by Teri Woods
“You got money?”
“Yeah, there should be some here. Come on.” She led him downstairs to the safe and unlocked it.
“Damn. There should be more. There’s only two thousand here.”
“Two thousand? Where the fuck is the dough at?” asked Rik.
They sat silent for a moment. Gena wondering what dough.
“There should be way more than that in the safe. Qua said he had millions.”
“Millions?” Gena asked.
“Yeah, baby. True motherfucking blue millions.”
“Millions?” Gena asked again.
“Gena, don’t get that shit twisted. Quadir made it clear to me that he was a millionaire. Now, I don’t know where, but he had millions.”
“His mother must have it. She got everything else.”
“Damn, that’s fucked up. Gena, you don’t have no money saved?”
“Yeah, a couple of thousand.”
You spend thousands like it’s dollars, and you have no major paper saved, thought Rik. “Gena, you holding at least a half million just in jewelry, furniture and furs, and you have no cash? Go figure. How much do you spend a week, ten?”
“No, more like fifteen maybe twenty thousand.”
“See? And you have two thousand. When is the Benz coming out of the shop?”
“I don’t know. It should’ve been ready.”
“I don’t know what to say. And why do you want to go to your grandmother’s house? She lives down Richard Allen, right? I mean, damn, if you don’t want to stay with me, then at least let me get you a house or an apartment.”
“No, Rik. You act like you’re my keeper. Quadir was my keeper and he’s gone now. I want to go home. I haven’t been home since I was seventeen. I miss home, and I’m sorry if the projects scare you, but I grew up there, remember?”
“I just can’t figure out how you, Quadir’s woman, is broke and going back to Richard Allen.”
“And Rik, what part of that don’t you understand?”
“I don’t understand why you want to go back to the projects. Motherfuckers want to get out and you trying to go back.”
“I want to go home, don’t you understand? The projects isn’t my home. My home is where my family is. They’re the ones who care about me. They’re the ones who will take care of me.”
Rik looked at her. “Gena, you’re a big girl. You can take care of yourself. You don’t need to be living down in no Richard Allen. Man, those niggas down there is crazy.” He knew. He ran Richard Allen.
Gena suppressed a smirk and looked at him, feeling normal again and liking it. “I want to go home for a while. I really need my family. I mean, this big old house is the best shelter from the cruel world, but without Qua, it just ain’t the same. And now he’s gone,” she said walking over to her fireplace. “He gave me everything, Rik. He gave me a purpose and he loved me like nobody has ever loved me in my whole life. He gave me loyalty, Rik. I mean, I know he cheated on me from time to time. I could tell. But even with the bullshit, he was the most wonderful man. I don’t want to really leave here, Rik.”
“I know you don’t. Look up in here. It’s the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. Qua said he was gonna get you this house. He said his children would grow up in this house and the two of you would live in this house together for the rest of your lives.”
“He really said that?”
‘Yeah, he really did.”
“Isn’t there anything I can do to stay here?”
“Whose name is on the deed?”
“Hers.”
“Then it’s her house. If she wants you out, she can get you out. She can get you out through the courts.”
“What kind of fucking justice is this? I lose my man, I lose my goddamn house, the bitch just straight up took the Rover. Doesn’t she know the goddamn store is five miles down the road?”
“I know,” said Rik. “That shit was cold. I would have never thought his mother would come as raunchy as she did today.”
“I have nothing. I’m losing everything,” she said sadly.
“You buy Armani underwear. Look at all this furniture. Look at it, not to mention all the goddamn diamonds you wear. You look like someone went straight to Africa. Please, you sitting up here trumped up talking like life is over. You got more than any woman I know, Gena. Shit, you got paid. Bitches don’t see a portion of what you got. You better look around. All this is yours. In another apartment, or another house. What you got, five big screens up in here? Three living room sets?”
“Four,” said Gena.
“Pool table, video games, and with all the cases of Dom, you could bootleg. I’m saying. I just don’t want to see you back down the projects. I know goddamn well Qua wouldn’t want you down there. Stay in a hotel, then, find a place. I’ll pay for it.”
“Rik, I have made up my mind. I’m going home for a while. When I’m ready you can get me a house.”
“Shit, I really wish you would stop with that shit.”
“What is it you don’t understand? You don’t understand where the money is? I spent all the goddamn money, Rik. You don’t know why I want to go back home? ’cause I’m not scared of no Richard Allen. I don’t understand what’s so hard to understand. I don’t want to leave here, okay?” She was crying again. “I just wish Quadir was here, that’s all. If he was here, everything would be okay. Now everything is falling apart. Don’t you understand?”
Rik had enough. “What the fuck do you think I been going through? Lita is gone. Lita is gone, by the hands of some nigga named Ran. Lita isn’t ever coming back. Khyree is gone with his grandmom. I don’t have my family. I don’t have the only motherfucker out here that I could trust. So, all them tears you done shed isn’t doing neither one of us no good, and don’t start crying again.” He really didn’t understand her thinking. Gena was a hustler’s wife. She was not supposed to be in no projects. It was too many other hustlers out there that would see her straight on the strength of Quadir.
“I don’t know, G. What can I tell you, sister, but to find that money. Before you leave this house, you find that money, ’cause there’s money here to be found. Millions, Gena. Millions. We should be looking for it now.”
“Do you really think there’s millions in here?” She stopped crying.
“I know there is. Qua got to have it in a safe.”
“There was only a couple thousand in the safe.”
“Then that ain’t the one, baby. Trust me, there’s gotta be another one. Qua had his shit stacked. Why else you think he would give up a yield of fifty, sometimes eighty thousand dollars every week? Quadir had his own thing set up, Gena, with plenty of brothers on the payroll. Quadir had all the money. That money is up in here.”
“There is no money in here, Rik.”
“Yes, there is. You just don’t know about it.”
“Rik, I live here, okay? I know every nook and cranny of this house. Trust me, there is no millions nowhere in here. If there was, I would know about it. Every week Quadir used to put money in the safe. That was it. That’s where he went to get his money. I wasn’t allowed to go near the safe until he told me the combination, and that wasn’t until after that bitch Cherelle called my house. There is no money. Quadir did not have no millions. His father was over here the other night, and he told Quadir that he had to go on a budget.”
“Then his pops didn’t know about the money, Gena. Quadir was like that. I’m telling you, you can believe me or not. Quadir said he had millions, and when he said millions, he meant millions. Gena, it’s like hitting Lotto. Never having to worry about making ends meet, never having to worry about how you’re gonna eat, never having to worry about how you gonna get what you want. Millions. Quadir said he had saved millions and was retiring from the drug game. Now, you can believe me or you don’t have to, but I’m telling you now, the boy had money coming out his ass and he didn’t take it with him, baby. I think we should search the house.”
“You want to searc
h this house?”
“Yeah, I do.”
“Then you go ahead, ’cause I ain’t searching shit. Ain’t no money in here, Rik,” she said walking away from him frustrated.
He started with the walls, looking for trap doors, hollow sounds as he went around knocking. He knew he’d have had them if he had this big house. He looked behind pictures, tapped on the walls, searched all over the basement; anywhere one could store a hidden safe. After a good forty-five minutes of searching, Rik concluded that the money wasn’t in the house.
“I told you.” Gena went into the kitchen and poured some milk for Gucci.
“Even the cat is paid,” Rik said, shaking his head. “Diamond and gold Gucci tag, and you don’t have no idea where the money is.”
“Rik, I don’t think Qua told you the truth because there would be no need for us to go on a budget.”
“Gena, where is the money? You spend twenty thousand a week. Come on, he wasn’t serving the city kilos no more to be givin’ you the money like that. That’s why he wanted you on a budget, just you.”
“Well, it looks like I’m on a budget now, since you didn’t find all these millions,” Gena said.
“Either that or my pockets is getting ready to hurt me.”
“You gonna let me hold Lita’s Cadillac?” she asked with a smile.
“Yeah, if you want it,” he said, not feeling right about some one else driving Lita’s car.
“Yeah, I do.”
“Well, you want to go get it?”
“That would mean I would have to go outside,” she said.
“Yeah, you’d be going outside to get the car.”
“Okay. Let me get dressed.” Gena went upstairs and threw on a pair of jeans and some riding boots, and a leather jacket.
Rik drove straight to the apartment and parked next to Lita’s car and gave Gena the keys. “You know, I’ll really miss Lita,” Gena said.
“That girl meant the world to me, man. You don’t know how bad I feel. I lost her. That girl was my friend, besides being my woman.”
“I felt bad when I didn’t go to her funeral.”
“Hey, G, after what you went through at Quadir’s funeral, I knew you was in the zone. But one thing’s for sure, Viola Richards brought you back with the dumb-ass shit, didn’t she?” Rik nudged her with a laugh.
“Quadir was my heart, Rik. He was the only thing that mattered to me, you know.”
“Yeah, I know. Just remember that Q is up there, G. He’s watching everything you do, and he expects you to move on. In time you will, but it’s nice to know that there’s somebody up there watching over you, somebody protecting you. And that is what Qua is doing. He’s got his wings and right about now, they’re shielding you. So, do the right thing, Gena, and don’t sweat that house. You came out on top, baby. Fuck the money, fuck the house, fuck the cars. You still a winner. Shit, you was shootin’ for the moon with the nigga and now you among the stars, baby. Just remember that.” Rik handed her the keys to Lita’s car. “Drive safe.”
“I will.” Gena kissed Rik on the cheek and got out of the car.
“Gena, don’t sweat no paper out here. Call me, understand?”
“Okay. I will, Rik. I will.” She drove Lita’s car to Gah Git’s and told her grandmother that she wanted the room upstairs and that she would pay to have all the junk that was piled in there put in storage. Gah Git understood why Gena wanted to come home, especially after she told her about Quadir’s mother coming there and telling her to get her ass out in a week. Her poor baby was losing everything, and Gah Git was scared that Gena wouldn’t be able to handle all of this.
Downtown in the Federal Building, Agents Fields and Burson sat with the U.S. Attorney Paul Perachetti.
“He’s willing to testify sir, but we need to place him in the Witness Protection Program. Without him, we have nothing,” said Agent Burson.
“If we want these assholes, we need his testimony. The death penalty is riding on his testimony, sir,” said Agent Fields.
Perachetti sat back listening to everything they were outlining for him. The men waited in silence as the man considered and finally agreed.
“Our Witness Protection Program in North Dakota would serve best. Its rehabilitation facility is superior, and he’ll have access to therapeutic modalities to get him back on his feet, so to speak. What about the wife and kids?”
“They’ll want to be with him,” said Burson.
“Fine. Well, then, we’ve got it all straight. The witness will be transported to North Dakota.” The field agents breathed their sighs of relief as the U.S. Attorney continued. “We’ll want to keep this low key, you got that? You’ll bring him in by helicopter from the hospital. Collect his family now, and take them all down together.” He continued to give his instructions and opinions as he made arrangements on the phone.
It wasn’t difficult for Forty. The agents were glad he decided to cooperate. Actually, they were overly delighted. They had the leader of the Junior Mafia behind bars. They had a live witness. Sure, they were going to put him in protective custody, but that was their job. To them, Forty was only worth his testimony and past that was nothing but a drug dealer in a wheelchair.
Forty was distressed about the entire situation. Sharon was in tears, having to choose between her life in Philadelphia with her family and her world. She thought long and hard about it. She loved her man and now that he was paralyzed, and in a wheelchair, she couldn’t turn her back on him. Besides, her sons needed their dad.
All in all, it had been a difficult call. For Forty, it was hard to walk away from the life he had lived for so long. After all, he was leaving friends and family, not to mention having to adapt to life in a wheelchair. Forty couldn’t help but to sit back and ask himself, what was it all for?
MEMORIES
Gena had taken care of everything before she moved. She forwarded the mail to a post office box. She paid a company to box and store her furnishings and clothes. Rik had given her twenty thousand, and she put the majority of it away. What she didn’t put up, she used to fix up Gah Git’s project housing unit. She got exterminators and even painters.
Light-blue carpet was delivered the same day the handyman in the neighborhood laid down a new kitchen floor. She put the navy-blue leather furniture from her family room into Gah Git’s living room, along with a big-screen TV and wall unit. She went to a furniture store and purchased a new bedroom and dining room set for her grandmother.
The nosey neighbors knew something was going on. Before it was all over Gena had a tiny chandelier in the dining room. Gah Git was overwhelmed. Everytime she opened the door, she tried to figure out whose house she was stepping into. She never thought her little project housing could look like it did.
Gena took Gucci upstairs and went in her room and closed the door. She couldn’t sleep. She hadn’t been able to sleep since Quadir’s passing. The entire situation was so overwhelming for her.
She laid in bed thinking about him as she cradled Gucci. There was a lot of noise outside, and she couldn’t help but to peek out the window. The brothers were on the corner shooting dice. How can they see in the dark? Gena wondered. A huge 4 by 4 pulled up and sounded like it robbed a discotheque. The music was so loud and the bass rumbled so hard, it shook Gena’s bedroom windows. Then she saw a skinny girl in a blue sweater and gray skirt with a pair of pink socks and red slippers come walking up the street. She didn’t have a coat on, let alone a bra. She went over to a guy who was on the corner and Gena watched the exchange. The girl turned and proceeded to walk back down the block.
“I miss you, baby. I wish you could come back. I wish you were here.” Gena felt tears well up and trickle down her face. “Why’d you leave me this way, Qua? God, you don’t know what you took from me when you took him.” She couldn’t stop the tears or the pain. “Why is it so hard to let go?” She let her head drop to her lap and let the tears fall, hoping that each teardrop would take a drop of pain with it.
; It was 3:47 AM exactly when Gena heard people hollering outside. She peeked her head above her headboard and looked out the window to see a man and a woman fighting in the middle of the street.
“Don’t make no sense,” Gah Git said. “Them fools is probably out there fighting over who drunk the last of the C&C. It’s a damn shame. I don’t know how they’ve stayed together. She is forever kicking his ass.”
“For real, Gah Git?”
“Yeah, the police will be here by time it’s over. Child, this is every weekend.”
“For real?”
“Honey, this is all the time. Now, go on back to sleep,” she said as she shut Gena’s door and went back in her room.
The next morning a knock at the door distracted Gah Git from her tirade, and she greeted a girl who lived down the street, a smiling, skinny girl with a fat baby in her arms.
“Ms. Scott, can you help me?” she asked, looking hopeful at Gah Git. “I have a test in English class today and I was wondering, could you watch Ayonna for me?”
“Oh, Lord, child, I guess so. Where’s your mama?”
The girl looked away for a split second. “She getting high again, and she said no.”
“Well, you know I’ll help you out.”
“Ms. Scott, the house looks real nice,” Brenda said, looking all around.
“Well, thank you. You know Gena?”
“No, ma’am.”
“That’s my oldest grandbaby. She’s Bria and Brianna’s first cousin.”
“Hi,” Brenda said. Gena acknowledged her with a look, but she didn’t speak to the girl. “Well, here goes her baby bag and everything you’ll need.” Gena felt sorry for her. She didn’t look no more than sixteen.
“Gah Git. I have to go. I’ll see you around dinnertime,” Gena said, kissing her grandmother on the cheek.
“Good-bye. You be careful,” said Gah Git.
“I will,” hollered Gena as she brushed against Brenda on her way out the door.
Brenda handed Gah Git the baby. “I’ll be right back after school.”
