by Sa'id Salaam
“Come on, Asad. You can buy me some candy, chips, a soda, and…” Shyne fussed.
“Yippee!” Asad cheered sarcastically. They left the house just in time to see, smell and hear Sun ride off.
“You smoking today?” James checked like he did every day while extending a blunt.
Everyday Sun declined and turned him down. Every day, that is, except today.
“Why not?” Sun reasoned. It was summertime, the radio was playing Crack Cocaine’s latest single ‘Smoke One’ and his mentor James was smoking, so he took the cigar and took a pull.
“Easy, yo!” James laughed as Sun choked and gagged. He patted his back as if it would help. “You gotta take light tokes.”
“Okay,” Sun said and tried it again. This time he was able to get a decent pull and hold it down. A smile spread across his face as the warm glow of THC rushed through his being. He was in trouble now but he wasn’t the only one.
****
“A-yo, god! Ain’t that the bitch from school?” Bar-kim asked Born when he saw Shyne and Asad approaching the store.
The strip mall contained a corner store, barber shop, dry cleaner, and a Chinese restaurant. Its close proximity to the expressway made it a favorite spot for the dope boys to trap. That’s why Bar-kim and Born Supreme were out there twenty-four/seven. Funny how gods had to sell crack to eat.
“Yeah, that’s that bitch! Yo, I know son she with, too. He used to go to school with us. He’s artistic or something,” Born recalled.
“I don’t care how good that nigga draw, I’m tryna bag the bitch wit’ him.”
“Oh boy!” Shyne groaned when she saw the dudes staring at her. Asad was somewhat sheltered so he didn’t register the brewing storm.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, looking around to see what he’d missed.
“Nothing. Let’s just get our stuff and go home!” she spat hotly.
“Peace, Ma, what’s good?” Bar-kim demanded as he stepped in front of Shyne to block her path.
“You can’t want peace if you’re blocking my path,” Shyne growled.
Asad looked from face to face to face, trying to figure out what was going on. He knew Shyne well enough to know she was mad. “Excuse us,” Asad said politely because he was polite.
It’s so unfortunate that people took a person’s kindness for a weakness. What was coming their way was neither kind nor weak.
“Who you talking to, my nigga?” Bar-kim shouted aggressively. Born got into an aggressive stance as well.
“Look, we’re not trying to get into a fight!” Shyne warned as she attempted to step in front of Asad.
“Sometimes you have to fight,” Asad told her, just like her father had told him, and pulled her behind him instead.
“What’s up? What’s up?” Bar-kim shouted, hopping up and down to hype himself up. The commotion drew a crowd just in time to see two people jumped by one.
Asad threw a four punch combination that rocked Bar-kim to his core. Born wanted to run but knew the consequences of that. He let out a sigh and threw a punch so it could be said that he tried. Asad snatched his arm out of the air and twisted it until snapped.
“That’s enough, Asad!” Shyne pleaded when he went back to Bar-kim.
“Some…people…really…really…need…their…asses…kicked,” he said in between stomps and kicks.
“Well, yeah,” Shyne laughed at the familiar advice of her father. “Go on and do you.”
Asad had just finished up when she came back out of the store with her candy and soda. The fake gods helped each other up and then used each other as crutches as they limped away.
“I know where that nigga stay,” Born whimpered. They couldn’t beat him with their hands so they went to get their guns.
****
“Who lives here?” Sun asked when James pulled to a stop in front of a rundown house on the Southside of town. Before James could reply, Ella stepped out on the front steps.
She wore a half shirt that showed off the stretch marks that marked her stomach that were quickly overshadowed by her heavy set of braless titties above them. Below them was a fat crotch that was put on display by a pair of tight shorts that fit her snuggly. Another girl about the same age and wearing similar clothes stepped out next.
“A couple of freaks. Smoke a blunt with them and they’ll fuck.”
“O-o-o-o-o-k-k-kay,” Sun stammered at the reality of him getting ready to lose his virginity. It was cool since he didn’t want it anyway.
“Bet. I got the moms, you take Ella,” James announced. He’d had sex with them both before so knew that the mother was a little freakier.
“Sup, Sun?” Ella sang, batting her eyes as they entered the living room.
The dirty floor and raggedy walls quickly stole Sun’s attention–he and Shyne were quite sheltered so he’d never seen anything like it before. If he thought the walls were raggedy, just wait until Ella took him into her room.
“Huh?” he asked when he realized that Ella had spoken. She repeated the greeting and Sun greeted her in turn. Blunts and beers rotated the room while a Crack Cocaine CD played in the stereo.
“Come on, Monae,” James announced as he stood. He then took her by the hand and led her into her own bedroom.
“Come on,” Ella demanded happily. She jumped up, causing her girl parts to jiggle, which sealed the deal. She began to strip as soon as they entered her room.
“Um…,” Sun said in confusion. He meant to ask about a condom but her naked body stole his train of thought.
“Um is right!” Ella sang happily when Sun stepped out of his clothes. She helped him inside and popped his cherry.
“It’s so hot!” Sun proclaimed. He couldn’t say tight since it hadn’t been tight since before she had her second child.
“Thank you,” she giggled at the compliment like she deserved it.
Instead of thanking her, he should’ve thanked the Chlamydia that she had festering inside of her since it’s what raised the temperature. It didn’t take long for Sun to go stiff and grunt as he filled the girl with his swimmers. They’d both given the other something to remember themselves with.
Chapter 6
“Ooh! Ooh! Sun, you should’ve seen it!” Shyne shouted excitedly as her brother came in grinning from ear to ear. The combination of weed and vagina had him giddy.
“Seen what?” he asked, looking back and forth between Shyne and Asad who never looked up from the laptop.
“Asad whooped their asses! Both of them! He was like…Boom…Bam!” Shyne said, demonstrating kicks and punches. “So much for them being gods!”
God got a black eye today!” Sun said, shaking his head.
Shyne scrunched her face up when he came closer. “You stink!” she said, sniffing. “Like…the girl’s locker room.”
“Huh?” Sun shot back and took off up the stairs to shower. He returned a half an hour later to find Shyne alone. “Where’s Asad?”
“He went home,” she replied.
A moment later, all hell broke loose outside.
“That’s him,” Born said, sounding like one of the Fat Albert kids, courtesy of the fat lips that Asad had given him.
“Where?” Bar-kim asked, trying to see out his eyes that were swollen shut from that same whooping.
Asad heard a car behind him and turned to look. He took off running just as the fake gods opened fired. The real God didn’t decree for him to die today, so all the bullets missed him. Stray rounds damaged cars and houses as Asad zig-zagged towards his house.
“What is all that noise?” Christi demanded when the sound of gunfire interrupted her studying.
“Sounds like a mac,” Shyne guessed.
“Nah, a tech nine. Oh yeah, and a mac,” Sun said correctly. Thanks to their father, both were virtual weapons experts. “Oh shit!”
“Asad!” Shyne screamed and took off. The girl wasn’t even armed as she tore down the street to check on her fiancé.
“Shit!” Sun fussed at
not having time to grab the only gun in the house he knew of. He dashed out of the house to catch up with his sister. They made it to their friend’s door together and began to bang.
“Asad! It’s us! Sun and Shyne!”
“Th-th-they tr-tr-tried to sh-sh-shoot m-m-me!” he stuttered as he opened the door. He looked around before snatching his friends inside.
“Are you okay?” Shyne shouted into his face as she inspected him. She didn’t find any bullet holes in front so she spun him around. There were no bullets in his back either, so she spun him around again and embraced him.
“Who was it?” Sun demanded. Asad tried to speak but Shyne was squeezing him too tightly. “Chill, Shyne, he’s turning blue!”
“It was those guys from the store! They were shooting while another guy was driving,” Asad recalled. “They were in a white Jeep with the big white tires!”
“Infinite!” Sun nodded. He knew Born’s older brother drove that truck.
Asad escaped Shyne’s grip and went for the phone.
“Who you callin’?”
“The police!” he shot back, making a face to convey how silly he thought the question was.
“No!” Shyne protested and snatched the phone. “Don’t call the police, I’m calling my daddy!”
“Daddy! What’s he going to do? Tell jokes until they die?” Sun replied. “Look, dad isn’t like us. He soft. We need to handle this ourselves.”
“Yeah, you right. Daddy ain’t gon’ bust a grape,” Shyne fumed. “Asad, you stay inside until it’s safe.”
“Okay,” Asad agreed quickly since that was already his plan anyway. He hugged his friends once more before they left.
“Late, as usual,” Shyne pouted as police cars descended around a neighbor’s house. The small cottage was riddled with bullet holes from one end to the other.
“I hope Miss Smith is okay,” Sun said of the sweet old lady who lived inside. She wasn’t, though, because one of the rounds had killed her as she sat inside on her sofa. The twins slipped into the gathering crowd and watched as her body was removed.
“Bastards need to burn in hell,” a lady fussed when the frail lady’s body was carried out in a body bag.
“Oh, they’re gonna burn alright!” Shyne growled.
****
“What the hell you gonna do with that?” Sun snapped when Shyne produced a Super Soaker water gun. He figured it out for himself when he smelled the gas. “Oh.”
“Oh is right! Infinite is first. I want Bar-kim and Born to know that death is coming!” Shyne snarled wickedly.
“Yup, and it ain’t shit they can do to stop it!” Sun agreed.
Shyne had actually selected Infinite to go bye-bye first because he was the easiest to get to. His job as the night clerk at a gas station made him a sitting duck. He sat inside a bulletproof booth so he couldn’t get robbed.
The twins had to wait until the wee hours of the morning to make their move. Not only would Christi be sleep, there would also be far less people out. At two in the morning, only crack addicts and rats scurried about and neither made good witnesses.
Being too young to drive forced Sun and Shyne to have to ride their bikes over to the gas station. Sun had a pistol in his pocket while Shyne had the water gun filled with gas strapped to her bike. They wisely used the back streets as they weaved their way across town.
“Right here,” Sun ordered and pulled over a block before they got to the gas station. A quick walk through the woods would put them behind the gas station.
“He’s in there!” Shyne smiled when she saw Infinite’s truck parked out front. She pumped the water gun and began to creep forward until Sun stopped her.
“Wait…someone is in there,” Sun whispered when he saw Infinite looking down as he spoke.
“Suck…that…dick!” Infinite demanded as he thrust his hips. The crackhead below gagged loudly as he slammed down her throat and into her tonsils. The end was near and he came with a grunt and some curse words. “Shit! Fuck! Damn!”
“Ten dollars,” the crackhead requested as she stood and extended her palm. She displayed a yellow smile at the green bill that she’d used to buy a white rock. “Thank you.”
“Yo, say thank you, god! You know the black man is god…”
“Uh…yeah right,” the woman laughed as she left the booth. Even the crackhead knew that men are not god.
“Nasty!” Shyne said when she saw the woman leave. She waited until a car came and left before making her move. Infinite was watching a replay of the blowjob on his phone when she strolled up and began spraying gas into the money hole.
“Bitch! Fuck you doing?” he screamed when the liquid hit him. The smell hit him next. “That’s gas!”
“Ding, ding, ding!” Shyne cheered and clapped. Sun stepped forward holding a lighter in his hand.
“What the fuck y’all think y’all doing? Y’all know who I am? The god Infinite Knowledge Wisdom Understanding…”
“If you were really God, you would have seen this coming,” Sun said and flicked the lighter into the slot. It didn’t light but it didn’t need to. The spark alone was enough to ignite the booth into flames, causing the inside to practically explode.
Shyne was mesmerized as she watched the burning man howl as he bounced around inside the booth. He fumbled at the door in an attempt to get out. When he opened it, Sun raised the gun to shoot him, but Shyne stopped him.
“No! Let him burn,” she hissed. Sun lowered the gun and made his escape back through the woods. He’d made it all the way back to their bikes before he realized that he was alone.
“Damn it, man,” he fussed and ran back to get his sister. She was still standing over the flaming corpse when he grabbed her hand. “Come on!”
“One down, two to go,” Shyne announced as they rode their bikes back home.
Chapter 7
“News from Wyandanch Long Island. A man was found burned to death inside of a gas station. Police say it was intentionally set and are investigating it as a homicide.”
“These damn kids,” Killa sighed knowingly. He’d put two and two together and it added up to Sun and Shyne. Her more likely than him since it involved fire. News had already reached him about someone shooting at Asad so it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out.
“Who?” Shanice rolled over and asked. Anytime Killa stayed in the Bronx with his older children, he spent time with the pretty lady. A good deal of that time was spent inside of her vagina.
A whole year had passed after the double death of Yolo and Sincerity before he touched another woman. Shanice lived in the same projects, which made it easy for him to slip away.
“Nothing. I gotta go back out to the Island,” he sighed. Pulling double daddy duty was daunting. Especially since he couldn’t get his children to get along. They’d picked up their mothers’ rivalry and held on to it tightly.
“Well, get you one for the road,” she offered and flipped over. She assumed the face down doggy style position and Killa slid in behind her. He got them both one for the road then hit the road.
****
“Daddy’s here,” Sun announced when he heard a car pull into the driveway. Shyne beamed brightly at the mere mention of the man. Sun was just as crazy about his father but was too cool to show it.
“Sun, Shyne,” Killa called out as he stepped inside. Usually the twins would have rushed in and thrown a parade but they were getting older now.
“Sup, Pops,” Sun swagged in and gave him a pound and man hug like they were homeboys. Sun pulled back and nodded at his father proudly. Killa knew then that his son had busted his cherry. He also noticed a tinge of discomfort or his face just past the smile.
“What’s wrong?”
“Ion know, Pops. My…” Sun groaned, reaching for his crotch until Shyne breezed in to greet her daddy.
“Hello, Father,” Shyne attempted but couldn’t. She busted out in a huge smile and rushed over and hugged his neck. “Hey, Daddy!”
“Hey, baby,” Killa said flashing that killer smile. “You must have run of deodorant?”
“Huh?” Shyne reeled and pulled away to smell her underarms. Of course, she was fresh and clean and realized that he was teasing. “Daddy!”
Killa engaged in small talk to catch up on his week away. One week was spent in the city with grandma and the boys and the next here with Christi and the twins. Once the jokes were out of the way, he got down to business.
“So, what happened with Asad? Why in the world would anybody shoot at him?” he asked, genuinely confused. The kid was one of the nicest people he’d ever met in his life. He had no doubt that his own children were better because of him.
“He whoo-,”
“Beats me!” Sun cut in and cut off his sister. She wanted to brag on her boo for defending her but it could connect them to the get back.
“Probably mistaken identity,” Shyne tossed in when she caught on.
Killa nodded in approval to the answer but wasn’t finished yet. “Oh, did you guys hear about someone getting burned up at a gas station?” he asked, looking directly at Shyne. It had her name written all over it.
“Yup. Dude was a real scumbag! He got what he deserved,” Sun growled, telling on himself. Killa furrowed his brow when he turned to look at his son. Sun had busted two cherries in one day.
Shyne jumped in to kill the awkward silence. “I heard he got burned over ninety-five percent of his body!” she said and cracked up. Killa and Sun looked at her, each other, then back to her. “Get it? He was a five percenter? Burned over ninety-fi- y’all so wack!”
“Anyway,” Killa said shaking his head. “It was real sloppy, though. Straight amateur hour.”
“It was? How?” Sun asked, sounding wounded. He just knew it was a clean hit.
“It was a gas station! Cameras everywhere. That whole thing was caught on tape. They got a good selfie of whoever started that fire,” he shot back and watched his kids squirm. Shyne was about to open her mouth and ask for a lawyer until he continued. “Luckily, the computer burned up along with everything else. Murder is no place for luck!”