Free Honor Thy Thug by Wahida Clark Page B

and Rick and I were on our way out the front door to go see Kyra when Rick pulled out his cell. His eyes lit up.
    “This is her now! Hey, baby, I’m on my way up there right now, and I’ma bring some visitors.” He hit his speaker-phone button.
    “Well, save your surprise, and come get me out of here. No more visits. The doctor just gave me my discharge papers.”
    Oh, my God, that’s her voice . I know that voice anywhere. It was really her. “Kyra!” I snatched the phone out of Rick’s hand. “Kyra! It’s me, Tasha!” I choked up.
    “Tasha? Tasha!” She started screaming. Then she was quiet, and all I could hear was her crying.
    “Kyra, everything’s going to be all right. We got you. I just need for you to come on home. My home is your home. All you’ve got is love waiting here for you.”
    “I love you guys, too,” she said through sobs. “Tell Rick tocome and get me. God is good, he is so good. Tasha, my daughter. Is . . . ? Where . . .”
    “Kyra, your daughter is here. I told you, we got you.” All I could hear was her crying harder, which made me start crying. Trae took the phone from me and passed it back to Rick. He hugged me as I stood there. I was in shock. Even though Rick told us he had Kyra, I still was skeptical. After all, he was a lying ass cop. Standing there I was in a daze I heard her voice again, this time in my heart. I began to cry uncontrollably. I love my friends, we have been through so much. They are my sisters. And things haven’t been the same since we thought that Kyra was dead.
    “Rick, you go and get Kyra. Tasha and I will get everything here ready for her and talk to Aisha.”
    “No doubt. I’ll call when I’m on my way back.”
    Trae whispered in my ear, “Are you gonna be all right? Or am I gonna have to sedate you?”
    “Oh, so you’ve got jokes.” I wiped my tears. “Baby, you gotta understand, just the sound of her voice after all of this time got me. Hell, the whole situation got me feeling some kind of way. I never dealt with something like this before.”
    “I know, baby, but you need to pull yourself together. You gotta go talk to Aisha.”
    “Why do I have to talk to her? Why can’t we both talk to her?”
    “Because one of us has to get her room ready,” Trae had the nerve to say.
    “Don’t even try it. Let Aunt Marva get the room ready. Let’s both talk to Aisha. I want you with me on this, Trae. I don’t want to say the wrong thing.”
    “Baby, you are making this harder than it has to be. She’s justa child. All you gotta do is tell her that her mother is coming home. Let Kyra tell her everything else.”
    “Fine, then. You do all of the talking, because I don’t think it’s going to be that easy. Let me go and get her. You want to do it in the living room, dining room, or porch?”
    “Tasha!”
    “Okay, okay, fine. I’ll be right back, so wait right here.” Mr. Smart Ass, always has all of the answers, which I was mostly thankful for. I found Aisha out back playing basketball with the boys. She obviously had fallen, because dust was all over her hair, and her clothes were dirty on the left side.
    “Auntie Tasha, watch this!” she yelled out as she threw the ball up and it missed the rim. “Wait. Wait, watch this.”
    “Aisha, come here. Your Uncle Trae wants to talk to you. Marva, can you get the guest room ready? We have a surprise guest on the way. Please?” After I said “please,” the sideways look that she gave me disappeared. I took Aisha up front to see Trae, who was waiting patiently, sitting on the banister on the front porch.
    “Uncle Trae, I can play basketball now.” She beamed. “I got game.”
    “You got game?”
    “Yup. I don’t just got game. I got mad game.”
    “Umph, I gotta check you out for myself,” he teased her. “But listen to this. We just heard from your mother.” He waited for her reaction. Me? I was holding my breath.
    Aisha simply stuffed her hands into her short pockets, her