The Call
Vanessa took a deep breath after accepting the collect call charges from the Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s office. It was another sticky July evening at Muma’s house. Everyone was inside listening to Aunt Tracy’s old softball stories. From the porch swing, she could hear the sound of their laughter echoing beneath the news from her oldest son. Phillip Monroe Jr. had been arrested for the second time. His younger brother, Darrell, joined him. Vanessa clenched her fist around the phone as the words burned into her imagination. The portrait of her two babies handcuffed like their father, uncle, and cousin before them produced a flood of angry tears. After all the questions, excuses, and blame had been laid out; Vanessa wiped her eyes and walked inside the house wearing her most austere expression. Surrounded by her mother, sisters, and nieces she wondered what to say of the men in her life.
