by Sa'id Salaam
"A baby! How you get a baby?" Meisha asked as if she didn't know.
"Your damn uncle!" Sincerity shot back.
"Oh shit! Oh shit!" Cameisha yelled in horror. She took off to the bathroom and upchucked the carrots and raisins.
"You ok? What's wrong ma?" Sincerity asked from the doorway.
"That's what the hell she was talking about." She replied, thinking of her grandmother's odd behavior. She added her missing period with her reaction to smells and announced, "I'm pregnant!"
"You went all the way to college to get knocked up? You coulda stayed your ass here for that." She said hotly. She was 38 hot at her young friend until the tears came.
"Yo, my grandmother is going to kill me." Meisha sobbed. She totally broke down and wept.
Sincerity came over and wrapped her in her arms. Hugs helped tears flow better and she let it all out. Cameisha rocked and cried at the thought of fucking up her life. She had a chance and fucked it up.
"Sup with the daddy?" Sincerity asked once the sorrow subsided. "What you gone do?"
"Fuck that bum. I'ma get that bastard's bastard out of me first chance I get!" Cameisha replied. "You got weed?"
"You know I keep a stash for Killa when he come through, hold up." She replied and waddled off to retrieve it.
Only because misery loves company, Cameisha got up and looked out the window. What she saw threatened to start up the tears again. Aqua and Dasia sat huddled together on the park bench they called home. They both frowned from the bitter wind and brutal cold.
"How long have they been there?" She asked when Sincerity returned with the weed.
"How old are they?" She laughed. "Yo that's their life Ma. Worry about yourself."
"I can't. That's my peeps." Cameisha replied. "Maybe they out there trappin!"
"Trappin? Girl stop! They fuck for blunts. Everybody done ran through them." Sincerity shot back.
"I need a couple pounds of green." Meisha announced.
"For what? They just gonna fuck it up."
"Nah, for school, and a hammer."
"Pounds of weed and a gun for college? You may as well go have a seat next to them." Sincerity said hotly. "You just like your damn uncle!"
"Nah yo, I'm just like my daddy!" Meisha laughed.
"That nigga E-man over on 164 got some good I hear. Some commercial shit but it’s straight."
"Same dude who stole my girls shit and beat them up? I need to holla at him anyway." She growled.
"Check it ma, that dude is slimy. A killer." Sincerity warned sincerely.
"So am I, make the call!"
Chapter 13
"Say word! Is that who I think it is?" Dasia asked hopefully as Cameisha approached.
Aqua was afraid to look up. How many times had she prayed for their leader to come save them? They were totally lost without guidance and here came their guide. She lifted her head as their savior arrived and lost it.
"Meisha!!" Aqua screamed as she jumped up. She actually tackled Cameisha in the snow and squeezed the air from her lungs. Dasia jumped on them all and joined the hug. The three girls rolled around in the dirty project snow giggling.
“You back?" Aqua asked hopefully. So many people had left for lofty adventures only to return to the projects. At least they would have memories and stories to tell to those who never made it out.
"Just for Christmas break yo. I gotta go back in a couple of weeks." Meisha replied knocking snow from her coat.
"What happened to you sending for us?" Dasia demanded. All women need leaders and she wasn't afraid to admit it.
It's fucked up that men, black men have evolved to just wanting to fuck and leave instead of lead. Somehow pussy became the goal and once they got it, they're gone. Women have evolved too, evolved to lead themselves and that too is fucked up.
"Yo, I had to get settled in yo. I'ma send for yall." She swore.
"Yesss!" Aqua cheered, bouncing up and down.
"Who at your crib?" Cameisha asked turning to Dasia.
“Just my Mom's and dem." She replied even though her mother was alone. The 'dem' in my moms and dem is rhetorical.
"Bet, let's go up and smoke this blunt." She offered showing the weed she got from Sincerity.
It was just like old times as the girls laughed, smoked and did the fat-fat dance. Once the revelry subsided, it was time to get down to business. She cut the music and paused until she had their attention.
"Yo, how yall fucked up that whole pack?" She demanded. Both girls made feeble excuses that all led back to them needing to be led. They were worker bees in need of a queen.
"Then E-man took the last of it." Dasia whined with the heartache still evident in her voice.
"Aight, aight." Meisha cut in cutting off the excuses. "Get dressed to hustle cuz the fat-fat sacks are back! Oh, and yall gone straighten your face before I leave!"
****
Cameisha squeezed into a pair of super tight jeans and sweater as she dressed for her meet with E-man. She traded her long leather coat for a short leather jacket to show off her ass. She counted out eight hundred and put it in a purse large enough to hold the weed and set off. A disposable 380 pistol was last into the bag.
"Hmp." Grandma huffed at her backside as she strolled through the living room. "Surprised you can walk in them tight pants."
"Love you too grandma." Meisha laughed and blew her a kiss on her way out the door.
Fly girls do not walk so she hailed a taxi for the two block ride. The cab pulled to a stop in front of the pizza shop on Ogden Avenue and she paid the driver and got out. The pizza shop got quiet instantly as she walked in as if someone hit a mute button. New meat has that effect on men.
"A-yo ma! I'm…"
"You aint E-man!" Meisha said cutting a wannabe playa off. The youngster rushed her at the door hoping to be first to bag the stranger. Hearing the boss's name sucked all the puffed air from his chest. He lowered his head and pointed to the rear.
"Back here ma." E-man waved from his booth in the back of the shop. He made sure the back of this hand was seen so she could peep the ice.
"Damn." Meisha said to herself as she approached. Slime ball or no slime ball, the man was fine. The fact that he was obviously getting it only added to it. The booth cleared of stragglers as she approached. It was empty when she arrived so she slid in across from E-man.
"My girl told you what I need?" She asked using her southern charm.
"Yeah, what your pretty ass need with a pound of reefer?" E-man questioned.
"Really, I need more than that. Them kids at my school smoke like a forest fire." She replied. "If this is straight, I'ma need ten 'mo 'fo I go back to Atlanta."
"Yo, it's straight as my dick ma!" E-man bragged seeing he had her caught in his charm. Some was real some was a set up but he was too arrogant to see it.
"I may have to see for myself, both that is." Meisha said seductively. She pulled the roll of money out and placed it on the table.
E-man nodded and one of his flunkies came and scooped up the money. When he walked out of the pizza shop, Cameisha reached into the bag and clutched the pistol. It would be nice to set him up and beat him like he did her girls but if no weed appeared soon; she was going to air the pizza shop out. He was getting shot today.
"It's straight yo." The young hood confirmed when he returned. He tossed a small brick of compressed weed on the bench next to Meisha. She put it on top of the pistol and stood to leave.
"I'ma hit you 'fo I go back to school." She announced.
"Yeah and I'ma hit you too before you go. From the back." He replied, looking at her crotch. He handed her a card with his number on it as he watched her ass as she walked away.
****
It was just like old times when the girls hit the block with sacks of the fat-fat. Damn near everybody in the projects smoked weed. In two days time they had sold completely out and had just over fourteen hundred to show for it. It would have been more if not for smoking and eating.
/> "You gone get another pack?" Dasia asked. She wondered why Cameisha hadn't split up the money yet.
"Not until it’s time to go back to school." She replied.
"I thought you said you were taking us with you?" Aqua said on the verge of hysteria.
"I am, so be ready, but first yall gotta handle that business." Meisha demanded.
Cameisha took her friends shopping for the basics before they left. They stocked up on panties, bras and hygiene items for the trip. Last but not least, they stopped by the sports store in search of payback. Batter up.
"Damn that shit is pretty!" E-man exclaimed as he viewed the pussy picture on his phone.
"Thank you." Cameisha giggled even though it wasn't hers. He kept asking for a shot when they spoke so she got one off the internet. It helped negotiate the price down to 700 per pound for the ten pounds she planned to take south with her.
"Aight so fuck it, I'ma fall through the 'jects with the reefer. We gone fuck and make the deal." He offered.
"Ok." Cameisha giggled girlishly. "Meet me in the lobby of 1440."
"Yall know what to do right?" Meisha demanded to her friends when she hung up from the call.
"Yes!" Dasia and Aqua said together.
A few hours later E-man arrived in the projects. He parked in front of the building, grabbed a tote bag from the back seat. Cameisha took a deep breath and prepared for action.
"Hey." She said switching to country girl mode. It was a good touch for the hard core New Yorker.
"What's good ma?" He asked smiling at her short skirt. The big pretty thighs gave him a semi just looking at them.
"My grandma aint left yet so we can go in the stairwell. I got the money here and I can suck your dick while we wait." Cameisha offered sealing the deal.
"Bet!" E-man cheered now fully erect. He followed her in the staircase and peeped under her skirt as she led the way up the steps.
"Whew! Here we go." She exclaimed once they reached the top landing of the steps. "Let me get that."
"Hold up ma, let me see what that head talking about." E-man stalled.
"Ok, let me get that!" She repeated louder this time and looked to the roof door. It was supposed to have burst open but it didn't. "Let me get that!"
"You aint gotta beg baby." He replied and whipped out his dick.
"Let me get that! Let me get that!" Meisha yelled as he approached.
"I think I wanna fuck." E-man decided from the picture of her ass under the skirt.
Cameisha realized she was alone and went for her gun. E-man grabbed her to turn her around just as the gun came out. Seeing it he went for it his as well.
"What you was gone rob me bitch?" He questioned as he struggled for the gun. He was much bigger and stronger and easily over-powered her.
"Let me get it." The door burst open and in came Aqua and Dasia with bats. Aqua swung, hitting E-man on the arm causing him to drop the gun. Dasia swung for his head and knocked him to the ground. Cameisha picked up the gun as they beat him.
E-man tried to block the blows with his hands and arms until they were both broken. He covered up as best he could until a blow from Aqua split his wig and put him to sleep. Meisha fought the urge to shoot him in his head for touching her.
"Grab the weed yo!" She demanded picking up the bag of money. They had gotten what they came for, revenge. He stole their weed and beat them and now they got him back.
"Got it!" Dasia said grabbing the bag and following her down the steps with Aqua close behind.
"Fuck happened to yall!" Cameisha asked behind her as they descended the stairs.
"You said to come in when you said, 'let me get it', you kept saying, 'let me get that'." Aqua replied.
"I told her let's go in." Dasia complained. The two slow girls were arguing while she was fighting him off.
"Yall are fucking crazy! Go on to the bus and I'll see yall tomorrow." Meisha instructed once they hit the lobby.
She had purchased them bus tickets that would get them to Atlanta a few hours after her plane arrived the next day. She wasn't too sure what she was going to do next but she would not leave them. At least they had ten pounds of good weed to help figure it out.
The girls went in separate directions once they hit the courtyard. Aqua and Dasia caught a cab to the train to take them to the bus station. Meisha went home to enjoy one last night with grandma. On the way in she stopped by the trash compactor room to toss away the bag of money, since there was no money in it.
"Are you ok?" Deidra called to Cameisha as she stormed in and rushed down the hall.
"Yes, my period just came on!" She lied over her shoulder.
"Yesss!" Grandma cheered pumping her fist. She could have sworn the girl was pregnant.
The lie made her take the weed into the bathroom to inspect it. She opened the bag and pulled out a nice brick of compressed weed. Cameisha held the weed to her nose and inhaled deeply.
"Mmm." She smiled at the sweet, pungent aroma. She sat it down and picked up the next one. She inhaled deeply and…"huh?"
The second brick was identical to the first except it had no smell. She tossed it into the tub and pulled out the next and the next. After smelling each of the bricks and getting nothing, she began to open them.
"This nigga here." She laughed at the nine pounds of rabbit food that accompanied the pound of real weed. The thought of him trying to charge her seven grand and some ass for a pound of reefer almost made her go back and shoot him. In the end, she had a pound of free weed and that was a start.
Chapter 14
Cameisha wasn't really sure why she packed the fake weed along the new clothes she shopped for. Some of the clothes were too big for her; she would have to donate them to her roommate, which was the plan anyway. The pounds of weed real and fake were neatly stacked inside her suitcase.
"And you haven't heard one word I said." Grandma protested as they rode to JFK International Airport.
"Am too! You was telling me how Ms. Jean aint even go to her grandson's funeral." Cameisha replied, repeating the last words she heard.
"Child that was before we crossed the bridge." Deidra laughed.
Cameisha cracked a weak smile and then slipped back inside of her head. In there she had to deal with being pregnant. She had taken three different pregnancy tests and they all came up positive and that was negative. Even if she was older and out of school, having a baby by a future inmate or corpse was not a good look. Finding out you had a baby by a deadbeat after the fact sucks, but having a baby by a nigga you know aint shit is just plain stupid. Meisha was not stupid.
Then there was Aqua and Dasia. What the heck was she going to do with them? One thing for sure is they couldn't stay there after the beating they gave E-man. She had watched an ambulance take him away with regrets. She should have put a bullet in his brain and ended it.
Deidra could only watch her beloved granddaughter wrestle with her problems. It was obvious she had a lot going on and nagging sure wasn't going to help. The woman should teach a class on that. Instead she reached over and took her hand. Sometimes a good hand hold helps the thought process.
The goodbyes were subdued at the airport. Smiles, hugs and I love yous eased their departure. Deidra watched with a smile as her college student headed towards her gate. After raising two killers, a college student was a nice change.
Cameisha boarded the plane and found her seat halfway down the plane. Noticing the window seat was vacant, she swapped her isle seat. Looking out on the tarmac she went back into her head.
“Excuse me?" A man's voice called out from the isle. Cameisha was set to snap on him until she got a look at him.
"What…yes." Cameisha sang delicately at the handsome chocolate man staring down at her. Disguised as a blink, she ran her eyes up and down his 6 foot frame. She decided the clean well-groomed man was worth her attention.
Her mind flashed to grimy Pedro and twisted her face into a scowl. The contrast between the dirty thug and this handsome stran
ger made her shake her head.
"Um, that's my seat but you keep it." He said confused by her reaction to him.
"Oh, I'm sorry." She apologized profusely and stood.
"No, its fine, I hate sitting by the window." He lied and took her seat. "I'm Bilal."
"Cameisha." Meisha smiled and accepted his strong outstretched hand and shook it.
"So you live in Atlanta?" Bilal asked.
"Um, I guess I do. I'm from the Bronx but I go to Atlanta University."
"Oh cool. That's my Alma mata. I just graduated from their medical school." He replied proudly.
"You're a doctor?" Meisha asked eagerly.
"Intern at a clinic but yup, yup. I'm a doctor." He nodded like he couldn't believe it himself.
"That's so cool. I have no idea what I want to do." Cameisha admitted with a frown.
"Sounds like me. I didn't declare a major until halfway through my sophomore year. Drove my parents crazy." He recalled. "When your calling calls, you'll hear it."
Cameisha and Bilal made small talk like a boyfriend/girlfriend interview as the plane sped south. Halfway through the flight the long night came back and put her to sleep. The jolt of the plane landing in Atlanta finally roused her from her sleep. She found herself resting peacefully on his shoulder.
"My bad." She said embarrassed as she wiped her slobber from his shirt.
"No problem." He laughed. "Can we um, you know um, exchange numbers?" He asked shyly.
"Sure!" Cameisha cheered. His shyness was a refreshing change. All the guys in school were so rude and aggressive. Even Pedro would call and ask, 'can I fuck?'
The thought of his crude manners and crass behavior caused her to frown again. Even though the sex was great he charged her for her dignity in exchange. All she got out of his 'turn over, take this dick' and lately 'suck my dick' but that wasn't happening.
The conversation continued through the airport all the way to baggage claim. Luckily for Meisha, Bilal only had a carryon bag so they said their goodbyes. She would have been too embarrassed to get caught with weed in front of doctor hunk.