by Sa'id Salaam
“Trays up! Y’all niggas come eat!” the guard yelled when the orderly brought in the noon meal.
Saturday and Sundays offered sandwiches and soup while Monday through Friday were spent in the fields. Lunch on those day was a sandwich of thick peanut butter and water. The boys picked cotton and other crops from sun-up to sundown. Billy arrived on a Friday so he had no idea what was in store for him.
“You better go eat! Them niggas ain’t gon’ save none,” Earl warned.
“Oh, okay. Thanks,” Billy said sitting up on his bed. He looked over at the boy he knew and saw a girl that he didn’t know. He’d taken a pillowcase and fashioned a short skirt out of it and his already long hair was now even longer and slicked back with pomade. He’d used the dyes from candy to create lip-gloss and eyeliner to complete his transformation.
“You ain’t eatin’?” Billy asked as he stood to go eat.
“Un uh, I’m full!” he said rubbing his flat belly.
“I bet!” Billy laughed. The boy had been swallowing cum all morning so it was no wonder that he was full.
Billy’s presence at the table in the day area caused a brief pause, then the action resumed. He too paused for a second to figure out the protocol. It was each man for himself so he dug in. After grabbing a sandwich he held his bowl out so the orderly could ladle some soup inside of it. He sat down at the table and dug in.
“I heard you represented Memphis to the fullest,” Pickle proclaimed. The other boys became mute when their leader spoke.
The large boy would be turning eighteen in a few weeks but he wouldn’t be going home. The manslaughter charge he’d caught at fifteen meant he still owed the state another ten years. Billy peeped how the others deferred to him and realized that he was in charge. He paused for a second to mull his words over before he released them.
“Leroy Johnson told me not to come home if’n I didn’t,” he replied. The weight of the name he dropped opened most of the boy’s eyes wide in amazement.
“Pimpin’ Leroy, from the Southside?” a boy cocked his head and dared.
“That’s the one!” Billy said lifting his chin proudly. Even Pickle nodded in admiration. The sad fact was that the ghetto kids didn’t have many role models. The people who managed to make it out were gone and most didn’t come back. All that was left was the ghetto superstars, the pimps, pushers, and robbers.
“You smoke?” Pickle asked. The smile on Billy’s face answered for him before his words did.
“Sho’nuff, but… how we gone get some smoke in here?” Billy asked.
“That ain’t never a problem!” another boy shouted while the rest of them cracked up.
Once the meal was complete several boys pulled out sacks of reefer while others ripped the pages from a bible and tore them into smaller pieces to be used as rolling papers. The common area soon filled with smoke, music, and laughter as the reefer and homemade wine was passed around.
“Hey now!” a boy cheered as Earl came out shaking his ass. He was helped on top of the table where he proceeded to bump and grind. Billy had absolutely no interest in seeing the sissy put on. He shook his head as he walked into his room.
“He think he too good to watch the show,” a boy tattled to Pickle.
Pickle scrunched his face up to process the words and then shook his head no. He hadn’t had any interest in the sissies when he’d first came in off the streets either. That was three years ago though and things had changed.
“He’ll come around,” Pickle decided. Why wouldn’t he when Pickle himself had. Pickle turned back around and continued to watch the show with an erection throbbing in his coveralls.
Billy laid on his bed staring up at the ceiling. The wine and weed had put a goofy smile on his face as he lay there thinking that jail wouldn’t be so bad with the wine and weed. That thought would change when he hit them fields come Monday morning.
“Shit!” Billy fussed when his solitude was invaded. Pickle came busting in cradling Earl in his arms.
“You can go or stay, but I’m finna get some of this pussy,” Pickle announced. He tossed Earl on the bed and dropped his coveralls. Billy was already out the door when the sissy bent over doggy style. He wasn’t the only one about to get hit from the back.
****
Lady wasn’t expecting any company so she ignored the knock on her door. She figured it was some woman’s husband looking to spend a few dollars on stuff that his wife wouldn’t do, but she would. That’s why her hair stayed laid and theirs didn’t.
“Wish I might!” Lady huffed when she heard the knock again. Then it dawned on her that the factories didn’t pay until next week and she didn’t do credit. What she look like loaning out some pussy. It’s not like she could take it back if someone decided not to pay up. Even she knew that pussy had more value before it was fucked. The fifth knock finally got her out of her bed and headed to the door. The small house creaked and complained as she marched to the front of it. She was going to read whoever was disturbing her night.
“Good evening, Lady,” the male caller said smoothly as he ironed out his suit coat with his hands.
“What you doing here?” Lady shouted at the last man she’d expected to see at her door.
“Why I came to see you of course,” Leroy said with a smoldering stick of reefer in his lips. It moved up and down when he spoke, but it didn’t fall. It was some real fly pimp shit.
“See me! Fo’ what?” Lady demanded, as she stepped aside so he could enter.
And enter he did. Leroy nodded as he looked around the small front room. He then walked over and copped a squat on the sofa while placing a bottle of wine on the table.
“I’ll get us some glasses,” Lady said and rushed into her kitchen. Leroy got a glance of all that ass she was toting under her night shirt. When she returned he passed her the weed. “Mm hm.”
Leroy smiled at her sitting on the far end of the sofa. It was her way of playing hard to get. He lit another stick when the first one burned to an end. They sipped and smoked in silence for a while before he finally spoke.
“So why you ain’t never tol’ me or him?” he threw out.
“Would it have mattered?” Lady tossed back. Leroy ducked the question and poured the rest of the wine into the Mason jar glasses. He waited a while for the weed and wine to really saturate Lady’s being before putting some pimpin’ in her ear.
“You miss me?” he asked so close in her ear that his lips brushed her ear lobes.
“Ye— I mean… hell nah!” Lady tried to correct but it was too late. The words came out hoarse and her granny panties were soaked from her desire.
Leroy stood up and took her by the hand. When they reached the hall he fell back and let her lead the rest of the way into her bedroom. She didn’t bother closing the door since neither of her children where home, one was in the ground and the other one was in jail. Instead she simply pulled her gown over her head, stepped out of her panties, and got on the bed and assumed the position.
That position was face down ass up, just like the pimp liked it. He dropped his trousers to his ankle and waddled over to her. Lady let out a loud hiss, like a tea kettle, when he slid that pimpin’ into her life. He held onto her wide hips, like a school bus driver holding onto a big ass steering wheel, and began to dig her back out.
“Make me damn sick!” Lady moaned and complained when she came the first time. Leroy didn’t buy it though.
“Mm hm,” the pimp chuckled and kept right on driving that bus. Lady came a couple more times before Leroy finally busted a nut of his own. He decided not to pull out and let go deep inside her for old time’s sake.
“Now see, ‘member what happen last time you skeeted in me,” Lady complained but still squeezed her walls tight around him and rocked her hips to milk him dry. Knowing he was the type to hit and run she decided to beat him to the punch and put him out. “You can go now.”
“Not just yet. That was only round one. I’ma rock this thang all night,” he said.
To prove it he stepped out of his pants and pulled off his shirts. He then pulled out another stick and stuck it between her lips.
“Mm hm,” Lady said as a thank you when Leroy lit a match for her to light the reefer. She took two puffs then tried to pass it but he declined.”
“I’m cool,” he declined shaking his head. He didn’t smoke heroin.
Chapter 23
Camille had an open door and open mouth policy that kept Billy up all night long. They still held a grudge from the Pastor Paul days so Billy wouldn’t touch him, not that Earl would have let him anyway. Monday morning rolled around as Monday mornings tend to do and it was time to go to work.
“Y’all get y’all black asses out them damn beds and get ready to work!” the guard shouted like an overseer on a plantation. The boys knew that being late out of the bed would cost them to be late in the fields so they rushed to get up and out.
Billy wasn’t sure what to do so he did what everyone else did. He put on his coveralls and boots and filed into the day room. Breakfast consisted of grits, biscuits, and jelly and then it was time to hit the fields.
“Hell naw!” Billy protested when he saw cotton for as far as his eyes cold see.
“Don’t worry ‘bout dat. You coming wit’ me,” Pickle assured him. If he was connected to a major player like Leroy then Pickle wanted to be next to him.
“Okay,” Billy replied in relief at not having to pick cotton like the other boys. Except Earl that is, he was the designated water boy/girl.
Pickle led the way through the fields and through the woods until they reached another field. A greener more pleasant looking field than the one they’d just left.
“That’s…” Billy pointed in shock once he’d identified the crop.
“Shol’ is!” Pickle exclaimed smiling at the rows and rows of marijuana plants. They were ripe with fat buds that made your fingers sticky from the resin. We ‘llowed to carry some back in our pockets.”
“Sho’ nuff!” Billy replied and snatched a bud off. He quickly stuffed it into his pocket as other elite workers came from the tree line.
“We gotta fill the sacks first!” Pickle laughed. He then instructed Billy on what to do.
“See, you got a new gal there Pickle!” Hambone, from Nashville, teased. Billy was ready to go fight but Pickle held him back.
“Prettier than that lil bitch you got with you,” Pickle shot back. The two traded barbs until Billy realized that the leaders were cool. It was only the soldiers who fought.
Lunch was a ham and cheese sandwich chased by a soda pop courtesy of the police. They treated the chosen few picked to work their cash crop better than they treated the rest of the boys. It wasn’t all good, but it wasn’t all bad either.
****
Lady watched with an almost sexual anticipation as Leroy cooked a spoon of dope up. He then pulled the bubbling poison into a syringe and then plucked out the deadly air bubbles. Next he tied off her arm to find a vein.
“Mm hm,” Lady said knowingly. She realized that he’d slowly strung her along until she was strung out. He’d eased her into addiction by laying the pipe when he came through. All that was replaced by the needle. He would pop through when she needed a fix and fix her.
“There she go,” Leroy cheered when a fat vein popped up as if volunteering. He slid the needle inside and drew up a little blood. That was the old school equivalent to checking the internet connection speed.
“Mm hm,” she repeated as she watched the drug disappear into her body. She felt the effects of it coursing through her before the syringe was emptied.
“That’s right,” he said soothingly as she began to nod. She didn’t even notice when he slipped out to go pimpin’. He wasn’t the only one pimpin’.
****
The air grew thick with tension as the weeks ticked away. There’d even been a few minor skirmishes as boys jockeyed for the crown that would be vacated when Pickle left. Everyone wanted to be the next HNIC, which ironically was a phrase coined by the racist guards. They didn’t want to have to speak to all the niggers, just the Head Nigga In Charge. How that became a good thing is anyone’s guess. It was probably the same logic behind turning being called a bad bitch into a compliment.
The position did have its perks though. Being the go to guy of the guards definitely had its rewards. First there was working the cash crop which paid in weed and free world food. Next was exclusive access to the only pussy in the house. Everyone was allowed to use Earl’s mouth, but his tail belonged strictly to the HNIC.
The front runners to the position were Billy and Ox, a big high yellow man-child. Ox had whooped everyone’s ass except for Pickle’s and Billy’s, and he was ready to try Billy.
Billy had a lot of support, however, because the boys liked him. Most respected that he didn’t touch the sissy even if they did. The boy had the smooth speech of a politician/pimp/preacher that appealed to all.
Billy relieved his sexual pressure by jacking off several times a day. Sometimes at night while Earl slept across the small room, or so he thought. Sometimes Earl was actually sleeping, other times he was watching. The sissy still held a grudge from Pastor Paul’s and therefore he never offered his services. He hoped to have the satisfaction of turning Billy down but he never asked. Instead he just lubed up his palm and pulled on his penis.
****
The moment of truth came a few days earlier than expected. While Pickle had a mean fight game, he sucked when it came to numbers. He knew his birthday was in two weeks but two weeks equaled twenty days, have him tell it.
“Pickle!” the guard stuck his head in and called. “Pack it up ‘less you just wanna stay here with Earl.” Pickle paused for a second to choose before deciding he’d rather leave. The sooner he left the sooner he’d finish his time and go home.
“Yay!” the crowd roared as they did anytime a boy got to go home. Never mind that half of them came back within a year. Half of the other half escaped coming back to reform school by turning eighteen and going to grown man prison, which is where Pickle was headed.
The revelry died down almost instantly once Pickle left the dorm. Ox and Billy were on opposite sides of the dorm, which allowed the other boys to show their allegiance by going to one end or the other. Earl switched his narrow ass over to Ox’s side to show him his support. An eerie silence filled the air until Ox stood up and broke it.
“Guess we may as well get to it,” the large boy stated as he stood. He made a big display of ripping his shirt off to reveal the ripples of muscles beneath it. Earl swooned, batted his lashes, and fanned himself at the display.
Billy wasn’t impressed since he was six feet three inches of lean chocolate muscles himself. He didn’t take his shirt off but everyone knew it since they all showered together in one large room He really had no desire to fight the boy or be the HNIC but a challenge was issued and he couldn’t back down. Punk out in jail and the other men will be lining up outside your cell to use your mouth like they did Earl.
“Kick his ass Billy!” One of Billy’s supporters said as he rose to his feet. The boy made sure to whisper it just in case he lost.
“I’m finna,” Billy assured him and stepped forward. The two boys met in the middle of the dayroom where the tables had been pulled out of the way so that they could have room to fight.
Ox was still putting on by popping his knuckles and flexing his muscles, while Billy just threw up his dukes. The larger boy had no way of knowing that Billy had a mean fight game of his own, it had been honed on the rough streets of South Memphis, but he was about to find out quick, fast, hard, and in a hurry.
“Ugh!” Ox grunted as he threw a large looping haymaker. It was so slow that Billy actually laughed at it before ducking under it. He slipped the punch and let a savage body shot go. All the air was evicted from Ox’s lungs when the punch connected.
Technically the fight was over at that point. The brutal beating that followed was more to let anyone else who may have had a though
t about trying him not to. The body blow had bent Ox in half and a vicious knee to the mouth stood him straight back up. Not only did it stand him up but it also snaggled his tooth and put him directly in the path of a speeding right hook that put him on his ass. Billy proceeded to kick him to sleep and back awake again.
“Anybody don’t like what I did?” he asked turning slowly to catch each eye. The eyes don’t lie even if the mouth does. No one spoke up so he nodded in acceptance of his new position. “Y’all clean him up, fi’ up some of that reefer, and break out the buck!”
The crowd cheered and proceeded to get their party on. Earl had a sour face at now belonging to the boy who had stolen Pastor from him. He sucked his teeth knowing what he’d be sucking next.
****
To Earl’s surprise Billy still showed no interest in him. That night he once again pulled out and pulled on his dick until he got off. Then he rolled over and went to sleep. Changes would come with the morning’s sun. There wouldn’t be many, but they would be drastic.
“Knock, knock,” Randy called out before sticking his head in the door. “You mind if I get straight?”
‘Getting Straight’ was the oxymoron the boys used to refer to having sex with Earl. In actuality it’s gay, not straight. Most boys felt like getting oral sex from him didn’t make them gay, but they were wrong. Others felt that it wasn’t gay since they were locked up, but they were wrong as well. All that shit is gay and so are they.
Billy felt like he had been sexually abused by Pastor Paul. He wasn’t gay and that’s why he didn’t touch the sissy in the room with him. He may not have had a choice then, but he had one now. He chose no.
“I don’t mind at all!” Billy said genially as he stood to leave so they could have some privacy. He stopped just short of leaving as if an afterthought and explained the new rules. “’Cept now it cost to get straight.”
“Huh?” both Earl and Randy asked as if the meaning of the words weren’t clear. They were. Billy was a pimp and this was pimpin’.
