Chapter 5 #3
“I’m sure you did, Keanu. I hope you kept that little thing of yours in your pants. Don’t go disrupting that girl’s life like you don’t have any home training.”
“I didn’t keep it in my pants. That’s why she has no other choice but to have me in her world, now. She shouldn’t have given me inside.”
“You sound stupid!” she spat, cracking four eggs in the pot.
“All you cooking a nigga is some eggs?” I laughed, knowing it would piss her off even more.
“You better be lucky you getting that with all this mess coming from your mouth.”
“Wow. Okay.” I nodded, knowing that she was in her feelings and wouldn’t be giving me shit but some eggs. I was just praying she added the cheese.
“You’re going to have to do more than get her little coochie wet to make her forgive you for what you did, Keanu. I imagine you’ve figured that out too and that’s why you’re over here looking like you just lost your best friend.”
“I kind of did. If this goes south, I’ll lose three of them at once.”
“It doesn’t have to go south, but you’re going to have to do a lot of making up to make it right. Didn’t you say she has someone?”
“You know I did,” I replied, catching her drift.
“Aw, yeah. You have plenty of work to do.”
“She told me after we’d spent the night together that she was going to agree to be his girlfriend.”
“And what happened next?”
“I gave her something to remember me by, and then I bounced when she got in the shower to wash my scent off her body.”
“You left? You didn’t try to talk her out of it?”
“Nah. Lyric is mine, Nanny. She knows there’s no escaping me. Whether it’s today or tomorrow that she gives in, I don’t care. As long as she does. I’ve waited this long. What’s waiting another month or two.”
“Hmmm. I’m glad you’re so confident, but it might just be longer than that.”
“Can’t be.”
“What makes you so sure?”
“Because around that time she’ll be sick every morning and will have missed her period at least once.”
“Get out, Keanu!” she yelled, pointing toward her door.
“Nanny, I need my eggs.”
“Nigga, you don’t deserve eggs,” she claimed.
“I thought you said you wanted a baby from me before you leave this earth.”
“I ain’t finna leave it, yet. I’ve got time.”
“Tomorrow isn’t promised,” I reasoned.
“To me it is. God said he’d give me ninety-eight years, and I believe him. I’ll see your kids have kids, son. Why’d you do such a dumb thing like that?”
“I wouldn’t call it dumb, but you have your opinion just like I have mine.”
“It’s not dumb,” she toned it down a bit. “I just want you to do the right thing by this girl and whatever situation you two might’ve put yourselves in last night. This isn’t just anybody, Keanu. This is Lyric. You still have Laike and Luca and their parents to consider.”
“I’m willing to go to them today and run down my intentions, but she ain’t ready to be with a nigga.”
“She’s scared!”
“We’re both about to do something that neither of us have ever done before. I have my fears, too.”
“But have you messed up in love before? So much so that it harmed the ones you love, too?”
“No.”
“That’s why you can’t understand her sentiments. Give her some time, but don’t give her too much space. I have a feeling that this one will get away if you let her.”
“I promise I won’t. Now, can you please add some turkey bacon to my eggs, please?”
“I shouldn’t, but I guess I can.”
“I love you, though, Nanny.”
“I love you, too, son.”
With a stomach full of Nanny’s food and a heart full of gratitude, I climbed into my truck on my way to the next destination.
The orange gas light glowed as my engine howled, reminding me that my tank was low, however.
Just before closing the door all the way, a small hand with pink painted nails pushed it open again.
“Twenty dollars, Ken?” Renny folded his arms, bringing humor to the moment.
“And what’s so funny?”
“Shit, Renny,” I lied.
“You must don’t like my nail color?”
He brought his hands to his face to examine them.
“Na. I don’t,” I admitted.
“Why not? What about my fit?”
He stepped back to show me the short ass top and baggy pants that he wore. His hair had been colored, too. It was a lighter color than I was used to seeing on him.
“It’s cool.” I shrugged.
“Okay, then. So, why you hating on me. Laughing and stuff?” He propped a hand on his right hip.
“I’m just happy you’re happy, Renny. But them nails need a fucking color change. That shit too loud.”
“Okay, well if you’d give me more than twenty dollars, then maybe I can get that change you’re speaking of.”
Reaching into my pocket with a sigh, I handed him one of the hundreds from my knot. His high-pitched squeal left me in tears. Everything about my little cousin was changing before my eyes, but his freedom was the most precious thing.
“Get the fuck away from my truck sounding like that,” I insisted, grabbing the handle of my door.
His voice deepened immediately. “Don’t play with me,” he demanded.
“See, that’s that bullshit, Renny.” Unable to contain my laughter, I shook my head and wiped the tears clouding my eyes.
“At the end of the day, I’m still a boy,” he admitted.
“Good, and I need you to know that you’ll always be a boy. Be who you be and do whatever the fuck you want but don’t ever try to be anything other than that. We could never compare. Ever. Not to them, anyway.”
“Period,” he screamed, high-pitched and with so much emphasis.
“Get the fuck away from my truck, Renny. I’m going to need stitches fucking with you, my nigga.”
“Bye. Thanks for the coin.”
I closed the door after he’d moved out of the way, made sure that my Bluetooth was functioning properly, and pulled off. The gas station was my next stop before heading to Edgewood. It was Saturday, and I knew that my aunt and uncle were somewhere enjoying the start of their very short weekend.
Three blocks away from Nanny’s crib and closest to the expressway, I pulled into 24/7, the gas station that never closed its doors.
Rain, sleet, or snow, it was open twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
It was a multi-purpose store that fixed cell phones, cooked dinner plates, served as an arcade, and was a one-stop shop for all the hood’s necessities.
Without disabling my engine, I stepped out of the truck.
On my hip, my pistol was perched, safety off, and ready for any amount of drama that anyone decided to bring to me.
I stalked across the parking lot that was littered with chicken boxes, plastic wrapping, and cigarette butts in pursuit of the door.
Once I entered, the bell above my head sounded to let the employees know that they had a new customer.
Every neck in the building turned in my direction.
Waistlines were released from lethal clutches as greetings erupted from every end of the establishment.
It wouldn’t be a secret, now, everyone would know that Ken was home.
“Look at this black ass nigga!” Hammer yelled across the store as he closed the door to the fridge.
“They done let this nigga back out on the street!” someone else confirmed.
“My nigga walked that shit down with a smile,” Hammer replied.
“What’s good?”
“My man,” Jerry, the store’s clerk, said.
“Jerry motherfucking Berry,” I responded, placing a fist up to the glass while stuffing my other hand into my pocket to retrieve some money.
I still couldn’t understand why his parents had named him Jerry with a last name like Berry. That shit would never sit well with me, and I let him know it every time I saw him.
“You need to get that shit changed.”
“I’m an old man now. Who cares?” He shrugged.
With a shake of the head, I slapped a hundred-dollar bill on the counter and pointed out at the black Hawk that was still running in the parking lot.
“Got you.”
“Be easy, Ham.”
“You already know, nigga.”
I exited the building as the bell sounded again.
When I made it to the truck and shoved the nozzle into the tank for the gas to begin flowing, I pulled the wrapper from the apple flavored Now and Laters that I’d swiped on my way out of the door.
A kleptomaniac at heart, I couldn’t help myself.
Jerry knew what was up and if he was a smart man, he’d put it on my tab. I knew he wouldn’t though.
With my fire clutched, I waited until the premium gas filled my tank.
I wouldn’t worry about the three dollars that were left.
I slid back into the cool truck and opened another piece of candy.
Before I could unwrap it, the sound of water and a squeegee hitting the windshield startled me.
I looked up to find a fragile, hooded junkie in front of my truck.
“Aye. Aye. Na. Get that shit off my truck,” I demanded after rolling down my window.
“Okay man. Okay man.” Even the raspiness of her voice couldn’t conceal her gender or identity.
Sighing, I ran a hand down my head, ending at my neck where I squeezed in a desperate attempt to contain my emotions. Before I was granted the strength to roll the window up, she appeared, placing her filthy hands on the interior.
“I can– I can get in with you and handle my business. You know. Whatever you want. I’m good with this mouth.” She grunted, fidgeting all the while. She couldn’t stay still for even a second.
“I need some money, man. I’ll do whatever, baby.”
Ignoring her advances to perform tasks on me that was unacceptable and inappropriate, I reached into the same pocket that I’d been reaching into all morning and pulled off four hundred. Her head was still bowed and her eyes were still fixed on the ground as I handed her the money.
“Oh. Oh, man. Oh man,” she stared at the money I’d just handed her, never lifting her head to see exactly who it had come from or show any signs of gratitude.