Money & Love Don't Mix

by Ace Gucciano

  “Damn dem muthafuckas mean business,” Dre mentioned as the agitated Maniac cut in.

  “Y’all still ain’t answered my question, I said are y’all backin’ out or what?”

  “Fuck you mean is we backin’ out? Nigga, you called us ova here to show us what’s goin' on, you ain’t say shit ‘bout laying em’ down!” Dre stated.

  “And how you even know we with hittin’ them?” Smoke asked.

  “I don’t know, cuzzo, but I do know our whole circle fucked up, we ain’t got no money. Slick in jail and between the four of us, we can’t even afford to get him a lawyer to get him a bond…my bad fo’ callin’ y’all boys ova here tho. I figured y’all mind was on the same page as mine, tired-of-being-broke but I see I thought wrong! Y’all can gone ‘bout y’all business.”

  $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $

  “Welcome to Grady Medical Hospital, how may I assist you?” the woman at the front desk asked.

  “Umm, I’ve been feeling sick, ma’am, my stomach been hurtin’ on and off. I keep getting’ cramps and I thrown up.”

  “Okay, let me get some information from you so I can get you seen by one of our doctors…what’s your first and last name?”

  “Cierra Jones.”

  “Okay here’s your number, take a seat in the waiting area and someone will get you shortly.”

  “Thanks, ma’am.”

  “Oh, you’re welcome, hope you feel better…NEXT!”

  Twenty minutes later a nurse took Cierra to the back to check her blood pressure, take an x-ray, a ultrasound, and told her to wait in the waiting area for the doctor to call for her…she sat and watched an complete episode of 106&Park, and nearly fell asleep afterward before she heard the doctor yell her name. When she got up and went over to the doctor, he help out his hand.

  “Hi, I’m Dr. Johnson, sorry it took so long.”

  “It’s okay, Doc, I just wanna know why I haven’t been feeling well for the past few days.”

  “No problem, Ms. Jones, follow me.”

  She followed him over to the examination room where her results were, took a seat, and waited while he looked through her paperwork…Moments later he looked up and looked her in the eyes with excitement.

  “Ms. Jones, I’ve got great news!”

  “What is it?”

  “You’re pregnant!”

  “What am I having?”

  “Well, right now it’s still too early to determine but you’re going to have twins. How does it feel?”

  “Right now I feel…I feel a lot worse than when I came in now that I know I’m ‘bout to have twins by a guy that I had a one night stand with…I wanna have an abortion. I always told myself I wouldn’t have any kids until I get married…but twins are so rare that I gotta keep ‘em.”

  “Well, by me being a doctor for over twenty-five years, plus having a set of twin boys myself, I definitely wouldn’t encourage you to have an abortion. Abortions sound easy…but at the end of the day, that’s something as a female you’re going to have to deal with for the rest of your life.”

  Cierra stood up, gave Dr. Johnson a hug, and thanked him before leaving the examination room…on the way to her car many thought began to cloud her mind. What if Trouble wants me to get an abortion, should I do it? But if I don’t is this nigga gonna be a deadbeat? Shit, right now I can’t even put ‘em on child support cause he ain’t got shit going fo’ himself, he let me know he just did a bid…damn, how should I play this shit?

  $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $

  Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock!

  “Yo, officer, stop beatin’ on the door, it’s too early fo’ that shit. Niggas, tryna sleep!”

  “Which one of y’all in the room name is Sean Bradley?”

  “My roommate. Why, what’s up?”

  “Well, wake his ass up and tell him he gotta go to magistrate court this morning!”

  The moment Slick heard the words ‘magistrate court’ he rolled out of his bunk, started brushing his teeth and washing his face.

  “Now, it’s yo’ turn to explain yo’ side of the story to the judge, and hope you get a bond or it gets thrown out,” his roommate stated.

  “Hell yeah, I know, playboy, but I’ll be alright if I just get a bond, cause then I can put up some property and get the fuck outta this bitch no matter how high that shit is.”

  “I feel you, my nigga, good luck!”

  “’Preciate it, playboy, I’ma need it.”

  When Slick made it in the courtroom it was quiet while everyone waited for the judge to make his entrance. Slick’s public defender made his way over to him whispering near his ear.

  “How’s it going, Mr. Bradley?” I’m your public defender, Mike Birmingham. I’ve been assigned to your case so I’ll be representing you. I see you’ve been charged with sixty-four counts of theft by deception, tax fraud, and financial I.D fraud. Now, by you having so many counts of each charge I doubt it if the judge is gonna rule anything in your favor.”

  “Well, I’m not really tryna beat the case today. I just need you to get me a bond so I can get outta jail.”

  “You’re not hearing me are you, Mr. Bradley? I told you she’s not going to want to rule anything in your favor. I’m going to see what I can do, though.”

  Before Slick could reply, he heard a voice say, All rise, as the judge made her way into the courtroom.

  “Thank you, you may be seated,” The judge said, “My name is Judge Henchman and court is now in session. Who do we have first?”

  “Good Morning, your Honor, I’m detective Hanesworth from Clayton County Police Department,” The detective on the case said, standing up. “What we have here was an illegal tax office that was being ran by the suspect, Sean Bradley for a little over two years. Also, when we made our arrest we found numerous IDs that he’s been using to transfer funds from one account to another. That is all, your Honor.”

  “Okay, Mr. Birmingham, anything you’d like to say on your clients behalf?”

  “Uhh—Yes, your Honor. Umm…Umm, well I don’t really see any, uhhh, reason why Mr. Bradley should be in custody. Nothing indicates that he --.” Before Birmingham to could finish, Judge Henchman interrupted as she snapped shouting at the public defender.

  “Hold on! Wait, wait, wait! You have some nerve saying that you do not see any reason why your client should be in custody when they found plenty of evidence in this home showing otherwise. Detective Hanesworth, you have anything else you wanna say before I make my decision?”

  “Yes ma’am, your Honor; I recommend you set his bond at the highest amount possible.”

  “Okay well, at this time, with the substantial amount of evidence that’s been presented I’m going to bound this case over to superior court and set a one hundred thousand cash-only bond. This case is adjourned.” The judge banged her gavel, “Next case, please!”

  Slick dropped his head at the sound of Judge Henchman slamming her gavel, thinking to himself on the way out the courtroom. Where the fuck am I gonna get a hundred thousand cash from to make bail?

  The moment he made it back to his cell his roommate asked, “Yo, how that shit go, my nigga, you getting’ out today?”

  “Hell naw, I wish.”

  “How it went, tho?”

  “Shit, I really didn’t have a chance wit the bullshittin’ ass public defender they gave me. He wasn’t really tryna speak for me, he kept stutterin’ and shit like he was nervous. I believe that’s what made the judge give me this high ass bond.”

  “So how much ya’ bond?”

  “Mannnn, she set my shit at a hundred thousand cash!”

  “Damn, my nigga! I’ma be straight up wit you. That ain’t no bond she gave you, that’s a ransom! What judge gave you that shit?”

  “Some bitch named Valerie Henchman, she mean as fuck playboy.”

  “Ms. Henchman! Yo, my nigga, she one of that meanest judges in Georgia. Only person worse than her is her sister, Linda Henchman, and she’s twice as bad. I believe they’re in competition
to see who can give out the most time. Shit, last year Linda Henchman gave her own daughter some time for a DUI charge. That shit was on the news and everything.”

  “Man, fuck them bitches. I heard enough ‘bout they asses for one day. Now I’m tryna figure how the fuck this hundred thousand dollar bond gonna get paid before I get indicted and go to court. If I don’t get a paid attorney to file for a bond reduction, they’re gonna try to give me some time when I go back.”

  Chapter 4

  A little after 7:00 am Trouble’s mom came into his room and woke him up.

  “Get yourself together, take a shower, freshen up and find something that’s presentable to put on so we can go up there and check on your job application. You wanna always make a good impression, son.”

  ‘A’ight, I’m getting’ up now,” he said as she headed back out of his room. “Aye, ma?” he yelled.

  “What?” she replied.

  “Thanks for being so determined to help me find a job.”

  “No problem, but you're my son, my only son. If I don’t help you, who will?”

  “You right, I can’t argue with that,” he replied.

  “Exactly, now get yourself together so we can get up outta here.”

  When they arrived at the UPS Human Resources Department the woman at the front desk smiled at them.

  “Welcome to United Parcel Service, how may I help you?”

  “Uh, I’m here to see if my application been received.”

  “Okay, I can help you with that, what’s your name, sir?”

  “Daunté Jones.”

  “Alright, Mr. Jones, give me one second to look up your name and I’ll be able to let you know something.” When she entered his name into the computer she read the screen for a moment before getting out of her seat saying, “Would you hold on for a moment, I’ll be right back.”

  “Okay ma’am!” he replied smiling at his mother as the woman headed to the back.

  “See, I told you, son. Dedication and ambition you gotta show ‘em you wanna work.”

  “I see. If I knew getting’ a job was this easy I probably woulda never went to prison.”

  They both laughed and before they knew it, the woman returned to her desk.

  “I’m sorry, Mr. Jones, but we don’t hire ex-felons that have been convicted of one of these particular crimes.”

  She handed him a sheet of paper that said, ‘Effective immediately, applicant seeking employment that has been convicted of any Serious Violent Felonies such as, Murder, Aggravated Child Molestation, Rape, Aggravated Sexual Battery, and Armed Robbery, will not be eligible for employment.”

  “Thanks ma’am,” he told the woman as soon as he finished reading.

  “I’m so sorry; I Wish there was something I could do to help...” she sadly replied as she observed him exiting the building.

  When they got back in the car his mother started preaching.

  “Son, don’t let it get to you, I heard on the radio this morning Macy’s warehouse accepting applications, so let’s swing by there before we go home. You just gotta keep searching son, the worst thing you can be without now is hope. Hell, you’re already doing better than your friends by even trying. I bet you they never even touched a job application since they been out here.”

  “I feel ya’, ma, I’m really just trippin’ off this paper that lady gave me.”

  “What did it say? You never said anything, you just left, so I gave you a minute to get yourself together.”

  “Basically, all its saying is they don’t hire anybody that’s been convicted of one of the seven deadly sins and by armed robbery being one of them, it made me ineligible. I hate that I caught that charge cause that’s gone be the main reason any job won’t hire me.”

  “Wow, that’s deep, I always thought a felony was a felony,” she replied as she pulled into the parking lot of Macy’s warehouse.

  They made their way inside, and he filled out the application, turned it back in and the front desk personnel said, “Check back with us Friday, and be prepared to stay for orientation.”

  “Okay ma’am,” he replied smiling from ear to ear on his way out the door.

  $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $

  The moment Slick made his entrance into the visitation booth and noticed Maniac was the only one there to see him, he quickly grabbed the receiver and sat down.

  “What’s up with ya’, playboy, where everybody else at?”

  Maniac was straightforward with him since his main purpose in coming to visit his solo was because he felt like if he let him know what’s been going on with Smoke and Dre. Maybe he’d talk them into hittin’ the lick on the migos with him; he was one of the few people that they listened to, so he gave him a bitter response.

  “I don’t know where them niggas at, cuzzo, fuck them niggas!”

  “Damn, it’s like that, what y’all boys got going on now?”

  “I’m just tired of them niggas acting scary, cuz. I have been watching these two migos that stay in the neighborhood across from me and I damn near got their schedule down packed. They come in with two nice sized duffel bags every time they come, shit you know me and what kinda shit I’m on, but the act like they won’t bout that life.”

  “Hold on, those two migos you talking ‘bout, do they drive an Altima?”

  “Yeah why?”

  “Yo, playboy, I know them. They’re part of the cartel and they been gettin’ money in Atlanta for years.”

  “Damn! How the fuck am I just noticing them?”

  “Probably cause they don’t be at that spot too tough. Really that ain’t shit but one of their stash spots.”

  “How much money you think in there, cuzzo?”

  “Shit, it’s really hard to say, I don’t know but if I had to guess, I’d say at least six figures. Now, look them muthafuckers some goons, renegades so don’t come at them unless you come correct.”

  “I’m not, that’s why I need you to get at Dre and Smoke. Together the three of us can get in, get whatever the fuck they got, and get the fuck on, ya’ feel me?”

  “Yeah, I feel ya’, playboy. I’ma call and get at them niggas ASAP, but you’re gonna have to take a hundred racks and get somebody to come bond be out, though.”

  “Come on, cuzzo, what’s understood ain’t gotta be explained.”

  $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $

  Early Friday morning, Trouble’s mom had to work a little overtime so she was unable to take him back to Macy’s warehouse for orientation. So, therefore, he got out of bed, did his normal routine of 500 pushups and crunches before showering. As soon as he finished, he got dressed and headed to the bus stop. While standing at the bus stop, waiting for the bus to come, he couldn’t help but notice how bad his hood had changed. When he left the street, it was calm, laid back and low-key environment, but it had transformed into a well-known drug area. Damn, I pray I ain’t gotta go back to sellin’ dope out here like everybody else…If Slick wasn’t locked up, my back wouldn’t be against the wall. Damn, my nigga, locked up.

  When he arrived at Macy’s warehouse and stepped inside, the front desk personnel woman greeted him and asked how she could assist him.

  “Umm, ma’am, I filled out an application the other day, and I was told to come back Friday for orientation--”

  “Okay, what’s your name, please?”

  “Daunté Jones.”

  “Okay, have a seat and someone will be to see you shortly.”

  “Alright. Thanks ma’am.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  He waited patiently in the lobby with several others who applied and thirty minutes later he heard a deep voice shout out his name.

  “Yes sir! Here I am.” He said, instantly getting up.

  “Okay, follow me.” The man stated, escorting Trouble to his office.

  When they made it to his office, he took a seat at his desk and began typing on his computer. Moments later he paused, looked at the screen, and then spoke to Trouble.

  “If hired, when will y
ou be ready to start?”

  “I can start immediately, sir…Now, if I can.” They both laughed at his reply.

  “Good answer. Well do you have transportation?”

  “Yes sir?”

  “Okay good…Oh, and one more thing I need to know before you go to orientation. Have you ever been convicted of a felony, if so, what were you charged with?”

  He contemplated a second, saying to himself, Ain’t no way they did a background check that fast, I put the app in three days ago, and he replied, “No sir!”

  “Well, it says here you were convicted of armed robbery on June 5, 2003…I’m sorry, Mr. Jones, but at the moment we’re only looking to hire individuals with clean backgrounds. If you get this removed--,” before the guy could finish speaking, Trouble stormed out of his office.

  On his way to the bus stop, he said to himself, I’m startin’ to get fed up with tryna find a job, that shit ain’t me no way and living from check to check, struggling, when all the big time dope boys pushing hundred thousand dollar cars, living life stress free.

  When the bus arrived, he got on continuing to think, Damn, if I do go back to sellin’ dope like everybody else, I’ma have to start from the bottom with nicks and dimes like we did in the 90s, that shit ain’t me…I should get up with my niggas…but ain’t no tellin’ what them niggas go goin’ on, probably tryna scheme on somebody right now! I can’t go out like that…why in the fuck the only nigga in my circle getting’ some real money had to get snatched up? Now shit seems like it’s set up for me to fail out here. The bus came to a stop at a red light, a few passengers got off, as he looked around peeping the scenery he spotted a Kroger grocery store with a ‘Now Hiring’ sign and said to himself; shit, it won’t hurt! As he hurried and exited before the light turned green.

  Once inside, he applied for the overnight stock position stocking shelves, cashier, and bagging groceries. As he waited at the bus stop, he said to himself, fuck all that getting dressed up, coming up here to check on my application shit. If they wanna hire me, they can get the number off the app and call me.

  $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $

  Slick and his girl were riding down Old National Highway in his 2014 Rolls Royce Phantom Ghost with the top down on their way to Lennox mall to do a lil’ mid-day shopping when he passed her the bottle of peach Ciroc they been sippin’ on. She turned up the volume as her favorite song ‘Drunk in Love’ by Beyoncé came on the radio. She sung the verse, placing her hand on his leg and slowed eased in on up to his belt buckle.