Memoirs of an Accidental Hustler

by J. M. Benjamin

  “Hold up, yo, this my family right here, Jeff,” Mu stepped in. “You can’t be doin’ it like that around here.”

  “My bad, Mu. My bad, li’l man,” the kid named Jeff said. “But I’m sayin’ though this nigga done came around the way and robbed five of my workers all together for a least six Gs, and I heard another block got hit by somebody who fits this nigga description. I ain’t even tell nobody else that the kid is from the projects on the strength of you, Mu, and I ain’t wanna start no fuckin’ wars over some shit that could be deaded, but something gotta give with this nigga,” Jeff stated.

  “Yo, you got my word that I’m gonna get at him and try to get that dough for you, but if I don’t then anything outside of here is fair game. This ain’t no project beef because the nigga don’t clock around here. That’s a bet?”

  “Yeah, Mu, you got dat,” Jeff said, and he and the guys he was with got in a Jeep and left.

  Mu had a facial expression that I had never seen before, but I knew it meant that he was mad about the situation with Black. “Yo, what’s that nigga’s apartment number again?” Mu asked me.

  Hating that I had to tell him I said, “Three B.”

  “All right, if any of y’all see his ass don’t mention nothing about this, you hear me?” Mu demanded. We all just nodded in agreement.

  We all knew that as soon as we left Mu was going to Black’s crib. We just hoped Black would listen to him and Mu would give him a chance, because he had a look on his face that could kill.

  We went back to Ant’s crib and Trevor was the first to say something. “Yo, Black done flipped his fuckin’ wig. He out there robbin’ niggas, kid. You heard what that kid Jeff said?”

  “Yeah, he said Black got him for about six grand and hit other blocks,” Ant said.

  “This shit don’t even surprise me, kid,” Shareef joined in. “He used to always be talking to me about how if he can’t make it, he’s gonna take it. Remember that day we was coming from school and he was sayin’ all that shit?” Shareef said to me and Mal.

  “Yeah, I remember,” I said. “I didn’t think he’d actually get on it like that. I thought he was just talking.”

  “Well, whatever he’s into he got to handle that ’cause that shit is deeper than us or the projects,” Mal said. “He wanna act like a gangster then he got to live like a gangster; that’s on him. I don’t feel sorry for that nigga at all,” my brother finished saying.

  * * *

  The next day I saw Mu and asked him what was up.

  “Mil, listen to what I’m about to tell you and take heed. Stay away from that kid Black. He ain’t right. Nobody gonna stay the same all their life, some people change for the better; other people change for the worse. Ya man took a turn for the worse and it’s gonna cost him in the long run. Always remember that anybody who doesn’t mean you any good only means you harm, and when you can’t trust them as far as you can throw ’em then you don’t fuck wit’ ’em. That goes for anybody!” he emphasized.

  “What happened when you went to his crib?” I asked, wanting to know.

  “Bottom line is the li’l nigga denied everything, but I knew he was lyin’ by the way he was actin’; and then when I told him he better watch his back ’cause niggas is gonna try to see him, he started talking about if anybody step to him they better come correct ’cause he got something for ’em.”

  I took what Mu told me and I relayed it to my brother and them.

  A week later, we had heard that Black was in a shootout with some kids from Hasely Street up at the diner, and he popped two of them. It was rumored that he had gotten shot, but we didn’t get any confirmation where he was hit or how bad it was. Since then, we hadn’t heard of or seen him.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  “Monique, you better tell those little pissy-tail boys to stop calling this house some one and two o’clock in the morning playing on the phone like they ain’t got no home training,” my grandmother yelled.

  “Grandma, I don’t know who that be callin’ because I don’t be giving the number out like that,” my sister said, lying through her teeth.

  “Well, whoever they callin’ for, y’all better tell them to stop before none of y’all be able to use the phone.”

  Lately there had been a lot of guys calling for my sister. A few times, I had answered the phone and had gotten into it with them calling and acting all tough, demanding to speak to her like they owned her. My brother said he went through the same thing. Not only had she been getting a lot of calls, but she had been staying out and hanging out late, too.

  Trevor had told us that he saw her all the time, when he went to the clubs or parties that we couldn’t get into, dancing with other hustlers from other areas. He said he always stayed later than usual just to make sure nothing happened to her, because he knew that if the shoe were on the other foot we’d do the same, if he had a sister. When we’d ask him what she had on he’d tell us something totally different from what we’d seen her leave the house in, so we knew that she was changing her clothes somewhere else. Mal and I figured she was changing over at the house of one of the projects chicks Trevor said she’d been hanging out with when she was up in one of those spots.

  I would hear my moms and grandmother questioning her about whether she was still a virgin, and of course her answer was always yes, after throwing a tantrum, claiming they were overreacting. But from what Trevor was telling us, Mal and I didn’t believe her. It made me mad that we couldn’t do anything about it because we weren’t old enough to get up in the places where she went. We told Trevor that if he saw her leaving with some guy, to snatch her up like he was one of us. He gave us his word that he would and we knew he would keep it.

  * * *

  “Wake up!” A booming voice broke my sleep. When I looked up my sister was hovering over both Mal and me.

  “What do you want, girl?” Mal beat me to it.

  “You know what the hell I want,” she shot back.

  “Yo, why you come up in here yellin’ and stuff, Nique?” I asked.

  “Because I don’t appreciate one of your fuckin’ friends putting his hand on me, that’s why!” she shouted.

  Immediately we jumped up. “Who?” we both asked.

  “That nigga Trev,” she bellowed. “He lucky I didn’t scratch his muthafuckin’ eyes out, but I bet you he won’t grab me ever again.”

  Now it all made sense. “You must have been doing something you ain’t had no business doin’ last night then,” Mal said.

  “Mal, you ain’t my damn father,” she reminded my brother. “The last time I heard he was in prison, so stop tryin’ to act like him,” she threw back.

  While my brother and sister were going back and forth with each other, I tried to be the calm one out of the three. “Nique, what Mal means is Trevor was probably only tryin’ to protect you or stop you from doin’ something that wasn’t cool.”

  “Kamil, what I do is my business,” she snapped. “I keep telling y’all, I don’t need no damn bodyguard. I’m the oldest and y’all are my little fuckin’ brothers,” Monique spat.

  “We not tryin’ to hear that shit.” Mal got more aggressive. “You’re not gonna be satisfied until you get somebody really hurt. And you know if Dad were here you wouldn’t be doin’ none of this shit.”

  “Well, he’s not and you’re not him. And y’all the ones who got somebody hurt. I know y’all told him to do that shit because I don’t even know him like that, and because of y’all your boy is nursing his wounds.”

  “What happened?” Mal asked

  “I told y’all he put his hands on me, and when he did I made sure he thought twice the next time.”

  Me and Mal jumped up and started getting dressed. “Nique, keep doin’ whatever it is you’re doin’ and watch what happens,” Mal said to her.

  “Kamal, don’t threaten me, boy,” she spat back.

  “Whatever. You heard what I said.”

  “What’s all this noise and fussin’ about?
” My grandmother burst into the room. Luckily, everything was over.

  We all turned and sang at the same time as if we were angels, “Nothing, Grandma.”

  “Um-hm, I bet,” she grumbled. “Y’all better not be in here fighting. Don’t make me come up in here with one of your grandfather’s old belts,” she ended before closing the room door.

  Mal and I both shook our heads at our sister. We hurried and dressed and then we were out the door.

  * * *

  “Yo, kid, I’m gonna tell y’all straight up, on the strength of the love I got for y’all I’m gonna wear these scratches.” Trevor met us at the door. He had already applied Vaseline to the scars my sister was the cause of. The scratches were deep and nasty looking. I could tell she had really dug her nails into my friend’s face. I felt bad that we had put Trevor in that type of position. “Ya sister flipped out on me, kid.”

  “What went down?” I asked him.

  “Man, we were at Rocco’s and your sister and her hooker friends were up in there. Everything was cool until your sister started drinkin’ and shit and then she started dancing with this nigga from Monroe. Yo, she was dancing all nasty and shit and the nigga did what any nigga would do in a situation like that: he started feeling her all up and shit. She was so fuckin’ drunk she wasn’t even trying to stop him. I was gonna go over there and snatch her up, but her girls grabbed her up and sat her down. Normally, I would have been in the bathroom puffin’; but I chilled and was just sippin’ on something light ’cause I had a funny feelin’ that some nigga was gonna try to roll out with her, and my instincts were right.

  “When the party was ending and everybody was leavin’, another kid stepped to her and started kickin’ to her. He must’ve gamed her ’cause they was walkin’ over to this Volvo, and instead of the bitches she was wit’ stopping her they just let her go, so that’s when I stepped up and called her name. She really didn’t know who I was, but she stopped just in time for me to get close up on her. I could tell the kid wanted to know who I was by the way he was looking at me, so I told him she was my sister. That’s when she went crazy, talkin’ about she ain’t my goddamn sister, soundin’ all drunk.

  “So that’s when I grabbed her arm and started sayin’ that I was takin’ her home. Then out of the blue she swung at me and caught me in the face, but I still didn’t let her go. She started clawing the shit outta me. When homeboy seen what was goin’ on he must’ve been like fuck it, ’cause he hopped in the car and murked out. After that, I let her go and her so-called friends came while she was callin’ me every curse word she probably knew. I screamed on them skeezer bitches and told them if they were her friends they wouldn’t have let her go like that, and if I find out they didn’t take her home, the next time I see them I would kick their asses. And that was basically it.”

  “Yo, that was love, kid.” Mal gave Trevor a pound and a hug. “I ain’t never gonna forget that, and my bad for you havin’ to get all scarred up like that.”

  “Yeah, Trevor, we appreciate the love,” I said, following up. Although I felt bad for Trevor after hearing the story, I was grateful that he was there. I could only imagine what would have or could have happened to my sister had he not been.

  “Like I told y’all before, I know y’all would do the same for me,” Trevor said back.

  I could see in Mal’s eyes how heated he was and I didn’t know what to do about it. All we really could do was watch Monique more carefully when we were at the same parties so she wouldn’t do anything dumb, and tell every dude who called the crib not to be calling anymore.

  We loved our sister but, no matter what, she was going to do whatever she wanted to do regardless of what we said, just like me and Mal. I believed that was one of the traits we had all gotten from our father. It was hard for our grandmother to keep an eye on all of us at all times and we all knew that it was next to impossible for my moms to because she was never at home. After hearing how Monique was acting in the streets, that day I realized just how much our family was falling apart despite us being together.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Once again, Mal, Shareef, and I, minus Black, had made it through another grade. Three weeks from now, we’d be chillin’ for the whole summer and after our summer vacation was over, we’d be headed to high school, something we were all looking forward to.

  The eighth grade graduation dance was coming up a week and a half before school ended and me, Mal, and Shareef were stepping out in style, ’cause Mu volunteered to take us in his Benz. We had already discussed chipping in for graduation to rent a limo. We were definitely trying to end our junior high careers with a bang.

  As the bell rang, I bolted out of class, headed out the school’s door. I had seen Lisa earlier and she told me she wanted to ask me something very important after school. It didn’t matter to me what it was; I was just looking forward to hooking up with her. It had been a minute since she and I chilled together.

  “Hey.” I smiled and waved.

  She was leaning up against my bike with her legs crossed, waiting for me. “Hey.” She gave me a hug.

  “So, what’s up? Is everything okay?” I asked, trying to read her face.

  “Yes, everything is fine.” She sounded kind of nervous.

  “You sure?” I asked.

  “Yes, I’m sure.” She smiled. She took a deep breath. “I wanted to know who you were going to the dance with.”

  “My brother and Shareef,” I said without giving it a second thought.

  “I don’t mean like that, silly. I mean, who’s your date?” she asked.

  “My date? I don’t have a date,” I replied. “I didn’t know I had to have a date to go to the dance.”

  “No, you don’t have to.” Lisa laughed. “But I wanted to go with you.”

  I couldn’t believe how silly I was at that moment. I tried to play it off. “I figured you were goin’ with Felicia and ’em?”

  “They’re going with their boyfriends, and I’m gonna meet them there.”

  I had no idea Lisa wanted me to take her to the dance because she never mentioned it before. Honestly, if she would’ve asked me, then I would’ve been more prepared, but me, Mal, and Shareef had been planning this for months. I was caught between a rock and a hard place.

  “Lisa, I didn’t know you wanted us to go to the dance together, ’cause if I did I would’ve gotten wit’ you ahead of time and we would’ve worn the same color or something. What color are you wearing, anyway?” I asked her.

  “Lavender, but if you don’t want to take me, don’t worry about it,” she said to me. I could hear the disappointment in her tone.

  I was wearing a white suit with a red bow tie and cummerbund, which definitely didn’t match what she was wearing, but the look on her face and the sound of her voice made me feel messed up.

  “Lisa, you know it’s not even like that. I’m wearing red and white to the dance, but here’s what I’m gonna do. I’m gonna go downtown and see if I can get a lavender bow tie and cummerbund or something close to that color. If I don’t then I’ll meet you at the dance and we’ll hook up there, all right?”

  “Yeah, Kamil, if you say so,” she responded, not sounding too enthused.

  * * *

  I knew I wasn’t going to find that color or anything close to it because it was one of those funny colors you had to order. They didn’t even have any more purple in stock. I called Lisa to tell her. It almost sounded like she was crying when she told me she changed her mind about going. When I asked her why she said she didn’t feel like going out anymore. I told her that I’d call her later and she hung up. Something was wrong, and I was too caught up with getting ready for the dance to pay attention or figure out what it was.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  “Yo, you three niggas lookin’ real sharp tonight,” Mu told us. “Y’all looking like some real young men. I’m proud of y’all for guttin’ it out ’cause not many niggas from the projects make it through school or out the hood
, but you three are gonna make it and don’t let nobody tell you different.”

  We just listened as Mu spoke.

  “All right, I’m done rappin’. Now go in there and get y’all groove on; and you got my beeper number so page me before it ends so I can come get y’all. Enjoy yourselves,” Mu said as we got out of the Benz.

  All the kids who were pulling up with their parents and walking up were checking out Mu’s ride as we stepped out. You would have never thought they’d seen a Mercedes that looked like his before. It was calypso red with a peanut-butter color leather ragtop. The inside was customized in leather with the same colors, and he had deep-dished gold hammer rims. All the other kids were jocking us as we made our way to the cafeteria door.

  Tonight was our night and we came to have a good time. This was a celebration of our last days of junior high school. It was better than elementary, but I knew it was going to be even better in high school. Milk and Giz’s “Top Billin’” was pumpin’ when we walked in. The middle of the floor was flooded with kids jamming.

  “This that cut right here,” Shareef said.

  “Yeah, this a dope cut,” my brother followed with.

  Most of the guys there had on tuxes like us and some just had on dress pants and button-ups, with ties. All the girls had on dresses, though, and it looked like they outnumbered us three to one. Mal and Shareef scanned the dance floor to see what girls they were going to get up on. Within seconds, they spotted two they wanted to step to; they went to the middle and started dancing. To tell the truth there was only one girl I wanted to dance with and that was Lisa, but she wasn’t there.

  I was just standing there kind of dancing by myself when I heard a familiar voice from behind ask me if I want to dance. I knew it wasn’t Lisa even before I turned around, but it was someone I knew.

  “Trina, what are you doing here?” I asked, surprised to see her. She had on a black fitted dress with high heels and her hair was styled in a Chinese bun. I didn’t think anybody looked as good as she did up in there.