Hood Lemonade Jamika's Vendetta Read Online Free PDF

watched television while the adults played cards. Felise hadn’t been feeling well all day. She really hadn’t wanted company, but if it would keep Sly at home, she was all for it. Sly had started to act rather strangely and was coming home later than usual. She took it as nervousness over the new baby to come, and having to take over most of the bills, since she had become too far along in her pregnancy to continue to work full-time. He had also lost a lot of weight.
    She felt a slight pain in her stomach, but paid no particular attention to it. She still had two weeks before she was due, and she’d been having those same slight pains all day. The pain that ripped through her next could not be ignored. It was so intense that she grabbed her stomach and let out a high-pitched, closed-eyed scream before she realized it.
    Suddenly, the room became silent. Everyone’s attention had turned toward the pain-wretched scream. She realized that this wasn’t just another pain. A single tear escaped her eye, as she whispered, “It is time.”
    “Okayee, party’s over! You ain’t got to go home, but you got to get the hell out of here!” Sly said.  He directed Jamika to meet them down by Slick’s van. Slick was Felise’s first cousin and always came over for card parties, and always drank too much. Today was no exception. Slick was laughing so hard that his eyes had filled with water and he could barely stand up.
    Both Sly and Slick were sloppy drunk. Once they made it downstairs, Slick struggled to look sober as he held open the sliding door of the blue, Dodge van. Jamika ran and jumped in the van just as he was helping Felise inside. Sly looked at how drunken Slick was and said, “Oh, hell naw. You ain’t gonna kill us, I’ll drive.”
    “Uh-uh, this is a, is a classic, don’t nobody drive this but me,” replied Slick.
    “Slick, you drunk as hell, man, just sit over there and relax.” Sly said dragging his words from his own intoxication.
    “Hell no, ain’t nobody drivin’ my shit but me.”
    Another pain hit Felise as Sly and Slick began wrestling, which quickly turned into a fistfight. Felise couldn’t believe it; here she was about to give birth, and her man and favorite cousin were throwing blows.
    Felise climbed into the driver’s seat where she could see the keys dangling from the ignition, and started the van. She signaled for Jamika to come to the front seat and put on her seatbelt. She put the van into the drive gear, and pressed the gas pedal down hard before either man could react. She drove herself all the way to the hospital, running stop signs and stoplights, all the while screaming and crying from all the pain of the little life trying to make its way into the world.
     
    It’s a girl! Felise decided to name her Rasheeda Taketa Tyler. The baby was beautiful and resembled Felise immensely.
    Sly and Slick never made it to the hospital. Felise had given birth within two hours of making it to the hospital. Marjorie had taken Jamika back home to Sly, and had called to say that he and Slick were drunk as two skunks, and were laughing like two hyenas when she left. Felise wanted to slap the black off Sly. She had just experienced the worst pain imaginable, and he wasn’t there to even hold her hand. But, he was surely there to hold on to her ass while creating her. She decided she better go back to the apartment to check on Jamika. She’d come back to pick the baby up tomorrow. She needed to pick up some things for the baby, anyway.
    Felise turned the key and opened the apartment door quietly, as to not wake Sly and Jamika. It was after midnight, and she’d had to sneak from the hospital because they did not allow new mothers out so soon. She thought of calling Marjorie, but knew she would talk her out of leaving the hospital. She had caught hell trying to catch a cab.
    She reached for the television switch in order to shed a faint light over the apartment; this way she could see her way around