Hood Ornaments

Dell’s cell was vibrating in his hoodie pocket on his way home from class,

“Hey Ms. Trudy, this is a surprise.”

“Rondell,” she said in a soft, serious tone, “I am going to need your help.”

Dell detected sadness in her voice and his expression changed as he walked through the front door and into his parents’ kitchen.

“What’s wrong? Did something happened to Tori?

Luke looked up from his crossword puzzle and Betty turned around from drying the dishes.

“No thank the Lord. This has to do with Violet.”

“Who?” Dell asked confused.

“Ms. Violet, Tony’s grandmother?”

“That’s her name? I feel bad. I never knew that. I always call her Gram. With that, Dell propped his phone in between his shoulder and ear and began helping Betty put away the dishes.

“Sure Ms. Trudy, she need me to go to the store for her?”

Trudy sighed deeply, “No Dell. She passed away. I need you to go by the house and see if you can find Tony’s social security number on something, somewhere. I need to call the Red Cross to get him home for the funeral.”

“Gram passed away?”

“Yeah. So we have to get Tony home. You still have his keys don’t you?”

“Yes ma’am. I do.”

“Can you handle this by yourself?” Trudy asked with her voice cracking.

Dell’s stomach ached for her. Typically she was tough as nails, so to hear her so emotional and vulnerable upset him, “Of course. Don’t worry yourself. I’ll be over as soon as I find something. He pressed the button on his phone and sighed heavily.

Betty rubbed Dell’s back.

“Are you okay Son?”

Dell nodded, but his mind was racing with thoughts. He knew he should call Sticks, but it just seemed unnecessary now. There was just too much.

Too much to think about

To wonder why

To handle

“I’ll be aiight Ma, I just have to take care of this errand for Trudy. Then I’ll be back. Do you need anything?”

“Unt uh”

“How about you Pop?”

Luke looked at his son for a long time before answering, “No Rondell, I don’t. Just make sure you take care of what Trudy wants you to before you go off and do your own thing. Violet was a nice quiet woman. Didn’t have a bad word to say about nobody. Took Tony in without question. Make sure you are there for him, Son. He is going to need you. Besides his grandmother, you all were all he had.”

Luke like most reverends very long winded and his diatribe seemed to drone on a lot longer than necessary. So Dell used his errand as an excuse to escape, and out the door he went. The minute he went down the block, he pulled out his cell phone and pressed a button. Malik answered instantly.

“Sup.”

“Leek. Looks like Tone will be comin home soon,” Dell said sadly.

“For what? And why you sound so down about it? You tell Sticks?”

“Ms. Violet passed.”

“Who?” Malik asked as if he were annoyed.

“Tone’s grandmother, Bamma. So I’m headed to his house now so I can find his numbers to give to…”

“Aiight, aiight man. That’s just a little more detail than I need. I’ll call Sticks in a few.”

“Wait. Why we callin Sticks?”

“Really Dell?”

“Look Leek. Can’t we just talk to him? I mean his grandmother just passed and…”

“This ain’t my call man. You wanna talk to Sticks, you know how to get in touch with him.” Malik hung up the phone abruptly leaving Dell to walk around to Tone’s back door. He lifted up a flower pot, grabbed the spare key, and unlocked it. He made his way through the house into Tone’s room. He had to pass Ms. Violet’s room and took a quick glance. Pink slippers were at the foot of her unmade bed. For some unknown reason, that choked him up, so he just shut her door. Then he took a deep breath to prepare for the scavenger hunt in Tone’s room.

To his shock, the room was neatly organized, and everything he needed was in a manila folder on top of one of Tone’s large Tupperware bins. He grabbed the folder and left locking the door behind him as he put the key on his ring.

As if on cue, his cell rang. When he looked at the display, he cussed softly to himself. It was Sticks; Leek must have called him anyway. Dell felt sick to his stomach as he sent the call to voicemail.

His uncle was right.

He wasn’t cut out for this life.