Wifey 4 Life

by Kiki Swinson

  “What was your cousin’s name?” Jay One asked.

  “Nikki.”

  He thought for a second. “Oh, nah, I don’t know her.”

  “She got shot in Houston, so my uncle had her body shipped back here so he could bury her.”

  “How old was she?” Jay One asked.

  “She was twenty-five.”

  Fro blurted out, “Damn! She was young as hell!”

  “Yeah, she sho was,” Jay One said.

  Hearing both of the guys comment on how young Nikki was made me think about how soon her life was cut short. This was the first time I’d looked at it like that. I figured my uncle probably saw it that way as well. But she was a backstabber, a chick who couldn’t be trusted. And when that cat she was fucking with named Bintu’ saw that, he felt the need to eliminate her. So it wasn’t my doing. Sadly I knew even if I had a chance to explain that to my uncle, he still wouldn’t have believed me. End of story.

  My train of thought was interrupted when Fro asked me if there was anywhere I needed him to take me. I thought about telling them to drop me off at my hotel, but something told me that going back there wouldn’t be a good idea, because either Tony or my uncle would probably come there looking for me. I needed to go to another hotel, but first I needed to get my rental car.

  I told Fro, “I need to get my rental car.”

  “Where is it?” Fro asked.

  “I left it parked outside of the guy’s house who set me up.”

  Fro and Jay One looked at each other then at me.

  Fro said, “Yo, shorty, you might wanna leave that joint where it is.”

  “Yeah, he’s right ’cause if homeboy knows that you got away from ol’ dude, then they’re probably waiting in the cut for you to show up.”

  “So what do you think I should do?” I asked, looking at both of them. Fro shrugged, and Jay One pretty much did the same thing, remaining silent.

  I sighed heavily. “Well, can one of y’all at least help me get a burner?”

  Jay One looked at Fro. “Yo, cuz, you gon’ have to help her with that one.”

  “Yo, shorty, do you even know how to handle a burner?”

  “Of course.”

  “How much dough you got?” Fro asked.

  “How much is it going to cost me?”

  “It all depends on what you want.”

  “Can you get me a thirty-eight?”

  Fro thought for a moment. “Yeah, I can do that.”

  “For how much?”

  “Give me two big faces, and it’s yours.”

  “What’s big faces?” I asked. This was new VA slang, I guess.

  Fro smiled. “Hundred-dollar bills, shorty.”

  “Oh, OK. I can swing that. But the gun ain’t gonna be dirty, is it?”

  “What do you care? You gon’ use it and get rid of it anyway, right?”

  “Yes, but I just don’t want to be walking around with a gun with bodies on it.”

  “Yo, Kira, it ain’t too many burners ’round here that ain’t got a body on them,” Fro said. “And if you find one, believe me, that joint gon’ run you anywhere between five to eight hundred.”

  “Yeah, he ain’t lying ’bout that, shorty.”

  “All right. I really don’t care. Just get me something now. I’m running out of time.”

  “A’ight, let’s get it then.” Fro hopped back into the passenger seat. Jay One got in on the driver’s side, and after Fro told him where to drive, he put the car in gear, and we were off. I got him to stop by an ATM machine, so I could get the cash for the gun.

  I knew the Tidewater area like the back of my hand. When Jay One traveled down Virginia Beach Boulevard, made a left onto Tidewater Drive, a right onto Princess Anne Road, and then an immediate left onto Reservoir Avenue, I knew he was going to Walt’s place.

  Walt was an old-timer who had lived on Reservoir Avenue forever. Everybody around town knew this cat, and anyone who needed a burner came to him. He had new pistols and used pistols. I knew he made a killing off burners. I remember hearing Ricky tell me one day that Walt had to be worth at least a couple million, and yet he lived in an old-ass house and drove an old 1995 Lincoln Continental. As long as I’d known Walt, he was never flashy, which was why I believed he had longevity on these streets. I knew seeing me again was going to blow his mind.

  After we pulled up to Walt’s house, Fro hopped out and asked me to hand him my money. Before I handed it to him, I asked him if we were at Mr. Walt’s house.

  Fro looked at me, clearly puzzled. “How the fuck you know Walt?”

  “Well, if this is the same guy, I’ve known him since I was a little girl. My mother used to fuck with him back in the day.”

  “Damn, if this ain’t a small-ass world!” Fro said.

  I gave him a half-smile. “Tell me about it.”

  “What’s your mama’s name?” Fro asked. “I might remember her.”

  “Nah, you ain’t gonna remember her. She’s been deceased now for about twelve years. And, besides, when she was fucking with Mr. Walt, I think I was about ten years old. I used to call him Poppa Walt. And when he and my mother broke up, I didn’t see him again until after my mother passed away.”

  “Well, since you already know him, let’s go.” Fro pulled on the door handle to let me out.

  I got out of the truck. I had mixed feelings about seeing Walt. It had been a few years since I’d last seen him. I had introduced him to Ricky, and they’d done a little business together. While Walt supplied Ricky with the arsenal he needed, Ricky, in turn, greased Walt’s palms. I knew Walt made at least ten grand from this deal with Ricky. But what I didn’t know was whether Walt knew about our fed case. And, if he did, was he aware that I’d testified against Ricky and the rest of his crew? If he was, that wouldn’t be a good look at all.

  I’d known this man half of my life, so I knew he hated snitches. The reason why he survived on these streets and had longevity was because he stuck to a very important street code, meaning, he only fucked with legit people. Cats had to bring references with them when they needed something from Walt. At least four to five people had to vouch for his buyers before he did any business with them. He was a very thorough cat, and nothing got past him.

  Fro walked ahead of me and went straight to Walt’s back door. All the lights were off in the house, so I wondered if he was home. Seconds after Fro knocked on the door, it opened. He smiled when Walt made himself visible.

  “You know what time it is, old-timer, so let a nigga in.”

  Walt smiled as he unlocked the screen door and pushed it open. Fro stepped into the house, and I followed. As I entered through the back door, I held my head down.

  Walt grabbed me by the arm. “Do I know you?”

  I was embarrassed to look into his face, but I did it anyway. I tried to smile, but my mood didn’t allow me to do so.

  Fro looked back at Walt. “She said she knew you. That’s why she got out of the truck.”

  Walt pulled me closer and looked directly into my face. “Kira.”

  I tried to smile again, but the hurt and pain I had experienced not even two hours ago started weighing heavily on me. I didn’t want him to see me cry, because I didn’t feel like explaining to him what had happened to me. I didn’t think he would understand, or even believe me.

  Walt closed the door behind us and had me take a seat. He took a seat beside me and started asking a hundred and one questions. My eyes immediately got watery all over again.

  “What happened to you? Who did this?”

  When I didn’t answer right away, he looked at Fro.

  Fro shrugged as if to say he didn’t know anything. Basically, Fro wanted me to do all the explaining.

  Walt asked Fro, “Where’d you pick her up?”

  “I was out Young’s Park sitting in my homeboy’s truck when I saw her running down Virginia Beach toward Monticello Avenue with her wrists tied up and duct tape covering her mouth. I asked her what was up and if she ne
eded some help. She said yeah, so I untied her wrists and ripped off the fucking tape.”

  “What made you bring her here?”

  “I told him I needed a burner.”

  Walt looked back at Fro. “You told her I had burners and you didn’t even know her?”

  “Nah, Walt, you know I don’t carry it like that. I just told her that I could get her one, and when we pulled up to your crib, that’s when she told me she knew you.”

  “Yeah, he’s not lying. When we pulled onto Reservoir, I automatically knew he was coming to see you.”

  Walt asked me again how I got banged up. And he wanted to know who did it. I took a deep breath and told him everything I’d told Fro. I could tell Walt had trouble believing what I was saying. He looked back at Fro at least four times while I was talking.

  When I was done speaking, Walt looked at Fro again and said, “I don’t know why you did it, but you did the right thing by bringing her here to me.”

  Fro nodded.

  “You know she’s like a daughter to me, right?”

  “She told me.”

  Walt started rubbing my back in a circular motion. “I used to mess with her mama back in the day. Unfortunately, it didn’t last, so she was taken away from me after her mother moved out.” He grabbed me and pulled me into his arms, embracing me like he didn’t want to let me go.

  “That’s too bad,” Fro said.

  Walt asked Fro to step outside, so he could talk to him. After they walked out the back door, I dried the tears from my eyes and began to think about how I was going to take revenge on the motherfuckers who’d tortured me. I had so much anger and bitterness in my heart, I knew I could destroy anything. I didn’t have a plan at all, but I decided I would figure that out as soon as I got my hands on a burner.

  Looking Over Your Shoulders

  Walt stayed outside with Fro for about five minutes, and when he came back into the house, Fro was nowhere in sight. Walt told me he’d sent him on his way.

  “But I wanted him and his friend to take me to my rental car,” I said.

  “He already told me. Don’t worry about it. I’m gonna take care of everything.”

  I stood. “Can I use your bathroom? I need to wash off this blood on my face and get myself together.”

  “Yeah, sure. It’s right down that hallway to your right. My facecloths are in the hall closet right across from the bathroom. You can take a shower if you want.”

  After he pointed me in the direction of the bathroom, I didn’t hesitate to get in there. Before I went inside the bathroom, I grabbed a towel and facecloth from the hall closet.

  When Walt noticed I was getting ready to take a shower, he said, “If you want to change into something more comfortable, I can lend you a T-shirt and a pair of my shorts.”

  “Yeah, that’s fine,” I told him after I realized he wasn’t that much bigger than me. I wouldn’t have a pair of panties to put on, but that didn’t matter. I felt really dirty, and all I wanted to do was wash the icky feeling off me.

  Once I was undressed, I turned on the shower and slid inside. The water was perfect. I turned my back against the stream, and the pressure of the water massaged my back muscles, relieving some of my tension. Although I tried to enjoy my shower, my mind kept flashing back to what I had gone through earlier that day. How stupid was I to fall for all that bullshit? I couldn’t believe that I’d allowed myself to get caught up like that. I was from the streets, so I knew the tricks of the trade. I knew how to read certain niggas when they looked funny, but I guess, since I’d been away, I’d lost my touch.

  Even though I had been violated and beat up, I still had some willpower left. I badly wanted revenge on Tony, my uncle, Dré, and Kasey. I could taste it. But I wasn’t naïve. I knew I wouldn’t be able to conquer that mission alone.

  I probably stayed in the shower for about twenty minutes, which was enough time for me to collect my thoughts. When I stepped out of the bathroom, Walt was in his bedroom shuffling things around. It sounded like he was rearranging some large objects. I stood in the hallway with the towel wrapped around me and knocked on his bedroom door.

  “I’ll be out in a minute,” he said.

  “I just need you to hand me those clothes you said you had for me.”

  “I put ’em on the bed in the other bedroom.”

  “OK, thanks,” I said and walked away.

  I went into the other bedroom and got dressed. The T-shirt was a little too big, and so were the shorts, but I needed something to cover my body, so I made do. After I slipped back on my ballet flats, I balled up the clothes I had on earlier and placed them on the edge of the bed. If there was a garbage can somewhere nearby, I would’ve thrown them out. I didn’t need anything around me that reminded me what I’d gone through today, especially since I knew that I wasn’t ever going to wear those clothes again.

  When I came out of the bedroom, Walt was sitting in the living room talking on his cell phone. As soon as I approached him, he cut his conversation short and ended the call. He tapped a spot beside him on the sofa and told me to sit there, so I did.

  “I just got off the phone with a friend of mine, and he agreed to help me with your problem.”

  I didn’t respond. I just looked at him really strangely. I immediately began to wonder what type of plan they had come up with. When dealing with men like Walt, who liked to provide as little information as possible, you had to follow blindly. He’d been like that for years, and I didn’t think he was going to change now.

  “Do you need some ice for your mouth?” he asked me after focusing on the cheek and mouth areas of my face.

  “No, I’m fine.”

  “You sure? Because that looks really bad.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure.” I laid my mouth in the palm of my right hand to cover it.

  “You know, you look just like your mother.”

  I gave him a nonchalant expression and shrugged. I wasn’t in the mood to be reminded about how much I resembled my mother. I had just been sexually assaulted and tortured, so my mind was somewhere else.

  “You know, I still think about her,” he said.

  “I’m sure you do.”

  Walt placed his hand on my right knee. “If me and your mama were still together, you would’ve had a different life, and she’d probably still be alive today.”

  “There’s a strong possibility that you could be right.”

  “Damn! If I could only turn back the hands of time.”

  “You can’t, so don’t even dwell on it.”

  I took a deep breath and exhaled.

  “I can’t believe your uncle did some shit like that to you,” he said, again. “I know your mother is turning over in her fucking grave right now.”

  I looked back at Walt. “I know she is too.”

  “Well, he’s got to be dealt with. I can’t sit here and know what he did to you and not do anything to him.”

  “I want a piece of his ass too.” I knew Walt saw the vengeance in my eyes. I literally wanted to get a gun from him and go on a shooting rampage.

  “Do you think he’s at home?” Walt asked me. “I’m not sure. What time is it?”

  Walt looked down at his wristwatch. “Ten thirty.”

  “I’ve never known him to be out this late, but a lot about him has changed, so I can’t call it.”

  “He’s gonna be very shocked when he sees me coming for his ass.” Walt smiled. “You know, he and I don’t see eye to eye.”

  “Nah, I didn’t know that.”

  “Yeah, him and your grandmother caused me and your mama to break up.”

  “Really? I never knew that.”

  “Yeah, they stayed in our business. And the day your mama moved out of my house, me and your uncle almost got into a fistfight.”

  “Are you serious?”

  “Hell, yeah! He had just come home from the military, and he and your grandmother came to my house talking shit, telling your mama she didn’t need to be with me, and that if
she didn’t leave with them, they were going to take you from her.”

  Shocked, I looked at Walt and said, “My grandmother threatened to take me away from my mama?”

  “Yep, she sure did.”

  “Why? I mean, what was my mama doing so bad that my grandma would threaten to take me away from her like that?”

  “They didn’t like me, baby girl. They thought I was a bad influence because I was in the streets hustling, and they didn’t want y’all around it.”

  “Well, if you look at it from their perspective, you’d probably feel the same way.”

  “Listen, baby girl, I’m not a petty-ass nigga. If the shoe was on the other foot, I would’ve probably acted the same way. But the part I didn’t like was when your uncle pulled a gun on me and stuck it in my face. I swear, if your mama hadn’t defused the situation, I would have run in my house, grabbed my pistol, and blew his motherfucking head off his shoulders.”

  “Wow! It got that bad?”

  “Hell, yeah! The police came and everything.”

  “Wait a minute. Where was I? Because I don’t remember any of that happening.”

  “You were in school.”

  “You know what . . . I questioned my mama over a dozen times about why we were moving back to my grandmama’s house, but all she did was brush me off. As time passed, I just stopped asking her, because she never gave me a straight answer. And when I started seeing you again after I got married, knowing what really happened back then between y’all wasn’t a top priority anymore, so I left it alone.”

  “Well, I didn’t want to leave it alone. I wanted to tear some shit up. I especially wanted to kill Lanier because of how he disrespected me. I have never allowed a man to stick a pistol to my head and then walk around and talk about it. That’s a no-no in my world.”

  “My husband Ricky felt the exact same way. He used to always tell the flunkies who worked for him that if they ever pulled out a gun on somebody, they’d better use it, or they’d be the ones on the chopping block.”

  “Baby girl, that’s the number one cardinal rule for the streets, so your uncle was one lucky motherfucker!”

  “Well, you know what?”

  “What?”