by Styles, T.
“Ginger! What the fuck is up?” I heard Milli yell.
“Tell Trixy her ass is as good as dead!” I screamed.
I was so mad I didn’t care if Milli was on the phone or not, but now I had to deal with him. I put the phone to my ear.
“What the fuck is goin’ on, Ginger?”
“Some hatin’-ass bitch just threw fire though the window!”
I looked at the shattered glass on my living room floor and flopped down on the sofa.
“I heard you scream. You a’ight?” Gerron asked, coming through my back door.
I put my hand over my cell and whispered, “Yeah, but Milli’s on the phone. You gotta go.”
He frowned and walked out.
“Ginger, maybe you should move. Shit gettin’ serious.”
“I’m not lettin’ no dumb-ass bitches run me from outta my house.”
“Who you talkin’ to, baby?” I heard a woman say in the background on the phone.
Click.
“Hello?”
I called him back four times, and each call went to voicemail. I was so mad I felt like fightin’ again. He waited five minutes before calling back.
“Milli, what’s up? Who was that bitch in the background ?”
“Nobody. Tracey playin’ too much.”
My cell phone beeped because my battery was running low. I wanted to say I’d call him on my house phone, but I needed to know the truth first.
“Your cousin?”
“Yeah. Who the fuck you think I’m talkin’ ’bout?”
I didn’t believe him, and for the first time ever, I tested his loyalty. “Milli, put her on the phone.”
Although I’d never met Tracey because she didn’t like me and I didn’t like her, I knew her voice when I heard it. And that was only because whenever she watched my daughter, I always called to check on her.
“So, you don’t trust me?” he said with an attitude.
Normally I back down, but this time, I was standin’ my ground. “I wanna talk to her.”
A few seconds later, Tracey got on the phone and said, “What the fuck you want wit’ me?”
It was her.
A second later, Milli returned to the phone and said, “You gonna wish you never doubted me.”
Click.
What the fuck was I thinking? If Milli cut me off, how was I gonna take care of myself?
I put my shoes on and stood up. Glass was everywhere and crushed under my feet. I plugged my cell phone up to the charger and decided to call him back on my house phone, but when I picked up the handset, someone was on the line.
“Milli. Is this you?”
“H–hello. Can Renee talk on the phone please?” a little girl asked.
For the past two weeks, this little bitch got my number mixed up with Shonda’s next door, and every time she did, it got on my fuckin’ nerves. If I spoke to Shonda, I would have told her to set her ass straight.
“How many times I gotta tell you, you callin’ the wrong number?”
“I’m sorry,” she said softly.
“Don’t be sorry, stop fuckin’ callin’ my house!” I slammed the phone down and rubbed my aching forehead.
After I hung up, I called Nicky because I needed somebody to talk to. She would probably give me that luxury tax bullshit, but she was all I had since Leona left. I missed Leona so much. She was so good with things like this.
When Nicky answered I said, “When you comin’ back over?”
“Fifteen minutes. Why?”
“Hurry up. I’m blown and I need to hit that jay.”
“I’m gettin’ dressed now. Rico just stopped by and we beefin’, so give me about twenty minutes,” she said, referring to her boyfriend.
“A’ight . . . and I’ma tell you ’bout the fire somebody threw in my window when you get here.”
“See, this what the fuck I’m talkin’ ’bout. Every time I come over here, your ass is on the phone. This why our relationship ain’t workin’. Everybody else more important than me,” Rico said in the background, sounding like a stone cold bitch.
“I’ll talk to you later,” I said. “Before you come, can you bring the money you owe me? Me and Milli beefin’, and he might cut me off like he usually do when he mad, and I need to build back up my stash.”
“Yeah, I’ll ask Rico for it,” she said with a slightly different attitude. I hate when people make you feel bad for askin’ for your money back. “Me and Stevie will be over in a minute,” she said, hanging up.
Damn, I wished she’d just leave Stevie’s ass home so I could talk to her alone. Who hangs out with somebody who fucked their man anyway, cousin or not?
When I got off the phone with her, I prepped the rest of my dinner for the night. Through my window I could see the back of Gerron’s house, and I started to walk over there to talk to him, but knew that would turn into somethin’ else.
I swept the glass up from my floor and made me a glass of Bacardi Limon, straight up. I had to refill my glass four times. After that, I turned my stereo on and Usher’s “Love You Gently” blasted from the speakers; then I put on Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter III CD. I decided to wait outside for Nicky, but hoped I’d see the bitch who threw somethin’ in my house. I swear these bitches wouldn’t be satisfied until I killed somebody.
I was lookin’ at a group of kids fighting each other when my phone rang again. I ran into the house, grabbed it, and walked back outside.
“Hello!” I said, hoping it was Milli. I missed him already.
“Can Renee talk on the phone?”
“Why you keep callin’ my house?” I sighed.
“I keep gettin’ the number mixed up. I’m sorry.”
“How come I don’t believe you?”
Silence.
“What’s your name?” I continued.
“Rhianna.” I laugh, knowing she’s lying. “Are you busy, Ginger?” I thought it was weird that she knew my name, but figured if she caught my voice mail, she could’ve gotten it from there.
“So, now you wanna talk to me instead of Renee?”
“Yes.”
“And what do you want to talk to me about?”
“I wanted to tell you that I heard my mommy say that some man in a red car is gonna set your friend Nicky up.”
My heart drops. “Fuck you talkin’ ’bout, set her up?”
“My mommy be playin’ Spades wit’ her friends, and I heard them say that yesterday.”
“Who’s your mother?” I stand up. “’Cause if you knew me, you wouldn’t be pullin’ no bullshit like this!”
Click.
“Hello! Hello!” I screamed into the handset.
“Who you yellin’ at now, girl?” Nicky asked, walking up to me. She sat on the step beside me, and her cousin Stevie sat a few steps down from us, singing along to the music in my house.
I put the phone down, tryin’ to decide if I should tell her about the call or not.
“Ain’t nobody, girl. They must’ve h–had the wrong number, I stutter.
Nicky was wearing a cute green Gucci tank top and a pair of Bulgari shades. “Here’s the money I borrowed from you last week,” Nicky said, handing me my cash. She would probably borrow it back before the week was out.
Stevie looked at the money Nicky handed me, and I saw a twinge of jealousy in her eyes. She gave me a lot of twenties, but it was cool. I tucked all three grand in my pocket.
The moment I sat down, I saw an unmarked police car pull up. He might as well have driven a marked car, because we’d seen Officer Harvey Chance so many times ’round here, we could smell him miles away.
“How are you doing this evening, ladies?” he said as he approached us. He wore a pair of black designer slacks and a black shirt. His black-and-grey Fendi glasses sat comfortably on the bridge of his nose. Although he irritated the fuck out of me, he was very attractive.
“Ms. Spellman, have you heard anything about Leona Clairmont?”
“I already told y’all I ain’t hea
r shit and don’t know shit. She was my friend. Why wouldn’t I tell y’all if I knew somethin’?”
I saw a few people lookin’ at me talkin’ to him, and hated that this was the main reason my neighborhood wanted me gone. With the cops comin’ around all the time askin’ me questions, it made it hard to sell drugs, and customers were going to other blocks.
“We don’t know, but it seems unnatural that she’d disappear off the face of the earth without anybody knowing anything. You were the last person she called, and she hasn’t been seen or heard from since.”
“Well, like I told y’all before, I was out of town when she called me, and y’all already checked the cell records.”
He looked at me, Nicky, and then Stevie. “Well, I’ll be in touch again,” he said, walking toward his car.
Sometimes I think he asked me the same questions just to see me go the fuck off. A few of my neighbors shook their heads at me and walked in the house. I thought it was kinda funny that they were mad at me because they couldn’t do illegal shit because of the cops. I mean really—get a fuckin’ job!
When Officer Chance got in his car and waved, I threw up my middle finger.
“You talk to Milli about the fight yet?” Nicky asked, looking at the cop go out of sight.
“Yeah, but that window shit got me fucked up now.”
Nicky stood up, dusted the dirt off her ass, and looked in my front window at the burn on the floor. She sat back down and said, “I don’t see how you stay around here. Unless they find Leona, shit not gonna go away.”
“So maybe they’ll find her.”
“Yeah, right.” She laughed, looking at Stevie.
That hurt. I wanted nothin’ more than to see my friend’s face.
“I mean really, Ginger, what’s so good about Kentland anyway? Why not just move?”
“It’s the principle, plus, I ain’t do shit to move.”
“I heard some bitches up the street say they gonna step to you again, Ginger,” Stevie added with a smirk on her face. “You don’t want ’em fuckin’ wit’ your car next.”
“Who said that shit?”
“I ain’t gettin’ in it. I’m just lettin’ you know ’cause we cool.”
I was thinking, Why even say something?
When Crystal spotted her mother at my house and ran up to us, a rack of kids followed. The moment they got in my space, I could smell the sweat and dirt from their skin and wanted to throw up.
“Ma, can I have five doooolllllaaaas?” Crystal asked, dragging her words.
“What you ’bout to buy?”
“A hot sausage and some nacho cheese sunflower seeds.”
“Bring me some seeds back too,” Stevie said, reaching into her pocket, just like she did whenever she pretended to have money. When her hands came out empty, she patted her pockets as if some would magically appear. “You got any money on you, Nicky? I’ll give it back to you when I get my check on the first.”
“I ain’t got shit but a C-note. I just gave Ginger all my money,” she said, looking at me.
No, bitch, you just gave me all my money, I thought.
“Please, Miss Ginger!” Crystal whined, the other kids chiming in too.
I started to tell them broke-ass bitches to get the fuck off my step; instead, I dug in my pockets and pulled out twenty dollars. I handed the bill to Crystal and said, “Buy everybody somethin’.”
She snatched the money out of my hands and ran. Do you know this nasty bitch ain’t even say thank you, and her mother didn’t make her either?
“She said buy us all somethin’,” one of the boys reminded Crystal as they ran down the street. “It ain’t just for you.”
“You bring the jay?” I asked, shaking my head at the foolishness.
“Naw, a friend of mine on his way to see me. He usually got smoke too.”
“I thought you had one rolled up already.”
“I did, but somebody decided to help themselves to my shit,” she said, looking at Stevie and rolling her eyes.
“Shit, you was takin’ all day, so I fired up.”
“Fuck that shit, Stevie! I was lookin’ forward to blazin’. Now you got us out here on a natural.”
“I told you I got money on the next pack,” she lied. She never had money on shit.
“You ain’t even have money to give your kids,” Nicky said, saying what I was thinking.
My attention was briefly taken off her and put on the group of girls who walked by my house. They hung with Trixy.
“Is it hot in there?” one of the girls said.
“Bitch, what you say?” I yelled, standing up.
“Take that shit down the street,” Nicky jumped in. “Y’all don’t want to see Ginger go off.”
They all looked at me, laughed, and walked away. I was contemplating running up to them, but my phone rang. I didn’t want to answer. That girl had me shook. But what if it was, Milli?
“Hello.”
“Is Ginger Spellman available?”
“Bitch, you called my house. Who the fuck is this?”
“Ms. Spellman, this is Lucy Cunningham from the office of Child Protective Services. Is now a bad time?”
I stood up straight, threw on my professional voice, and said, “Oh . . . uh . . . no. I thought you were somebody playin’ on my phone.”
“I see. Well, can you turn the music down in the background a little? I can barely hear you.”
I rushed inside the house, turned the music down, and stood inside at the front of the glass door.
“That’s better,” she said. “I’m calling about Denise Knox. Is she your daughter?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Well, I’m calling to tell you that we have detected crack cocaine in her system.”
“Fuck you talkin’ ’bout!”
“Like I said, crack is in the child’s system. We tested her because she was exhibiting behavior befitting a child who has been exposed to drugs. She wets the bed frequently, her behavior is irrational—”
“She’s a child!” I interrupted.
“Ma’am, we’ve seen enough children to know the symptoms, therefore, we have scheduled an appointment with you on Monday of next week.”
“Ma’am, there’s been a mistake. I don’t even know anybody on crack.”
“We’ll see about that when we meet you. You’ll also have to submit to testing yourself.”
There was no use reasoning with this bitch, so I said, “Okay, but where is she right now? I been callin’ all over, but nobody seems to know nothin’.”
“I’ll get to that in a minute, ma’am.” She paused. “Now . . . we need you to bring us proof of employment when you come, so that we can make an evaluation on Denise’s placement, that is, in the event things work out for you in criminal court. You are facing very serious charges.”
This bitch made my blood boil. “I got all that, but can you tell me where they have my baby?”
“She’s with—” She paused and I heard the sound of papers shuffling in the background. “Let’s see . . . she’s at Terrod Knox’s cousin’s house. Her name is Tracey Knox. Terrod is the child’s father, right?”
“Yeah. When did she get there?” I asked, confused. “And why couldn’t she stay with my mother like I asked?”
“Because your mother works two jobs and is unable to care for her. The only other alternative is foster care, and I know you don’t want that. So she was sent to Tracey’s house about an hour ago.”
Milli probably didn’t know where she was when I spoke to him earlier. I was just happy she was with family, even if it was Tracey.
“Now, if everything is in order after my evaluation, she can be back in your custody. Bring the documentation I asked for and work things out in court.”
“Okay. I should be able to do that.”
“How are you supporting yourself?”
“I have a job.”
“Well, I need verification from your employer. You must understand, Ms. Spellman, t
he kind of violence you exhibited in front of those children at the daycare center was very serious. It’s a wonder you’re not still in jail. The child care provider could have died.”
“That dumb bitch Quita hit my baby!” I blurted out, causing Nicky and Stevie to look back at me. “I don’t play that shit!”
Silence.
“Ms. Spellman, I’m going to also recommend that you attend anger management classes. Now, I hope you have a nice day, because the woman whose throat you cut probably won’t.”
I threw the phone into the wall, but it didn’t break.
I was just puttin’ my thoughts together when I saw a red Acura pull up in front of my house. Nicky smiled at the driver and trotted down the steps toward him.
Was that the car Rhianna was talkin’ about on the phone? I pulled open my door, bolted down the steps, and yelled, “Nicky, wait!”
Milli
“What is you doin’, nigga? You put the bakin’ soda in first, then the coke! That shit you makin’ don’t even look right,” Milli told his uncle, Kettle.
At forty-six years old, Kettle gave the finest young nigga a run for his money in the looks department. He kept his body muscular and lean, and his dress game couldn’t be fucked with.
“I got this shit, Milli. Relax!” he said, looking over at him with a slight frown. His muscles were pouring out of the white T-shirt he wore. “You loud as shit. If somebody was in your hallway, they could hear your bitch ass. Don’t get mad at me because that shawty makin’ shit hot ’round Kentland.”
“Fuck her.”
He laughed and said, “You wildin’ out, nephew.”
They both laughed. Milli grabbed a beer from his refrigerator and said, “Unc, I don’t know what to do wit’ them peoples. Niggas ’round the way want her gone.”
“So move her.”
“She ain’t tryin’ to. She so busy worried ’bout what the fuck I’m doin’.”
“Then cut her off.”
“I might have to.”
“She remember yet?”
“Naw. But wit’ the cops bein’ there every day, niggas can’t pump the way they used to. And it’s just a matter of time before she remembers, too. The doctors said her memory lapse is temporary.”