The Viper and his Majesty by Tiana Laveen
CHAPTER NINETEEN
’Cause this Kind of Shit Happens Every Day…
“Damn. I forgot my phone charger, Viper.”
Keeping his eyes on the road, Viper reached over Majesty’s lap and grabbed a portable charger he kept in his glove compartment. Troy lounged on the backseat, his headphones on, playing a game on his iPad.
“See? You need to relax. It’s cool. I’ve got you covered.” He winked at her and blew her a kiss as she took it from his hands and slid it inside her purse.
“Thank you. I’ve been so forgetful today.” She sighed. “I think I’m excited for Troy. He’s never been before, and this is like a dream come true for him.” She smiled with her eyes, as well as her mouth. They’d just finished eating breakfast at IHOP, bellies full of pancakes, bacon, and eggs, and now back on the road to Disney World. Viper had been when he was younger, just for the hell of it. Once Majesty had told him in casual conversation that Troy had never been, he knew he had to change that right away, so after she took her final exam for school, they planned this weekend trip.
Comfortable in his new tricked out silver Ford Explorer, which he’d bought to transport multiple dogs with ease, they listened to radio tunes and chatted. ‘My Ex’s Best Friend’ by Machine Gun Kelly featuring blackbear was the current selection.
Business was booming, probably due to the social media group he’d started, and the fact that a celebrity rapper had recently utilized his services and bragged about him on Instagram.
“Tengo hambre. Quiero jama,” he mumbled.
“How can you be hungry again after we just ate, Viper? You’re like a human vacuum!”
Viper laughed. “Ahhh, you understood me!” She looked quite proud of herself. “Your Spanish is getting better I see. That’s great.” He switched lanes on the highway.
“You’re like a goat. Constantly munching.”
“I know… I could go for something though. I’ll wait until we get closer, then pull over and make a pitstop.”
They kept going and Troy eventually removed his headphones, fell asleep for a spell, then awoke revived and full of silliness and energy.
“Mama, didn’t Donte say he just got a dog? I wanna dog, too. Viper can get us a dog. Come on, let’s make this happen.” Viper smiled at Troy’s use of words. He was a natural born salesman.
“Troy, I already told you we’re not getting a pet right now. I’m too busy with work, and you’re not responsible. I can’t even trust you to take a bath properly.”
“Awww, Mama! Stop saying stuff like that in front of Viper!”
“Oh, now you want to act embarrassed. Don’t be ashamed. You weren’t ashamed when I saw how black the collar of your shirt was the other day. You gonna have those teachers thinking I bathe you in mud!”
“Viper, don’t believe Mama. I know how to take a bath. You turn on the water, put in the bubbles and get in.”
“You missed the most important part: Washin’ your behind! You act like you’re allergic to soap half the time, Troy.”
“And you act like you’re allergic to bein’ nice to your only son.”
“Troy… Keep on, hear? You’re on thin ice.”
“And didn’t you say that you were allergic to dogs one time? You not allergic to dogs, Mama! You made that up.”
“Boy, I don’t have to lie to you! I’m the parent here. Not you.” Majesty craned her head around so fast to look at her son sitting there in the backseat, it was a miracle she hadn’t given herself whiplash. “I didn’t make it up, and I’m not allergic to the point that I can’t be around them. I’ve been around dogs my whole life, but they make me sneeze a little is all.” He knew Majesty was telling the truth. Her allergies did seem to flare up a bit when she was at his house, but it didn’t prevent her from playing with the dogs.
“So, I can’t have a dog ’cause you allergic?”
“No, you can’t have a dog right now, but that’s not the reason. I already said why, Troy.”
“…Oh yeah… you did. I forgot. I was gonna say, though, Mama, like, ’cause if it was because you was allergic, then you could sleep outside on the porch or somethin’, and me and the dog could be inside. Until it was time for you to come in and cook dinner for us though, or to use the bathroom. We’d let you in for stuff like that.”
Viper burst out laughing, unable to take it anymore. He could feel Majesty’s heated glare upon him, but it did no good. He couldn’t stop.
“Troy, I swear fo’e God!”
“What, Mama?”
“Keep tryna show off in front of Viper by cracking disrespectful jokes, and I’ll have him turn this here car around on account of you being suddenly allergic to Disney World! How’d ya like that?! We’ll see who’s laughing then! It ain’t too late, Troy.” The boy drew suddenly quiet and recoiled in the corner of the seat. “You can just relish the thought of Mickey, little boy, ’cause you sure won’t see him in person!”
“But Mickey isn’t a person, Mama. He’s a mouse…”
“That’s not what that means, and you know it! Viper, turn this shit around!” She was losing it. Viper reached for her arm and then looked back at Troy, giving him the universal expression for, ‘Be quiet before it’s too late!’
“Calm down, Majesty. He’s just—”
“No, I won’t calm down, Dominic. He thinks this is cute. All this money being spent to take him here.” She glared back at Troy. “We’re takin’ your smart-mouthed tail home.”
“No, Mama! I’m sorry!”
“Once we get to the house, you can think about what you’ve done, all while sittin’ on the same porch you wanted me banished to!”
Viper was now shaking with mirth. It didn’t help that neither seemed to understand how very silly it all sounded.
“All right, come on now,” He patted her thigh, but she gave him a look of death, then began to stare out the window. “Let’s just try to have a good time.” Troy was at the age where he was starting to push boundaries. The precarious in-between stage of not being a baby anymore, but nowhere near a teenager.
Every time Majesty and the boy went at each other like this, he’d fall apart with laughter, sometimes even having to excuse himself. Both quick witted and naturally hilarious, he loved how they connected with one another, despite these occasional trivial flare ups. Majesty didn’t want to hear it, but he’d told her more than once that Troy was just like her and that was why they bumped heads. Same personality, different face.
Soon, things settled down, and the smiles and laughter returned.
“Look at that, we’re only about forty minutes away now,” Viper announced, pointing to the GPS. Troy began to bounce up and down excitedly. “Now, the lines are long to pay and park sometimes, so let’s take a quick pit stop to use the restroom. I’m going to get some chips or something, too.”
He turned on his signal to change lanes and get off on the next exit. There was a bit of construction on the highway, slowing things down, but he managed. Suddenly, a police siren came on.
“Shit,” Majesty said under her breath as Viper pulled over to the curb.
“It’s all right. I wasn’t speeding or anything. My license is fine, too.” He glanced back at Troy through the mirror, and for some reason, the boy looked deeply concerned. After a few moments, the officer got out of his car and approached his window.
“Good morning,” Viper said, throwing on the charm. “Is there a problem?”
The cop, a middle-aged White man with a thick salt and pepper mustache, glared at him.
“Yeah. You didn’t use a turn signal. Let me see your license and registration.”
“But he did turn his turn signal on. I heard it,” Troy uttered, his voice a bit shaky.
Majesty’s shoulder slumped as she quietly shushed him.
“Officer, I’m reaching into my pocket to take out my wallet.” Viper calmly did what he said. This is bullshit… He handed his driver’s license, insurance information, and registration to the cop, then the police officer walked back to his car.
“Viper, he lyin’!” Troy’s eyes were filled with tears, glassy like lakes and the dark irises so rich, he could see his reflection in them. The sight broke his damn heart. His mouth was trembling, and he kept playing with the hem of his T-shirt, balling up the cotton in his hand and squeezing it hard as one would a stress ball. “I saw you turn on the signal and I heard it, too! He lyin’! HE LYIN’!” Troy cried his little eyes out.
“Hey, hey, little man… It’s all right.” He smiled at the little boy, forcing himself to appear more chill than he actually felt. He reached back and rubbed Troy’s knee. “He just made a mistake, okay? Everyone makes mistakes. I know I turned on my signal, too, so I’ll just take the ticket then dispute it in court. It’s fine.”
“Troy fears the police, Viper, because of something that happened last year. Too long of a story to get into right now.” Majesty swallowed, then closed her eyes, shaking her head in disbelief. After they’d waited for what seemed like an eternity, another police car pulled up right behind the first.
“Shit.” Majesty gasped, now looking as worried as her son.
“It’s cool. It’s all right,” he reassured, though inside, he knew damn well it wasn’t. He quickly grabbed his phone from the dashboard and hit record. Without having to be asked, Majesty quickly snatched it out of his hand and placed it in her purse just so, out of sight.
The officer returned to the driver’s side window, a smug expression on his face.
“Well, well, well. Mr. Martinez, you’ve got quite the record. Colorful!” He chuckled, as if amused. “A Latin King from Miami. Big, bad boy, huh? You think you’re tough, don’t you?” Viper stared at the man, whose face started to turn red. His voice rose in pitch and his eyes got this crazy look in them. “I can’t stand gangs. You’re like rats! Infesting good cities and neighborhoods, ruining them with your drugs, ghetto behavior and crime.”
“Officer, I already did my time. I’m not going to discuss or answer any questions regarding my past criminal record. I’m not on probation or parole, I pay taxes, and I know my rights. Furthermore, none of this has anything to do with a turn signal.”
The officer rested his hand on his hip, then looked in the back of the car, regarding the child as if he were some animal at a petting farm. He could hear Troy softly sobbing. The man then focused on Majesty for a while, and finally back on him.
“You’ll answer whatever the hell question I tell you to answer. Who are these people in the car with you?” the cop asked.
“They’re here of their own free will, so what does that matter?”
“Did you not hear what the hell I said? I’m asking the questions,” the officer stated sternly. “Now who are these people in your car?”
“My girlfriend and my son.”
The officer looked back at Troy.
“Your son? Doesn’t look like he could be your son. Where you headed to?”
“Disney World.”
“I saw you have a few vehicles registered in your name. A lot of cars, and you live in Boca Raton, huh?”
“Yeah.” Viper let out a loud sigh.
“How long have you lived there?” The cop looked him up and down. “Oh, and uh, what do you do for a living?”
“We’re not going to do this… play this game. I am not driving those cars right now. I’m driving this one. Any other cars I have are my right to own, as is my business. They’re legally mine. I paid for them. My house and the neighborhood I live in, the work I do, the food I ate last night and this morning, the last time I took a nap and all this other mess that you’re bringing up have nothin’ to do with a damn turn signal, sir, that you and I both know I used.” He glared at the cop, hating him more and more with each moment.
There was a time in my life when I would give in to my urges and do something bad in situations like these. Something very bad.
“Are you accusing me of lying? I don’t appreciate being called a liar, Mr. Martinez.”
“Can you please just write my ticket, or whatever it is you’re going to do, so we can be on our way?”
“I don’t like your attitude, Mr. Martinez! I don’t know who you think you’re talking to. Get out of the car. NOW.”
Viper’s jaw tightened, and his body wanted to act in a way his mind knew better than to entertain. The other officer came to stand next to the first cop, shoulder to shoulder. He studied both of their badges, memorized their names, then raised one hand.
“I’m getting out of the car.”
He moved slow and easy, opening the door with his other hand. All he could hear was the sounds of cars driving past, and Troy crying. His sadness for Troy turned to pure loathing for the officers. An emotion that made his muscles jump and his fingers twitch. As soon as he placed both feet on the ground, one of the officers grabbed him by his shirt and slammed him against the side of the vehicle. He stood there, staring at Majesty through the window. Quiet tears streamed down her cheeks as they handcuffed him, then shoved him, hit him and roughed him up, patting him down and kicking his ankles farther apart. He smiled and winked at her.
For he’d been through this countless times.
Sometimes it had been warranted, but most of the time it was not.
There was no weed, open flasks, or drugs in the car. Besides, he would never put Majesty and Troy in a position like that. The only thing of an alarming nature in that vehicle was the sheer love he felt for the two people sitting within it. The cops went on to rattle off various questions that were none of their fucking business, all while grilling him about how he could possibly afford to live where he lived without doing something illegal. They didn’t believe he could be who he was, and not only live, but thrive. After the rough and hostile searching of his body, they removed the handcuffs they’d put on him; he could feel the sting of where the skin was rubbed raw. He was then told to get back in his car, and not move a muscle.
“Mr. Martinez, I’m giving you a ticket for an illegal lane change in a construction zone on the highway, not keeping a safe distance, as well as no use of a turn signal,” the cop spat, clearly irritated that he hadn’t found anything incriminating on him. “Sit tight.”
Both officers walked away, their walkie talkies buzzing, and talked for a while.
Majesty’s chest was rising and falling, but her tears had stopped. She simply looked straight ahead, her complexion red, her soul screaming for him.
“I’m not crying because I’m sad. I’m cryin’ because I’m mad!” Her lower lip trembled, then she bowed her head.
“It’s cool, baby.” He lay back in the seat. “This is just how it is. This is what’s going on in this country. What I’ve seen my entire life. I saw my father, my friends, my step-father, one time even my mother get done this way.” He shrugged. “They try to provoke you so you can do something that will get you arrested. They wanted me to start trying to fight back so they could charge me with something else that would land me in jail. I knew not to fall for it, but I wasn’t going to let them punk me, either. Sad that I’m used to it now.”
“We say our lives matter, and they retort with, ‘Blue Lives Matter,’ and ‘White Lives Matter,’ but swear up and down they ain’t racist. We say, ‘Stop profiling me because I’m Black or Brown;’ they say, ‘Comply, do as you’re told, and nothing bad will happen.’ But bad things happen in those cases, too, and they still blame us. They blame a victim because he’s Black, but the White people are told they’re just passionate or loyalists, while we get told we’re ghetto and hoodlums. They want to keep us in our place, to have us remember who’s on top. I deal with the same shit at my job. It’s politics over and over again. Been dealin’ with this shit since ‘We Shall Overcome,’ Martin Luther King Jr., but we ain’t overcome, Viper. We still marchin’ but haven’t gotten anywhere. Just going in circles, sometimes going in reverse, and ending up exactly where we started. We get called looters, they get called patriots! I’m sick of this shit, Viper! I’m tired!” He reached over and rubbed her back. As they waited, he looked back in the mirror at Troy. The boy had stopped crying. In fact, he looked detached. Numb.
“Troy. Mr. T!” Viper called out with a smile.
Troy looked up, those big, sleepy eyes of his focused on the rearview mirror as they eyed one another. Looking through him.
“It’s okay. I’m okay.”
“Viper, Troy saw a family friend get shot by a cop. She had called the police because there was a fight going on where we lived. It was in the middle of the street. I got Troy in the apartment; he’d been out playing in the front with a couple other little kids while I watched from the patio. The police came and Sheryl, our family friend, came out to talk to them, to get them to stop, and a cop thought she had a gun and shot her dead. It was her phone… She was going to show them the video she took of how the fight started so they could arrest the right person.” Majesty wiped a tear from her face.
“My baby saw all of that. It happened so fast. For the longest, when he’d see a police officer, he’d start crying right away. They got the whole ‘Black Lives Matter’ organization for us, but they pick ’nd choose who’s important. Her case didn’t even make it even to the evening news. Black women get ignored more times than not. We’re invisible. Cop came up to Troy’s school to talk to the kids about stranger danger, and Troy was in there cryin’… I had to come get him.”
Viper’s gaze drifted to the little one again. He had his head down, and was fiddling around on his iPad. Yet, he could tell he’d heard everything his mother had shared.
“Mr. T., look at me.” Troy did as told. “The best way for us to deal with what just happened is to still have fun, okay?” The boy nodded but appeared to be just going through the motions. “Some people want to ruin a good time. We won’t let ’em. We won’t let that cop ruin our trip, will we, Troy?”
“No. We won’t let him ruin it.” His voice cracked as he spoke.
“Keep your head up. We’re going to Disney World. The best place on Earth.” Viper laughed. “We’re staying at an amazing hotel! Our room is on the 20th floor, and it’s a suite, and you’ll have your own bed and your own bathroom, too.”
“I get my own hotel room?” The boy perked up.
“We share the kitchen, and there’s a living room and two bedrooms. One of them is all yours and it has a television and everything. We’ll be able to see each other if we keep our doors open inside the suite, but yeah, it’s your own room and there’s a pool in the hotel, too. You can swim all night when we leave the park.”
“I get to go swimming?!” He smiled big now, lighting up. Even Majesty managed to smile at Troy’s reaction.
“Yeah, you can swim in the indoor pool. You can eat all you want at the buffet, too, and play all kinds of fun games, see amazing shows, Star Wars, all that stuff.”
“Mama don’t like rollercoasters, though. She won’t ride them with me and some of them you have to have an adult with you. Will you ride them with me, Viper?”
“Hell, yeah! Your mama is a scaredy cat about heights, but you and me are like the A Team, Mr. T!” Majesty shook her head and laughed. “And you can ride what you want Troy, as long as your short ass meets the height requirements, okay?” He grinned.
“Yes!” Troy was giggling hard now.
Soon, the officer was back with the ticket, his license and paperwork. Viper took the items and waited for the cop to finish his spiel about him staying out of trouble and walk off. None of them moved or said a word for the longest. Majesty was calmer now, though clearly still unnerved. She pulled out his phone, hit SAVE, then handed it back to him.
“I got the whole thing on video. I even had my phone going too in case they asked to take yours. They brought up your record, Viper, and the one guy let it slip that they hadn’t pulled you over for the damn turn signal, then tried to clean it up and backtrack. This is racial discrimination. We’re fighting this… Do you hear me? We’re going to court, Viper.” She tightened her seatbelt around her frame.
“Aye, Majesty, it ain’t that serious, baby.” He sighed as he took his phone, then placed it on the dashboard and turned the GPS back on.
“What? Are you crazy? Of course it is!”
“Majesty, we’re in their world. That’s why in part men like me created our own world. To survive the shit they do to us. Yes, I’m angry, but since this has happened so much to me, it’s expected at this point. Because of who I am, this is what they do… They don’t want a guy like me to have shit. Do you know how many times in my life people have assumed I’m illegal, or are shocked that I was born here? I’ve had people ask me why I don’t have an accent, and sometimes when I’m mistaken for White, they say racist shit to me about other people. It’s crazy.” He reached for his seatbelt and put it on. “According to them, I’m supposed to suffer and see myself as inferior.”
He pulled away from the curb and merged into traffic. “I’m supposed to grovel, beg and plead. But I refuse. I’d rather die. I knew my rights, Majesty, and I knew if they tried to arrest me or search my car without probable cause, I would fight that, and need proof to show what really happened.” Not that that even matters much in today’s world. You can have a full, clear video of a murder, and the courts will still take the murderer’s side if he has a badge.
“Well,” Majesty said after a brief silence, “I hear what you’re saying, but that still doesn’t make it okay to sweep under the rug. That’s what officers like that are banking on. For you to keep quiet and just be glad they didn’t do you worse than they did. They’re making our lives hard, so we need to do the same to them, until something changes. Sittin’ back and doing nothing isn’t an option.”
He shot her a look, then took her hand in his.
“Who said I was going to do nothing?”
And then he headed on to Disney World, bypassing the pitstop, wishing nothing more than to put a smile on Troy’s face as soon as possible…