A Good Dude by Keith Thomas Walker Read Free Book Online

why, but she could cry at the drop of a hat nowadays. The sight of her anguish usually made Rilla wilt, but not today. He turned on her quickly—his arm poised for a vicious backhand.
    Candace stopped short and threw her arms over her face.
    “Get off my back!” Rilla barked. “I pay for everything around here! You don’t want for shit, but yo ass can’t never be happy!”
    “That’s ‘cause you lied,” Candace wailed. The tears streamed down her face. “You said you were going to—”
    “ Bitch, quit telling me what I said! ” His hands were at his sides now, balled into fists for some reason. He’d never been physically violent with her, but Candace took the stance very seriously.
    “So, what? You gonna hit me now?”
    His face was a mask of frustration and pain.
    “I’m not gon’ hit you.”
    “If this is all you’re going to do, you should’ve told me,” Candace said. “You shouldn’t have called me when I was in New York. I was happy. I had a good life.”
    “I didn’t make you go with me!”
    “ I trusted you .”
    “You coulda stayed over there! Ain’t nobody put a gun to yo head.”
    “ You lied to me .”
    “I didn’t lie to you!”
    “ Stop yelling at me! ” she screamed. Her nose leaked in addition to her eyes now.
    Rilla opened his mouth to say something but thought better of it. Instead he shook his head and grinned.
    “You trippin’, Candace. You jacked up in the head. Got them hormones, or whatever the hell is going on with you.”
    “It’s not my hormones!”
    “Well it ain’t me .”
    “It is you, Rilla. I don’t want to be with the crack man . You’re either going to jail or the pen, or, God forbid, you get killed, but those are your choices. Everybody knows that. I don’t know why you don’t see it.”
    “Don’t be wishing no bad luck on me,” he said. He scooped his keys from the coffee table and headed for the door.
    “You don’t have to be a rapper,” Candace conceded. “You can get a job at McDonald’s, Rilla. I’ll still stay with you.”
    “I ain’t working at no goddamned McDonald’s,” he said on the way out.
    Candace followed him onto the breezeway and appealed to him as he skipped down the stairs.
    “Rilla, if this is all you’re going to do, I’m not staying.”
    He stopped at the bottom step and looked up at her. “Don’t be threatening to leave,” he said. “If you’re gonna leave, then leave. But don’t be threatening me. I do all I can for you. I don’t see why you trippin’.”
    “I just want you to do what you said you would.” He sighed, a deep sneer forming on the left side of his face.
    “Candace, it ain’t that easy. You think every good rapper out here got a deal? Well, I can tell you for a fact they don’t. For every fifty good rappers, one of them might get signed. It takes more than just being good. You have to be at the right place at the right time and all that.”
    “But you’re not even trying,” she countered. “It doesn’t matter if you are at the right place and right time if you don’t have your demo ready.”
    “I’m through talking,” Rilla said. “I’ma do what I do. You don’t like it, call yo bougie-ass mama.”
    With that, he was out of sight.
    Candace went back inside and held the phone for a long time, but she couldn’t dial the digits.
    * * *
     
    Being fully pregnant at school was an interesting experience. In her College Algebra class, one of her peers gave up his seat at ground level so Candace wouldn’t have to march the stairs to the upper level. Her religion professor stopped her after class and asked how her condition was going. He said he could allow extra time to finish her assignments if she needed it. Candace told him she was okay.
    After Economics, a familiar face followed her out. “Hey, Candace.”
    She turned and waited for Celestino to catch up. “You sure move fast for a preg— ooh , I’d better not say that.”
    “Say what?”
    “The last time I thought a