Addie Combo by Tareka Watson

cross back toward
Quinton’s car.
The sooner I get out of there, the better I know I’ll feel.
Until I hear the click of the massive wooden front gate, released from its stone wall jab;
followed by his voice, instantly recognizable. I don’t need to turn around when he utters my
name.
But I do.
I just stand, waiting. He’s come down, having seen my approach from On High when he
could have remained safe in his sanctuary, to collect his property and let me slink away. But His
Holiness, the great and majestic Ruler of the Silverlake Mountains has deemed to grace me with
his presence, so surely he has some reason that I in my lowly ignorance cannot manage to guess.
Finally, he says, “Won’t you come up? Your friend can come too.”
My mind streams with thoughts; bickering voices (as usual), each with something to say and
nothing to hear.
Come on up? To be tricked and manipulated again? No! Take your mansion and go to hell!
Come on up? Well, if you’d like to clear the air, I suppose that’d be good for us both.
Come on up? How do you know the person behind that wheel isn’t a paid gunman ready to
finish you off and usurp your life entirely, while I stay in the shadows and reap the benefits?
I can’t believe such a thing would cross my mind. I’d never have entertained that kind of a
malevolent notion before, not even in jest. Randolph really is a bad influence on me , I realize,
and that’s when I decide to stand my ground and not be coaxed back into his luxurious spider’s
web.
Instead, I remain standing in the street with Randolph in front of his house. If he has
something to say, he’ll say it here. And he does.
“Okay, Addie, I know things didn’t look great when you came over here last time. But I’m
asking you to think for a minute. Were we ever committed to each other in that way? Did I
really make any promises that I wasn’t able to keep?”
“Able? She was holding a gun to your head, I suppose?”
“Willing, then,” Randolph responds. “But you have to admit, we were never exclusive, at
least not specifically.”
“The hell we weren’t,” I respond, letting my voice get louder so his neighbors can hear.
“You made love to me, we travelled together. I wasn’t seeing anyone else and you knew that -”
“Your choice, I never -”
“But you knew! You can’t stand here now and tell me you didn’t realize what kind of
relationship we were having, no matter what was explicitly said. You might be a complete moral
blank, Randolph, but you can’t possibly be that dense!”
“I’m not saying I wasn’t conflicted,” he says, his voice faster and louder. “I had ... I have
real feelings for you, Addie. But ... it all was happening so fast -”
“You were seducing me!”
“Maybe it’s best if you see things that way.” He looks at me, calmer now, as if I’ve stepped
over some line and put him squarely in the right.
“You don’t give a damn about how I see things!”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Addie. I helped you out ... financially. Regardless of what has
happened between us personally, there are business matters that bind us together. We have to
respect those boundaries -”
“Boundaries?” I can hardly believe he’s said it, even less so after I repeat that hated excuse.
“You didn’t think we needed any boundaries when you were laying me down in your bed, or in
your Jacuzzi, or on your backyard lawn.” With a bit more volume for extra neighborly effect, I
add, “Or on your front yard lawn!”
“Y’see? This is why it’s so important to keep your business life and your personal life
separate. You need balance, Addie, we all do. I never should have let myself be so charmed by
you.”
“Charmed by me? You led me around like a dog on a leash!”
“How else does a dog get its master to clean up after it, without even asking -?”
My hand leaps out from my side, acting on its own. The slap is loud and echoes between the
houses, seeming to ring out over the entire