Chapter Twenty-Nine
World’s Getting Darker
For days after his daughter’s funeral Jose Torres Sr. wept inside his apartment. Under a great amount of duress, he had bouts of depression, and was forced to take a leave of absence from his job. He fought the urge to lay the blame of her death on his son. Even though he knew Jose Jr had been at fault. Sitting alone in his room, his cell phone rang. Jose answered the call without checking the number.
“Hello…?”
“Yes, hello may I speak to Jose…?”
“This Jose speaking… Who is this?”
There was a long pause and Jose glanced at his cellphone to see if he had lost transmission.
“Hello, hello I don’t have all day… Who’s this?”
“Look you don’t know me right? My name is Melquan. I’m one of the guys possibly responsible for possibly causing your daughter’s death.”
Jose Torres glanced at the cellphone grimacing. He put the tray down and walked away from the other mourners. His blood was boiling when he went back on the call.
“You got some fuckin’ cojones calling my fucking cellphone muthafucka. How’d you’s get my number fuckin scumbag! You know my daughter was alive and smilin’ the other day, muthafucka?”
“Look Jose, I’m apologizing that’s why I called. If I could take that day back I would. I’d gladly trade places with your daughter. I didn’t mean to cause her harm…”
“You listen up muthafucka, I don’t give a fuck whether you meant it or not. My daughter is dead. And gone with her is all my hopes and dreams for her. I’ll never get to see her graduate from high school. I’ll never be able give her away in marriage. And all because of two stupid ass niggas with bad aim…?”
“Like I said man, I’m apologizing for all that…”
“Apologizing…? You muthafuckin’ nigga don’t even bother wastin’ your breath… Let God forgive you cause I never will muthafucka! The day I see you, I’ll try my best to bury your ass! You piece of shit,” Jose spat, ending the call.
Angered Jose acted on a thought that ran through his mind earlier. He picked up his phone and began dialing, every thug he knew. He wasn’t going to take this sitting down, not at all.
Melquan wore dark shades and a baseball cap inside the criminal court building on 161st. He had his reservations about meeting Nashawn in this setting, after all he was a wanted man, but what choice did he have. After riding the escalator to the main floor he got off and immediately spotted Nashawn.
“I came here to talk. Not to argue or anything like that,” Melquan said. “We both don’t need to draw attention to ourselves.”
“So speak, nigga.”
Melquan began, “Look, this ain’t about us, Nashawn. A lil’ girl was shot by one of us that day—”
“Word…?” Nashawn sarcastically replied.
“Word up, we got bigger fish to fry instead of gettin’ at each other. We gotta get our story straight before da cops snatch us up,” Melquan said.
“I don’t know what you talkin’ bout. I ain’t do shit,” Nashawn smiled.
“Nashawn, right now I see you buggin’ da fuck out. This ain’t da time to catch amnesia, nigga. We gotta come together on this one or we both are done, finished, over…”
“My nigga, listen up. That day ya ass shootin’ all reckless at me, ya shot da lil’ girl, and miss me. Po-po wants ya ass not mine! Ya da shooter now, nigga! Not me. Don’t get it twisted. Da way I see this, you in lots of trouble, Melquan!”
“So what you sayin’, you gonna snitch on me?”
“Nah, nigga it’s called co-operatin’,” Nashawn sardonically smiled.
“You might as well turn yourself in then…”
“For what, nigga? I ain’t a done a damn thing! I’ll see po-po when I see them. Not before…”
“You fuckin’ rat bastard!” Melquan hissed, walking away. He opened the door and shouted. “You da fuckin’ police, I should a kill ya snitchin’ ass when I had the fuckin’ chance! Next time I see you, I will kill ya! They’ll find ya ass when they smell ya!”
That night, six men sipped liquor, and spoke in hushed tones, gathered in the far bedroom of Jose apartment.
“I think that I can speak for all the fathers here in saying that Jose we support you one hundred percent in any way we can,” one of the man said. “Your daughter could easily have been mine. Or his, his or his…”
“I’m ready to do this shit!” another said, chugging his whiskey. He took another swallow and continued. “These young boys are fucking out of control! Okay? We spread word out there for everybody to shut down shop today outta respect for Maria. And what, they still out there, slinging that shit as usual!”
“Don’t worry. We gonna take care of those lil’ niggas right now!” another said, producing a big gun. “Their ass is grass… Tonight shit’s gonna hit the fan! We gonna mow the lawn and send ’em a message!”
“Thanks, to you’s gentlemen for coming through. Tonight we’re going to shoot first and ask questions last,” Jose said, raising his liquor glass. “I got no time to figure out who did what, whoever is out there in the horseshoe drive, that’s who’s gonna get burned up. Are you’s ready? We gonna make that damn horseshoe really hot tonight.”
It was getting dark in the horseshoe when the group of men entered from all angles bearing automatic weapons. Suddenly the men opened fire, and the place was lit up like Christmas night.
Drug dealers scattered, running through the projects. Some were gunned down right there and others escaped. By the time the shooting was over, not a living soul was moving in the horseshoe drive of Edenwald. The place that used to be an open-air illicit drug mall, bustling with business had been completely shut down.
