The Misadventures of Janice Brantle
2009 Damn I though I was going to put away my pen!
A wolf in Sheep’s Clothing Part II
Hey all. Where was I? Ah Yes, Mr. Wolf. Yeah he was the man of my dreams. I remember the day he endeared himself to my heart. We were sitting enjoying some wine and just talking, sharing life experiences. He really opened up to me. He told me a story about his ex-girlfriend. He told me they were together for about four years. He said he worshiped the ground she walked on. “She was so beautiful” he would say. I saw in his eyes he really loved her. Yeah, yeah I know what y’all are thinking why he talkin’ bout his ex-girlfriend if he tryin’ to get with me?” I see the necks and eyeballs rolling. Keep reading!!
“One day when I came home, I saw her on the couch and she wasn’t moving. She was really sick. I rushed her to the hospital. They told me she had cancer. I was devastated.”
“Wow” was all I could say at that moment.
He continued, “I knew she was sick but I never knew she had cancer. She didn’t tell me.”
“Why not?” I asked.
“I’m not sure why but it was really hard on me. I had asked her to marry me several times and she kept saying no. I couldn’t figure out why she would do that.”
“Well maybe she didn’t want to burden you with her sickness.” I said tenderly.
“Yeah, I guess so. I took care of her for seven months before she died.” He said and looked away suddenly but just before he looked a way a lone tear slid down his left cheek. He excused himself and went to the restroom, I gathered to pull himself back together.
I said to myself what a sensitive, wonderful, kind and caring man. My heart ached for his sadness. Then and there I knew he was a good man, someone that I wanted to get to know better.
For three months we spent 99.9% of our time together. We hung out at different places every weekend. He wined and dined me. He called me every morning just to say good morning have a good day at work. What a dream. I couldn’t believe my luck.
One day we were riding around just enjoying each other’s company. We ended up at the mall. He stopped in front of Jared’s. Y’all know the commercial, the lady has the huge diamond rock on her finger and she whispers to her girlfriends, “He went to Jared’s” and she has this huge Cheshire grin on her face.
“Why are we stopping here?” I ask acting all cool, calm and collected but inside giddy as a school girl!
He smiles and says, “Just get out of the car.”
I immediately obey! We looked at countless bridal sets. He said he wanted to see what kind of taste I had in rings. We had so much fun. I was like in heaven. He wasn’t the cheap type, Thank you Lawd! I said to myself.
“So Mr. Wolf (I know y’all are dying to know the real name since he went to Jared’s but can’t do it and besides keep reading!!) are you implying I’m the marrying kind?” I asked.
He looked deeply into my eyes and said “Absolutely” and sealed that statement with a kiss. I was a goner!
Suddenly, things changed. It was like night and day. We went out one day back to the place we meet. I was working late so I met him up there. I walk in and I immediately saw him standing there. I come up to him and say hello. He was a little standoffish. I ignored it. I tussled his hair and said “I see you got a hair cut. It looks nice.”
“Thanks.” He mumbles.
“I’m a head to the bathroom. I’ll be right back.” I said. On my way to the bathroom I passed the bar. There was a guy I knew, dated back in the day sitting there. I hadn’t seen him in a long time so I stopped to say hello. He hugged me. We had a two minute conversation and then I headed to the bathroom.
I came back from the bathroom and went to stand by Mr. Wolf. He had mad attitude. I was determined to have a good time. We hadn’t been out in a long time so I wanted to listen to the band and enjoy myself. “Hey, how long have you been here?” I ask in a light hearted tone.
“I got here about 20 minutes ago. I’m ready to go.”
“Oh” I say. “I just got here. Let’s have at least one drink.”
Mr. Wolf goes to the bar and get’s our drinks. Now all you ladies know if a beautiful woman is standing alone in a club the ugliest man is going to come up to her and try to holler! So ugmo comes up to me and gave me his best tired line! I was polite though. I said hello. Told him I was with someone and he kept it moving. Mr. Wolf was standing at the bar mean mugging me the entire time ugmo was in my face. I just shook my head.
About 5 minutes later Mr. Wolf brings my drink to me. He hands it to me and walks away. He goes about feet to my right standing right in front of someone’s table blocking their view. The girl next to me says, “Is that your date, I could have moved over some more.”
“No that’s ok, he’s trippin, there was enough room for him” and I kept drinking my drink and enjoying the music. My old friend stopped as he was passing me to leave and was saying good bye to me. All of a sudden I see Mr. Wolf slam his wine glass down and head out the door. Once my friend left, I tried calling Mr. Wolf and he wouldn’t answer. I went to the door to see if he was still out there but he was not. I went back in and enjoyed my drink. I listened to the music a little bit and then I headed on home sadden by the fact that I had no clue what was wrong with Mr. Wolf.
When I got home Mr. Wolf was sitting in my driveway waiting for me. I pull up, open my garage, pull in and cut the engine. Mr. Wolf get’s out of the car, comes into the garage. I open the door to my house and turn around and look at him just standing there. “Well are you coming or staying out here?”
He comes in, no sooner the door closes, and Mr. Wolf proceeds to try to curse me out. The operative word here was “try”.
“So who was that all up in your face at the bar?”
“A friend that I hadn’t seen in a long time and all I did was say hello.”
“Y’all were talking for a long time. You were all hugged up on him. What, did you sleep with him?”
“Like I said he was just a friend. I never slept with him. I hadn’t seen him in ages. We only had a two minute conversation.” Yeah I am surprised at me too. There was no justification needed here. I didn’t do anything wrong and damn we were in my house!!! But y’all know how we do, when we think we’re in LOVE. We try to placate our man.
“I will not be disrespected.” He said. I looked at him and you know my horns came out then!
“What?” I said with as much attitude I could muster. “What the hell do you mean disrespect? If any one was disrespected it was me when you slammed your drink down on the bar and walked your ass out of the club like you were He-man or some shit!” Y’all know I am really angry when I start cussin’ like a sailor!!!
He looked at me in disbelief. Everything up until this point was all roses and sunshine. “Don’t curse at me. I am not cursing at you.” He said like a pussy. That should have been my first sign that he was a no good, back stabbing, son-of-a-bitch, oh wait I’m getting head of myself.
“What ever, you can get the fuck out!”
He stormed out, got in his car and went home. I went to bed thinking another one bites the dust. Now of course I want all y’all to think I’m all hard and I didn’t cry cause anther ship would come in and all that woman power shit!!! You know what happened. I cried!!!! There I said it yes I did.
Mr. Wolf called me the next day. He apologized profusely and said that he never wanted to spend a night with out me again. He said he was just so in love with me that he just lost it when he saw another man hug me. All I could say was ahh. So what’s a girl to do? I took him back.
Mr. Wolf endeared himself to my friends and me. I was really starting to think that I could spend the rest of my life with this man. Then the unthinkable happened. (I know y’all are on the edge of your seats but wait a minute. We ain’t got to the good stuff yet!) My sweetie got into a terrible car accident!
He had someone call me from the accident scene. My heart stopped when she described what happened. All I kept thinking was Lord please let him be all right. When I arrived at the accident scene, I almost lost it. The car was demolished. It went over two guardrails and was barely stopped by a small tree before it went over a cliff. He was gone. The ambulance had already taken him to the hospital. I was in a panic.
I finally arrived at the hospital. I saw him hooked up to all these machines. I came close to him. He assured me he was all right but in a lot of pain. He looked at me and told me not to cry, that he was glad I was there for him and assured me he would be all right.
They were taking him for ex-rays. I told him to give me his personal items. He freaked out. He told me that the hospital staff told him he needed to lock his stuff up. Nonsense I told him and took his personal items and cell phones while he went to ex-ray. I got to thinking, why the hell would it matter. He was just in a bad car accident, damn the personal Items, what was the big deal.
So ladies, what do you think I did next? Only what any logical woman would do, went through the cell phone of course! I check his voice mail. Some chipper bimbo left a message stating that she missed his call this morning and to call her back. So I called her back. She was so excited.
“Hey, how are you? Sorry I missed your call this morning!”
“Ah who is this?” I said
“Who is this?” The girl said with a little of the wind let out of her chipper balloon.
“His girlfriend.”
“Oh ah (y’all know what came next, the back pedal) ah we ah…”
“Who is this I said again.”
“Ah this is (bleep) can’t reveal names here. We just met nothing is going on we’re just friends.
“Where did you meet and when did you meet.” I said.
She didn’t answer. She hung up on me. I immediately called one of my girls and told here what happened. She told me to just get through the car accident and bring it up later. I obeyed. I didn’t want him upset any more then he was.
They brought him back from ex-ray and they still had some more tests they had to run so I didn’t go back into the room with him. All of a sudden the nurse comes out and tells me that he was having a fit about his stuff and that he wanted her to bring it to him. I was really perplexed by that.
We finally get him out of the hospital. I make him stay with me so I can take care of him. I nursed him back to health. For three days I waited on him hand and foot, making sure he had everything he needed and making sure he was totally comfortable. But on that fourth day, a sista was worn out. I had to go to work just to get some rest!
While at work, I decided to make sure all my credit card payments went through. I like to pay them off in full. I looked that this one particular credit card. It still had a balance. I could have sworn I paid it off in full. There was a cash advance on the card the day we spent at the hospital, so I know I didn’t use it. It was made that morning. I call Mr. Wolf.
“Hey didn’t we spend all day at the hospital on this day?”
“Yeah we sure did. That was the day of my car accident.”
“Well, there’s a cash advance on my credit card. I know I didn’t make.”
“You know I always tell you to be careful about your credit cards. You always lose them. You need to be more careful.”
Now you know I didn’t want to hear that shit. Somebody out there has my credit card. I opened my full statement. I notice cash advances and gas purchases down in the Union City area. I don’t go in to that area. It was slowly dawning on me. Mr. Wolf works down in that area. The cash advance on the day of the accident was made on Memorial Drive. Mr. Wolf was in that area that morning coaching with one of my girlfriends’ husbands. But what sealed the deal and made me feel without a doubt it was Mr. Wolf; he made two cash advances a week before at the corner gas station by my house. I asked him for money for groceries. Yes ladies, I know what you’re thinking if that Nigga’s at the house 24-7he should automatically give you money for groceries and a few other things. Yeah, yeah I know. But I asked him. He gave me a $100. I was cool. We stopped at the same place that night to get cash as he needed cash to park.
I told you I was going to make you say that Mutha fucka! But wait. I’m not finished yet. I gave him every opportunity to fess up and say “Baby I’m sorry, it was me. I took your card. I was a little strapped for cash.” He never did. So I did what any good woman would do. I started digging. If he was a thief, he had some other shit to hide.
In matter of minutes going through the overnight bag he had at my house, I found an old pay stub he had. It was mailed to him from his previous employer from Jacksonville to him here in Georgia. It was dated February ’07. He told me he had only been here for a few months. That mail stamp proved he had been here well over a year.
So if he lied about that shit, you know he lied about other shit. I got on the internet. In matter of minutes, I found out that the Nigga had been married to his so called dying girlfriend the one that he told me refused to marry him. I found no death certificate or divorce decree therefore I’m thinking STILL MARRIED!!! I also found out the Nigga had 3 kids instead of two. The youngest one still under the age of thirteen, which shouts- CHILD SUPPORT! Oh and by the way that job that sent the old check stub was not the say job that he worked at here- so can we say – NEW EMPLOYEE – NO THIRTEEN YEARS ON THE JOB! CAN WE SAY LIAR BOYS AND GIRLS!
Now you’re probably thinking you can say that mutha fucka right now, but wait there’s more! Ok so I kick him out of my life as he was leaving my house, he steals back the diamond necklace he bought me for Christmas and the diamond tennis bracelet he bought me for Valentines Day. I called him immediately after I discovered they were gone. The bastard had the nerve to say no he didn’t take them because he wasn’t an Indian giver! Can you believe that shit!
Ok now y’all are ready to say that mutha fucka, but wait there’s more! So I just let it go, gone out of my life. I say to myself enough is enough. Then he had the balls to call me.
“Hello.” I say curious as to what he wanted and really wanting him to admit what he’d done so I could have some closure.
“I just called to hear your voice.”
What I say to myself, is he crazy? How about an apology. “Why can’t you admit what you did to me?” I finally said.
“I don’t want to argue. I was just calling cause I miss you and love you.”
“Miss me? How do you love someone and steal from them can you tell me that?”
“I do love you and I will sit down and talk to you face to face about this. I can’t talk right now.”
“Ok when?”
“Tomorrow.”
“What time?”
“Ten”
“I won’t be on my side of town until 10:30”
“No 10 AM.”
“No I got a routine I have to keep and I will not be able to do it until after I get off work.”
“So do I and I will not be going out of my way that late at night.” He said.
Now y’all know a sista was livid right. My horns really came out. “Really, you’re the one that caused this mess. You’re the one that stole my credit card and jewelry. I tell you what, just give me the money that you owe me and my jewelry back and we can call it even.” He hung up on me.
Now you can say that mutha fucka!!!!!
Ok. I was hot. But I had to calm down and think about this shit. I got to thinking; I’m pretty good with words. So I created this flyer. It had his handsome smiling face on it. The heading had his name on it and underneath his name was the caption: THIEF. Underneath his picture were all the lies he told me. It was a warning to all the ladies in Atlanta that if they ran into him to beware! Yes y’all I am that crazy to make flyers and hand them to every woman on the street. Oh maybe I shouldn’t be admitting that, but what the hell!
The next day I email him a copy of my handy work and told him if he didn’t give me my money then I am going to start sending the flyer to the people at his job, his good pastor in Jacksonville and his daughters so they can know what they daddy’s doing in the ATL!
He emailed me back and told me I was childish and that he put a check in the mail for me. I emailed him back and called him a liar cause didn’t have a checking account and he was at work and wasn’t no way he put a check in the mail from the time that I talked to him Sunday night till this morning. Again I requested my money in money order form and if I didn’t get a confirmation to this email within 2 minutes I was going to email the flyer to his boss. Two minutes went by. He did not respond to me. So I emailed the flyer to his boss! Ok I can hear the collective DAMN’s out there. Yes I did. I emailed the flyer to his boss. You should have seen how fast that Negro responded. Cursing me out and telling me how childish I was. I simply and calmly emailed him back a list of people who will get the flyer next if he didn’t have my money that evening in my mailbox waiting for me when I got home.
That night, I got home, my heart racing praying that this Nigga gave me my money because I really didn’t want to act a fool. I opened my front door and there were two money orders made out to me, payment in full, and an admission of guilt. Life is grand!
Now let’s get serious for a moment. I share this story in hopes of helping other’s not to fall into the same trap I did. If your gut is telling you something is off, go with it. Your gut never lies. If you think something is not quite right, check him out on the internet. Fellas this goes for you too. The following are some websites that can help you check out your potential mate and help you with identity theft if you should have your credit card or social security stolen:
· www.dirtsearch.org
· Any county public website such as Dekalb county. (You will need to know what county they live in)
· www.123people.com
· http://www.briankf.com/ for protection against Identity theft (this is a friend of mine. I have the Identity theft shield- it works I’ve used it and it’s very inexpensive.)
As always be safe out there. Enjoy life, enjoy your dates and eagerly await my next Misadventure cause you know it’s coming!!! PEACE