Block Party

by Al-Saadiq Banks

  “Ha, Ha, Ha.” We both laugh.

  “I’m going to buy you a Bentley just like that one over there.”

  “Bentley where?” I question.

  “Over there,” he says, pointing across the parking lot.

  “Where?”

  “Over there, the green one.” Oh shit! It sure is. It’s Junebug’s car.

  I get nervous. I start peeking around. Did this motherfucker follow us here? What the fuck am I going to do? I dial Ricky’s phone number. The answering machine picks up on the first ring. He must be on the phone. I dial him again, but still no answer. Then I dial again. His answering service picks up both times. “Shit!” I blurt out.

  “What’s the matter, Daddy?” Ahmad asks.

  “Nothing Ahmad. Here goes $10. Ya’ll go order some more ice cream.”

  “Yeah!” they cheer.

  As they walk to the counter, I dial Ricky again; still no answer. I’m scared as hell. For some reason, I feel like I’m being watched. I peek around the store. I walk to the doorway and look out the store into the lobby area. I take notice of a tall, long-legged blond walking through the lobby area. She looks like a famous model walking the runway. She has at least five shopping bags in each hand. As she gets closer, I realize who she is. She’s Junebug’s girl.

  Oh shit, let me hide over here. I know he isn’t far behind. As she passes the ice cream Parlor, I hide behind the statue of a gigantic ice cream cone. I stand there for a second, waiting to see if he’s following her.

  She prances into the ladies room. Still no Junebug. Minutes pass. She’s taking forever in the rest room.

  She must be in there for at least 15 minutes before she steps out and goes directly into Victoria’s Secret. I still don’t see any sign of Junebug.

  I have to get out of here. I know we can make it to the car, because I’m parked directly in front of the exit.

  “Come on, let’s go,” I yell to the boys.

  “Daddy, we’re not finished!”

  “Come on, we have to go. Eat in the car!”

  They get up hesitantly. “The last one in the car is a rotten egg!” I shout. Everyone takes off at full speed. I’m the last one, of course.

  After starting the car, I just sit for a moment. From the angle I’m sitting, I can see everyone who walks in and out of the mall. I decide to sit here to see who the white girl is with.

  Approximately ten minutes later, she comes out. She has added two more shopping bags to her collection. Before she steps out, she pauses in the doorway and places all ten of her bags on the floor. She begins to button her full-length, white and black chinchilla. After that, she walks right past me and crosses the lot in the direction of the Bentley.

  When she gets in, she doesn’t pull right off. First, she puts on her sunglasses, then she slips on her leather driving gloves. Immediately after that, she cruises through the parking lot.

  “Daddy, why are we still sitting here?” Ahmad asks. I ignore him. “Huh Daddy?”

  When she gets to the exit, I pull off.

  I follow her out of the parking lot. After driving about two blocks, she pulls over and parks. I park about seven cars behind her.

  “Daddy, where are we going?” Ahmad questions.

  “Shhh, cool out Mod,” I whisper. She walks into a bakery. Just seconds later, she comes back out and jumps back in the car. She pulls off, and I pull off. Before she gets to the traffic light, she puts on her left blinker. After the oncoming traffic passes her, she turns into a driveway between two big, beautiful white houses.

  I pull over and watch her get out. She doesn’t even notice me sitting here. Not once has she looked in her mirror. Now do you see why I drill Love so much about that?

  She grabs her bags and walks up the steps of the bigger house. After she goes inside, I pull up directly across from the house. “Bingo!” I blurt out. What do I see in the backyard? I see the black 500 and I see the Harley parked in the garage with the doors wide open. I peel off. Sccuuurr! I can’t let anyone see me and blow my chances of getting him. Besides, I’ve already seen enough.

  No wonder we can’t find him. He’s nowhere in the hood. He’s deep in the suburbs. No one would think of coming way up here.

  I pull out a pen and a pad from my glove box. I scribble down the street and house number.

  From there I drop the kids off, and I immediately call Ricky again. This time he answers. We meet up and I give him the information. I give him $10,000 up front and tell him I’ll give him the other $15,000 when the job is done.

  CHAPTER 42

  Two days later

  Today is the day of the big game. I haven’t heard from Ricky since I gave him the information. I wonder what’s taking him so long. He should have handled that already. All yesterday I checked my phone continuously just to make sure it was working.

  This morning, I woke up bright and early. I’m just arriving at the building to pick up Slim and my sons. Slim looks different compared to the way he’s been looking the past two days. Today he looks bright and cheerful. As he walks to the car, he smiles from ear to ear. I haven’t seen him this happy in a while. He’s whistling a tune as he gets in the car. “What’s up, Daddy?” the boys shout. Slap! Slap! They both give me a high five.

  “Damn Slim, you look happier than a fag with a bag of dicks,” I whisper. He chuckles.

  “You’re going to be happy too when you see the surprise I got for you!”

  “What is it?” I ask.

  “Hold up, hold up,” he insists. He then digs in his inside pocket, pulls out a newspaper clipping, and tosses it onto my lap. “Bang Man!” I quickly fix my eyes on the clipping. I can’t wait to read how Ricky executed Junebug. I already know what’s going on, but I don’t want Slim to know that I’m in on it. I never told him about the order I put in.

  I slowly read the entire article, reading every small detail twice. No! This is not what I expected to read! Hell no! This is how the article reads:

  KILLER OF TWO CITY MEN SOUGHT

  The notorious Mayor, leader of the Goon Squad, known for his famous heroin labeled Block Party, was taken into custody yesterday evening. He was apprehended after federal officials raided his suburban home. Federal agents confiscated a 9mm. handgun, two .40 calibers, three 44 magnums, two machine guns, an assault rifle, more than 25,000 bags of heroin, and a total of $2,300,400 in cash.

  Taken into custody with him were his two female acquaintances, Liu Ching and Megan Bess. Officials also confiscated a Bentley Azure, a Harley Davidson, and a Mercedes Benz that are all registered to Liu Ching. Megan Bess holds the deed to the $500,000 home. If convicted, Liu Ching and Megan Bess will face up to 25 years for conspiracy.

  Blackhead (the Mayor) not only has been indicted for numerous drug charges, officials have evidence leading to murders dating back five years ago. If convicted Blackhead could face multiple life sentences.

  Officials escorted him from his home wearing only a white, hooded, terry cloth Polo robe, and Gucci slippers. As he was dragged across his lawn, he spit into the face of an official and sang the words “Every dog will have his day. I guess it’s my turn now. What goes up must come down.”

  “Bang Man, it’s over. They ain’t never coming home.”

  “Damn, I didn’t want it to go like this. I wanted his ass dead!”

  “Who do you want dead Daddy?” Ahmad asks. I totally forgot they were in the car.

  “Nobody, Ahmad. That’s not what I said.”

  “Uh huh, I heard you.”

  “No, you didn’t hear that. Phew.” I exhale.

  “Big Time, look at the bright side. He’s out of the way, and you didn’t have to do it. He self-destructed. You’re out here as free as a bird. Now you can do whatever you want to do.”

  “I was going to do whatever I wanted one way or the other!” I shout. “This just feels like the sucker way out.”

  Hours later

  I sit carefree, and watch our team blow the other team out. The score is 76 to 40.
The first quarter doesn’t look too good at first when the off guard gets stripped of the ball seven times back to back. The coach then pulls him out and puts Ahmad in. To my surprise, my sons run the court like two professional guards. I’ve never seen Ahmad play like this. He shoots from everywhere and scores. He finishes off with more points than Ahmir. He has 34 points, and Ahmad only has twelve. Together they scored over half of the team’s total points. If Ahmad keeps playing like this, I might get that house and that Bentley he promised me! I’ll never forget the look on Ahmad’s face when they handed him the MVP trophy. I could see jealousy all over Ahmir’s face, as Ahmad looked up at me, and said ‘I’M THE MAN!’ Ahmir hates to be second; especially to Ahmad. He thinks he’s supposed to better than Ahmad in everything, they do. This is good medicine for him. This way he’ll learn to never take anything for granted. He just knew that MVP trophy was his. He already had a spot cleaned up for it, on the mantle. I’m so glad it went that way.

  CHAPTER 43

  One month later

  Things are going terrific. The cocaine price is back down. I’m paying $16,000 a joint and selling it for $19,000. I even talked the Doctor into teaching me how to cut the dope. He charged me $10,000 for the recipe. He refuses to be my chemist because of all the madness his mix started.

  Oh, even Mike is back rolling. He hasn’t fully healed up yet, but he’s killing them. He has the block banging with the blow and the dope. He moves 25 bricks (1,250 bags) and a quarter of a kilo (250 grams) a day. In total, that’s over $19,000 a day. After paying his soldiers and getting me out of the way, he walks away with about $6,000 profit a day, which equals out to over $40,000 a week. That’s not bad for a 40-year-old dude who never did anything but extort guys for little pennies all his life.

  I took over Junebug’s old block. Bang Man is moving. I can’t keep enough of it. I move about 75 bricks a day out there. I also opened my old block back up. I sell nothing but dimes of cocaine out there. My crew bumps two and a half kilos every week.

  Even Slim is eating heavy. I gave him a raise. He no longer makes $1,000 a week. Now he makes $2,500 a week just to ride with me while I’m making moves. Every now and then, he makes a drop-off or a pickup, but most of the time he just rides shotgun.

  Oh, I almost forgot. I did have a small problem when I first got the dope back. I couldn’t get in touch with my main man Bilal. He’s one of my plugs from out of town. After trying over and over to contact him, I called some of his plugs to let them know Bang Man was back. I thought maybe he had got locked up or something. Come to find out, they never stopped getting Bang Man. Bilal didn’t go one single week without it. Through all the beefing and everything, Bilal copied my stamp and continued to sell it as if it were mines.

  I put Pretty Ricky on him. I gave him all the information he needed. I gave him a picture of Bilal, his baby momma’s address, and his new girl’s address.

  It only took Ricky two days to find him. Let’s just say that $10,000 I gave Ricky to handle Junebug he no longer owes me, we’re even!

  As for Junebug’s two little men, no one has seen them. I don’t think they come around here anymore.

  I love it when a plan comes together. Cashmere is back! If only Jake and Ab could see me now. Not even a year after coming home and I’m in charge of everything, just like I told you I would be. A motherfucker can’t sneeze without asking me first! And guess what! I did it without Jake and Ab. I did it by myself!

  CHAPTER 44

  Today is the big day, finally. Today is my wedding day. I haven’t seen Love since we went to pick up the tuxedos. That was two days ago. Boy, do I miss her! In less than one hour, I’ll be standing in front of 350 people. I’m nervous as hell.

  My left eye has been jumping since this morning when I woke up. I’m not superstitious, but if Big Ma were alive, she would be like, “Boy that’s a sign of bad luck. If you gotta go outside, you better be careful.”

  I don’t believe in luck or none of that dumb shit. I believe whatever is meant to be will be.

  Right now, I’m fully dressed. Fuck one million bucks; I look like three million bucks! This tux is fitting me perfectly. Black as I am, I got the nerve to have on a black tux. That was all Love’s idea. We’re going to look so good standing in front of all those people. The bridesmaids are wearing wine-colored dresses; the same color as my car.

  I got the car detailed yesterday. She’s ready to go. My man did his thing. She looks like she just left the showroom.

  I got one move to make. I know, I’m supposed to be done, but I’m making so much money it’s hard to walk away. Love doesn’t know I’m still hustling.

  I have a loyal team with me, so I really don’t have to go out unless I want to. They handle everything.

  My man wants a bird. The only reason I’m delivering it myself is he came all the way from North Carolina, and he doesn’t have time to wait. It’s going to be simple though, because where I have to meet him is in the direction of Desire’s house. By the way, they moved back in last month.

  After I drop the bird off, I’ll go straight to the house and scoop my best men up and we’re out. Slim and my sons will be standing next to me at the altar. When we get to the park, a horse and carriage will bring us in.

  As I pull into the mini mall, something doesn’t feel right. I feel like someone is watching me. I glance around, but I don’t see anything out of the ordinary. I don’t see my man either. I’m not going to park. I can’t trap myself off like I did with Sal.

  I circle the lot twice, then I exit. I slowly drive around the block trying to give him time to get here.

  He’s still not here.

  As I pull into the parking lot, I notice a cherry top approaching. He slows down as he gets closer to me. He stops. We lock eyes. Oh shit! Here we go!

  I continue to ride. Through my rearview mirror, I see him busting a U-turn. He quickly pulls behind me. I’m driving regular, as if I don’t know he’s behind me. Then, Whoop! Whoop! He hits his siren. Damn! “Pull over!” he instructs over the loudspeaker. I pull over, like he told me to.

  I’m shaking like a leaf. The officer slowly walks over to my car. Sniff! I take a sniff of the air just to see if you can smell the loud aroma of the cocaine. I sniff again. Sniff! Without a doubt, you can definitely smell it. I’m in trouble.

  “Hey son, is there a problem?”

  “No sir,” I answer confidently. “Why do you ask that?”

  “Uh, I noticed you riding around the parking lot three or four times. Is everything all right?”

  “Uh, yes Sir!”

  “Are you waiting for someone?” he asks. Before I can answer, he says, “Can I see your license, insurance, and your registration son? Turn the car off son!”

  “Yes sir!” I shout, as confidently as I can.

  I pat my pockets before realizing that due to me rushing, I left my wallet in my other pants pockets. I then reach in the glove box for the other paperwork. “Officer, I’m sorry, I left my wallet at home with my license in it, but I have everything else,” I explain.

  “Let me see it,” he orders.

  I hand it over and he reviews the paperwork.

  “Sir, step out of the car please.”

  “Huh?” I question. “My name is Donald Pierce! You can record check my name. I have a license, I just forgot it sir, honest.”

  “Step out of the fucking car, sir,” he yells.

  Oh shit, it’s going down! What can I say? He’s not trying to hear anything. I have the bird laying right on the front seat in a brown paper bag. I know he sees it. I’m going to jail forever.

  As I step out of the car, he looks me up and down. “Why are you all dressed up, boy?”

  “I’m getting married in less than one hour.”

  He pats my waist as if he’s checking for something. He cracks a smile. “Get back in your car, boy. Congratulations!”

  Exhale! What a relief!

  As I’m getting back into my car, I notice my man pulling into the parking l
ot. As he pulls toward me, I shake my head no. The officer is in the car sitting in the cut. He’s watching everything. I pull out of the parking lot. My man comes behind me shortly after. He follows me to a dead-end block. We park, he jumps in, and I serve him. We make the move successfully. That was a close call.

  Minutes later

  As soon as I turn onto Desire’s block, I begin dialing the number. “Hello?” Ahmir answers.

  “Ya’ll ready?” I ask.

  “Yeah, we ready, but Pop Pop is still in the bathroom,” he replies. “Mommy is helping him get dressed.”

  “All right, I’ll be in front waiting for ya’ll.”

  Slim is doing terrible. I told him he could stay home, I would understand. But he told me he wouldn’t miss the wedding for the world. Desire had to bathe and dress him. I hate to see him like this. From the looks of things, these might be his last days. I can’t even picture standing over him in a casket. The thought of it stresses me out.

  When I pull up to the house, I notice someone going up the steps. I can’t make out who it is. The squeaking of my brakes startles him. He quickly turns around. It’s Ice. He starts to come back down the stairs.

  Never once does he look me in the eyes. As he’s crossing the street to get to his truck, I get out of my car. “Yo! What’s up?” I ask.

  “What’s up Cash? What’s going on?” I can tell he’s scared. He didn’t expect to see me here.

  “Didn’t Desire ask you to stay from around here?” I ask.

  “I, I, I,” he stutters.

  “I, what?” I ask sarcastically.

  “Cash, you don’t understand. I love Desire! She’s playing with my heart. I love that girl. I’ll do anything for her. I want to be with her. I can’t live without her.” His eyes start to water. He starts pacing around in little circles.

  “You played me,” he mumbles. “That’s fucked up. You played me,” he whispers.

  “What?” I ask.

  “You heard me, I said you played me.”

  “I played you?” I question. “How did I play you?”