The Glamorous Life 2 Read Online Free PDF Page B

“We going to have our own big money and when we do we ain’t going to buy Momma nothing.”
    Calliope smiled and agreed.
    “Maybe we will help Big Jack ’cause he do look out for us,” Compton said. “We can repay the favor.”
    “He probably won’t be around that long. He probably gonna pack up and leave Momma,” Calliope said, thinking of the consequences of the tantrum that Shelly had thrown on Big Jack. “If he do cut her off”—Calliope shook her head—“she gonna be worse than what she was before he came.”
    “I hope he don’t, but he doing his business here, so he not going to close that down, he make too much money,” Compton said, thinking about the money that he witnessed pass from hand to hand.
    “You are so right, little brother. I hope so anyway,” she said, commending her brother on such a smart call. Then there was an awkward silence between the two of them and she spoke again. “I was so happy when he took up for us, though.”
    “I was happier than a fat kid with cake when he made Momma cry,” Compton said.
    Without hesitation, Calliope said, “Me too!” and started to laugh, which prompted her brother to roll into laughter. They gave each other five and then began making their own entertainment. The two started their own theatrics, mocking their mother as Big Jack made her cry. Compton was Big Jack and Calliope was Shelly. The two were rolling in laughter, and they hadn’t had a good laugh like this one in a long time. The two were so loud that Big Jack came to the room door. He tried to turn the knob, but it was locked. He hated when that happened. “Why the hell y’all always locking the doors around here? Y’all in there doing something y’all ain’t got no business…” Before he could continue, Compton unlocked and opened up the door. Once the door came cracked, the laughter ceased. “What the hell is so funny in here?”
    Trying their absolute hardest to stand up straight and still like statues, the two could barely keep their composure. “Nothing,” they said in unison.
    He searched their faces. “Come on now, share the joke. Between trying to keep food on the table and dealing with y’all crazy-ass momma, I could use a got-damn laugh.”
    As soon as Big Jack made mention of Shelly, the two lost their cool and started laughing. Big Jack shook his head. “A’ight now, y’all don’t wanna share but I’m glad y’all laughing, for real though,” he said as he walked back out the room. “And stop locking the doors and shit. I don’t know if you think somebody going to do something to y’all or something. But on everything I love, ain’t nobody going to fuck with y’all.”
    They heard him and appreciated it, but those words from him went in one ear and out the other. They knew they still needed to look after each other over all things.
    After the kids finally stopped their jokes, they decided to settle down and watch some television. “You hear that?” Compton said.
    “What?” she asked her brother, knowing that sometimes he was paranoid but he had great intuition.
    “Like somebody outside our window.” That was the thing about Compton, he observed everything. He used to be timid from all the screaming and threatening that Shelly had done over the years, but it had become paranoia. Calliope didn’t take any of it lightly because she knew exactly how aware of his surroundings he was.
    She peeked outside the window but couldn’t see anything. “Boy, you paranoid. The boogeyman ain’t going to come and mess with us. And if he do, we will double bank him,” she sarcastically said to him.
    “No, I hear it again.” Compton was as serious as he could be.
    She paused for a second, grabbed the remote, turned down the television, but didn’t hear anything but the muffled music that Big Jack was playing while he was working the stove, cooking cocaine as usual.
    The minute Calliope got back comfortable and was ready to tune in to her show, all hell broke