Chapter 10
Crew
I took Pernelle around Manhattan to get all types of shit we needed for the baby.
Half of it I didn’t even know existed. She didn’t either, so we ended up calling my mama who damn sure acted like she was shopping for her own newborn.
She had a thousand questions about her grandchild, but I told her I would answer them when I saw her.
Then she rushed me off the phone because that nigga Gio pulled up to her door with some Royal Fried Chicken.
This was the second time this week that he was bringing my mama food, chicken to be exact.
He knew my mama loved that shit, and I didn’t like it one bit. He was really trying to slide his chicken wing eating ass into my mama's box. I have a strong feeling I am going to have to murder this nigga, no matter what Hov said. Playing with my mama is like playing with my emotions directly.
Me and Pernelle rode back to her apartment with the music low, and she’d fallen asleep thirty minutes ago, clutching that big ass cookie she made me stop and get.
Her mouth was slightly open, and her forehead was pressed against the cold window.
I kept sneaking looks at her because now that I know she was pregnant with my baby for sure, the little shit she did was cute as hell.
I kept reaching over the seat every chance I got to rub on her stomach.
She wasn’t flinching, so I guess she didn’t feel a thing.
Either that, or she was comfortable with me doing it.
When I parked in front of her projects, I shook her shoulder gently because no matter how mad she had made me today, I was still going to handle her with care. She's carrying my baby.
“Oh dang, I was asleep that long?” she mumbled, her voice all sleepy and shit.
“Yeah, after your third chocolate chip cookie, you K'O'ed. As a matter of fact, when are you going to start eating broccoli and shit like that?”
“Crew, I am eight months pregnant. There is no need to start eating healthy now. If there’s any damage, it’s already done.” She winced and held her back and sat up from the awkward position she was slouched in.
“Don’t say no shit like that. Come on, I’ll walk you up.”
“Okay, but are you going to come back and carry all this stuff up?”
I turned over my shoulder, looking in the backseat and back to her.
“Hell nah. My daughter's stuff is not going in no fucking projects. I’m taking it to my spot. When we find you somewhere else to live, we’ll move it there.”
“Crew, you really don’t have to get me another place. I mean, I talk shit about Castle Hill, but this is where my family is. All the help I’ll get is here. Well, if my mama gets over me lying to her. She was so mad earlier.”
“She will. Trust me. My mama has been mad at me before, too, but she always comes around. I remember in high school, she put me out of her house, then went to every arcade in Brooklyn until she found me and told me to come home.”
“I guess so.” She sighed, staring out the window.
“But my mama is going to help us out, too no matter if she can't see. I also have people like my sisters who would love to look after my kid because I always took care of them and theirs. But my mama is going to help us out for sho.”
“Help us blind Crew?”
“Yeah, what does that have to do with anything? That won’t stop my mother from being a grandma to my child. She is not disabled because she can't see. She is capable as hell.”
“Okay, okay, Crew. I’m sorry.” She spoke softly
“Don't worry, there ain't shit to be sorry about.” I opened my car door to beat her out so I could help her.
“Take your time. I saw your ankles looked swollen in Target.”
She looked down with a frustrated sigh. “Yeah, they are. My body is going through the wringer at the end of this pregnancy. I keep telling myself I don’t have much longer to go.”
"Well, you are doing a good job." She smiled.
“Come on. Let's get those big ankles elevated and your Crunch Bars beside you.”
She laughed all while wincing in pain.
I walked her up the stairs carefully and offered to pick her up several times, but she said she needed to walk.
We were moving slow but she was alright until we got to her door and instantly stopped in our tracks once we saw the door hanging off the hinges.
“What the hell!” Pernelle was about to walk in before I put my arm out to stop her.
“Don’t walk in here first. Let me check.”
My hand slipped to my waistband, and I stepped inside, and the strong smell of bleach and piss hit my nose.
Pernelle's spot was completely trashed, clothes everywhere, couch cushions ripped, drawers dumped, and bleach stains splattered everywhere like somebody was trying to erase her whole existence.
I heard Pernelle creeping up behind me, gasping once she saw the disaster that happened in her shit.
“Oh my God”
“Go back out there, P. Let me make sure the mutha fucka who did this is not still here,” I told her again, checking the rooms, with slow, careful steps like a police officer on a sting.
Once the coast was clear, I came back out. Her eyes were glossy, her lip trembled, and her whole body shook.
“You think one of them muthafucka’s related to Efunny did this?” I asked.
“I, I don’t know.”
Her voice cracked, and I pulled her close, wrapping my arm around her waist.
“Hey. Look at me. It’s alright. Don’t sweat this shit. I’ll replace everything in here with something better.”
“How could someone do this. My stuff. All my stuff.”
Pernelle had never shown me weakness before and always had an attitude with her chin held high. Seeing her fold like this did something to me. Her being upset affected my seed.
“What am I supposed to do now?” she whispered. “This was all I had, and it’s all ruined.”
“P,” I said, lifting her chin gently with my fingers.
“Look at me. I told you that I got you. I’m taking you to my spot tonight, and later this week, we’ll find you somewhere else to live.
Now stop crying. You making me want to spaz and that's not good.
If I go shoot up Efunny family spot I won't be free to take care of my daughter.”
“Okay,” she sniffled, sounding like a scared little girl.
At that moment, I knew if my daughter ever cried like this, I’d break the neck of whoever made it happen.
Daycare worker, schoolteacher, family member, anybody could get it about my daughter.
But whoever did this shit has to see me eventually, I'm not playing about Pernelle no more.
She's family to me now. I'm already feeling what Hov was talking about.