Free One Dead Lawyer by Tony Lindsay

days or three years, if we together, we should look good together.
    â€œA couple makes a statement. If a woman is sharp and a brother is raggedy, what kind of message are they giving to the world? If two people are together they both supposed to be looking prosperous. If you got a black diamond mink, I want one too, and vice-versa. Couples make me mad not matching. We together, D, so our level of dress is going to be together. You’re a sharp brother, and if I’m going to walk by your side I have to be proper.” She leaned in and kissed me on my cheek, “Isn’t that right?”
    â€œYou got it right, baby, and thanks too for helping me with this lawyer business. I mean the referral and all.”
    â€œYou don’t have to thank me for this. You are helping me save my son, it’s only right that I help you save yours. We are together, D, at least in this. You and I against the odds, and I got to tell you it feels good having a strong back against mine, even if it is for only a short time.” Her hand slid over my thigh to my lap. “Really good.”
    Daphne was putting the full-court press on a brother with all that togetherness talk, but I didn’t mind. After the escapade with Regina, it felt good to be wanted. And being wanted by a smart, good-looking younger woman was a definite ego booster. I sat a little taller behind the wheel of my Caddy.
    If Daphne and I were to kick it, the only stumbling block I saw was that hardheaded boy of hers. He would require patience. I looked over at Daphne’s pretty, freshly made-up face and felt the cool confident demeanor she exuded, and then I thought about how tight, hot and wet her stuff was, and it didn’t take me a second to decide that being bothered with the boy would be worth it. After all, I’d volunteered with kids. I had experience with today’s youth. The kid wouldn’t have been that bad. Stanley was like most teenagers; they want their opinions heard and valued.
    â€œWhat were you and Stanley talking about out in the back yard?” Daphne had pulled her cell phone from her purse and was going though the menu.
    â€œThe deal he and I made last night involved him working for my help. I’m planning on expanding my vegetable garden next season. To do that, I need an area of grass cleared and dug up. I was showing him where to dig.”
    â€œAnd he agreed?” She sounded surprised. Her ears were listening to me, but her eyes were checking her text messages.
    â€œYep, he’s going to expand my garden a bit, wash the first-floor windows and clean my grandmother’s silverware.”
    â€œWell. You are going to have to tell me the exact words you used, because I have never got that much work out of him.” She put the phone to her ear and began checking her voice mail.
    â€œYour son is a challenge for you, huh?”
    â€œD, challenge isn’t the word. Please believe.” She flipped the phone closed. The warm smile fled from her face when she spoke of her son. She wasn’t angry, but her mood instantly became serious. “Stanley can take me there so quick. I have to pray to stop from killing him. I hear people say ‘you spare the rod you spoil the child.’ Lord knows I have beat my son, beat his ass good, but he still takes me there. It’s almost as if he is trying to make me accept his nonsense. As if he’s going to do what he wants to regardless of what I say.
    â€œI swear if I didn’t think military schools were full of racist, domineering, child-molesting bastards I would have sent him to one. I thought of sending him to be disciplined by his supposedly gay daddy, but that has never been a real option.” She sucked her teeth and wiped nonexistent lint from her short skirt. “I suspect Stanley is entering the stage where he is changing from boy to man. That’s why he thinks I’m stupid. A lot of men think women are stupid.”
    Her eyes