Scoop looked at all the dope fiend traffic walking up and down the block and thought to himself how much he wanted his block back. Ralphy had his claws dug in deep, and he wasn’t trying to let go. Scoop was making good money too, just not as much as Ralphy was.
“Aye yo. You remember da boy Dre that got killed on the other side?” Scoop asked.
“Yeah, yeah. Good dude, just had gave back a life sentence before coming home,” Manny said nodding his head.
“Yeah, well homicide detectives came around here asking a bunch of questions. They think Ralphy had something to with that. Between me and you, I don’t think my boy gone be out here much longer,” Scoop added.
“Damn, you sure about that?” Manny asked picking up on where Scoop was going with his comment.
“Yeah, they said he stood over top Dre and hit him up close range. Punk ass police asked me if I gave him the gun to do it. I said hell no,” Scoop chuckled.
Scoop didn’t have to talk direct in order for Manny to understand that Ralphy was the one who killed Dre, and Scoop was the one who supplied the gun and was possibly there. Scoop wasn’t trying to get Ralphy locked up directly, but he knew that if Manny spread the rumors to the right people, niggas was going to be gunning for Ralphy. With Ralphy all the way out of the way, Scoop could get his block back and probably be the number one man on the East side. Now that he had Manny ready to supply him with whatever he needed, it was no need for him to keep penny pinching and riding Ralphy’s coattail. It was time for a change. This was the part of the game Ralphy had forgotten about, but was going to be reminded of in the worst way, real soon.
__________
Falisha sat in the waiting area at the OB/GYN clinic waiting for her name to be called. A lot of unprotected sex had been going on between her and Lamar, and since Falisha knew that Lamar and Kim were also having unprotected sex, it was time for her to get checked out for any STD she could have contracted from them.
“Hey Linda,” Falisha greeted, walking into the room.
She and her doctor were on first name basis since Falisha didn’t hesitate when it came down to her health. After changing into her gown, laying back on the table and getting a pap smear, Falisha sat there and waited for her results. These were always the most nerve wrecking moments of her time in the clinic. Her worst fear was that the HIV results would come back positive, or Linda might have come back with other bad news like, Gonorrhea, Syphilis, Herpes or some other crazy STD. After about twenty minutes, Linda came back into the room.
“You got a clean bill of health, Falisha,” Linda said, looking at her clipboard. “Now, here’s your vitamins. Take one a day. Studies show that babies mature better when the mother takes her …”
“Wait, did you just say baby?” Falisha interrupted.
“Oh my God! You didn’t know that you were pregnant?” Linda asked. “You’re about six months along.”
“I can’t be. I just had my period about two weeks ago,” Falisha laughed thinking it had to be a mistake.
After Doctor Linda explained to Falisha that it was still possible for her to get pregnant and still have a period, the laughing stopped. It got even more serious when Linda pulled out a pregnancy test and gave it to Falisha so she could see for herself. Falisha wasted no time going into the bathroom and pissing on the little white stick.
“She must be crazy,” Falisha mumbled to herself, waiting for the results to pop up on the test.
Two minutes seemed like forever to wait for the results, but when it finally popped up on the screen Falisha sat there with the dumb look. The word ‘pregnant‘ appeared clearly on the tube. Falisha sat there on the toilet and let her head drop into her hands. She didn’t know what she was about to do, and for the next fifteen to twenty minutes she continued sitting there, allowing the shocking news to settle in.
__________
Tammy sat on her bed, looking at the set of keys Darious had just passed her, and still couldn’t believe that he had rented out a three bedroom home in the County for them to live in. He put Tammy’s name on the lease along with his, just to let it be known that they were in this together.
“What about my kids? Chris is going to always be in their lives and so will his family. I don’t wanna bring that kind of drama out there,” Tammy said, looking over at Darious standing by the window.
“Look, we can keep this as a front. His family can still come over here to check up on the kids, but at night time, I need you home with me.” Darious explained.
“And how long is that supposed to go on?” Tammy asked.
“Until ya baby father and the rest of his family get it through their head that I’m not going anywhere.”
Darious meant every word of it too. The lengths he was willing to go in order to be with Tammy had no boundaries, and Tammy was loving the fact that she had somebody like him willing to stand up and fight to be with her.
“Come here,” he said walking over and grabbing her hand and pulling her off the bed.
When they got downstairs, Darious reached in his pocket and pulled out his car keys. Tammy looked at him with one eyebrow up. She wondered what he was up to now. They both walked out onto the front steps. Darious’ two homies were still standing in front of the house and in the middle of the street, Darious’s white Dodge Charger was double parked.
“Dis ya car now,” he said, separating his house keys from his car keys and passing them to her. “This is so you can get back and forth from here to home whenever you need to. I’ll transfer the title over to your name when I get off of work tomorrow,” Darious said, leaning in and giving her a kiss. “It’s team us. Is you wit me?” Darious asked, sticking his fist out for a dap.
Tammy dapped him, looked into his eyes and smiled. She threw her arms around his neck and pulled him down to give him another kiss. “Yeah, it’s team us,” she confirmed, kissing him yet again.
Just when Tammy was in a bliss of happiness, she looked down the block and saw an all-black Chevy Impala creeping up. Knowing whose car it was, Tammy tapped Darious for him to pay attention to what was about to go down. Outlaw was back on his bullshit again, but this time, Darious was on point.
__________
“Now don’t be over here cryin’ an’ shit,” Ms. D said walking into the room where Falisha sought refuge. “Women get pregnant every day. All the fun and games are over. It’s time to put on ya big girl panties now,” she said, taking a seat in her love chair.
“I don’t even know if I’ma keep it,” Falisha said, wiping the tears from her face.
Ms. D shook her head, reached over and grabbed her stash of weed from the corner of her chair. Ms. D always was and always would be against abortion, except for in certain situations like rape or incest. Other than those two things, she felt like a baby being terminated was an act of cowardice.
“You listen to me, Falisha, and you listen good,” Ms. D said in a serious manner while she poured some weed into her rolling papers. “That is a blessing from God, and he don’t give you more than you can bear. That baby you got forming in ya stomach didn’t do nothing to you. You was woman enough to lay down and spread those legs, so be woman enough to become a mother as a result of those 15 minutes of glory you enjoyed so much. What if your mother didn’t wanna have you?” Ms. D asked, rolling the joint up and licking the tip.
“Lamar ain’t ready for no baby,” Falisha spoke.
“Well, that’s Lamar’s problem. He’ll get his mind right, and if he don’t, oh well. Plenty of women have done it by themselves. That baby is going to have you in its life, and that’s all he or she really need,” Ms. D said, lighting up her joint and taking a puff.
Falisha looked at Ms. D in confusion. Despite the good jewels she had dropped on her, Falisha was trying to figure out why Ms. D was smoking weed. Her whole time of knowing Ms. D, she had never seen her smoking weed, and here she was blowing it out of her nose like a steam dragon.
Ms. D had forgotten that she
didn’t tell the girls about her cancer. She wanted to, but she still wasn’t up for the pity party she knew was coming after she revealed it. She sat there thinking about it while Falisha waited for an explanation. She realized that she wasn’t going to be able to hide it forever. So, as an afterthought, she made it known.
“I have cancer, Falisha.”
__________
Outlaw and Ratchet got out of the car, but only Outlaw walked over to where Darious and Tammy were standing. Ratchet stood between the passenger side door with a Mack-90, as he was instructed by Outlaw. Darious gave his boys a look, letting them know that drama was approaching. They both put their hands on the butts of their guns sitting on their waist. Outlaw noticed it, but didn’t care, nor did he show any signs of fear. He walked right past them and right up to Darious and Tammy. If looks could kill, Tammy and Darious would have been dead by now, cause all they was getting from Outlaw was the mean mug.
“So, my brotha tells me to leave you alone and you free to be wit whoever you wanna be wit.” Outlaw told Tammy, but looked over at Darious. “He’s not gone call you, write you, or bother you about seeing the kids while he’s locked up. I also give you my word that I’m not gone mess with you or your sucka ass boyfriend. But you can rest assured that I’ll be over here to check on my niece and nephew often. I shouldn’t have to tell you what I’ll do if you ever put ya hands on one of them,” he said, looking at Darious.
Darious was silent. Tammy was so shocked at everything he said, she didn’t even know how to respond. What she did know is that everything that came out of Outlaw’s mouth came from Chris, and if this is what he said, then this is what it would be. Outlaw was about to walk off, but stopped and turned back around. He had something else he wanted to get off his chest.
“You know, I’m kinda glad my brotha finally finished with you. The nigga really loved you too much. Y’all been together all these years, and from day one he took care of ya ungrateful ass. He sacrificed his life out here on these streets to make sure you and his kids didn’t struggle. Yeah, he could have been a bitch ass square sucka,” he emphasized, looking at Darious. “But that wasn’t him, and you damn sure didn’t complain when all that money was rollin’ in. But now since he’s at the worst place in his life and you got the upper hand, you got the nerve to turn ya back on him. Of all people. Shit, to me that shows a lot about your character and the kind of woman you are. You couldn’t even be there for him. That’s foul, and I don’t respect that. Some wife you are, buddy I hope you know what you getting,” Outlaw smirked. “Good luck with dis chick,” he told Darious before walking off.
Darious was going to set him straight, but figured he would leave well enough alone. He knew what he had in Tammy, and there was no need to try to tell a nigga like Outlaw what he or his brother couldn’t see.
Chapter 4
“Ralphy, what are you doing here?” Lisa asked surprised, when she walked out into the waiting room and saw him sitting there reading a magazine.
“Did you forget I had an appointment to get my teeth cleaned today? This is still my dentist office right?” Ralphy smiled, putting the magazine down.
Lisa smiled too, and walked over to the receptionist desk to check the log. He wasn’t lying. It was for today at 2:00. “I’m sorry, come on to the back,” she directed, leading the way to the second room near the rear of the office.
Small procedures like cleaning and putting in fillings were minor enough for Lisa to handle by herself. Ralphy knew this too, that’s why he didn’t mind when Lisa put on her mask and latex gloves and began adjusting the chair.
“Hold up, before you get started. I know I really haven’t been around that much, and I know you been handling the bills all by yourself, so here, I got a lil’ something for you,” Ralphy said, coming from under his cape with a brown envelope. “I’ma start dropping you off something every week for you and Naomi,” he continued.
“Thank you. I really do appreciate it,” Lisa responded with a huge smile.
They stood there and had a moment, staring into each other’s eyes. No matter what had transpired, both knew that they would forever have love for one another. Lisa had always been Ralphy’s one true love, and now with Dre dead, Ralphy was the only man alive Lisa had ever wanted. The intense mood was interrupted by a loud commotion coming from the waiting room. Lisa walked to the door and peeked down the hallway to see if she could hear what was going on. Out of nowhere, two men with hoods over their heads and automatic pistols clutched in their hands came walking down the short hallway. They kicked in doors as they passed them by, as if they were looking for somebody.
“Oh shit,” Lisa whispered, backing up into the room.
Ralphy saw the fear of God in her eyes, causing him to jump up from his chair. “They got guns,” Lisa told him in a low tone, hoping they didn’t hear her.
Ralphy pulled his gun from his waist, and by the time he spun around to head for the door, there was a loud sound and he felt a bullet strike him in his left shoulder. Ralphy stumbled backwards, but not before firing his weapon and hitting one of the gunmen in the chest. The other shooter dipped behind the partition, but stuck his arm inside the room and let off at least another eight rounds, hoping one of the eight hit Ralphy. The gunman got himself together and darted down the hallway towards the exit.
“Ralphy,” Lisa called out, sitting on the floor in the corner with both of her hands over her stomach.
Ralphy was in pain, but he needed to make sure that the threat was neutralized. He walked over to the gunman who he had shot in the chest, stood over top of him, and fired another round into his head.
“Ralphy!” Lisa called out again, now lying on her side.
Ralphy ran over to her, laid his gun down and sat her up.
When he moved her hands, he could see the blood on her over coat. He wasn’t sure where exactly she had been hit, because by now both of them were covered in blood. From the look she had on her face, Ralphy knew that the bullet was starting to burn, just like the bullet that hit him in his shoulder were.
“Look baby, just hold on, help is on the way.” Ralphy was concerned, but he also knew that a situation like this could turn ugly from a legal standpoint quickly. “Listen to me, Lisa. You gotta say that I wrestled the gun out of this guy’s hand,” Ralphy said, pointing to the guy lying dead in the hallway. “Remember babe, he had two guns and I took one,” he said again.
Ralphy was thinking on his toes, getting his story right before the cops got there. Trying to explain a dead body could be hard, and even though he was protecting himself and his wife, self-defense didn’t work too well when you were a black man.
“I NEED A DOCTOR! I NEED A DOCTOR!” Ralphy yelled out. “SOMEBODY HELP ME!” he continued yelling.
The only person who had courage to come down that hallway was Dr. Mathew, one of the dentists. He was only a dentist, but he knew his way around the medical block. If Lisa had any chance of making it, Ralphy was going to have to get out of the way and let the Doc do what he could.
__________
Tammy and Falisha had decided to go to the mall to relieve some stress. So much had been going on in their lives, and the only thing that could make them feel better was to shop. It wasn’t just a few items here and a few items there, they really were getting it in like money wasn’t an issue.
“Wow girl, you really about to be a mom?” Tammy said as they sat at the food court eating.
“Yeah, I’m scared as shit too. I don’t know the first thing about being a mom,” Falisha responded.
“I didn’t neither, but as soon as I pushed that big head ass boy out of my little vagina, my motherly instincts kicked in, and everything came to me like second nature. You gone be a’ight, I promise you. Now the million dollar question is, who in the hell is the daddy?” Tammy grinned pointing her cheesy breadstick at Falisha.
The only person who knew that Lamar was the father was Ms. D. Falisha wasn’t sure how she was going t
o tell Lamar, and feared that he would either deny it or tell Falisha he wasn’t ready to be a father. She wanted to wait for the right time to do it, and since Ms. D was having a dinner for everybody tomorrow, she figured that would be a good time. So for now, Tammy was going to have to wait to find out.
“You’ll find out along with everybody else, at Ms. D’s dinner,” Falisha said, stuffing her face with funnel cake and ice cream. “Until then I need you to keep this between me and you.”
“A’ight girl, no problem. But you better make me the godmother, or I swear as soon as you have that baby, we gone fight,” Tammy joked.
They shared a laugh then went back to eating.
__________
Kim and Lamar ran through the hospital, straight for the emergency room in search of Lisa and Ralphy. Before the ambulance and police got to the dentist’s office, Lisa made Ralphy call Kim so she could pick Naomi up from school. After dropping Naomi off at Ms. D’s house, Kim grabbed Lamar and headed for the hospital.
Unfortunately, Lisa and Ralphy were still in surgery by the time they arrived.
“Who in the hell could have done something like this?” Kim asked, wiping the tears from her eyes.
Lamar pulled her in and held her. “Everything is going to be all right,” he told her in an attempt to comfort her fears.
They waited there for hours before the nurse came out to the waiting room and informed them that Lisa was out of surgery. Although he was only shot in his shoulder, Ralphy had lost a lot of blood. The bullet went in-and-out, but Ralphy had been so focused on making sure Lisa was okay, he hadn’t thought to apply pressure to his wound to stop his bleeding. He was now in the process of receiving a blood transfusion, on top of patching up his wound.
Kim walked into Lisa’s room with her hand over her mouth in shock at the many tubes that were sticking out of her girl. Lisa was out of surgery for now, but not yet out of trouble. The bullet had penetrated her spleen, causing massive internal damage. It was going to take several more surgeries in order to remedy the problem. For now, the doctors wanted her to get some rest and allow her body to heal from the first surgery before they went back in.
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