Endangered Read Free

how to please their men with the latest fragrances, gadgets, and sexual overtures.
    The woman across from Janae sat on the edge of her seat. Tears mixed with black mascara on her face gave her the appearance of a child having finger painted on her dark skin. She ripped paper over and over again into tiny pieces as though she was making confetti for a party. Bits of paper spilled over her hand to the floor, forming a small pile at her feet. The mother next to Janae sat perfectly still with her eyes closed. Her hands were folded in her lap, and her head slightly bowed. Her mouth moved rapidly but no words came out.
    Janae tired of the TV quickly, and she had already skimmed through the three magazines in the waiting area. Every once in a while the gray door would open and another mother would be allowed to pass through to see her child. She grew more anxious when two women who came in after her made it to the other side of the door.
    After nearly two hours, her heart was in her throat. She gripped the chair handles, trying to stuff the panic back down inside of her. When she pulled herself together, Janae walked up to the counter.
    Eboni Jenkins was flipping through a magazine. Janae tapped on the glass and the woman looked up at her as though she had never seen her before. “Am I going to get to see my son today?” Janae’s voice cracked with pain. “I need to see him. Please.”
    â€œWhat’s his name, again?” the woman said with her fingers hovering over the keyboard ready to type the requested information. “Gimme the last name.”
    Frustration and anger welled up inside of Janae on top of the fear. How could she protect Malik if she couldn’t even manage to see him? “His name?” A flood of tears escaped from her eyes, and her body bowled over as if there was a foot in her back stomping her down.
    Eboni Jenkins’s suspended fingers slowly balled at her keyboard. She stood up and looked at Janae. She took in a deep breath, leaned over to her coworker’s desk, and pulled a tissue from a box. She slid it through the opening in the glass window. “Here, take this.”
    Janae managed to stand straight. Their eyes met briefly. “Thank you,” Janae said. She used the tissue to dry as much of her face as she could. But the tears would not stop flowing. “I’m sorry,” she said folding the tissue in order to dab at her eyes some more.
    â€œGirl, puleeze , you’re not the first mom to cry here, won’t be the last either. Don’t worry about it.” Eboni’s eyes softened and her lips curled into a faint smile. She handed Janae a fresh tissue. “What’s your boy’s name, again? Maybe we can find out something.”
    â€œIt’s Malik Williams.”
    The woman typed the name into the computer. She tapped the monitor with her fake nail. “It says right here that Malik will be in Courtroom B next Monday at eight a.m. That’s upstairs on the second floor. With that bomb threat at CJC everything is a bit out of wack. I’m so sorry, but you going to have to wait until then to see him.”
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    JANAE THOUGHT ABOUT CALLING HER MOTHER BUT WASN’T UP FOR THE doom and gloom that would inevitably be cast over Malik by her. According to Janae’s mother, nothing works out right. Janae loved her mom, but she wasn’t the kind of help she needed at a time like this. Janae had to stay hopeful for Malik.
    Janae sat glued to her old sofa, watching the local news. Other than the streets, it was her only source of information about Malik.
    In the neighborhood, there were whispers that Malik and Troy had gotten into an argument the day of the murder. Over what, was unclear. One rumor had it that they exchanged blows.
    On the news, it was a big story, not because Troy had been murdered, or because her son was the suspect, but because it was the twenty-ninth murder in the twenty days since the new year began. The