Carl Weber's Kingpins

by Brittani Williams

  “Come by the crib in the morning and I’ll give y’all the work, a’ight?”

  “Thanks, bro. See you later,” Horse said.

  After shaking our hands Nate walked away and returned to his group of friends. We began to walk through the park.

  “Man, I can’t wait to get this shit started,” I said, excited.

  “Nigga, calm down. Don’t go broadcasting the shit and get yourself locked up. You gotta be discreet about that shit.”

  “I know, I know, man. I’m just looking forward to being straight.”

  “Everything is gonna be all good. We just gotta move this work. If Nate is impressed he’ll really put us on. This is just a test.”

  “I already have a game plan in my head. I know all the weed heads, and all the chicks who love to get high. I’m planning on getting rid of all that shit tomorrow. Watch what I tell you,” I said with confidence.

  I was a firm believer that I could do anything that I put my mind to. I was going to work harder than I ever had before. After making it to the corner of my block, we parted ways with a handshake and hug.

  “See you tomorrow, my nigga,” Horse said.

  “You most certainly will,” I said with a huge smile on my face.

  I walked down to the house with my mind going a mile a minute. As soon as I got home, I pulled out one of my notebooks, grabbed a pen, and sat down on my bed. Inside, I made a list of all of the people I knew for sure would be customers. On the opposite page, I wrote down all of the “possibles.” I was ready to jump into the game head first.

  The next morning I woke up bright and early. I was so amped up my mother didn’t know what was wrong with me.

  “Why are you so energized today?” she asked as she passed me ten dollars in spending money.

  “I went to bed early last night. Thanks, Mom. I gotta go. I have a test,” I said before kissing her on the cheek and running out of the door.

  I ran the three blocks to Horse’s house and walked in. I never had to knock on their door. I was pretty much family. Nate and Horse were upstairs in Nate’s room.

  “Yo, what’s good. I’m here,” I said, out of breath.

  “Nigga, sit down before your ass pass out. Why the hell are you breathing so damn hard?” Horse asked.

  “I wanted to make sure I got here on time. Had to make a good impression.”

  “That’s good. I like that,” Nate said as he sat on the bed separating some small bags of weed. “A’ight, these bags are all nickel bags. Make sure you sell these full price. I wouldn’t care if yo’ momma was buying a bag. She gets that shit for five dollars, you understand?”

  “Perfectly,” I said, nodding my head. My eyes were as wide as a kid’s in Toys “R” Us.

  “All right, we gotta go, Nate, so we ain’t late. They start tripping when we come in late and shit,” Horse said, passing Nate his backpack. “Give him your bag,” Horse said.

  Nate filled both of our backpacks with equal amounts of bags, 200 each. To some people that wasn’t a lot, but when you’re struggling that shit is like a million dollars. We headed out and walked into the building and made our way to our first period classes. After each class, I approached the people I knew were guaranteed sales, and just like that, the bags began to disappear. I could barely pay attention in class I was so focused on getting rid of the work. By 1:30 p.m., I was down to fewer than ten bags. I had the gift of gab, and I was blessed with a hustle that was unmatched by any nigga my age. I guess I got that from my bitch-ass father. At least I could thank him for that.

  I met up with Horse in the hallway right before last period.

  “What’s good, Horse. How many bags you got left?”

  “Man, I don’t know. A lot,” he said, looking like a sad-ass puppy dog. “What about you?”

  “I’m all out,” I said with a huge smile on my face.

  “Word? All of it is gone? Man, how the fuck did you do that?”

  “Nigga, you know I could sell ice to a Eskimo.” I laughed. “Let’s run in the bathroom and I’ll take some from you and sell them for you.”

  By the end of the day I had sold another twenty of his bags. It’s amazing how everybody wants to fit in. People who had never smoked in their lives were copping bags just to fit in with the in crowd. Horse was left with about fifty bags thanks to me. I couldn’t wait to get back to Nate to show him how I moved. He was sure to be impressed with me.

  We walked over to the block where Nate was sitting on the hood of his BMW with a beer can concealed in a brown paper bag. “What’s up, li’l niggas?”

  “I’m all out,” I said, opening up my empty backpack to show him. I reached into the inside and pulled out the bills totaling $1,000. “Here you go, it’s all here, one thousand.”

  “What about you?” Nate asked Horse.

  “I got about fifty left.”

  “About fifty or fifty? I need an exact count,” Nate said as he slid down off the car.

  “I don’t know exactly,” Horse said.

  “Man, sit down in the car and count that shit,” Nate yelled.

  Horse walked over and got inside the car. I stood and waited patiently. Nate stood silent for the next five minutes until Horse got out of the car.

  “I have fifty-two bags left.”

  “So you’re telling me you were only able to get rid of 148 bags all day?”

  “Yeah,” Horse replied with his head hung low.

  You could tell that he was afraid of what would come next. He’d always looked up to his brother and talked about how he wanted to be just like him. I wished that I could’ve sold all of them for him just to avoid seeing him with the puppy dog face.

  “You see, there are two types of people in the world: natural born leaders and natural followers. Clearly, you aren’t the leader I thought you would be. Your man here, that’s who you should strive to be like. The only way to get ahead in this business is to outsell your competition. Today was a test for just that. I wanted to see who I could trust to be a boss, and Dontay here has impressed me,” he said as he passed me both the cash I’d given him as well as the cash Horse had. “For a job well done, all of this is yours.”

  “Really?” I asked, trying not to smile too hard.

  “Yeah, really. Now that I see what you can do I will put you on to some major work. Tomorrow, meet me at the crib at the same time, and we’ll talk.”

  “Okay, I’ll be there with bells on, man. I appreciate this more than you know,” I said. I reached out to give him a handshake.

  “I’ll talk to you later on,” he said, looking over at Horse.

  “All right.” Horse walked behind me as we headed in the direction of the park. Once we were out of Nate’s view I took the time to build his confidence back up.

  “Don’t worry, man. I promise that you’ll always be good, trust me,” I said as I took the money that he’d made for the day and put it in his hand.

  “That’s yours, man. I appreciate it, but I know how much you need it. It’s all good.”

  “Nah, man, it’s yours. You worked for it so take it.”

  “Thanks, man,” he said, taking the money and putting it into his pocket.

  “So what do you think he’s going to say to you later?”

  “I don’t know, but ain’t shit he could say that would make me feel worse than I do. I just wanted to make him proud.”

  “And you will. Stop beating yourself up. Just wait and see what he says.”

  By this time we were almost to the corner of my block. We gave each other handshakes and went our separate ways. Even though I felt bad for Horse, I was on cloud nine. I was looking forward to being in the game. I knew that trouble always lurked around the corner so I didn’t expect things to be perfect. Either way, the way I felt at that moment was the way that I wanted to continue to feel.

  Chapter Seven

  Shit Changed

  Desire

  Shit changed for me following my brief encounter with Dontay, and not for the better. I a
lways thought that losing Tyrese was the one terrible thing I’d go through in my lifetime. I mean, for sure I thought God would make the rest of my life a piece of cake after the trauma I’d been through.

  It was graduation day, and I couldn’t wait to get it over with. Finally, I was on my way to adulthood and free to do whatever the hell I wanted. I put on the all-white dress with strappy sandals that Lala had saved up to get. My hair had been pressed and bounced down to the middle of my back. I had my red and gold cap and gown in a garment bag while I waited in the rear hall of Liacouras Center. Lala had dropped me off and told me that she’d be back after she checked on my mother. My mother had been dealing with lung cancer and chemotherapy so my sister was primarily her caretaker. We used her social security and disability money to make ends meet. Shit was tight for us, and we never really recovered from the death of Tyrese. Lala couldn’t get a job because she had to take care of us.

  It was almost time for us to march when one of our school counselors came over and pulled me to the side. “I need you to come with me,” Ms. Marsh said when she approached.

  I could tell by the look on her face that something was terribly wrong. “But we’re just about to march. What’s wrong?” I asked.

  “Just come with me. I’ll fill you in when we get outside.”

  I followed her, the whole time my stomach in knots. I didn’t know what was happening or what awaited us at the door.

  “Please, Ms. Marsh, tell me what’s going on,” I asked as we neared the front of the building.

  She opened the door where Lala was standing with tears running down her cheeks. I stopped walking. I wasn’t ready to hear any bad news, especially on my graduation day. I didn’t want to hear what she had to say, but I knew I didn’t have a choice.

  “What is it? Just tell me,” I said from the top of the stairs.

  “She’s gone, D,” she said.

  “Who?”

  “Mom. When I went back home, she wasn’t breathing. I called 911, but by the time they got there, she was already gone.” She wept as she tried to tell me the details.

  Was I wrong for not caring? She was my mother, yes, but really she didn’t give a shit about me. At that moment I wanted to console my sister, I wanted to take her pain away, but all I could think about was my diploma. That piece of paper would be my ticket out of the fucked-up life I’d been given. Maybe it was best for all of us. Now Lala could actually have a life. If you asked me, she should’ve been thanking God for her freedom, because surely that had to be better than cleaning up her mother’s vomit and shit every hour.

  “Okay, now I need to go back inside. Graduation is starting,” I replied with a stone face.

  “D?” she yelled as I turned to walk toward the door.

  “I have to go, Lala. She’s dead. What the hell do you want me to do about it?”

  “I want you to act like you care. Act like I just told you that our mother just died,” she yelled.

  “Correction: your mother just died. That hasn’t been my mother in a very long time. I’m sorry, Lala, but I have to go. I’ll see you back at home.”

  “Desire!” she yelled.

  I didn’t respond. I went inside, and got back in line just in time. I refused to let anything ruin my day. It’s not like me going home at that moment would bring her back to life. I smiled as I walked across the stage and got my certificate. You would’ve never known that I’d just been given the news that would’ve broken even the toughest man to pieces.

  After graduation was over I grabbed a ride with Octavia and her mom then walked home from their house. I was just turning the corner when a familiar vehicle drove by me. It was the same black Expedition that I’d seen Dontay get into that night at the lounge. The car slowed down, and then came to a complete stop in the middle of the block. I was nervous, but I continued walking down the block attempting to act as if I hadn’t noticed the car. As I got closer, I saw the driver’s side window roll down. Behind the wheel was the big nigga I’d seen Dontay with.

  “Hey, come here for a second,” he called out and waved his hand.

  “Me?” I asked, pointing to my chest.

  “I don’t see nobody else out here,” he replied.

  I slowly walked over to the car. I stood far enough from the door so that I could haul ass if he tried to pull me inside.

  “Yes?” I said as I stood holding my cap and gown over my arm.

  “I’ve been looking for you for months. What’s your name?”

  “My name is D. Why were you looking for me?”

  “Because a friend of mine wants to meet you. I’m sure you know Dontay.”

  “I know of him, yes, but why does he want to meet me?” I asked, trying to play it cool when in all actuality my stomach was doing flips.

  “Listen, I’ll let him tell you all that. Write your number down, and I’ll pass it on to him,” he said as he passed me a small piece of paper and an ink pen.

  I wrote it down and handed it back to him.

  “I know D isn’t your full name, so what does the D stand for?”

  “Desire.”

  “Desire? Is that right?” He chuckled. “All right, Miss Desire, you have a good day, a’ight? I’ll pass this on.”

  “Okay,” I said as he rolled up his window, and sped off.

  As soon as he was out of my view I laughed. “I knew it! I knew he noticed me,” I said aloud.

  As I approached my house, I noticed Lala sitting on the steps talking on the phone. “Let me call you back. She just got home,” she said before ending her call.

  “Hey,” I said as I stopped on the side of the steps.

  “Are you okay?” she asked.

  “I’m good. Are you?”

  “No, D, our mother just died. I’m fucked up right now. I really needed you to be here for me today, and you turned your back on me. You turned your back on our family.”

  “I needed to graduate. You know how important that was to me.”

  “You still would’ve graduated. You just wouldn’t have walked down the aisle.”

  “It’s not the same thing and you know it. I mean, after all of the shit that I’ve been through, you couldn’t have just waited until it was over with to tell me?”

  “I just can’t believe how cold you have become. I really don’t understand.”

  “Same way I couldn’t believe how she didn’t give a shit if I bled to death the day I was shot. All she cared about was her money train. If you can’t see how I became who I am then maybe you never will. Look, I need to go change. I have a graduation party to attend,” I said as I walked around her and went inside.

  This time, she didn’t try to stop me from walking away. I didn’t know how else to explain it. I just didn’t care, and I wanted her to stop trying to make me.

  Chapter Eight

  Watch the Throne

  Dontay

  2003 was the year that shit got real. By this time, I’d been working for Nate for nine years. I had my own crew and more than enough dough. I’d put my mother up in a big-ass five-bedroom house. She was driving a Mercedes-Benz CLK with a custom interior. As for Horse, he’d gone off to college and worked a nine to five. It was crazy how the tables had turned, because that was once my dream. A dream that was shattered the day my punk-ass daddy left us high and dry. I had everything that I wanted and, call me naïve but, I thought that nothing could go wrong. Little did I know, my whole world was about to be turned upside down.

  It was midafternoon, and I’d just stopped by the spot when Nate stormed in with a ski mask in one hand and his gun in the other. I didn’t know what the fuck had happened, but I knew it couldn’t be good.

  “Everybody out!” he yelled.

  All of the niggas and women who were in the house packaging up the work headed for the door. I was on my way out behind them when he called me back.

  “Nah, not you,” he yelled.

  I stopped and pushed the door closed. “What’s up?”

  “That muthafuck
er is dead,” he yelled as he lit a cigarette and sat down at the table.

  “Who?” I asked. He had a lot of enemies so it could’ve been a number of people.

  “That nigga Reese from the north side. Followed that nigga to his crib and wet his ass up.”

  “Word?” I asked. Nate had beef with Reese for as long as I could remember. The beef began over a corner and escalated from that point. Nate didn’t like being disrespected and even after he had words with Reese nothing changed. Reese was determined to keep his corner, which infuriated Nate. He’d put a hit out on him awhile back, but they’d be unsuccessful in the attempts to take him out.

  “If you want shit done right you gotta do that shit yourself.”

  “I hear that. So you good? You need me to do anything?”

  “Yeah, I’m good. Shit, my problem is solved.”

  “You need some extra security until shit calms?”

  “Nah. That nigga was the only muthafucker bold enough to step to me. So I ain’t got no worries.” He laughed.

  “A’ight, well, let me know if you need anything from me. I need to go make some rounds.”

  “Will do, and tell them to get back to work on your way out.”

  “A’ight. I’ll talk to you later,” I said before shaking his hand and leaving.

  On the way around the city I felt uneasy. Granted, there were some niggas who just needed to be taken out, but Tyrese ran with a tight crew. I knew that shit wasn’t over by a long shot. At every drop I was looking over my shoulder. I didn’t trust anyone other than Nate and even that shit was suspect. I’d seen him murder his own friends and associates so I knew I wasn’t exempt from his wrath. I pulled up to the last spot and two of the corner boys, Dontay and Rick, ran over to the car.

  “Yo, they shot up Nate’s spot, man!” Rick yelled as soon as I rolled down the window.

  “What? I just left there,” I yelled.

  “They just called the crib and said Nate got hit. They were driving him to Hahnemann Hospital.”

  “Damn, man, what the fuck!” I yelled. “Y’all good here? I gotta go see what the fuck is going on.”