Page 35 of Numb: Poetic's Pain
My interviewwith Tatum was today, so I decided to have Poetic and Tatum come over. Poetic used his camera man and I was fine with that. He explained to me that a lot of his staff knew what went down with him, but they were loyal enough to sign NDA’s. One of the main things they had to sign off on is to never open their mouths about Carol Peterson or what happened to him. I know a lot of them felt like they did the wrong thing while continuing to work for him and not opening their mouths, but at the same time Poetic explained to them that it worked out for him. He truthfully believed that if all of this came out when he was younger he may not be as successful as he is now. I kind of understood where he was coming from, but at the same time would he had been living a long life with pain and suffering with no family and friends. I know we became friends fast, but I truly believe he was the brother I needed and we were in this for the long haul now. I sat in my home office for about two hours. I needed some me time and some time to talk to the man upstairs. Through all of this I learned to put GOD first and that was another great thing I learned from Symphony Taylor. The light knocking on my office door brought me from my thoughts.
“Come on in.” I yelled, and in walked Poetic.
“What’s good man,” I said while getting up and pulling him in for a one arm hug.
“How you doing?” I asked.
“I’m good, the question is how are you?”
“I’m good, I just needed some time to process it all and send some prayers up for my strength today. How about you ready for this? I know it’s hard for us both, but you’ll be in that bitches presence.” I spoke being honest.
“Yeah, truthfully man, I don’t know how I’m going to feel or how this is going to turn out but I believe I got this. Hell, we got this we’ve came along way and it’s time. Plus, I need to get this shit done so I can love Tatum the way she needs to be loved. I need this to run my company the way it needs to be ran, and last but not least I need to be the voice of others.” A crept up on my face and I had to pull mt bro in for a hug.
“My nigga, you sound like someone that’s in love, someone that’s in therapy, last but not least my bro that’s ready to live that happily ever after life and I’m fucking with it. I’m so happy for you bro, you don’t understand. When we first met I saw the pain in your eyes, but I just didn’t know why. Then I talked to Carol Peterson and put two and two together so fast right then and there I knew we needed each other. I really appreciate you for so many reasons, you may not understand but eventually you will. We needed this friendship.”
“Oh, trust me I get it now, I never in life appreciated friendship like I do now. I’ve always believe that things happen for a reason and our friendship happened for this very reason, to finally get this old bitch out of our lives. So, let’s get this shit on and popping we got some money to make when this shit is done.” He didn’t have to tell me twice. Poetic left out and I said one more prayer before I headed out to my family room where everyone was set up for the interview.
* * *
I was sitting herepalms sweating nerves all over the place, but one thing about me was I was going to get it together as soon as I looked across at my beautiful wife telling me to breath and I got this. Although they were in my house it was a screen I was sitting behind whereas though they couldn’t see me all that could be seen was a dark figure. The count down had begun and it was just about time for the interview.
“Hello viewers for those of you who don’t know I’m Tatum Reece from Media Frenzy and today we have an exclusive interview. Some things we will discuss will be sensitive and not for viewers under the age of sixteen. Today we have childhood actor Desmond Collins who I know for sure a lot of you wondered what happen to him since his career was short lived. Well today we have Desmond Collins himself to tell us all we need to know about his acting career.”
“Hello Desmond Collins, introduce yourself to the audience.”
“Hello everyone, my name is Desmond Collins and I was born here in New Jersey until my mama moved me away to keep me safe. So, she thought that’s what she was doing, but it did nothing but bury something deep inside of me that needed to be exposed.”
“Now Desmond, I know this can be a lot and if you need me to stop and take a break at any time let me know.”
“OK, no problem.”
“Alright, so tell us why did your mama move you away?”
“So, it started when I was about eleven, I think maybe ten and it lasted til I was about thirteen, when it got to be too much and I had to tell my mama thinking she was going to save me.”
“What started at the age of ten or eleven?” Tatum asked and it seemed like my heart was jumping out of my chest because this was the first time I was going to get into details.
“The first time Carol Peterson touched me.” The sound effects of folks’ oh’s and ah’s could be heard, before Tatum continued. I hesitated, but my wife gave me a head nod letting me know I can continue.
“So, Desmond let me clarified what you just said. Carol Peterson Americans icon, celebrity mogul touched you inappropriately?”
“Yes Tatum, that’s exactly what I’m saying.” Then she did the sound effects again before she spoke.
“I know this can be hard but can you get into details. Those are some pretty heavy accusations.” Tatum spoke.
“Yes indeed they are, but it’s something I can no longer hold on too. I need to get this out to be a better man to my family. I can no longer let Carol Peterson live rent free in my head.”
“Alright, well let’s get into it. Ladies and gentlemen Desmond is going to get into details of what happen the first time then he will break down how it continued in a shorter story. So, please stay quiet and let him tell his story.”
“I remember all so well how excited me and my mama was that I had got accepted to be in Carol’s new series,Camera Kids.I was doing so well then about six months into the series getting out good. She started doing weird stuff that I wasn’t sure about. I was young and I just knew I was a star and we would forever have money and I didn’t have to worry about me and my mama starving. I never knew who my daddy was so it was always me and my mama and we struggled. So, becoming a star was big for me and her. Carol took advantage of that, when she saw that we struggled and she was the best thing that happened to us at that time she went with it. One day my mama was about to drop me off, but her and Carol had a meeting first. I didn’t know what it was for back then, but I remember our lights being off, but when we got back home they were back on. So, now that I think back she must have asked for an advance or something. After that shit got weird. Carol’s exact words were,If you want to make your mommy happy and keep the lights on you won’t tell her about our private time.And I was ok with that because I hated seeing my mama cry because we needed shit.” I said, causing Tatum to do a bleep sound to cut out the curse word.
“Wow, so she used your vulnerability and took advantage?”
“That’s exactly what she did.”
“Ok and what happened after Carol sad that?”
“She took a drink out of a glass that had some brown liquor in it. Once she finished her drink she had a blue comfy couch that we always sat on and she sat close to me. Then she looked at me and said,Desmond, are you going to be a good boy and my best actor and keep this meeting between me and you.I looked at her and nodded my head. Carol then unbutton my pants and eased her hands in my underwear and begin to play with my private part. I had no clue what the fuck was going on. I just went along with it because I knew we wouldn’t be poor or struggling anymore. I wined a little bit because I was so confused, and Carol said,Desmond, stop crying like a baby. I only have room for big boy actors on my set. You either stop crying or I’ll tell your mama you’re not going to be a big star anymore.So, I stopped crying and let her do whatever she wanted to do. It started out as her just playing with me. Then her putting her mouth on me. Then when I reached thirteen that’s when she started making me penetrate her and I had just about enough after that I couldn’t take it anymore.” The room was quiet and nothing could be heard but sniffling. I held up pretty good though I had some tears but I was able to control myself.
