The Circle: Autumn

by Keisha Ervin

  Autumn didn’t speak much during the ride because she was dreading for the man to open his mouth and let his stank ass breath escape into her breathing space. The ride was miserable and seemed to be taking forever. They were definitely taking the most scenic route. Some of the roads they drove down had nothing but cornfields surrounding them. They passed a police car sitting off to the side and Autumn’s heart had drummed up in her chest.

  Autumn was real tempted to call Quinton back and ask him what the fuck he had planned for her with this nasty ass man he sent, but she decided to limit the use of the phone…even with a burner she just never knew what can be traced. Besides wherever the stinky white man was taking her was surely better than hiding out in a bus station bathroom in a disguise and risking getting picked up by a work happy cop.

  After what seemed like forever, the pickup truck turned onto a long, dusty one-lane road with nothing surrounding it but trees and bushes. The scenery made Autumn think of some deserted camp site in one of those corny horror movies Rain used to make her and Fallon watch as kids. Rain would make them watch the scary movies and then scare the shit out of them for weeks afterwards. Autumn smiled thinking about the fun times with her siblings.

  “Home sweet home,” the stinky, beer belly white man announced as he slowed the pickup to a halt.

  Autumn looked through the dirty windshield of the pickup truck and squinted her eyes. What the fuck? This can’t be right? She was screaming in her head, but she kept her cool.

  “A farm? Q told you to bring me to a farm?” Autumn asked the man incredulously. Her eyebrows were dipped low on her forehead and her lips where twisted into almost a snarl. Quinton knows I’m a fuckin’ city girl! She was thinking.

  “Mmmm, hmmmm, that’s right. Q will get you on the next leg of the trip. Now he said you wasn’t gonna give me no trouble. Said you just wanted to get as far away as possible…so he said for me not to worry. I don’t want no trouble now,” the man said, hints of annoyance underlying his words. He could tell Autumn was not too pleased with her current surroundings. Autumn snapped her mouth shut and eased the look on her face. She was a beggar and damn sure couldn’t be a chooser.

  “No, I’m good. No problem at all,” she lied. Autumn could tell lying and faking was going to be a huge part of repertoire while she worked to get to the border to be reunited with her siblings.

  Autumn was led around the back of the farmhouse to a waiting truck. It was the type of truck she had seen on the highways that had closed in animal crates hitched to the back. Autumn could tell by the small holes in the truck’s back cabin that it was in fact an animal transport truck. Autumn looked at the man strangely and he looked at her with amusement in his eyes.

  “Mmmm, hmmm this is your ride to Q. Be a little uncomfortable for you I reckon, but you won’t have to worry about nobody finding you. Nothing but some old sows up in there,” he said with an amused tone to his words. Then he nodded towards the back of the truck. “Smell’ll keep even the most gun hoe police away from ya.” The man laughed. Autumn was growing wary of him because he seemed to be taunting her on the low.

  Autumn didn’t know what the man meant, but she will soon find out.

  Another man stepped from around the side of the truck, nodded at the big beer belly white man and unlatched the back.

  “Go on, climb in,” the stinky beer belly man told Autumn, nudging her forward.

  Autumn did as she was told. It wasn’t really an option to decline at that point. She thought about seeing all of her siblings again and decided that she really had no other choice.

  “Oh God! What the fuck is that smell!” Autumn shrieked as soon as she climbed up onto the truck. “It smells like pure shit in here,” Autumn complained, gagging slightly. “Is this some sort of fucking joke!” she called out to the men.

  Neither one of the men responded, but as soon as the truck doors were closed and locked, Autumn could hear them snickering. Autumn eased down onto the truck floor between two crates. The sawdust on the floor pricked her legs and she felt like she was being stabbed with a thousand needles. Autumn would’ve taken the feeling of a thousand needles rather than the noise that started as soon as she sat down. The shrill ear shattering screeches almost burst Autumn’s eardrums.

  “Oh my God! What the fuck!” Autumn shouted hoping maybe her voice would make the bleating pigs shut the fuck up. “I can’t believe this bullshit!” There were pigs in cages lined up in rows up and down the back of the truck. They began screaming and shrieking because of her presence. Some of the fatter pigs also banged their bodies up against their cages. Autumn could barely move left or right because of the cramped space, but she was able to put her hands up to her ears. It didn’t help. Autumn knew she needed a way to cope with the shrill screams so she pretended the pigs’ screams were shrieks of joy and laughter and that made her think back to a good time she had shared with her siblings.

  December 2001

  The squeals and screams of laughter and joy abounded through the house as the two youngest Porter siblings laughed, screamed, and jumped with joy. Fallon took two handfuls of cash and tossed them up over her head letting the money rain back down over her and Autumn’s heads. Autumn squealed with laughter and she whirled around in the cash.

  “I’m rich! I’m rich!”

  “Over six hundred thousand dollars! Our first time out! Six hundred thousand!” Autumn shrieked in a high-pitched voice. Fallon jumped around. It was like they had just hit the lottery. The girls were as happy as pigs in shit as their Aunt Rachel would’ve said.

  “Aye! Aye! Stop all that squealing. Ya’ll sound like little pigs up in here! Can’t be letting people hear that shit!” Their Aunt Rachel, who they called Nanny, screamed out. “I know ya’ll happy and shit, but this is just the first of many. Don’t act like we rich because if you feel like you got it all now, you won’t work as hard next time,” Nanny scolded, blowing out a long breath of cigarette smoke afterwards.

  Autumn and Fallon both tried in vain to simmer down and keep a serious face while Nanny was standing there, but it was extremely hard to contain their joy. Autumn’s insides were bursting with laughter and after a while she could no longer hold it in. She was about to burst and couldn’t help but let out another round of squeals. Rain stepped over and gave both of her younger sisters a disapproving glare. Again, Autumn tried to be serious.

  “Ya’ll think it’s funny,” Nanny gritted, but before she could move closer to the cackling sisters, Smitty grabbed her arm.

  “C’mon Rach…it’s their first heist and they did a better job than some adults. Let them have a good time…we can get them back to their business minds in a few days,” he said in the smooth, even tone he always spoke in. “For now, let the little ones be kids. They gotta enjoy childhood while they can.” Nanny seemed to take what Smitty was saying in stride. She took a long drag of her cigarette and relaxed the previously tensed muscles in her face. She probably would’ve done anything for Smitty’s smooth talking ass.

  Smitty was a smooth operating older cat who’d had history’s biggest run as a professional bank robber in Maryland in the 80s. Smitty walked with a slight limp from being shot in an illegal gambling spot dispute and just like usual donned his signature straw fedora, which he kept pulled so low it almost covered his eyes. Smitty had spent countless days, months, and years teaching the Porter children the ins and outs of how real heists were done. Smitty was down with that Ocean’s 11 type of shit, not that bullshit give-a-teller-a-note or jump on the counter with a gun type of operation. Smitty received a military general type of respect from the Porter kids, although he never asked for it or demanded it. He also knew he had the heart and mind of Nanny, but he never crossed the line although he knew in his heart he could have.

  Nanny wasn’t no slouch either. She was still holding on to some of her youthful beauty; even her teeth didn’t look yellow and stained due to how she smoked two packs of cigarettes a day. Autumn had always loved Nanny’s style, but it w
as Fallon who was the most like Nanny of the Porter children. Fallon liked to follow Nanny’s lead with makeup, clothes, shoes, and perfume…lots of expensive perfume. Nanny kept her body tight and she always wore the best shit, thanks to her super boosting ability. Nanny could walk out of stores like Gucci and Chanel with clothes, shoes, and bags, so you know she had skills.

  Nanny had been teaching all four of the Porter siblings their craft since she had taken custody of them after their parents died. All of the kids loved Nanny like a mother, but Autumn being the youngest shared the closest bond with her aunt. For a while Autumn felt like Nanny was her mother.

  “C’mon, pick up this money and stop playing. We gon’ go celebrate on the low,” Dayvid told his little sisters. Autumn laughed out loud again, she just couldn’t contain the joy she felt when she was with all of her siblings. At that moment, surrounded by stacks of money and as much love as she could receive, Autumn decided she never wanted to be apart from her brother and sisters in her life.

  ***

  Autumn felt like she had been riding for days when the pig transport truck stopped abruptly jarring her cramped body backwards into two of the pig cages. Although the pigs had eventually stopped all of the screaming, Autumn was still sick from their stench. Her stomach was churning with a mixture of extreme hunger and nausea from the smells. Finally she could hear the locks clicking outside of the truck’s back doors. At that point, Autumn didn’t care if it was the police opening the truck, she just wanted out of there as fast as possible.

  “Baby Girl?!” that familiar voice was like the sweetest music to Autumn’s ears. She squinted against the sunlight and struggled to stand.

  “Quinton? Quinton is that you?” Autumn called out, the glare of the sunlight hurting her hyposensitized eyes. The pigs started up again in response so Autumn had to yell.

  “Quinton!” She called out.

  “Yes! Baby Girl! It’s me…in the flesh!” Quinton called out, grabbing her hands and pulling her towards the exit. Autumn had never been so glad to see any man in her entire life, but seeing the man she loved was more of an added bonus. She threw her arms around his neck and squeezed him like she never wanted to let him go.

  “I’m happy to see you to ma,” Quinton mumbled, barely able to breathe because she was squeezing him so tight. He led her out of the back of the truck. “Damn ma you smell like a pig sty,” he joked, knowing how important keeping up her appearance was to Autumn.

  “That shit ain’t funny! What are the pigs all about? You a farmer now?” Autumn snapped back jokingly. “I couldn’t fucking believe when that nasty ass dude you sent for me told me to get in the truck with a bunch of pigs.”

  “Yeah, I been a farmer. You know what I grow,” Quinton laughed. “And better to ride with these pigs than the uniformed pigs.”

  “True,” Autumn agreed. Quinton signaled for his guys to start unloading the truck. Autumn’s eyes almost popped out of her head when she realized that the pig cages all had faulty floorboards that held at least 30 kilos of cocaine. Autumn knew that the kilos were worth hundreds of thousands in street value. Quinton had definitely blown up since back in the days.

  “A farmer huh? Well seems to me like you changed what you were growing from back in the days,” Autumn commented with her eyebrows raised. Just like that she was thrust back to thinking about how she had come to know Quinton, the only man she’d ever loved.

  Chapter 2 Casing

  August 2012

  “Yo, listen up, we need some new out of town licks. Something that’s worth it and will hold us down for a minute. Banks are hot right now and Smitty being gun shy about taking our shit on the road like that,” Dayvid announced. All three of his sisters were sitting around in their newest safe house. Fallon was primping her newly coiffed hair in a handheld mirror, Autumn was looking up new club spots on her iPad, and Rain was leaned back with a blunt chilling like usual. The music was blasting but they had all heard Dayvid loud and clear. When he spoke, they always listened.

  “Yo glama girl and computer kid…ya’ll hear me?” Dayvid called out at Autumn and Fallon. Both girls finally looked up, their eyes sparkling with intrigue now.

  “You know me finding a new vice ain’t a problem so stop playing,” Fallon said sassily, pushing her ample breasts up to make her point. “Niggas is falling down to get at me. I can trap a nigga just like that,” Fallon snapped her fingers for emphasis.

  “These niggas around the DMV ain’t got shit no more. If we ain’t hit them all, then they too small to even be bothered,” Autumn added, putting her iPad down. Dayvid shook his head up and down in agreement with his little sister. “We need out of town dudes that won’t suspect anything. But they have to be making some real paper…ain’t worth the risk and trouble if they not,” Autumn said. Fallon shot her a slightly evil glance. Sometimes the other siblings made Fallon feel like they were smarter than she was. It was a well-known fact amongst them that Fallon was the beauty, but she wasn’t the strongest when it came to brains.

  “Then hit another state. The fuck is all the yapping about. It ain’t that hard to figure out. Mad out of town cats be rolling through B’more to collect from these lames that can’t find a real connect. All ya’ll gotta do is case one of these so-called hitters, follow his ass out of town and do what ya’ll do,” Rain chimed in blowing out a lung full of loud. It was their process and Rain knew she would be taking over once her sisters identified the next victim. Planning was Rain’s strongest point.

  “Matter fact, I heard there’s this cat everybody calling Q that s’pose to have the best H and coke in all fifty states. Put ya’ll ear to the ground, find that nigga and let’s find his pockets,” Rain continued. “Simple as that. We don’t need a whole bunch of discussions.”

  “Sounds like a plan to me,” Autumn said already on her feet and ready to make moves. She stretched her long, lean frame and shimmied her slender hips.

  “I’ll leave this one to you baby sis…I got my hands full already,” Fallon said with a little bit of an attitude while she applied another coat of MAC lip glass to her lips.

  Autumn and Rain looked at each other and rolled their eyes. Their sister was a prima donna, but they both knew Fallon turning down a potential lick was probably because she already had one in mind or she was in love with some no good hood nigga or back with the old no good hood nigga Linx.

  ***

  For a few days after they’d decided it was time for a new move, the Porters did their homework in Baltimore about this out of town cat named Quinton Driggs who everybody in B’more called Q. Word on the streets was that Q had a lot of the drug market in B’more, Delaware, and southern New Jersey on lock. The Porters also found out that Q hailed from Philly, but was getting money in Akron, Ohio while serving as the connect for a bunch of small timers in B’more and other states up that way. Dayvid was particularly annoyed by what he’d heard about Q.

  “These outside niggas always coming to B’more and upping prices on their shit to exploit B’more niggas. That’s why I do what I do to these niggas for real. They think they untouchable in our fucking backyard…fuck that!” Dayvid told his sisters. Dayvid loved making victims out of dudes he felt were invading on his home turf. Dayvid had told his sisters where to find Q thanks to some of the little insiders Dayvid had on payroll.

  The first day Autumn laid eyes on the man she learned was the infamous Q, she had to do a double take when she looked at him. This nigga fine as hell! Autumn had never in her life seen a man so fine with absolutely no flaws at all. A lot of the dudes she cased were usually ugly but dressed nice or if they were fine they usually wore corny ass clothes. Autumn had never seen the best of both—Q was fine and his clothes were so well put together.

  With her jaw almost on the floor, Autumn stared at Q, drinking in all of his features and she immediately started fantasizing about him. This nigga right here is a tall drink of water on a fucking blazing hot day. I would treat his ass like a fucking king. Autumn let all sorts of th
oughts race through her mind as her pussy thumped a little bit. Shit, she was feeling things down below that she hadn’t ever felt by just looking at a nigga.

  Q stood six feet two inches tall, had broad basketball player shoulders, the smoothest mocha colored skin Autumn had ever seen and slick, jet black, soft curly hair that hugged his head like an Indian straight from India. Autumn watched him. When he smiled, flashing his perfect white teeth, Autumn felt her pulse quicken…even from a distance. Autumn had never really found herself physically attracted to anyone like that until that day. Autumn didn’t think anyone could tell, but the person who knew her best was watching her while she watched Q.

  “Naw baby sis, don’t even go there. Your ass ‘bout to fall over staring and drooling and shit. Don’t be falling in love from up the block and shit. That nigga is our next hit so don’t be looking at him like you wanna sop his ass up with a biscuit,” Fallon had joked the night she and Autumn first saw Q. Fallon had watched her baby sister’s eyes and knew right away Autumn was feeling the man who would be their next victim.

  “Dayvid and Rain will kick you square in the ass if you mess this up. This nigga look like he got long paper,” Fallon reminded Autumn.

  “Shut up Fallon! Stop acting like you know everything! I don’t even like those pretty boy, soft hair types, so whatchu even talking about!” Autumn snapped defensively. Damn, how could I have been so transparent? Autumn scolded herself and made it up in her mind that Q was her next lick, not a nigga she liked. Period. It was mind over matter or so she thought.

  Autumn volunteered to travel to Akron alone to set up the lick on Q, partly because she wanted to see him again without the scrutiny of Fallon. Autumn figured if Fallon went with her, there would be too much for Q to choose from and shit might go awry with the lick. Fallon was gorgeous, a fact that her siblings never tried to deny. Autumn knew that Fallon had a way of capturing dudes as soon as they laid eyes on her, but Autumn knew her sister’s mind wouldn’t be on the job. Fallon was caught up with man drama of her own and she sometimes let her personal stuff interfere with their work. This was going to be Autumn’s opportunity to show her siblings she wasn’t a baby anymore and that she was totally capable of rolling alone.