"Do you any cream...sugar...?" The waitress said to Junya, hurrying him
to finish his order.
"No thanks Miss...I like my tea straight!" Junya responded, recognizing
that the woman had to tend to her other customers, probably regulars: there was
a table of three men; they looked like truck drivers, calling her to wait on their
table.
"Enjoy!" The woman said as she walked away.
Junya was scribbling some lines on a napkin as he sat at the diners
counter. It was bright the next morning, his wounds were not hurting as much,
but his clothes were still bloodied; not as soaked. The weather outside was
warm, yet he did not know where he was at, and worse, he did not know where
Khevasiah was. Junya paid for his tea and used some of the change to try and
call Khevasiah on her cellular phone.
"Hello?" A man with a rugged voice said, answering Khevasiah.s phone.
Junya figured one of two things: either he failed to dial the proper area
code, and someone in NYC had the same number as his woman, or, a man had
answered Khevasiah.s phone.
"Uh...I am not sure that I have the right number, is this 860..."
"Yo, who dis? Who you calling for?"
The man on the other end of the
line responded in a loud voice over Junya.s.
"I am calling for Khevasiah...is she there?" Junya said in a calming tone.
"Who...Eh yo, hold on a mother fucking second..." The man put the
phone down, and Junya heard yelling in the background.
There was a female yelling in the background, and another female voice
laughing; it sounded like Naika.s voice. Junya now knew that wherever
Khevasiah was, her longtime girlfriend had something doing with her leaving
him at the club the night prior.
"Hey yo dog...ain.t nobody here by that name...on some real shit, you got
the wrong mother fucking number!" The man said, obviously lying to Junya
"Yo, you take me for idiot bwoy! Junya responded in a Patoi.s accent. I
know seh my woman there! Put her on the phone nuh man!"
"Nigga go head with that fake ass boat island shit nigga! Yo bitch ain.t
here! Call her back, later...a lot later...ha ha!" The man said, laughing in Junya.s
ear as he slammed the phone up in Junya.s ear.
"Damn!" Junya said to himself.
Junya tried to remember all of the stories that Khevasiah used to tell him
about her experiences growing up in NYC. He assumed that wherever she was,
she had to be near her old stomping ground. Junya figured if he could get near
her old neighborhood, he would be able to find her. Junya then remembered
about Khevasiah.s SUV. It might have still been parked near the club, and if it
wasn.t, then he knew that she had come back during the night, maybe to look for
him. Junya looked across the diner and saw a beautiful woman; Hispanic in skin
tone, professional in her appearance.
"You know where..."
"Excuse me kind sir, but that is no way to address a woman, especially
me! Anything you need to know, I will provide an answer for you" The woman
responded with a smile.
The woman was very proper in her speech; her
mannerisms were more beautiful than her looks herself. She had crust from an
egg sandwich on a plate and a partially finished glass of orange juice in front of
her, while she had her fingers in-between pages of a Wall Street Journal.
"My name is Lani...and your name is" The woman said as she extended
her slender, smooth hand outward in the direction of Junya.s
"I am Junya...I did not set out to cross you negatively dalin...but..."
"Dalin! Oh, now we are getting somewhere," Lani chuckled.
Junya smiled, then gave off a stuttered laugh.