Cleaning out My Closet

By Barnard Harris

In a small town Mississippi town located 30 minutes from Laurel, things happen you would never believe. This small place is a small quiet mom and pop town. Barnard lived there with his mother and father. His father spent over half of Barnards life in and out of prison. This made his mother have to work extra hard to raise his brother and him. Times were hard and having to foot the bills and bring home the groceries were even harder. But thank God, for his fathers mother, Big Moma, and his aunt, Nee Nee, they took up his fathers slack. Being the only boy they had spoiled his father and this made him sorry and irresponsible. Coming from a home that was built on selling liquor and gambling Barnards father thought he did not have to work and he began to get by on scheming and gambling. He went from petty hustling to being involved in upscale crimes and this landed him in and out of prison . . . Leaving a wife and two kids behind. Barnard hated how his brother and mother would sit and cry every time his father went to jail. He always promised he would never end up like his father (even though he looked just like him.)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Mar 22, 2012
• ISBN: 9781469186634

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Copyright © 2012 by Barnard Harris.

ISBN:          Softcover                                 978-1-4691-8662-7

                   Ebook                                      978-1-4691-8663-4

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

The Beginning of the Transformation

CHAPTER 4

The Transformation

CHAPTER 5

The Breaking Point

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

The Beginning of the End

CHAPTER 8

The House Barnard and Slo Poke Built

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 10

The Road to Destruction

CHAPTER 11

THE FINAL CHAPTER

In Loving Memory of Joe Slo Poke Motion Ruffin

God has allowed me to be blessed with the family that I have. My brothers have been a force to reckon with. Life with them has been a life of treasured moments that I will forever hold on to and remember. My sister… . the only thing I regret is that I was older and never got to spend time with her like my brothers. I thank God for her. Her smile warms up a room and her eyes light up the darkness. I love her very much. My mother… . I know she is the strongest woman in the world. The pain she has endured is enough to destroy. Her love is not measured. No amount can measure the love she has been in my life and I thank God for that. I now realize the choices I have made. Has made me who I am today. I have learned from my mistakes and I know if I had listened to my mother, I would have learned much earlier. I truly thank God for the change in my dad’s life since he returned from prison. If it had not been for him the last couple of years I don’t know where I would be.

In Loving Memory of

Lula Harris B.K.A Mrs. Pigg

I love you! You were truly the best thing that ever entered my life. I thank God for you. You will forever be missed but never forgotten…

Love your grandson,

Barnard Harris

People come into your life for many different reasons. Some bring about a betterment. Others enter your life only to bring you down. I greet them both because I learn to recognize the good in a person. If I sense that you mean me, no good I have learned to separate me from you.

I would like to thank those that played in being the motivating force in my life. I know God put you all there for a reason and/or a purpose and I love you all. Thanks for everything and to God be the glory…

Thanks to my wife Keshia Ruffin, whom I love, my mother that I adore, my sister, Jasmine Smith, Mrs. Sally Dot Steale, Gwen Butta Glover, Keisha Powe, Shamekia Ephriam, Kevin Kat Gandy, Rolanda Mrs. Trell Jones, Lana Black Stallion’ Lacey, Shell James, William Popeye Ruffin, Lee West, Kristen My Best Friend Gandy, Jason My Best Friend West, Dale Barlow, Christine Loper, Robert Pip Ephraim, Belinda Faye Ephraim, Ronald Everett, Carlos Rankin, Adrieanne My Best Friend" Ramey, my next door neighbor Neicy, my aunt Willie Mae McGill, Zantavia Ruffin, Jacquan White, Chauncy Carter , and also to B.O.S. Never Enough Love!

Life is a journey in which we have choices.

Sometimes we choose to do what’s right other times we choose to do

what’s wrong. However, in the end the choices we make work together

to make us who we become…

The characters in this book are fictional. However, if they hit close to home… . Sorry it’s just your conscious bothering you.

Thirty minutes from Laurel about ten minutes from Stateline, in a small town in Mississippi known for its money, power, lies, deceit and murder, drugs, sex, and manipulation, false imprisonments, and organizational corruption, it goes down!

INTRODUCTION

In a small town Mississippi town located 30 minutes from Laurel, things happen you would never believe. This small place is a small quiet mom and pop town. Barnard lived there with his mother and father. His father spent over half of Barnard’s life in and out of prison. This made his mother have to work extra hard to raise his brother and him. Times were hard and having to foot the bills and bring home the groceries were even harder. But thank God, for his father’s mother, Big Moma, and his aunt, Nee Nee, they took up his father’s slack. Being the only boy they had spoiled his father and this made him sorry and irresponsible. Coming from a home that was built on selling liquor and gambling Barnard’s father thought he did not have to work and he began to get by on scheming and gambling. He went from petty hustling to being involved in upscale crimes and this landed him in and out of prison… Leaving a wife and two kids behind. Barnard hated how his brother and mother would sit and cry every time his father went to jail. He always promised he would never end up like his father (even though he looked just like him.)

CHAPTER 1

Over the years, his mother and father’s relationship went bad and love turned to hate… Barnard began to catch the worse end of it all. His mother having hate for his father began to take it out on Barnard. Because he looked so much like his father, she would tell him, Look at you! You ain’t shit like your daddy! All you fit for is eating, shitting, and sleeping! Barnard was a strong child and he knew in his heart he would never be like his daddy. But the words hurt and left a stain in his heart and mind. He would never forget her saying it! The only good thing he had to hold on to was Big Moma and Aunt Nee Nee. These were his rocks that he knew he could lean on. Therefore, he spent every hour and second that he could with them.

Barnard knew that they made their living off the hard sweat of other people’s money… and they ran it like a business. Keeping books and inventory, and loaning money and charging interest on it. Barnard would sit and watch sometimes. He found himself telling his grandmother where she put her notebook or what pocket she put her five-dollar bill in.

When it was time to go home he hated it. Not only did he have to deal with his mother bull about his dad, now she had moved in with another man. This made Barnard not want any part of this household. He hated the new step dad and the new step dad hated him. All he did was get drunk and brag about what he bought for the house. Barnard and his little brother, Slo Poke were treated like shit by their step dad. Because of this, they made a pact to protect each other. As the years went by another child was born. Now Barnard had another brother. He was so fat and cute. They began calling him Fat Cat. Barnard loved Fat Cat.

However, shit constantly jumped off. Day after day, his stepfather would come home from work with that same old type of bullshit. He did not want Barnard to eat the food he bought or take a bath because he paid the bills. Barnard told Slo Poke, I am getting out of this house before I kill this nigga! I love you and Fat Cat. Barnard bent down and kissed Fat Cat then turned and walked out of the room with tears in his eyes. Barnard packed his clothes and moved in with Big Moma.

Barnard walked into her house carrying a bag and the only money he had, which was about $150. When Barnard made it to her house his Aunt Nee Nee asked, What are you doing out this time of night? Barnard replied, I am tired of this shit and I am staying here and never going home! Aunt Nee Nee smirked and said, Well come on in. Big Moma sleep but you can tell her tomorrow. On the way to the back he notices a box. What’s in the box? he asked. Just some clothes we are giving away. She answered. Barnard told her good night and that he would see her in the morning. Barnard went in the room and crashed across the bed.

Around 5:30 a.m. the sun came peaking through the curtains and Big Momma was up as usual cooking breakfast: smoke sausage, biscuits with pear preserves, rice, and a couple of pieces of chicken she had leftover from yesterday that she was steaming for herself. Nobody could do breakfast like Big Momma. Barnard got out of bed and put on his pants and shirt, washed his face, brushed his teeth and went into the kitchen Good morning, Big Momma. Big Momma looked around and said, Boy where in the fuck did you come from? Barnard told her, I stay with you now, Big Momma. Big Momma shook her head and said, I can’t get any rest. I am going to move so far away from here it’s gone take $15 and.50 cents for yall to buy a stamp to write me. Barnard smiled. He knew that was her way of saying he could stay forever. Barnard knew Big Momma was hardcore and she had to be that way to keep people from running over her. Many people owed her money and in order to collect it, she had to be ready to bust a bitch head at any minute. And Barnard knew Big Momma would act a damn fool!

Everybody sat at the table and began to eat… . except Big Momma. She sat in her rocking chair. She had two rocking chairs on the front porch and another in the dining room where she could sit and look out the window to see who was coming that way, so she would know how to greet them. Barnard knew that it wouldn’t be long before the day started and people would be in and out getting beer and liquor and borrowing money.

Nee Nee kept the books and was a bad motherfucker on them. She could go in and tell you how much you owe, the last time you paid, and how long you had been late… ..Without even looking at the books. And if Nee Nee said you were late yo, ass betta be coming in with that money! Big Momma would call her sister-in-law Aunt Mae or one of her nieces and straight to your job they was coming with one question only, Where the hell Big Momma’s money!

Big Momma’s shit was organized to the fullest. Her Brother, nephew and her cousin sold liquor, but her shit was the only operation on point. She even sold the police beer and liquor but they had to sit there and drink it. A lot of white people came there on Sunday to get something to drink. This opened many doors for her and helped to keep her son from getting a lot of time when he fucked up. Barnard watched and took notes in his head.

As the day got older people began to come in and out. Nee Nee sat on