Welfare Wifeys

by K'wan

  By the time his gun was empty the car was a smoking mess of holes and blood. Remo hung out the passenger window with half of his face blown off and dripping down the side of the car. The chick behind the wheel had a gaping hole in her head. The man who had been shooting at Don B. lay halfway out the back of the car with his chest opened. He was a brown-skinned kid who Animal had never seen a day in his life and would never see again.

  “Drop that hammer, muthafucka!” Animal heard someone shout. When he looked up a half-dozen police cars had appeared seemingly out of nowhere. “Lay that pistol on the floor real slow,” Detective Alvarez said, keeping his gun pointed at Animal’s head.

  Animal thought about holding court, but the pleading look in Gucci’s eyes stayed his hand. As slowly as he could he lay on the ground and allowed himself to be captured.

  “You know, my partner bet me that if we laid on you long enough you’d do something stupid,” Detective Brown said, squeezing the handcuffs and yanking Animal roughly to his feet.

  “Save the speech and take me in, pussy,” Animal capped.

  “Wait, this has got to be some mistake,” Gucci pleaded with the detective with tears in her eyes.

  “No mistake, baby. We caught your man at the scene and still holding the murder weapon. It don’t get no sweeter than this!” Detective Brown said proudly.

  “Partner, you better come take a look at this,” Detective Alvarez called from where he stood examining the bodies. When Brown walked over to see what his partner was looking at his eyes got wide. “Do you remember this dude?”

  “Hell yeah, for as much time as we’ve spent chasing him. That’s Shannon Jones, the brother of that little girl Dena who Don B. was said to have raped. Shit, had we known that we could’ve picked Animal up on a bogus charge earlier so that he couldn’t have been here to save Don B.’s maggot ass.”

  Detective Alvarez looked over at Don B. “You are one lucky muthafucka.”

  Don B. shrugged as if it was nothing, knowing that a few seconds prior he had been ready to shit his pants.

  “Too bad we can’t say the same thing about your buddy.” Detective Brown yanked Animal by the arm. “And you”—he looked at Don B.—“we’ll catch you on the come around.”

  “Do you want us to take him downtown?” one of the uniformed officers offered to transport Animal.

  “Hell no. We’re delivering this one ourselves,” Detective Brown beamed.

  “Oh, Animal, I’m so sorry, I was wrong about you cheating on me and I’m so sorry for ever doubting you.” Gucci sobbed as the detectives carted him away.

  Animal smiled. “It’s all good, baby cakes. Sometimes this is just how it plays out for a nigga. I might be a minute so do you think you could find it in your heart to wait for me?”

  “Forever and a day, baby. Forever and a day!”

  “And let nothing short of God change that.” He winked.

  “Get your ass in the car.” Detective Brown shoved Animal roughly in the backseat.

  As they drove away from the scene Animal weighed his trip back to New York. One thing he could say was that it had been a colorful one. He had got to be a celebrity in his hometown, even if it was only for a week. Though he had crippled Rico’s organization, Rico was still out there somewhere. When he woke up the next morning he would probably read the paper and have a good laugh at what had become of his enemy. It didn’t matter though. Animal was going to prison for a long time but they couldn’t keep him forever. He would carry his grudge with Rico until one of them was in the ground.

  He looked out the window at Gucci’s weeping face and felt a warm sensation in his chest. Even with the best lawyers he was going to have to do quite a bit of time for the shooting, but knowing Gucci would be in his corner would make it possible for him to stand strong no matter how much time they hit him with. They say that love conquers all and from what he had learned during his time with Gucci, Animal believed that very strongly.

  Epilogue

  It was back to basics for Jada after the drama at the club with Gucci. It had been fun hanging out with her cousin, but Gucci kept a little too much drama for Jada’s taste. She was looking forward to getting back to her grandmother’s apartment and getting a good night’s sleep. The next day it was back to business.

  She was surprised when she got home to find the living-room light still on and her grandmother talking to someone, especially when she was normally asleep at that hour. She figured that it was one of the neighbors with some more of the drama that they loved to bring to the Butler house, but when she rounded the corner and saw who was sitting on the couch her jaw dropped.

  “Mommy, Mommy, guess who came to visit us?” Jalen pulled her by the arm.

  “Girl, I’ve been trying to call you all night to tell you to come home, you know it’s rude to have people waiting for you like that.” Ms. Pat was going on and on, but Jada was just standing there dumbfounded. “Well, ain’t you gonna say something?”

  Jada tried to find the words but she just couldn’t.

  “Yeah, ain’t you gonna show ya baby daddy some love?” Cutty asked, bouncing little Miles on his knee.

  “Oh, hell nah,” Jada finally managed to blurt out before she fainted.

  After the trouble with Solomon Malika decided she had had enough of Douglass Projects. Taking just a few personal items she packed her and her son up and went to have a long overdue talk with her parents. She had expected to have to whine and beg, but surprisingly her parents had missed her as much as she had missed them, especially her father. It was high time that he got to know his grandson and the woman his little girl had grown into.

  That monday morning they laid Mimi to rest with a quiet ceremony that included just a few friends and loved ones from the block. She had no family, but an anonymous donor had made sure she had a beautiful homecoming. A carriage pulled by two white horses rode her through her projects one last time before she was taken to the cemetery in Linden, NJ. Mimi might not have been loved by many, but the few who loved her did so beyond measure.

  Rico’s niece had a beautiful wedding ceremony at St. Michael’s Cathedral. Rico had to pull quite a bit of strings to make it happen, but nothing was too good for his niece. Carmen had insisted that the wedding was off-limits so the only people there who he had street ties with were Shai and Swan. He tried to thank Shai for the little tip he gave him about Animal, but Shai barely said two words to him. It was as if he was upset that Animal had failed to kill Rico. No matter, Shai was on borrowed time anyway. When Rico was able to restructure his inner crew he was coming for Shai’s throne.

  Rico came down the stairs flanked by all the wedding guests, throwing rice at his niece and her new husband. When he got down to the bottom of the steps he saw a little black boy wearing thick glasses peddling flowers. “Shoo, shoo, don’t you see we’re having a wedding here?”

  “I’m sorry, sir, I’m just trying to hustle off some of these flowers,” the boy said timidly.

  “We’ve got enough flowers so take a hike.” Rico shoved him.

  “But not like these, they smell really nice.” The little boy held one of the bouquets up for Rico to inspect. Rico noticed that there was something wedged between the flowers and when he looked closer to inspect them Ashanti pulled the trigger.

  The bullet went in Rico’s throat and out the back of his neck, spattering the bridesmaids with blood. When Rico dropped to his knees Ashanti shot him again in the gut. Brasco came next, firing a shot into Rico’s back as the wedding guests watched in horror. Even Nef had finally gotten his hands dirty and gave Rico two shots. Shai’s men moved to intervene, but Shai stopped them as he knew that this was not their battle.

  As the young gunmen were leaving Ashanti stopped and pointed his fingers at Swan in the shape of a gun and made a popping sound with his mouth. “See you around, playboy.”

  As Animal had expected the judge remanded him and ruled that he be held without bail until his next court date. The attorney Gucci had hired f
or him tried to dispute it but the judge wouldn’t hear it. The witnesses and the police painted a picture of Animal as a remorseless killer who wasn’t fit to walk the streets and the judged believed them. This was a battle that Animal would have to fight behind the wall. Detectives Brown and Alvarez were floating so high on their horse that they volunteered to take Animal to Rikers Island.

  “Looks like we finally got your black ass, huh? Big bad Animal about to spend the rest of his life in a cage, how fucking ironic is that?” Detective Brown taunted Animal, but he wouldn’t feed into it.

  “You know for as pretty as you are, kid, I’d hate to be you when your ass touches that rock.” Alvarez laughed.

  “Man, both of y’all can suck my dick. Just either take me to jail or shoot me and put me out of my misery, but please stop talking,” Animal said and busied himself looking out the window. Ahead of them there were some men directing traffic around some construction that was going on near the on ramp to the BQE.

  “What the fuck is this?” Detective Alvarez grimaced at the construction.

  “Fuck it, J. Throw the lights on and go through it,” Brown suggested.

  While the two detectives were arguing about their best course of action, Animal saw what they didn’t which was one of the construction workers pulling a gun.

  Animal hit the floor of the car just as the shooting started. Glass shattered all around him and he could feel Detective Alvarez lose control of the car. The sedan jumped the curb, striking two cars and a fire hydrant before coming to rest on its side. Animal used his legs and slid over broken glass out the back window of the car. He felt like his arm was broken and it was hard for him to breathe, but he kept crawling. Through his blurred vision he could see a brindle pit bull stalking toward him. The dog leaned in and snarled in Animal’s face. He was so hurt that if the pit decided to maul him all he would be able to do was lie there.

  “Isis come.” He heard a voice through his fog of pain.

  Animal focused his eyes as best he could and followed the dog to the voice. He looked up and saw a pair of green eyes staring down at him from a coal-black face. “Damn, I know I’m in hell if you’re here,” Animal mumbled.

  “Nah, you ain’t dead. There’s someone who’s been waiting a long time to see you and we have need of your unique skills. Get him in the van,” the green-eyed man ordered someone Animal couldn’t see.

  “Where are you taking me?” Animal asked, trying to stay conscious long enough to hear the answer.

  “You let me worry about that. Just think of it as a family reunion,” the green-eyed man told him. The last thing Animal heard was the green-eyed man’s all too familiar laugh before the darkness took him.