Free The Grind Don't Stop by L. E. Newell

Dobbs’ yellow house and felt bad for not dropping by to visit the only woman other than her beloved nana that guided her along the right path during puberty. In the back of her mind she also wasn’t ready for the possibility that Rainbow would be there. It would only add to the frustrating lust she felt for Sparkle.
    She parked in front of the red brick house and got out of the car. She looked up and down the street reminiscing about all the good times she’d had chasing behind her three amigos, knowing that whenever she was around them, a new adventure was about to unfold. They were always into something or the other. Those niggas were crazy as all out but a good time was guaranteed nearly every time she hung out with them.
    She started up the steps and froze when her eyes met those of her nana standing at the screen door. Her heart fluttered as it always had at the Lena Horne look-alike, when Christine Johnson flashed those pearlie whites on her. The eighty-two-year-old woman still had her original teeth and nary a wrinkle nor age spot on her still beautiful face. She was wringing her hands with a dishrag.
    â€œCJ,” as all the few friends still alive called her, pushed the door open and held her arms out wide to embrace her one and only grandchild. It was an embrace with a warmth that only two women who’d seen it all could feel.
    â€œCJ,” teary-eyed, held Bevy at arm’s length. “Child, why are you so troubled? I can feel your anguish in my heart.”
    Beverly blinked and narrowed her eyes, amazed at how this woman could always sense what she was feeling without a word being passed between them. She took a deep breath, looked into those teary eyes, eyes that were identical to her own. “Mama, my boys are in trouble again and my hands are tied. I can’t help them.”
    â€œCJ” grabbed her granddaughter’s wrist and led her to the flowery print sofa. She grasped her shoulders to ease her down as they sat beside each other.
    With a honey-coated voice that transcended all the years of Beverly’s life, she said, “Girl, we both know that I ain’t got that many years left on this earth. In all of my wildest dreams, all I want to see is for you to be happy above everything else. And you know something?”
    Beverly blinked. “What?”
    â€œGirl, I can see in your eyes that that boy Larry done come back into your life, ain’t he?”
    Beverly blinked again. How could she possibly know that?
    â€œLet me finish, girl, before you go to looking all crazy and stuff. You my baby; I always know when something’s bothering you. Wrong with ya, whatever. Shocking, huh! Shouldn’t be. I’ve been feeling your woes since you was a little bitty thing, girl.”
    All Beverly could do was shake her head and sigh. She had to say something. “You know what, nana? I’ve neva been able to figure out how you do this but you hit it straight on the head. Larry, we all call him Sparkle now, has just gotten out of prison.”
    â€œUh-huh,” she moaned. “And?”
    Beverly sat back and wiped her brow. “And I don’t know what to do about it.”
    â€œGirl, that police chief thang got you all confused, ain’t it?”
    â€œYes, ma’am.”
    â€œCJ” looked at her under-eyed and sniffled. She started rubbing the back of her ear and cranked her neck from side to side, smiling when the crackling sensation eased some of the tension. “Let me tell ya something. Hmm, let me see how I should put this. Oh yeah, I ain’t about to tell you not to serve and protect the folk in Atlanta. Heck, this my home, too. But I am gonna tell you not to turn against the people that luv ya, that has always luvved ya. And I ain’t neva told you this here before, but those boys are the reason you wearing that badge you so proud of. Ain’t a doubt in my mind that either one of them would gladly give up their life