Gangsta

by Foye, K'wan

  CHAPTER 4

  Walking through the halls of B.M.C.C, Lou-loc looked like a lost puppy. He was having a hard time finding the admissions office, and becoming very frustrated. Just as he was about to give up and say fuck college, a feminine voice called to him from behind. "Are you lost?"

  Lou -loc turned around ready to tell whoever was speaking to him to fuck off. When he saw the source of the voice, he was speechless. He was standing face to face with the most beautiful woman God had ever saw fit to plant on this earth.

  Suddenly everything around him seemed to fade away. All the noise and commotion around him disappeared as he sized up this vision. She was a smooth copper skinned girl. She looked like something straight out of a Cosmopolitan magazine, standing there rocking a peach colored Donna Karen pant suit with the matching shoes. Her hair stopped just before her shoulders and was trimmed into a feathered style. The way it shone, she must've just got it done. Her lips were painted a dark brownish color, which complimented her beautiful brown eyes.

  Lou-loc let his eyes wonder freely up and down this beautiful creature. The way she stood boasted such confidence. Her athletic figure pressed against the insides of her suit showing off her well-developed, yet trim, body.

  "Well!" She said breaking Lou-loc's trance. "I asked if you were lost? Are you ok?"

  Lou-loc mumbled something that sounded like, "I have crossed an entire ocean, and at last I've found you"

  "What?" She asked confused.

  "O...yea," Lou-loc said trying to recover himself, "I mean, yes. I am a little lost. Didn't realize it was so obvious?"

  "Not really," she said looking him up and down. "I just noticed you looking around, but not really moving in any direction. I figured you were either lost or waiting for someone?"

  "Well actually, a little of both," he said honestly. "I was looking for the admissions office, but I think I've found who I've been waiting for," he said looking her dead in the eye.

  She smiled a little and turned her head away. "And what a beautiful smile," he said still looking at her.

  "Thank you," she said pleasantly, "but didn't your mamma tell you it's impolite to stare?" Lou-loc gave her his best smile. "Forgive me," he said bowing slightly, "but you are quite beautiful." She smiled again. "Thank you for the kind words, but I think it's only fair to warn you that if you're trying to pick me up, it isn't going to happen. I'm not that kind of girl," she said seriously.

  "Wait a minute, sweetheart," he said holding up his palms "it ain't even that kinda party. I got nothing but your best interest at heart. My name is Lou-loc," he said extending his hand.

  "Lou-loc?" She asked looking at his hand as if it was a snake.

  "Your mother named you Lou-loc?" He was a little surprised by her response, so he hesitated before answering. "Nah. Actually, my full name is St. Louis. St.

  Louis Alexander, but if you repeat it, I'll just deny it," he said jokingly.

  "St. Louis," she said letting the name roll off her full lips, "It's unusual. I like that. What made her name you that?" He looked at the floor. "That's where she met my daddy. So, do you have a name?" he asked changing the subject.

  "Of course I do," she said in a matter of fact tone.

  He looked at her confused. "So, are you going to tell me?" She turned her back and began to walk away. "You can find the admissions office down the hall on the left," she said over her shoulder. Her sudden departure left him standing there stuck on stupid, but he wasn't going to let her slip away like that.

  He jogged after her and finally caught up to her at the front door. Lou-loc gently touched her arm to get her attention. "You still haven't told me your name?" She turned to face him and licked her lips seductively. "St.

  Louis, I am not presently, nor have I ever been easy. So don't get it twisted. You seem like a smart young man. If you really want to get with me, I'm sure

  you can find a way to reach me." She winked her eye at Lou-loc and strolled out the double doors.

  As he watched her walk across the courtyard, so did the rest of the men gathered in front of the school. Even some of the girls took notice of the golden goddess in the Donna Karen suit.

  She moved through the crowds of the adoring people with the grace of a lioness. Lou-loc watched her as she climbed into her green Jeep Cherokee. To his surprise, she turned around and looked directly at him standing out in front, blew a kiss in his direction and merged into traffic. Before she got too far, he made a mental note of her license plate number.

  During the registration process, Lou-loc was in a complete daze thinking about the mystery women. He didn't even realize that he had signed up for an introduction to Latino History course. Oh well, he thought. He had business to attend, and no intention on spending any more time at the school trying to get the course changed to something else. He'd just have to do it another time.

  When he got outside, Gutter was waiting for him sipping on a pint of Hennessy. "Fuck wrong with you?" Gutter asked his smiling friend. "You all cheeky and shit."

  "Fuck you," he said punching Gutter in the arm. "I think I just met my future wife?"

  "Future?" Gutter asked confused. "What about your current wife nigga?"

  "I ain't wedding Martina, cuz. You had to see this broad, Ken. She was all that."

  "So you mean to say, a bitch you ain't even bone yet got you open like that?"

  Lou-loc shook his head in frustration. "You don't understand, Ken. It's like a feeling you get when you know you've found someone who's right for you. Like God patting you on the shoulder telling you it's alright to love this one. You feel me, nigga?" Gutter looks at Lou-loc confused. "Nigga, you lunchin' fo real. You been reading that Mase book, or something?"

  "I'm trying to have a moment wit a nigga and you acting all stupid and shit."

  "My bad, Lou." Gutter says sincerely. "So what's her name?"

  "I don't know."

  "Where she from?"

  "I don't know."

  "She got any kids?"

  "I don't know."

  "Hold on, hold on," Gutter says putting the top back on his bottle. "You talkin' that true love shit, and you don't know jack about this girl? Youz a weird mafucka, Lou."

  "What ever, G. I need you to do me a favor?"

  "What?"

  "Call Yvette and have her run a plate number for me?"

  "Lou-loc, you my bluest home boy, but don't get me caught up in this I spy shit wit you."

  "Nigga, the one time I ask you to do me one, and you bitchin' bout it?"

  "A'ight, stop cryin' mafucker." Gutter pulled out his phone and dialed a number. "Hello," came a female voice on the other end.

  "Yvette girl, what's up?" Gutter said jovially.

  "Who dis, Gutter? Don't what's up me, nigga! You had me waiting for yo funky ass all that time, and you ain't never show.

  What's up wit that?"

  "Girl, I got locked up," Gutter lied, "fucking wit that nigga, Rob. Boy had me riding 'round in his whip, and didn't tell me he had a gun. I spent the whole weekend locked up in Yonkers.

  You know I'll make that shit up to you."

  "You better!" She snapped.

  "Say, peep game, Vette. I need a favor?"

  "Y'all niggaz is all the same. Always want something."

  "It ain't for me. It's for Lou-loc. He need you to run this plate number for him."

  "Oh yea?" She asked all slick like. "Well, if he want me to do him a favor, he gotta do me one. My girl Sharon been checking for that nigga for a hot minute, but he act like he don't know.

  I'll run the plate for him on my lunch break, but he gotta go on a double date with me, you and her." Gutter thought about it for a minute. That girl Sharon got body like a mo' fo, but her face is all jacked up. Lou-loc been ducking her for weeks. He was gonna be salty behind the terms of the deal, but what the fuck? This was his favor.

  "A'ight, Vette," he said smiling at Lou-loc, "He'll do it. Call my phone as soon as you get the 411." He hung up with out saying goodbye.r />
  "What'd she say?" Lou-loc asked excited.

  "Oh... you straight." Gutter says slyly. "She gonna hook you up in a few. So now you can find out what you need to know."

  "Cool homey. Good looking on that, G."

  "You my peoples, Lou."

  "Oh, one more thing, G?"

  "What's that, homey?"

  "What exactly did you tell Yvette I said yes to?"

  ***

  After Yvette got back to Gutter, he began to relay the information to his crime partner. "Well, my friend," Gutter started. "The vehicle is registered to a Ms. Satin Angelino. She's twenty-one, never been married, and ain't got no kids. Her last known address is down in the village. Looks like there might be some hope for you yet, boy."

  "Man, I hope so," Lou-loc said seriously. "She could be the one I'm looking to be wit."

  "Yea a'ight," said Gutter. "That brings us back to the million dollar question. What about Martina? Fuck you going to do, go home and tell ya wife, 'baby I know we been together for almost two years, and you a few months pregnant, but I've fallen in love wit a broad I hardly know?' Martina's crazy ass ain't hardly having that."

  "Apparently you still ain't understanding me," said Lou-loc, as he took the bottle of liquor. "To you, shorty, just another face in the crowd. To me she's the only face.

  "Now don't get me wrong. Martina's about to be my baby's mama and all, so you know I got nuff love for her. Funny thing is, I love her, but I can't say that I'm still in love with her. I mean, to be truthful with you, cuz, we ain't got shit in common. I'm tryin' to get out this game while she want me to get in deeper. I don't wanna sell dope all my days.

  "I'll be the first mafucker to admit, I got side tracked by all this paper here in New York, but dying in these streets," he said with a sweep of his hand, "ain't the way I plan on going out. I gotta see my dream through. I wanna write books, not Obituaries for my fallen comrades."

  "Here we go again," said Gutter, snatching the bottle from Lou-loc in mid gulp.

  "Fuck you, Gutter," said Lou-loc, wiping his chin. "I ain't hardly trying to preach to you. Lord knows I've done my fair share of dirt. I'll probably do more before it's all said and done.

  Shit, I'm probably gonna burn in hell for the shit I already done, but that's beside the point. I'm dealing with the here and now, and I wanna do something righteous with my life. You feel where I'm coming from?"

  "Yea, I feel you," said Gutter taking a deep swig of the liquor.

  "But you gotta understand, street life is all some niggaz know.

  This shit we do put food on a lot of niggaz tables."

  "That's true," said Lou-loc. "But for every table we put food on, we take it off three more. You know as well as I do, most fiends will sell their own children for a blast of that shit we serving."

  "I understand what you saying, Lou, but a mother fucker gotta eat. A lot of soldiers from our side as well as the others, come from fucked up homes with no daddy, and little to no income. How can we expect them not to take to the streets? If they don't work for us, then it'll be somebody else. Regardless, the call of the streets is too strong for some of us to resist. You of all people should know that, cuz." Lou-loc looked at him sideways. "I know you ain't even tryin' to run that shit on me, Gutter? You raise a good point, but if that's the case, what the fuck is your excuse? You had both parents around most ya life, and was still doing dirt. Shit your grandfather was a college professor."

  "Yea," Gutter said lighting a cigarette, "Gramps was a professor, but he was also a revolutionist. When the Soviet Union tried to bull their way on to Islamic soil, Gramps was right there fighting alongside the Muslims. Being an American citizen, he didn't even have to go. But he did.

  "That was Gramps for you. He was a real 'Gangsta.' He lived amongst those people as one of their own. He fought, and even-tually died for their independence. When he passed they buried him in the same manner as their other fallen heroes. Gramps is still held in high regards amongst the Arabs who know of his deeds.

  "I remember when my aunt Rashia took me to Islamabad to visit his crypt. The way those folks treated us and carried on about him, he must've been an OG or some shit. I couldn't speak their language very well back then, but from what I gathered from what I was able to pick up, 'Kenyatta Hamid Soladine, Sr., was an important man. At least to them he was. Now that's gangsta."

  "Yea, it is," said Lou-loc. "But your grandfather wasn't just

  fighting for the hell of it. He fought with a purpose. What's our purpose?

  "Don't get it fucked up. I'll always be down for the set, Crip for life. Right or wrong, good or bad, we click. I just feel like, what the fuck is the point. I ain't got no more tears left in me for the dead. We slaughter each other in the streets, for what? What the fuck is it all about?"

  Gutter answered his friends question with one word.

  "Power."

  ***

  For the next block or so, neither man spoke, each lost in his own thoughts. Lou-loc glanced across the street and noticed a circle of young boys wearing red bandannas. Trapped in the center of the circle was a young white girl. Something about the girl reminded Lou-loc of Tina. She had the same attractive features, except her hair was brown.

  A fire began to build in Lou-loc's stomach. For some reason, the sight of the young black boys ganging up on the white girl made Lou-loc angry. So angry, he decided he was going to do something about it. Before Gutter had even realized his partner was gone, Lou-loc was half way across the street.

  One of the boys noticed Lou-loc coming in there direction, and stuck his chest out in defiance. "Keep walking, nigga." the boy snarled.

  Lou-loc held his hands up, palms out. "I don't want no trouble, Lil homey. I just came to ask y'all to let the young lady alone?"

  Two more of the boys flanked the first one on either side. At the sight of his friends, and Lou-loc's submissiveness, the first boy's confidence was boosted. He had assumed Lou-loc was a punk. You know what they say about assumptions.

  From his rear pocket, the boy produced a razor blade and pointed it at Lou-loc. "Freeze, muthafucka," the boy said men-acingly. "Or do you want your food ate?" Without a second thought, Lou-loc went into action. With blinding speed he grabbed the boy's exposed wrist. With a bone popping twist, he forced the boy to drop the razor. With his right index and middle finger, he jabbed the boy in the throat. He dropped to his knees, in a fit of coughing. His friends abandoned the girl, and moved to help their fallen soldier. Unfortunately, Gutter changed their mind when he stepped on the curb with twin glocks drawn.

  "Make a move." Gutter snapped. "I twist 'slob's' back, young and old. If you don't believe me, take one more step." Seeing that the gunman was dead serious, the boys froze in place.

  "Damn, and I really wanted y'all to try me." Lou-loc lifted the boy so that they were nose to nose. "Lil young ass nigga." he spat. "I should take that shank and fuck you wit it. You know who the fuck I am?" Painfully, the boy shook his head from side to side.

  "My name is Lou-loc."

  "Oh shit!" one of the boys blurted out. He had heard plenty of stories about the executioner called Lou-loc. He didn't know Lou-loc personally, but he knew enough to know he didn't want to bump heads with the man.

  Lou-loc eyed the crowd wearily, as the fire in his belly grew.

  He felt the beast within him cry for release, but struggled for control. "Take them fucking scarves off. All of y'all!" The boys quickly did as they were told. "How old are you, boy?" Lou-loc asked the boy whom he still held in his grip.

  "F...fifteen." the boy managed to stutter out.

  Lou-loc shook his head in disgust. "You ain't even old enough to wipe ya asses good, let alone rob some fuckin' body." Lou-loc slapped the boy in the back of the head. "Stupid ass lil niggaz. Y'all need to have ya asses in school. Get the fuck up

  outta here. If I see any one of y'all sporting a flag on any set, it's a fuckin' wrap. Now beat it."

  As the boys were made to leave, Gutter stopped
them short.

  "Hold on fellas," he said putting his guns away, "you run and tell ya peoples, Manhattan is under new management. All slobs will be executed on sight."

  Out of nowhere, Gutter hit the largest of the group square in the mouth. Crimson blood sprayed from the boy's mouth as he crumpled into the arms of his friends. "Now go tell ya bitch ass home boys that there's a new sheriff in town, and his name is Gutter."

  The boys collected their wounded friends and slithered away in disgrace. Gutter threw his head back and had a good laugh at their expense. Lou-loc on the other hand said nothing. He just stood there fuming with his fist balled.

  The would be victim placed her hand on Lou-loc's shoulder, breaking him out of his trance. "Thank you," she said in an Aristocratic accent. "Who knows what those animals had planned for me."

  Lou-loc spun around suddenly and grabbed her by the wrist.

  He slowly began to apply pressure until she grimaced in pain.

  "Look here, bitch," he snarled looking her dead in the eye. "I didn't do shit for your uppity ass, so you might wanna hold off on the gratitude.

  "What I did was for those kids. You don't know how tired I am of seeing kids throw their lives away over 'mark' ass mother fuckers like you. There's enough of my Lil brothers behind the wall as it is. All over dumb shit."

  "Well...I..." she started, but was cut off.

  "Well you what?" Lou-loc snapped. "You didn't mean any thing by it? Man, you crackers kill me. And y'all say we got a lot of excuses. Bitch, raise yo ass up outta here, and take yo ass back to West End avenue. Kick rocks, bitch." The girl looked back and forth from Lou-loc to Gutter. When she looked like she was about to respond, Gutter stepped in between them. "Take a hike, shorty," he said very cool. She sucked her teeth, but held her comment and walked off.

  "Boy, I was beginning to wonder about you," Gutter said slapping Lou-loc on the ass. "Thought them stories about you losing your nerve might've been true. The way you wigged out on them slobs removed any doubt from my mind about your OG status."

  Lou-loc rolled his eyes at Gutter and walked off. "Fuck is wrong wit you, cuz!" Gutter shouted after him. "A nigga tryin' to give you ya props, and you get all funny style. Fuck is the deal?" Lou-loc turned and looked at his friend with sadness in his eyes. "Animals," he said softly. "She called them animals."