Grizz
1990, Prison, North Florida
“Are you going to just stare at me, or are you going to stand up and at least give me a hug?”
By now, Grizz had sat up on his bed and just stared at the extremely thin brunette.
“Didn’t recognize you, Chicky. You don’t look like yourself.” He stood, and after a long hug, he stepped back and held her at arm’s length, giving her a once-over. “You’ve changed your look since the trial.”
With a half smirk plastered on her face she looked him up and down. “So did you.”
He instantly ran his hand over his shaved head and grabbed at his beard.
“I was going to suggest you let me trim up that rat’s nest you have hanging from your chin, but I guess you probably don’t get to play with scissors in here.”
She paused then and looked around the cell. There was the standard toilet and sink, but that was all that was standard. The sink had a mirror over it, and she noticed razors on a small shelf. The bed was not prison issue. It was a twin-sized bed, but the mattress was thick. An overstuffed chair sat in the corner with a reading light behind it. A small shelf held a microwave. A microwave? And she wasn’t sure, but she could’ve sworn she smelled blood.
“Looks like you have everything you could need in here. Why am I not shocked?” She shook her head as she smiled and looked down. She was standing on a braided rug. “I’m surprised you don’t have the fancy chess set Kit bought you all those years ago. I guess she still has it.”
“It’s in an office I have use of.”
“Of course, it is.” She laughed.
He gave her a wide smile then. “Have a game going on with one of the guards. I win, I get even more privileges. He wins, I make sure he gets something for it.”
“Looks like you’ve been winning a lot,” she said as she took another glance around the cell. “And besides, since when do you have to win a chess game to get what you want?”
“I don’t. But the games keep it interesting.”
He motioned her to the only chair and sat on the end of the bed to face her. The cell was small, and their knees almost touched.
“Tell me what you’ve been up to? How has life been treating you since the trial?”
Chicky then told him in great detail about the last few years. How she’d tried to make a go of it with Fess, but it hadn’t worked out. She’d found herself heading a little north and settling in a small town in South Carolina. She’d met an older man who owned his own bar.
“My topless days were over, but I’d picked up just enough on how to make a bar successful.” She paused then and motioned to her chest, giggled. “Without the titties. Anyway, Ed’s an old geezer, but he’s my old geezer, and I love him. We just got married. I have to give him credit, you know, marrying me without really knowing how much time I have left.”
The realization of what she was telling him slowly dawned, and she answered his unspoken question.
“Cancer. It’s still early, and the doctors have told me I can fight it with treatment, but not to get too hopeful. Lost all my hair and decided I’d give life a shot as a brunette. What do you think?” She motioned to her brown hair, which Grizz suddenly realized was a wig.
Grizz wasn’t one to get emotional, but something about seeing Chicky not looking like herself caused a lump to form in his throat. That, along with hearing Kit had given birth to a son that should’ve been his, combined to jolt him. He stood quickly and turned his back to her. His voice came out raspy when he finally answered her question.
“Beautiful. You’ve always been beautiful, Chicky.”
“I wish all that emotion I can hear in your voice was for me, but I know it’s not.” Her voice was quiet.
He turned back quickly to her then, and she stood and took both of his hands in her own.
“I heard,” she said. “I still keep in touch with some people, you know? I heard yesterday that she was in labor, and I took the first flight down to see you. I’m sorry I hadn’t done it before, but something in my gut told me you might need a friend.”
He didn’t know what to say so he didn’t say anything. With her hands still clasping his own tightly, he sat back down on his bed and closed his eyes. Chicky took her seat and waited until he made eye contact with her.
“I ain’t never seen a man that loves a woman the way you love her. Ever. Why didn’t you just take life without parole, Grizz? She would’ve accepted that, you know. She would’ve brought that baby girl here to see her daddy, and don’t tell me with all of your clout that you couldn’t have had as many conjugal visits as you wanted. She could’ve still been yours.”
He could never tell Chicky the real reason he didn’t accept life without parole. He was counting on the death penalty as a bargaining chip. But it wasn’t working.
“This isn’t the kind of life I want for her or my daughter,” he told her gruffly, pulling his hands away.
He stood and walked to the sink. He turned it on and started to splash cold water on his face.
“And I know what you were doing before I walked in here,” she said. “I know you have a prostitution ring and can have access to as many women as you want. That’s probably why the guard let me in here. But something tells me you don’t. You’re still in love with her. You’re still loyal to her.”
He ignored her last comment and reached for a towel.
“And you pushed for the death penalty because you’re too fucking prideful to rot in a prison cell for the rest of your life. You always were an egotistical ass, Grizz.”
He was drying his face when he stopped and turned around to look at her.
“Yeah, I guess I am,” he answered with a grin.
She didn’t know if he was answering the charge that he was still in love with and loyal to Kit or acknowledging that he was an ass. Either way, Chicky’s comment had sliced through the tension, and they both laughed as they realized that she would’ve never spoken to him like that in years past. But it was okay now, and she was right—about all of it. Chicky was his friend. And he needed a friend.
“I bet she’s a great mother,” Grizz said quietly.
“Oh, honey, I’m sure she is the best mother. If you can take one thing off your worry plate, if you even have a worry plate, I’m sure it can be any doubt about Kit’s love and devotion as a momma.”
He nodded and smiled. Neither would say what they both were thinking. That Grunt would be an excellent father, as well. Grunt had run as far away as he could from that life, ensuring his education at a young age. If Grizz had done anything right in his life, it was rescuing his son from the misery he’d been living in with Candy’s sister, Karen. If he wasn’t so fucked up in the head over Kit and Grunt having a baby together, he might even have let himself be proud of his son.
Sensing the conversation might go somewhere neither one of them wanted, she added, “You remember how sick she was that first time she got pregnant? Poor thing couldn’t keep water down and wouldn’t let you take her to the doctor for medicine. That alone told me how dedicated she was.” Chicky smiled warmly at him.
He returned her smile. “Yeah, she was so fucking sick with that baby. But you’re right, she wouldn’t even go to the doctor. Said she wasn’t going to put drugs in her body because it might hurt the baby.”
“She wouldn’t even use the herbs Grunt gave her,” Chicky said. “And they were all natural. She just needed to add them to her tea and they were supposed to help.”
“I don’t remember Grunt giving her any herbs.”
“She probably never told you about them because she never took them. Grunt told me he’d gotten them from Sarah Jo. Her college roommate had made a little concoction that was supposed to help Kit keep some food in her stomach. Anyway, it didn’t matter. I caught Kit throwing them away, and she begged me not to tell Grunt. She didn’t want to hurt his feelings.”
“Yeah, that sounds like Kit.” The memories of the Kit he’d been so in love with, was still in love with, warmed his heart, and he realized he was grateful Chicky had come to see him. Maybe she would be able to visit him in the future. Or maybe not.
“Chicky, are you getting the right kind of medical help? You have everything you need?”
“We have good insurance, Grizz. I can’t think of anything they won’t pay for. Well, I have been told about some experimental drugs that are being used in trials, but those are out of the country. That would definitely be something not in our budget. But I’m okay. I’m confident I’m getting the best care I can.”
“If you had the money, would you go for the trials?”
“Of course, I would. I’ve been told I’m going to die from this cancer, and the chemo and radiation can only help for so long. It’s inevitable. So yeah, I’d go for the trials. What’s the worst that could happen? It’s gonna kill me?” She laughed then and waved her hand in the air in typical Chicky fashion. “We all gotta die some time.” She flinched at her words. “I’m sorry, Grizz. I didn’t mean that like it sounded.”
“It’s fine, Chicky. I didn’t take it that way. Before you leave today, write down all your banking information for me. Okay?”
She cocked her head and smiled, giving him a nod. He then made another request that surprised her.
“And if you ever have some free time and aren’t feeling too bad, do you think you can keep coming to see me? You know, just to talk?”
Before she could answer him, he quickly added, “I’ll pay all your travel expenses, of course.”
“Awww, Grizz, honey. I’d be glad to come back and see you. Now, will you do something for me?”
He nodded slightly.
“Tell me why this fucking cell of yours smells like blood.”