“What’s the big deal, Tyrus? Why you all up in my face about some fool?”
“You so high right about now, you don’t even realize who that is.”
“Whatever.” Dawn posted up by the store’s doorway still hoping to hit the teen up for his spare change. “Who is he supposed to be, the president or some shit like that? What in the hell makes him so damn special he can’t be talked to?”
“Well, smart ass, that was JoJo. JoJo Banks! Now, does that name ring a bell in your dense mind?”
“Huh?” Dawn asked in a surprised tone, not sure of what her only child had just said.
“Oh, now you wanna pay attention and play the dumb role?” Tyrus, head lowered, turned around, walking off before his former classmate had the chance to come out of the store and clown him. “You make me sick. I swear to God I wish you were dead sometimes, like you caused that man to be. At least I’d be free! Ol’ boy’s mother was right in what she said all them years ago. Your black ass is a curse.”
“That was little JoJo,” Dawn whispered under her breath as she stared down at the pavement. She felt a bit of shame cloud her cracked-out brain. “Are you sure that was him? Are you positive?” she called out to her son, who was on the move.
Tyrus threw his hand up, dismissing his mother without even turning around as he walked out of sight. I’m ’bout done with her crazy ass. That bitch getting all the way outta control.
Standing over to the far side of the store’s glass door, a jumpy Dawn waited as patiently as she could for the son of her murdered ex-lover to come out. She wanted nothing more than to apologize to him for her off-the-chain behavior. Even though the extremely addicted woman had a monkey on her back the size of Texas and was craving to get high, Dawn let potential sponsors pass by. Stunned by what her son had said as well, Dawn felt that she at least owed the young teenager an explanation why she’d come on to him the way she did.
Eventually, JoJo appeared from behind the store’s doors.
“Hello, JoJo.” Dawn tried unsuccessfully to rub her matted hair into a ponytail, straighten out her oil-stained blue jean skirt, and lick her dry lips.
Disgusted, he turned his head in disbelief that she even had the nerve to speak his name. “Please just leave me alone. Please.”
“Listen, I don’t mean any harm. Can I talk to you about something?”
“Talk to me? What could you possibly want to talk to me about?” JoJo twisted his face, shrugging his shoulder to the side in an attempt to avoid Dawn’s filthy hands trying to touch him. He was in his feelings all the way around. “I already told ya crackhead ass I’m tight on anything like that bullshit you was talking, so you can kindly get the fuck out my face!”
“No, no. I just wanted to let you know I’m sorry for asking you what I did in the first place. If I’d known you was my Joseph’s little son, I wouldn’t—”
“Your Joseph? Did you just really say that? Are you fucking serious right now?” The youngster stopped in his tracks. Looking her up and down he laughed loudly. “Those drugs you on must really have your mind messed up or something, stepping to me like that. Your Joseph. Get on with all of that!”
“All I meant was that I was wrong and ain’t mean to disrespect you.” Dawn followed him halfway down the block. Still trying to plead her case, Dawn was relentless. Tyrus watched, ashamed, from the steps of the porch of one of his associates. “Your father was a good man, and I really did love him. How is your mother doing these days? Is she okay? How’s your sister?”
JoJo was infuriated. He was trying his best to remain calm as Dawn continued to painstakingly trail behind him firing off question after question. Carrying the white plastic bag packed with his mother’s spaghetti sauce as well as chips, pop, and a few candy bars he’d purchased for his little sister, JoJo finally lost control of his emotions. He proceeded to let his deceased father’s ex-girlfriend on the side have it full throttle.
“Look, what in the fuck is wrong with your ass, besides the obvious? Stop talking about my father and asking about my mother, okay? Everybody in the hood knows if it weren’t for you being such a selfish-minded hooker, he’d still be alive!” Though it wasn’t in his usual character makeup, JoJo had no problem screaming at an adult, especially her. “So, for real, stop bringing up the past talking about how much you loved my father! Go somewhere and do what you’ve been doing for years: smoke crack and leave me and my family alone! We catching it bad enough these days without you stirring up ancient shit.”
Momentarily standing on the corner, taking stock of what was said, Dawn felt remorse as JoJo angrily marched away. Like a true crackhead, though, the second she heard a car horn blow, her mind went right back to its original mission. As if that were a crackhead call to action, she walked over to the beat-up, old Ford Tempo that had honked at her.
“Hey, baby, you lookin’ for me?” she asked as she leaned up against a stop sign pole.
“Yeah, I got a little bag with your name on it, Dawn. I’ma need you to come around the corner with me for a few, though.” The driver signaled for the drug-addicted Dawn to come and ride with him around the block. He needed for her to go in the alley for a few minutes before he had to go home.
Dawn knew what time it was. Deep down she knew she had a problem. She knew her son was ashamed of her. But the monkey on her back and the guilt in her soul wouldn’t let her walk away from that white snow. It was the only thing that made her feel good, and she was always willing to do anything to get her hands on some of it.
I don’t know who she thinks she is talking to me like I care what she has to say, JoJo contemplated with each step he took. I would tell Ma what she had the nerve to say, but things are already bad enough for her. And if she hears this, she liable to go back up there and beat the brakes off that bitch. So, naw, I’m just gonna let that stupid shit be. That ho ain’t worth the trouble anyhow.
“Yo, man, slow down!” Tyrus, with pants sagging, ran off the stairs. He caught up with his former classmate, who didn’t even slow his pace. “Hey, JoJo, let me holler at you for a minute.”
“Oh, my fucking God, what the fuck you want, man?” Still very much rattled with mixed emotions from his encounter with Dawn, JoJo was not in the mood to deal with her offspring. “If this is about what I just said to your mother, she straight had it coming. She was out of order from Jump Street, and you know that.”
“Naw, guy, I know she be bugging out most of the time. That’s what I wanted to say.” Tyrus pulled up his sagging jeans enough to keep them from falling down to his ankles as he walked.
JoJo was relieved that’s all he wanted. He didn’t want or need any sort of trouble from Tyrus Jackson. At this point, all JoJo wanted to do was get back home and give his mom the good news about his day. “Oh. Okay, then, we good.”
“Yeah, it’s all that dope that got her acting the way she does, out here running with all these assholes who be taking advantage of her. You know what I’m saying.” Tyrus hated talking about his mom’s situation, but there was no use in trying to act like it didn’t exist. The whole block knew what his mom was about.
Feeling a bit of sympathy for Tyrus, JoJo slowed his pace back to the house where his mother was, who was hardworking and would never think of doing the despicable things that Dawn did. “Dang, man, I’m sorry things are so messed up for you in your world, but—”
“It ain’t nothing.” Tyrus tried downplaying his pain, but unfortunately, he wore the grave appearance of sorrow written all across his face. “That’s how it goes sometimes. We can’t choose our family, ’cause if we could, I’d be out in the suburbs rocking out with some rich white family getting that serious bread.”
“Yeah, I heard that.” JoJo kinda laughed. Years ago, he hated Tyrus just for being Dawn’s son. As time had gone on, though, JoJo had too many things going on in his life to have time to spend hating Tyrus. The more he thought about it, the more he realized Tyrus had nothing to do with what happened between Dawn and his father. They were a
ll just kids caught up in their parents’ mess. JoJo had decided a long time ago that his beef was not with Tyrus.
“But, shiddd, in reality, my black ass stuck here in the fucking hood,” Tyrus said as he looked down at his sneakers.
“Hey, not to get into your business,” JoJo said, continuing his strange, unexpected conversation with Dawn Jackson’s son, of all people, “but how come you don’t attend classes anymore? I haven’t seen you around school since sometime before vacation started.”
“Come on now, dude, you know it ain’t no secret that them busters at that bitch was trying to hold me back another year. And a guy like me wasn’t going for that. School just ain’t for me,” he reasoned with JoJo. “Besides, with a moms like mine, a brotha gotta get out here and grind if I wanna eat. You feel me? Shit ain’t easy around my way.”
Before the unlikely pair knew it, they were standing in front of JoJo’s house, met by an impatient Yanna standing on the porch.
“Boy, get your behind in this house with that sauce. You know Jania gotta eat before she starts practicing for that recital of hers,” she fussed, not recognizing who Tyrus was.
“Okay, Ma, I’ll be right there.” JoJo got an epiphany as he glanced downward at the bag in his hands that was stuffed with items he’d purchased with the extra dough that lined his pockets.
“All right, dawg, I see ya moms is calling you, so I’m gonna bounce. Good looking on understanding that ol’ girl situation. I know she’s fucked up in the head, but she still my blood.”
If he’d been any other friend from school, JoJo would’ve invited Tyrus in to have dinner with his family. However, considering who Tyrus’s mother was, JoJo knew that his mother would go off the deep end if he invited Tyrus to dinner. So, instead, he had an alternative idea. “Don’t worry about it, man. It’s all good,” JoJo said as he leaned in to give Tyrus a pound. “Yo, you know I would invite you to stay at my crib for dinner, but with all that shit between your moms and mine—”
“I gotchu, man. Don’t even worry about it. I know what it is,” Tyrus interrupted him.
“Yeah, you know how it is. But, you know what? Are you busy tomorrow about noon? I’ve got a business proposition for you that might make us both some money.”
The word “money” was all that Tyrus, who was always tangled up in some “get rich or die trying” scheme, needed to hear. “Nah, I ain’t busy.”
“A’ight, cool. Meet me in front of the store tomorrow at twelve o’clock then.”
“Okay, see you tomorrow then.”
The two parted ways. Tyrus decided to walk back to the store to see if he could convince his mom to go home with him, while JoJo ran up the steps eager to have dinner with his family.
As Yanna fixed the spaghetti, she asked JoJo, “Who was that boy you were out there talking to? I’ve never seen him around before.”
JoJo didn’t want to lie to his mother, but considering the anger and disappointment she was feeling about being laid off, he remained silent. In an attempt to change the subject, he brought up a subject that was always touchy with his mother. Her past life growing up in the projects had been deemed off-limits since he was a small child. The only thing Yanna ever spoke about was that Auntie Grace was probably the best thing that ever happened to her, and that if you run the streets with ill intentions, the outcome would always be the same: jail or death. “So, Mom, tell me again why you moved from the projects when you were younger. What happened?”
Yanna was shocked. Her son bringing up her life in the hood had thrown her off. “JoJo, why you wasting my time about that mess? I told you a long time ago, and I’m not about to rehash it. Just know that you better be out here doing the right thing. Trouble has a way of finding a person doing the correct things all the time, so doing the wrong things ups the ante.”
JoJo knew this was the perfect time to bring up what happened to Byron. Although his mother had never met him, Yanna always appreciated the time the drug dealer would spend with her son, warning him about the ills of the street world. “So, you know earlier I was supposed to cut three yards.”
“Yeah, and?” Yanna stood at the stove, pouring the spaghetti sauce into the pot.
“Well, when I got over to Byron’s house, he wasn’t there. But there were a lot of other cars parked there.”
“Other cars? Okay, and so what’s wrong with that? I don’t get it.”
JoJo had a lump in his throat. It was hard to swallow. “Well, like I said, Byron wasn’t there. Some of his people were inside his house taking his things.”
Yanna, who was now stirring the pot, stopped. Concerned, she then turned to face her son, who was now crying. The single parent had seen that look on plenty of people’s faces throughout her years alive. It was easy to know what her son was going to say next. Saving him the trouble, Yanna beat him to the punch. “Byron is dead, isn’t he? Somebody killed that boy, didn’t they?”
JoJo broke all the way down. As Yanna held her child in her arms, she then decided to tell him all about her former life. For the first time ever, she left out no details. The two of them talked through dinner and cleanup and didn’t stop talking until it was time for Jania’s recital to start.
Before they left, the always incredibly loyal son blessed Yanna and his little sister with some money from the shed. At first, the proud mother refused the offer, but as the moments passed she changed her mind. She knew the bills were in shutoff status, and it was what it was. Byron couldn’t use the money where he was, but her household definitely could benefit from it. Yanna had no idea whatsoever that would be the start of JoJo having an open pass to start slinging.
CHAPTER SIX
JoJo looked at the clock, which was hung on an old, rusty nail over the kitchen sink. Realizing that it was close to twelve, he got anxious. He was rushing his mother and sister out of the house. He had given his mom some more money this morning so she and Jania could go out shopping for some much-needed new clothes and sneakers. Jania was beyond excited to get to pick out some new outfits. She was used to having to pick things from the secondhand store because it was all Yanna could afford. Yanna had questioned JoJo about how much money he had stumbled upon, and JoJo gave her the partial truth about what he’d found in Byron’s shed.
“Ma, you and Jania are gonna miss the bus if you don’t hurry up.” JoJo was doing his best to get them out of the house. He needed them out for the day because he planned on bringing Tyus back to the house for their business meeting.
He had stayed up all night thinking about what he was about to embark on. Still deep in thought today, he paced the floor with anticipation as well as hesitation as to whether he was about to do the right thing. His heart sank, and he cringed when he looked at the wastepaper basket that still had his mother’s balled-up pink slip in it. Then he thought about the way Yanna’s and Jania’s faces lit up when he handed them the money and told them to go shopping. JoJo felt like he had to do what he had to do for his family. What he was about to embark on was a necessity. Even though the money he’d stumbled on was enough to keep them comfortable for a few months, he knew that blessing would eventually run out and then they would be back at square one. So, he had to start making moves from now so that they could stay ahead of the struggle and start living better lives.
The more he sat around thinking and waiting, the more he kept second-guessing himself, though. As soon as his mom and sister walked out the front door, JoJo bolted out not far behind them and up toward the corner store. At exactly twelve noon, Tyrus turned the corner wearing the same clothes he’d had on the evening before.
“What up, doe,” Tyrus greeted him.
“Nothing much,” JoJo replied, suspiciously looking around the store’s parking lot. “For a minute, I thought you weren’t going to come and meet up.” He glanced down at his watch, impressed with the promptness Tyrus had shown. “But I’m glad you did. I need to show you something. Hold tight a second.”
“Well, I sure hope it’s some damn money, ’ca
use right about now that’s the only thing a nigga like me wanna see.” Tyrus had greed in his eyes as he watched JoJo dig deep into the pocket of his neatly ironed navy blue Dockers. Pulling out a folded-up piece of paper towel, JoJo looked around once more, praying no extra eyes were watching.
“Dang, dawg, you killing me acting all top-secret squirrel and shit,” Tyrus mocked, growing slightly agitated. “What’s the deal? What you got?”
JoJo paid no attention to his jokes while he carefully unwrapped the paper towel, still scoping out his surroundings the entire time. “Hey, dude, do you know what this is?”
Tyrus was confused as he took one of the small tablets out of the napkin JoJo held. He flipped it over to the side that was branded with a symbol. “I don’t get it.” He laughed, moving out of the way of some customers who were pulling up into the parking lot. “What fool don’t know what these is? The question should be, what your Dudley Do-Right self doing with some Ecstasy pills? I know you not getting lifted, are you?”
“Ecstasy. I thought that’s what they might’ve been, but I really wasn’t too sure,” JoJo said, confessing his naïve knowledge of drugs altogether. “And of course I’m not getting lifted. Imagine that!”
“Okay, well, if you not getting high, I don’t get it. Where did you get them from? And, real talk, do you got some more you wanna get rid of?” Tyrus’s eyes were still filled with greed, and now so was the sound of his voice. “’Cause we can bang the dog shit outta these bad boys!”
“Hey, do you feel like coming over to my house?” At this point, JoJo decided it would be better to just show Tyrus the real deal than to tell him.
“Yeah, all right. Just let me grab a juice and a bag of chips for lunch first,” Tyrus insisted before they made their way to Yanna’s house.
Immediately going inside the store, Tyrus bought his stuff as fast as he could so he and JoJo could get going. Tyrus didn’t want to give JoJo any time to change his mind about inviting him over to the house. He really wanted to see what it was that JoJo had to show him he was working with.
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