This was her life and had been for almost four years. Unlike most twenty-two year olds, Rose spent most of her days in school majoring in Biology, then late nights working at the diner to make ends meet.She had two more semesters before her graduation, which only meant eight more years of residency since her sights were set on medical school.
She didn’t grow up with much, but she was smart, disciplined, and had a lot of love being raised single handedly by her father. The neighborhood call him Mr. Eddie or Mr. E. He’d been raising her on his own since she was the with tender age of eight and it hadn’t been easy. Mr. Eddie was a prideful man, pride making him turn down handouts no matter who offered them—the church, the food stamp office, even the single woman who would take in another mouth to feed just to f#ck him.
Rose remembered those nights, dark nights with no lights on as they sat with a candle or two, eating crackers, bologna and cheese while he told jokes. If Mr. Eddie was known for anything else besides fixing cars and making pretty babies like Rose, he was good at making people laugh. Oh, and running off women. There was only woman one he loved and God took her from him. He vowed he’d never love another woman like her and he never did.
His strong will led to Rose most days, wearing lop-sided ponytails with crooked parts. Still, Rose was the cutest thing he’d ever seen, and she didn’t care what her hair looked like as long as she had her father’s love.
She decided she might as well get the lecture over with, calling and walking up her father. He’d fussed, but he was retired now. A retired mechanic who probably could have fixed her car weeks ago. But it was just like Rose to procrastinate, sniffling as she dropped her head on the steering wheel. All she wanted was her daddy and to cry. That’s it.
Hearing his tap on her window again, made Rose lose it, wishing she was big enough and strong enough to kick his ass. Too bad she wasn’t, so she opted for sending him on his way as nicely as she could.
Wiping the window, their eyes met and she backed up, feeling his eyes practically pierce her to the core. What the hell? Rose wasn’t sure what had happened, but whatever it was scared the shit out of her. She reasoned it was fatigue, taking a deep breath as she composed herself.
“Can you just go now! Please and thank you!” she yelled at him. He looked at her, tilting his head as her voice cracked, her eyes now pooling with tears. She turned again, crossing her arms as she refused to look at him.
It didn’t matter though. He saw her tears, heard the distress in her voice and felt it too. He felt it all and once he did, he knew he couldn’t leave. They were connected. Just as stubborn as she was, he tried again, this time tapping even harder.
“Oh God. Why does he keep doing that?” She closed her eyes, quickly wiping her tears with the back of her hand, then silently praying he’d just go away. That prayer, however, must have bypassed God as she looked to her left and he was still right there.
“Look, call anyone!” he yelled, pulling out his cell. “Give them my name. It’s Diesel, by the way.”
After he slipped his cell back in his pocket, he lifted both arms, placing them on top of the car. He was relaxed as if it were ninety degrees outside with the sun blazing down even though the rain was forcefully beating his back.
“Too bad I’m not leaving,” he told, as she furiously wiped the glass to tell him to kiss her ass, but the truth was she did need help.
Mr. Eddie wasn’t in the best shape either and she hated waking him up. He had the usual ailments that plagued black people—high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes. And if Rose were honest, he was probably knocked out in front of the box TV he refused to replace watching his favorite TV show, Sanford and Son.
Torn and tired, Rose sighed then asked, “What do you need me to do?”
Then the mystery man she now knew as Diesel smiled. When he did, it was as if the sky opened up, revealing an iced out grill covering perfectly aligned teeth. She saw a hint of light flash in his eyes, then he stopped smiling as he cleared his throat.
Who the f#ck is he?
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