by Asia Hill
“Poohman let me holla at you.” I see it all in my boy’s eyes. He want’s to say something. As soon as we hit the kitchen, I go in. “What up, Poohman? Let that shit go, my nigga.”
He shook his head and what he said next confirmed what I always thought. This nigga is crazy. “A, you think shawty gon give me her number?”
(ReRe)
I see the way this nigga’s mugging. I swear he’s not about that life! I came prepared for anybody’s dumb shit. I already planned it out. I’mma mace the crowd first, and then I’mma start slicing motha fuckers. What? I don’t play games when it comes to my besties safety and me. I look at JuJu on the porch talking to her auntie and Boo and we lock eyes.
I feel like we can communicate with our eyes. It’s as if I heard her say in my mind, “You okay?” I winked my eye and shook my head yes. She smiled and continued her conversation. My stomach started growling, reminding me that I haven’t eaten all day.
“Auntie Lil Mama, where’s all the cooked food at?”
“It’s in the house, baby. Help yourself.”
She didn’t have to tell me twice. E and Tiki’s greedy asses already had their food. Their asses were sitting in some lawn chairs in the yard fucking up some ribs. “Y’all bogus! Where my plate at?”
E’s silly ass said, “We kept calling you when we hit the yard, but yo crazy was in cut a nigga mode so we left yo ass standing there.”
“Fuck y’all!”
Tiki looked up from her food and said, “No thank you, but I know somebody who looks like they wouldn’t mind rubbing ya fluffy.”
“Smart mouth hoe!”
“Girl, go eat!”
I walked in the house with one thing on my mind, food! As I approached the kitchen, I heard voices. “Why you tripping? Let that shit go, my nigga!”
I instantly pulled my blade out thinking that this nigga wants to act a fool. I’ll cut his ass up for real this time. Who the fuck does he think this is? I’m no punk. I’m about to come around the corner swinging. Just before I made my move, I hear the passenger dude say, “A, you think shawty gon give me her number?”
That shit almost made me bust up laughing. This motha fucker’s crazy. Quiet as kept, that shit made my little kitty twitch. I haven’t had the desire to become sexually active on my own, but this nigga’s style had me tweaking. Lost in my own thoughts, I didn’t even realize that they stopped talking and when I looked up, they were standing in front of me.
“Damn, you gon cut us both, little killa?” The nigga known as Poohman licked his lips and put his hands in his pockets. Seeing that he wasn’t on no bullshit, I put my blade back in my purse. I looked at him and smiled.
“So you want my number; huh?”
(JuJu)
I’m having a good time chilling with my besties and my old heads. I swear I want to be just like them. They’re some G’s for real. Boo a beast! Sitting here listening to her stories, I’m glad that I’m not on her bad side. Now my auntie Lil Mama’s been a beast. I used to love when she would come over to Auntie Tae’s house.
Tae hated how close we were. Lil Mama always made sure I had whatever I needed. I wish she would have let me live with her, but I knew she ran those streets. She made sure she saw me every day and she always told me that she loved me. She treated my besties the same way.
“Ju, go get me and Boo another drink.”
“Can I get one?”
“You can get this ass whooping!”
“Never mind, then. I’m going auntie.”
I got up and went into the house. No sooner than I hit the corner, I see LJ, Poohman, and ReRe standing around looking crazy. “What the fuck?” I went straight into beast mode. “Y’all trying to pull it with my girl on the low? I will tear this motha fucker up! ReRe, you ready?”
I’ll be damned if all three of their asses looked at me and started rolling.
“What the fuck I miss?
Re looked at me and said, “I’m cool. Poohman and I got some things to talk about. Jaw, take my bestie and give us a few minutes.”
I looked at ReRe as if she had three heads. This hoe doesn’t talk to strangers, especially niggas.
“Okay, you sure you cool?”
She smiled and said, “Jaw like you JuJu. Give the boy some play.”
And just like that, what started off as a tense situation quickly became a breakthrough moment for my bestie. I’m happy too. Jaw is a cutie! We kicked it hard for the rest of the day. E and Tiki even warmed up to them. I’m glad I got me boo thang. God is good!
Will he answer our prayers when we bite off more than we can chew?
“I be repping my city, I be
repping my city, err, err, err night!”
Chapter 7
Big Moe
“Everybody get the fuck on the ground, right fucking now! You, fill this bag up and bitch if you wanna go home tonight, don’t pass me no dye packs! Try me and I’mma murder yo whole family!”
This hoe snatched the bag and started throwing that money in there so fast you would have thought that she was robbing the bank with me! I’ve been robbing shit for years. I think I hit my first lick when I was seven. I robbed the candy lady that lived in my building.
My name is Ramon, but everybody calls me Big Moe. I got that name because I’ve got heart. I went from robbing the candy lady to sticking up doughboys that served out of the building I grew up in. Born and raised in one of the most dangerous housing projects called Cabrini Green, I had to do me to survive.
My mom was murdered when I was a baby. Don’t know my punk-ass father. My G-ma raised me. She had seven kids and ten grandkids that she also raised. Food and clothes were limited. My G-ma was gangsta! No matter what I did, she had my back. I robbed a motha fucker; she hid me in the house. When I shot a nigga, she got rid of the evidence. When I got a hoe pregnant, it was she that either took em to the clinic for that abortion or helped me buy clothes, pampers, and other shit.
I got three kids that I claim. Fucking project hoes always want to trap a nigga on the come up. Through it all, my G-ma had me. The whole Cabrini Green loved my G-ma. She could break any nigga on the dice game. She would smoke and drink your ass under the table. I thought she would be with me forever.
We never kept secrets and that’s why I loved her so much. She had cancer and she didn’t tell us until she was on her deathbed. The love that I had for women died with her.
I’ve been raining terror on this city ever since. Fuck a nigga, fuck a hoe. I’m trying to get money! I don’t fuck with no outside motha fuckers. I keep it all in the family. I roll with two niggas and two niggas only. My cousins JR and Boogie, who’re brothers.
Niggas ain’t built like us these days. Feel me? After I robbed every nigga in the 312 area code, I began casing banks. Why banks? Because drug dealers aren’t holding like that. This little slut I was fucking a while back was a bank teller at a bank around the downtown Chicago area. I liked the hoe. She had the nerve to have her priorities in order. She had no kids, had her own crib, and she drove a beamer. I was impressed, but I would never tell her ass that shit. Fuck for? She was an easy fuck. Nothing more, nothing less. No love for these hoes, remember?
Anyway, she gave me the whole layout of the bank that she worked at. I put my cousins on the lick. The shit was too sweet to pass up. I wasn’t fucking with outside niggas on this, period. I am not to be trusted. Fuck around and rob his hoe ass when we finish the job.
We ended up pulling the job off with no problems. We got almost forty grand. Not bad for two minutes. After that, we were hooked! I ended up murking the little bitch that put me on the robbery. Why? Because I wasn’t treating her as she wanted to be treated and I didn’t need her having that type of shit on me. Oh well! There’s plenty of pussy in Chicago.
It isn’t as if I’m an ugly dude. I’m six foot three and 195 pounds. Caramel complexion and the seal dealer is that I’ve got hazel and green eyes. The hoes can’t resist these eyes. Must run in the family because Boogie and
JR got them too.
We only choose banks with young and dumb tellers. Wine and dine their asses for a few days and then, BAM! We got the whole layout. We hit the licks with no problems. Then we dispose of the bitches that gave us the info.
Today’s lick was all Boogie’s. He had this little bitch going in a matter of days. “Man Joe, we got thirty seconds! Let’s move out! Everybody stay where the fuck y’all at and don’t move!”
As we made our way to the door I heard, “POP!” I already knew it was Boogie finishing the job. Mission accomplished!
After we counted the take, that shit came out to be almost $350,000.00. We did well this time. “JR, take this doe over East. We gon lay low for a few days, my niggas. This shit gon be on the news for a few days.”
When we hit licks over east, we had a stash spot over there. If we hit licks west of the Dan Ryan expressway, we hide that shit in my storage building past Cicero.
“I’m bout to go get some pussy.”
“Money, money, money, money.”
Chapter 8
The Come Up
(Juju)
Two weeks after the barbeque, Jaw and I are still kicking it tough. Jaw is cool as shit. He’s funny, laid back, and reserved. He has an old soul, but that’s okay. Today my boo wants to take me out to eat and shop. We deserve some quality time together since his ass likes to hit the streets.
“I wanna go to Ford City mall, boo.”
He looks at me with the sexist grin on his face. “Whatever you want, Ju.”
I love when he calls me that. I called ReRe to see if she wanted to double date since her and Poohman have been together every day since the barbeque as well. “Hello.”
“Hey hooker, you and Poohman wanna go to the mall with us?”
I heard her put her hand over the phone. “Yeah, we’ll meet y’all. Where you at?”
“At Jaw’s crib.”
“We on the way.”
(Dirty E)
“A, little man, run in the store and get me a beef taco with a large fry. Make sure they put mild sauce on my fries, and get me a Pepsi.”
Shorty ran right past my homie. “What up, Pancho?”
The nigga Pancho is responsible for us getting our dough. He put us on all the drug dealers that think that they’re doing something. Quiet as kept, I think he helped us set motha fuckers up because he’s too scared to bust his own gun. Pussy-ass motha fucker!
I told JuJu that if he starts acting funny, I’mma kill his ass.
“E Man Joe, I’ve been trying to get at you.”
Just then, little man ran out the store. “E, here you food go.”
“Thanks little man. Wait, where’s my change little nigga?”
This little bastard can’t be any older than eleven. Shorty’s little badass had the nerve to tell me, “Nigga I waited in that long ass line. Yo change is my tip.”
After he said that, he took off before I could grab his punk ass.
“E, I been trying to get at you. Come hit a few blocks with me.”
We got in his Tahoe. This scary ass nigga didn’t say shit until we got on the expressway.
“My little sister’s been fucking with some nigga from The Greens, and he and his peoples getting dough.”
I looked at his ass as if he had just said, “Fuck my besties.”
“Nigga, we ain’t fucking with them projects. You crazy as hell.”
“Let me finish. The nigga name JR. He and his family be hitting banks around Chicago.”
“And nigga? Get to the point.”
“When they hit banks close to the Eastside, they hide the money over on Marquette. They laying low for a few days. Thing is, they gon move the money tomorrow.”
When he said that, I got to thinking. “How much?”
“She said it’s almost $350,000.00.”
I almost choked on my damn taco.
“Nigga, don’t spill that in here.”
“Nigga, fuck you! I helped you get this bitch!”
He waited a few minutes and then said, “So, y’all gon do it?”
I picked up my phone and called JuJu. “A code four. Meet me at the spot!”
(JuJu)
I was having a nice time with my dude until a code four ended all that. No matter what it was about, it was time to end the fun. Period! I pulled ReRe aside and put her up on game. LJ and Poohman were in Finish Line copping us the latest Jordan’s.
“Bae, we got a family emergency.”
My poor boo looked concerned. “What? What happened? You good Ma?”
“Jaw, I’m good. It’s just that I need to see what my auntie wants.”
I don’t want to start off lying to him, but how we dough isn’t his business.
“Damn Ju! I’m salty as shit, but it is what it is.”
Damn, its’ time to do damage control. “Let me just see what’s going on. When I finish, I’mma call you so you can come get me; okay?”
“Alright, let’s roll.”
(Dirty E)
“Tiki, where you at? When you finish, meet us at the spot.”
ReRe, JuJu, and I sat impatiently, waiting for Tiki to finish doing somebody’s damn hair.
“So, what did Pancho say?”
I looked at JuJu and said, “You know the rules boo-boo. We all must be here. I’m waiting on Tiki.”
She rolled her eyes, huffed, and puffed. That shit don’t faze me. She does that shit whenever she doesn’t get her way.
We came up with code four in fifth grade. When we say it, it means emergency and when you have an emergency, you do what? Get together to see what’s good.
“Here comes Tiki,” JuJu and ReRe said at the same damn time.
“Alright, from what Pancho told me, the money’s still there. His sister said that this JR dude is supposed to move the money in the morning, so we move tonight.”
“TONIGHT?”
I knew I was going to get that reaction. “Yes tonight! What? Y’all scared?” I knew that would get them going.
Ms. I’m That Bitch was the first to speak. “You know we ain’t scared. It’s just, this is a lot of money, and I’m sure this shit ain’t gon be that simple.”
She had a point. “Look, Pancho said that he’s been watching the spot. Dudes got this crib as a safe house. His dumb ass really didn’t do his homework on the neighborhood. I know everything that comes and goes through this motha fucker. Come on y’all. We got this!”
I saw the uneasy look that JuJu gave me, so I knew that telling her after the lick I was killing Pancho was out of the question, for now at least! Tiki was the only one not talking.
“Speak your mind, Ms. Smart Mouth.”
She looked at me and said, “This is some short notice ass shit and it’s a suicide mission, but you already know I’m ready for whatever! This our hood! Let’s get this money!”