CHAPTER 1
RBI'S
In 1975, Crystal was a four year old girl living with her motherSharon, and her father Stoney, in an apartment complex locatedon 24th street in south Sacramento, California. Crystal spent hertime riding her red tricycle up and down their apartment complexsidewalk. Her tricycle was fire-engine red with one tire in thefront and two in the back; and it squeaked with each pedal stroke.The front sidewalk was as far as she was allowed to play while hermother performed her daily housekeeping duties in their second floorapartment. Crystal had a toy poodle named Taffy that her father hadbought for her, even though he hated having a dog in his lush andplush apartment. Nevertheless, she was his favorite baby girl andanything that she wanted or needed, he was sure to provide. Of thetwelve daughters that he constantly bragged about having, she wasthe only one that he actually put forth an effort in raising, and hermother was the only woman that he professed to truly loving andmarried, according to him.
Stoney was a flashy man from Chicago Illinois that had to haveand possess the best of anything that he owned. He was a sawed-offcat that stood a mere 5ft 6in. with a stocky muscular build. Headorned his feet with Stacey Adams, and his wardrobe consisted of:brim hats, leather trench coats, sunglasses, and tailored suits wheneverhe was not in his work uniform. He was a blue collar worker whoprovided for her and her mother by way of being a garbage manfor the state of California. Back then the garbage trucks were notequipped with the "Multiplication of Force by a Hydraulic System"phenomenon. Garbage trucks were not equipped to pull up next to agarbage can, push a button, and let the truck lift and dump the caninto the back of the truck. No! Back then, the garbage men had tophysically lift the cans themselves and dump them into the back ofthe garbage truck. You can imagine how this helped him keep his leanmuscular physique. Her daddy had swag, that Charlie Wilson type ofswag that turned the heads of countless women. He only drove fastand flashy sports cars such as: Corvettes, Trans-Ams, or Firebirds. Theman could dance just as well, if not better, than James Brown. Andyou talking about sing! This man could sing the panties off of anywoman. Oh yeah, her daddy was the man back in his day.
Her mother, a sweet and naive southern bell; all of 18yrs old,was the daughter of a military migrating single-father that frequentlytraveled back and forth between Louisville, Kentucky and SacramentoCalifornia. She was the second to the last of six children; two boysand four girls. Her mother died from female related problemswhen she was just two years old; resulting in her never having theopportunity to build that mother-daughter bond with her biologicalmother. Her mother's oldest sister, took on that motherly role, andas such became the matriarch of their family at a very young ageherself. Sharon was a gorgeous, slender, caramel-colored 5ft. 6in.,woman with a heart of gold. Stoney was eighteen years older thanSharon mother, but that did not stop him from making her his wife,which resulted in their "blessing from God", Crystal! Sharon did notwork. At the time, she was a stay-at-home housewife that cooked andcleaned daily. Their apartment was adorned with the finest furniturethat her dad's money could buy. They had a white crushed velvetcouch and love seat, and a thirty gallon fish tank that housed multipleexotic fish.
One evening while Crystal rode her tricycle up and down thesidewalk, her father came home as usual, stopped to greet her onthe sidewalk, and gave her a kiss on the forehead, before proceedingup the stairs into their apartment. Within twenty-minute's time,Crystal could hear screaming and yelling coming from her apartment.She immediately threw her bike down and ran up the stairs to herapartment. Upon entering the apartment she could hear her mothercrying out for help and her father yelling something about the fish.Crystal looked towards the fish tank and there she saw all of thefish belly up, and floating in the water. She could hear the soundsof slaps, hits, and crying all tied into one coming from her parent'sroom. She ran to their room and busted through the bedroom door.There, she saw her mother standing on the bed between a wall andthe bed trying to shield herself from the hitting and screaming. Sheyelled, "Daddy, stop! Stop it, stop it!" Her mom responded by saying,"Crystal, go back in the living room, I'm all right!" Her dad hadstopped the hitting and yelling by then, and verbally reinforced whather mom had told her to do citing that they were all right and wouldbe out in a minute. Numbness momentarily took over her entirebody as she stood bewildered and shocked with tears running downher face. She was unable to move her feet. She simply gazed at herparents in a zombie-like fashion with utter disbelief and confusion.She wondered if she was supposed to leave the room as they hadinstructed her to do. It certainly did not feel like the right thingto do. Should wondered if she was supposed to call 911? Was shesupposed to stay and help her mommy; and lastly, was she supposedto still love her daddy? Is he going to beat up my mommy some moreif I leave the room? And what the hell happened to the fish?
Turns out during her Sharon's routine house cleaning, shehad to unplug the fish tank lamp in order to maneuver the tankout of her way so that she could clean a particular area behind thetank, and had forgotten to plug it back into the electrical socket.Well, the fish that were housed in the tank required that the lightcontinuously run on them for their survival. No one but her fatherknew this very important fact. You'd think he would've let hermother know this to avoid the fish dying since her mother was theone home tending to the house all of the time, but nooooooo. Herfather, being the controlling man he was, kept this information all tohimself and became upset at the outcome of not communicating vitalinformation.
Once things settled down, Crystal's dad came out of the roomand had a heart to heart conversation with her. He picked her up, sather on the kitchen table, and grabbed himself a tall can of Budweiserout of the refrigerator. As tears still ran down her face, he returnedin her direction, pulled up a chair, began to softly wipe away hertears, and have an ever-so-sweet conversation about how he was sorryfor hitting her mother. He went on to assure her that he loved herand her mother very much. They continued to talk while he drankhis Budweiser, and as time continued to move forward, Crystal'sfrown turned upside down. He would tickle her and she'd laugh.She would then make a funny face that she knew would make himlaugh. He would gently pull on her ponytails, and she would laugheven harder. After a couple of hours her mom came out of the roomand said that it was time for Crystal to get ready for bed, because itwas getting late. From the sighs and eye rolls that her dad was giving,he surely was not ready to end their bonding moment. Nevertheless,he reluctantly said ok, gave Crystal a kiss on my forehead, took herdown from the table and said: "goodnight baby, go take your bathand I'll see you tomorrow."
The following day brought about another disappointing momentfor her Stoney. Upon returning home from work on this day, he haddiscovered that Taffy had pooped in the house. While riding up anddown the sidewalk on her tricycle, Crystal began to hear cussing andscreaming coming from her apartment again. Suddenly her front doorswung open with great force. The next thing she saw was Taffy wasflying in mid-air down the stairs from one swift kick in her ass! Yep,he kicked Taffy smooth in the ass down the stairs and those were thelast of her days with their family. Crystal ran up the stairs crying toher dad and asked, "Daddy why you kick my dog down the stairs?"He replied, "That damn dog shit in this house and his ass got to go!Now, are you coming in the house or you going back outside?" Shewent back outside and sat on the top of the stairs and cried.
It wasn't before long that Crystal and her mom were on a planeheaded to Atlanta, Georgia to be with Sharon's sister, Rina, and herfamily to get away from Stoney. Crystal's aunt Rina was marriedwith three children: Rudin, Tierra, and Ashland. Her husband was aPolice officer. She had what appeared to be the perfect life. She wasthe beautiful housewife living in a beautiful two-story house, twocars, and two dogs. They had a Doberman pinscher named Clyde,and an all-white yappy lap dog named fee-fee. Rudin and Crystalwere the same age, and they immediately became more acquaintedwith one another. Crystal became Rudin's shadow. One afternoonwhile playing in the backyard, Rudin suggested that they play a gamewith the dog, Clyde. He instructed that they were to sit on the swingset that was in the backyard, and taunt the dog by calling his name.When the dog would come over to them, they were supposed to sticktheir legs out of the bottom of the swing, and then quickly snatch itback inside of the swing right before Clyde took a snip at their legs.Well, the game was extremely fun up until the dog became irritatedwith their shenanigans, and all hell broke loose. They tauntedthat dog right up until he didn't miss his mark. Crystal and Rudinyelled for Clyde to come over to the swing with their legs stickingout. Clyde ran over once again, and this time, he didn't miss. Crystalmanaged to pull her leg back up just in time. Rudin; however,wasn't' so lucky. Clyde dug in and bit the crap out of Rudin's leg andwouldn't let go. All hell broke completely loose. Rudin was screamingand yelling, Crystal was screaming and yelling, and they were bothstuck on the swing set hollering for help. Clyde had dug in andwouldn't let go. He was trying to drag Rudin all the way off of theswing. Finally, Crystal's aunt Rina had emerged from the house withher hair flailing all over the place, and with a thick, black belt in herhand she was coming full speed ahead toward Crystal, Rudin, and thedog. She yelled for Clyde to let Rudin go, but he would not let up.Just as she reached him, he released Rudin's leg and took off wildlyrunning in a fit of rage all over the backyard. She waved that belt andyelled that she was going to beat the hell out of him as soon as shecaught him. Then there they were with their dumb asses on the swingset faces full of snot and tears. Their hands were clung to the metalswing set handles with a kung fu grip. Aunt Rina told them to getdown and come into the house so she could clean them up.
Once inside the house, she began questioning their actions andwanted to know what they had done to provoke Clyde to behavein such a vicious manner. Between their huffing and puffing tocatch their breaths from crying, they tried to make out a story;coincidentally, everything but the truth was coming out. They knewthat what they were doing was wrong, and if they would have told thetruth, then their ass was grass. All they kept saying was, "Nothing!"Yet, she insisted that Clyde had never behaved that way and that theymust have done something to have provoked him to lash out at themin that manner. Finally, Rudin explained to her how they had madeup a new game to play with the dog, and that he just went crazy forno reason. Really! No Reason! Why did he tell her that? While bloodstill dripped from his leg and the tears barely white-dried on his face,he got his ass whooped! Right then and there, she beat his ass, first fortrying to lie, and second for knowing not to treat their dog so poorly.She left Crystal to be dealt with by her mom. Which, Crystal knewthat a whoopin' was not in the cards for her, because her mom hadnever whooped her before.
Believe it or not, the very next day, Rudin and Crystal decidedto play another dangerous game. There was an awning attached toaunt Rina's house that served as their carport cover. The awning wasconnected right at Rudin's second-story bedroom window. He toldCrystal to come into his room so that he could show her a trick thathe could do, and that he wanted her to try it too. Once in his room,he opened his bedroom window and said watch this. Rudin climbedout of the window, and Crystal quickly ran over to look out of thewindow to see what he was about to do. He was hanging by a whiterope that he had tied to the carport railing that he was now swayingback and forth on. He told Crystal that he was going to use the ropeto swing past the car that was parked in their driveway onto the otherside, and land in the grass. He instructed Crystal to grab the ropeafter he had let it go and try to do the same thing. Psssssssssssttttttshiiiiiiiiit!Crystal thought to herself, "Awt-ah, I'm not doing that!"Before the thought could completely resonate through her headRudin had already let go of the rope, and had begun his descent.He landed on part of the car, bounced and hit the side rear-viewmirror, and fell onto the carport cement. "Ut-oh!" Crystal ran out ofhis room, and while running down the stairs she yelled out, "AuntRina, Rudin fell out of his room window and hit his head!" All hellbroke loose, again! The entire family ran outside to see about Rudinand find out what happened. He was just picking himself off of theground, and holding his visibly twisted right arm with his left handby the time that they had made it out to him. Aunt Rina asked,"Rudin what happened?" But yet again, he was crying and slingingsnot so badly, that he could not get the story out. Next in line wasCrystal. "Crystal, what happened?" For a moment she stood quietlygazing at her cousin as he stood there all twisted, mangled, and cryingfrom the agonizing pain of the fall. Crystal knew that if she hadtold them exactly what had transpired that it was going to be a wrapand they were going to be toast. So, what's a girl to do to create adiversion in this situation? Fall-all-the-way-out! She began crying andslinging snot right along with him! What! Don't judge them; everyproblem is an opportunity in disguise. LOL!
Crystal and her mother eventually returned back to California,but they did not go back to their apartment. Instead, they went to amotel on Stockton Boulevard. Before going to the motel they stoppedat a grocery store and picked up a few items. They both carried bagsin their hands as they walked back to their motel room. During theirwalk to the motel Crystal kept asking her mother when they weregoing to go home, and where is her daddy, but her mother wouldonly reply by saying, "not right now Crystal." She asked her mother,"Why not?" Her mother's only reply was, "Because I am not readyto go there yet." "But I want to see my daddy." Her mother divertedthe conversation by asking Crystal how she liked meeting her cousinsin Atlanta, and did she have fun. Crystal admitted to having lots offun and couldn't wait until they went back, but she still wanted tosee her daddy. They had reached their motel room and began puttingaway their groceries. Her mother had gotten tired of Crystal askingquestions so she sent her outside to play while she finished puttingaway the groceries. There were no other children outside to play with,but Crystal had discovered that there was a field behind the motelthat had horses grazing in it. She ran back into their room and askedher mom if she could go into the field to play with the horses. Sharonsternly replied, "No!" Crystal tried rephrasing the question, by askingit in a different way; nevertheless, the answer was still no, and thencame the infamous "momma' glare," and she was informed not to askagain!
A few days had passed and with each passing day, Crystalcontinued to make requests for her mom to give her permission togo and play with the horses. Yet and still, her requests were repeatedlydenied. One day while gazing through the fence, Crystal decided thatshe had-had it! She said to herself, she said: "Self." "Huh?" "You cansqueeze through this fence and go over there to pet those horses. Noone would ever know." By now most everyone in the complex knewthe pretty single lady with the little girl in room two twenty-two. So,she scanned the area to assure that no one that would try to stop, ortell on her was around. Once she had an "all clear," she carefully puther hands through the rusted-wired fence that had spikes sticking outof it, and pushed her hands in opposite directions to spread the twostrips of bobbed-wired-fence apart. She bent down and slowly put herleft leg through first. Next, she carefully put her, hips, butt, and uppertorso through. She thought to herself, "Cool, I'm almost in! Now justget your right leg through Crystal and your good." She must havetimed her release of the bobbed-wired-fence all wrong, because assoon as she had gotten that last leg just about through the fence, itsprung back, snapped, and popped her all up and down the back sideof her body. OMG! Her back, butt and thighs were instantly nailedto the fence. She felt like Jesus nailed to the cross at the Golgatha Hilljust outside of Jerusalem! Crystal and the fence had become one. Shewas absolutely stuck and couldn't move. She was screaming, cryingand scared all at the same time.
