by AP Jermaine
“That’s what I was hoping to hear my nigga. We can go hit the block right now. I need to get my clientele back popping. I’m bout to show ya’ll how to do this son.” Shell grinned like a fool. Suddenly I had an idea.
“Yo I know it’s a lot of niggas out there hustling, and all the heads already know them. Don’t nobody know us. When we step out, we aint taking that much. If the shit pops off like you say, we can always come back here and grab some more.”
One half ounce. Fourteen grams is what we took out the first time. At the time, fourteen grams of hard, would probably run you between four fifty and five hundred dollars. At Hood’s request, we cut it up into all dimes and twenties, and hit the block.
It was warm outside. Mid-August. The summer night’s breeze was one of the joys of living in the Bull City this time of year. At first, we stayed in between the buildings where men and women scurried back and forth in search of their drug of choice like roaches searching for food.
“Hood! Hood!” a woman called out from a project back porch.
“Oh, hell yeah! There go Kat. She knows all the smokers, and her crib be jumping late night.” Without haste, we all headed over to where the woman stood on the steps in semi darkness. Stepping in closer, the woman looked if I had to guess, to be about thirty- five, thirty- six years old. But whatever she was doing out here in these projects, was causing her to look fifty- five! She wouldn’t make you vomit or nothing, but you could no doubt see where the fifteen or twenty pounds she was underweight, would undoubtedly return her to a black queen. “What’s up Kat? What you need? I got that fire back again.” Hood announced with a sense of pride.
“I ain’t got no money right now Hood. Front me a dime till late night and I’ll let you pump outta my house all night for a forty. If you give me a dime now, you can just give me the thirty later on.” Kat spoke, trying not to sound like she was begging but failing miserably.
“Hell nah Kat, I ain’t giving no credit out tonight. I’m just trying to get back on my feet while I show my peoples right here how to get it jumping. And giving credit aint no good lesson. Hood answered stubbornly as we turned to walk away.
“Wait a minute Hood! Can I do something?” The pleading desperation in her voice was saddening. I was starting to realize that this world I’d stepped into, would bring joys, pains, heartaches, heartbreaks, and truths. It was all or nothing now though.
“Aaaah. Now you talking. Lesson number one my niggas. This rock rules the streets. We got it, they want it. What the fuck you waiting on Kat? Get on your knees.” Hood was feeling himself now as he thrust his pelvis out at Kat.
“Not in front of them Hood. Let’s go in the house,” Kat whined
“I ain’t going nowhere! I’m out here to catch this money! I damn sure ain’t going in yo crib right now! I know it’s a hundred crackheads up in there walking around like zombies! Now you want this shit or not!” Hood spoke loudly as he flashed the rock in his hand at Kat. Kat looked over at me with sad eyes. Then just as quickly, dropped to her knees in front of Hood, pulled out his dick and started sucking like her life depended on it! Shell and I walked away, not feeling that bullshit about a nigga standing there with his dick out. Only a minute or so later, we heard Hood grunting and cursing! “Uhhh! Oh shit bitch, That’s right! Goddamn bitch you can suck a dick! Whew! That’s right, drink it all! Don’t waste my shit! Whew! Damn Kat you can suck a dick! Whew! Didn’t miss a drop, neither did you?” Kat lowered her head in shame as she shook her head no. “Whew, Yall want some of this head homeboys, It’s smoking!” Hood grinned like a fool as he zipped up his pants.
“Nah we good. Just hurry up so we can get started.” I was already sick of Hood, and we hadn’t been out there thirty minutes.
“Okay dog. Whew! Kat I’m gone bless you for that superhead! Where yo stem at?”
“I aint got no stem, I got my straight shooter right here,” Kat answered producing a two inch long broken off car antenna.
“Damn girl, take these two dollars and go get you a real stem from the Arab store. Hand that shit here.” Hood commanded as he took the antenna from Kats hand and stuffed two rocks in the end of it. “Hit that.” Kats eyes lit like Christmas as Hood handed her back her pipe. Pulling a lighter from her bra, Kat ran the flame up and down the pipe, before holding the fire to one end, and sucking on the other so hard her jaws sank in. I listened to a sound like eggs frying, as she continued to suck on the homemade pipe. Suddenly Kat pulled the hot antenna from her lips and held the smoke in for as long as she could. Without warning, she exhaled a thick white cloud of smoke. The words she then attempted to say were all but incomprehensible. Sitting down on her porch steps, her eyes grew wide as she started to dry heave! My first thought was that Fletch had pointed us to his dummy stash, and whatever Kat had just smoked, could be fatal! It infuriated me that Hood was doubled over in laughter. This shit was serious! But before I had the chance to confront Hood about just what part he may have played in the sham, Kat finally got a few words out that were clear enough to understand. The four words that sealed my fate in the streets were, “That shit some fire!”
Chapter 13 “TRAPNIGHTS”
For a while we continued to stay between the buildings, catching whatever money came through there. But true to Hoods words, before long, we didn’t have to go looking for the money, because the money was coming to us. Kat came back four times. Each time begging even harder for us to come and get the money that was camped out at her apartment. Kats crib was on the main strip in the projects. Wabash Street. Her shit was known to jump off with major paper, because of the fact that it was one of the main spots where a lot of crackheads went to smoke their shit. The only thing about that was, just like all the hustlers knew her apartment was a trap stars come up, so did the police. The fifth - time Kat came back, she had two dudes walking with her. One of them had a hundred and eighty dollars he wanted to spend, the other had two hundred. For a block score this was excellent paper. Especially when most scores were only coming with ten, fifteen, or twenty dollars on average.
“Kat who the fuck you bringing back up in here? You fuckin stupid? Hood screamed on her as the trio approached.
“They good peoples Hood. You know I wouldn’t bring nobody fucked up back here,” Kat whined, praying that she didn’t lose this sell, not even caring that it was a strong possibility she could get the shit stomped out of her in the process. Me and Shell stood off to the side observing the conversation.
“I don’t give a fuck who you say they is! I don’t know em, and these motherfuckers don’t even look like they smoke! You smoke motherfucker?” Hood hissed, as from his hip he whipped out a medium sized chrome revolver and pressed the barrel into the side of guy number one’s head. The terrified man shook his head vigorously, signaling an answer of no! “No! No what! Nigga you the fuckin police!”
“Hood wait!” Kat screamed and jumped in front of her associate, quickly seeing her percentage of a good sale fading away. “He don’t smoke Hood, but he does!” Kat pointed to the second man. “They both janitors up at North Carolina Central! His name Edgar. He don’t smoke but he want some dope!”
“I ain’t got no goddamn heroin, and I don’t give a shit if he says he don’t smoke! If he’ll do some dope, he can smoke some rock! Give him yo stem!’ Hood commanded while he took a few steps back with his gun still trained on the man’s head!
“Hood he don’t….”
“Shut the fuck up bitch! I said give him your stem!” Hood pointed his gun at Kats head as quickly she handed Edgar her stem. Hood pulled out what looked to be about a half a gram of crack, stepped up and pressed it into the end of the stem!” “Put it in your mouth Edgar.” Hood ordered as he cocked the hammer on the pistol. Immediately Edgar complied. “Now light that shit for him Kat. And motherfucker you better pull hard, or them folks up at N. C. Central gonna be wondering what the hell you were doing down here in the projects when you got killed. After you do this, I’ll know you ain’t a cop and we can be frie
nds. Light that shit Kat!” Shell and I watched in awe as Kat struck the lighter and held the flame up to the end of the pipe. Immediately the tip of the flame curved into the end of the stem as Edgar pulled for dear life, keeping his eyes glued to Hood and his pistol the entire time. With the slickness of a seasoned crack smoker, Kat made sure not to hold the flame to the pipe for long. She wanted to make sure she left some in the pipe for herself. As soon as Kat lowered the flame though, Edgar immediately blew out a thick cloud of smoke, dropped the stem like a hot potato, and grabbed for his heart as his eyes stretched to the size of boiled eggs!
“Edgar! Edgar! Edgar, is you alright!” Edgar’s companion who’s name we later found out was Thomas, asked frightened as he grabbed onto his friend’s arm! Edgar who was by now doubled over, took a few deep breaths before semi gaining his composure. As if in a trance, he reached into his pocket, pulled out a hundred - dollar bill and handed it to Hood. Edgars been smoking crack ever since.
“See! I told ya’ll this where the money at! In these streets! You coulda took ounces and sold em for a stack a piece, but you see how we hit the block with just “half” of that ounce and still almost made the stack?” Hood spoke up proudly.
“Yeah you were right bru. I like this shit already.” Shell joined in.
There were scores floating around everywhere, and most of them were looking for Hood and “the young boys.” For a while that’s what they called us. “The young boys.” I didn’t give a fuck. I hadn’t met nobody out there that I wanted to be on a first name basis with. An idea that I’d thought about earlier, suddenly came back to me. We were out on the block and out of work. Somebody needed to go snatch up some more. “Damn this paper running through here tonight like clockwork!” Hood spoke out. “And, it can be like this for y’all every night if you keep that fire on deck.” Hood continued to call himself schooling us. He was smiling proudly, but at the same time, desperately trying to figure out a way to beat me and Shell outta some of the blow.
“Yo, I’m gonna run back to the spot and snatch up some more hard. What should I bring back this time?” I asked Hood, snapping him outta his greedy daydream.
“Oh ummm, tell Keisha to give you an ounce. Tell her to show you how to weigh it while you down there. That won’t take but a minute or two. Me and Shell gonna hold the spot down and let these heads know its some of that same fire on the way back.” Hood rubbed his greedy hands together anxiously.
“I gotcha man” I yelled over my shoulder as I took off back to the apartment.
“Oh yeah, tell Keisha I love her and I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
When I finally got back to the apartment, Keisha was sitting on the back porch smoking a blunt with a short dark skinned chic. Black as the ace of spades, she had to be one of the prettiest chic’s I’d ever seen. Her skin was so smooth that it seemed to have no beginning and no ending. Her jet - black hair was cut into a short style that complimented the structure of her face, and she wore a form fitting white stretch dress that looked like it was poured on her. She made me think of what Nubian princesses must have looked like centuries ago.
“What’s wrong! Everything straight ain’t it? Keisha asked, jumping to her feet with obvious fear in her eyes!
“Yeah everything good shorty.” I assured her. “That work you whipped up is all the way on point. Motherfuckers running around up there like chickens wit they heads cut off ! I came back to snatch up some more. I need an ounce this time. I need you to show me how to weigh the shit out too.”
“Oh okay.” Keisha breathed a sigh of relief as she handed the blunt to her Nubian friend. “This my girl Monique. She got a man and she don’t fuck around.” Keisha blurted out as she noticed me admiring her ebony friend. “But I do.” She quickly added on with a sly grin.
“Girl shut the hell up. I can speak for my damn self. And there’s always a first time for everything.” Monique’s stare suddenly matched my own. “Shit, Big Joe think he can run around Durham fucking every chicken head bitch with a big ass and a house full of kids, and I’m gonna keep putting up with that bullshit? Fuck that.”
“Oh bitch please. Shut up Monique. You aint gonna do shit. That fat nigga got your black ass on lock,” said Keisha as she grabbed me by the arm and led me into the apartment. Monique walked in behind us and locked the door. As soon as we walked into the kitchen Keisha went straight to the refrigerators freezer, and returned with a large Ziploc freezer bag filled with hard white cocaine. Reaching inside the bag she pulled out a black digital scale and placed it on the table. Reaching back inside the bag, Keisha attempted to break off a piece of the hard white, but the crater filled crack was brick hard and wasn’t budging. Seemingly frustrated, Keisha put the bag down and dashed off upstairs, ass cheeks jiggling like jello as she ran. Monique was sitting at the kitchen table. Staring. I held her gaze and waited on her to turn away, but to my surprise, she refused to.
“What’s up? I was curious as to what she was thinking.
“Nothing.” She answered nonchalantly with her eyes still locked into mine. If I was looking for some long drawn out response, then I was shit outta luck. I was playing dumb anyway. A real nigga knows that look anywhere. Damn this one pretty black motherfucker. Keisha dashed back into the kitchen, startling us out of our trance. She held a small hammer in one hand, and a green bathroom towel in the other.
“Come here baby.” Keisha purred pulling me behind her, wrapping my arms around her small waist. Reaching into the freezer bag, she pulled out a chunk of crack the size of a small coconut. Placing the towel on top of the big rock, she lifted the hammer and came down on it hard! SMACK!… Pieces of crack shot out in every direction from underneath the towel, but Keisha reassured me that it was nothing and for me not to worry. As she removed the towel, I looked down and saw that the great big chunk of hard, had now been broken up into various smaller crater filled chunks. Watching over Keisha’s shoulder, I focused and payed close attention as she placed the scale beside the bag and pressed the on button. Zero point zero (0.0) popped up on the screen. Picking up one of the chunks of rock, Keisha placed it on the scale and immediately the screen jumped to twelve point six (12.6). “See baby, the numbers on the left are grams and the numbers on the right equal tenths of a gram. That’s twelve point six grams, an ounce is twenty- eight grams, a half is fourteen, a quarter seven, and three point five is called an eight ball. Think you can remember that baby?” Keisha asked looking back at me with a girlish smile.
“Yeah, I got you. I’m a fast learner. Go ahead and get the shit right we need.”
“Okay baby, Keisha turned back around and placed another chunk on the scale as the numbers jumped to (22.4). Looking down at a piece of crack that had shot from underneath the towel onto the floor, she reached down, picked it up and placed it on the scale. (28.3) The numbers suddenly jumped to. Reaching into the drawer next to the sink, Keisha took out a small sandwich bag, picked up the scale and poured the contents into it. I knew she could feel my hard dick poking her in the ass through her shorts. “Here you go Banks. Come on let me show you where I’m putting the rest of this stuff in case I go somewhere and you need it.” I knew exactly what time it was. And I was game as a motherfucker. “We’ll be right back Nique.” Keisha yelled over her shoulder as she grabbed my arm and pulled me up the stairs. As soon as we made it up the stairs, not even bothering to shut the door to the bedroom we stepped into, Keisha immediately unzipped her jean shorts and kicked them off, revealing a plump red ass and a beautiful, meaty, bald head pussy. I remember wondering if she always walked around panty less as she laid back on the bed, spread her thick thighs, and started to finger fuck her juicy pussy while seductively whispering my name. I don’t even remember taking my pants off! Leaning in, Keisha rose up off the bed wrapping her hand around as much of my dick as she could before speaking, “Yes, thank you. Oooh yes baby, thank you.” Her voice was husky and drenched with lust. I groaned loudly as she stared me in the eye, while whipping the tip of her tongue out
like a serpent, snaking it into the hole at the head of my dick. Hungrily she savored the sweet, salty taste of the pre-cum that had built up there. I’d be lying like a motherfucker if I said I looked for a rubber, so right here’s where we’ll keep it real. All my real niggas know what I’m talking about. All the chic’s who wanna keep it real, then yall come on a ride along wit me too. I reached down and grabbed Keisha by the arm, snatched her up off the bed spinning her thick ass around at the same time, and slammed my dick down in her to the nuts! “Oooh shit! It’s in my stomach!” Was all she could muster before instantly cumming in gushes, coating my dick with warm, sticky pussy juice! I am what you could call “a natural.” From day one I instinctively knew how to lay pipe, and I guess thanks to my missing in action father, I abundantly possessed the tools to do it with. “Oh Shit! Oh shit! Aaaah! Aaaah!” Keisha yelled as I hammered her pussy from behind like a sex starved maniac! Suddenly while in mid stride, I caught a glimpse of something from the corner of my eye. I looked to the left and was shocked like a motherfucker, to see Monique standing at the top of the stairs staring directly at us! I didn’t stop. I picked up the pace as her watching somehow turned me on. Gripping Keisha’s waist tighter, I buckled down and slammed dick into her even harder, causing pussy juice to spill all down my legs and onto the floor in globs! I never broke eye contact with Monique, before I felt myself starting to cum, and closed my eyes while at the same time Keisha screamed out at the top of her lungs. “Ohhh Shiiiitttt! I’m cumming again!” her knees buckled as I grabbed her shoulders from behind and held her up, still punching my dick deep into her guts! I wanted to pull out, but just as I was about to Keisha whined, “No! Put it in me!” before reaching back grabbing the back of my thighs, locking me in place! The load I emptied into her was massive! It left me lightheaded, and weak! It took me a good fifteen to twenty seconds just to come to my senses and open my eyes. Quickly I looked back to the left. Monique was gone. Keisha dropped to the floor and balled up in a knot as if someone had punched her in the stomach. And in a sense, I guess I had. The loud knock on the back door jarred us back to our senses.