Hood Ornaments

By the time Tori woke up, Dell and Sticks were already gone. Finally.

Unsure of where Trudy may have went, she began getting ready to go see Andre. While her mind was running with thoughts last night, Tori stopped to settle on at least one decision. She wasn’t about to call this man Dad. No Dad would let his daughter go on for a little over fifteen years thinking he was dead. As she pressed her jeans and sweater, it was hard for her to reconcile why she still wanted to impress him when she got there.

Was it arrogance?

Pride?

Or was Tori just attempting to mask the fact that she was hurt.

Confused.

Angry.

None of what transpired these last few weeks made any sense to her.

Tori was touching up her makeup when out of the corner of her eye she saw the Sun beginning to peek out of the clouds.

Clarity was on its way.

Whether she was ready for it or not.

It was a good thing that the Sun was coming out because it was exceptionally and un-expectantly chilly. She didn’t know if she was hurrying because of the cold or because of anticipation. When she reached the building, she also saw the line of people waiting to get in. It was mostly women; but instead of feeling comforted by that observation, it upset her. She thought about how someone’s brother, father, husband, or son was in that building.

That these women were on their own.

Unprotected.

She wondered if the men felt helpless.

Remorseful?

If being unable provide or be a presence in their families angered them?

What did they do with the anger?

She wondered these things about Andre as well.

There were so many things that she wondered about now which never crossed her mind before.

But Tori never had a reason to wonder.

Until now.

After getting checked in and going through the procedure of being told the rules and regulations. Tori was escorted to a room with a row of cubicles. It was nothing like she thought it would be. The cubicles had what looked like payphones with video monitors. This confused her a bit.

On instinct, she sat down in a cubicle that was away from others.

An officer explained the rules of the room, and Tori was becoming less anxious and more annoyed.

That was until her monitor lit up and she saw him.

Andre Watts.

Her father.

With a confused and menacing look on his face.

He picked up the phone but couldn’t speak.

He was too busy staring at his daughter and wondering how the hell she found him.

Tori’s stomach dropped, but she maintained her composure. She swallowed and took a deep breath.

“Daddy?”

She became his little girl again in two point five seconds. As the tears fell, she instantly forgave him.

For everything.

Wiping her face, she looked back up at the monitor. Dre’s head was down, but she could tell he was fidgeting under his table. He was just as nervous as she was. Or at the very least in shock. That’s when Tori decided to make a bold move.

“Andre Watts! This is your daughter over here, Bamma. I didn’t do all of this searching and digging, hidin and lyin, to look at the top of your head!!! So look at me!!!”

Dre’s head popped up, and he laughed so hard that it startled Tori. She watched him wipe the stray tears off his cheeks.

“I should have known you would turn out to be a little spitfire. Talkin like Dee. You are so beautiful. I am so proud of you.”

Tori again was masking her true emotions with anger.

“Proud of me? So proud that I haven’t seen your ass since I was two? So proud I thought you were dead all of this time? Just what the hell do you think you are doing in here? In the county? Being proud!?”

Dre was upset by her anger but not surprised by it. He knew he would have a lot of explaining to do. That’s why he didn’t want Tori to know he was there.

As much as he missed her and wanted her back in his life, he knew he already left her life once.

It made him sick that he had to do it again.

His only rationalization was that he was trading places with his daughter so she would have a life.

It was a sacrifice he was willing to make.

Determined to make.

“Nothing I say to you, here, now is gonna make a difference to you Tori. But everything I did was done to protect you. You may not believe it. It might not make sense to you, but if you sit down and talk to your uncle...To Dell. They will back me up.”

Tori took a deep breath and it seemed to calm her down a bit. It calmed her down enough to give her the courage to ask a few questions.

“So let me get this straight? I mean confirm it. Everybody knew you were alive, and no one thought it would be wise to fill me in? And now that I know you’re alive, you’re just gonna leave me again? Protect me again? Is that why you are here?”

They stared at one another.

Both with tears streaming down their cheeks.

“Is there anything else I should know? Is Mama really dead…”

“Tori.”

“Andre?”

She now had an unimpressed smirk on her face.

“You forgot something Daddy…”

Dre took a deep breath and waited for her to continue.

But she never did.