Tales from da Hood

by Nikki Turner

Bam-Bam fell silent and snuck a glance at Crystal, who was sitting quietly nursing her drink.

  Trina wouldn't let Bam-Bam off the hook. “A nigga like who, bitch?”

  “You don't know him,” said Bam-Bam quickly. “He ain't from around here, Trina, so mind yo business, bitch.”

  “Don't let that nigga fuck around and pull that weave out yo hair. If you come up in the crib with bald spots in yo hair, Gilly gone fuck around and hire a forensics team to find out what happened.”

  “Yeah, whatever, bitch. Don't be mad at me 'cause you ain't got no comeback.”

  Trina fell all over herself laughing. “Bitch, that ain't comeback between yo legs—that's stay back.”

  Slightly angered, Bam-Bam looked at Crystal again. “What's wrong with you, Crystal? Bitch, you been too damn quiet tonight.”

  “I'm cool, just got something on my mind,” said Crystal through a weak smile. “I'm wondering if I got the heart to do some shit that I know needed to be done for a long time.”

  Trina looked at Crystal after she made such a sobering statement. “Bitch, whatever's wrong with you, keep it to yourself, you blowing my high.”

  “Yeah, Crystal,” said Bam-Bam. “Bitch, yo kids gone. You should be partying. You need to get you some. Get some of that starch out yo back.”

  “I'm gon’ get some, whatever that means, when my guy comes over later,” Crystal told them. She got up and went to the bathroom. She closed the door and pulled a cell phone from her pocket. Quickly she went through the phone's directory. She pulled her own cell phone from the holster on her belt and using the first cellular phone for a reference, Crystal locked a number into her phone and returned it to her waist. In the cell phone still in her hand, she chose another number from the directory and text messaged, i need sum! your place 2morrow @ 6. After sending it, she erased the message from the outbox and waited. Minutes later the cell phone beeped to alert her of an incoming text message. It was from Danny Man and read, WEAR A THONG, I'MA BLOW YO BAK OUT! Crystal erased Danny Man's reply and cuffed the cell phone in the palm of her hand. She flushed the toilet and went back to the living room, where Trina and Bam-Bam were still trading insults.

  “Y'all, I'm tired,” Crystal announced. “Why don't y'all bounce so I can get me some rest before my guy get here.”

  Trina hoisted herself off the couch. “Bitch, I know you ain't trying to put us out. That's all right. I been put out of better places. C'mon, Bam-Bam, you drunk bitch, we getting evicted.”

  “Hold up,” said Bam-Bam. “I got to call my stalker and let him know I'm on the way. That nigga got to know where I'm at every minute. Anybody seen my phone? I had it when I came in, didn't I? Don't tell me that I done lost it. Gilly gone act a damn fool if he can't reach me!”

  Crystal extended her hand with Bam-Bam's cellular phone.

  “Here go yo phone. You dropped it when you went to the kitchen a while ago. I picked it up but forgot to give it to you.”

  “Thanks, Crystal. You just saved my life. I already got to go home and get interrogated anyway. Long as I got this phone, he just might smell my panties and let me alone.”

  Trina and Bam-Bam grabbed their purses and jackets and left out the door.

  “Call me,” Trina said. “C'mon, Bam-Bam, you drunken whore.”

  Crystal closed and locked her door and took her seat on the couch again. She watched television for an hour until her phone rang.

  She answered the phone and paused, then she said, “Ain't nobody up here. C'mon up.”

  She got up and unlocked the door locks and sat back down. There was a double knock at the door.

  “It's open,” Crystal called out.

  Danny Man stepped inside the apartment. He walked straight through to the kitchen and returned drinking from a carton of orange juice. He plopped down on the couch beside Crystal and picked up the remote control and began flicking through the channels.

  They watched television in silence for a few moments.

  “The kids here?” asked Danny Man without taking his eyes off the television.

  “Why? What, you want to see Mulan?”

  “Girl, is the kids here or not?”

  “Nall, they ain't here.”

  A few more minutes passed and Danny Man dropped his hand between Crystal's legs. With the heel of his hand he started massaging her there. He removed his hand and slipped it under her shirt to rub on Crystal's braless breasts. He kicked off his shoes and stood up.

  “C'mon,” Danny Man said as he led the way to her bedroom.

  Later when Crystal was sure Danny Man was sound asleep she slipped out of bed. From his pants on the floor, she removed his cell phone from its pouch on his belt. She tiptoed out of the bedroom and into the bathroom. Seated on the side of the bathtub, Crystal checked the inbox of Danny Man's text messages and found the text she'd sent him from Bam-Bam's cell phone. In his outbox, she saw his reply, too.

  She selected Bam-Bam's number and text messaged, BLOW YO BAK OUT! MY CRIB @ 6. WEAR A THONG. She didn't have to wait long for Bam-Bam's reply. It read, I'M THERE. I NEED SUM 2.

  Crystal erased the text messages she'd sent and received. She slipped out of the bathroom and returned Danny Man's cell phone. She slid back into bed, taking care to make sure that no part of Danny Man touched her.

  NINE

  GILLY WAS STANDING in the lottery line at the gas station when his cell phone buzzed on his side. Pulling it loose from the clip he looked at the number and saw private displayed. He answered it anyway.

  “Who is this?”

  “Don't worry about that,” said an obviously disguised voice. “Just shut up and listen. If you want to know who Bam-Bam been fucking go over to yo boy DM's apartment right now. The key is over the door on the ledge. Hurry up.”

  “Who the fuck is this?” Gilly repeated. “Quit playing with me. I don't play that kid shit.”

  “I ain't lying. Nigga, shut up and go see.”

  The line went dead.

  “Hello, hello,” Gilly said, but whoever it was, was gone.

  Gilly looked at his watch; it read 6:06. He got out of the lottery line and ran outside to his Escalade. Driving at breakneck speed, Gilly made it to Danny Man's apartment in nine minutes flat. Gilly pulled his pistol from under the seat and jumped out the truck. He pelted up the steps to the second floor and snatched the key down from the ledge over the door. He held his breath as he unlocked the door and entered the apartment. Stealthily he stole upon the bedroom.

  In the bedroom, Bam-Bam was naked sitting on the corner of the bed performing an obviously expert act of fellatio on a completely nude Danny Man.

  Without a word, Gilly started shooting and had emptied the clip before he knew it. He dropped the smoking gun and staggered to the couch and sat down.

  TEN

  CRYSTAL AWAKENED to loud banging on her apartment door. She sat up on the couch. “Who is it?”

  “Open the door! It's Trina, girl! Crystal, come to the door!”

  Crystal unlocked the door and opened it. Trina burst into the apartment.

  “Girl, why you ain't been answering yo phone?” asked Trina breathlessly. “I been trying to call you for an hour!”

  Crystal picked up the cup she'd been drinking out of and started toward the kitchen. “I was sleep. What was you calling me for?”

  Trina ran in front of Crystal and put her hands on Crystal's shoulders.

  “What's wrong with you, girl?” Crystal asked.

  “DM is dead.”

  “What?”

  “Crystal, DM is dead. Gilly killed him.”

  Crystal's hand flew up to her mouth. “What happened?”

  “Gilly killed him 'cause …”

  “What happened? Trina, what the fuck happened?”

  “Gilly caught him and Bam-Bam together and shot them up. Bam-Bam gon’ make it though. Danny Man got the worst of it. The police got Gilly. He didn't even try to run. He just waited until they got there and gave himself up. Get yo jacket, girl. C'mon!” />
  Crystal shrugged Trina's hands off her shoulders and went on to the kitchen. Not quite sure what was going on, Trina followed her. She watched in utter disbelief as Crystal filled her cup with vodka and took a sip.

  “Crystal, I said c'mon, girl. We need to get over there.”

  “Why I got to go over there?”

  “Because that was yo dude! That's Mulan's daddy!”

  “That nigga fathered more than his fair share of children, but that don't make him no daddy. Did he come to the hospital when she was born? You was there, did you see him? Has he ever picked up his baby and just spent a couple of hours with her? Not once. Why the hell should I run my ass over there? Ain't his fat-ass wife over there?”

  Trina was furious. “Fuck that bitch! DM was yo man! If she say something greasy, we'll whup her ass out there!”

  “That was DM's wife and the mother of three of his kids. I was just his little dumb bitch. So no thanks, you gon’ 'head without me. I'll play the crib on this one. Just let me know what happened. And find out what hospital that bitch Bam-Bam gon’ be in so I can send her some flowers. I'll see you later.”

  Crystal ushered a nonplussed Trina out the door. After locking the door, she leaned against it. Her drink fell from her hand and she slid down to the floor. Heavy sobs racked her body as she set her pent-up angst free.

  ELEVEN

  “DAMN, DODO, slow down, it ain't going nowhere,” said Crystal as she flipped pancakes at the stove in a black cast-iron skillet.

  At the kitchen table, Dodo held up one finger because he had a mouthful of omelet and breakfast sausage.

  “Sorry,” he said when he was finally able to swallow. “Girl, when you learn to cook like this? I thought all you could make was cereal. This here omelet is good as hell.”

  Crystal came to the table and served Dodo a stack of golden pancakes. Her own pancakes she put on a plate and set on the table across from Dodo. When she took her seat, Crystal asked, “How soon did you know about Danny Man?”

  “I heard a couple of days ago. I really wanted to give you some time to get yourself together. Even though I didn't like him for all that Nino Brown–ass shit, I had to respect that you cared about old dude, being that he was Mulan's daddy and all.”

  Crystal cut her pancakes into sections and poured syrup on them. “That nigga wadn't no daddy. He ain't sign no birth certificate or shit. When I really think about it, all that nigga did was buy me a few things and come over once and a while to fuck me.”

  “Damn Crystal, you sound cold as hell,” Dodo commented as he carved up his pancakes.

  “That ain't cold–that's real. It took me some time, but I finally woke up. Don't nobody really matter in this shit but family. That's you, Momma, my kids, Johnny, and Kent. Fuck everybody else. Blood is thicker than mud.”

  “I feel you. I found that shit out a long time ago in the joint when I couldn't get a letter or visit from nobody but my family.”

  They both ate their pancakes in silence for a while. Dodo's pancakes, however, disappeared at a much faster rate than Crystal's.

  “Dodo, I got good news and bad news,” Crystal announced.

  “Gimme the good news first.”

  “I'm bout to buy a house and you know that you got a room in it if you want it.”

  “That's tight. I was kinda thinking about trying to move in with my lady friend, but I wasn't so sure. After all I just met her.”

  “What lady friend?”

  “Her name is Mary and she real cool. We ain't serious or nothing, but she fun to be around. Right now we just kicking it and having a good time, but she is good peoples.”

  “Well, like I said, you got a room at my house and the kids is missing you. They got used to having you around the house. Ain't nobody been there on the regular since they daddy died. He was always in the streets, but he always made time for them.”

  Dodo looked up from the little bit that was left of his food.

  “Hey, you getting off track. What's the bad news?”

  “I don't know how to tell you this….”

  “Spit it out, Crystal.”

  “The house I'm buying is on the same block as Johnny's house.”

  “Shid, Mama gone love that. The only problem is that Johnny'll probably be out there watering your lawn with holy water.”

  They both laughed.

  “What you doing today?” asked Crystal.

  “Nothing much. I was thinking about heading over to Mary's house and lift some weights with her nephew and cousins. I be working them little niggas out. Plus I'm making sure that I don't lose my muscle tone. The ladies won't like that.”

  “The ladies? You need to stop it. It sound like this Mary already got you going.”

  “Never. She just good peoples and I was running out of money for my hotel room. So it was either Johnny's house or try to move in with her.”

  Crystal got up to put her plate in the sink. “Well, if you bypass a day of working out, I don't think you'll lose too much muscle mass. I need you to go somewhere with me.”

  “Where?” Dodo asked as he got up out of his seat and put his plate in the sink.

  “Well, I wanted to take you shopping and see if we can't find you a little putt-putt so once we move you can get back and forth to see Mary from the new house.”

  Dodo was taken aback. “Crystal, you can't do that. I'll be all right. You need to be thinking bout them kids. You got to make sure that y'all alright.”

  “Oh, we gon’ be alright. I had a nice insurance policy on DM, I mean Danny Man,” Crystal said, referring to the packing trunk full of money in her closet. “That nigga was worth more to me dead than he was when he was alive. Let's go.”

  Told by Nikki Turner, desired by many A Nikki Turner Original

  ONE

  Who'da Thought It?

  DAMN! WHO WOULD'VE ever thought I'd end up being a ride-or-die chick? That bottom bitch? Or a down-ass chick, a gangsta's girl, a hustler's wife, or any of that shit that I had always read about. No, no, not me. Not Angel Delaney, a twenty-eight-year-old journalist, already set in her ways. But let me be the first to say, that shoot-'emup bang-bang type of drama just gets my pussy wet. As a matter of fact, my pussy is dripping as I sit here in this souped-up vehicle just as nervous as the day is long. Never in a million years would I imagine myself caught up in the middle of some real-life gangsta shit. But I should have known it would be only a matter of time before reading about the street life wouldn't satisfy my curiosity. Just getting wet wasn't enough for my needs. It was time to climax!

  I lost my virginity with my boyfriend, my high school sweetie, Brandon Fetch. Any woman who wonders where all the good men are would be honored to have him as their man. I guess I should be, but right now, I can't even think about Brandon. All I can think about is the nigga I'm holdin’ it down for right here, right now. A man I haven't even known a full twenty-four hours. I know I'm not acting like the adult woman I am, but the shit is just so intense that guess what? I don't give a fuck!

  I know good and well my ass shouldn't even be here. I should've been long gone, like a speeding bullet, ten minutes ago when the shit first hit the fan. I kept telling myself to leave and don't ever look back. I guess it's that edginess, the unknown, the adrenaline pumping boldness through my body that's keeping me sitting here with my hand on the gearshift and the engine running, waiting. Waiting on him.

  As I sit here, I can't help but think about how that chick Bonnie must have felt when she was riding off into the sunset with Clyde. On the real, though. How about I ain't mad at that bitch because I'm about to do the same daggone thing for my man. My heart is racing. Every second seems like an hour, but I can't leave. Not yet, not without my man. So I'm steadfast, waiting patiently with no fear at all in my heart although butterflies should be in my stomach and fear should be rattling every bone in my body. But how crazy is it that I'm not scared? I'm a little nervous as to what's taking him so long, but not scared. If my friends were here, hell, those bitc
hes would be scared to death, probably pissin’ their pants. Back in the day, or even a few weeks ago, hell, even twenty-four hours ago, I just might have been, too. Why? What is so different about me now from then? Well, I'll tell you what changed in a day.

  I'm not used to this ghetto type of mess right here. You know, some ol’ gangsta shit right out of a Quentin Tarantino flick. I always walked the straight and narrow. I never did anything that would get me into trouble. I always hung around the right crowd, and I always dated clean-cut, honest men, like Brandon. Brandon and I were homecoming king and queen at our prom. I was even a debutante. I had the picture-perfect life, and everything came easily to me. So I guess it was only a matter of time before I would become attracted to the razor's edge.

  From the first moment I ran my tongue across the sharp scalpel, getting a taste of the salty blood, I was hooked like a vampire. Addicted like a crack addict. Dick was the razor's edge for me. Not a dick, but Dick, the tall, dark handful of a man I called Dee for short. From the moment I saw him, there was just something about him that made me want to do things that I had never imagined doing and experience things that I never dreamt about even in my wildest dreams. He was that nigga, the one I had read about, the one I had seen in gangsta flicks. He was my Nino Brown, my Scarface, my invincible, hard-to-kill type of cat.

  I was at the courthouse doing research when I encountered him. I've been working as a reporter covering the crime beat ever since I got my degree in journalism from the University of Richmond. Because of the nature of my work, I've seen all kinds of street-life cases. When I'm not working on articles for local newspapers and magazines, I gather data and statistics for one of the largest crime data–reporting agencies in the country. I used to just gather stats on pedophile cases until one of my coworkers, who also happened to be black, went on maternity leave and never came back. She covered street life—you know drugs, prostitution, racketeering, murders, anything that has to do with the fast life. So I guess they figured that since I was black with just as much, if not more, experience than she had, who else better to put on the street-life stuff but me?