Under His Protection

Cory smiled; he watched the squirrels disappear into the trees around. He had not meant to scare them off. He practiced his salutation to the sun yoga stance just as the sun appeared on the horizon.

There was something beautiful about the sun no poem had been able to describe. He watched it rising gradually like a balloon in the far-flung horizons of California and saw it spread its wings about the sky.

His radio buzzed, and Damien’s voice came in, announcing the night shift was over. Dogs barked in the distance excitedly, and soon, they came in sight noisily, sixteen of them; huge and alert, pulled by gun-toting guards in black.

“Morning Cory”

“Morning, Escobar. How was the night?”

“Went well”

“Cory my man, how did it go?”

“Hey Schowalzki, the night’s good”

There were no regular members of the security team. Everyone worked to achieve a common goal without a leader, Protecting Jasmine and her staff. Although all looked up to Cory for instructions, being that he was closer to Jasmine, he was always suggesting in a mild tone what to do instead of ordering around. Therefore, he earned their respect.

There was a news flash on the TV about a murder. Jasmine watched in rapt attention at the video of the bloodied corpse of a man on the floor. He looked like he was sawed to death. Police officers escorted his lover in handcuffs into a police car.

His lover had murdered Theodore “Black Money” Greene, the CEO of Woody Music gruesomely. Greene was a 22-year-old billionaire playboy with an unbeatable record of court cases, over his refusal to take responsibility for kids his numerous partners had for him.

“Finally, an end has come for him. Jealous lover?” Cory asked.

“Kind of, she heard another lady was having his baby and ended him with a jack saw,” Jasmine said.

“Pathetic and terrible” Cory replied.

“I do not understand why these young rappers do these. I mean, fuck like a thousand bitches in a week, and 300 of them come back with children for them. Black money is a patrimonial bastard, or whatever the word is for somebody who has too many children from different ladies”

“Didn’t expect Taronda Jones would be his end. The world was thinking he would marry her and leave it be” Cory opined.

“Black rappers rarely get married, Shakur was never married and Daada Young never got any lady down the aisle. They do not have any sense of matrimony; just keep having them pregnant”

“But why do the rich have problems with matrimony? Is it like some price to pay or something?” Cory asked

“Most Americans have problems keeping their marriages, only that the public and the media make a big deal out of the rich’s divorce story because they are ‘big guns’. I feel it’s the American culture; the culture of not giving a damn”

“Giving a Damn? That kinda sounds ambiguous”

“Yeah, most Americans are not ready to work hard to keep their marriages sailing smoothly. Our attitude to life is somewhat infantile; we seldom outgrow teenage age”

“Jasmine, you can’t be too sure”

“Cory I am fucking sure, as sure as S-U-R-E. We always look for the easy way to life, always unwilling to put in the hard work required and it affects our everyday life unfortunately. It’s either a lady who is willing to love and keep her man, has chosen the wrong man to keep, or vice versa”

“well, that’s ugly, since it is seriously going to take its toll on their kids. Especially the females” Cory said.

“Everyone of their kids would be affected, the boy and the girl. The boy later goes on to be irresponsible and the lady becomes a total bitch about her woes”

“It affects the girl child more than the boy child. Weaker vessel syndrome maybe” Jasmine added. Ry

“That’s very ‘unfeminist’ of you to say”

“Who told you I care about feminist ideologies? I feel if you are something, you should not force it on people. Like, why go about telling people ‘I am good looking, take a good look at me’ when you could just show it” Jasmine said and Cory burst into laughter.

Jasmine made a face at him and took her leave of the chair she sat on.

“It’s refreshing to talk about something intelligent with an intelligent man,” she said and Cory knew she had said that not to flatter him, she was being honest about it.

“Oh yeah, I think so too,” Cory said, uncertain what answer to give. It was obvious she was not getting what she wanted from Josh. The Idiot was a proud son of a b****h who cared about nobody but himself.

“I made chocolate cookies today using the recipe Juanita taught me, and, It tasted really good baby,” She said and stood up, she ambled away towards the kitchen and took out the cookie pan. She served it into a really big bowl and brought it to Cory. Cory took a bite and felt great. She had learned well.

“This is fantastic”

“You can say that again. I can now make Pizza, burgers, and bake cakes” she said, showing her dentition proudly like a young school girl who topped her class. Cory wondered what time she had to do all this.

“Very wonderful, you should go for a contest. Beat Bobby Flay”

“Am I joking with you, boy?” she said and laughed. “I would fail, and would only provide the content for the next day's headlines. ‘Charlatan CEO mistakes kitchen for the office’, ‘Jasmine Grant makes a total fool of herself’ Oh my God, thinking about it makes me shudder”

“Face your fears, be bold,” Cory said smiling.

“That’s not being brave really, it’s just being a super duper dumb ass m*****f***er,” she said and went into another bout of laughter.