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Chapter Eleven

SEVYN ‘LAW’ CRAWFORD

“If she starts that crazy mess, pops, Ima just wait out in the lobby. She be tripping,” Creed, my son said to me.

We’d just checked into the facility where my mom was.

It was a quick process because me and the boys were already in the system.

Because we’ve been here so much over the years, especially me, they knew us, so the check-in process never went over a minute.

Work had me busy, and I’d just gotten back earlier in the week from Washington.

I made it my business to come down here and see my mama today.

Last night, and this morning, when I prayed, talking to God, I asked Him to allow my mama to be in a good mood this morning.

You never knew which version of her you were going to get, and that’s the shit that would worry me whenever I would come down here.

It didn’t matter the version that I got though because she was still my mama at the end of the day, and I would continue to make this ride, and sit with her as a son was supposed to.

“And that’s cool. I won’t push you past your limits. I know this shit is hard enough already. Pick your pants up, man. I get so fuckin tired of telling you that shit every time I see you,” I shot, picking my hand up, and hitting this nigga on the back of his head.

Like shit was a game, he laughed and pulled up his sagging True Religion jeans. Nothing bothered me more than to see a nigga sagging his jeans, especially to see my son doing it.

We walked past the nursing station, where a few of the nurses were, and they spoke to each of us.

Now, here we were, standing in front of my mama’s room, and I sighed, praying to God that she was in a good mood today.

I pushed the door open, and I walked in first, while the boys came on in behind me.

I could hear the TV in the room playing, but the volume was low.

I walked a little more, and eventually, my eyes landed on her.

She heard us walking in, and at this point, she could see us.

She was sitting down in a chair that was right by her bed, with a top in her hand that she was folding.

There was a pile of clothes that were on the bed, and that’s the clothes that she was folding.

My mama had OCD, and with that, she was repetitive in her behavior and just loved the need to be in control.

That shirt that she was holding, I had been standing here for almost ten seconds already, and I’d already witnesses her folding it properly, only for her to unfold it, and then fold it again.

The pile of clothes that she had on the bed, it would take her a couple of hours to fold it because for her, everything had to be perfect, and then when it was perfect, she would only want to do it again.

It kept her busy though. Busy, quite, and out of trouble.

Like she didn’t even see the three of us standing here, she went back to folding the shirt.

“Man, that shirt folded perfectly already. Put it down on the bed, and fold something else,” I fucked with her, just like I did any other time that I would come down here.

I didn’t treat my mama like she was different.

I communicated with her like she was just another human being because with all the diagnoses, and even with her having to live in this facility, I didn’t see her as that.

I saw her as ‘mama’. I saw her as the woman that carried me for nine months.

I would come down here, fucking with her, getting on her nerves, but I did that shit out of love.

This woman was my entire heart, and I needed her to know that.

She didn’t respond back to me, but I wasn’t surprised because when I start fuckin with her, getting on her nerves, she wouldn’t pay me any attention.

I moved out of the way, so that the boys could go to her, and give her a hug. Legend went first.

“Hey grandma,” he said, leaning over, wrapping an arm around her, and then he kissed her on the cheek.

She didn’t use her hands to hug him back, but she rarely did that.

Even with her moods, and everything else, I knew that she loved me, and the boys.

My mama wasn’t affectionate, and one of the things that the nurses and the staff here would tell me is that she hated when people touched her.

She would start wilding. Whenever me and the boys went to hug her, and kiss her, she tried to act all tough, but you could tell that she loved that shit.

The fact that she wouldn’t start wilding on us just reminded me that she didn’t mind when we would do it.

Legend pulled away from her, and Creed went next.

Creed was hesitant though. Creed was my boy that tried to act all hard, and gangsta, but I genuinely believed that coming down here and seeing his grandma like this would scare the shit out of him.

I didn’t push them past their limits with this, so there were times when I would let the two of them know that they didn’t have to take this ride with me, but they would still come.

I think because of the love that they had for me, and the love that they knew I had for my mama, that’s why they would come and support.

“What’s up grandma?” Creed asked, right before he leaned in, and he kissed her cheek, just like his brother had done.

He pulled away, and there was a couch over in the corner, and that’s where him, and Legend sat down.

I chose to stand. As I was standing, I looked down at her.

Despite her circumstances, my mama was still a very beautiful woman.

She was sixty years old, but because of the stress from life, and a lot of the depression she lived with, you could see the effects of that on her face.

It had aged her a little bit, but she was still beautiful to me.

My mama had brown skin, and she’s always had long hair.

The staff here would make sure that she was always looking the part, so her hair would always be brushed into a ponytail.

She was small though; like really tiny. She was probably five feet even.

The staff would have to be in this bitch damn near forcing her to eat, too.

“You see Creed, right there? Him and his teammates won the state championship last weekend. Them boys had an amazing season this year,” I let her know, bragging on my boys.

By this point, she’d finished folding that shirt, and had picked up a pair of leggings, and she was working on this being her third time that she’d unfolded them, and she was back to folding it back up again.

“Then, Legend over there, him, and his friends are working on building a robot. You got some cool ass grandsons,” I let her know.

“Show me pictures,” she responded, and hearing her voice, that shit made me smile. My mama talked. She was just stubborn as fuck, so she would have her days, where she wouldn’t say a thing. I damn near broke my hand, going into my pocket, pulling out my phone, so that I could show her pictures.

I went to my photo album, and scrolled up, going to last week’s game. Although I wasn’t there to attend, Legend had sent the pictures to my phone from the game. There were pictures, and videos.

I came a little closer to her, and I had to bend down a little bit, so that she could see everything. After showing her everything with Creed on the field, that’s when I maneuvered over, and I showed her all the behind-the-scenes stuff that I had of Legend.

“Good job, boys,” that was probably the nicest shit I heard her ass say in a long time.

My hand swiped again, and this time, it was a picture of Dutch.

He went fishing the other day, and he sent a picture to my phone of him catching a big ass Tarpon on his fishing trip.

Dutch was a street nigga, selling dope, but that man loved fishing.

As a little boy, he took me fishing, and everything I knew about fishing had been taught to me from him.

That was an activity that I’d passed down to my boys.

I would take my boys fishing all the time, and I loved that it was something that the three of us loved to do together.

Dutch was all smiles on this picture, as he was holding that big ass, silvery fish in his hands.

That was probably the biggest fish that he’s ever caught before.

I didn’t mean to swipe to that picture though.

I was just trying to update my mama on new shit of the boys.

She caught it though, and when she did, she grabbed at my wrist, and she looked at me with a serious look in her eyes.

The leggings that she had been folding, she dropped them down to her lap, and there was so much power in that grip that she had on my wrist.

“Watch him,” she replied. I laughed at her, while shaking my head.

“Why you always telling me that? You been telling me to watch after that nigga since I was a kid,” I responded, and she let my wrist go.

“And every time that I’ve said it, I meant it,” her words held some seriousness to it.