Despicable He!

Have you ever looked at a couple and wondered, "What is she doing with him?"

Well, that's exactly the question I asked myself whenever I would see Ollivera and Shitty together. (Honestly... that's his name... Shitty!)

Ollivera was a soft-spoken, beautiful, dark-complected, mannerable lady with remarkably smooth skin.

Shitty was a big foul-mouthed, light-complected, overweight, obnoxious man... with an attractive face and a nasty disposition.

They were a young couple (in their late-20s) with two or three children. Shitty was Ollivera's first and only love. But the same could not be said for Shitty regarding Ollivera. He was a big time dope dealer with plenty of girlfriends on the side.

When Ollivera first started coming into my family's bar... she stood out, like a sore thumb. She didn't hang-out with her girlfriends. She hung-out with her mother... Sister... and her younger sister. (I know it's confusing. But Sister is what everyone calls Ollivera's mother.)

And although Ollivera and her klan were always following the younger crowd that came to our bar after their favorite nightspots closed for the evening... she never showed any signs of partying. She was always well-groomed, very quiet, wide-eyed and bone-sober... separating herself out from all of the other young patrons. Which is probably the reason why the rest of the kids used to call her "90210"... the once-popular television show named after the mailing zip code number for the star-studded Beverly Hills community in Los Angeles, California. That was their way of telling me that Ollivera was conceited and stuck-up.

But not one to just sit back and accept somebodyelse's assessment of a person, the first time I took Ollivera's order at the bar, I broke her face when I bluntly asked her, "Why do they call you 90210?" And she busted out in laughter and asked, "Is that what they call me?"

She explained that the other young patrons were just jealous of her because she wasn't strung-out-there with them... drinking, doing dope and sleeping-around. "They just hating, Miss Dee", Ollivera concluded.

And from that moment on, Ollivera counted me as an ally... an in-your-face ally who had given her the benefit of a doubt.

What I didn't know then was that Ollivera was probably out doing the club scene in order to sell drugs for Shitty... who was incarcerated at the time. And her mother, Sister, was probably accompanying her as some sort of security... to make sure Ollivera didn't get beaten-out for Shitty's drugs.

That's the way some drug dealers do it when they get locked-up for selling drugs. They put their girlfriends or their wives out there in the streets to sell their drugs for them... so that they won't lose their customers and so that their women can raise money to put on the books for them at the prison to enable them to buy things for themselves while they're incarcerated.

It was a year or two later when I found out that Ollivera had a man... when Ollivera and Shitty entered my family's restaurant (right across the street from my family's bar) to order a meal.

Over time... Ollivera had become a regular fixture in both our restaurant and our bar. And with Shitty's big fat ass out of prison... I guess that she had decided to bring Shitty along with her to pick out his own meal.

She said, "Miss Dee, this is my man, Shitty."

And I responded, "Your man?! When did this happen?!"

Shitty intervened and said that he had "just got out" of prison. "That's why you haven't seen me before."

My next question was, "What kind of name is Shitty?!"

Shitty explained that that was a nickname he had had all of his life... from a toddler. We chuckled about it.

But then Shitty said something I didn't like.

"I bet Ollivera been bringing all kind of niggas up in here with her," he said, fishing around for a response.

And while Ollivera shook her head in denial of his comments, I stopped everything I was doing behind the counter to turn and face Shitty... to look him square in the eyes and tell him what he was fishing for.

"No, she hasn't," I said glaring into his eyes. "In fact, I have never ever seen Ollivera with a man... in either one of my places. The ONLY person she has brought in here with her is her mama!"

"Now, just because YOU was locked-up, humping everything up in the prison... does not mean that SHE was out here humping everything out in the streets. So, you can just kill that noise, Shitty," I sternly added.

And that ended Shitty's fishing expedition... or so I thought.

The dope business was good for Shitty once he had gotten back on track. And it wasn't long before he had lined his pockets with plenty of dope money. And he and Ollivera moved into a brand new two-story home right across the street from our restaurant... about five doors down from our bar on that side of the street.

But despite all of Shitty's dope money, Ollivera had not one job... but two jobs... working as a cashier at the corner gas station and cleaning office buildings with the cleaning company that Shitty had setup to camouflage his dope money.

By this time, I was spending less time working in our bar and more time working in our restaurant.

One day, the little old lady who lived in the house next-door to Ollivera and Shitty's house came over to our restaurant to offer me a small bag of tomatoes that she had grown in her backyard... thinking that I could maybe use them in the restaurant.

It was a kind gesture. But it was only a decoy for what she really wanted to talk to me about.

It seems that she could hear Ollivera crying and screaming whenever Shitty would beat Ollivera. The little lady repeated some of the things that Shitty would yell at Ollivera as he stomped and beat on her... for taking care of her now-deathly-ill mother who had been diagnosed with cancer and for the way other men looked at Ollivera. "I don't know why she don't call the police on him," the little lady added.

And the whole time she spoke about these beatings... I was wondering why the little old lady hadn't called the police on Shitty herself... if she could hear the beatings all the way over in her house.

I guess that telling me about the beatings was her way of getting involved... or to keep from actually getting involved.

Weeks and months passed. Then one night, Ollivera... dressed-up real cute... came over to the restaurant to get a meal.

It just so happened that I had ordered a boxing match on pay-per-view in our restaurant. And a few of her childhood acquaintances were in the bar portion of the restaurant watching the fight. One of them was Ollivera's cousin... a young dope dealer, but a friendly type.

Everyone was happy to see Ollivera... without Shitty. And they all clamored to buy her a beer.

Knowing what the little old lady had told me about Ollivera's home situation, I jokingly asked Ollivera what she was doing out of the yard. She defiantly responded, "I'm grown!"

And to prove it... Ollivera accepted her cousin's offer to buy her a beer and sat down with a couple of other girls she had grown-up with to watch the fight.

When her meal was ready, I brought it to her in a to-go bag. And leaning-in close to her, I urged her to take it and go on home before she pissed-off Shitty.

Again, she said aloud, "I'm grown!"

But halfway through her beer, Ollivera looked back toward the door of the restaurant to spot Shitty standing there glaring at her.

Again, I urged her to go on home.

She told me, "I'll be back. He just wants his dinner."

She grabbed the dinner that I had bagged-up and led Shitty out of the door... and back to their house across the street.

And to my surprise... about a half-hour later, Ollivera did come back.

Someone quickly ordered her a beer. And when Ollivera came to the bar to get it, I asked her if she was alright.

She said that she was alright and that Shitty was just wondering what was taking her so long to bring his dinner home.

I asked her again, "Are you sure you're alright?"

Ollivera quickly shrugged-off my inquiry, "Yeah, I'm alright."

But then she paused and asked me, "If I wasn't alright, what you going to do about it?"

In a more serious tone, I said, "I know what Shitty been doing to you over there. Your neighbor told me. Now, I can't come across that street to get him up off of you. But if you can make it across this street to knock on this door for help... I'll blow his frickin' head off of his shoulders if he crosses that street to come after you!"

Suddenly, Ollivera's whole demeanor changed. That phony facade of being courageous and defiant all dissipated. Her face relaxed. Her eyes watered-up a little. And her voice cracked, as she asked, "You'd do that for me, Miss Dee?"

And without hesitating, I re-stated my words, "I can't go over there and shoot him. But if he crosses that street trying to get to you on my property, I will blow his fat ass away! And I mean that, Ollivera!"

Choking-back her emotions, Ollivera thanked me and sat down with her cousin to watch the rest of the fight on pay-per-view.

Later on that night... after the pay-per-view fight had ended... and after Ollivera and practically everyone had cleared out to go home... Ollivera's cousin came to me and said, "Miss Dee, I peeped what you and Ollivera was talking about. And everybody around here know y'all be looking out for us. That's why we love you. But you ain't no G, Miss Dee. And I ain't going to let it go down like that with Ollivera. That's my peoples. I didn't know all of that was going on. But when you brought it to her, she didn't deny it. So, I got Shitty, Miss Dee. That's not on you. That's on me, Miss Dee. I got this."

After warning the young man not to get himself into any trouble over this... I told him that what Ollivera really needed to know was that she wasn't trapped... all by herself... and that someone was willing to help her... even if it meant shooting her man to save her life.

That was the peace of mind that Ollivera needed. And no matter what violent environment Shitty created in their home... she knew that she had someone and somewhere to run to.

But I got a feeling that all of my words fell on deft ears as I talked to Ollivera's cousin. Because a few weeks later... Shitty was arrested and indicted in a big sting operation that busted-up a dope ring that had been transporting drugs daily on school buses.

Hmmm... I wonder how the police found out that Shitty was tied-up in this scheme?

Even when Shitty skipped out on bail... right before he was to be sentenced... and hid-out... the police were mysteriously tipped-off about his whereabouts.

Hmmm... either Shitty was one unlucky sap... or somebody was definitely out to get Shitty, it seems.

Maybe Ollivera's cousin heeded my warning after all. He didn't lay a finger on Shitty. Maybe he just fingered Shitty to the NARCs instead.

Meanwhile, Ollivera is now working three jobs... and is back to raising her children and taking care of her ailing mother... all by herself. But she seems to be happier... smiling, waving and blowing her horn at me every time she sees me outside of our restaurant on her way to work.

It seems that even after being re-incarcerated, Shitty did not entrust his dope money and businesses to Ollivera. He entrusted it all to his righthand man. After all of the abuse that Shitty had put Ollivera through... he couldn't trust her to take care of his needs in prison. And besides... Shitty didn't want some other man to be laying up in his house with Ollivera spending all of his dope money.

Shitty, Shitty, Shitty! Now, I truly understand why his parents had nicknamed this child Shitty.

He's despicable! Shitty!

The rhythm of this blue note is: Being love-struck does not mean you should tolerate being struck by the one you love. And while love may bruise the heart... it should never result in bruises on your face or your body. Love nurtures a relationship. Abuse rips it apart.