Spin, p.5
Spin, page 5
“We want to hear your stance on it, Dr. McCall,” Edin, another one of my students called out to me.
“The outrage in here is strong. I don’t know if I want to give my piece. I might get jumped,” I called out, breaking the tension in the classroom, and it got the students in here to laugh a little bit. With my legs still crossed, and my hands folded in my lap, I chose which avenue that I wanted to go in as far as my response. I knew that my students thought very highly of me, and they always valued my opinion, so whatever I said next, I wanted it to be something that they could respect, even if they didn’t agree with it.
“I’m going to give two of my stances. My first stance is going to be Toni’s stance. I’m throwing Dr. McCall out for a second, and I’m going to give it to you raw, and uncut. With Toni speaking, I’m standing ten toes down with Malinda, and I’ll say that she was right for everything that she did. I want to take it from the very beginning. Malinda was in love with Robert. Probably was just lust in the beginning, but as they continued to date, and formed a bond, it was definitely love. I mean, what else would it possibly be? Lust wasn’t enough to foot the bill for him so that he was able to continue going to the same college. That’s love right there. Love had her pulling out her card, purchasing him a new car, and anything else that he possibly needed, she was making that happen as well. Let’s keep in mind that she was doing all of this, and she wasn’t getting anything in return. I do want to throw in that in life, you shouldn’t do good deeds for people, expecting anything in return, but something being returned to her would have been great! Fast forward, and here they are as adults. This woman is working, busting her ass, and all Robert has is a dream. A dream that his wife stood by, and she believed in. After the cheating, after the divorce, the millions that he gave her, I still feel like it wasn’t enough. Financially, she would be good, but what about the love? Malinda loved Robert. If she didn’t, she would have divorced him years ago. Out of all the women in the world that he could have moved on with, he chose to move on with the same exact woman that he’d gotten caught cheating with. A lot of the men in this classroom are trying to make her crash out about money, when that’s not what it is. Her crash out came from a broken heart, her sanity that she lost, and having to sit back, and watch her ex-husband get to have this perfect life with another woman, prepare for a wedding, have a child on the way, but Malinda just has to be okay with the few million-dollar check? She did what any woman would have done. I would have crashed out too,” I shared my truth, and when I finished, I got laughs in the class. My students knew that I was going to always keep it real with them. I was in a professional setting, but they knew that the theme for my classroom was “kick back”, basically, you could kick back and express yourself in here as you would at a family gathering, but all I asked was that you be respectful.
“And what’s your Dr. McCall stance? We have about a minute left. I’m curious to hear what it is,” Cache said, eyes on me, pretty much leaning out of her chair, so eager to hear what I was going to say. I did a light chuckle, as I glared at her, and the rest of the almost 100 kids in my classroom, thinking how I wanted to respond.
“I’m going to sum it up and just say, put yourself in Malinda’s shoes, and just imagine you were the one that had to waste your life on a man that you genuinely loved. A man that you were willing to give your last to, and he thinks that with all the internal damage that he did to you, all he has to do was write a check, and all is supposed to be forgiven. I would have loved his character, had he got the money, was finally successful with his invention, and went and worked things out with Malinda, and had given her everything that he so easily went out to give to his new wife. Class, I’m not saying that my outlook on this is right. I’m not saying that those who don’t agree with me has a wrong outlook. I’m saying that this is controversy. This was the purpose of this topic,” I concluded, and the second that I concluded it, it was 6:00 P.M, which was the time that class let out. This was my final class for the day, so I would be heading out of here now, so that I could pick up Brooklyn from dance practice.
My class clapped for me, proud of the way that I’d ended this topic. From there, they all started spilling out. Each of them said their quick goodbye’s to me, and Bryson was the last student left. I loved Bryson. He was a really smart, well mannered, and well-spoken student. It was his senior year, and I knew that he was going to go off and do great things in his career after graduation.
He walked over to me, with a smile on his face.
“I know I say it to you all the time Dr. McCall, but I just gotta let you know that I have nothing, but the upmost respect for you. Even on those rare occasions where I may not agree with your stance, I still value, and respect where you’re coming from. Everything that you do, you do it with such class, and grace. I’ll never forget having a professor like you,” he told me, and that really warmed my heart, so I smiled.
“Thank you, Bryson. That really means a lot to me,” I let him know, and he waved me off, like it was no big deal. Like always, he let me know to drive home safely, and then he walked out of the classroom.
Now that it was just me left behind, I went ahead, and I grabbed my briefcase, putting everything inside that I was going to need, like my MacBook, and some papers that I needed to look over, and grade tonight. My purse that was inside of my closet, I grabbed it, along with my lunch box, and I carried everything, going over to the light that was in my room, shutting it off, and I left out.
The sounds of my heels clicking echoed in the hallway, since it was quite in here, and not many students standing around. I took the stairs down, made it to the first floor, and the second I was walking out of the building, I could see the head football coach standing outside, and he was talking with a few of the other staff. Two of them were professors, and remember those females that I said were either going to like my sense of fashion, or I was going to have those that didn’t like it? Well, these were the two bitches that didn’t, but I was a woman, who knew how to read a room, and I knew that the reason why they didn’t like my sense of fashion, along with anything else that I had to offer is because they knew that the nigga that they were standing in front of, showing all 32 of their teeth to, loved my sense of fashion, and everything else that I had to offer.
Coach Terry loved him some fine ass Toni, and he has been sniffing up behind me for the past eight years that I have been here, and I wouldn’t budge. Me not budging didn’t have anything to do with his looks, either. Truthfully, the nigga was fine, and I knew that he would give a woman out there some beautiful, chocolate babies, but I don’t fuck, where I teach! My track record with men hasn’t been the best, and it isn’t because of me. I knew how to love a man. I knew how to fuck, suck, cook, nurture, submit, all of the things that the women from back in the days would do for their men, but not all men deserve that treatment. We are living in a society where you have grown men out here that wants flowers just as much as us women want them. I say all of this to say, men are only good for a nut with me, and sometimes, you barely get that.
Knowing that my situations with men doesn’t always last too long, I would be crazy to get into anything with Coach Terry, only for it to not work out, and I have to deal with the awkwardness like the one right now, where I have to run into him on campus.
I tried to be slick, and continue walking, so I wouldn’t have to speak, but the sound of my heels caused him to see me, and before I knew it, he was jogging over to me.
“Damn. You was just going to walk past, and act like you didn’t see me? What’s up, Toni? How you doing?” he asked, now walking casually on the side of me. I looked over at him, and I laughed. As much as I wouldn’t fuck with him, I’ll admit that he kept me laughing each time that he would come around.
Looking at him, my home girls always said that I was a fool for turning him down. They said that I needed to be psychologically tested because they didn’t see how I was turning down this fine piece of chocolate. Coach Terry was probably 6’3, if I had to guess his height. He was in perfect shape, just like his football players. I mean, he really looked like he could get on the field, and play the game of football, going for a college student. His beautiful chocolate skin was one of the main things that stood out about him. Then, he had perfect white, straight teeth. He was working with a bald head, and it was always nice, and smooth looking. His full beard was nice, and healthy, which I’m sure drove the ladies crazy.
Just like me, he attended this college as a student as well, but coach Terry was older than me. He was 51 years old, so when he was in college, I wasn’t here yet. He played football here, and after college, he was drafted to play in the NFL, where he played for the Pittsburgh Steelers for five seasons. The reason his career in football was cut so early is because of the severe knee injuries that he had, that led to multiple surgeries, and just not properly healing. The man was well off, didn’t have to work another day in his life if he didn’t want to, but here he was, just like me, coming back to his Alma Mater, and he had a great football team. I know because on those days when I wasn’t busy, I would come out, and support.
“I’m rushing to pick up my niece from dance practice. I’m doing good, Terry. How are you this evening?” I asked him, continuing to walk, and he was right there on the side of me, keeping up with me too.
“Shit, I’m good. I can’t complain. About to get on the field with my boys for tonight’s practice. You coming to the game this weekend?” he wanted to know.
“Probably not. I have to go up the road to visit my sister. It’s her birthday Saturday,” I let him know, telling him the truth. I hated that Temperance would be spending another birthday in prison, but sadly, these were the consequences of her actions.
My sister was serving her sentence in Leon county, and that was about a seven-hour drive from me. I hated making the drive, but I would make it my business to ride up to see her at least two weekends out of the month. If I couldn’t do two, I would only come once, and my sister would always be understanding of that because she knew that I had a life, and my life kept me busy. Temperance was one of those people that knew everybody, and had a bunch of friends, so even if I couldn’t make it, she never had to go without having a visitor because there would always be someone on her visitor list to come and see her.
“How she doing? She alright in there?” he wanted to know. By this point, I was nearing my Range Rover Sport that was parked in the faculty and staff parking lot. Terry only knew about my sister being in prison because when he wasn’t down my throat, trying to push up on me, by asking me to go on dates with him, he was a cool dude. He knew what it felt like to have a loved one behind bars. His little brother was in prison, but his brother’s sentence was far worse than my sister. His little brother was never getting out. They’d given him a life sentence for a couple of murders that he was found guilty on. That’s just how it was with siblings. You were always going to have that one that went off to do good things, then you would have that other one that went off and didn’t do as well.
“She’s good. Ready to come home of course, but nonetheless, she’s doing good,” I let him know, pulling out my keys, and I unlocked the doors. I opened the back door, where I placed my briefcase, along with my lunch box on my garnet red interior seats in my car. I closed the door, and I kept my purse on my shoulder. Terry was still standing there, watching me, and he used his hand to rub it down his face. I already knew that a question of him asking me to take me out was going to come next.
“Next weekend, you know we’re putting on that football camp for the youth. It’s supposed to be a great event. I’m reaching out, trying to get as many staff as I can to help with the event. Nothing crazy. Really just helping with passing out water, face towels, keeping the boys together, and little shit like that. It’s easy when all you gotta train is college students because when I tell them to sit their asses down, and stay in one place, they’ll listen, but we about to have five years olds, all the way up to 18-year-olds out here, so Ima need all the help that I can get. You’ll be down to come out, and help? I know you be busy and shit, having a lot of stuff going on, so it’s cool if you can’t come,” Terry went on to say. I found myself smiling because I loved anything that involved getting the youth out and encouraging them. So many little boys from Miami had big dreams of being big football stars, so I’m sure that they would love this event that coach Terry was putting on.
Even though I wouldn’t give coach Terry any play, this man’s credentials were top tier, and when it came to football, you couldn’t talk football and not bring his name up. His football days, when he played at this university, were advertised all throughout the stadium here, along with the gyms, and when you look up his highlights, you’ll see the kind of beast that he was. He won the Heisman Trophy two times in a row, and when he played for the Steelers, his skills were even better. I know that the youth that was going to come out next weekend, and were going to be given the opportunity to train up under him were going to love that.
“I’ll come out, and help. Are ya’ll going to be giving out community service hours? If so, I’ll have my niece come along, so that she can help too. Her butt needs all the hours that she can get because next year, when she starts applying for colleges, it’ll look good on her applications,” I let him know, and when I said that, he started smiling, showing off the perfect smile, and teeth that he had.
“Yeah. I’ll make sure that she’s straight with her service hours. I got her,” he let me know, and I nodded, while thanking him for that.
“I’ll let you go ahead and leave now. I won’t take up anymore of your time. You wearing that dress, Toni,” he said, and I just laughed, got in my car, and closed the door behind me.
I placed my purse in the passenger seat, and naturally, I would go for the hand sanitizer that was in my cupholder, and I quickly shot some out into my hands, rubbed them together, and I started the car up, and I pulled out. It would only take me about fifteen minutes to get to Brooklyn’s dance practice, and by the time I would be pulling into the studio parking lot, she should be heading out.
Monday’s were my only time where I would be able to sit in on her practices and watch her because for the rest of the week, I wouldn’t leave the school until late in the evening like this, so I wasn’t always able to watch her practice. Brooklyn couldn’t care less if I watched her in practice or not. In fact, her ass probably preferred for me not to be there because when I sat in, I would call her ass out in a second, telling her to stop with all the damn talking, and to focus.
Brooklyn was really a great dancer, and I loved the studio that I had her at because they specialized in all kinds of dance. She was well rounded, knowing ballet, hip hop, jazz, ballroom, tap, and contemporary. With the skills that she had, I knew that she could get into a big school like Julliard, and go off to do big things, but she’s gotta want that. I didn’t want her to not want to go to college like Temperance chose not to because I feel like once Temperance graduated from high school, and she didn’t go to college, she opened so much room for her to get in trouble, and I didn’t want that for my niece.
As I was driving, my phone started ringing. My phone was connected to the Bluetooth on my car, so it was ringing through my car’s speakers. My phone was inside of the cupholder, and I grabbed it up while I was driving, seeing that it was a group facetime call coming through from my girls. I smiled, seeing all the names that were on the call. I had three best friends, and their names were Brandy, Shawntae, and Rianna. Brandy, and Shawntae, I’ve known them since middle school, and the three of us even went to college together. I didn’t meet Rianna until college. Her, and I played on the volleyball team together, and instantly we became inseparable, and I’d added her to the friend group. My cousin Karina was on the phone as well. Karina was my auntie’s Ophelia’s daughter, and I was two years older than her. Karina and I were close like sisters because we grew up together. You know you grew up close when you have stories of us arguing, and coming to blows in fist fights over the years. I loved the bitch, but just like Temperance, she could work my damn nerves at times.
“Good evening my beautiful queens,” I answered the phone, after propping it on the phone mount that was hooked up to my A/C vent.
“There go fine ass Toni! We didn’t think that you were going to answer the phone, boo!” Brandy was the first to respond back. Brandy was a beautiful, dark-skinned woman, and she had the most gorgeous locs in her hair that I’ve ever seen on a woman. Her hair has been in locs since we met in middle school. They’ve grown so much over the years, going past her back. She always kept them in beautiful styles, but right now, she had them hanging loosely. Brandy was a married woman. Her husband’s name was Elton, but we called him E.J. I loved the two of them together. They’ve been married for the past five years, and so far, they had a two-year-old daughter, named Emoni. I loved their black love. Brandy owned her own practice, working as a pediatric orthodontist. Her husband owned his own practice as well, and he was a pediatrician. A beautiful, successful couple, and I told them every chance that I got that they were goals for me.
“Oh no. I left work already. I’m headed to pick up Brooklyn from dance practice. What ya’ll gossiping about? Feel me in,” I wanted to know. There were those rare occasions where we would hop on a group face time call, and there wasn’t a serious matter that someone was bringing to the table, but most times, for us to have all the girls lined up, usually that meant that some tea had to be spilled.
“Karina met a guy this morning at breakfast, and she’s going on a date with him tonight. She’s giving us the scoop on him, trying to get our approval before she heads out with him,” Shawntae responded. Shawntae was like me, and when I say that, in the work field, she was Ms. Givens, code switching her real voice, and putting on the proper one, but the second her ass stepped foot out of them people’s job, she was the round the way Shawn, as we liked to call her, and she talked more shit than a little bit. My girl was another successful black queen in our friend group. She worked as a news anchor for channel 4 news, and the world loved her. She was going to keep it real, her outfits were always show stopping, and she did her job with such class. Shawntae wasn’t married, but her and that fine piece of a man, Kingsley, who was also a news anchor for the same news station that she worked for were fuckin on the low, but that was a story for another day.
