Keeping Closed Doors Shut

By Anthony B Paul

Jonah Flood (an All-American basketball player) and DeMina Jacobs (his best friend) have survived thier mothers murders. Now that they are seniors in college DeMina wants to revisit their old neighborhood and their old homes. The mistake they both make is good inside the houses that they grew up in. They should learn to "Keep Closed Doors Shut"

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Feb 28, 2012
• ISBN: 9781463438470

Anthony B Paul

Anthony Bernard Paul lives in Decatur, Georgia. He is an educator, and has published a book in the past. This book is titled "The Pastor's Bells" Anthony Bernard Paul has been writing for the last ten years, He loves reading and playing racquetball.

Book preview

Prologue

So, where did you find her? one of the police officer’s asked me.

She was lying in her bed with the sheet over her when I came in, I answered the officer with tears in my eyes.

Where were you coming in from? another officer asked me.

A basketball game. I play for Gordon High School.

You wouldn’t happen to be Jonah Flood would you? The officer asked.

Yes, I am Jonah Flood.

The two officers walked away from me in a quiet conversation. My mind was on my dead mom as I sat on the couch. As the two policemen talked, two different men walked through the front door of the house.

One of the men had on a light beige two-piece suit without a tie. He stood about 5'11 and looked as if he weighed 220lbs. with most of the weight being in his stomach. The other man was in a Georgia Tech sweatshirt, which was black with yellow letters, and he had on a pair of faded jeans. He was bald and he stood about 6'3 and looked like he weighed about 250lbs. all solid muscles.

One of the officers walked over to the two men and the other officer walked outside. After the three men had a short conversation, the guy in the suit came over to me.

So, how are you doing son? My name is Detective Barry Speer, and I’m sorry for your loss, he said, as he sat down beside me. Do you have any idea who would want to hurt your mother?

No sir, but during your investigation you’re going to find out that my mom was into some things she shouldn’t have been in, I said as my tears stopped and I knew I had to become a man as I sat there on that couch.

The other detective walked towards the back of the house, so I guess he went to look at the murder scene. I knew they would find out about my mom’s habits when the coroner did the autopsy, so I decided to leave her drug habit and hooking alone and let the detectives find that out on their own.

I stood up to stretch and Detective Speer stood up with me. I was taller than Detective Speer and bigger. My seventeen-year-old frame was already a muscular work of art. I could tell when Detective Speer looked up at me he was in awe.

You’re only seventeen? The detective asked me.

Yes sir, but my eighteenth birthday is in a month.

I hear you’re the state’s best basketball player.

That’s what they tell me, but my mom always told me, once your head gets big, you can lose your way in life, so I don’t listen to all of the hype out there.

That’s a good piece of advice your mother gave you.

I walked over to the picture that my mom had hanging on the wall of the two of us. I couldn’t believe that eight years of doing crack and drinking heavily could cause a beautiful woman to deteriorate into a walking skeleton. My mom was a 5'3" 115lb dark chocolate beauty with jet black hair that came down to her shoulders. Her eyes were golden brown, so I understood why men were attracted to her. What I didn’t understand is how my mom lost her way in life?

Excuse me son, can I have a word with you? the other detective said, as he came back into the living room.

Yes sir.

My name is Detective John Law, and I need to ask you some questions."

The detective and I sat down on the couch and I listened to him ask me questions.

I was told that you just came in from your high school b-ball game.

Yes sir, that’s right.

Had you been home earlier?

Yes sir, around 3p.m.

How was your mother when you came home the first time?

She was laid out on the bed drunk. I ran her some bath water, but I can see she didn’t get in it.

Who was your mother involved with?

You name him she had him, I said as I lower my head.

The detective looked at me with curious eyes.

There are three hundred dollars and an empty gin bottle on her night stand. Were they there when you came home the first time?

Yes sir. I left her in bed after I ran her bath water. I put a note on her night stand telling her about my game and what time I would be home, I told the detective.

Detective Law stood up and paced around the living room. He would stop in his tracks and then start back pacing.

Do you know of anyone that would want to hurt your mother?

Sir, I’ll be honest. Some of the men she did business with were shady and anyone of them could have done this, I said as I stood up and stretched.

Has any one called child welfare for you? The detective asked me.

No, and if they do I’m not leaving my home. I’ll be eighteen in a month and I will be considered an adult. I told the detective. And I also have to start planning my mom’s funeral.

The detective looked at me and then he walked outside. Detective Speer came from the back of house with some of the crime scene investigators.

Detective Law came back inside and walked over to me. Okay son, this is how we’ll work this. You can remain here in the house provided that school doesn’t become a problem, and knowing that you are one of the state’s best b-ball players I can’t see school becoming a problem.

Thank you Detective Law I appreciate that.

All of the crime scene people left carrying boxes and bags. The detectives and police officers left also. I sat down on the couch and looked around the living room and I could see and smell my mom’s White Diamond perfume by Elizabeth Taylor. She loved that perfume. I decided to get up and go into my mom’s bedroom.

The bedroom door had that yellow caution tape across the frame letting me know that my mom’s bedroom was a crime scene. As I stood in the middle of her bedroom, I remembered what condition she was in when I came home at 3p.m.

One of her legs hung over the side of the bed. Her naked body was uncovered and I could see the empty bottle of gin and the three hundred dollars on her night stand. The scene had become a regular occurrence, and I was starting to get tired of it. That’s when I went into the bathroom and started to fill the bathtub with warm water. I went back into my mother’s bedroom and lifted her up off the bed.

Ha, I thought we were done. If you want some more of this good pussy put a hundred dollars more on the night stand, my mother said in a slurred drunken voice.

Momma, it’s me Jonah, I yelled at her.

Oh, ha baby, when did you get home and where are you taking me?

To the bathtub momma, you need a bath.

Before you take me there finish what the last sorry ass man couldn’t finish.

My mother placed my hand on her vagina and I snatched it away. She tried to feel my dick, but I moved. She tried to get me to touch her breasts, but I wouldn’t.

Come on Jonah; make your mother feel good.

Come on momma, you need to get in the tub.

Please Jonah; show your mother what you can do. You know I taught you well.

I couldn’t believe my mom was after me again like that. She had taught me how to touch girls my age, but she hadn’t tried to touch me like that in years. I decided to take my mom back to her bedroom and let her lay back down. Then, I went into the bathroom and turned off the water in the bathtub.

I sat in my bedroom for about ten minutes, and decided to head back up to the school early for my game. I put a note on my mom’s nightstand and then I left.

The telephone started ringing and brought me out of my trance. Hello.

Jonah, you okay up there?

Yeah, I’m fine Mina.

DeMina Jacobs was a senior and a cheerleader at the high school I attended. She was a 5'1" 110lb keg of dynamite. She was the color of honey and her eyes were dark brown. We had become inseparable since we were in the second grade, but we were not boyfriend and girlfriend. Mina (my nickname for her) was like my soother or comforter.

You need me to come over? Mina asked as I walked out of my mom’s bedroom.

Tomorrow, I need to start planning her burial.

Tell me what time and I’ll be there.

After I told Mina what time to come over, we hung up the phone and I went and got my mom’s strongbox. I opened it up and found the life insurance policy my grandmother had taken out on my mom before she died. I remember my grandmother telling me that the house would be paid for if my mom died. I went into the living room and looked over the policy and realized that my mom’s death had made it possible for me to live comfortably for a long time, but I was still going to college and I still wanted to play pro ball.

Three weeks later, I buried my mother. There were only three people in attendance for her burial, and that was the reverend, Mina, and I. It’s funny how all of the men that had done their business with my mom didn’t even have the decency to show her some respect when she was dead.

Chapter 1

Four years later in late September

I had just come in from my psychology class when Stretch told me that I had been getting phone calls from a girl calling herself Pumpkin.

Fuck her, whoever she is, I said as I plopped down on my bed.

Yo Point, where did you get your messed up disposition for the honies? Stretch asked me as he brought me a stack of post-its.

Jonah Flood is name, but Point is my nickname given to me by the members of the basketball team. Stretch’s real name was William Tucker. He is a 6'6" 235lb center. He looks like he is made out of steel. Stretch and I have been roommates since our freshmen year here at Atlanta State College. I get more phone calls than Stretch, but a lot of girls are interested in him because of his height and big feet. If he knew what a lot of them said about him when he’s not around, he would probably hurt one of them.

Look Stretch, women talk a good game but the bottom line to me is that their looking for the same thing must men are looking for, and that’s to be sucked and fucked.

Damn Point, what are you? One of those brotha’s that can fuck a woman, but deep down you hate them? Stretch said.

Naw, I’m no misogynist I just know that women are only good for my sexual gratification.

"Sick motherfucka, did your mother know you had these thoughts about the honies?’ Stretch asked me and I blew a head gasket.

Don’t you ever ask me anything about my mother? As a matter of fact, don’t ever bring my mother up to me again, I told Stretch as I stepped outside of our dorm room into the hallway.

I leaned up against the wall with my eyes closed. My thoughts went back to the day I found my mother dead. My last thought of her was how she tried to come on to me when she was in a drunken state. To this day I can see her, smell the alcohol on her breath, and smell the stench of sex and crack on her body.

Hi Point, I heard a voice say to me and I opened my eyes to see who had spoke to me.

What’s up Felecia? Haven’t you been told that sneaking up on people can be bad for your health?

Felecia Sweets is a 5'5" dark chocolate smooth skinned sista with a pair of brown eyes that would hypnotize any man. She has a gymnast style body with thighs that are as tone as a quarter horse. She has a body that every basketball player wanted to dribble and every football player wanted to tackle, and here she is standing in front of me with a white sports bra on and white spandex shorts to match. Her white Air Force Ones were just as clean as her other apparel. Her body was curvaceous and she was fit. I heard that her only problem was that she had a serious mean streak.

I’ve been trying to get you to scare me all semester. Hell, I’ve left you several messages, Felecia said.

You’re Pumpkin? I asked Felecia.

Yeah, I didn’t want Stretch to know who I was. Besides, I need you to scare me. I mean every time I see you I get scared that my heart is going to stop beating, so you might as well come to room later and take my breath away for real. Felecia told me as she stood as close to me as she could. Her minty breathe whipped through my nostrils and I was almost in a trance.

I got my bearings and stepped to the side of Felecia. I thought you were feeling my roommate Stretch? I said to Felecia.

William is cool, but I’m not trying to fall in love, and it seems like just because we had dinner together, his hopes are that we become a couple, and I’m not trying to build his hopes up like those other sistas. What I am trying to do is get my workout on with you tonight, so why don’t you come to my room around 7p.m. and do a full court press on me, Felecia said as she tipped toed and kissed me softly on the lips.

Felecia turned and started walking down the hall, and I could visualize the two of us fighting for position on her bed. My dick was hard as a lead pipe, and I was glad that my spandex athletic shorts held it down.

I walked back into my dorm room and Stretch was sitting at the computer. He ignored me for as long as he could, but because we had been roommates for three years; it was hard for him to keep up his ignoring. So, it took Stretch all of five minutes to start talking to me.

Yo Point, Mina called you, but I just took a message since I was pissed off.

Look Stretch, I’m sorry man, but my mom is off limits, I said. I should’ve never gone off on you though.

Apology accepted, but I have a question for you.

What’s that?

When you going to hook me up with Mina. Now that’s a real sista for you, Stretch said with a smile.

Stretch had shown interest in Mina when we were all freshmen. Back then he was shy and a little goofy, like a baby huey. Even then, Mina wasn’t feeling him, but now that he had become more talkative and somewhat of a caring brotha, Mina might be interested. But, I wasn’t going to be the one that hooked them up.

Come on Stretch, Mina comes over enough to were you should have already made a move on her.

How can I? Mina’s saving herself for you. I mean the two of you go back to when she didn’t even have breasts, Stretch said as he laughed.

Look Stretch, step to Mina like you know what you want, and maybe she’ll come around.

Stretch looked at me curiously, and then he asked