by Styles, T.
“Ain’t that’s your peoples?”
“You wanna play twenty questions or get high?”
“I’m callin’ him now.”
“Good! And hurry up!”
As I wait for my bag I realize I’m tired of bein’ broke. Some shit is gonna have to give! I’m gonna need a steady flow of cash if I’m gonna maintain a certain lifestyle.
Twenty minutes later while waiting on Garisha I hear a loud knock at the front door. Knowin’ my smoke is here puts me in a better mood already. I just hope they covered their tracks because Big Boody can be a mess. Things were all good until I open my door and see Garisha covered in blood.
“You alright girl?!” I ask as she drops to the floor.
“No, girl! I been stabbed!”
Catch A Liar By Her Wig jmiss wayneL
I thought about my mother today. I think about her everyday even though I haven’t seen her in over two years.
It’s so hard to think about the current condition of our relationship when we use to be so close. It’s hard to think about anything pertaining to her at all. And although I know I should face her I hated her after the last time we spoke. And if you knew how close we were, you could never imagine how that could be.
Sigh.
Anyway, I just dropped Parade and Daffany off at the Embassy Suites hotel in DC so they could get some rest. Although the funeral was the day before yesterday, they were both still mentally drained.
Once in the black Honda Accord rental, I called Dayshawn back to find out what she had to tell me earlier that was so urgent.
“Girl, I can’t even say it on the phone. All I know is Big Boody Brandy stabbed Ugly Garisha and they sayin’ Tyrone mixed all the way in this mess! I’m scared, Miss Wayne!”
“For somebody who don’t wanna say nothin’ on the phone, you sure sayin' a lot.”
“Well it’s true.”
“Where it happen?” I ask.
“’Round here.”
“You were there?”
“Naw…I was pulling up when that shit happened. So I backed up and went the other way.”
“Sneaky Day…always weaseling out of shit.” He got that name because whenever some shit went down, he always managed to get away undetected.
“Just hurry, girl! I think shit ‘bout to get out of hand ‘round Galveston!”
When I hang up with her, I stop by the liquor store to grab me a bottle of Kettle One and some cranberry juice. Then I play Mariah Carey’s CD, “The Emancipation of Mimi” to relax my mind. The shit ain’t workin’. You don’t understand, Miss Tyrone is my girl, but sometimes she got a lot of shit with her. And if you’re on her wrong side, she can be your worst enemy. She changes how she feels about you with the blow of the wind.
I arrived at Day’s place thirty minutes later. The moment I walk inside I can’t believe the scene. I ain’t been here in over two years and everything inside the house is the exact same. They got the same old pathetic lookin’ black leather sofa pushed up against the wall. And a wooden coffee table sits in the middle of the floor and is covered with worn out gay men magazines. Who knows what kind of mess is dried up on ‘em.
When you go to Day’s you know to bring your own chair or you’ll be sittin’ on the floor. Like now, somebody brought a Redskin’s portable chair and a couple of grey metal ones too. The only other furniture in the living room is a computer station, which sits in the corner . A wobbly office chair sits in front of it.
Dayshawn’s place use to be real nice. But they’d been robbed so many times, that he stopped fixin’ shit up. You never knew what would happen at any given time ‘round here. These bitches always got somethin’ goin’ on! If somebody ain’t gettin’ stabbed, they’re gettin’ shot or killed. And that shit happens on the good days.
“What’s the blast?” I ask walking into the house. The usual suspects, Tyrone, Adrian and Marlo who preferred to be called Marlene, were all in the living room smoking weed.
Dayshawn locks the door behind me and the iron bat they call ‘The long arm of the law’, falls on the floor. He picks it back up and places it in the corner next to the door. It was supposed to defend them if someone tried to come in. Personally I never known a mothafucka to be scared of a bat when they got a gun…have you?
“Thanks for comin’, girl,” Dayshawn says kissing me on each of my cheeks. “Too much shit is goin’ on today.”
“Let me get you some ice and cranberry juice, Mother. For your drink.” Adrian says to me.
I hand him the bag and say, “Thanks, darling.” Then I sit on the sofa next to Tyrone. “Now, Tyrone, do tell! What the fuck happened? Why Garisha get stabbed last night? And why your name ringin’ bells?”
She readjusts in her seat and I already know she’s ‘bout to make some shit up.
“Girl…I don’t even know where to start.”
The moment she’s about to give me the T, someone knocks at the door. Adrian returns with my drink and I notice that the Vodka bottle doesn’t come back with him. Shit makes it in this house but it never goes out.
When Dayshawn opens the door Big Boody Brandy comes barging in running up to Tyrone. She’s carrying a black teacup Yorkie that is barking at the top of its lungs. Big Boody never went anywhere without that dog and I always wondered how she got shit done on the block with it. She even showered with that yip-yapper.
And then there’s Day! Please tell me who opens the door without lookin’ through the peephole first when you know you got beef? They live in the mothafuckin’ hood for gay sake!
On guard, Marlene and me immediately stand up and Adrian runs into the kitchen to grab a knife.
Big Boody Brandy fucked with a few of the hustler’s around the way and had a reputation for her violence. And although she’s mad now, I still had to give the girl props. She looked real cute in the tight fitted black dress she was wearing and her red Prada pumps. She also was one of the few queens who could sport a boy cut and still look pretty. And she has an ass so fat, you know it was manufactured.
“Bitch, you tried to set me up didn’t you?!” She yells in Tyrone’s face, the dog barking too.
“Brandy…what got you on fire, honey? ‘Cause I know you know betta than to be runnin’ up in Day’s place wit’ all this drama.” I ask.
“Miss Wayne, this bitch tried to have me robbed! And I know she guilty ‘cause she never answers the phone when I call!”
“You’re on ten and I’ma need you at a five. We can hear you fine without all the yellin’.”
She lowers her voice a little because everybody in this bitch know they don’t want me rockin’ out in this mothafucka. What fucked me up was that the dog stopped barking too.
She takes a deep breath and say, “I been callin’ here to see if she had a part in Garisha’s ugly ass robbin’ me and every time I call, she’s supposedly never home!”
“I’m tryin’ to figure out why you think Tyrone is involved when ya’ll cool?” Dayshawn asks.
“This bitch know what the fuck happened,” she says placing her finger in Tyrone’s face. “Open that fucked up grill and speak the truth bitch!”
“Brandy, I don’t mean you no harm…but if you don’t sit the fuck down I’ma get all up in this business right here! And then you won’t need to worry about Tyrone because your problem will be wit’ me. And I know you don’t want that.”
Big Boody Brandy takes a look at me and everybody else. Then she plops down in the Redskin chair, wiggles her pump and lights a cigarette. The dogs curls up in her lap and I think it goes to sleep. What the fuck?
When smoke swirls around in the air she says, “Adrian calls me yesterday for a fifty bag of smoke. When I got out of my car to bring it up the steps, Garisha’s brother, Detroit pops up behind me with a fake ass gun and says, ‘You know what time it is.’”
“When I look at his arm, I see his name tattoed on it and know it’s him. His dumbness didn’t even have enough sense to put on a long sleeve shirt. Anyway, I ask him has he lost h
is mind tryin’ to rob me? He tried to get all rough and jam that fake gun into my lower back even harder. He scared my baby Maxie right here so much that she shitted in my hand,” she continues petting her dog. “I was so mad I didn’t care if he shot me or not so I turned around and pulled out my nine. I carry my shit everywhere I go on account of that Drag Queen Slayer running around DC and shit. Any who, that nigga Detroit took off runnin’ and my feet was already hurtin' in my shoes so I couldn’t catch his ass! He betta be glad too because although his gun was empty, mine was not.”
“That still don’t mean Tyrone was involved.” Dayshawn says.
“I’m not finished. I see Garisha’s monkey lookin’ ass in that beat up white Chrysler Plymouth she be drivin’ a block over from ya’ll house. Do you know that bitch tried to drive off when she saw me runnin’ toward her? But the Gods were with me and her car wouldn’t start up! So I stuffed Maxie in my shirt, put my nine back in my pocket, pulled that fish out of the car and beat her for all she was worth. But instead of fighting queen to queen, she bit my arm! So I stabs her back in hers. The whole time she screamin’ Tyrone had everything to do with it,” she continues pointing her cigarette in Tyrone’s direction. “So I brought Garisha to your doorstep and left the bitch right there. Now I’m here to find out if you crossed me or not, Tyrone.”
“Brandy, that bitch lyin’! I wouldn’t do no shit like that to you. You my sister!”
When the dog starts yapping like crazy Big Boody says, “Easy, Maxie. Be easy.” Then he says, “Bitch, everybody ‘round the way know you shiesty! I heard about you runnin’ ‘round DC raping niggas and shit! And I also know about Anacostia park bitch!” she continues. “I smelled your shit a long time ago! I just ain’t think you would be stupid enough to do no cruddy shit to me.” She says standing up her dog yapping again. “But I guess you just that fuckin’ dumb.”
Did she say raping niggas? I know I’ve been gone from DC for a minute but I ain’t hear none of that shit before.
When she gets up I say, “You gotta go, Brandy. Sounds to me like Garisha is the one you got beef wit’, not Tyrone.”
When she doesn’t walk out, Dayshawn, Marlene and even Adrian walk up to her. And I say, “The door, Brandy.”
Brandy struts to the door and says, “You betta not let me catch you on the street, Tyrone.” Then she looks at us and says, “Ya’ll crazy for trustin’ this sneaky bitch. If she stabbed me in the back, she’ll do it to ya’ll too. But it’s cool, Tyrone. You gonna see me again.”
When she leaves, five minutes later, gunshots fire into the front windows of the house. Glass shatters everywhere and we hit the floor. Did she really just shoot at this house with that dog in her hands? That bitch is crazy!
When I raise my head, my heart thumps out of my chest when I see the front of Adrian’s shirt is red. “Oh my God! He’s been hit!”
Thug Lovin’ Times Two
jQueen tyroneL
Adrian and me just finished puttin’ plastic over the windows to cover the bullet holes somebody fired in here yesterday. Miss Wayne and Dayshawn asked Big Boody Brandy did she do it but of course she denied doin’ anything of the sort. It’s cool with me though. I’ll find another way to get back at her ass.
Although the black Hefty trash bags over the windows looked super ghetto, I knew we wouldn’t be gettin’ them fixed anytime soon so it would have to do. Any money we had ‘round here was used for drinkin’ and druggin’.
When we were done, I plopped down on the sofa and rubbed my feet.
“Where the fuck is Dayshawn? He got us in here doin’ all the work.”
“Wit’ Miss Wayne. You know they gettin’ the stuff for the cookout tomorrow.”
“Oh yeah.” I say sitting on the floor. I didn’t feel comfortable sitting on chairs because Big Boody Brandy let it be known ‘round Galveston that she was still after me. And I didn’t want to risk the chance of the next bullet goin’ in my head.
Yesterday got out of fuckin’ hand. First someone shoots up our windows and then Marlene passes out thinkin’ Adrian was shot. Turns out he fell in the cranberry juice from Wayne’s cup when it spilled on the floor.
“Where you goin’?” I say seeing Adrian running back and forth into the bathroom to style his naturally curly hair.
“I’m supposed to be hanging with some friends tonight. You wanna come?”
“What am I…a charity case?” I say with my hands on my hips.
“No…I just don’t want you to be alone tonight. With all that shit goin’ on with Big Boody Brandy.”
“Who are you hangin’ with anyway?” I ask. “I thought you were tryin’ to hook up with your best friend Chris to fake not be interested in wantin’ him no more.”
“We cool,” he says in a low voice. “But it’s not workin’ between us.”
“Really?” I smile happy the little princess doesn’t get her way all the time.
“Yeah…and he has made it clear that he wants to be with his baby’s mother. He not even paying my rent no more at my apartment so I had to give it up and since I ain’t got no job, I don’t know what I’m gonna do. You think Day will let me stay here until I get on my feet?”
“Day?” I say. “You need to be worryin’ about me. I’m the one who pays the bills around here.”
“Well…you think you can let me stay here?”
“Maybe…‘pends on how much fun I have tonight…what’s they names anyway?”
“Levi and Corey. I met Levi on the site and Corey is his friend. Both of them are thug cute.” He brags.
“People say that shit all the time,” I say wavin’ my hand. “And they turn out to be a hot ass mess.”
“I’m serious. Levi and me hooked up before so it’s all good. I know what he looks like. We may go to the movies or somethin’.”
“The movies?”
“Yeah…unless they can come here.”
“They can come over,” I tell him trying to think of something cute to wear. “What you wearin’?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Well don’t dress fem, Aid. You look too much like a girl when you do that and it defeats the purpose of them wantin’ to be wit’ a man. I’m not hatin’ I’m just statin’.”
“I guess you’re right,” he says reluctantly.
I needed a head start if I was going to shine and I didn’t want him tryin’ to look more beautiful than me. And because everyone always raved about how pretty Adrian was, I decided to put on my tight red leather skirt, my black and white tiger pumps and my black top. Then I grabbed my blond wig with the Chinese bang cut in the front to really set things off. It always looked right against my chocolate skin.
When they finally got there, Adrian opens the door wearing white pants, a white shirt with a few buttons opened at the top and his white Louis Vuitton leather shoes. He looked a little butch and it’s just what I wanted.
When they walk fully inside, I was shocked to see two fine ass men standin’ before me. Adrian was right! They both were just my type.
One of them grips Adrian tightly around the waist and kisses him softly on the lips. “This is Levi,” Adrian says holdin’ his hand, lettin’ it be known that she had the best of the two.
Levi has light skin with grey eyes and he chose to wear blue jeans and a red t-shirt. He reminds me of Miss Wayne, if he was butch and I want him. So I look deeply into his eyes and give him the look that says, ‘I’m ready when you are’.
The other one, who I figured was Corey, has a smooth brown complexion and braids. He had a real ‘thug look’ goin’ on wit’ some swag to boot! Lookin’ ever so relaxed in a black V-neck cashmere sweater, blue jeans and Nike boots, I know he’s my speed.
“Stop being rude, Adrian,” I say as I walk toward them switching my hips from left and right. Adrian has nothing on me when it comes to my flirt game. “Offer them a seat.”
They sit down on the sofa and we sit on each side of them.
“What’s up with the plastic on the windows
?” Levi asks.
“It’s a long story,” Adrian tells them looking at me.
“Oookkaaaay.” He says looking suspiciously at the windows. “So…what’s up tonight? What are ya’ll tryna do?”
“I don’t know…a movie maybe?” Adrian adds.
They look at each other and smile. I know then that they have no intentions of puttin’ us on their arm in public.
“I was thinkin’ we’d just chill here,” Levi says. “But we do wanna know what kind of stuff ya’ll like to do for future reference.”
I cross my legs and lick my lips. “Don’t ask a question you’re not ready for.”
“Why is that?”
I giggle and give him the ‘fuck me now’ look. “Well your question can be taken a lot of different ways.” I reply.
“Well, take it in the best way that works for you.” He says lickin’ his lips.
“Mother Tyrone, can I talk to you for a second?” Adrian asks standin’ up.
“Not now, darlin’. Mother is entertainin’ guests.”
“Okay…uh…well, Corey,” he says tapping him on the leg, “tell Tyrone a little about yourself, since you’re here to meet him.”
When he opens his mouth, it blows the hell out of me that he has a serious stutter problem. “Wa…wa...what you wanna know…know….know…about…about…me?”
I laugh and say, “For starters I wonder how long it would take you to ask another question?”
He looks at Adrian and then at his friend. “I…I…I’m working…working…”
“You know what, honey, how about you just smile. Talkin’ really isn’t your thing.”
“Mother, you being rude,” Adrian says.
“Remember where you are and who I am,” I remind her. “For somebody who ain’t got a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of you need to relax before you find yourself out on the street. This my house.” I shut her ass down, smile and say, “Anyway…Corey knows I’m just playin’ with him. Don’t you, honey?”
He nods and I’m thankful he’s not tryin’ to speak again.
“Are you guys hungry? I’m thinkin’ of makin’ my famous fried chicken, candy yams, rice, greens and 7-Up Cake. What ya’ll think?”