Bury me a G 4

Chapter 3

Melvin was racked with grief. He couldn’t stop the tears from falling, and his nose had gotten snotty from his sobbing. His form shivered and his legs felt like noodles under him. He moved to step inside of the room, but the doctor grabbed him from behind. He was too weak to fight him off so he allowed himself to fall back into him. The doctor lay with his arms around him and teardrops falling from his eyes. Melvin stared up at the ceiling with tears seemingly pouring from out of his eyes and his bottom lip shaking. He tried to say something but the pain of the loss of his wife choked him up. He swallowed the lump of hurt that had manifested inside of his throat. He squeezed his eyelids shut and tears jetted down his cheeks. He made an ugly face feeling the emotional pain poisoning his heart. The man wanted to die right there on the spot so he could join his wife in heaven. But that was something that he couldn’t do now that his son had entered this cold, heartless world. Nah, he had to be there in the flesh to groom his son for everything that would come at him on his way to adulthood. An hour later Melvin stood in front of the mirror inside the men’s rest room, staring at his reflection. At twenty-three years old, he stood six foot two and had a dark caramel complexion. He had a thick goatee that outlined his mouth exceptionally. He had a wide nose and full lips. He had a slight muscular build and weighed a solid two-hundred and fifty pounds. Some would say that he resembled Ving Rhames, while others would beg to differ. It was safe to say that he was a fairly attractive man to most women, but at this very moment in his life, he looked a hot mess. Melvin’s eyelids were so swollen from crying that they damn near were shut. His eyes were red webbed and his nose was also red. On his cheeks there were tears that had dried and now were white. Dried, green snot peeked out of his left nostril. If someone were to tell him that this was the worst day of his life, he wouldn’t bother to argue with them. Melvin unbuttoned his cuffs and shirt, removing it. He laid the shirt down on a nearby sink, leaving himself in his wife beater. The hairs of his chest showed through the collar of his wife beater and the few tattoos he had peeked out through the openings of it. After he turned on the dials of the faucet, he put a small pile of the pink soap into his palm from the dispenser. He lathered his hands and then his face, masking it completely white. Having taken the time out to stare at his self, he took a deep breath and broke down again. Tears threatened to drip from his eyes and his mouth quivered. His shoulders rocked and he felt his knees buckling again. The thought of losing Kimberly f****d his psych up royally. His son would never have his mother and he would never have his wife…ever again. Realizing this, he knew he would have to come to grips and overcome the tragedy as best as he could. One of the hardest things that he would ever have to do was explain to his son that his mother had passed away when he came of age. “Unh unh, nigga, suck that s**t up! Suck it up,” Melvin told himself as he gazed into the mirror. “You gotta pull yourself together, homeboy. Your prince is out there waiting to see his king, his father. You have to be everything that that boy needs in his life now that his mother is gone. You must implement strength and confidence each and every time you’re in his presence, black man.” He stated, holding either side of the porcelain sink. “Alright, okay. Okay.” He looked down at the water swirling down inside of the drain. For a while he was silent, taking deep breaths. Afterwards, he rinsed the soap from his hands and then from off his face. He turned the dials to shut the water off and snatched several paper towels free from the dispenser. He patted his face dry and then dried off his hands. Balling the paper towel up, he tossed it over into the aluminum trashcan. Melvin then put his shirt back on, buttoning up his sleeves and the front of it. Hunching over the sink, he gave himself the once over, turning his head from side to side. Although his face was clean of his tears, his eyes were still red webbed and slightly swollen. He wasn’t back to his usual self yet, but his appearance would have to do for now. It was time that he met his baby boy; he didn’t want to keep him waiting. “Alright, Melvin, it’s time you met your boy.” He adjusted his leather belt and took a deep breath before leaving out of the men’s restroom.

*** Melvin stepped out of the men’s room in time to find the nurse holding his son waiting for him. Seeing him in her peripherals, the nurse turned around to Melvin smiling. She had the baby cradled in her arms and he was wrapped snuggly in a blanket. As soon as Melvin seen the nurse and his child, a broad smile stretched across his face. Butterflies fluttered their wings inside of his stomach. The baby wore a blue beanie with Like Father Like Son emblazoned across it. Melvin wanted the beanie to be the first thing he wore when he entered the world.

When Melvin lost Kimberly he thought he’d never fall in love again, but he couldn’t have been more wrong when he first laid eyes on his son. At that moment, he found himself head over heels all over again.

“Is that my lil’ man?” Melvin asked, approaching and angling his head as he tried to get a better look at his son. He then opened his arms to receive him. “It most definitely is,” the nurse responded, passing him his child. “I’ll give you two a minute.” She touched his shoulder and walked away, smiling. She was so happy to see the baby’s father so filled with joy, especially after losing his wife that night. Melvin turned his back to the nurse as she walked away. He had his baby boy in his arms and he was studying his face. The newborn had his mother’s complexion, eyes and lips, but the rest of his features resembled the man cradling him in his arms. “Heyyy, man, how you been, huh? How’s daddy’s lil’ man been?” Melvin caressed his son’s chin with the tip of his finger. A smile stretched across his lips and he kissed the newborn on his cheek. He then paced the hospital floor, coming back and forth across the window where you could see all of the lights of the city that night. The sight was one to marvel. It was unique, amazing, and remarkable. “Happy birthday, son, it’s not gonna be easy, but I’m gonna show you how to navigate through this world. Our queen gave up her life so that you could live. That was the ultimate sacrifice. That right there proved a mother’s love can’t be matched.” He became teary eyed thinking about the loss of his wife. He was a wreck and he didn’t know how he was going to hold up, but he was definitely going to try to hang in there. “When I lost your mother I lost a huge part of me. That woman was the yin to my yang. I know now that I will never be right after her death. I can tell you now that I don’t have much love to give, but what I have left in me, I promise to give it to you, son. All of it...” Melvin stopped and looked down into his baby boy’s face; his eyelids were narrowed into slits and he looked sleepy as hell, but for some strange reason, the man believed that his baby boy heard and understood all that he said very well. “Losing your mother should only bring us closer together as a family. This should strengthen our bond as father and son. So let no one come between this union of ours, Tiaz.” He smiled like a Cheshire cat. “You like that name, Tiaz? Huh, do you like it?” He tickled baby Tiaz’ chin and he slightly smiled at him. This caused Melvin to smile even further. “Well, Tiaz, your OG is glad you approve of your name. And as my son, I expect nothing short of greatness from you. You’ll be a leader, a smart and intelligent man that oozes with confidence. Your actions will make an impact on people. They’ll praise you. You’ll do things in your life that’ll guarantee that you’ll never be forgotten. Your name will be on the minds and tongues of people forever. You’ll be a legend for what you accomplish. Yes, sir, I can see it now, my baby boy, making folks remember his name…for a lifetime…”

CHAPTER TWO

1997 Present

“Haa! Haa! Haa! Haa! Haa!” Lavell bent the corner of the block running as fast as he could, shiny from perspiration. Sweat dripped from the corner of his brow and he had a frightened expression across his face. He tripped and fell, but quickly scrambled to his feet, running off in a hurry again. “Oh s**t, oh s**t, niggaz is tryna kill me!”

Urrrrrk! The sound of tires squealing could be heard at the end of the block, where Lavell had bent the corner running from. Right after, there was a small white car that followed behind him; its driver had nearly lost control of the vehicle and crashed it. The vehicle was in a hurry to catch up with, you guessed it, that nigga Lavell. The car was in the background as the frightened man ran for his life, but it was hurriedly gaining ground on him. Blatatatatatatatatatat! A fifteen year old Tiaz hung half way out of the back window of the white car, which was a ’93 Hyundai Elantra. He had a chrome Uzi .9mm pointed in Lavell’s direction and was spitting hot fire at that ass. Tiaz’ eyelids narrowed into slits as his automatic weapon jerked violently from its quick bursts of fire, sending empty shell casings flying everywhere. The young nigga wore a Houston Astros cap low over his brows and an orange bandana over the lower half of his face. The black sunglasses he had on concealed his eyes. There wasn’t anyone on earth that knew who he was, short of God Almighty. “You hit ‘em yet? You hit ‘em?” Threat asked from behind the wheel of the compact vehicle. He wore the same disguise as his comrade.

“Nah, I didn’t get that b***h ass nigga.” Tiaz announced to his main man. He then watched as Lavell continued his sprinting, seeing him near a gate of a vacant lot. The lot was full of tall dead grass the color of hay. “Nigga ‘bouta hit the gate! Pull up and I’ma hop out; cut his black ass in half!” He settled back down in the seat and held on to the door’s handle. He scowled as he waited for the right time to hop out and get busy with his tool. “Alright,” Threat mashed the gas pedal, building up speed in the Hyundai. The cars lined up on either side of the block looked like blurs the car was driving past them so fast.

Urrrrrk!

Threat slammed on the brakes and brought the compact vehicle to a skidding halt. As soon as the car ceased movement, Tiaz hopped out of the car with his Uzi held up at his shoulder. He was just in time to see Lavell landing on the other side of the gate on his bending knees, taking off running as fast as he could. Homeboy was moving so fast that Tiaz could see the bottom of his sneakers. The heels of his sneakers were hitting him in his rear end.