Crackhead II: A Novel

by Lennox, Lisa

  The little girl looked up at her mother with a look that only a two-year-old could give. “It’s okay . . . go ahead,” Angel assured her.

  The little girl looked at the man and said, “I’ll suck yo’ dick,” in the innocent voice of a child.

  The man was totally incensed. Not only because Angel would exchange her daughter for dope, but also because she’d taught the little girl such a demeaning phrase.

  He called one of his boys to come get the little girl while he commenced kicking Angel’s ass real good. One thing this hustler had a heart for was little kids, especially little girls. He didn’t give a damn about their parents, but little kids he wouldn’t fuck with. They drove the little girl to the closest hospital and dropped her off before anyone could see them.

  In disgust, Laci was turning the corner to make her way out of the Bronx when she saw a car that looked familiar. Leaning on the car were two girls she recognized immediately. They were Tonette and Shaunna. Both of the girls looked at the expensive sharp-red Mercedes Benz as it drove by, but Laci made no eye contact. She was glad she didn’t. She just wanted to get out of Dodge, and fast.

  “GIRL . . .” TONETTE SAID, still looking in the direction the car disappeared. “Didn’t that look like Laci?”

  “Where?”

  “In that red Benz that just passed us.”

  “Girl, please . . . you really buggin’ now,” Shaunna said. “You saw how bad she was out there.” Shaunna smacked her lips. “Once a crackhead always a crackhead.”

  “Yeah,” Tonette agreeded quietly. “You’re right.”

  CHAPTER 18

  TWO DAYS LATER, Tonette and Shaunna sat back in Dame’s old-school Camaro and watched anxiously as Tonette’s plan unfolded, while eating a bag of Red Hot Riplets and drinking a Pepsi. After they were finished with their snack, Tonette rolled a fresh blunt and took a long toke from it just as her mind went back to the red Benz she’d seen a couple of days ago. Damn, was that Laci? she kept asking herself. Shaunna’s insistence on getting some smoke brought her back to what she had to focus on. Tonette was still pissed that Monique walked out on her, but getting even was only a thing. She’ll be back, she told herself.

  Within moments, she saw the personal moving crew she’d hired scurry away from Monique’s first-floor apartment with all sorts of goods. Both girls began to laugh. One woman was pushing a floor-model color TV down the street in an armchair. Someone else had an armful of clothing, and others came out wearing some of the shit. Tonette chuckled to herself when she saw the two skinniest women struggle to carry the microwave that was on Monique’s grandmother’s kitchen counter.

  They took everything to the nearest thrift store and pawnshop for cash, which they agreed to give to Tonette and in turn, she would hook them up. The thrift store was only three blocks away and the pawnshop was right across the street from the store, so after they were through, they came back for more. Plants, pictures, a telephone, even the toilet seat was worth something to a basehead. If they thought that scratching the paint off the walls would have gotten them another hit, it would have been done.

  Once Tonette was satisfied with their deed, she made good on her promise but reminded them that they had to finish their job later that evening to get final payment. They agreed as she gave them their packets of poison and watched as they scrambled away.

  A few hours later, after she took Shaunna to pick up her two-year-old son and dropped them off at their place, Tonette went back to where she was earlier and waited. About forty minutes later, Monique’s grandmother ambled up the street as the sun began to set. It looked like her feet hurt.

  “Hi, Ms. Daniels,” Tonette said sweetly as the older woman walked by her. It wasn’t uncommon for Tonette to be hanging out in the area. Monique’s grandmother figured she was waiting for Monique.

  “Hello, Tonette,” she said and continued walking. Tonette knew that Monique’s grandmother didn’t care for her but she was always cordial.

  Mrs. Daniels had feared that once Monique moved in with her after her mother’s death she’d take up with the wrong crowd. She prayed that she wouldn’t. Mrs. Daniels tried to do any and everything for her granddaughter to give her a decent life, but it was too little too late. Monique was a part of the South Bronx Bitches; but Mrs. Daniels prayed to the Lord every day that no matter what, her granddaughter would make the right choices and would eventually get back on the right path.

  Since the police had been back and forth asking questions about Crystal and the rest of the crew, Monique’s decision to try to get her shit together was the best thing she could do. Her grandmother was proud of Monique’s most recent decision to get her GED. Although she had her high school certificate of completion, Monique had thought about college for a hot minute. She sailed through high school with D-minuses and refused to sit through two years of college on the same bullshit. She decided that once she got her GED, she would take the test for a job at the post office. It seemed like she was really trying to do something with her life and her grandmother’s prayers were answered.

  As promised, the two rat-assed crackheads came tripping over each other out of Monique’s grandmother’s apartment. One was wearing Monique’s Members Only beige polyester jacket that Mrs. Daniels had bought her.

  “What the hell you doing here?” She looked between the two females. “And who are you?” Mrs. Daniels raised her purse and was ready to beat them with it. The woman was loud and Tonette started laughing. “And what the hell you doing wearing my granddaughter’s clothes?” Mrs. Daniels raised her hand and jerked the skinniest girl by her collar.

  “We waiting for Monique to come back,” the skinniest one said while trying to avoid the older woman’s grasp. Her eyes darted around in front of her looking for a place to run to in case Mrs. Daniels started bugging out.

  “She said she was going to the corner store to get some more blow,” the other one said, comfortably putting her hands into the pockets of the jacket she was wearing. She was so fucked up, she didn’t see that the old woman was capable of kicking some ass and taking names later.

  “Get some more what?” Mrs. Daniels roughly pushed the two fiends out of her way and stormed inside of her house.

  Seconds later, Tonette heard the loudest screech come out of Mrs. Daniels’s mouth, then saw her run outside. The screams and the old woman running out of the house scared the two crackheads and they ran away fast, like the 5-0 was on their tails. Tonette’s deed was done; now she just had to sit back and wait.

  FOUR HOURS LATER, about eleven o’clock at night, Tonette was getting ready to hit her position on the street and was stopped by a knock at her door. She slowly walked over to the door as she was fastening her name chain around her neck, then opened it.

  With a nasty scowl on her face, she put her hands on her slender hips and her nostrils flared. “What the fuck you doing here?”

  Monique looked like she had been through hell. The dark-and light-blue uniform she wore was wrinkled and unkempt. Her face was blotchy and her eyes were red. Monique’s braids were all over her head and it looked as if she had been slapped repeatedly.

  “Um . . . my grandmother,” Monique said. “She kicked me out.”

  “So what the fuck you want me to do?” Tonette asked seriously. “That’s fam shit and we ain’t fam no more.”

  “I was just thinking that—”

  “Well, you thought wrong,” Tonette said harshly, interrupting Monique.

  “I could crash here, you know, like I used to.” Monique was determined to finish her sentence.

  “Like you used to? Heifer, you ain’t a part of the SBBs no more. The SBBs got each other’s back. You walked out, remember?”

  “I need a place to stay, Tonette, please.”

  “Take yo’ fake ass on down to the shelter or better yet, go find Laci since you were taking up for her ass. Now get the fuck outta my doorway before I turn you into a crackhead.” Tonette laughed.

  Monique had nowhere to go and felt
like she was going to lose it.

  “I’m still a SBB,” Monique said meekly. “What do I need to do to show you?” Monique was desperate and it was written all over her face. Tonette loved it.

  “Well . . . ,” Tonette said, pondering Monique’s question. “When you leave the SBBs there’s an initiation you must pass before you get back in, and that’s if I let you back in. If you fail the initiation, then I don’t know what to tell ya.”

  “What do I have to do?”

  “Do you really want to know, Monique? Do you really want to be a South Bronx Bitch again?”

  Without pondering the decision, Monique had to do what she had to do. “Yes. Y’all are my family.”

  Tonette stepped to the side as Monique walked in and comfortably sat down on the couch. Tonette closed the door and walked into the center of her living room.

  “Naw, bitch, you ain’t gonna get comfortable right now. Take your clothes off.”

  “What?”

  “I said, take your clothes off.”

  “Nette, you know I don’t get down like that,” she reminded Tonette.

  Monique was once again talking back and Tonette’s nostrils flared like a bull. “You know what . . .”

  “Wait a minute!” Monique cried as Tonette grabbed her by the arm and walked her to the door in a rush.

  “I got shit to do, so get ta steppin’!” She opened the door. “You came to my house beggin’ me to get back into my crew. You can’t do what I ask you to? You flunked your initiation. Your case is closed! Get the fuck out!”

  Monique looked at Tonette with tears in her eyes. “Okay, okay,” she pleaded, trying to keep Tonette from throwing her out. “Close the door, Tonette. I’ll do what you want.” Monique had never been with a girl before. She knew Shaunna rolled whichever way the wind blew, but Monique never thought Tonette got down like that. It shouldn’t be too bad. I can do this, Monique willed herself. It’ll be over in a minute.

  Monique walked to the middle of the room where Tonette was now standing. “Strip,” Tonette told her. Monique did as she was told. Tonette smirked and shook her head when Monique came out of her too-tight pants.

  “You just nasty,” she said to Monique with a snarl. Monique opened her mouth to say something. “Uh uh!” Tonette cut her off. “You only speak when you are asked to speak.” She paused momentarily. “Do you understand?” Monique wanted to say something, but this time Tonette gritted her teeth and repeated herself angrily, letting Monique know she wasn’t playing with her.

  “Yes,” Monique confirmed quietly as she continued to undress until she stood butt-ass naked in front of Tonette, who looked at every inch of her body.

  “Turn around,” she ordered.

  Monique didn’t put up any resistance and did what she was told.

  Tonette quickly stepped into her bedroom and came back within seconds.

  “You sure you want back in, Monique?”

  “Yes. Yes, I’m sure.”

  “Repeat after me, you fat-ass cow.” Tonette swung Dame’s thick belt across Monique’s back and she yelped. Tonette’s words cut through Monique like a knife—more than the sting of the belt. She couldn’t help her size. Her momma was thick, her grandmother was thick, and so was she.

  “I will,” Tonette sang calmly as she hit Monique again with the belt. She enjoyed watching Monique squirm.

  Stunned from the shock and pain and unable to comply with Tonette’s wishes, Monique whimpered. She couldn’t talk through her tears and the pain.

  “Say it, bitch!” Tonette yelled and swung the thick piece of cow leather across Monique’s back again. “And quit cryin’ like a lil’ bitch. This shit don’t hurt.” She unleashed another whip.

  “I will,” Monique cried out loud through tears.

  “Not talk back,” Tonette said. Whip!

  “Not talk back,” she repeated.

  “I will,” Tonette said again. Whip!

  The pain shot through Monique’s body like fire. “I will.”

  “Do as I’m told.” Whip!

  Welts were now starting to form on Monique’s delicate skin.

  “Do as I’m told.”

  Tonette continued to beat the shit out of Monique until she was balled up on the floor, begging through tears for the beating to stop and asking for forgiveness. Tonette felt powerful as she lashed out on Monique, stopping only because it dawned on her that her neighbors might hear the commotion and she didn’t need any additional attention drawn to herself. Damn, I should have turned the TV on, she thought.

  Looking at the red, bloodied, and welted body of Monique, Tonette was satisfied with her punishment. “Now you a SBB again and this time, just like a marriage, you ain’t getting out until we parted by death. Now get the fuck up off my goddamn floor and clean yo’ nasty ass up. I got shit to do.” Tonette calmly walked toward the door. “And don’t eat my fuckin’ food. You stayin’ with me, yo’ fat ass on a diet!”

  Tonette left and although moving slowly, with an ego as bruised as her body, Monique did as she was told.

  CHAPTER 19

  LACI AND HER friends had lunch together when their schedules would permit and they often met up in between classes. Planning to meet up with them at the mall later after her last class, Laci happily stepped to the car where Dink waited for her.

  “Hey babe,” Dink said as Laci approached.

  “Hey Dink,” Laci replied and kissed him out of habit on the lips.

  Dink grabbed Laci’s backpack, opened the back door, and threw it on the seat. As they got inside and Dink began driving, he looked over at Laci.

  “You look different,” he told her, noticing a change in her demeanor.

  “Do I?” she asked, pulling down the sun visor, looking into the mirror.

  “I don’t mean like that. It’s just something about you.”

  Laci covered the mirror, closed the visor, and looked at him. “I hope you mean it in a good way.”

  “Yeah, it’s good. You just look more relaxed now. Happy.” Laci’s nightmares and paranoia had become virtually nonexistent; still, he watched her closely for any side effects she might experience, or worse, any relapses.

  “I am.” Laci smiled at him and put her hands on top of his. “Oh Dink, I forgot to tell you, I’m meeting my girls at the mall later.”

  “Your girls? What girls?” Dink asked.

  “You know, my friends,” she told him matter-of-factly. “Gabby, Randi, and Samantha.”

  “What you need at the mall, Laci?”

  “Nothing, really. We’re just hanging out.” She looked into her purse and pulled out a fresh stick of cotton-candy lip gloss and coated her lips with the wand as he drove.

  “Baby, we haven’t been to the mall in a while,” Dink replied. “Why don’t I take you? Afterward, we can go to dinner, hit a movie or something. Anything you want, boo-boo.”

  Dink did notice that Laci had started hanging with a group of girls that he didn’t know, and he felt the need to protect her. Unfortunately, Dink’s protection meant not letting her get too far away from him. His doting attention made Laci feel special, but after a while, it got old and she was beginning to feel smothered.

  ALMOST TWO MONTHS had passed since he left the Bronx, but for Dink, being in a different environment made it seem like an eternity. He made the best of it. Dink was the more sociable of the two, but he was still on guard because the lessons he learned from the streets never left his blood. He knew that people always wanted something and they would go through extremes to get it.

  College was a different life for him. Slightly older than the average Boston University student at twenty-two, many students wanted to know more about this controversial young man who wasn’t afraid to speak his mind. But Dink let only a few students get close to him.

  Slim quickly proved to be Dink’s boy on campus. He wasn’t intimidated by his obvious swagger and hood-rich ways. The fact that Dink and Laci had matching Mercedes-Benzes and stayed laced in the latest designer clothe
s didn’t faze Slim either. Slim was a cool, laid-back cat to kick it with and he had a fresh, carefree spirit. Similarly to Dink, he wasn’t on no bullshit, wasn’t a slug, and spoke what was on his mind, and Dink welcomed that.

  Dink had also becomed acquainted with Simone, T.J.’s ex. They shared a class together, and Dink enjoyed her confident demeanor. While her appearance may have resembled Crystal’s, her personality was completely different, and she had an ease about her that Dink immediately took to.

  “DINK, CAN I talk to you for a minute?” Laci shook him briskly, waking him up from a nap.

  “Wha . . . what’s wrong baby?” Dink blinked his eyes and tried to stifle a yawn. He realized that he must have dozed off while waiting for Laci to finish her homework. He threw a pillow under his arm, turned toward her, and began to play with a loose ringlet of hair that bounced on her shoulder.

  “You,” Laci blurted out. Dink looked at her. “No, me,” she said. “Us,” she finally said.

  “What’s up, Laci? You sound confused.” Dink realized that whatever Laci had to say was difficult.

  “I’m not confused. I mean, I’m happy being in college and with us together and all, but I need space, Dink.” Laci sighed. “My friends and I want to hang out and do things together.”

  “We do those things all the time,” he reminded her.

  “Right, Dink. But outside of class, I don’t see my friends at all.”

  Dink looked incredulously at Laci. He’d never expected to hear her say anything like this. But after giving it a little more thought, he realized he had become as overbearing as she made it sound.

  “Baby,” Dink sat up in the bed, “the shit you went through this summer—you shouldn’t have gone through it,” he said seriously. “Man, nobody should ever have to go through that kind of hell. I promised your mother and uncle that I would protect you, and that’s all I’m trying to do.”

  “Dink, baby, you are protecting me.” Laci leaned over to kiss him. “You just being here makes me feel that nothing bad could ever happen. But this isn’t the South Bronx and my friends aren’t like Tonette and the girls.” Laci’s face took on another look, thinking of the SBBs. “My friends are a lot like me and we enjoy spending what little time we do have together.”