putting ‘Rights’ Back in the World

“I do a lot of wrongs, Rilei, it is important to a man’s soul to put something right back into the community.”—Jairo

Jairo stayed in town for the better part of a month during his visit. After the ice was broken, we became closer. Dante was even more attached to Jairo. He was fascinated by Jairo’s way of operating, and I could tell that Dante clung to Jairo like the father he wished he had.

Paola was usually somewhere studying for her LSATs, but when we were all around each other, we would go out to dinner or watch movies while we joked. It felt like a real family. We enjoyed each other’s company. It was like what I saw on Family Matters when Mama used to watch it. Paola was Laura, I was Urkel and Stephon, and Dante, well, he was still Dante, but it worked.

Dante and I were watching T.V. on a Friday afternoon while I was waiting on Paola to come home from her study session. Jairo had come from my room and motioned me over to talk to him. I thought nothing of it and hopped up immediately to see what he needed.

Upon entering the room, he looked at me with intense eyes and told me to sit. Instantly, my ass hit the bed like an obedient dog. I was irritated by the command and by my immediate instinct to follow it, but I brushed it off. Jairo hid his hands behind his back as he stared at me. He paced the floor.

“Do you love my Daughter?”

“Yes, Sir. “

“And my daughter clearly loves you. She’s just like her mother, that one—resilient, loyal, determined… and she’s smart.”

“Paola’s mother died when she was young, and I had to figure out how to take care of her and teach her everything I knew. It was shameful because, well, all I knew was poppy. Her mother was my balance. Her mother knew how to live life and be happy. She was supposed to teach Paola those things, but because of me, she was never able.”

I sensed the conversation getting deep and began to wonder where all of it was coming from, or why it was coming at all.

Jairo continued, and his face grew solemn. The look on his face caught me off guard. Not too long ago, he had recounted the story of his brother’s death to me without emotion, but emotions flooded his face when speaking about Paola’s mother.

“I did everything I could to keep her alive. I was going to give it all up. The drugs, the money, anything she wanted me to give up, I was going to give. She didn’t let me. When they kidnapped her, those sons of bitches …”

Tears swelled in Jairo’s eyes, and his voice was groggy.

“She said to me on the phone, she told me, ‘Jairo, te amo. Cuida nuestra hija, sé fuerte por ella. Se feliz y juguetón, no tan serios. Muéstrale el Jairo con que me enamoré.

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