CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Seeing dark, thick smoke pollute the air, Black Tone and Wild Child got closer to the house. They couldn’t quite tell where the fire was from the vantage point they were at, but they knew for sure it was in the general vicinity of Tone’s house. Not knowing what to expect, Wild Child had attempted to call his mother several times and had received no answer. The fact that they couldn’t get through to her since her initial call begging for help for Granny made them panic and break every law there was, such as by speeding, running red lights, and turning down one-way streets.
Though he was known for being extra tough and hard as a rock in the streets, Black Tone’s heart was breaking in a million tiny pieces while he prayed that his grandmother was not hurt. Repeatedly, he kept asking himself why he had even left her alone when he did. Especially on a day like today, when anything was poised to jump off. Less than a few blocks away, the smoke in the air got thicker, and Black Tone’s worry increased.
What in the entire fuck? Oh, hell naw! He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Amir’s family party store was up in flames. Random people were trying to dart in and out of the doors to take their chances against the flames and get whatever they could of value. Normally, Black Tone would have gotten out and checked to see where Mikey and Hassan were, since they were supposed to be posted, but at the time he had absolutely zero fucks to be given about anything that didn’t concern finding out what was going on at his own household.
Driving by Alexis’s house, he noticed her car parked in front of her house, which was unusual. One, because she always parked her vehicle in the driveway, afraid it might get sideswiped on the street, and two, because Dre was leaning on the hood, arguing with one of his boys. She would never allow her devious-minded brother even to come close to her prized possession.
As he and Black Tone made eye contact, Dre spit on the ground and folded his arms. Wild Child shook his head in disbelief that his older cousin and Dre were still carrying on the beef they had had since they were children growing up on the block. Black Tone didn’t have time for any of Dre’s petty games. He couldn’t entertain anything more than getting down the street to his own home as soon as possible.
Roaring up in front of his house, he swerved in front of his aunt’s car. Both he and Wild Child jumped out, on a mission, and bolted up onto the porch. The front door was wide open and unlocked. With guns out, the pair ran into the living room and were met by Wild Child’s mother. She was frantic. Her face was full of tears, and she could hardly breathe.
Leaving his cousin to see about his grandmother, Black Tone wasted no time heading down the hallway. Rushing by his bedroom, which looked like it had been ransacked, he stepped over what he quickly realized was his wall-mounted flat-screen, which had been smashed in the middle of the hallway floor. Once he was at his granny’s doorway, Black Tone’s blood pressure was at an all-time high. His head was pounding, and every vein in his body was budging and on the verge of popping through his skin. He was livid.
Here he discovered his beloved grandmother’s bare feet sticking out from behind the metal bed frame, which had been thrown on its side. With the quickness, the gentle giant, when need be, yanked the bed upward and tossed the heavy frame back to the other side of the room as if it were a piece of paper. Once he lifted the mattress, he finally saw his grandmother’s entire twisted body scrunched up by the wall. With small whimpers, she was asking for God’s mercy.
Black Tone carefully turned her over and saw that her angelic face, which always had a bright smile, was battered and bruised. Part of him wanted to look away, while the other part saw past her pain and knew he had to get her help fast.
In tears, he looked over his shoulder and saw his aunt and Wild Child coming into the room. His aunt explained to Black Tone, just as she’d just done to her son, that when she pulled up and came into the house, she felt like something was wrong. She said she felt some air coming from somewhere and looked in the kitchen and could see that the side door was swinging back and forth. The distraught daughter-in-law then said she ran in the back room and found Granny like this. Still in tears and in panic mode, she expressed how many times she had tried to lift the heavy bed and couldn’t. She said once more that the police and the ambulance refused to send help. Lastly, Black Tone’s aunt told him she had gone out on the porch and had even tried yelling for his little friend, Alexis’s brother, but he had turned his head, ignoring her pleas for help.
Dre and them did this! Them bitches gonna pay! His mind raced, the taste for swift revenge dripped from his lips, and not once did he care that the shoe box containing the money he’d been saving for over a year or so was missing.
“We gotta get Granny some help and fast.” After grabbing some sheets and blankets, he lifted her body from the place Li’l Ronnie had cruelly left her. Black Tone placed the one person in his life he could always count on down onto the makeshift pallet. He then wrapped her up like a small baby. Granny was alive and fighting, still praying, as he carried her out to his aunt’s car.
After laying his granny down in the rear seat, he instructed his aunt to drive as fast as she possibly could to the nearest hospital outside of powerless Detroit. He told her he would be right behind, on her trail, after he spoke to Wild Child about securing the side door.
“Man, I’m telling you I’m gonna kill that motherfucker and all his cronies. He did that ho-ass shit to Granny. I know he did! That’s his ass!” Black Tone declared.
“How you know it was them for sure?” Wild Child quizzed, staring at the other end of the block. “I mean, would they just be all standing down there, posted like they ain’t do shit? I mean, it don’t make sense. Ain’t no fools that damn fucked up in the head.”
Black Tone climbed up in his truck and slammed the door shut. Leaning out the window, he gave his cousin a grim look. “I know that punk-ass pussy. Dre been not giving a fuck about jack he do or say for a long time now. He ain’t have no respect for me or mines or even his own since he was probably born. Naw, he did this shit. Who else would’ve just randomly came on the block and picked my damn house outta the blue?”
“Yeah, you probably right. And yeah, they gonna pay. But first things first. Go make sure Granny is good. Then we’ll go to war!”
“Okay. Bet.” Black Tone looked overhead at the thick black smoke from the still burning party store and was even more disgusted at what his neighborhood had become. “All right, cuz. I’m out. And when you get a chance, hit Amir up and tell him about his people’s shit on fire. Nine outta ten, I know Mikey or Hassan done called him, but you call too. And, oh yeah, keep what happen to Granny close to the vest for now.”
“Okay. Bet, fam. Keep me posted. I’ll catch a ride down to the hospital later,” Wild Child agreed, then dialed Amir as soon as his cousin pulled away from the curb and turned around.
Black Tone knew he had to hurry and catch up with his aunt, but he could not resist letting Dre know that as soon as he was sure his cherished grandmother was being taken care of, he’d be back and thirsty for revenge. Smashing his foot down on the gas pedal, he flew down the block and slammed down on the brakes when he got in front of Dre’s house. Normally, Dre and his crew would have drawn pistols on the next man pulling a gangster stunt like that, but they knew Black Tone didn’t want no real smoke.
“Yo, bitch-ass nigga! That was real fucked up what you did! I mean, you think you can just do that slimeball shit and it’s gonna be all good? Y’all just gonna stand out here and be in my face, like I won’t kill one of you bitches with my bare hands?”
Dre stood there and laughed. He had heard it all. Black Tone was a joke to him. Naturally, he assumed he was down here in front of his house selling wolf tickets, courtesy of Amir, who, he knew, was the oldest of Pops’s sons. Dre believed Black Tone had been sent by his slave master to come see about the fire that was still raging. “So let me get this straight. Your ass came home to call yourself checking me about the next person?”
“The next person? Are you fucking serious, motherfucker?” Black Tone put the truck in park and proceeded to get out. Dre’s boys all took a few steps backward, but Dre didn’t move one inch. He stood posted, unbothered by the physical threat his longtime neighbor could pose. “You kick in my side door and abuse my grandmother, and you think I ain’t gonna do shit?”
Dre was shocked. He had seen and done plenty of low-down shit in his day, but what Black Tone was talking about was nothing he would place on his résumé. “Hold up, dawg. What the fuck is you say?”
“You heard me, nigga! Y’all waited for me to leave, then kicked the side door down and laid hands on my granny. Then left her on the floor to die!” Even saying the words made Black Tone angrier as he lunged at Dre, who finally moved out of the way.
Hearing all the commotion, Alexis, still in a daze, emerged from behind the closed screen door, with dark sunglasses on that somewhat covered her face. Stepping out onto the front porch, she begged Black Tone and her brother to stop arguing. Black Tone yelled out to Alexis, telling her about the heinous act her brother had committed, before trying to rush Dre once more.
“Anthony, as much dirt as my brother done did in his life, this time he’s innocent. Now, I don’t know what happened down at your house or to Granny, but Dre ain’t have nothing to do with it. He was with me. Helping me. My brother ain’t do it.”
This was the first time in years he’d heard Alexis take up for Dre. This must have been the day hell was about to freeze over. Before Black Tone could speak, Wild Child came running down the block, calling out his cousin’s name. Finally up on the loud, spirited group, he held his cell up in his hand.
“Yo, cuz. I just got off the phone with Amir. And before I could get a chance to tell him about the fire, he put me up on some four-one-one. He told me Ethan called him, taking a serious cop for what he found out his nephew Li’l Ronnie had done to your grandmother!”
“Li’l Ronnie! Are you serious? That ho-ass nigga had the nerve to come over here and put his hands on my people like that! I’ma body that ass! I swear for God!” Black Tone responded.
Dre paused and thought back to the dude he’d seen earlier, and it dawned on him who he was. “Yo, Tone, I think I saw that young nigga creeping around this way this afternoon. Little dawg was locked up with me briefly in the county on some minor drug charge. He straight pussy. He was around here, pushing a small white Benz truck.”
Black Tone remembered back to Li’l Ronnie pulling out of the parking lot last night, and he was driving a white truck. His anger grew even more. Out of all the years of him being a bouncer, this was the first time someone had actually brought the shit to his front door. Knowing he had to get going, he was man enough to apologize to Dre for accusing him of such an awful act.
“Man, I’m sorry about that. It’s just, I guess, I’m all up in my emotions.”
Dre stuck his hand out to shake Black Tone’s. “Look, it ain’t no thang. Just know we would never violate your shit like that, let alone do some old ho-ass shit to Granny. That ain’t in me. Shiddd, boy, that lady used to make me cookies back in the day, even if I was showing out in these streets. Now, you . . . hell yeah, nigga. I’ll bust your ass in a blink of an eye, but her never! That’s my word!” Black Tone, along with everyone else standing around, laughed at Dre for keeping it a hundred. “And if you want me to help you do some harm to his gay ass for coming in the hood on that tip, let me know. I’m down.”
Not bothering to ask Wild Child what Amir had said about the fire or even noticing the bruises on Alexis’s face, Black Tone jumped back in his truck and sped off to the hospital.