Zero Degrees Part 1 Read Free

look on my face.
    “Okay ma’am. There’s no need for that,” Officer Greyson said attempting to restrain her.
    My mother jerked her arm away from him. “She’s my child!” She focused her attention back to me. “You can’t just be shooting people Ze! What’s wrong with you? Are you crazy?” Then she turned to Officer Greyson. “Why are y’all searching my damn house?”
    “Ma’am it is police procedure in a…”
    “Procedure my ass!” Her eyes were wide as she fumbled inside her purse. She lit a cigarette and took a long, deep pull. She blew the smoke out of her nose as she nervously watched a cop look under the brown, leather sofa. That seemed to agitate her more and I watched as she tapped her foot.
    It was then that I realized that if they found the dope and money in the house my mamma would be going to prison for a long time. I suddenly felt guilt ridden. Not for Goody’s murder, but for my mom’s fate.
    “What were you thinking about Zeaira Rowe? You’re in big trouble? Do you realize that?” She narrowed her eyes at me as a visual warning that we were both in deep trouble. She took another long puff from her cancer stick.
    I watched her hand tremble as an officer looked inside the closet and removed several suitcases. Her eyebrows rose as a shine of perspiration began to gleam on her forehead.
    I responded mockingly, “Trouble?” I laughed. “Fuck trouble. I won’t be in any more trouble now than I would’ve been in if that perverted ass bastard was still living. You’re my mother. You were supposed to protect me! Instead I decided to protect us because I love you. Goody never did. Daddy didn’t hit you! I wasn’t gonna just sit back and let Goody keep hurting you and I damn sure wasn’t gonna let that nigga rape me either!”
    “Oh God Zeaira,” my mom murmured sadly as she ran her fingers through her hair.
    The cop that searched the closet opened up one of the suitcases and began to ruffle through it. He opened another one and threw the clothes on the floor in a heap. I looked over my shoulder to see a cop about to open the brown Louis Vuitton suitcase that I was certain momma stashed her drugs in.
    “What the fuck are you doin’? Stay outta my shit!” My mom yelled with her eyes ablaze which could have passed for fury, but I knew that it really was fear. I had to do something and fast.
    I looked up at Officer Greyson and said in a small voice, “You have me and the gun. Do y’all have to destroy my momma’s home?” I saw his Adams Apple bob up and down as he looked at me and then my mom sympathetically. By that time she was chewing on her fingernails while looking at the cop struggle to get the lock open on the suitcase. Officer Greyson must have had a daughter or a wife at home because he gave me a subtle nod and hollered at the officer that was just about to open the suitcase.
    “Bernard, that’s enough! You and the rest of the unit go back to the station.” He then turned to my mom and said, “Mrs. Rowe, we have to take Zeaira down to the station. You can meet us there. We can’t get her statement without you present. If you will confirm what your daughter has said as the truth it can be used in her defense. She may even be able to stay in your custody until her court date. I can’t promise you anything, because this looks like over kill rather than self-defense. Still, she’s a young lady who may have snapped after experiencing a great deal of trauma. Things could still work in her favor.”
    My mother nodded. Her eyes had become misty again. She was probably thinking about all the money and dope that she had stashed in the suitcase. I knew that she was going to drink and snort herself into oblivion later that night. She sniffed that shit up her nose like a vacuum cleaner. I could only pray that she would not kill herself with a lethal combination of alcohol and coke. Goody sold coke and bought it by the kilo. I didn’t know where she got the habit from, but I knew