Like Cotton Candy

Bone Hampton, Downtown Rob Brown and I drove over to Dutch Van Buren's apartment....We hadn't seen him in a few days...We had heard that his girlfriend had given birth to a little girl...We wanted to see him...See how he was doing..

We picked up some tumblers of coffee and some pastries from Sam Mother's joint before we began our journey...

"Bone ,you think this coffee will still be warm by the time we get to Dutch's spot?" I asked from the back seat!

"The way Rob drives...Sure it will be." laughed Bone Hampton...

"Hey get off my driving...I'm gone get you there." said  Downtown Rob Brown.

"Man Chazz...We was in Spain and Downtown rented one of them old ass cars from the fifties that they got over there....A damn bus man ....He was drivin so fast that the people ran off the streets and into their homes and stores..." said Bone Hampton...

"He exaggerates...They just got up on the sidewalk." joked Rob...

I busted out laughing!

II-

Dutch's girlfriend answered the door.....She was the woman in the photos that Rollie had shown me with Eddie C.  Her name was Selma Alvarez..

''Ohh Hello...You are Dutch's friends?  He's in the living room..."she said.  "Come in, Come In." she said.

"We brought some coffee and some pastries for everybody..." I said.

"Oh Thank you." She said.

They had a nice little apartment...

Dutch saw us and smiled...

"Hey Chazz, Bone, Rob...How you guys doin?" he said and passed us each a cigar....

"Dutchhhhhhhhhhh..you ole hound you...A papa." said Bone Hampton...

"Yeah,Yeah...Congratulations pop....Don't you already have a daughter?" joked Rob Brown...

We all knew that Lt. Sissy Van Buren of Homicide was his daughter ...The daughter he'd had with a Black woman several years before. Which made it all the more strange... Sissy was my age, maybe one or two years older than Bone and Downtown Rob Brown ,but not much more than that and here her dad, Dutch Van Buren had just had another baby at his age...At an age where he should be becoming a grandfather...He had had another child!!! No mean feat...

"I sure do...Both of my daughters are in the living room." he said proudly...We all walked into the living room and there holding the baby....Her sister!! was Sissy Van Buren herself!!!

III-

Sissy was beautiful anyway...but when she wasn't being the Lieutenant of Homicide, she was even more beautiful...I could perfectly understand why Rollie and so many guys I talked to were so enthralled by her...

She looked up and waved with her free hand..

''Hey guys" she said.

"Hey Lieutenant." said Rob and Bone...

"Guys...I'm not on duty today...Lieutenant isn't my first name..You can call me Sissy." she said with a sweet smile...

"We brought coffee and pastries, but we didn't know you'd be here Sissy..We didn't bring enough." I said.

"That's okay Chazz...I ate before I came over here...Wanna see my new sister?" she said.

She handed me the baby....

I held her and smiled at her....and she quietly cooed ,then appeared to drift off to sleep...

"Awww" said Sissy and Selma...

"Hey guys...Tell Meek that I'm sorry I left you guys in the lurch, but uh as you can see,it was an emergency." said  Dutch...

"Aww don't worry...He's in New York on some business...He said that he'd record your parts when he comes back at the end of the week."said Rob Brown...

"Oh Good...Chazz you still playing in the house band?" he asked.

"Yeah and I'm gonna be sitting in with Bone and Rob's quintets in the next few days..so we all are straight." I said.

The three of us handed him envelopes filled with cash....

"What's this?" he said.

"That's your end of the recording gigs and a little pocket change  that we all chipped in for you." I said.

Dutch was moved almost to tears....

"Thanks Guys...You guys are the best." he said.

Selma and Sissy both put their arms around him....

Sissy walked over to me and whispered in my ear...

"So Chazz, how you been doing? Rollie been bothering you?" she asked.

"Yes..I've been trying to duck him...Haven't been too successful...What is the deal with you and him? Why has he got such a hard on for you?" I said and then realized what I just said....

''Sorry Sissy...I didn't mean to say it like that." I said.

She cracked up laughing....

"But you're right...Rollie does have a hard on for me...That's his problem....He has too many hard ons!!!...For practically every woman he meets." she said.

I laughed too...Sissy was like one of the guys.. not all girly and the type to be easily offended....That made her even more attractive!

"Rollie and I used to date...Years ago...He cheated on me and he lied to me repeatedly...We broke up....Then maybe a year and a half ago he started calling me again...sending me flowers and begging me for a second chance...Against my better judgment  I gave him a second chance...Spent a beautiful weekend in AC with him...and was just about to warm to him...It wasn't long before the cheating and the lying began again...I found out that he was engaged...He was seeing me while his fiancé was out of town.  I had to read about it in the paper. Now that he sees I'm happy with someone...He suddenly is super interested again...I don't want him...and I won't give him a third chance to break my heart." said Sissy.

"I don't blame you Sissy.."I said.  ''For what it's worth...You're too good for Rollie...You deserve better..." I continued...

"Aww Chazz, you are so sweet."she said. "Now when you see Rollie again..you tell him that you gave me the photos and that I was just ruined...If I know right...He'll beat a path to me...A path I'm going to give him and then I'm going to lay it on him hard...Everything...I'm going to end his chasing of me ,once and for all." she said.

"Good...I want to be around to see it." I said.

"I'll be in Josies soon...and so will my dad and Selma and the baby!!!...Everybody wants to see the baby anyway, so that will give them a reason to be there...Don't even sweat it. Get word out to him that I'll be coming in...He'll be johnny on the spot." she said and smiled.

"Hey how is your partner....uh Ms. Carlotta doing?" I asked.

''She and Keith Wallace are on their honeymoon....In Cancun...She called me yesterday, She's having the time of her life." laughed Sissy.

"Hopefully you'll be on yours soon and you'll call me and tell me you're happy or..or Bridget at least." I said.

"Bridget is a lucky woman. .She's got a good guy. I'm happy for her." said Sissy...

"Eddie C. is a lucky man too." I said and smiled.

IV-

That night I was in Aqua Bar, listening to their D.J.  He was spinning some Hip Hop tunes...I was listening ,trying to get a feel for the beats and possibly some future melodies...Bridget was on her way...

Who would stop but Rollie Rollerson and with yet another woman!!

He and the woman sat down ,when he recognized me.....He ordered drinks for them both and just walked over to where I was sitting...

"Welll look who it is...Stevie Wonder!!" he said.

''What do you want man? I'm waiting for somebody." I said.

"Would that somebody happen to be Bridget?? I just saw her parking her car." he said.

"Good for you, now don't you have a young lady waiting for you?" I asked.

"Did you deliver those photos to Sissy?" he asked..

"They're en route..."I said.

"Oh yeah, what does that mean?" he asked.

"It means that they're on their way to her like I said."I sneered...I hated this guy with a passion now...

"Okay, because if she doesn't get them...I'll be having a little talk with Bridget.." he said.

"A little talk with me about what?" came the voice of Bridget...

"Ohhh hello Ms. Jones....Oh nothing...a talk about expanding your lingerie business,perhaps opening yet a third store with my backing..." he said and smiled..."and maybe other things." He said and laughed as he walked back to the table with his date for the night.

"I don't get it...How is it that snakes like Rollie Rollerson  are never without female companionship?" I said.

Bridget smiled and said...

"Because he has money, affluence and power and frankly.. He's not bad to look at!" she said.

I hung my head...She lifted my head with her hand...and stroked my lip softly with her index finger...

"But he's not a good person, baby!...He's like cotton candy Chazz...Tastes good, but not good for you!...You feel me?" she said.

"I think I do." I said.

She gave me a long ,wet sloppy kiss...

"That kiss wasn't like no cotton candy...It felt good and was definitely good for me!" I said.

"Well I hope so. When I was maybe 10 years younger I might have fallen for his type..but now I want a good person...a guy who will treat me nice...a guy who won't just see me as an option...a guy like you baby." said Bridget laughing...

"Damn girl...you can make a blind man see...."I said.

"You already could see...I should be mad at you for lying to me...but...It was kind of funny.." she said.

"You're silly." I said and smiled..

Bridget smiled and gave me another long kiss.... From the corner of my eye ,I saw Rollie looking and smiling...

He didn't know it...but I was going to have the last laugh.

(CONCLUSION NEXT)