Soulja called Nasty’s cell phone. “I was waiting to hear from you, brother,” Nasty said.
“I’m sure,” Soulja responded.
“So check this out, the chain was in my locker when I came back from the yard,” Nasty informed.
“That’s what was supposed to happen. I’m happy to hear it.”
“Yo, brother that was honor how you handled the situation,” Nasty said.
“No question. But I’m telling you right now, that’s it. Everything needs to be peace.”
“I think it will be from here on out.”
“What you mean you think?” Soulja asked.
“Well, right before you called, I found out that Shorty 55 wants to talk to me on the yard. What you think?”
“What’s the setup?”
“The Muslim brothers are all out there. They got the yard secured. He called them there to let me know it wasn’t no tricky shit going on.”
“A’ight. Well, go. And make sure you let him know he don’t run shit no more.”
“Oh, most definitely. I’ma make sure that he crawls up in his shell this time.”
At that moment, Soulja heard the guards calling his name. “Listen, you be safe. I’ll hit you back later. I got a visit. I don’t know who the hell came out here to Louisiana to see me, but I’m grateful, even if it is a surprise.”
“That’s love. Okay, brother, I’ll kick it with you later.”
---------
Soulja quickly showered and went down to the visiting room. He was happy that he went to the barber yesterday, got a fresh shape up and his hair recornrowed. Soulja had long straight-back cornrows that reached to the middle of his back. He kept it neat because his hair was very soft, and he didn’t like the rough, frizzy look. He was a very neat and clean man. But, if necessary, he could get dirty.
He optimistically walked into the visiting room, wondering who made the long trip. He looked around and spotted a familiar face. It was his little sister. Not by blood, but a sister, nonetheless. Von. Von had come to see him. Wow, was all he thought. He hadn’t seen her in a long time. And he was smiling from ear to ear. He looked around to see if Marla was with her, maybe in the bathroom or at the vending machine, but he quickly realized by the way their chairs were arranged that Von had made the trip alone.
“What you doing here, girl?” he said hugging her, then kissing her forehead. She hugged him back tightly. He noticed how big she was.
“I just needed to get away from all the craziness. I hopped on a plane, and here I am.”
“Well, I feel honored,” Soulja admitted.
“And look at your hair. It’s so long,” she said.
“Something to do to kill the time.”
“Well, you look very handsome, bro. I miss you,” she said.
“I miss you too with your big self. If I didn’t know any better, I would think you’re pregnant,” he said, fishing. There was a brief silence between them. Then Von held her head down.
“I am.”
“I am what?” he said, not wanting to believe what his eyes and ears were now confirming.
“Pregnant.”
“Von . . . damn, Von. Does Nasty know? Well, wait. I know he doesn’t because he would have told me.”
“Nah, he doesn’t know and can’t know.”
“It is what it is now. There’s no reason for it to be a secret. How far are you?” He put his hand on her stomach.
“I’m 5 months,” she said looking at her feet.
“Von, you’re grown. So I’m not gonna lecture you. Hold your head up. But for the record, don’t keep nothing else from me. When you fought with Rodney that time and wrote me about it, I never told Nasty. I knew that crazy nicca couldn’t handle it. I just gave you advice.”
“Don’t try to play all innocent, I knew it wasn’t a coincidence that somebody rear-ended him a week after I told you, and then dragged him out of the car and stomped him out.”
“Nah, that wasn’t me,” Soulja said with a slick smile on his face. Von punched his arm playfully. “So, you’re really having a baby, huh? You ready to do this? I know you and Rod aren’t together.”
For some reason, Von felt like she was just 9 years old in his presence. She looked up at him. He noticed there were tears in her eyes. He wiped them.
“Don’t cry, li’l sis. It’s gonna all work out. Nasty will be out soon if his wild ass chills out. You won’t be alone. He’ll be happy to help you and raise his niece or nephew with you.”
“I know,” she said wiping her eyes.
“It’s okay. I promise you it will work out.”
“I just never expected to be an unmarried, single mother.”
“Shit happens, Von. You know, most of the time the good girls get the short end of the stick. I don’t understand it myself, but I put Keva through a lot of shit. I treated her like she was a piece of meat. And now look, she’s raising my daughter and ended up being extremely valuable in my life. The jewel is, you never know who you might need. Treat everybody with respect unless they disrespect you.”
“Why do men do this type of this shit?” Von said, confused. “Especially when they have a woman who loves them and stays loyal.”
“It’s the streets. The streets do it to us. It’s not until situations like this that a man learns the true value of a woman—when one is completely deprived of her essence.”
“It’s almost like a good black man is impossible to find.”
“Not impossible, but close to it. Many good men are locked down. But you gotta remember our history, baby girl. I read a lot about our people. Our men were forced to be breeders back in slave days. We had to disconnect from women, because our wives, our children could be sold at any given moment. So we taught ourselves not to care. Not to love. It was a survival mechanism, and the boys learned it from the men, until it became cultural. Be a breeder, not a lover. It fucked us up. And after 400 years of that, this is what you get. A bunch of confused men.”
“Wow. You’re so smart, bro. I love the way you always break things down to me.” She touched her belly and looked down at it. “Uncle Soulja is gonna teach you a bunch of stuff,” she said to her baby. Then she looked back up at him. “The way you explained it, I guess I never looked at it that way before. But that makes sense. Maybe one day I’ll forgive him.”
“When you have your baby, if it’s a boy, teach him how to love a woman the right way, so he doesn’t make the mistakes his father is making.” This made Von love Soulja even more. She wished there were men like him out there.
“Well, let me tell you what’s been going on. There was big-ass fight that jumped off the other day at The Pretty Avenue. Tony was fighting Rodney’s crew, and so was Mad-Dog. Then they went crazy because this chick got knocked out. It was a trip.”
Immediately Soulja looked perplexed. “What chick?”
“Well, I didn’t wanna say nothing, but I’d rather tell you before my brother finds out. It was Paige!”
“Paige?! Fuck is you talkin’ ‘bout, Von? Paige? A nicca put their hands on Paige?” Anger rushed over Soulja like a tsunami. Von put her hand on his shoulder and explained the whole story.
“It was crazy,” she said when she was done.
“So, basically, she got hit because she came to Tony’s defense? I thought Paige was through with him. And what was Tony doing up in The Pretty Avenue anyway? That ain’t never been his type of crowd.”
“Tony is getting big dope money now. He blew up. He’s even pushing a brand-new Range Rover, and he copped Sharise a 650 BMW.”
“I didn’t know he was getting down like that.”
“Yeah, it almost happened overnight.”
“So did Paige fall for the game? Did she get all open off his new look?”
“Nah. She is still rocking with Mad-Dog.”
“Good. I told her if she was gonna move on with a man like that to keep it one hundred. Yo is a real G. He move like a young Soulja, so I respect his handle. Men like that are not to be played with. Not their money, their family, or their feelings. But enough about that, what up with you? Are you doing okay? You seem real down, baby girl.”
“I gotta tell you some things, Soulja. I needed to talk to someone I could trust.”
“You already know that you got that with me. You’re just as much of a sister to me as you are to Nasty. So spill it, girl.”
“Okay. Damn, I don’t even know how to say this.”
“Is it something that Nasty already knows?” Soulja asked.
“Hell, no! And he can never know. You gotta promise me on your life that you won’t tell Nasty. And you gotta promise it will stay between us, no matter what. Take it to your grave. And you can’t harm nobody.”
“Well, I can promise you not to tell nobody, but I can’t promise you I won’t harm nobody. You’re scaring me, Von. What the hell is up? “
“I just don’t want you worrying about me.”
“That’s automatic. Now spill it and stop playing with me.”
She closed her eyes and exhaled. “Soulja, Rodney gave me HIV, and the medicine doesn’t work for me,” she said. She’d been lying to her friends. Von was dying.
“No, Von. No!” Soulja said getting up from his seat and biting his fist. He wanted to explode from the inside out. Not his baby. Not li’l Von. He’d seen hundreds of fiends come in the prison, sick from the disease. He’d seen the worst side of it. Not Von. This couldn’t be. He sat back down. Von began to cry.
“I’m sorry, bro. I’m so sorry. I should have stopped messing with him once I found out he was cheating so bad. I shouldn’t have stayed. But I loved him. I loved him so much. He was all I had out here. All I had.”
Soulja couldn’t believe what Von had just laid on him. She was carrying a baby. And neither of them might live since the medicine didn’t work. This was the epitome of foulness.
“There is nothing for you to be sorry about. Come here,” he said grabbing her and hugging her. He let her sob on his chest. He whispered in her ear, “That bitch gotta die! I’ma kill him my muh-fucking self if these pigs grants my appeal. But he’s a dead nigga, either way.”