Chapter 3 - Changed Locks
Malik slept less than two hours.
At seven the next morning, he was awake on Yvette’s couch watching sunlight creep across the carpet.
His work badge still hung from yesterday’s hoodie.
He had never felt less like himself.
At eight-thirty, he returned home with Yvette.
Raymond’s SUV was parked in the driveway.
Malik climbed the steps.
His key entered the front lock.
It did not turn.
He tried again.
Nothing.
Yvette’s expression changed.
“She changed the lock?”
Malik stared at the key.
“They changed the lock overnight.”
He rang the bell.
Raymond opened the door.
Not Tanya.
Raymond stood there in black sweatpants, already wearing those expensive sneakers.
“You got something to say?”
Malik’s hand tightened around the useless key.
“I came for clothes.”
Raymond leaned against the frame.
“You left.”
“I slept somewhere else.”
“You said you’d rather pay a stranger.”
“And somehow that means you own this house now?”
Yvette stepped forward.
“Move, Raymond.”
“This don’t concern you.”
“It concerned me the second you started guarding my sister’s front door like you bought it.”
Raymond’s face darkened.
Then Tanya appeared behind him.
Her curls were uncombed.
She looked exhausted.
“Malik.”
He held up his key.
“You changed the lock?”
Tanya folded her arms.
“You walked out.”
“For one night.”
“You disrespected me.”
“So the punishment is locking me out of the house I paid to live in?”
Raymond muttered, “There he goes with that money again.”
Malik looked at him.
“You should be the last person tired of hearing about money.”
“Enough,” Tanya snapped.
Yvette pointed toward the hallway.
“He’s getting his things.”
Tanya hesitated.
Then stepped aside.
Malik entered.
The house felt different.
Nothing had moved, yet he suddenly understood how conditional his place had always been.
Upstairs, his bedroom door was closed.
His key still worked there.
He opened it.
The college savings jar sat on the dresser.
The lid was crooked.
Malik stopped.
He crossed the room quickly and dumped the contents onto his bed.
Twenty-dollar bills.
Tens.
Fives.
He counted.
Then counted again.
“Four hundred and twenty.”
Yvette stood in the doorway.
“You said around six hundred.”
“It was six-twenty last week.”
“Are you sure?”
Malik looked at her.
“I count it every Sunday.”
Yvette’s jaw tightened.
“Tanya!”
Malik caught her arm.
“No.”
“She took money from your room?”
“We don’t know that.”
“Who else has access?”
“Mom has the spare key.”
“And Raymond?”
Malik looked toward the hallway.
He did not know.
That frightened him more than certainty.
He began packing clothes.
On his desk sat the Jefferson Community College brochure.
SPRING ENROLLMENT NOW OPEN
He folded it and placed it inside his backpack.
Then he noticed an envelope beneath the brochure.
His name was printed on it.
Malik Johnson — Financial Aid Information
It had been opened.
He had not opened it.
He pulled out the letter.
A checklist explained FAFSA contributor requirements.
Malik stared toward the hallway.
His mother had opened his mail.
When he came downstairs, Tanya was alone in the kitchen.
Raymond had gone outside.
Malik placed the opened letter on the table.
“You opened this?”
Tanya looked away.
“It came to my house.”
“It had my name on it.”
“I’m your mother.”
“I’m twenty.”
“And still living under my roof.”
“Not this morning, apparently.”
Tanya flinched.
Yvette stayed near the doorway.
Malik placed the savings jar beside the letter.
“Two hundred dollars is missing.”
Tanya looked genuinely startled.
“What?”
“My college jar.”
“I didn’t touch that.”
“Did Raymond?”
“No.”
“Does he have my room key?”
“No.”
The answer came too quickly.
Malik heard it.
So did Yvette.
Tanya rubbed her forehead.
“Malik, please. This is getting ridiculous.”
“What’s ridiculous is I don’t know if I can believe you.”
That hurt her.
He saw it.
For one second, he wanted to take the words back.
Then he remembered the car payment.
Tanya lowered her voice.
“You think I’m stealing from you now?”
“I think you lied about where my rent was going.”
“I used household money where it was needed.”
“Raymond’s car isn’t the household.”
“He drives me places. He picks up groceries.”
“So do buses.”
“Don’t be smart.”
“Why did you start charging me right after he moved in?”
Silence.
Tanya’s eyes flickered toward Yvette.
Malik noticed.
“So Aunt Yvette was right.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to.”
Tanya sat.
“Raymond helped when things were bad.”
“What things?”
“The mortgage.”
Yvette straightened.
“What about the mortgage?”
Tanya shot her a look.
“Not now.”
“No,” Yvette said. “Now.”
Tanya’s hands trembled.
For the first time, Malik saw something beneath the defensiveness.
Fear.
“We fell behind.”
“How far?” Yvette asked.
“Three months.”
“When?”
“Two years ago.”
“Before or after Raymond moved in?”
Tanya did not answer.
Malik stared.
“You charged me because the house was behind?”
“I charged you because you were working full-time and you needed to contribute.”
“Those are different answers.”
Tanya’s face tightened.
“Both can be true.”
Malik picked up his bag.
Yvette lifted his second duffel.
At the doorway, Tanya said, “If you leave with everything, don’t come back expecting this room to wait forever.”
Malik stopped.
He looked over his shoulder.
“My room?”
Tanya said nothing.
Malik glanced at Raymond’s shopping bags.
Then at the changed lock.
Then back at his mother.
“I paid eighty-eight hundred dollars to find out I never had a room.”
He walked outside.
After the door shut, Raymond returned from the driveway.
He tossed Tanya’s new house key onto the table.
“You let him take the jar?”
Tanya turned slowly.
“What did you just say?”
Raymond froze.
Tanya’s eyes moved toward the stairs.
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Then back to him.
“How did you know the jar was part of what he took?”
