Street Dreams

by K'wan

  “Yeah. The old man is gone. I’m gonna miss him a lot, but we know the ups and downs of the game before we play it. Prince had a good run while he was here.”

  “So what now?”

  “I don’t know. Just trying to focus on getting out of here.”

  “I know that, but I was talking about the other thing?”

  “Oh. To be honest with you, I’m confused. This whole day has been crazy. I managed to get my ass kicked by the police and shot. All in less than twenty-four hours. I look at the madness around me and wonder what the fuck I’m doing?”

  “That's life, Rio. We have our good days and we have our bad.”

  “I understand this, but look at me. I almost died just for being with the wrong people. A bullet ain’t got no name.”

  “I feel you. You gotta be careful from here on, baby. This right here, hit too close to home.”

  “I gotta be honest,” he said with his voice full of emotion. “I ain’t no punk or nothing and you know this Trinity. But when those bullets started flying and I saw all of that blood…I don’t know. I came that close to dying.”

  “What happened?”

  “All I can call it is a miracle. After Prince went down the cat comes for me. I’m laying there scared and bleeding. I know that these will be my last moments. He puts the gun to me and I brace myself for the end, but it never came.”

  “What, did his gun jam or something?” she asked curiously.

  “No, nothing like that. He just looked at me real funny and left.”

  “Damn, you got lucky.”

  “I was so scared, Trinity. I don’t know if I’m built for this shit, T.” Rio tried to stop his tears, but they came anyway. “I probably look like a coward, sitting here crying and shit. It was just so crazy, ma. I don’t wanna die in the gutter.”

  “It's okay,” she said, stroking his face. “Everything is gonna be fine. I’m gonna take care of you, Rio. I should’ve never let you walk away in the first place.”

  “I’m sorry, T. The argument that we had was so trivial.”

  “Don’t worry about it, baby. Let the past be the past. What's important now is our future.”

  “Trinity, I don’t care what my future holds as long as you’re in it. It's messed up that it took me getting shot to check myself.”

  “Don’t worry about it, Rio. Just take this experience and learn from it.”

  “You’re right about that. From now on I’m gonna go about things differently. You know I’ve been thinking; I’m getting paper on the streets, but I realize no woman really wants a hustler for a man. I wanna do the right thing by you, Trinity. If it means giving the streets up and going straight, then I’m all for it.”

  “Rio,” she said, patting his hand. “It ain’t that serious. I know that the streets are dangerous, but I also know that you don’t have a whole lot of options. You hustle out of necessity, not desire. If the streets are what's feeding you, then do what you have to until something better comes along. I know that you’re not a career criminal like that fool Cutty, but you can’t be expected to starve. I’m not thrilled about you being in the streets, but I accept you as you are.”

  “That's real, T, but Prince is gone now. Truck will probably be running things.”

  “Rio, what did I tell you about thinking so small? It's sad that Prince is dead, but it could be a blessing in disguise. Being that Prince isn’t top dog anymore, the lane is wide open. Truck might be his son, but everyone knows who his favorite was. Rio, you can play the humble role all you want, but you know that Prince was grooming you to be the man.”

  “I don’t know, Trinity. That's a big step. Truck isn’t gonna just lie down for this.”

  “Pardon my French, but fuck Truck. You got soldiers just like he does. You should’ve seen the way people were tearing up the hood when they heard you got shot. They had to bring out the riot squad to break the mob up.”

  “Damn, it was like that?” he asked, feeling a bit flattered.

  “Believe it. The people love you, Rio, and they’ll stand behind you on this. The brass ring is there. All you gotta do is reach for it.”

  Rio thought on what Trinity was saying. Maybe she was right about it all. It had become painfully obvious that no one was gonna hire him, unless it was to mop a damn floor. Rio had the opportunity to become a rich man. He could get his mother and his lady out of the hood. Blow up or throw up, baby boy.

  “You think I could do it?” he asked.

  “Baby, I know you can do it. Whether you flop or fly, I’m with you. Now, you go ahead and rest. I was supposed to go take my GED test tomorrow, but I’m gonna reschedule it.”

  “Nah, go take your test, ma. You worked too hard for it.”

  “But you need me here.”

  “No, I need you to pass that test.”

  “Okay, boo. But as soon as the test is over, I’m coming to see you. I love you, Rio,” she said, kissing him on the lips. Rio smiled at his lady as she walked out of the room.

  Words couldn’t express how happy he was. Now that he had Trinity back, he felt whole again. Now for the problem at hand. It was like J had told him, “You gotta be cold to play the game and win.” At that point losing was the furthest thing from his mind.

  Rio sighed heavily as he thought of everything that had gone down up until that point. The conflict, the bloodshed. Rio got in it to make money not war. Now he was in the middle of something that was sure to be bloody. Things were already out of hand when Prince was alive, but now that he was dead, it would get even uglier. Truck wouldn’t let the crown go easily. The more Rio thought about it, he questioned how bad he really wanted it.

  Rio had to laugh at himself for even dwelling on the issue. Not long ago, working for Prince was a part-time thing. Then it became the only thing. Rio wasn’t big on the idea at first, but the deeper he got, the more comfortable he became with it. He got a rush from the power and the money sweetened the pot. Rio was finally able to provide for the people he cared about, without having to kiss anyone's ass. He had grown quite accustomed to the money he was making and wasn’t sure if he was ready to give that up.

  Rio never wanted any of it to go down. People had died and more surely would cash out before it was all said and done. He never wanted to live a gangster lifestyle. He was content to just live. But now he was in the thick of it and didn’t have a lot of options. Even if he chose not to contest Truck, who's to say that Prince's oldest boy wouldn’t attempt to have him killed anyhow? The way Rio figured it, he would have to play the game out till the end. The hustle was never pretty, but Rio had been chosen to play, and play he would. What he did from there on out would determine his future. It was a choice between life and death. Rio chose to live.

  If it took a cold nigga to win, then Rio would bleed ice water. No more Mr. Nice Guy. It was time to take what was his and stop waiting on a ma fucka to hand it to him. Rio began putting a plan together for what was to come. He was in now. Till death do them part, Rio was one with the streets.

  Shamel stood outside of the hospital smoking a cigarette. He was glad that his friend had lived, but until Trinity came down he had no idea how bad it was. He was pissed at the whole situation. Somebody should’ve been there to watch Rio's back, even if he was meeting with Prince. Cutty was slipping. Them cats in the streets really didn’t love Rio. Cutty and Shamel were the only people that he could count on, besides Trinity. One of them should’ve been there.

  As Shamel was tossing his cigarette, a taxi was pulling up to the curb. Shamel watched the car for signs of danger. The back door swung open and Cutty hopped out. Seeing his friend only added to Shamel's anger. If Cutty hadn’t taken Rio on that fool hit, none of this would’ve come about.

  “Yo,” Shamel called out. Cutty noticed Shamel and headed in his direction. “What up?”

  “Mel,” Cutty said, giving him dap. “What went down?”

  “The Prince is dead.”

  “Yeah, I heard. Said somebody popped him in the hood.�
�

  “Yep.”

  “Ma fuckas in the projects talking about Rio's dead.”

  “Nah, he just got shot up. I ain’t sure how bad though. The doctor said he’ll live.”

  “Can we see him?”

  “Nah. They let Trinity go back there for a minute, but he can’t have visitors until tomorrow.”

  “What's Trinity doing here?”

  “She came to check on her man.”

  “I thought that Baron was her man?” Cutty asked sarcastically.

  “You need to quit, Cutty. You know that shit wasn’t about nothing.”

  “Looked like something to me.”

  “You ain’t even right, dawg. But on a more serious note, where the fuck you been?”

  “What you mean, where I been? I’m a grown-ass man.”

  “Nigga, you was supposed to be with Rio.”

  “Rio's ass was in jail. What, I’m just supposed to sit around and wait for Prince to spring him? I was uptown doing me.”

  “Doing you got Rio shot. We’re supposed to look out for him, Cutty. Shit like this ain’t supposed to happen.”

  “Mel, I’m just as tore up about this shit as you. But holding Rio's hand ain’t my job,” Cutty said, getting angry. “Maybe if I had been there, it wouldn’t have gone down like that. Then again, maybe it would’ve been three corpses instead of two? That's not the issue here. The important thing is that Rio's okay.”

  “Cutty, that's some weak shit.” Shamel chuckled. “If you wanna get technical about it, this whole mess is your fault.”

  “How do you figure that?”

  “Because, this whole mess started over that little stunt y’all fools pulled on the ave.”

  “Man, that ain’t got nothing to do with this.”

  “It does so, Cutty. Why the hell would you put the battery in Rio to kill that boy? Rio ain’t no killer and you know it. Everybody ain’t as fucked up in the head as you.”

  “Yo, I’m really not feeling how you’re trying to come at me, Mel. We peoples, but respect my gangsta.”

  “Gangsta? Cutty, busting your gun in front of a bunch of ma fuckas don’t make you a gangsta. That makes you stupid.”

  “What up with all that crazy talk?” Cutty asked, getting in Shamel's face.

  “What, you act like I’m supposed to bite my tongue?” Shamel said, staring Cutty down with his good eye. “Ain’t nothing sweet about me.”

  Before the argument could escalate any further, Trinity came out of the hospital. “What are y’all doing?” Trinity couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Rio was lying upstairs, shot up, and his so-called team were about to tear each other's heads off. Trinity shook her head and readied her speech.

  “Ain’t nothing,” Shamel said, staring Cutty down. “Just talking.”

  “Yep,” Cutty said, matching his stare. “Just talking.”

  “Well,” Trinity said. “I’m glad that the two of you are feeling so talkative. I need to talk to both of you.”

  “What's up, T?” Shamel asked.

  “I have a message from Rio.”

  Baron sat on his cream leather couch watching the 106 and Park countdown. He blew smoke clouds in the air while the young lady that he had scooped up did hers on the oral level. The girl moved up and down gracefully on Baron's shaft, never missing a beat or coming up for air. Baron was on top of the world. His phone chirped on the end table, blowing his grove. Baron looked at the number before flipping the phone open.

  “What up?” he said into the phone.

  “What's good, youngster?” Truck asked on the other end.

  “What's good, big man?”

  “Ain’t nothing. You know I had to holla at my dawg.”

  “Bullshit, Truck. We ain’t never been like that. What you want?”

  “I wanna talk a li’l business. Can you meet me one day this week?”

  “If it's worth my wild.”

  “Oh, it will be.”

  “A’ight. Hit me back with the details, I’m in the middle of something.” Baron closed the phone without waiting for a reply. He rolled his head back and continued to enjoy his oral. He knew that Prince had been killed a few hours prior, but Truck didn’t sound too broken up. It wouldn’t have surprised Baron if that slimy nigga had something to do with the hit. Truck was up to something and he had an idea what.

  “What's wrong?” Joyce asked, wiping her chin.

  “Ain’t nothing,” Baron said, caressing the back of her head. “Don’t stop.” As Joyce continued to handle her business, Baron thought about how he could use her to his advantage against Rio.

  22

  Truck and Slim hit the block early the next morning. Now that Prince was dead and Rio was stretched out in St. Luke's, Truck figured that the projects would be his by default. He wanted to come down and survey his new territory first hand. To his surprise the hood was deserted. He circled the projects twice and didn’t see anyone. No workers, no crackheads, nothing. This struck Truck as strange.

  “Fuck is going on out here?” he asked Slim. “Police raided the hood or something?”

  “Not that I know of,” Slim said, looking just as puzzled. “This shit is like a ghost town. Maybe niggaz is scared that the police are gonna crack down after the shooting?”

  “Fuck that. They had better be more afraid of me than the police. Yo,” Truck said, looking off to his left, “ain’t that Shamel over there?”

  “Yeah,” Slim said. “That's his fat ass. Roll up on him, Truck. If anybody knows what's going on, he does.”

  Truck pulled the jeep to the curb where Shamel was standing talking to Knowledge. “What's up?” Truck asked, sticking his head out of the window.

  “Truck,” Shamel said, nodding. “What's good?”

  “Shit, you tell me. I come down to check on things and ain’t nothing popping. Did I miss something?”

  “Oh, you must not have heard. Ain’t nothing moving in the hood today.”

  “What you mean by that?”

  “I mean what I said. Ain’t nothing moving. We decided to close up shop for the day to mourn your father and say a prayer for Rio.”

  “Ain’t that about a bitch. Who put you in charge?”

  “Rio. He told me to watch over things until he can get back out in the streets.”

  “Shamel, I don’t know who you think you are, but you better round these dickheads up and put they asses to work. Either that or you’ll be back to snatching purses.”

  “Hold on, Truck. I know you’re going through it because ya pops got killed last night, but watch how you talk to me. I don’t work for you, dawg.”

  “Hold the fuck on,” Truck said, hopping out of the jeep. “Who the fuck do you think you’re talking to?”

  “Chill y’all,” Knowledge said, flashing the glocks under his jacket. “We don’t need this right now. Why don’t both of you just relax?”

  “Ain’t this about a bitch?” Truck said, looking at a shocked Slim. “Have these niggaz lost it?”

  “It's like I told you,” Shamel continued, “I don’t work for you. Now that Prince is gone, I answer directly to Rio. Any problems that you might have, you need to take that up with him.”

  “Fuck is Rio? This is my shit now. I run the show.”

  “Don’t think so, Truck. Everybody in the hood knows what Prince was grooming Rio for. You might have been Prince's oldest son, but you weren’t his favorite. When Rio gets out of the hospital, we can settle this.”

  “Yeah, a’ight,” Truck said, heading back to his jeep. “We’ll see about this shit.” Truck hopped in the jeep and peeled off down Columbus Avenue.

  “He sure was mad,” Knowledge said.

  “Fuck that nigga,” Shamel said. “Truck is a clown. We all know that Rio is Prince's rightful successor.”

  “True. But was it wise to upset him like that?”

  “All part of the plan, Knowledge. Truck is a hothead. People like him always let their mouths write a check that their asses can’t cash. Rio wants
him to be upset. That way he’ll do something stupid.”

  “So, Rio has a plan.”

  “Rio always has a plan, kid. Even shot up and in the hospital, that nigga is scheming. It's only a matter of time before Truck does something stupid. As bad as he needs to get hit, he's still a Capo in this. We can’t just outright kill him without catching some kind of backlash from the rest of the crew. Our job is to make sure that we have the proper support before we make a move against that asshole. When that happens, Truck will die.”

  “You see that shit,” Truck asked. “Them little ma fuckas raised up on me.” “I seen it, man,” Slim said. “You know what that means, don’t you?” “What?”

  “It's starting. Now that Prince is gone, things are gonna get crazy. You and Rio were Prince's most trusted Capos. The mantle of leadership will fall to one of you. As you’ve already seen, people are gonna start choosing sides. I know that there are a lot of the Capos that aren’t feeling you, but they wouldn’t be stupid enough to move against you directly.”

  “Damn right. My father built this shit here and it's only right that I step up.”

  “Not necessarily, Truck. Just because Prince built this doesn’t mean that it will go to you by default. You will have the support of most of the Capos, but like I said, not all of them. Just because they wouldn’t try to move against you directly, doesn’t mean that you’re safe. What's to stop them from backing Rio if he decides that he wants to step up?”

  “Damn, Slim. I never even looked at it like that. We can’t let that happen.”

  “You’re right. But what do you think we should do about it?”

  “Slim, I think it's time to take this little dispute to the next level. If the Capos don’t support my push for leadership then they can get it too. No more games, Slim. If diplomacy doesn’t work then we take it to the pistols. I will be king.”

  Detective Stark sat in the squad room talking to Officers Brown and Jenkins. From the look of things his little plan was moving along smoothly. He had thought that it was going to be hard getting Officer Jenkins into Prince's organization, but it had proven to be quite easy. Apparently Rio's peoples didn’t have the good sense that he did. After Mikey dropped Shamel's name, School Boy had given him and Jenkins a play. Seeing how smooth things were going with the two moles, School Boy let them hold the block down every night. It would be a costly mistake on his part.