Durty South Grind

by L. E. Newell

  He smiled at the silhouette of a girl sitting in the backseat of Percy’s ride. He just as quickly ignored her and put his hand up to halt Dee’s progress across the field, motioning for her to turn around as he stepped up his pace toward her. When he stepped off the curb he heard the car door open and turned around to see a girl get out. Damn, honey was fine in some cut-off jeans. He watched her run up the stairs of Debra’s apartment.

  He blinked once or twice in curiosity and turned back to Dee, who had stopped at the corner of one of the buildings and braced her hands firmly on her hips. When he got close enough to see her face in the shadows, he saw that she was looking beyond him, so he turned his head to follow her gaze. Whaddafuck, he thought as he watched the same girl in a pair of white jeans follow the path of the other girl. What really fucked him up was that she was also standing at Debra’s door before he blinked and shook his head, and like magic she was gone. He wondered if he was tripping, because there was only one girl again. “Aw man, this stuff done got me tripping for a bitch,” he mumbled to himself.

  “Whatcha say, nigga?” Dee responded when he turned back to her.

  “Nothing, I just thought…aw fuck it, I thought. Never mind. I was tripping off of some real dumb shit; that’s all. What’s up?”

  She stood with her mouth twisting to the side, gnawing at nothing, the way he had noticed folk doing while they were high on coke. She ran her eyes up and down his body like he was bugging for sure.

  Her reaction only riled him up as he leaned away from her and gritted. “Girl, I asked you what was up?”

  “I heardcha.”

  “Well, what’s up then?”

  She sighed and rolled her eyes. “Man, you told me to holla atcha when folk started to show up; well, I’m hollering.”

  He spread his arms apart. “Okay, I can see that and…?”

  “And whatcha gonna do?”

  He grabbed her by the elbow and steered her back toward her apartment. Damn, she smelled good. He felt that familiar stirring in his groins, but he didn’t have the time. He noticed her eyes slanted toward his ever-expanding crotch and he didn’t want her to get the wrong idea. He stopped on the steps leading to her door and pulled out one of the bags with fifty dimes in it before she could open the door. “This here is five hundred worth of dimes.” He looked in both directions before handing it to her. “Now ten of these joints is yours, aight. Hey, girl, I ain’t really got to tell you this, but you got to keep this here straight ’cause we got to make it rain green up in here if these dudes are gonna keep fronting me.”

  She massaged the bag for a few before she looked back up at him batting her eyes. “So how I’m supposed to get atcha when this here’s gone?”

  There was an instant dilemma, but he played it off. “Before the day’s out, I’ll stop by.” He hesitated for a second, reconsidering his thoughts. “I’ll call and leave you another number where you can reach me.”

  Her eyes narrowed while she thought of other ways to cement her game. On the other hand, she wanted him to leave so she could get a good blast with the stuff he’d given her in peace. She decided to save some of her sexy for the next time. “Yeah, baby, I can feel you being busy and shit, so I’ll see you later.” She didn’t even wait for a reply before she opened her door and disappeared.

  All he could do was shake his head. True enough, he felt her conniving mind scheming and didn’t expect her to leave that quickly. He rather enjoyed her shooting him all that bullshit; helped to keep him sharp. Oh well, whatever, as long as she kept those digits straight and answered the booty call when he needed it, she could act any way she wanted to. He turned around, braced himself against the early morning chill and headed back to Debra’s.

  As he crossed the street, he noticed that the girl was back in Percy’s car. He figured that it was the coke that had him tripping; she had on different clothes and hairstyle, damn. “Whew.” He shook his head as he stepped inside. “Damn,” he moaned and froze, his eyes bucked wide open. He rubbed them with his palms and then stared at the girl in braids sitting at the table. Blinking a couple of times, he headed back out the door, only to be slowed by the laughter at his back.

  “Hey, bro, I know whatcha tripping on; come on back in here,” JJ said.

  Sparkle took a deep breath, went into a crouch and squinted at Percy’s car. Seeing the girl still sitting there, he sighed heavily, walked back into the apartment and took a seat on the couch. The girl in the braids smiled at him, then got up and went outside of the balcony doors. He turned to Percy and JJ with a confused look on his face and frowned at the sneaky smile on theirs.

  His body jumped involuntarily when the sound of a shrill whistle erupted in the air. He looked over to see the silhouette of the girl waving through the curtains. She had a wicked know-it- all smile on her face when she stepped back in and returned to her seat at the table.

  When the same face pushed through the door, it finally cemented what was going on. He gazed back and forth between the identical twins and shook his head at his own stupidity.

  Percy got up and put his hand on his shoulder. “Man, forgive me, I should’ve told you about these two.”

  He gritted on both of them. “These are my nagging twin sisters. That one over there looking like she stole something is Cherry; and the one sitting yonder with the braids, trying to look all innocent and shit, is Sherry. Together they are my worst nightmare.”

  Sherry, the braided one, smiled devilishly and walked over to Percy. “Aw, big bro. Don’t be talking about us spoiled brats like that; you the one that spoiled us.”

  Cherry, the one with the curly do, joined her sister and said in an identical voice, “Yeah, we only want to hang out with our hero brother for a while; that’s all.”

  Percy tooted his nose up and looked away from them. “Uh-huh, I’m sure you do, don’tcha?”

  “Yep,” they said in unison as they crossed the room in sassy struts and planted sloppy kisses on each of his cheeks.

  Percy ducked and pushed both of their faces away from him. “Yeah right.”

  Debra stuck her head around the corner and brushed her shoulder-length hair. She held her palms up at the guys and spoke to the girls. “Hey, Sherry, Cherry, how you doing? I’m glad to see ya. Tell your mama that I got her set for eleven o’clock tomorrow at the shop.”

  Cherry pushed Percy upside the head as she answered, “Yes, ma’am, I’ll tell her.”

  Debra stopped combing her hair and under eyed her. “Girl, you ain’t gotta be calling me no ma’am; makes me feel like an old lady.”

  “Yes, ma—” She stopped in midsentence when Debra put her hands on her hips, bucking her eyes. “Uh, yes, Miss Debra,” she corrected herself with the quickness.

  “Okay, that’s better; uh, a little better anyway.” Debra smiled, giving the dudes a nasty snake roll of her head as she whirled around and headed back into the bedroom.

  JJ looked at Percy and spread his arms apart. Percy stretched his neck and started rubbing his chin and looked back and forth between the twins and Sparkle. “Yo, check this out, ya’ll two demons; why don’t ya’ll do your big brother a favor and roll with my boy, Sparkle, here to check out those hotels for me.”

  They looked at each other and hunched their shoulders before Sherry said, “Yeah, we can do that, but how are we supposed to get there; catch a cab?”

  “Naw smartass, ya’ll can use my car. I’ll ride with JJ and Debra. But don’t be driving all crazy and shit. Yeah, Miss Cherry, I’m talking to you, Miss Hotrod, and when ya’ll finish, come straight over to Al’s.”

  Cherry, the obvious boss between the two, sassied up to him and bumped his hip. She flopped her arm around his neck and began toying with his heavy gold Mercedes-Benz chain. “Now, big bro, you know that we’re going to handle this for you.” She nodded and winked at her sister and JJ. “But ain’t you gonna break a little sumthin’-sumthin’ off for me and sis?” She ended with a pout.

  Percy leaned away, faking a frown h
e knew she wasn’t buying. “Why I got to give ya’ll something every time I ask ya’ll to do a little task for me?” He tried to maintain a serious look but that didn’t last but a hot second before she mugged him in the face.

  “I see you getting the royal treatment, nigga.” Debra laughed sarcastically as she came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands with a towel and hollered down the hall. “Ya’ll kids need to get ready to eat and get outta here.” She grimaced at their muffled replies and went about fixing their plates.

  JJ walked up to Debra, only to meet a frown and stiff palm to his chin; a move that didn’t faze him in the least. He knew his woman, so he forced an innocent smile. “Baby, if you want to get in contact, we’ll be back at Al’s trying to get some of our money back that fat nigga wiggled out of us the other day.”

  Debra looked at him like he must have lost his mind. She put a hand on her hip and then put a manicured finger up to his face, freezing whatever he had to say as she spat, “Nigga, please, you actually believe I’m gonna hang around here like some kind of housewife. Well, you can think again; I need to get some of that ching-ching back, too.” She held a finger up and waved it around the room. “Ain’t nary one of ya’ll niggas going anywhere until I get ready to ride with ya, what?”

  Each one of them, including the twins, threw their hands in the air and leaned away from her. She mugged the whole crew and twisted her narrow behind down the hall.

  The twins smiled at each other and then at Percy, knowing they had only a little time to get a hit off of him while Debra got dressed. Percy squeezed his eyes together and shook his head; he knew what they were thinking. He motioned for all of them to join him on the balcony so they could get a blast out of sight of the kids, who had gone into the kitchen to eat.

  Afterward, JJ said to the girls, “Looka here, ya’ll, we want ya’ll to let the girls ya’ll deal with at the Red Roof, Holiday Inn and Motel 6 know that he’s the one who’s going to be dealing with them for awhile. All of them chickenheads should be ready for a fresh package by now.” He held his head up, listening for something in the wind for a second, and then leaned against the patio door. “Wait a minute.” He sighed and pushed through the curtains.

  Percy took over after he left. “Yeah, my nigga, just hang with these fools so you can get a feel for those girls at the hotels, pick up the ends and give them some of this fresh stuff. They already know what the deal is, so all you got to do is get in rhythm with them.”

  I wonder why they haven’t mentioned to the twins that I’ve already been to those spots. Mmm, must be another set of honeys they talking about. Yep, probably is, Sparkle thought. Nodding his head in agreement, he was definitely ready to sprout out further anyway. “Okay, I feel you on that there.”

  Before he could continue, JJ burst back through the curtains and slapped a new cell phone in his hands. Sparkle gave him a curious look and flipped it around in his hand before he put it in his pocket. JJ cocked his head to the side with his hand held out. Sparkle looked at the hand and raised his brow before it dawned on him what he wanted. He gave it to him. “Them hoes already know the number, just give them a code that they can use to let you know they need some more stuff. Niggas got to be careful what they say on these things, dog, you feel me?”

  They were about to do another hit when they heard Debra hollering at the kids to get their things together and get to school. They knew that she was coming by the tone in her voice. They started stuffing the dope in their pockets as one by one they eased back into the living room before she came out.

  Shortly afterward, she pranced into the room, dressed in a skin-tight brown jeans outfit laced with flowers and rhinestones, with a Gucci handbag slung over her shoulder. “Aight, troopers, let’s go roll up some of that cheddar that fat boy’s trying to hold all for himself.”

  Not a moment was wasted joining her as she strolled out of the apartment. JJ and Percy followed her to the parking lot while Sparkle and the twins headed to Percy’s ride on the other side of the building.

  With Cherry at the wheel, it took them only a minute until they were pulling into the parking lot of the Red Roof Inn. Sherry led the way as they entered the room on the third tier facing the expressway. A different girl answered the door than the times he had come over with Peggy. A bright-eyed Sherry introduced him to a perky petite red-haired honey named Carla, who was still draped in her robe with rollers in her head.

  In a small Loretta Devine-type of voice, she stifled a yawn. “Pinky had to make a run last night, I, ah, figured that she’d be back by now.” She spread her arms around the room in a herky-jerky motioned. “Ah, so you must be Sparkle, right, yeah, right. Anyway, she’ll probably be here the next time that you ride through. I’ll be sure to let her know what the deal is.”

  Sparkle’s eyes squinted in concentration to keep up with her rapid-fire dialogue. In a way he reminded her a little bit of Left Eye, who used to roll with TLC; she had that kind of spunk about herself.

  He sat down and crossed his legs and watched the girls kick the bullshit girl talk for a few minutes. “Yeah, shawtie girl, we’ll see what it be like with Pinky when we see her, but right in now, how about you shooting me those ends.”

  The suddenness of his intrusion brought a brief frown from her pixieish face, causing her to wrinkle up her pouty lips for a second before she broke out into one of the cutest smiles he had ever seen. She spun daintily and went to the sink and reached up on the clothes rack to get a box. In quick little steps, she walked back over to the bed and plopped beside him, opened the box and handed him eight hundred dollars. While he counted the money, she sat waggling her legs with her chin anchored on the back of her hand.

  Sparkle forced back a smile as he thought, Damn, this one here sho do be acting a little too girlie for this hardcore dope game. Those thoughts were erased immediately when he considered that under her extra-feminine exterior, there had to be a cold-hearted bitch—one with her own way of dealing with the scoundrels chasing Scottie on a daily basis or whatever else came her way.

  With that in mind he froze her with a serious poker face before he smiled and said in a husky voice, “Hmmm, does this mean that you wanna work with a grand piece?”

  She licked her lips and looked across the room at the twins. The girls hunched their shoulders instead of giving her a verbal comment. She turned back to him, batted her long eyelashes a couple of times and said, “Uh-huh, stud, that’s exactly what it means.” She stared under eyed while she waited for his response.

  There wasn’t much to say, so he turned his mouth down, reached into his jacket and took out the bag. He pulled out two of the $500 packages and handed them to her.

  She immediately ripped them open and removed a handful of the Ziplocs, tossed the twins a good-sized rock apiece and held one out to him, which he politely refused with a smile. He had long ago decided that he wasn’t going to let any of the folk working for him know that he got high or dipped into any of his packages. Their relationship had to be strictly business; no more, no less.

  She stared at him for a moment, cocked her head to the side and then hunched her shoulders before she got up and joined the twins. After getting their smoke on, all three girls jumped on the bed and started playing dominoes. Shortly, folk started knocking on the door.

  Like magic, Carla transformed from the dainty pixie into a hardcore, no-nonsense businesswoman right before his eyes. Like some Michael Jackson-type shit. He smiled at the instant change in her and the way she handled her biz like a little gangster ho. He would make it his business to get to know shawty a lot better on future visits.

  Within a half hour, she was pulling Sparkle into the bathroom and handing him $400 with her left hand and holding out her right one for another package, which he didn’t hesitate a second in giving to her.

  He reared his head back and started scratching his neck as he looked down at her. “Okay, little mama, I’ve seen enough. Just holla at a nigga whenever you ready. Any time of the day or night a
nd I’ll get here as quickly as I can.” He ended by giving her the cell number and code she needed to use.

  Still set in her gangster mode, she said, “Yeah, playa, you do that. I’ll be hollering in a few. You handle your end and as you can see, I got this one here.”

  He stepped back into the room and jerked his head at the twins. They said brief goodbyes to the people that had gathered in the room and prepared to leave. As they were exiting the room, Carla pulled his sleeve. She had turned back into Miss Sweetie Petite as she smiled up at him. “I’ll see ya soon, playa. You kinda cute when you ain’t frowning at a bitch, you know that?”

  He flicked his thumb across his nose and smiled. “Oh yeah, we’ll be seeing a lot of each other, baby girl; that’s for sure.” He could tell from the glitter in her eyes that she was ready for whatever with him. He planned on taking advantage of that glitter in the future. But now wasn’t the time so he rubbed her gently on the shoulder and left.

  Minutes later, speeding down I-20, Sherry leaned across the seat with her chin resting on her hands. “So whatcha think about our little Miss Carla, Mr. Sparkle?”

  He noticed in the side-view mirror that she had a mischievous smile on her face. He took a long drag off of his cigarette before he turned his mouth down. “Shortie’s got a lot of spunk and definitely be handling her biz; that’s what I think.” He turned in the seat to face her. “We’ll see what she be about down the road.”

  Cherry, who had been quietly taking in the conversation, checked the traffic in both rearview mirrors before she jerked the car into the exit lane, ignoring the blaring of several cars protesting her bold move. With a sly smile, she looked across the seat at him. “Looks like little mama wanna be jumping your bones if you ask me, playa.”

  He pulled on his left earlobe as he eyed one twin and then the other before he burst out laughing. “It’s a good thing I didn’t ask you then, huh?” He grimaced.

  Taken somewhat aback for a moment, she wrinkled her nose as him and snorted, “You ain’t got to be so nasty with it, humph,” she snarled as she snapped her head back to the road.