After the Rain

by Vanessa Miller

  Someone started banging on the door to the left of him. Then the screaming and yelling started again. Another reason for Ikee to want to be home. People didn’t yell and scream first thing in the morning and start fights. This place is crazy.

  His cell phone rang. Ikee grabbed it, thinking that his mother was calling to check on him. If he told her that he didn’t have any money and no way to get to the rest of the money he had, she’d come and pick him up… maybe even take him to breakfast like she used to do. He answered without even looking at the caller ID. “Hello?”

  “Yo Ikee, this Young Geeze.”

  Ikee wanted to hang up. If it wasn’t for Geeze he’d still have his loot. But he held onto the phone because he needed a ride to the bank. “What’s up?”

  “If you wasn’t doing anything, I was getting ready to roll over there.”

  “Can you give me a lift to the bank?” Ikee asked.

  “Yeah, no problem. Do you have any more stash so we can get something started today?”

  “I’ve got a solution to our little problem. Don’t worry about a thing. Just get dressed and meet me outside.”

  As Ikee jumped in the shower he heard clearly the words from the man who’d stood next to him on the stoop yesterday morning, “Don’t trust nobody.”

  Ikee was starting to believe that was true. His father had basically told him the same thing. Ikee knew he couldn’t go to Bobby-Ray for more product, because he couldn’t trust that Bobby-Ray wouldn’t try to exact revenge against his father. But he’d known Geeze for years because even though he was a thug, he attended youth group when his mother brought him to church. So, Ikee figured he could trust Geeze. He didn’t have a choice in the matter anyway. Nobody else was running to his aid.

  As Ikee jumped in the car with Geeze, he thought he caught sight of the disappearing don’t-trust-nobody man. But the man hurriedly turned down the alley and Ikee couldn’t be sure if that was the same guy or not. Really, he didn’t know why he cared. The man was selling fake weed. He’d probably be dead pretty soon anyway.

  Ikee told Geeze where his bank was. They headed downtown. Once Ikee pulled out his last two hundred, he hopped back in the car and said, “So, what’s your bright idea?”

  “I know this guy that we can get some product from.”

  “His name isn’t Bobby-Ray is it?”

  “You know Bobby-Ray?” Geeze asked with awe in his voice. Like Bobby-Ray was a rock star who he’d been trying to get an autograph from for years.

  “I know him. But I’m not doing business with him anymore.”

  “Man, you crazy, Bobby-Ray got that good stuff.”

  “Not interested,” Ikee told him.

  “We not meeting up with Bobby-Ray, so don’t worry. Lou Jones is my contact. He’ll hook us up.”

  When they arrived at Lou Jones’ place, Geeze made the introductions, then Lou said, “So you the one that brought five-o down on us yesterday. I had to shut down two corners early.”

  “I don’t see how that was my fault.” Ikee stood his ground. “That cracked out woman pulling on me offering me everything but money is the one who alerted the cops that something was going on. Then I lost all my money.”

  “Yeah, you right. Candy’s been asking for the one-way ticket to the grave for a while now. I just been letting it go because she and I used to have something special. But it don’t even matter no more.”

  “I didn’t say she needed to be dead… just said she was in my way and costing me some money, not you,” Ikee told him.

  Lou gave Ikee a quick stare down. “You don’t know who you’re talking to do you? That was my spot you was selling in yesterday. You owe me a cut from what you sold and I don’t care if you had to throw it all away or not. I’m still gon’ get my cut.”

  “How?” Ikee’s eyebrows scrunched. “I lost everything I made yesterday.”

  Lou pointed toward Geeze. “My man here tells me that ya’ll made about five hundred. So I’m going to need you to check in my twenty percent. Front and center.”

  Ikee wanted to object. It wasn’t like Lou had done anything to help them yesterday. The man didn’t own the block and couldn’t just charge people as if it was a toll road or something. But his street smarts kept him from objecting. He went in his pocket and pulled out a hundred dollars and handed it over to Lou while eyeing Geeze. Because he now knew that he had someone else in his life that couldn’t be trusted. Geeze knew when he brought him to see Lou that the man was going to request his twenty percent, but Geeze never said a word. Now Ikee wondered how things would have turned out if he had not made a stop by the bank this morning.

  Lou then informed him, “You work for me now. And I want you and Geeze on that same block until nightfall.”

  Ikee didn’t know if he wanted to work for Lou, but at the moment, didn’t think he should bring that up, so he said, “I don’t have any product. I lost it all when we ran from the cops yesterday.”

  “I got y’all covered. But this time we’re on a 90/10 split. Once you’re out of the hole for the money y’all lost me, then the split will go up to twenty percent.”

  “Whatever,” Ikee said. He just wanted to get out of there. He would work for Lou long enough to pay back the money that had been lost on the block when the police swooped down on them, but that would be it. Ikee wasn’t trying to make another man rich.

  Geeze yanked the steering wheel as he made a quick U in the street. “Why’d you have to tell Lou about Candy?”

  “She got us spotted by five-o that’s all I said to him. How was I supposed to know he’d talk about killing her?”

  “He’s been looking for a reason… now you put one in his head.”

  Ikee didn’t like the sound of anyone getting killed. If he had known that Lou would even suggest such a thing, he never would have mentioned it, but he also thought that Geeze had some nerve getting his back up about anything he said to Lou. “I wouldn’t have been talking to Lou at all if you hadn’t set me up.”

  “I didn’t set you up. Lou wanted his money. What was I supposed to do? I didn’t have any to give him.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me that we would have to pay him twenty percent of the profits?”

  “Because I was going to pay him out of my cut. He drove by while we was working. So, I couldn’t lie and say we didn’t sell nothing. But OGs like Lou don’t care if five-o swoop down on you. They still want their cut.”

  “Let’s just get this over with,” Ikee said as he and Geeze headed to their spot. The day went better than expected. Ikee was getting the hang of things and enjoying hanging out with Geeze while they made a little money. The guy was a real cut up, which was probably why he had a hard time paying attention in school… the streets were a better fit for him anyway, Ikee suspected. Some guys made their paper on Wall street and others made theirs on hood street.

  “Catch that one,” Geeze told him when a grey sedan pulled onto the street.

  Ikee went over, but the white dude was looking for meth and Ikee didn’t have none. As the car made its way down the street, Ikee stood watching, not sure why his eyes were focused on the movement of the car. But in the next second a woman burst out of the house two doors down from where Ikee stood. She ran over to the car, bent down and said something to the two men inside.

  As the woman swiveled her head and flipped her hair, Ikee saw that it was Candy. Something inside of him said, “Go tell her.”

  Ikee’s conscience was filled with guilt because he knew that this woman was already dead, but she didn’t even know it. “Hey Candy,” he called to her.

  Ikee had no intentions of telling the woman what Lou had said. He wasn’t crazy and sure wasn’t trying to die for no geeker. But he couldn’t get the impression of someone as young as Candy spending an eternity in hell. So, he had to at least tell her she needed to find somewhere else to do her geeking.

  But one of the men opened the backseat door. Candy looked up, saw Ikee, gave him the finger and then got in the car
.

  So much for wanting to help somebody. Let them all live and die in these streets… see if he would try to offer some friendly advice to one of them again. When she turned up dead, she couldn’t blame him. And it really wasn’t Ikee’s business if Candy ended up in hell for eternity either. It wasn’t like they were friends or anything. It was just that he had been the one who brought her up to Lou.

  He and Geeze called it quits at about nine that night. Geeze bunked on the let out sofa in his little studio apartment, while Ikee crashed on the bed. He liked having company at his new spot. At least he didn’t have to be alone that night, with thoughts of how his actions might be the cause of a girl going to hell.

  He and Geeze slept in, but they were back on the street by noon. Lou wanted to see them. Ikee wished he could talk to his father about the drug life, because he’d like to know how Isaac Walker dealt with being an errand boy, who had to come when called. He’d also like to know how long he would have to deal with people like Lou before he’d have his own territory.

  Lou was floating around the room, looking as if he’d drank some happy juice, or maybe he was just getting high on his own supply, Ikee thought.

  “This is a good day, boys; once this day is over, I will be the HNIC around these parts. And I’m going to let the two of you help make my dreams come true. Isn’t that good of me?”

  Ikee didn’t know what Lou was talking about. He just wanted to finish paying his off his debt and get on with his life.

  “Here’s what I need y’all to do,” Lou began. “First,” He pointed to Ikee. “Sit down at that table and write down these addresses I’m about to give you.”

  Ikee knew that Lou wasn’t asking, this was a command. So, he sat down and acted like he was a secretary taking dictation. “Done,” Ikee said when he was finished.

  “Hand that paper to Geeze.” Then Lou turned to Geeze and said, “DeMarco has a shipment that just came in. Go pick that up for me. And then I need y’all to drop a brick off at the five locations on that paper.”

  “Got it,” Geeze said.

  “Hand me your cell phone,” Lou told Ikee. When Ikee handed it over, Lou put his number in the phone. “If anything goes wrong I want to be contacted by one of you immediately. Got me?”

  What Lou was asking them to do was big time. If something went wrong, then Geeze and Ikee would either be dead or in jail. And Ikee didn’t like the sound of either option. “If the cops catch us carrying your load, that’s prison time.” Ikee shook his head. “I’m not trying to go to prison.”

  “You should have thought about that before you decided to sell on my turf.” Lou gave Ikee a hard stare as he added, “Your daddy used to call his turf The Promised Land. I might not have as much territory as he had back in the day, but I protect what’s mine. If you didn’t want to work for me then you shouldn’t have come over here trying to profit off of what’s mine.”

  “You know my daddy?”

  “That’s right, I know that you’re Isaac Walker’s boy. So don’t make me send you back home in pieces. Your daddy was the man around these parts. A god. Believe me, I’d hate to be the one to break his heart.”

  Ikee didn’t like the sound of his body being cut on either. He zipped his lip and got out of Lou’s house as fast as his legs would take him, and jumped into Geeze’s car.

  “Man, it’s going down. I can’t believe Lou is letting us be a part of this.” Geeze was excited. But Ikee sure wasn’t.

  “You’re happy to be someone’s patsy. You do know if something goes wrong, we are taking the fall?”

  “What can go wrong? This shipment is about to put Lou on top, don’t you think he’s made sure this thing will go off right?”

  “I don’t know about this, Geeze.”

  “What’s to know? We pick the stuff up, distribute it and then get paid.”

  But Ikee didn’t feel right… like something was telling him to run. Get out while the getting was good. “Maybe we should just call Lou and tell him to find somebody else.”

  “Are you crazy?”

  Ikee shook his head. “I’m not crazy and I’m not carrying all that weight around so five-o can swoop down on us again.”

  Geeze kept driving like Ikee hadn’t said nothing worth listening to. “Lou said we doin’ it, so we doin’ it,”

  “You can be a fool for Lou if you want, but I’m not carrying his dope. I’m trying to make my own name in this world, not go down like a sucka for some other OG.” Ikee might have been young, but he was a long way from stupid. There was a reason an experienced hustler like Lou would send two kids to pick up all that product and then make the deliveries without once seeing the product first-hand. Something wasn’t right and Ikee wanted no part of it.

  Geeze opened the glove compartment and pulled out his gun. He pointed it in Ikee’s direction. “Don’t make me shoot you.”

  “What? Geeze, we go way back… you’d shoot me over this?”

  “I’d shoot my grandmother if she was messing with my money.”

  “I don’t have nothing to do with your money. You were working for Lou before I got here and you can keep on working for him. I just want out.” Ikee put his hand on the door handle. He didn’t trust Geeze anymore and he wasn’t going to sit there and beg him to remember their friendship. His dad had told him about seeing one of his friends in hell… after he’d murdered him. So, Ikee knew that friendship didn’t mean much on the street. They were coming to a red light, so as Geeze slowed down a bit, Ikee opened the car door and rolled out.

  He bumped against the curb as he heard Geeze calling him everything but a child of God. Ikee tried to get off the ground and run, but that’s when the bullets started flying. Geeze was really shooting at him.

  Ikee crawled over to this big tree that was next to the curb. He then crouched down behind it and sent up some quick, fast and please hurry up and help me, Jesus kind of prayers. He didn’t want to die out there on the streets because then it would seem as if he’d been born for nothing. He hadn’t had time to make things happen, to accomplish anything in life. He needed to live, “Please, God; I want to live.”

  “Follow me.”

  Ikee’s head swiveled around as he felt a gentle touch to her shoulder. Standing in front of him was the man he’d talked to on the porch. The guy had on a coat that flared at the bottom. As Geeze started driving off, but still shooting in their direction, the man swung the coat so that he covered both of them and they simply walked down the street.

  “Where you come from?” Ike asked the man.

  “I heard you praying, so I figured you’d gotten yourself into a jam that you couldn’t get out of on your own.”

  “Who are you?”

  The man took the coat from around Ikee. “You should be safe now.” He extended his hand. “My name is Luke.”

  “Why are you helping me? I don’t trust you.” Ikee stepped away from Luke.

  “You can trust me,” Luke told him.

  There was something in the man’s eyes. They almost sparkled when he spoke. It was weird and Ikee just wanted to get away from him too. “You’re the one who was selling fake weed. How can I trust you when you don’t even have integrity?”

  “That’s funny.” Luke laughed. “A drug dealer expecting to be surrounded by people with integrity. Well okay, young Isaac, I will take you somewhere so you can find people with integrity. And I do believe you’ll be able to trust these people.”

  “Are you crazy? I’m not going anywhere with you… and how did you know my name?”

  The man smiled as they kept walking. But he didn’t say another word until they were standing in front of The House of God.

  “This is my father’s church.” Ikee stared at the church building in awe as if he couldn’t figure out how he’d walked there without recognizing where he was. He then turned back to Luke to ask what his game was, but Luke was gone.

  Chapter Ten

  It was two o’clock in the afternoon when Ikee opened the door to hi
s father’s church and went inside. He rushed to Isaac’s office, but his dad wasn’t there. His sister-in-law, Diana was at her desk. She stood up as he walked into her work area. “Hey Ikee, you didn’t go to school today?”

  It was Tuesday, so Diana had every right to wonder why he was at the church, rather than school. But Ikee didn’t want to discuss it, not after the day he’d had. “Is Dad out for lunch or something?”

  “He stayed at home with your mom today.” Diana grabbed her purse. “I’ve got to go pick up the kids.”

  Ikee didn’t want to be left alone, not even in a church, so he quickly asked, “Is anyone else here?”

  She pointed towards Donavan’s office. “Your brother is back there. It would probably make his day if you went in and said hi or something.”

  Ikee doubted that, but he wasn’t going back outside. Not right now, with Geeze gunning for him and Lou might be out looking for him for all he knew. “I’ll do that,” Ikee told her as he headed towards Donavan’s office. He knocked on the door.

  Donavan yelled out, “Come on.”

  Ikee took a deep breath, trying to get his cool back in place as he opened the door and walked into his brother’s office. He needed to talk to someone, but he didn’t know if Donavan would understand where he was coming from. Although Donavan was his brother, they hadn’t spent much time together. Donavan was in his twenties when Ikee was born and had already moved out of the house.

  Donavan had also moved out of town and hadn’t returned until Ikee was about five or six. Donavan had taken Ikee to movies and events, but Ikee never truly felt connected to his big brother, because Donavan was like Mr. Do-the-Right-Thing. And Ikee always seemed to be doing the wrong thing.

  Donavan looked up, saw how disheveled his brother looked and asked, “Boy, what happened to you?”

  “I fell out of a car,” Ikee deadpanned.

  “Quit playing. Is this how you dress since you’ve decided to be a high school drop out?”

  If Donavan was going to start on him right off, then Ikee didn’t know if he wanted to talk to Donavan if he was going to be his judge and jury.