Auntie Shawn
“Hello.”
“Wake yo ass up. We got moves to make.”
“Yeah, yeah. Give me an hour.”
“Hour my ass! I’ll be there in thirty minutes.”
Damn! I hate this early morning bullshit, but when my bitch calls, I go running. I’ve been in love with that hoe money since I was young as fuck. That bitch be calling me. My big brother King put me on to that life. I miss him so much; my heart hurts. Losing him was like losing a part of my soul. At least I got the best part of him. Young Meech looks identical to what King used to look like.
I remember when King brought that street shit into my young world; I was like ten. I was coming from school one day and I wanted to go to the candy store. It was too dangerous for me to walk home from school by myself, but since I had my friends with me, I was good.
Back in the day, Gary, Indiana was known as the murder capital. My mommy was like so many of the other mothers in the hood…addicted to something. Heroine happened to be her drug of choice. Needless to say, she was never around to perform her motherly duties.
It was never any food in the fridge, any heat in the winter, or hot water in the house. King knew at a young age that if he didn’t hit the streets, he wouldn’t eat. He was five years older than I was, and let me tell you, he was a beast in them streets.
Anyway, it was warm on this particular day, so we decided not to ride the bus. We walked down Broadway Avenue to 7th Avenue, made a left, and headed to a street named Rhode Island.
“There goes my brother’s car, Carmen. I’m about to go get some money from him so we can go to the candy store. You coming?” Carmen was looking as if she saw a ghost. “What’s yo problem, Carmen?”
“My brother Tank said I can’t come around here. He said niggaz be dying over here, and if he caught me around here, he was gonna fuck me up.” I laughed at her scared ass. “I’ll be waiting on the corner with Tanya.”
Quiet as kept, I felt that something wasn’t right when I walked off and saw that none of my friends followed me. I walked through the gangway to the side door. Before I could knock, I heard my brother talking.
“Do what the fuck you gon do, pussy! I ain’t never scared! I wasn’t gon never be shit anyway!”
My heart was beating so hard that I could have sworn that whomever was in the house heard it.
“Where the rest of the dope, nigga? I’m about to shoot yo ass!”
That did something to me. My brother was in danger! He was all I had and I’d be damned if I was about to lose him. It was as if the whole damn block must have sensed the storm brewing because, all of a sudden, there wasn’t a soul outside. I looked back to the corner where my friends were supposed to be and they were all gone.
Surprisingly, I was ready. I put my book bag down and crept through the open door. I wanted to cry as soon as I stepped in the kitchen. My brother’s pit bull, Gucci, was laying on his side, dead! “Oh no, Gucci!” I loved that dog.
Slowly, I walk to where I heard the voices. I peeked around the corner and saw that King was on his knees with his best friend Tank lying next to him in a puddle of blood. It was two dudes with mask covering their faces standing over them.
King must have sensed an extra presence because when I peeked around the corner again, our eyes connected. I almost cried because he dropped his head.
“The money is in the laundry room.” One of the dudes walked off to the laundry room. The one holding King and Tank at gunpoint laughed. “Yo ass ain’t as tough as the streets say you are. You a pussy and I’mma enjoy killing you.”
I started to panic I had to do something before he killed my brother. I looked around the kitchen for something. On the table, there was a bunch of powder stuff, money, and oh shit, A GUN!
I didn’t think twice before I grabbed it. I crept back to where they were. I peeked around the corner and what I saw next will forever be embedded in my memory. King was still on his knees staring at me with tears falling from his eyes. I had never seen him cry.
I showed him that I had the gun in my hand. He smiled. “Fuck you smiling at, pussy? Yo ass ‘bout to die.”
King’s next words were for me and I knew it. “SHOOT!”
Dude with the gun looked at him and smiled. “That’s what I’m talking about. Die with some dignity.”
He went to raise his gun as I was raising mine. All I was thinking to myself was, “You better not miss.”
BOOM!
The kick from the gun knocked me flat on my back. I heard the other dude say, “What the fuck?” He saw me and charged towards me. Before I could raise the gun back up, Gucci jumped up and fought for me with his last breath. The grip he had on the man’s arm was so nasty, that you could actually hear the bones in his arm breaking.
“GET THIS MOTHERFUCKING DOG!”
King ran in the room and shot the dude in his head. As he fell to the floor, Gucci let go of his arm and limped over to me where he put his head in my lap.
“King, help me get him to the doctor!” He rubbed Gucci’s head and then he closed his eyes with his hand. “Come on, he’s gone.”
I looked down, and sure enough, he was gone. King ran in the backroom and came back holding Tank. “Shawn, go in the laundry room and grab that bag outta the dryer! Hurry up!”
I did what I was told and ran outta that house with my brother. Turns out, when I shot the gun, I missed. The noise made the gunman turn around and when he did, King knocked his lights out. Point blank, I saved his life, and from that day forward, he had my back. I no longer rode the school bus.
We took Tank to the hospital in East Chicago, Indiana and rode around for a few hours.
“What the fuck made you come to the spot?”
“I wanted five dollars for some candy.”
He laughed. “I’m glad yo ass wanted some money because you saved my life. Shit, you and Gucci!”
I grew sad all over again. That was some brave shit. “I’mma miss Gucci.”
From that day on, he gave me five dollars every day. He let me come chill at his spots. I watched everything.
Tank recovered and was back doing his thing. He never let Carmen come around though. He didn’t want me there either, but King was the boss. “Man, take her lil ass home. This grown folks business.”
Tank had a nasty disposition about him. I never trusted him.
“She saved both of our lives, so she stays. If you got a problem, you can move out.” I always watched Tank. I even told King that I didn’t trust him. King shoulda listened.
Now I have taken over where he left off, even as a father. I’m raising my nephew because King’s baby mama and Tank decided that his life wasn’t worth living.
I see that fire in my nephew’s eyes. He almost ready and I’mma make sure I teach him everything. When he gets his mind and money right, we gon go find Tank.
“Don’t call my phone no more, nigga! I’m up!” I hung up the phone and fired up a blunt. I been thinking about King’s daughter, Miko. She dipped on me that night and I haven’t been able to find her. I don’t know why she didn’t come with me. My phone rang once more. That shit was really starting to piss me off.
“Houston, we got a problem.”
“What fool?”
“Remember that chick yo brother introduced us too?”
“The pretty redbone, Boo? The thick one? What about her?
“We really need to get up with her. She got that shit for the low-low. King always said she was ‘bout that money.”
“Well shit, not no more. Somebody shot her. She outta there!”
“DAMN!”