^{CHAPTER 10}

 

 

 

^{Showing Luv}

 

 

 

 

 

^{Damn it feels good out here this morning! Time to get the festivities started. The kids are gonna love this shit.}

^{Jewelz was enjoying the warm breezy Saturday in Bucktown, New York, but something about the vibe today was just a little bit different than usual. Today was Old Timer’s Day, where nearly the whole hood came out on the blocks to have a good time. People who had moved away years ago flocked back to Brownsville to hang out with old friends. It was a time-honored tradition that had been going on for over seventy-five years.}

^{The energy around the projects was upbeat, positive, and cheerful, and that was rare for one of the worst neighborhoods in the entire Empire State. The local gangs and drug crews had called an unspoken truce for the day, and people knew it was safe to come out for block parties and to and enjoy them some loud music, a drank or two, and some good-ass soul food.}

^{The neighborhood playgrounds and parks were filled with kids and parents who were jamming out the Brownsville way. Pitkin Avenue was live as hell, and all the cute chickenheads rocked their get ’em girl outfits and clucked for the attention of all the real right niggas in the hood.} 

^{This was a time of year that Jewelz really liked. She loved watching all the project kids run around and play. It reminded her of how she used to run around the playgrounds with Slick and his brothers and sisters when they were little.}

^{This year Jewelz was continuing her own personal tradition of giving back to her community with a little twist. She called it her Dollar Day, where she lined up all the children in the building she used to live in and gave them each a few dollars so they could rush to the corner store and get as much junk as they wanted.}

^{Jewelz made sure the kids didn’t fight each other over the money and she looked out for the weaker ones. She walked to the store with them to make sure they didn’t get jacked by no winos, and she always had encouraging words for them all.}

^{So much of her own childhood had been filled with scars and misery that it really brought her joy to put smiles on these babies’s faces. Jewelz felt real good about giving these kids the money to get chips and cookies and stuff. She liked easing the tension in the town that she called home.}

^{There had been very few smiles for Jewelz when she was a kid. Growing up in Brownsville was like going to gladiator school. Nobody had two nickels to rub together and a lot of people were out for self. It was a stressful place that would test the hardest of hearts, and you could bet your ass that only the strong survived in the concrete jungle.}

^{This year Jewelz had some help so she’d decided to do things a little differently. Noodles had offered to participate in her Dollar Day and help her make the event even bigger.}

^{Forget the penny candies and quarter waters from the corner store. Noodles had gone to the outlet mall and shut down the Nike store a few days ago and blew a good five grand as he filled his truck up with boxes and boxes of nice kicks to give away. Jewelz blew a few racks on book bags, school supplies, and coats for when the weather got cold and the kids had to walk back and forth to school.} 

^{Together they had set up a bunch of big folding tables in Betsy Head Park and stacked them up high with the latest Jordan sneakers and other gifts for little boys and girls of all sizes.}

^{“Thanks again, Noodles,” Jewelz said. She was out of breath and sweating from making trips back and forth to the truck as they got ready for their giveaway. “The kids are gonna love all this shit you bought them. Now that everybody can have something nice to put on their feet maybe they’ll stop trying to kill each other over a simple pair of sneakers.”}

^{Noodles nodded in agreement. After all the death they dealt with in their profession it felt good to give something to the youngsters who represented the future life-force of The Ville.}

^{“But we gotta put some rules down on this shit,” Jewelz said as she stacked a bunch of colorful book bags up on a table. “Nobody gets a damn thing this year until they tell us their future goals and give us the names of two foreign countries that they wanna visit one day. We need to help stimulate these young minds, and I figure we can start by letting them know that there’s a world out there beyond these projects.”}

^{As Jewelz explained her plans, Wild Man walked up eating a chocolate-and-vanilla Mister Softee swirl ice cream cone. A bunch of little kids were surrounding him and eating cones of their own, and they were thanking him for his treat as he smiled and gave them all high fives.}

^{“Wild Man, w’sup! What are you doing out here?” Jewelz asked, surprised to see him.}

^{“Rolling through,” Wild Man responded. “I was sitting in my whip talking on the phone when I peeped y’all standing over here.”}

^{“Well since you put on the brakes why don’t you chill for awhile and help us give out some of these goodies to the kids today.”}

^{Wild Man shrugged. “A’ight. I can hang out for a few. I usually don’t fuck with Old Timer’s Day, but this is my hood so I’m always down to show love. I can’t stay all day though,” he warned. “I gotta bounce out to Queens to pick up this lil honey I got a date with later.”}

^{“I’m not staying out here too long either,” Jewelz said. “I’m going to a basketball jam in Money Makin Manhattan this afternoon. It’s at Rucker Park.”}

^{Wild Man looked over at Noodles who was hitting him with the killer glare. They hadn’t seen each other since the night they got into that lil scuffle after the failed Queen of Diamonds hit. Wild Man had straight violated the rules of brotherhood and Noodles still wanted to drill him behind that shit.}

^{“Noodles. W’sup bro,” Wild Man said as he walked over and offered Noodles some dap. “I ain’t seen you in a minute, my slime. What’s poppin with you?”}

^{Noodles looked down at his hand coldly. He was itching to pull out his gat, and not one move was made to reciprocate the love.}

^{Instead of trying to flip and wild out, Wild Man kept it cool.}

^{“Look man, I apologize for what went down that other night,” he said sincerely. “You know me, dawg. Sometimes I bug the fuck out but deep inside I don’t mean no harm. I was wrong for what I did, though. My bad for disrespecting you and getting outta pocket like that. You my brotha, Noodles. Whether you like it or not, ain’t nothing gonna ever change that, and even if you stop fuckin with me I’ll still ride out and take a bullet for your silent ass any day of the week.”}

^{Jewelz gave Wild Man the side-eye as she watched him humble himself, which was a very rare sight. Noodles still wasn’t feeling it at first, but after a few more moments he gave Wild Man some dap and just like that shit was all good again.}

^{“I’m sorry, man. For real, I love you like a brother,” Wild Man said and hugged Noodles real quick. “We all in this game together.”}

^{Jewelz laughed and clapped her hands. “See that’s what I like to see! Family over everything. Now let’s get a group hug going,” she said as she pulled both men toward her by their massive arms.}

^{“Gimme a kiss Noodles,” she said and laughed as he kissed her cheek. “Now give Wild Man a kiss.”}

^{Both men gave her the fuck outta here look as she giggled her ass off.}

^{“Yo, I ain’t kissin you either muthafucka,” Wild Man joked, “but like I said, Noodles you my ace, my day-one nigga, and I got mad love for you, G.”}

^{Noodles stared at Wild Man for a second and then he nodded as he heard Ayesha’s sweet voice echoing in his ear. He wrote something on his tablet and passed it to Wild Man.}

^{That’s Snapple Facts. I got love for you too. Life is too short to hold grudges.}