Chapter 19
“Doing Hard Time”
I opened my eyes and looked around at the bricks and bars surrounding me. “I can’t believe this shit.” I was hoping this whole shit was a nightmare, but come to find out, I wasn’t dreaming at all. My dick ached, my stomach was growling, and I needed a fucking spliff. I hopped off my bunk and headed to the phone. I hit up one of my jump-off bitches from Norfolk.
She accepted the collect call right away. “What’s up, baby?”
“Fucked up, shortie. Thanks for taking the call. You know I got you.”
“You know I got your back, boo.”
“Look, I need you to make a call for me on three-way.” “Not a problem.”
I then called out Poppo’s number to her.
Poppo answered right away, “Yo.”
“What up, nigga?”
“Calico. What the fuck is good, man? I heard you got snatched, nigga.”
“Man, it’s a long story. I’ll fill you in on that shit later. Right now I need you to call my people back home and let them know what’s up, so they can get shit lined up to get me out this bitch. Then I need you to handle things with your boy in A-town for me. You gonna have to hold down the fort until I get this shit straight. You feel me?”
“Nuff said, nigga. Say no more. You know I got you. I’ma jump on shit right now. Gone.” Poppo hung up the phone.
A few minutes later, the recording came on, warning us we had one minute left on the phone, so we wrapped things up and ended the call.
I returned to my bunk and tried to map something out. I knew I needed to get in touch with my moms and baby mother. They were the only ones I could really depend on to handle my money and make sure the lawyer was paid.
I’d learned my lesson about letting jump-off bitches hold money. That situation I had in the past when I was fucking with Jewel had taught me well. I had got locked up and had her collect my money. When it came time for her to pay my lawyer, no money was to be found. I had to straight threaten the bitch to get my shit back.
But, to be honest, this time it was that nigga Poppo I was a little worried about. I swear, lately that nigga had been on some bullshit. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but it was just something about him that I just wasn’t feeling.
After a few days had passed, I went for my first bond hearing, and was denied. I kinda expected that shit though. These muthafuckers wasn’t trying to let a nigga out. Hell, I was a major fucking flight risk. My primary residence was “across the fucking U.S.” Plus, I had a number of aliases. There was no way these niggas was gonna take a chance with me.
Even with all those odds against me, Natalia, my lawyer, was still talking some good shit. She was confident that I would eventually get a bond, and was telling me it may take more than a couple of tries. One thing about her though, her word was bond. She didn’t sell a nigga dreams. She was always on her shit, and never let a nigga down.
It was visiting day, and cats were getting fresh cuts and edge-ups and shit, trying to look fresh for their chicks. I wasn’t fucking with none of that shit though. For one, I couldn’t see myself sitting between another nigga’s legs while he braided my fucking hair. Next thing I know, I ain’t getting no fucking visit.
I hopped on my bunk, grabbed my dick and rubbed on it until I fell asleep.
“Burroughs!” the CO called out my last name, waking me.
“Yo!” I yelled back.
“Visit.”
Damn! Who the fuck is that? I wondered who the hell had come down to check a nigga. I hadn’t even bothered telling no one my visiting day.
I followed the CO to the visiting room. I was surprised to see my mother and baby mother, Corrin, when I walked out. I wondered what the fuck they were doing there and how the hell they knew my visiting day. A nigga was actually glad to see a familiar face. I was grinning from ear to ear as I sat on the steel stool across from them.
“What y’all doing here?”
“What you mean? There is no way I was gonna leave my baby alone in jail all the way across the country.”
“Ma, y’all ain’t have to come out here.”
“Well, we wanted to make sure everything was squared away,” Corrin chimed in. “We going to see Natalia and straighten her out tomorrow.”
“Yeah, go ’head and pay her. That’s the most important thing. Everything else can wait. You talked to Poppo?”
“Nope. That’s one reason I wanted to come here. I don’t know what’s up with your boy. Baby, I know you ain’t gonna wanna hear this, but that nigga made a pass at me.”
“What the fuck you say? Corrin, don’t fuck with me.” I felt immediate anger come over me.
“When he came to the house to collect the things to send down South, he kept making little comments about how my ass was so phat and what he’ll do to me. And some shit about you ain’t gon’ be around to satisfy me, so I may as well give it up to him. He was talking so crazy, I had to ask this nigga if he was drunk or on that shit. Then the next thing I know, he grabs my ass. I was sure he’d lost his fucking mind. I had to smack some sense back into his ass.
“After that I gave him the things and rushed him out of the house. I haven’t heard from him since. I even called him a couple of times and left messages about the paper, but he ain’t called back. He acting like he dodging niggas or something. Then I hear niggas on the streets saying Poppo talking like you ain’t never getting out, and he’s the new boss. This nigga can’t be trusted, baby.”
“What?” It was almost like I could literally feel my blood boiling inside as I listened to the words Corrin spoke.
It felt as though my back was up against the wall. I was ready to kill a nigga, but I knew beating another nigga’s ass in jail to blow off steam wasn’t going to do nothing but add more charges to my rap sheet. One of the worst feelings in the world was knowing a bitch-ass nigga was tripping on the streets and it ain’t shit you can do about it.
After my visit with my moms and baby mother, I wondered how the fuck I was going to make it through.
Five days had passed, which felt more like months, and the two special ladies in my life had already paid my lawyer in full. As usual, she was on her grind. I knew the time would soon arrive when I would be released from Virginia Beach hell, AKA Virginia Beach jail. And I knew when I was released I’d be on an unstoppable mission to get my fucking money. The first stop on the road would be a visit to check Poppo. I wondered if he was going to like having a gun in his damn mouth, or a knife clinging to his throat.