Journaling All the Days of My Life: Blood Test Madness

Continuation from May 4, 2009 (1:36pm cst)…One evening sometime in August 1994 my phone rang and it was my cousin Keshawn asking me who was D’Wahn’s dad. Now that was kind of odd to me because everyone knew that Gavin was his dad, even him. I asked, “Why?” My cousin stated that he had a homegirl who was at his house right then saying that her boyfriend Thyler has a baby by this girl name Shala. I said back to my cousin, “You know who my baby is by so don’t be calling my house with no bullshit. If she says it’s Thyler’s then it is.” My cousin replied, “I thought Gavin was his dad?” I instantly got pissed at my cousin for doing that. I really couldn’t though because it was the truth. But everything had been going perfect for the past five months and here he come with this. I got mad and hung up the phone in his face.

Not even ten minutes passed and my phone rang. I answered, “Hello.” It was Thyler asking if it was me. When I said yes he went off screaming, “You b****, you knew he wasn’t my baby. You lied to me and my family. You slut. That’s why you let that other nigga name my baby. I want a blood test you b****.” Then he hung the phone up in my face and he had every right. I didn’t call him back but I immediately called my cousin and cursed his ass out for calling me with that girl.

About two to three weeks later, Thyler called and said that he scheduled for a blood test for September and asked if we could make it. My mom said that she would get us there. I didn’t tell anyone but Synder and my friend Andreya about this. Now when the day came I was at school. I was called out of class by my mom and when we got to the car Thyler was sitting up front with D’Wahn in his lap. I got into the backseat of the car and he handed him back to me. He wouldn’t say anything to me. I’m pretty sure that he was heartbroken but I thought I did what was right which was telling his mother. Maybe what would’ve been right would’ve been to tell him.

When we reached the Children’s Hospital, we went to the back information desk and found out that the cost was $500.00 which he paid. We were told that his mother had to be there because he was under age, so my mother left and went and got his mom. When both of our parents got back we were able to continue taking the blood test. Once we left there and Thyler had nothing to say to me.

About a month had passed. It was about the first week in October when I got a letter in the mail from the blood test facility stating that Thyler was excluded as being the father of my son. I was not in shock at all because I knew that Gavin was his father. Around an hour after I got my results in the mail my phone rang and it was coming from Thyler’s house. When I answered the phone his mom was on the phone screaming and saying, “Yes, I knew that he was our baby. I knew that was my son’s baby.” I just sat there for a moment until she calmed down. She continued shouting, “I told you Shala. I told you he was ours.” A few moments later I said to her, “I’m sorry but you’re reading the paper wrong. It says that Thyler is excluded from being the father meaning that he’s not the father.” There was complete silence. I could tell that his mother’s feelings were so hurt. I was hurt at this point. Thyler and his family had been so good to my son. He was the best father a child could ask for. But no matter what, he was not the father. I then said to his mother, “Remember, I told you he wasn’t.” She replied, “I didn’t want to believe it because he looks so much like him.”

Now that we knew Thyler was not the father we both went on with our lives. He didn’t call us and we didn’t call him. It was Christmas day of 1994 and I got a phone call. Thyler’s mom was on the other end of the phone stating that they had some things for D’Wahn for Christmas. I couldn’t believe they had got my son things from Christmas even after all the blood test madness. That evening I took him over there and as soon as we walked in the door Ms. Darian held her hands out and said, “Come over here to your granny.” She said she was so amazed at how big he had gotten over the past month or so. When Thyler came and saw us in the living room he began cursing at me saying, “What you want? That ain’t my baby. My momma is getting ready to have a grand baby in a few months. You don’t need to come to my house anymore. I’m gonna have my own son.” His mom asked me not to pay him any mind. And his brother told him to calm down. His mother continued to play with D’Wahn and then his brother asked me to come to the back and get the clothes they bought him. After a few hours of letting his family visit with D’Wahn I gathered all the things they had for him and we said good-bye and left. After that day I never saw or spoke to them again until seeing Ms. Darian at the doctor’s office. When I noticed who she was I spoke and she said, “Is that D’Wahn walking?” I smiled, “Yep.” She said, “He sure is big and he still looks like my son. I don’t care what that blood test say.” Ms. Darian passed not too long after that and I didn’t see Thyler for years after that and when I did, he never spoke.