“She left about twenty minutes ago. She said she had to go to the grocery store or something.” Ruben shook his head laughing. “You know your mother; when she sees a new recipe on one of them cooking shows she has to try it out.”
Glad to see her father was in good spirits, Jakki was bursting at the seams for him to praise her for what she’d pulled off the night before. “Dad, I know Mom told you.”
“Yes, Jakki, of course. You know she did.” Ruben smiled knowing his daughter lived to make him happy. “And your uncle was here too with one of his crazy girlfriends.”
Just as the sick but strong-willed head of the Crayton Clan was about to tell his firstborn how proud he was of what he heard she’d done for the family’s financial situation, a breaking news report flashed on the television. Like everyone else who watched any broadcast, whenever a breaking story came on, especially at the top of the hour, all eyes were focused on what was deemed so important. Reaching for the remote, Ruben aimed it up at the wall-mounted set.
With the volume now much higher he and his daughter watched the newscaster describe the wild events that’d taken place earlier in the afternoon in a nearby suburban city. Staring at graphic video of two masked men bursting into a jewelry store then smashing showcases with hammers after threatening to harm the workers, Jakki and her father were both speechless. It was like time was standing still and they were frozen. She knew her loudmouth crazy cousin in action when she saw him, mask or not, just as Ruben recognized his nephew.
“Oh my God! Sweet baby Jesus,” Jakki finally mumbled under her breath. “No, he didn’t!” Reaching back in her purse for her cell, she finally hit the small icon downloading the message School Boy had sent her right before coming upstairs.
“Does that fool realize the amount of heat he could bring to the family doing some crazy garbage like this?” Ruben was ready to snatch the IV out his arm and the heart monitors from his chest. “That slow-thinking idiot! That damn boy is a moron! After all the years I’ve had him under my wing he turns around and does something this stupid, and in broad daylight! Get your uncle on the phone Jakki, now! We gotta do some damage control before that fool boy brings the whole family to its knees!”
Jakki was stunned. She didn’t know what to say let alone do. So this what he was talking about doing this morning. She could barely wrap her mind around what her eyes were seeing. Letting her father look at the picture now on her cell phone screen, any doubt or hopeful prayer the star of the local five o’clock newscast wasn’t actually School Boy was quickly shot down. “I wonder just how many other people that dummy done sent this incriminating mess to. See, Dad, I told you that boy ain’t ready. He’s outta control! He trying to get the entire family knocked. He’s trying to ruin us!” Jakki rubbed her forehead wishing she could turn back the hands of time and stop School Boy from doing the ridiculous stunt he’d done.
At a loss for words, Ruben’s true emotions were noticeably apparent as the nurse on duty rushed back in to check his vitals trying to figure out what suddenly caused the significant spike in the machines’ patterns at her desk. With her patient’s heart racing twice the normal rate and huge amounts of perspiration leaking from his skin, the trained caregiver asked Jakki to please step out the room after calling for emergency assistance from a doctor.
Chapter 6
“I told you we was gonna come up!” School Boy and his friend sat back in an abandon house they’d been squatting in ever since the beginning of summer.
“Yeah, Dawg, but my girl just called me asking was that you and me on the news just now.”
“Say what now?”
“Yeah, School Boy, she said it’s some videotape that’s on nearly every channel. She said you can’t see the dude’s faces, but she knows what I had on this morning.”
“Damn, my dude, well we might need to get rid of these clothes.” He acted as if being the stars on Live at Five was a big joke. “Maybe that’s why everybody in my whack all in my business family keeps blowing my shit up like they crazy. Maybe they want a real player’s autograph!”
Still not taking it as serious as they should be, they popped a few pills after both sipping from a huge doubled-up Styrofoam cup of purple-colored lean. Putting some loud smoke in the air, each laughed about the looks on the salespeople’s faces when their hammers were going wild. Separating their ill-gotten gain, the fact that they were facing double-digit football numbers if and when they got caught seemed not to matter as their high took command.
Back on the block, Jakki asked everyone she came in contact with if they’d seen School Boy or knew where he was at. Getting just about the same response from each of her neighbors, she gave up knowing sooner or later her wayward menace of a cousin would show up bragging and boasting about the brazen crime he committed.
Reassuring her mother that her father was doing much better and resting comfortably after his abrupt medical scare, Jakki disappeared into her bedroom. Dropping down to the side of her bed, the usually calm, cold, and calculating female clenched her hands together saying not only a prayer for her dad, but the entire Crayton Clan who was sure to suffer behind School Boy’s off-the-hook antics. Glancing over her shoulder at the clock radio on the dresser she took notice it was nearing nine. Even though School Boy had thrown a serious wrench in her disposition about the financial hustle challenge her father had issued between the two, Jakki knew the beat had to go on. Sure her uncle had put the family on high alert to be cautious in case the cops were watching and no one was supposed to speak to anyone about any personal family business until further notice; however, she had to meet up with Roe and hit this last major lick before falling back.
“Hey, my baby, I’m down the block at that same Burger King we met at.” Jakki looked around the parking lot feeling like she was being watched. “You about ready to put in this work or what?”
Roe had already gathered his few personal items from the T-Mobile store placing them in the side door dented rust bucket he was driving. Promised a small plastic baggie of hard to come by prescription only drugs and a bottle of potent cough syrup, the struggling pill head swiftly replied: he was born ready.
Driving around the rear exit of the building, Jakki parked two stores down, turned off her headlights and killed the engine. Popping the trunk, she stepped outside the car waiting for Roe. Leaning back in the shadows Jakki checked her cell phone seeing no one had called. And right about now in her world, no news was good news. Moments later Roe emerged from the back door of the T-Mobile store with a medium-sized garbage can in hand. With his soon-to-be ex-coworker holding the door open for safety precautions, Roe raised the container emptying the contents into the huge green receptacle. Just like that, he ducked back inside. Still feeling like she was being watched, Jakki shrugged it off as nothing but sheer paranoia brought on by the longwinded speech about the foolishness School Boy had done and how things were about to get hot.
Just as quietly as she’d crept up on the porch of the trap house she and her friends had hit the prior night, Jakki made her way to the metal Dumpster that stood at least a good foot taller than her. With both hands firmly gripping the sides, she lifted the weight of her body upward so she could look inside the smelly tomb where garbage came to die. Luckily the green plastic bag Roe had thrown in had an easily recognizable T-Mobile logo taped across it. Using the strength of one arm, Jakki snatched the bag out then ran back to her car. Throwing the bag in the rear of the trunk, she slammed it shut and smiled. Backing the car out the same way she’d driven in, the elated female was soon back at Burger King waiting for Roe, her temporary partner in crime.
Ripping the bag open, Jakki marveled how smoothly this electronic come up had gone down. I swear this must be my week to shine! Jakki was overjoyed with the bag’s content. Counting at least fourteen Galaxy Note 4s, eight or so iPhone 6 Pluses, and countless Galaxy S5s, Roe, a certified and street official pill head of his word, had held up his end of the bargain even more so throwing in a few Android table
ts and a gang of overpriced phone cases. Closing the trunk back down Jakki leaned over into her car’s open window opening up her purse. She knew Roe probably could’ve stolen all this merchandise himself and tried flipping it out in the streets, but that type of slow moneymaking grind was not what most addicts, even nine-to-five having functional abusers, were used to. They wanted their cash or drugs as soon as possible and lucky for Jakki, they could never see the bigger picture. Choosing to bless Roe with a handful extra of pills she could easily sell around the way, Jakki was never known for being stingy. Yeah, she was hard as most guys she’d come in contact with, but never unfair. When Roe finally arrived, the two wasted no time settling up. Jakki, having business to tend to, drove off leaving Roe in the parking lot eagerly deciding which pill would get him where he needed to be the quickest.
Just like that Jakki was about to bring even more seemingly untraceable revenue to her beloved infamous family. Nothing at all like that reckless blood-tainted cousin of hers, she wanted to show her father loud money, like School Boy was determined on getting, wasn’t always good money.
Chapter 7
Daybreak usually brings about a fresh start for most and Jakki was no different. Climbing out of bed with a bright outlook on her father’s condition, something told her he would be better soon and back home where he belonged. No longer worried about who would take his place when he stepped down, the loyal daughter was now focused on him returning to stand at the head of the table. In the few days that he’d been incapacitated, it felt like the world was going crazy. She was spending every waking moment trying to bring her own flesh and blood down. At one point she and School Boy were closer than just first cousins; they were like brother and sister or best friends. Now, just like that, they were sworn bitter enemies.
Inhaling the smells of her mother’s homemade biscuits, Jakki looked under her bed removing the bag of stolen phones. Ripping away at the plastic, one by one she laid them on the bed. Taking out her spiral notebook, she added an estimated actual value as well as street value directly under her calculations from the pills, cough syrup, and cash she’d gotten from a few nights back. After taking two new iPhone 6 Plus cell phones and a tablet for her mom, Jakki unselfishly placed the rest in a shopping bag to give to her uncle to add to the family pot.
Dressed in a robe, her empty stomach was starting to growl. Wanting to grab a few of her mom’s biscuits before she took them down to her father, Jakki sped up her pace. Going toward the bathroom to brush her teeth and at least wash her face, she was surprisingly met in the hallway by School Boy. “What in the . . . ?”
“Yo, what’s good, Jakki?” he nonchalantly asked looking high as a kite and exhausted all at the same time.
“What’s good?” Jakki instantly repeated with rage. “Are you freaking for real? Are you kidding me? Negro, come in here.” She snatched her cousin by the arm practically dragging him in her bedroom slamming the door shut. “Where you been hiding out at, dummy? You know me and Pops seen you all on the news? Geesh, all of Detroit seen you and that fool you run with!”
“Girl, chill, it ain’t that serious.” School Boy smirked still feeling the aftermath of the sometimes lethal combination of pills and lean. “Them fools ain’t see our faces so we good!”
“You think so?”
“Yeah, I do. And why you hating so hard on what I do anyhow? You jealous of the lick I hit or what?”
“Me, of all people, jealous? School Boy, get your life and have several seats! Why in the world would I be hating or jealous about that stupid caught on Candid Camera mess you did?”
“Whatever, girl, me and my manz got a real come up from that store! When your pops and my other uncle do the count on that lick, you gonna be looking straight crazy!” School Boy tugged on his manhood like he was posted up on the street corner talking trash to one of his homeboys. “I’ma be the last man standing at the end of the day, flat the fuck out. And wait until you see what else I got planned in the next few days!”
“Something else planned? Oh hell naw!” Watching School Boy stumble, then fall back on her bed, Jakki insisted he sit up so they could clear up some things. “Look, cuz, I don’t know how things got so foul between us, but this side eyeing ain’t for me and you, not at all. You out here doing the most acting all buck wild and for what? It ain’t what you do but how you do it. And besides, it ain’t like my daddy about to really walk away from his position, at least no time soon.”
“Yeah, okay, Jakki, you say that now, but for real for real, if you didn’t feel that way, why you going so damn hard in the paint to show you really about that life?” School Boy was all in his emotions. “Running up in the pill spot on the east side! Yeah, cuz, I heard about it. You ain’t the only one with they ear to the street.”
Jakki tightened the belt on her robe and mockingly laughed. “Silly weak-made, Negro, I was born being about that life just like you. Matter of fact, let’s keep it one hundred, I’m the realest nigga on your team any day of the week; not that simple-minded car-thieving bastard you run with or his stuttering, bun-biting sister you smashing!”
“Yeah, but—”
“Yeah, but my pretty ass,” Jakki bossed up catching a hot fire hostile attitude. “Look, fool, I’m ’bout done trying to get what family loyalty truly is through to your thick skull. I gotta get dressed and go visit my father that you ain’t once been to see since the day he collapsed.”
“But—”
“But nothing,” she cut him off yet again. “We got a family meeting at the restaurant later this afternoon. Can I tell everyone you coming or what?”
“For what? All they wanna do is talk that yang yang shit to a guy!”
“So ummm, is that a yes or a no? Because like I told you, I ain’t got time. Matter of fact, do what you feel. I got thangs to do.” On that note Jakki decided to skip the biscuits, take a shower, and hit the streets early. School Boy had worked her last nerve and tried to take her out her positive disposition. A steaming hot shower would surely get her back on track.
Left in his cousin’s bedroom feeling a small bit of remorse, School Boy stood to his feet. Walking over to her dresser, the out for self young man took a hard look at himself in the mirror. “I don’t know, my dude,” he started talking to himself. “Can I trust her slick ass or not?” Reaching for some much needed lotion for his morning ashy face, he saw two brand new cell phones and a tablet. Knowing if this was last week this time, there’d be no doubt whatsoever in his mind that the extra iPhone 6 Plus had to be for him. That’s how he and his favorite cousin got down. They always hooked each other up.
Hearing the shower water running, School Boy took it upon himself to take the gift off the dresser he knew was rightfully his. Just to prove to Jakki he’d at least heard what she was saying, whether he agreed or not, the hardheaded thug dug deep in his left blue jean pocket pulling out one of several high-priced diamond rings he’d stolen in the highly publicized smash and grab robbery. Placing it down exactly where the phone was, he left out the front door without so much as a good-bye to cousin or his auntie. School Boy knew he could’ve sold the ring in the street for way more than the popular brand new in the box cell phone was worth, but blessing Jakki was more valuable. Maybe now she’d get off his back.
Arriving at the hospital, Jakki saw a few familiar cars parked in the valet section. Wanting to leave as soon as possible when the meeting was over, she opted to go into the garage and park herself. Having dropped off the bag of expensive cell phones to her uncle earlier, her overall attitude was positive. She knew when her family usually got together for one of their brainstorming conferences things could get out of hand. Accusations of favoritism would be hurled along with a public belittling from a parent if the child was acting out or worse than that strayed from the fold. Loyalty was first in the Crayton handbook and anything else including God Himself came in a distant second.
Jakki braced herself knowing today was definitely going to be one of those days. Why her dad would cho
ose to hold such a surefire explosive get-together in the hospital family room was beyond her, but of course it was no way she’d question his judgment, not now. School Boy and his televised antics were sure to be at the top of the discussions, if not the only thing. And since his own father’s death, School Boy and all he did, good or bad, was all on Ruben. After years of dishing out judgments on certain renegade branches of the family tree, it was now time for their fearless leader to finally stand accused of bad parenting.
When the few privileged rulemaking members of the Crayton Clan gathered inside the normally quiet room, talk of what Jakki’s favorite cousin had done started immediately. Twirling the diamond ring on her finger School Boy left in exchange for one of the cell phones, Jakki couldn’t help but believe there was still some hope for her wayward cousin and despite what her elders were saying about disowning him, family loyalty would still prevail. When her ailing dad, wheelchair bound, entered, a respectful hush fell across the room. Pushed by his wife toward the head of the table, Jakki hated to think she wanted to stand at that very spot so badly she almost caused her father to die. After hearing the family finances being spoken about from her uncle, Jakki at least felt like she’d made her father proud. Especially knowing he was about to take a sock in the gut for School Boy.
The minutes seemed to drag by. Each person took turns basically saying the same thing; Ruben either had to get the boy out the state to be ostracized from the rest of them or the virus had to be eliminated all together. They agreed bringing this much heat and possibly notoriety to the family name was not good for any of them. Before Jakki knew it, her father along with the others had nominated her to get School Boy to meet with them within twenty-four hours to either leave town indefinitely until things cooled down or turn himself in and take whatever it was like a man, facing all consequences that may come his way. He would be reassured his legal fees would be paid, but as far as anyone from the Crayton Clan publicly supporting him, that was a no-go. The decision would be left up to the troubled youth Ruben sadly hoped would one day stand at the head of the table. But whatever fate School Boy chose, it was up to Jakki to deliver him to the elders by any means she saw fit. Her uncle reminded her that no matter what amount of revenue she brought to the table, standing where her father stood took strength to do whatever had to be done if it endangered the family as a whole.
Girls From Da Hood 10 Page 4