Good Day to Die

Back up in the Dungeon, Don and Jon were playing Sega. Kay searched the music collection. They drank from a couple of 40 ounces of Colt 45, an old-timer copped for them earlier.

“I know ya’ll didn’t forget about the little bet we got. I got the baddest chick in school for a date and unless ya’ll can pull a rabbit out ya’ll ass and get Janet Jackson, I suggest ya’ll pay up now and save ya’ll selves some dignity.” Don said.

“It’s a surprise. Everyone will see when I arrive at the dance with the finest girl in Gary.” Jon said smiling.

“Man everybody knows that Lynette hates your guts. If you not bringing Janet Jackson forget about it,” Don said.

The rest of the night went with the boys having a ball talking shit, raiding the fridge and playing Sega. Jon managed to get away for awhile and had a long conversation with Lynette. Then fell asleep happy, dreaming of Lynette.

Three days later, Deuce had the paperwork on all five 1992 Mustangs in order. When the boys delivered their next shipment of cars Deuce only paid all of them two hundred and fifty dollars.

He walked to the back of the garage where the finished cars were kept. “It cost me way more than I expected. My man said it would draw a bust getting all five of them done at once.” Deuce was lying through his teeth. The boys still was not getting their full pay but they didn’t complain. Their mouths dropped when they walked into the area. Sitting in front of their eyes were five Mustangs with the wettest paint and all sitting on Dayton’s.

“Twon you get the candy apple red, Kay, the black one with gold flakes in it. Zoe you get the deep plum purple color red one. Don, you get the money green one with gold flakes. And Jon the cocaine white one is yours.”

They went straight to get personalized license plates that read SCC. Gary and Chicago would hear more from them.

“I done got all the heat we need. If we fuck this up, then we’ll need everything.” Cash sipped Hennessy as he spoke. “We can’t afford mistakes.”

“I want one of the little muthafucka’s for that bullshit at the gym.” Darnell said passing the blunt to his left. “We got to make sure that all of them little punks end up dead.”

It was a week since Darnell was out the hospital. There were stitches on his chin and his lower lip. They shaved his head and put seventeen stitches to the back of his head. He had two painful ribs that were fractured. The crowd had really worked him over and the team. The other four members were out of the hospital. They quit messing with Cash and also warned Darnell to do the same. Darnell wanted revenge. Cash received a lot of criticism for leaving his guys hanging. He brushed it off.

“Man, we got to get this plan done up right because I ain’t trying to fuck up and then have to see all of the 11^th. Specially, Bay Bro stupid ass,” Doug said and passed the blunt to Pee-Wee.

“Man shut the fuck up.” Pee-Wee said. He snatched the blunt from Doug. “You too soft, complaining and acting all scared like a little bitch. You better hope a nigga do you a favor and kill you because you’ll be somebody’s bitch in the joint.” Pee Wee laughed.

They went over the plan changing what to do, finally demonstrating how it was going down. Cash felt satisfied.

The day of the dance the boys were running around trying to find Twon who had been missing since the night before. He had told his moms that he was spending the night with the twins but never showed up. The boys spent the morning driving around their hood and the adjoining hoods, trying to spot Twon’s car. It was damn near two o’clock and they still hadn’t heard a peep from him.

“You don’t think it was them dudes from the gym, do you?” Zoe asked leaning on a tree in front of the twin’s house.

The boys were about to go back into the house when they heard Deep Cover by Dr Dre and Snoop blaring from a car system. They stared at each other realizing it was Twon’s favorite. A few seconds later they saw the candy apple red 5.0 bend the corner. Twon pulled in front of the twin’s house.

All the boys knew that when Tina was home they had to park on the next block. There were no excuses. Jon grabbed Twon by the throat and forced him to bend over backwards falling onto the hood of Twon’s car.

“I’m not my brother! I will choke yo ass to death out here. If you ever disrespect me again, I will punish yo bitch ass. Do you understand me?” Jon spat everywhere and looked as if he was foaming at the mouth. Twon nodded.

“It’s ahight brother,” Kay said. He grabbed Jon around the shoulders leading him back to the Dungeon. The others followed.

“Man Don, that brother of yours is nuts. How he gone disrespect me like that?” Twon said walking next to Don.

“Man, you had everyone worried. He was going crazy trying to find you. You know how he takes shit personal. You’re lucky he didn’t kill yo ass for not telling us where you were going to be last night.” Don said.

They sat in silence. Jon and Kay were at the foot of Don’s bed. Don and Twon sat at the head of the bed. Zoe decided to sit on the couch. Jon had calmed down and finally spoke.

“I’ve been meaning to tell ya’ll. I met this chick. She got a spot deep on the West side and from time to time, I fill in for some of her workers.” Twon answered evenly.

“So let me get this straight,” he started, “You gotta plug and ain’t turned us on to it. What the fuck is up with that?” Don sounded pissed off after finding out that his friend was hustling on the side.

“It ain’t even like that y’all. I already told her about y’all and she said that she didn’t do business with people that she didn’t know. So I figured that I would work for her for awhile and let her see that she could trust me and then introduce her to y’all.” Twon knew he had fucked up and was looking for a way.

“How we gone shake y’all moms?” Zoe asked wanting to floss ride and not get dropped off at the dance.

“What do you mean you took care of it? When? How come I ain’t know anything?” Don asked looking at his brother.

The boys stood in Don’s room. They were dressed in black Hugo Boss suits with gold Versace silk shirts and black gators on their feet.

Bay Bro rang the twin’s doorbell to pick them up. The boys rushed upstairs and found Tina and Bay Bro carrying on like childhood friends.

“Don’t worry Tina,” Bay Bro said then passed out five black canes and five black Dobbs hats to the boys. “We’ll be right back. You jut have that camera of yours ready.” Jon kissed his mother as they went out.

“I see ya’ll done came up in the world.” Bay Bro said as they got into the van he rented for the evening.

“Y’all not ready yet,” Bay Bro said choosing his words carefully. “Y’all got y’all hustle going for y’all. It might seem like slow money right now, but it’s money. Y’all still a little young and right now school is important. When I think the time is right, I got y’all. Don’t worry. So where we headed?” Bay Bro asked Jon since he had not spoke up to tell him where to go.

“Back to my moms,” Jon said and all eyes went on him. “I need to talk to you about something important first.” Bay Bro nodded and headed back to Tina’s after picking up the dates.

Tina snapped pictures of the boys and their dates. She just kept going on and on about how handsome the boys were and how pretty the girls were. While Tina was enjoying the moment, Jon tapped Bay Bro on the shoulder and nodded his head towards the porch.

“Well,” Jon seemed to be trying to build up strength and choose the right words. “I didn’t tell you where to pick up my date up because I don’t even know if I have one.”

“It’s like this. Now you have to hear me all the way out before you start telling me how crazy it sounds.”

“My date is a girl that I have a huge crush on. I don’t really know too much about love but I can say that I do love her. The problem is I have a lot of respect for her family and don’t want to burn any bridges. She’s the girl for me and I don’t know if I should take the chance of going to pick her up and ruining my relationship with her family. What do you think I should do?”

“If you really like this girl then you should go for it.” Bay Bro lit a cigarette and continued. “The family should either embrace you or warn her, but never have ill feelings towards you. Now you do have people that will kill to protect their loved ones.” Bay Bro was looking straight in Jon’s eyes. “If one of y’all tried to talk to my baby girl, we’d definitely have problems. I wouldn’t say that I would kill y’all, but it would definitely be some repercussion.”

“Bay Bro, I love you like a father and I mean no disrespect, but my date is Lynette. I’m willing to get punished for my feeling but please let it be after the dance. I don’t want to take no pictures with bumps and bruises. Plus I…”

“Boy, who did you think you getting over on? I saw Tina Jenkins name at least fifty times on the caller ID this past week. I also knew for about two years now that you and Lynette liked each other. It was just a matter of time. I do like that you didn’t let my little speech deter you from your goal. Out of all y’all, it’s you that I don’t have to worry about. Because you’re smart, but at the same time you don’t take no shit. Let’s go get Lynette.”

“That’s enough Tina,” Bay Bro said reaching for the camera. “Save some for Jon and his date.”

“Oh no, I don’t,” Tina said switching the camera from her right hand to her left one. Don walked over to Jon.

Tina finally let the boys on their way but was sure to tell Jon to hurry back. Bay Bro dropped the boys off around the corner where their Mustangs were parked. He and Jon chat as they headed to his house.

“You know that I tell everybody that I got three kids, a girl and two boys-twins. I love Lynette with all my heart. She’s my baby girl and I would do anything to protect her. If I thought that you wasn’t good enough for her we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. Just remember that ya’ll two are the same, hard on the outside and soft on the inside.”

Jon listened and realized that this was forever. Bay Bro stopped the van in front of his house and stayed inside. Jon got out the van and went to the front door. Lynette was pissed about them taking so long. She didn’t wait for Jon to make it all the way to the door. As soon as Jon put one foot on the top step, Lynette snatched the door open.

Jon stood frozen, not by her anger but her beauty. He had never seen a more beautiful girl than Lynette in his whole life. She stood in the doorway with her hands on her hips wearing a from-fitting gold Versace dress to her ankles. Her long hair hung down her back. A bang covered her left eye. She wore a matching gold silk shawl.

Lynette grabbed her black clutch-purse, locked the door and headed to the van. Bay Bro smiled all the way back to Jon’s house.

“Oh my God!” Tina screamed when she saw Lynette. “You’re so beautiful.” She continued. “I can see why my Jon be up late nights on the phone. You are really beautiful.”

“I’m not complimenting you,” Tina said looking at Bay Bro. “I’m talking to this beautiful young lady.”

Tina nodded her head and smiled. She grabbed her camera and started clicking away. Tina and Bay Bro took turns snapping pictures.

“All right mom,” Jon said grabbing Lynette’s hand and leading her towards the door. Tina hugged Jon and Lynette.

“I’ll be driving us to the dance,” Jon said as he slid out the door and hit the remote to his car.

“Have fun,” Bay Bro said as Jon helped Lynette out of the van and then opened the passenger door to his car for her.