No NaNo For Me

Around this time last year, I was getting ready for NaNoWriMo.  For those of you that don't know, that's an acronym that stands for National Novel Writing Month.  I have several blog posts about it if you want to learn more.  Anyway...

I'm not doing NaNo this year for a couple of reasons.  Number one, I have three novels in progress in various stages of completion.  One of them, I am ashamed to say, has been on my to do list since 2001.  Now I've revamped it a number of times by changing the title and practically changing the whole story line to fit what I think someone would really want to read.  Quintina Mitchell's story, Her Leftovers, is the book that has plagued me for a decade.  From the responses I've been getting to the excerpts that I've posted, I think I have a pretty good story, I've just got to make up in my mind to just be done with it already and let the readers tell me if they like the whole thing. 

The other two works in progress are my NaNo projects from the two previous years.  Sassy Johnson, the private detective and Cole Slaw, the bounty hunter, have been battling for attention the last couple of years.  They both want me to finish their stories ASAP but I haven't because well... I don't know why.  Probably because I keep going back to Her Leftovers.  So if I can't decide which one of these books to focus on, what's the point of starting another one.  Since I like all three main characters, the next book would probably be a part two to one of these projects.

The next reason why I'm not doing NaNo this year is because of my crafting business.  It's getting cold and everyone is hounding me about hats and scarves.  I've been getting a lot of orders for the jewelry too so my spare time is usually spent surrounded by beads or yarn.  It's tiring but I love it.  You can check out some of my Youtube videos (www.youtube.com/suzyquzy) and the photos on my Facebook(http://www.facebook.com/susienmccray) page if you want to see the different items I have made.  

Speaking of YouTube, I have been trying to document my hair growth since I've been natural.  My hair is now longer than it was right before I started growing the relaxer out.  My goal is to get it to the length and thickness that it was in high school.  I'm almost there, yayyy!  Maybe by next May I will have reached my goal, which will be the 2 year anniversary of being completely natural.

Despite all of these things I'm doing besides writing, I still think about writing.  Writing was my first love and I will always go back to it (Hence this blog post.)  One day I'll slap myself upside the head and complete at least one of these books.  If I do it before next October, I will definitely start prepping for NaNo. 

Boy

Who can I talk to about adding more hours to my day?  Mary J. Blige is loving her man 25/8 (25 hours/8 days a week) so maybe I can get 29/12. Just a thought.

To all of you who will be NaNo-ing this year, I wish you the best of luck.

Confrontation

This is another installment to "Her Leftovers", after the fight between Quintina and Tamesha. 

Quintina was sitting on the couch in the living room when Cortez made it home.  He had a few bags of food and a bouquet of flowers in his hand that he struggled not to drop before heading to the kitchen.  It was dark in the room so Cortez was startled when Quintina called out to him.

"Hey baby," Cortez said, turning to her.  Quintina slapped Cortez across his eyes hard enough to blind him.  He dropped everything to the floor and covered his face, "What the f...?"

"Since you love her so much, pack your shit and go over there," Quintina sneered.

"Quintina, what the hell are you talking about?"

"Tamesha.  Yeah, your girlfriend sent me a birthday present.  Let me show you."  Cortez followed her to their bedroom.

Quintina grabbed the remote and pressed play.  She turned the volume up.  Cortez rubbed his eyes and squinted at the tv.  His bloodshot eyes got big as goose eggs and then filled with tears.  "Baby..."

"I don't want to hear it.  Get out!"

"But this is my place."

Quintina pulled her gun from the shoe box, pointed it at Cortez and cocked it.  "You've got 15 minutes."  He hurriedly gathered as much as he could stuff in a gym bag and left.

After Cortez was gone, Quintina collapsed to the floor and began to sob.  She had no idea what she would do next.  The obvious choice was divorce but she wasn't sure if she really wanted to be completely through with Cortez yet.  She would give it some thought. 

Quintina moped around for about an hour then cleaned up all of the items that Cortez had dropped. Everything that was salvageable was stored away and the broken items were thrashed.  The flowers were fine but she shoved them into the garbage disposal.  She took a shower, got dressed in a flattering red dress and tried to camoflaug the bruises on her face.  Satisfied with her results, she called SaLynne and asked her if she wanted to go out.

"Sure, where do you want to go?"

"Some place where there are some fine men with real jobs."

"Uh oh. Sounds like Cortez is going to have some competition."

Quintina laughed out loud.  "Girl, you have no idea.  Come get me, I may not be able to drive home later."

"Quin, what's up with you?" SaLynne sounded puzzled.

"I'll tell you when you get here."

She Ain't Worth It ~ Part 2

Here's part two of this story.  Just like last week, this story has a lot of profanity in it. So if you're sensitive about that you may want to steer clear, or read another post (smile).  All feedback is greatly appreciated.

Once Quintina had put on her jeans and t-shirt, she shoved the shoe box under her arm, grabbed her purse in one hand and her keys in the other. She ran down the stairs and out the door. Quin, where are you going? She thought. You know you are not supposed to be drinking and driving. Fuck that, this is not something that I’m gonna let slide.


Quintina got off I240 at the Hollywood exit and went north. When she reached Dalana’s house on Brookmeade, she started beating on the door like she was the police.

“Hold on, goddammit,” Dalana yelled. When she opened the door and saw that it was Quintina, she just stepped back and let her in. “Quin, why are you looking all torn up on your birthday?”

“I’m on a rampage. Call that Tamesha bitch. I got a few choice words that I want to say to her,” Quintina said throwing her purse and keys on the couch. She had left her gun in the car under the passenger seat.

“What happened? She called the house or something?”

“Naw that bitch was in my house, in my bed, fucking my husband.”

“What? How do you know that?”

“The raunchy bitch sent me a tape of them. You remember when I told you that we had set the camcorder set up in the bedroom.” Quintina had started pacing back and forth across the room. Then she went into the kitchen and got one of Dalana’s coolers out of the refrigerator.

“Yeah, I remember. Shit, those are some bold muthafuckas. See, this is your own damn fault. If you hadn’t have been letting Tez get away with all that shit, this would have never happened. They think that you’ll never do anything.”

“I don’t think Cortez knew she was taping it. It looked like he was too torn up to even pay attention to anything she was doing besides freaking on him.”

“Don’t start making excuses for that niggah. That’s what you always do. Whether he knew she was taping it or not, he still fucked her.”

“I know. Get that bitch on the phone.”

“She’s at Schrhonda’s place right now,” Dalana said picking up the phone. “I need to pop some popcorn, this is gonna be better than the Tyson vs. Holyfield fight.”

Quintina was standing in the doorway when Schrhonda and Tamesha arrived. Tamesha automatically got all up in Quintina’s face. She started bragging about how she had Quintina’s man wrapped around her little finger and how she can take Cortez from Quintina whenever she got ready. Quintina tried her best to keep her composure but she couldn’t maintain. She finally got fed up with all the bullshit that Tamesha was shooting off about and suddenly grabbed a handful of Tamesha’s hair and punched her in the face. Then she pushed her out the door and let her fall down the steps onto the concrete carport.

After Tamesha had hit the ground, Quintina noticed that she had a big plug of her hair in her hand. She looked at Tamesha’s head and immediately noticed the patch where the hair had come from. Quintina almost started laughing before Tamesha stumbled to her feet, holding her head and cursing.

“Bitch, you got me fucked up.” Then she punched Quintina in the mid-section, making her doubled over in pain. Tamesha began to rant and rave again while Quintina was trying to recover. She had all sorts of murderous thoughts going through her mind but couldn’t figure out how she could carry them out without it resulting in a 25 to life prison sentence.

“Bitch, Cortez is my man first, hoe. If it wasn’t for your square ass, I would be Mrs. Cortez Robinson. But that’s alright though. I can still get the dick whenever I want it. You think that was the first time? Oh no, honey. We have been fucking since day one. He came over my house the first night y’all met at that basketball game. Yeah, he had you thinking there wasn’t anything between us. That’s just how we do it. Even though he acts hard he can’t live without this pussy. Now, what do you have to say about that?”

Quintina finally straightened up and looked Tamesha dead in the eyes. Tears partially impaired Quintina’s vision but she wiped them away. Quintina felt as if she were moving in slow motion. It was sort of like her body was moving by itself because it surprised even her when she rushed into Tamesha like a bull. When Tamesha hit the ground with a loud thump, she moaned in agony. Then Quintina straddled her and began to repeatedly pound her fists into Tamesha’s face.

She talked to her in a surprisingly calm voice, almost scary. “You know what, hoe? You can have that hoe-ish ass niggahs. I don’t need all this drama. I hope all the dick you’ve been getting over the years has been worth this ass whipping. Both of you selfish motherfuckers deserve each other.”

Quintina pounded until her arms got tired and her fists began to throb. Once on her feet, she coughed up a big blob of phlegm and spit it in Tamesha’s face. “I hope you two have a wonderful and fulfilling life together.” Then she began walking slowly towards her car. Before Quintina could reach her car door—SMACK, she arched her back in pain and turned around quickly. She saw that Dalana was holding Tamesha who had a bat in her hand. Tamesha didn’t say a word; she just stared at Quintina through her swollen eyelids.

Quintina remembered seeing the bat propped against the wall under the carport when she and Tamesha had come out of the house but was too distracted to worry about where it came from. She knew it hadn’t been there when she first arrived at Dalana’s house. Or was it? She was too tired to figure it out.

“Bitch, I ought to shoot your ugly ass right now but I ain’t trying to be going to jail for no piece of shit like you,” Quintina said opening her car door and sliding in.

She Ain't Worth It ~ Part 1

I usually don’t write in third person but I decided to switch it up a little bit. I’m revisiting a scene in “Her Leftovers” where Tamesha decides to let her presence be known. WARNING: There is quite a bit of swearing in this story.

~ Let me know what you think. All feedback is welcome. ~


“Quintina, you didn’t have to come to work on your birthday. I told you that you could take off since you did such a good presentation at the conference in Atlanta,” Craig said walking into Quintina’s office with a bouquet of roses and a bag with Happy Birthday printed on it.

“I just wanted to look over these reports before I turned them in. I’ll be leaving after lunch.” Quintina’s attention was focused on the computer so she didn’t see what Craig was carrying until she looked up. “What’s that you got there?”

“Oh, the guy just dropped this off so I decided that I would bring it in for you. Cortez is so romantic, I wanna grow up and be just like him,” Craig said wiping away imaginary tears.

“Thanks Craig, with your silly self.”

“No problem Mrs. Robinson,” he said as he walked out of her office and closed the door behind him.

Quintina played it cool until her boss walked out then she pulled the light blue bag with white letters on it to her and pulled out the white and blue tissue paper. Cortez must have gotten somebody to help him with this because he’s never took the time to find tissue to match the gift bag, she thought. When she had finally gotten all of the tissue unraveled, she found a video tape. I wonder what’s on it. Dalana did say that she told Cortez that I wanted him to learn how to strip for me; maybe that’s what it is.

When Quintina got home she ran straight to her bedroom so she could look at her present. She put the tape in the VCR and walked over to the nightstand and pushed play on the remote. At first she just saw Cortez laying on the bed smoking. That ain’t no cigarette, that’s a blunt, I’m gonna kick his ass. Then she saw a dark skinned woman get in the bed with him. What the fuck? They began kissing and touching each other. He turned the blunt around and put the lit end in his mouth and put his mouth to her nose and blew the smoke in. I can’t believe this shit. I need a drink.

Quintina paused the foolery and went downstairs to the kitchen and pulled Cortez’s bottle of vodka out of the freezer. She got a Sprite out of the refrigerator and poured some of it into a plastic blue cup. She had intended on making her drink half liquor half soda but she decided to grab another cup and fill it to the rim with vodka. She took a swallow of her drink. It burned going down but it wasn’t nowhere near as uncomfortable as it would have been under normal circumstances. She was already on fire.

When Quintina got back up to her room and restarted the tape, the first thing she saw was the woman get up and go over to her dresser and pick up the bottle of Motion Lotion that Quintina and Cortez used quite frequently. Quintina finally got a good look at the skeezer and realized that it was none other than, Tamesha. That bitch! Tamesha got back into bed with Cortez and opened the bottle pouring some of the strawberry flavored lotion on her hand and rubbing it on his penis. Then Tamesha lowered her head and filled her mouth. I can’t believe they’re doing this in my house, in my bed. I want to kill them so bad, but neither one of them are worth going to jail over.

Quintina had finished her drink when she noticed that there was music playing in the background on the tape. Then, as if right on cue, Tamesha pulled away from Cortez’s groin and walked over to the radio. She turned up the volume a few notches, looked at the camera, then sauntered over and turned her ass to the camera. No that bitch didn’t just jiggle her flabby ass butt cheeks in my face. She went over and climbed on top of Cortez, facing the camera so Quintina could see the expression on her face. …Still in love with… Quintina threw her cup toward the TV, barely missing the screen.

“Our fucking wedding song! Aw, it’s on now,” Quintina yelled out loud. She reached under the bed and pulled out the shoe box that she kept her loaded .45 millimeter in and put it on the bed so she would remember to take it with her. But first she had to change into her beat down clothes.

The Other Side of the Story

This week’s Short Story Saturday is gonna be told from Cortez’s viewpoint. I’m trying to tap into my idea of the male perspective. I interviewed a couple guys to see why they cheat or have cheated in the past. One said because he wanted something different and at the first sign of conflict between he and his wife or girlfriend, he went in search of another woman. The other one said that his girl isn’t a very experienced lover and he doesn’t feel that he should have to tell her what he wants, she should have figured it out within the four years that they have been together.

“What’s up, Tez?” Dillon said once I had opened the door to let him in.

“Same old, same old.”

“A, man, was that Tamesha I just saw driving out the parking lot?”

“Shit, you spying on me or something? What’s up?”

“Man, ain’t nobody spying on you, I was just asking. That’s your business.”

“Yeah, it is, so stay out of it.”

“Damn, dog, forget I said anything.”

The last thing I needed was for anybody to know that I was still messing around with Tamesha. But she had insisted on coming over so I let her. Quintina was at work, so it was all good. We usually went to a hotel or her house but she was in the area so we figured why not take care of business right here.

D was killing me in NBA Jam because my mind was on Tamesha. I knew I shouldn't have let her know where I live because, I got the feeling that there was gonna be some drama somewhere down the line. I shouldn't have banged her here either, if Quintina found out she would lose all of her religion...but it was good though.

I was sleeping good when Quintina woke me up asking me about a rubber she found under the bed. At first I just blew it off, like girl you crazy, but then I remembered that Tamesha and I had been doing the damn thing on the floor so she wouldn’t mess the bed up. Obviously, I wasn’t as careful as I thought I was.

My eyes were still closed and I could only pretend to be half asleep so long. Quintina was a sweetie pie but when she got pissed off and demanded answers, I had to tell her something.

“Baby, it ain’t mine.”

“What do you mean it’s not your’s? Whose is it then? Did someone break into the house and screw some chick in our bedroom?”

I laughed, “No, baby, I let Dillon bring a girl over here. They didn’t have any money for a hotel so I let them do their thing here.”

“You did what? Why would you let Dillon bring his skank over here? He should have been at home with Shameka instead of out here banging some chick in my bed. A least you washed the covers.”

“They did it on the floor.”

“Oh wow that makes it better.”

“I’m sorry, baby. Dillon’s my best friend, through thick and thin. When he needs me, I’m there. I guess I’m used to this still being my bachelor pad, my stud stable, my house of pain,” I said rubbing her thigh.

She slapped my hand away, “Stop, nasty, this is serious.” Then she smiled. She believed me.

“Cortez, please don’t do this again. I don’t want anyone screwing other women in my house.”

“Okay, baby, I’m sorry.” I kissed her softly and when she didn’t respond. I grabbed her and pulled her down on the bed with me. She giggled. Yes, it was all good again.

After Quintina had fallen asleep, I called Dillon. Just in case she got on Dillon about bringing a girl over, I had to give him the head's up.

“A, man, if it comes up, you have to have my back on this,” I said to Dillon.

“Cortez, what are you talking about?” I had woken him up out of his sleep.

“I told Quintina that you brought a girl over here.”

“For what…awww. You and that damn Tamesha gone mess around and get y’all domes split. How long do you think Quintina is gonna put up with y’all shit?”

“Man, are you gonna help me or not?”

“I gotcha but damn, from now own leave me out of it. I don’t even know what you see in Tamesha.”

“Dog, her ass can swallow up a g-string. And man, I shouldn’t be telling you this, but Tamesha’s nasty as hell. I love Quintina, but she’s kinda boring, I need some excitement sometimes.”

“Why don’t you just leave her and be with Tamesha?”

“Shit, Tamesha ain’t the wife type. She’s just the type of chick you can hang out with. Quintina’s the kind of chick you can have babies with and not worry about no baby mama drama.”

“All right, Tez, I hope you know what you’re doing.”

“Hell yeah I know what I’m doing. Did I say anything to you when you moved in with the chick that the whole hood ran through?”

“Man, that’s my baby’s mama. I was raised with both my parents so I owed the same thing to my kid.”

“Whatever, man. Do your thing and I’m gonna do mine.”

In all actuality, I didn’t know why I cheated on a woman that loved me as much as Quintina did. The only way that I could explain this dilemma was that I had a habit; it was like a disease that I couldn’t just get a shot in the ass to cure. It was also something that every man in my family did, even my father. I knew all about the other women and the other children that my father had. I had two sisters my age and a brother Charles’s age, but had never met any of them.

My brother Charles often said, “Always take care of home, bro. Don’t let these chicken heads keep you from doing what you are supposed to do to keep your lady happy”. With that in mind, after every rendezvous’ I had, I treated my baby like a queen whenever she came home. From cooking dinner to having Quintina’s bubble bath ready, I did whatever it took to keep her happy. Even when she suspected I was cheating, she didn't say too much because she couldn’t prove it.

Every time I break ties with Tamesha, I change my number or move to a different part of the city, she always finds me and literally suck me back in. I don’t think I could ever be in a relationship with her but she is one of the greatest lovers I’ve ever had. Quintina has learned a lot over the years, but she and Tamesha are in totally different leagues. Say for instance, Quintina goes down on me because she likes to make me happy. Tamesha does it because she likes to do it. Even when I’m ready for the real deal, I have to wait until she’s had her fill, you know what I’m saying. Tamesha’s just nasty and I can’t help but like it. Tamesha can always find that good dope too, which makes the sex even more intense.

To read more about Cortez see The Unexpected.

The Unexpected

Cortez and I had a joint account for paying bills, but we also had separate accounts that we used to support our habits--his was smoking and video games mine was shopping. I hadn't had the time to shop in quite some time so I had a nice little nest egg. Reluctantly, I withdrew the $3000 to pay SaLynne's debt. I also drew up a promissory note that detailed the payment arrangements and had her to sign it.

"If you don't pay me back, we're going to court," I said to her.

"Girl, I got you."

I wouldn't really sue her but I wanted her to know that she had to be responsible for her own foolish actions. I didn't want to see her fired or put in jail. Hopefully, once everthing was taken care of no one would find out what she had done. I also hoped that I didn't get myself in trouble for covering it up.

Traffic was insane when I got off work. Sleet had fallen at lunch time, so the streets were slick with ice. The news had reported that the city's public works division had actually run out of sand to cover the streets. Now, I wasn't an expert, but I didn't see sand being hard to come by. They could truck it in from Mississippi or one of the other coastal states.

It took me two hours to slide home, which was an hour and thirty minutes longer than usual. Cortez had called a couple of times but I was concentrating on driving and didn't want to pick up the phone while I was on the interstate. I should have just ignored his calls completely like he did when he was out and about, but I called him once I got off at my exit.

"Hey, hun, I'm not too far from home."

"Good, I was worried about you."

"I'm fine. See you when I get home."

I had the hardest time going down Tchulahoma, the two lane street that led to our townhouse. The twists and turns weren't easy to maneuver but I made it home without crashing into a tree or another motorist.

Cortez was lucky enough to be off that Thursday so he was at home, probably sitting in front of the TV. He was a Nintendo 64 junkie. NBA Jam 2000 was the lastest addiction. He, his friend Dillon, his brother Charles and sometimes some other random guy usually played the games from the time they got off work until the wee hours of the morning. They would be screaming and cursing until I walked into the living room and gave them a dirty look. Playtime was usually over by then.

As I had guessed, he was playing the game but Dillon was the only one playing with him.

"Hey baby," Cortez said once I walked in and kissed him on the cheek.

"Hey," I said, walking over to Dillon and pulling one of his locs.

"What's up? I'm good. How you doing?" Dillon asked.

"I've scratched my brains out all day, so I'm going to wash my hair." Both Dillon and Cortez laughed.

When I got to the bedroom, I added my suit to the bag of clothes that needed to go to the cleaners, kicked my heels into a corner in the closet, and shoved my tights and other unmentionables in the hamper. I put on my "around the house" dress that pooled around my ankles if I didn't have the hem up in a knot. I gathered up my shampoo, conditioner, big tooth comb, and towel and headed to the kitchen sink. Going natural had been on my mind for a while but I hadn't totally decided to do it yet. The two inches of new growth was going through creamy crack withdrawals, but I had planned to think about the natural thing for one more month.

Bent over the sink attempting to detangle my semi-naps, I felt a hand run across my butt and lift my dress up.

"Stop freak. Don't you see that I'm busy?"

"I'm busy too," he said rubbing his hand between my thighs.

I straightened up, squeezing water from my hair before turning to face him. "What about Dillon?"

"I put him out."

"Cortez, if you help me with my hair, then I can help you with your problem," I said tapping his extension with my comb.

"Hey, watch that," he said, protecting his crotch.

I loved it when Cortez washed my hair; he was always so gentle yet firm. He turned hair washing into foreplay. I watched him pour conditioner in his hands before I leaned over the sink again. Cortez massaged the cream into my hair and scalp on the left side of my head. He grinded against my butt a couple of times on his way to the work on the other side of my head. He combed through my hair several times to make sure every section of my hair was covered. After about ten minutes, he rinsed my hair and towel dried it. Then he wrapped the towel around my head, grabbed the comb and led me to our bedroom.

"Have a seat," Cortez said.

I sat on the ottoman in front of the chair and he went into the bathroom. He came out with a jar of grease and a scarf. Cortez sat in the chair behind me, his long legs stretched out with me in between. He oiled my scalp and wrapped my hair around my head. By this point, he usually had had his fill of playing in my hair so I was surprised when I glanced in the dresser mirror and saw that he had done a lot better job than I ever had.

"You should do this all the time," I said.

"Why, it ain't my hair."

"Ooo, you so low down."

"I'm just playing. You know I got you. Whenever you want me to, just say the word," he said tying the scarf on my head.

He hugged me from behind and kissed my neck. A spark ran through me when he cupped my breasts and pinched my nipples simultaneously.

"Quintina," he whispered, his lips brushing against my ear.

"Yeah?"

"You ready to mess this hair up?"

Cortez was dead asleep when I woke up. It was almost ten. We had thrown clothes all over the room and I wanted to get the room looking halfway decent before I went back to bed. I walked from one side of the bed to the other to make sure I had gotten everything. I bent down to check under the bed and saw a small wrapper and picked it up. Magnum. Cortez and I hadn't used condoms since high school, so what was really going on?


This is a continuation of "Money Funny".

Money Funny

I was sitting at my desk with my shoes off, wiggling my toes. It had been a long day and a break was very much needed. The reports were off and some of the clients had been calling saying significant sums of money had been coming up missing.

My eyes were fixed on the computer screen when SaLynne walked in. "Hey, Quintina, are you really busy?"

"It can wait a few minutes," I said, moving away from the keyboard. "What's going on? Why are you so dressed up?"

"I've got a hot date. Remember that corner store owner I told you about?"

"The guy from Africa?"

"Yes, girl, he got money and I'm trying to find out if he's willing to share some of it."

I picked up a pen and tapped the end of it on my desk a couple of times. SaLynne was a very smart, ver nice woman but she had gold digger tendencies. I admired her tenacity but there was no way I could blatantly come out and ask some random guy for money. Especially a guy I just met. Something about that sounded a little too hooker-ish to me. Fortunately, I've never found myself in that sort of predicament. My no good husband was good for something, but that's another story.

"So where are you two going?" I asked.

"Girl, I don't know. He just told me to wear something sexy and I did."

"What if he's just taking you to a hotel?"

SaLynne put her hands on her hips, "As long as he drops the money off first I could care less."

I shook my head. "Girl, get your crazy butt out of my office."

After work, I headed straight home. I was hoping that Cortez would be home when I got there but no such luck. There was a note on the fridge that said he was helping his brother move. On a Wednesday? Yeah, whatever. Cortez like leaving notes. I couldn't get him to call or just send a text when he was going to some where. I called his phone to see when he thought he would be finished, but it was turned off. I hated that I always wondered if he was out messing around, but I knew how he was when I married him. I just hoped that he would change. So far, he hadn't.

On Friday, the report from security came. I didn't want to look at it but there was no point in putting it off. The report showed the last employee to access the accounts that had discrepancies. I picked up the phone.

"Can you come to my office?" I said.

"I'm on the way."

SaLynne had a big smile on her face when she walked in. "Hey, girl, what's up?"

I printed the email and handed it to her. She scanned through it. "What does this mean?"

"It means that you have been stealing. Why SaLynne? You could have come to me."

"Girl, I didn't do this."

"SaLynne, that's your access number."

"I don't care. Somebody's trying to set me up," she said staring at the paper.

"SaLynne, you know you could get in trouble for this."

" I said I didn't do it. You mean you don't believe me? I told you this is a set-up."

"Who would set you up?"

"Shit, I don't know. Did you set me up?"

"Why would I do that?" I wondered if she was on drugs.

"Because you're miserable and you want everyone else around you to be sad too." She was referring to my marital problems. That was a low blow, but I knew she was upset so I let it slide.

"SaLynne, $3000 is a lot of money. You could get fired. This is a felony, you could go to jail."

She jumped to her feet and threw the papers in my face. "I told you I didn't fucking do it. But if you don't believe me, you and this job can kiss my ass," she said and then stromed out.

I decided to let my friend calm down and come to her senses. I didn't want to recommend disciplinary action.

Monday morning, SaLynne knocked on my office door. "Since when did you start knocking?" I asked.

"Since I acted a monkey at work and had everyone looking at me crazy when I walked out." I motioned to the chair in front of my desk and she sat. I didn't say any thing, I just let her get her thoughts together. "I had a dream that I was in jail. All of the people that I stole from had hired inmates to beat me up and do all kinds of things to me," she cringed.

"Wow. That's deep."

"Quintina, I'm sorry. Girl, my money funny and I figured it wouldn't hurt anything to skim a little bit off the top. I mean those folks got plenty money. I didn't think they would miss it."

I just shook my head.

"Quintina, I know that wasn't right, but I was desparate. I had to do something. I got an eviction notice on my front door and my car was on the verge of being possessed."

"SaLynne, you make decent money, you don't have any kids, no sick or needy family members, what the heck have you been doing with your money?"

"Going out to eat, shopping."

"You mean you spent your rent and car note on food and clothes?"

"Yeah."

Silence.

"Okay, okay," SaLynne said, "I go to the casino. They send me coupons for free rooms and free food and $40 to play with. Sometimes they give me gifts like woks and electric skillets."

"That's great but how often do you win any money? I'm sure you give them a lot more than they give you."

"Every once in a while I'll hit for $400 to as much $5000."

"And what do you do with the money?"

"Spend it. More gambling. Sometimes I catch up on my bills.

"That's sad. So you've gotten so behind on your bills that now you're jeopardizing your lively hood?"

SaLynne shrugs, "Shit happens. I'll pay it back."

"It's not that simple. There's paperwork to be done and we may have to put you on a two week suspension."

"I need a vacation..."

"Without pay."

"Quin, girl, I need my cheese. You made me feel so bad about my sugar daddy that I broke up with him. I can't pay back $3000 on my own."

I blew out a sigh. I knew I would regret it, but my friend needed me. "I'll fix it."

"How? How can you fix it?"

"Don't worry about it. I'll take care of it."

SaLynne grabbed Quintina and hugged her. "You're the best sister I never had. Thanks sweetie. I'll make it up to you, I promise."

I watched SaLynne bounce out of myoffice. Then I sighed again, shook my head and laid my head on my desk.

--To learn a little more about Quintina, check out "Behind the Scene: Her Leftovers" and "The Unexpected".

Behind the Scene: Her Leftovers

The novel I'm currently working on, Her Leftovers, has been in and out of storage bins in my office since 2001. I've changed the genre of the story twice. The sequence of the events has changed a number of times as well. And finally, after about six titles, I've finally settled on the one that I can live with. The timeline that I created is going to need a major overhaul based on some of the feedback that I've gotten from a couple of my volunteer readers. My best friend even wrote out a whole new storyline, many of the parts I plan to incorporate but others I'll save for the next book. I'm currently at the point where I'm trying to decide if I should tell the story from the viewpoint of Quintina and her husband, Cortez, only or if I should include a few scenes here and there from Tamesha's point of view as well.

Her Leftovers is the story of a young woman, Quintina Mitchell-Robinson, who overcame a rather tough childhood when she lived with her mother as well as easy but strict teenage years under her father's roof. Quintina is kind of a nerd but the people in her life, from her family, to her best friends, to her boyfriend/husband, all have contributed to making her life a lot more entertaining than her comfort zone can handle. The older Quintina gets the more fed up she becomes with the foolishness that goes on around her. Eventually, she stops standing in the background and becomes the leading lady in her own life.

Quintina's struggle to find the perfect man is not an easy path. Every time she thinks she's found the person that she feels she belongs with, she finds out things about them that she is not happy about and knows that she won't be able to deal with.

Cortez Robinson is the type of guy that just doesn't give a ... you know what. He's always in pursuit of temporary pleasures. Drinking, drugs, and chasing women, whatever he feels like doing he does it. He's never been a one woman man and probably never will be. Guys that fall for that okey-doke, in Cortez's opinion, are hen-pecked and he never wants to wear that label.

Tamesha Tate is the woman that always seems to be standing in the way of Quintina's happiness. She believes in doing whatever she feels and really doesn't think about how her actions affect other people. This basically means she's the female version of Cortez. Tamesha is a take charge kind of woman and goes after what she wants even if she decides later on that she didn't really want it in the first place. Sometimes she secretly feels sorry for Quintina but wouldn't dare let on.

I'm going to give myself until October 1st to have a full draft of this story. I'll put it on the back burner during this year's NaNoWriMo and then start editing in December. Then I'll be ready for that long awaited next phase--publishing.

Wish me luck.

Related posts--"Money Funny" & "The Unexpected"