Ghetto Girls 5

by Anthony Whyte

  Deedee pulled up to the drive-thru window and let her window down.

  “Welcome to McDonalds. May I take your order, please?”

  “Yeah, let me get four orders of large fries and,” Deedee looked back. “And what, four chocolate shakes?”

  “Three chocolate shakes and one vanilla,” Josephine said.

  I got it, y’all,” Deedee said, reaching for her wallet.

  Pulling out a twenty-dollar bill, she stuck it under the cup.

  “Do you have twenty cents so I can give you back a ten?” the cashier asked Deedee.

  “Nah, take it out the twenty,” Deedee yelled, trying to sound hard.

  It was smiles all around. The four girls sat in the car listening to music. Their fries and shakes hit the spot.

  “Wu-Tang has mad, mad flavas, yo,” Coco said, demanding agreement.

  Da crew nodded, but Deedee didn’t agree.

  “Yeah, too many,” Deedee said. Then her eyes met Coco’s stare of indifference, and her voice trailed off for a second. But Deedee didn’t blink. She continued, “There’s too many emcees, and they all wanna let off their rhymes at once.”

  “Shame on a nigga

  Who try to run game on a nigga

  Who’s buck-wild wid da trigger…”

  The lyrics of the Wu vibrated from the car’s speakers, and Da Crew nodded their heads to the music. Coco stared at Deedee’s manicured nails, resting on the wheel. Besides an occasional glance in the rearview mirror, Deedee kept her eyes on the road. Flashing lights went by as the sound of the police proceeded in opposite direction.

  “Do you know much about da business?” Coco asked with that same stare.

  For a moment, Deedee thought of elaborating, but decided to wait. Coco continued to stare. She checked out Deedee’s features against her dark skin, and decided that Deedee was not an ugly duckling. The Mercedes came to a halt at a red light. The car speakers blared the hype lyrics of “Protect Ya Neck.” Deedee lit another cigarette and checked the time. She felt some kind of weird alliance forming with this shotgun.

  “What time is it, yo?” Coco asked.

  “One forty. It’s still early. Anything y’all would like to do?” Deedee smiled, looking at her Gucci.

  “Yeah,” Coco said, smiling. “Let’s rock and roll uptown, yo.”

  The rest of the girls glanced at her. “We’re always downtown. I’m saying let’s give Harlem a try, yo.”

  “A’ight, a’ight, we with all that,” Danielle and Josephine shouted in agreement.

  Deedee smiled and lifted her foot off the brake and slowly pressed on the gas. The sleek car began to move toward the downtown lane, the sound of the Wu-Tang Clan in tow. Deedee smiled, enjoying the sense of camaraderie. Coco stared straight ahead, nodding her head.

  It was a sunny day in the city, and Deedee drove the BMW through midday traffic. Coco was caught up rapping along to the chorus. Both girls reminiscing on the time they first met. Now best friends, they were chilling.

  I wanna Gangsta boogie! With my gangsta bitch

  I need a gangsta bitch I want a gangsta bitch…

  “Things done change,” Coco smiled.

  “Yes, I agree,” Deedee said with a wink.

  Deedee glanced at Coco and quietly shook her head, while continuing to drive uptown Harlem.

  5

  With the top dropped, Deedee wove through the busy streets to Coco’s block in Harlem, and hit the turn signal. Coco strummed an invisible guitar in the passenger’s seat.

  “Get that spot right there, yo,” Coco said excitedly. “You’re not gonna see too many spots like this close to my building. It’s summer too. These peeps don’t know what to do, yo.”

  Deedee steered the car into a parking spot. It was mid-June and shaping up to be a hot summer. People milled outside the entrance to the apartment building. Kids dressed in shorts and tees jumped double-dutch outside. Others scooted about while others played hopscotch on the sidewalk. Pitchers were posted up in front and fiends darted about trying to score their next hit.

  All eyes were on the girls as they stepped out of the new auto. Deedee hit the remote alarm to her car, and kept moving. Most of the crowd stared in admiration at the shine on her ride. Some kept an eye on Coco, her familiar bop immediately identified by regulars and residents.

  “Oh, it’s Coco. What up, girl?” one of them greeted.

  “Keep up the good work, Coco. Your new joint is hot!” Another said.

  “I heard your shit on the radio earlier today, Coco. It’s hot, Coco,” a young teenage boy said, throwing up two fingers in a peace sign.

  “Coco, your friend is she a video girl or model?” another inquired.

  “I’m neither. I just run things,” Deedee said with too much sass.

  “This Deedee. She do her thing, yo.”

  “Hey what’s poppin, Deedee? You’re a dime. Damn you fine, girl,” the young teenage boy smiled. “Those some Gucci heels…? They look real nice on you.”

  “Hey you…” Deedee said.

  “Them heels looks soo nice,” a young girl shouted, taking a closer look at Deedee’s shoes.

  “I didn’t know they make shoes like that?” another young girl asked.

  “Where you buy those at?” another girl asked. “That’s that Donna Karan sarong skirt I like too.”

  “Coco, I like your new song,” someone commented.

  “I can’t wait for you to finish your album, Coco. That’s gonna be a chart topper,” another person said.

  Greetings were shouted at the talented teen and Coco gracefully returned the favors. She nodded and offered daps to all. Deedee walked by Coco’s side, smiling and nodding at the people milling in front of the building.

  “Wow, Coco, they were really showing you mad love,” Deedee said when they were inside the building.

  “But don’t let them smiling faces fool you. Some of them same smiles could be waiting to jooks you,” Coco said.

  Deedee nodded knowingly as the elevator arrived. The girls hopped inside. Coco pressed the button and they rode it in silence. The girls got off on the third floor, and walked a couple of feet down a hallway littered with overnight trash. Coco opened the apartment door she shared with her mother.

  “Let’s see what it is with madukes, yo.”

  The girls entered the apartment, and inside the place reeked of cigarette smoke. Her mother seemed dazed sitting in front of the television with a grinning man. He was also smoking and laughing while Sanford and Son played loudly on the television. Coco guided Deedee to the kitchen and signaled to her mother.

  “Ma, can I bother you for a second, please,” Coco said, opening the refrigerator door. “See what I’m talking ‘bout, yo,” she said to Deedee, while pointing to a couple of forty ounce bottles sitting in the refrigerator.

  “Hello Miss Harvey,” Deedee greeted the emaciated woman walking into the kitchen.

  Coco was still inside the refrigerator with the door wide open. She was unaware that her mother had walked into the kitchen.

  “Why must you be in the refrigerator so long, Coco? What’re you looking for? And what’s up with this ‘yo’ biz? I told you before, not in my house, Coco.”

  “Ma, why you gotta be up here with him…? And what’s soo funny? Y’all laughing like you haven’t seen that episode of Sanford And Son six times already?”

  “What I chose to do with my time, Coco is my biz. You just worry about what you gotta do. Didn’t you leave outta here talking ‘bout you gotta go to the recording studio to work on a song…? What happened to that? Hello to you too… Ah…”

  “Deedee,” Coco said.

  “Deedee…? I ain’t talking ‘bout no damn Deedee. I said, didn’t you leave here going to a recording studio? Now you’re back checking up on me and talking ‘bout some damn Deedee. What’s the matter with you, child? You think you’re grown, but you just lost all your sense or what? You must think I’m a fool or sump’n?”

  “Ma, I didn’t say you’re
a fool. I just don’t like that man. He be up here giving you crack, yo—”

  “I’m not your damn ‘yo’! I’m gonna slap that street lingo outta your filthy mouth if I gotta say it again. I’m your mother,” Ms. Harvey said to her daughter. Then she turned to her male guest and shouted, “Dontay, get over here!”

  The man went from smiles to hobbling into the kitchen. He nodded to Deedee and Coco while licking his lips lecherously.

  “Hey, how y’all doing…?”

  “Hi, how are you?” Deedee greeted.

  Coco turned her head and stared out the window without acknowledging the man. His smile had completely faded. Miss Harvey hit Coco with her coldest stare before speaking.

  “Dontay, have we been smoking any drugs up in here?” Miss Harvey bellowed.

  “No, no, we been drinking a few brews and watching TV, that’s all…”

  “Get Dontay outta here,” Coco said in an angry outburst. “I can see it in his eyes that he’s straight up lying—”

  “Coco, do not show out your lil’ damn self and disrespect my guests!” Miss Harvey shouted, cutting Coco off.

  Deedee went over and stood by Coco. She attempted to touch the angered teen, but when Coco turned away she thought better.

  “Dontay, please excuse me. Lemme straighten sump’n out with my daughter, and I’ll call you later,” Miss Harvey said.

  “Can I get my half of the beer before I go?”

  “Here,” Miss Harvey said, charging to the refrigerator, and getting the bottle. “Take this and get the fuck up outta Dodge,” Miss Harvey continued, throwing the bottle at Dontay.

  He grabbed it before the bottle could hit the floor. Then Dontay turned, stormed out of the apartment, slamming the door behind him.

  “Don’t slam my door, you fucking rat!” Miss Harvey shouted. “Back to you Miss Coco, why you think you can come up here with the attitude disturbing my peace of mind with your false accusations, huh?”

  “Cuz…”

  “Cuz what?”

  “Cuz I don’t like that man around you. He’s a known crack head and he’ll have you doing that shit again, that’s cuz.”

  “Oh really, is that it?”

  There was a long pause. It was as if Coco’s words had sucked the air from the place. Deedee stared at Miss Harvey and Coco tilted her head toward the window. She saw the hustlers plying their trade and customers running back and forth. Coco turned her gaze away and stared at her mother. The strain showed on her face.

  “I don’t wanna lose you, mom,” she said, with tears stinging her eyes.

  “You’re not going to, sweetheart,” Miss Harvey said.

  Deedee watched with tears welling in her eyes. Miss Harvey was hugging her distraught daughter.

  “You’re concerned for nothing, Coco. You just worry ‘bout going to school and being somebody. Your mommy will be just fine… A’ight?” Miss Harvey pulled away and smiled. “Isn’t that how y’all say it…?

  “Mom, you know they killed Rightchus—”

  “Girl, whatcha saying? Rightchus done packed up and moved to South Carolina.”

  “What?” Coco and Deedee echoed in unison.

  The girls stared at each other in disbelief. Not knowing what to think. This information was new and they both realized that it would have them rethinking this caper.

  “I heard Tuttie in her own words saying how he was a changed man, been going to church, and all that.”

  “Mom, are you serious? I mean he was supposed to have been shot and now you said his girlfriend said?”

  “I didn’t say ‘his girlfriend.’ Don’t put words in my mouth. I said Tuttie said he was in some parts of South Carolina.”

  Coco glanced at Deedee and then back at her mother. She seemed to be fighting doubts about what was revealed by her mother. The older woman quickly added.

  “If you don’t believe me, go ask her. She lives on the fifth floor, 5G,” Miss Harvey said.

  Again Coco glanced at Deedee and waited before she heard her mother’s words.

  “Oh go ahead. Go ahead. You’ll see that I’m not lying.”

  “What floor?”

  “Fifth floor, Coco…”

  “C’mon Dee, let’s go,” Coco said, grabbing Deedee by the arm.

  “Bye, Ms. Harvey,” Deedee said on the run behind Coco.

  “Coco, I know you’re nosey and all, but don’t go up there getting me involved in no she-say bullshit. Just ask in a polite way. Okay?”

  They were already out the door and making their way up the stairs, as Coco’s mother called out. The girls paused in the stairwell to chat.

  “Why didn’t you just come out and ask your mom straight up about Rightchus’ chick?” Deedee asked.

  “Cause I know my mother well and I knew if I made her start guilt trippin’, she’d tell me everything. Otherwise, she’d be cursing me out. Like, ‘Why you wanna know?’ So this way, I’m in charge and she not only gave up the info, but she actually told me to go see for myself. Now when I go and check, if it is the way she said it was then she thinks she’s earned my trust. It’s that crack head mentality, yo. I’ve learned that game.”

  The girls reached the fifth floor and Coco opened the door to the hallway and searched for the right apartment.

  “They get good service on this floor. Hallway is cleaned and the lights are working,” Deedee said changing the subject.

  “You see that too, yo,” Coco said, before ringing a doorbell. “I’m telling you these owners are shady…”

  They immediately heard the rattling of locks from behind the door. Then slowly a young child opened the door and said, “Hello, can I help you?”

  Before the girls could answer, there was a sound of hurried footsteps and an inquiring adult voice in the background. “Who is it?”

  “Hi, we’re looking for Tuttie. Is she here?” Deedee said.

  “What for…? Who’re y’all?”

  “We ah…” Coco began but Deedee cut her off.

  “I’m trying to find her to ask her about something that Rightchus could’ve—”

  “You got the wrong apartment. I don’t know no Rightchus. Who are you, po-po or sump’n? No, I recognize you. You that chica from downstairs… You a rapper…”

  “You are Tuttie, right?” Deedee asked.

  “No, I don’t know who fuck Tuttie is, and I don’t know nobody by that name.”

  Other occupants came out of their room and descended on Coco and Deedee. Six pairs of eyes appeared with cold and inquisitive stares.

  “It’s that rapper chick from the building, Tee-tee,” a young boy said, pointing to Coco.

  “Mind your business!”

  The cutting order was direct. Both Coco and Deedee stared at each other momentarily assessing the situation.

  “I’m Deedee and this is Coco,” Deedee said.

  “So what ya want?” the young Latina woman asked.

  “I came here looking for help. I wanted to know if anyone knew Rightchus…”

  “You po-po?” the boy asked, gazing Deedee up and down.

  “I told you to mind your business already,” the Latina woman said, looking agitated.

  She shot the young boy a cold glance before directing her focus back to Coco and Deedee. Two older Spanish women stood silently behind the young Latina woman.

  “Why are you here?” the Latina woman spat in disgust.

  “I’m here trying to help my uncle get out of… uh, trouble,” Deedee said.

  “What uncle…? Who are you? I don’t know you or your uncle.”

  Deedee paused for a beat trying to diffuse the situation. During the quiet—that seemed like too long a pause—Coco glanced casually at Deedee, trying to catch her attention. But Deedee’s eyes were riveted at the angry-looking young woman. Deedee sensed that the young Latin woman’s rage was getting hotter and every second was slipping by, but she didn’t see Coco winking at her.

  “Trouble…?”

  “I’ll pay you for—”


  “Pay…? How much?” the boy asked.

  “Didn’t I tell you already that this ain’t none of your fucking business, huh?” the Latina screamed at the young boy.

  She turned and stared the kid down. Then she turned her focus on the two older women. The daggers coming from her green eyes chased the rest of the household gathered behind her.

  “That’s none of your business. Go back to y’all’s rooms,” she bellowed.

  They could have been family members the way they seemed interested, gaping at Deedee and, every now and then, glancing at Coco. Deedee breathed a sigh of relief when they all walked away. The person left standing was a petite, light-skinned Spanish woman. Seemingly like the person Coco had earlier described when they had talked about Righteous’ girlfriend. The woman’s green eyes darted about the room then she focused on Deedee. When she was sure that all the others had left the room she addressed the girls.

  “Why didn’t you say that at first? We know Rightchus. I’m Tuttie,” she smiled. “I thought y’all were the police, but… You said money’s involved, right?”

  Her eyes were beaming when Deedee nodded positively reaffirming her query. There was a collective sigh of relief. Coco, Deedee and Tuttie were left alone. Tuttie waved to the plastic-covered sitting area. Coco and Deedee followed her lead and sat down next to her.

  “Me and Rightchus go way back,” she offered. “I ain’t his girl or nothing like that. We were just cool like that. You know? He be telling me a lot of things. I ain’t the type to snitch out anyone. So you already know how I feel.”

  Coco and Deedee nodded, looking at the young woman. They were busy looking around at the plastic-covered décor when the woman spoke.

  “So how much you willing to pay…? Rightchus told me before he left the city that a whole lot of peoples wanted him dead. So whatever info he had told me must be worth some kind a change. I like your outfit.”

  “Thank you,” Deedee smiled. “Ah Tuttie, why don’t I buy you an outfit just like this, and give you a few dollars to go with it…?”

  “Okay, that sounds good. I’m not greedy,” Tuttie said.

  “I’ve gotta go and get the money,” Deedee said.

  “I’ll have all that info for you when you come back with the dress and some nice shoes,” Tuttie said, smiling.