Title: "Adversity On Gilman: Part 2 of 12"        

         The following day, it was bright in Berkeley, California. The winds had died down from the usual chill that the city had been previously encountering. The sun was shining down, providing temporary warmth on the streets before it would have to give way to the cold of the moon.

         At the Gilman apartments, Carenthia sat inside of Mrs. Jenkins' apartment. Her jacket was off. She was relaxed in a T-shirt and jeans as she sat on the couch, enjoying some coffee with Mrs. Jenkins.

         Mrs. Jenkins was her normal self. She was a little over twenty years older than Carenthia. Her style definitely shown her age to anyone who would pass by her. Her long hair was done up in a bun atop her head. Metal rimmed glasses sat atop her face. And a long, blue jean dress completed her look.

         The two sat in the living room, each sipping their glass of coffee and recollecting on the holiday season that they had just went through. Carenthia had not had a chance to share about her encounter with Zero to Mrs. Jenkins, though. She knew Mrs. Jenkins, as well as a few others Carenthia had met in Berkeley, despised Zero more than anyone else in the city. It was this that made her a little hesitant to share the episode with Mrs. Jenkins.

         She looked over as Mrs. Jenkins. She was sipping her coffee. Carenthia was a little reluctant to say it, but she decided to go ahead. "Do you still remember that Zero guy that lives beside us?"

         Mrs. Jenkins almost choked on her sip of coffee. She hated that man more than any other. She jumped at any chance she could get to condemn him. "The little rebellious hoodlum. I wish I could say I had forgotten about him. Why, if you only knew some of the stores I've heard about him..." She raised her cup for another sip.

         Carenthia decided to go ahead and take that spot to finish her thought. "I met him last night." She waited to hear Mrs. Jenkins' response.

         Mrs. Jenkins took her time on this reply, though. She didn't want to burn her tongue in useless haste like she almost done the last time. "Lords heavens girl! Are you okay? He didn't try anything with you, did he? Lord knows you can't trust him at all. Did he try anything? Of course, you avoided any conversation with him, didn't you?"

         She was actually the first to speak when the two had met. But this was the first conversation she and Mrs. Jenkins had had about Zero in a while. She had some insight on the man now, as well. "He was actually very polite," she said. She looked over at Mrs. Jenkins.

         Mrs. Jenkins didn't even look back to her. She just looked down at her coffee and shook her head. "They always are." She then looked over to Erica. "That's why you can't trust them."

         Carenthia wasn't certain of what Mrs. Jenkins was talking about. Was she talking about the same person she had met? "No, I think he sincerely was."

         Mrs. Jenkins leaned over and put her hand on Carenthia's arm. "Trust me, Caren." She looked into her eyes. "I know how people like him think. You didn't talk to him for a long period of time, did you?" She leaned back over in her chair.

         Carenthia shrugged her shoulders as she sipped her coffee. "Maybe five minutes. It wasn't a very long time."

         Mrs. Jenkins had just taken another sip from her coffee. "Well don't encourage it. He'll just lure you in." She sat her coffee down on the table and turned to completely face Carenthia. "Stay away from him with all of your might. He might try to make these random encounters happen purposely. Then, before you know it, you could be in the trunk of a car heading to San Jose." Mrs. Jenkins looked ridiculously intent on being serious as she said that.

         But Mrs. Jenkins seemed to be wrong from the impression Carenthia received. She was trying to tabulate exactly what was being said to her, and what she noticed from just a brief conversation with him. "I don't think it was like that. He was the first to leave. In fact, it seemed as if he hardly even noticed that we were talking."

         Mrs. Jenkins threw her hand up, as if to instantly dismiss everything Carenthia had just told her. "It's a trick they use. They'll make it to where you start chasing them."

         He didn't even act like he wanted to talk to her. Why would he want her chasing him? In fact, Carenthia thought, it was very apparent that other ordeals came later on in that night that would probably make him forget he even met her. But should she mention that to Mrs. Jenkins? She pondered the idea for a few moments, but realized that Mrs. Jenkins was probably the one woman she could trust the most in this town.

         She looked back to Mrs. Jenkins and saw that Mrs. Jenkins was just sitting there, looking at her. So, she decided to tell her. "I don't think I was really what was on his mind. A little later in the night, I walked out to the balcony and accidentally overheard his conversation down below with that Erica girl."

         Oh, Mrs. Jenkins knew Erica. How could she forget her? What a rude child she was. Her and Zero made a complete pair of rebellious figures. "He's already tricked her," she said. "Before she knows it, he'll either have her pregnant or dead. He's like that. You can't trust him." She cocked her head in assurance of what she had just said.

         Carenthia's eyes popped open a little more. Pregnant? Did she know already, or was she actually right about Zero? She wasn't sure, but Carenthia took it slowly in her response. "Well, according to their conversation, I think she actually is pregnant."

         Mrs. Jenkins threw her arms up in confirmation. Oh, she knew she had everyone and everything figured out. "See, what did I tell you! He has already got her pregnant. The poor child. Who knows what will happen to her next? But I do know what I'm talking about when it comes to people like him."

         Wait, Carenthia didn't say that it was Zero's. How did...? Did Mrs. Jenkins know more than Carenthia thought she might? Carenthia was a little confused. She tried to take up for Zero slightly, though. "But...that's his friend's girlfriend. I think his name is Matt. It would be his child, not Zero's. I'm not saying that it's Zero's child." She took a deep breath. "I'm just saying that she might be pregnant now."

         Mrs. Jenkins knew that she was onto something now. Carenthia had just given her a few details. She could fill in the rest quite easily. "Well, did you ever hear her say Matt's name?"

         Carenthia thought about it. She had heard them talking below. Did she? She thought hard. The night before seemed like some sort of a dream. But no, actually, she hadn't heard Matt's name mentioned. Not, at least not in reference of it being his. "Well... only when she told Zero not to tell him." Maybe it really was Zero's? Carenthia wasn't sure, but Mrs. Jenkins was certainly making it easier to believe that.

         Bingo! Mrs. Jenkins, of course, was right from the start. That was what she knew in her head, at least. She took a quick sip from her coffee and said, "See...they're covering it up. It's Zero's child all right. I can tell that much already, and I'm only going by what you have told me."

         Was she really right? Umm... uh... Carenthia's mind stuttered. "But..."

         Mrs. Jenkins confirmed anything that Carenthia might doubt. "Caren," she said, using a variation of Carenthia's name that she liked to use at times, "I've been in this life for almost sixty years. I know how people act when pregnancy is brought up."

         It wasn't right. Zero didn't seem like that kind of person. "But it's his friend's girlfriend," said Carenthia.

         Did it matter? Of course not. Mrs. Jenkins knew that the morals of this nation were going down. "I know how some people think. People like this Zero guy doesn't care if it's his friend's girlfriend. They just have just in their eyes."

         Carenthia was having a hard time convincing herself if it was really true. "I don't know..."

         Mrs. Jenkins, again, leaned forward and placed her hand on Carenthia's arm. It was her of letting someone know that she was right and that they needed to trust her. "Trust me on this," she said. "I am one person who you can trust. And when I say that, be sure to stay away from this Zero fella before you wind up in the same situation as Erica has."

         She leaned back into her chair, intent on dropping this conversation. Mrs. Jenkins knew that she was right. Better for Carenthia to let it soak in so she would come to agree with her, too.

         She raised her coffee mug up in the air towards Carenthia. "Now come on," she said, "let's not let this man spoil our coffee and conversation."

* * * * *

         Later in the day, Carenthia had decided to go do some grocery shopping. Mrs. Jenkins had told her a few items she needed, so Carenthia said that she would pick them up for her while she was at the store.

         Unfortunately, after checking out and loading her groceries in her car, it was then that Carenthia had realized that she had forgotten all about Mrs. Jenkins' items. Her mind had, instead, been stuck back to the conversation she had had earlier with the woman and Zero and company.

         She looked around at the front of the store, looking for a pay phone to give Mrs. Jenkins a quick call. There up front beside the entrance doors, she saw two. She locked her car and walked back to the pay phones.

         After dialing the number and explaining the situation to Mrs. Jenkins, she needed to go ahead and find out exactly what it was that she had needed. "Now what did you want me to pick up for you?" She listened as Mrs. Jenkins told her.

         "Laundry detergent, bread, peanut butter, and a bag of apples?" Carenthia repeated it back to Mrs. Jenkins to make sure she had the list in her head.

         "Yes ma'am..." she responded to something Mrs. Jenkins told her.

         "No, that wasn't it..." Well, yeah, she had forgot about the items due to her thinking of other things (and conversations).

         "I'm well aware of that, and no." Why was Mrs. Jenkins bringing Zero back up to talk about? Wasn't she the one who wanted to change topics earlier? All Carenthia wanted to do was get her groceries.

         Carenthia tapped her foot impatiently as Mrs. Jenkins carried on over the phone. "No, I'm not going to be going by Zero's house." Was this talk really necessary?

         "No, he isn't going to get me pregnant." Carenthia looked off to the road. Mrs. Jenkins had obviously thought about this subject more since Carenthia had left. But it was a little annoying having to hear someone second-guess everything that you might do.

         "I don't know if he got Erica pregnant or not." Didn't Mrs. Jenkins know for sure? "I just heard Zero and Erica talking about it last night. I don't know the full extent of it."

         Carenthia listened as Mrs. Jenkins responded. After hearing it, though, Carenthia concluded that this subject just needed to wait till she got back home. They could pour some more coffee and discuss it or something. "Mrs. Jenkins, no. I thought you had wanted to drop this subject earlier. I go to the store and forget something that you wanted. I call you about it and you bring that story back up."

         Mrs. Jenkins obviously said something to the effect that what Carenthia said offended her. Carenthia apologetically said, "Ok, ok. I'm sorry, too." But she still wanted to end the discussion. "Can we just leave this lower level love triangle alone and let them take care of it?"

         Suddenly, someone from behind tapped her on the shoulder. It caused Carenthia to jump slightly.

         Carenthia told Mrs. Jenkins, "Hold on..." and turned around to see whom it was. But when she turned, she was suddenly face to face with... Matt Lee, the boyfriend of Erica who they had just been talking about. Carenthia's face flushed, fearing how much Matt had heard of what she told Mrs. Jenkins.

         Carenthia quickly spoke into the phone. "I have to go. I'll see you at the apartment." She hung up before Mrs. Jenkins could even respond.

         Matt stood a few inches taller than Carenthia, but his eyes were beaming straight down onto her, both in confusion and questioned anger. He had heard the entire conversation as Carenthia had spoke of Erica, Zero, Erica's pregnancy, and how Zero was possibly the father.

         He looked at her, running thought after thought through his head, until he finally spoke to her in a constraining voice. "You live at the apartments, don't you?"

         Carenthia wasn't sure what to say. She had been caught with her pants down and didn't know how much people had seen before she had realized the fact. "Yes," was all she could say.

         What Matt had heard - Erica's pregnancy and the fact that Zero might be the father - enraged him. He had a quick temper. Zero would always have to stop him before he went off and done something dumb. But there was no Zero there at the moment, and honestly, Matt was questioning Zero at that moment, too.

         Matt looked at Carenthia, his eyes still focused on her. "What were you talking about?" He had to hear a confirmation from her about what he thought he had heard her say. He had to know if it was true or not.

         Carenthia done the only thing she could think of in that situation. She tried to lie her way out. "I was getting a list of things someone needed."

         Matt took a step closer. He was going to find out. Carenthia and someone had been talking about his world. No one tried to talk around that. "No, you said Erica's name. What did you say about her?" His voice had deepened into a serious urgency of wanting to know.

         Carenthia looked up at him. She couldn't look him in the eyes. She looked off to the side, back to the road. Her voice was shaky as she tried to respond. "Uh... I..."