Hood Rat

by K'wan

  “Whatever, man,” Lex said. His attention was drawn to Pain’s cell phone rattling on the table. Pain looked at the screen and sucked his teeth, but didn’t answer. He had been looping someone all night, and Lex was starting to think that it wasn’t a female like he’d told them.

  “Who the fuck keeps ringing your phone?” Jay asked.

  “Nobody important,” Pain said, wiping his mouth with a napkin. “Let’s get up outta here.” He stood, dropping a fifty-dollar bill on the table.

  The three men made their way out of the diner and into the morning sun. It was almost twelve o’clock, so the sun was nearly at its highest point. On their way back to the truck, a black Lincoln pulled to a stop next to them. The back doors opened up and three Spanish cats stepped out, holding pistols at their side. By the time the group even noticed the men, Paco was coming around from the driver’s side.

  “What’s up, Pain?” Paco said with a smile.

  Pain’s eyes got as wide as saucers. He looked from his crew to Paco and the men carrying the automatic weapons and was mad at himself for leaving his gun in the car.

  “I’ve been trying to call you since yesterday,” Paco said, standing directly between the trio and their car.

  “What the fuck is this shit about?” Jay asked, trying to hide his nervousness.

  “Oh, you ain’t know? Your boy here owes me a grip and I want it. You got my money, Pain?”

  Lex couldn’t believe what was about to go down. He always told Pain that his habit was going to get him into some shit, but he never imagined getting caught up with him. He tried to gauge the distance from where he was standing to the truck and wondered if they would gun him down before he made it.

  “Paco, I ain’t got it all, but—”

  Paco waved his hand for silence. “Save it. I told you when you took my shit that the clock was ticking. Time’s up.”

  The world suddenly began to move in slow motion. Pain saw his partner Lex fall before he heard the shot. Paco had drawn a weapon and blasted Lex twice in the chest. The aspiring star spun and collapsed to the ground. His body heaved one last time and the life drained from his body. Jay made a move, giving Pain fleeting hope that someone would stand with him in the battle for his life, but to his surprise Jay took off running. He had almost made it to the corner when one of Paco’s people gunned him down. Jay took four shots to the back and fell face-first into the street. Pain found himself alone, staring down the barrels of several automatic weapons.

  At that moment, Pain’s entire life flashed before his eyes. He was about to become one of the biggest rising stars in hip-hop, but the little greaseball Spanish cat standing in front of him was threatening that. In a last attempt at saving his life, Pain lunged for Paco. Before he had even gotten within arm’s length, a slug tore through his side. He was so coked up that he didn’t even realize he had been shot until the second bullet hit him. He tried to run off, but received two more slugs to the back. Pain lay on the floor, kicking his legs as if he were still trying to run. As he watched Paco standing over him, gun trained on the middle of his forehead, all he could think about was how he was never gonna make it onto MTV.

  * * *

  “Yo, kid, you made the papers!” Spooky exclaimed, showing Jah the article about Ralph’s murder. “You pushed that boy’s shit smooth back.”

  “Why don’t you say it a little louder, I don’t think the people on the fifth floor heard you,” Jah said, breaking up a block of weed on a magazine.

  “Fuck these square-ass niggaz!” Spooky shouted. “They know who the fuck we be. Our murder game is superofficial.”

  “Spooky, don’t be saying that shit too loud. The block is on fire right now and I ain’t trying to get knocked with this thing on me.” Jah exposed the butt of his .40.

  “Jah, why the fuck do you still have that thing, didn’t I just give you another gun?”

  Jah sucked his teeth. “Spooky, stop sweating me.”

  “Yo, you been on some real moody shit since the night of the party. What’s good with you, duke?”

  “Nothing, I just got a lot on my mind right now,” Jah told him.

  “You know what,” Spooky said and sat beside him on the stoop, “I think the problem is your ass is backed up. You need to get yaself some pussy instead of always running around plotting on a dollar.”

  “Nigga, when I’m plotting, your ass be right alongside me.”

  “True,” Spooky said, then laughed. “But on some real shit, your head ain’t been in the game lately. I might pop a lot of shit, but I love you like my own blood. If something is on your mind, you know you can talk to me about it.”

  Jah looked over at Spooky to see if he was bullshitting, but to his surprise his friend’s eyes were sincere. “Dawg, if I run this shit down to you and you try and play me, it’s on!” Jah said seriously.

  “My dude, I wouldn’t even do it to you like that. Holla at ya boy.”

  Jah paused for a minute, contemplating if he could go through with it. “A’ight. I met a chick,” Jah finally admitted.

  “I knew you din’t have that sick puppy look in your eyes for nothing!” Spooky punched him in the arm. “Do I know the bitch?”

  “Nah, you don’t know her, and she ain’t no bitch, foul-ass nigga. We was on some cool shit at first,” Jah continued, “then one thing led to another and we ended up fucking. Now the shit is all awkward.”

  “Awkward? You got yourself a shot of pussy. What’s awkward about that?”

  Jah looked at him, not believing his ignorance. “It ain’t about the pussy, man. I mean, don’t get it fucked up, the pussy was the bomb, but feelings got involved. I mean, I’m trying to fuck wit’ shorty like that, but I don’t know if it’s a wise move.”

  “Why not, is she all fucked up or something?” Spooky asked.

  “Oh, nah, shorty is bad, but she ‘bout her scratch.”

  “So you paid for the pussy?”

  “Hell no!” Jah assured him. “I just mean she’s high maintenance.”

  “Oh.” Spooky nodded. “I’ll tell you like this; you already know better than to be letting a bitch be out here climbing in your pocket, so we ain’t even gotta touch on that. We’re soldiers on these streets, so we always think as such, but at the same time we’re men. You could blow every bitches back out from here to D.C., but ain’t nothing like having that one shorty that makes you feel whole. A chick that makes you always want to be yourself, smell me?”

  “Yeah,” Jah said, seriously taking in Spooky’s words. “You’re right, my dude. I’m just gonna lay it out for shorty and let the cards fall wherever they fall.”

  “That’s what I’m talking about.” Spooky nudged him. “And when you speak to Yoshi, ask her if she’s got a friend.”

  “How the hell…?”

  “Jah, you’re like my brother. I know you.” Spooky gave him a wink.

  33

  Billy made hurried steps through the entrance of Harlem Hospital’s K building. The guard sitting behind the desk tried to stop her to check her ID, but Billy ignored him and kept going toward the elevators. The portly man in the company-issued blue suit made to pursue her, but Marcus interceded. After a brief explanation, and a once-over of Marcus’s identification, the guard returned to his post and troubled them no further.

  During the elevator ride up, Marcus tried to offer Billy words of encouragement, but they went in one ear and out the other. Seeing the pain in her eyes, he wanted nothing more than to reach out and comfort her, but he didn’t want to overstep his bounds. Before the doors had completely opened on the third floor, Billy was sliding between them and sprinting down the hall. Marcus found himself almost having to jog to keep up with her.

  When Billy reached the nurses’ station, she gave the young Trinidadian woman Yoshi’s full name and was directed to room 322. Keeping her speedy pace, Billy moved down the hall to locate her friend. When she found Yoshi’s room, she paused outside the door for a minute. Not really knowing what to expect, she ha
d to gather the courage to go in. Marcus offered to go with her, but Billy declined. This was something she had to do on her own. Taking a deep breath, Billy pushed the door open and stepped into the room.

  Yoshi lay on a bed, with the side of her face bandaged and her left arm in a cast. Her eye was swollen and her lip looked like it would burst if you touched it. Yoshi’s whole body was covered in bruises and scratches from the ordeal. Tears streamed down Billy’s cheek when she saw the mess the attacker had made of her friend.

  “Yoshi?” Billy called to her, slowly approaching the aluminum bed.

  At first Yoshi was still, but gradually she began to move. Stirring from her drug-induced slumber she looked at her friend through her good eye, which had a red web running through it. She tried to raise her arm, sending pain racing through her body.

  “Billy?” she whispered through her swollen and dry lips.

  “I’m here, baby,” Billy said, rushing to her bedside and taking her good hand. “It’s gonna be okay.”

  Yoshi tried to manage a smile, but only ended up wincing in pain. “I’m sorry,” she said, sobbing through a distorted voice.

  “It’s okay, baby.” Billy embraced her. “Who did this to you?”

  “It was Rel and those guys from Bad Blood,” she confessed. “When I went home from the club they were waiting from me.” Yoshi’s body shook from the sobbing. “I tried to fight them, but I couldn’t make them stop. Billy, they hurt me so bad.”

  “Shhh.” Billy stroked her forehead. “It’s over now. No one is gonna hurt you again.” The fury that burned inside Billy made her feel like she was sitting in a sauna. She had heard horror stories about victims of rape and her heart had always gone out to them, but having it hit this close to home hurt her beyond words.

  Though Billy had asked him to wait outside, Marcus crept to the doorway and observed from afar. Watching Billy comforting her battered friend almost brought him to tears. A man who would violate a woman in such a way was beyond the scum of the earth. Though he hadn’t known Yoshi very long, his sister stripped, too, making the offense feel too close to home. He could only imagine what he would do to someone if it had been Cat. Taking one last look at the tragic scene, Marcus left the women to their privacy.

  * * *

  When Rhonda entered her mother’s apartment, the first thing she smelled was chicken. Someone was in the kitchen frying the hell out of a bird and it had Rhonda’s stomach cramping up on her. She hadn’t eaten since that morning and all the weed she’d smoked since then had her ribs touching. She licked her lips in anticipation as she rounded the corner to crack on her mother for a piece of chicken, but her pleasant mood changed when she saw her sister Kelly sitting at the kitchen table.

  “Hello, Rhonda,” Kelly said, in a tone that made Rhonda feel like it was a task to speak to her.

  “What’s up,” Rhonda replied, matching her tone. For a minute the two sisters just stared at each other without speaking. Though they had been born and raised in the same house, the two of them shared a less-than-sisterly affection. Rhonda rolled her eyes and opened up the refrigerator.

  “So have you come to get your kids?” Kelly asked.

  “Excuse you?” Rhonda paused from her rummaging.

  “Your children,” Kelly repeated. “The two little people you pushed out of your ass.”

  Rhonda folded her arms. “Why do you wanna know? I don’t remember leaving them with you.”

  “No, but you left them on Mommy, once again.”

  “Kelly, don’t start with me. Mommy wasn’t complaining about it.”

  “And how would you know, not that you listen when people talk anyway. Rhonda, did it ever occur to you that she might not feel like baby-sitting your bad-ass kids after working a twelve-hour shift?”

  “Bitch, don’t be talking about my kids,” Rhonda warned her.

  Kelly adjusted her glasses, which were sitting atop her head. “Rhonda, you act like you don’t know your kids are bad-ass hell. When I was getting off the bus, Pooh and those little nappy-headed kids from down the street were throwing rocks at the winos in front of the liquor store.”

  “Please, them niggaz ain’t nothing but some alcoholics,” Rhonda said, as if she didn’t run at least a pint a day through her liver.

  “That isn’t the point, Rhonda. Those are still grown men and Pooh should learn to respect his elders. And we’re not even gonna speak on Alisha. Did you know that I found her ass around the corner all up in some boy’s face? When I checked her on it, she had the nerve to suck her teeth and act like I was intruding on her time.”

  “I’m gonna knock the hell out of that little bitch when I catch her,” Rhonda assured her.

  “For what, emulating what she sees?” Kelly asked. “Rhonda, your problem is that you think whipping those kids’ asses is the answer to everything. Granted, they could use a good ass kicking, but that isn’t gonna solve your problem.”

  “So what would you suggest, Ms. Know-It-All?” Rhonda asked sarcastically.

  “For starters, you could watch what you expose them to. When you’re constantly doing and saying ignorant things around children, they’re eventually going to pick up on it.”

  “So now you’re calling me ignorant?”

  “I don’t have to call you anything, your actions speak for you,” Kelly said venomously.

  Rhonda closed the refrigerator and glared at Kelly. “I’m ’bout sick of your shit. All you ever do is look down your nose at people like your shit don’t stink. You act like your life is so perfect, but I could point out a thing or two with you and your bullshit.”

  “Such as?” Kelly challenged.

  “How ’bout the fact that the nigga you’ve been fucking for the last six months has a wife you have to share him with,” Rhonda spat out, stunning Kelly. “Don’t look so surprised. Just because I don’t run in your little snooty-ass circles doesn’t mean that my ear ain’t to the streets. Acting like you’re the queen bitch, but you ain’t nothing but another man’s mistress.”

  “How dare you, you little black bitch!” Kelly jumped up.

  “Bitch?” Rhonda began, removing her earrings. “I got your bitch, you saditty ho!”

  Rita came into the kitchen wearing a flowered bathrobe and a purple scarf over her hair. A cigarette dangled from her mouth, bouncing on her bottom lips as she spoke. “Hey, hey, what’s all this noise about?”

  “Mommy, you need to tell your ghetto-ass daughter to calm herself,” Kelly said, cutting her eyes at Rhonda.

  “You got one more name to call me and I’m gonna bust you right in your fucking mouth, bitch!” Rhonda told her.

  “Jesus, Rhonda, why is your mouth so nasty?” Rita asked.

  “Because she got me tight, Ma. Every time you turn around she’s got something to say.”

  “Mommy, all I did was tell her the truth. She’s always dropping her kids off with somebody so she can go out and shake her ass. She needs to find something to do with herself other than drink and smoke.”

  “Fuck you, Kelly. I’m grown and I ain’t fucking nobody’s man for my habits.”

  “Of course not, you’re sleeping with them for Happy Meals,” Kelly taunted.

  Rhonda was so angry that she could feel the sweat beads beginning to form on her head. The next thing she knew she was lunging across the table at Kelly. Being caught totally off guard, Kelly caught the blow flush to her face when Rhonda threw it. She staggered back, almost falling, but the stove held her up. Rhonda tried to get at her again, but Kelvin grabbed her from behind.

  “What the hell are you doing?” he asked, not knowing what had just gone down.

  “Get off me, Kel!” Rhonda shouted, still trying to break his grip. “I’m gonna kill that bitch.”

  “Y’all bugging out in here, fighting in front of Mommy,” Kelvin told them both.

  “I don’t give a fuck, Kel. I’m tired of that bitch trying me.”

  Rita looked from daughter to daughter and shook her head. “Lord, does t
he bullshit never end with you damn kids.”

  “You need to tell this hood rat something,” Kelly said, holding her cheek where Rhonda had clocked her.

  “Keep running your mouth and I’m gonna give you just what you’ve been asking for,” Rhonda warned her sister.

  “Dammit, Rhonda, how come every time you come over here you starting something?” Rita said.

  “Me?” Rhonda couldn’t believe she had been singled out. “She started it!”

  “But you dragged it on. You’ve got three kids, Rhonda, when are you going to grow up?”

  Tears began to spill from Rhonda’s eyes. “You know what, y’all have been doing this to me for years, so I should be used to it. Every time something goes down, I’m to blame. It doesn’t matter who started it, but your precious Kelly could never do any wrong.”

  “That’s not true. I’ve always been a loving mother to all of you,” Rita defended.

  Rhonda’s eyes went blank, then back to alert again. “Loving? You can’t be serious. Ever since we were little all you ever cared about was your twins, and when Kelvin came out of the closet, he went on your shit list, too.”

  “Rhonda, you need to stop telling that bullshit lie. All you’re doing is trying to get attention,” Rita said.

  “You can’t even spell ‘attention,’” Rhonda shot back. “All my life you’ve made me feel like I was more of a burden than a daughter. Everything I do is wrong! I can remember a time when I was twelve and I told you that your boyfriend had been touching me. Do you remember what happened?” Rhonda asked, staring at her mother, who wouldn’t meet her gaze.

  “Rhonda, that’s enough.” Kelvin tried to place a reassuring hand on Rhonda’s shoulder, but she knocked it away.

  “Nah, Kel, let’s lay it all on the table.” She turned back to her mother. “You slapped me in the face and called me a lying little whore. You even had the nerve to accuse me of trying to come on to that dirty old son of a bitch. Bet you felt like shit when they locked him up for raping that little girl on Eighth Avenue.”