Chapter Ten
Ladelle had been trying to call Petie for over an hour, and he was wondering if parole snatched him up. He could always reach Petie and couldn’t understand why he wasn’t answering his phone. He called Renee and Alexis to see if they’d heard from him. Renee said she hadn’t, and Alexis told him she’d been waiting for him to come by since seven o’ clock. It was now eight-thirty, and Ladelle was sure that parole had picked him up.
He decided to go and see Big Lou over on 140th and Amsterdam. Lou was on their team; maybe he had heard something.
Renee was calling Petie’s phone every five minutes. She figured he was laid up with one of his playthings. But she didn’t care; she had her own. She called Ladelle back and he told her that there was still no word from Petie. He didn’t mention anything about Alexis waiting for him to come by and he never showed up. Ladelle thought he might be with Share, but he dismissed the idea because he knew she was a late night thing; it was only nine-fifteen, so he wouldn’t be there now. Ladelle headed over to Big Lou’s crib.
Share and her guests ordered take-out from Domino’s Pizza. Cooking anything was out of the question now. Venus no longer had an apetite; she was deep in thought.
Share was worried; she was hoping that none of her neighbors had seen anything from their windows. She was worried that Petie might be dead. His truck was still on her block, so that meant he was either dead or out cold. She hoped he was out cold.
Kalif had made some phone calls and said that some of his peeps were going to come through and stay on the first floor for the night. Share didn’t mind; there were three apartments down on the first floor, so it was no big deal to her. Besides, she only used the second and third floors. She considered telling Kalif that they could stay until the shit boiled over. Share was scared; she knew Petie’s peeps and how they moved. There would be problems behind this. She knew it was about to get ugly.
Porscha had already called Venus twice and left two messages on her answering machine. Venus hadn’t called her back yet. That was strange; she always called when she got home from work. It was after nine-thirty and BJ wasn’t there either. Porscha called Venus’ cell phone and her voicemail came on. What is going on? Before going into a panic, she called Share and was relieved to find that everyone was there.
”Oh, y’all bitches had drama and nobody hollered at me? What that be about?” Porscha said. Share explained to her that it wasn’t female drama—it was Petie. She told Porscha that if they had chick drama she would have hollered at her immediately. She assured her that she was okay and would call her tomorrow.
Porscha and Giselle finished their dinner and were drinking Alize to wash it down when the phone rang. It was Lou and Ladelle. They were calling to see if Giselle had heard from her uncle. Giselle said that she had spoken to Petie yesterday, and she wondered if parole picked him up. Giselle called Renee and asked her if she’d heard from Petie.
”Probably laid up with some ho,” Renee said nonchalantly. Giselle hung up the phone and thought about the whole thing. She remembered that parole was looking for Petie, and she was now certain that they had picked him up. She looked over at Porscha and then started playing with her hair. Giselle loved her. Porscha had a reddish, Indian complexion with straight hair, deep dimples and full lips. Men always tried to holla at her, but Giselle had her on lock. Porscha got up to undress, and then she walked into the bathroom to turn on the shower. Giselle followed her.
Petie’s head was throbbing, and it hurt when he breathed. The time on the dashboard read ten-twenty. He didn’t know where he was and his vision was blurry. His body and head felt heavy. He reached for the handle on the door, opened it and fell out. He was fucked up. Petie got to his feet and staggered up the block towards Amsterdam Avenue. Musical lyrics rang out from his phone: I get high, high, high, high, hiiiiigh...I get high, high, high, high, hiiiiiggh.... What is that—the Smurfs? he thought. What is that noise? Oh, God, we’re being invaded by blue people.... Petie’s mind wasn’t functioning properly, and he couldn’t figure out the simple fact that his phone was ringing. It rang again, and this time different music played. Petie fell forward, and he was leaning against somebody’s car now. He fumbled around in his pocket and pulled out his phone. He was still incoherent, but at least this time he knew to reach for his phone. He pushed the answer key. ”Yo, dick, where the fuck you at?” he heard Ladelle say.
”Im...I’m...on da ground...beef, dick...come g-get me.”
”You got beef, nigga? Where? Where you at, dick? Where the fuck you at?!” Ladelle screamed into the phone. Petie was like a brother to him. If he had beef, Ladelle was gonna empty out on somebody.
”Sh-a-a-a-re...Sh-a-a-a-re’s house,” Petie slurred.
”Don’t move. Me and Lou is on our way,” Ladelle said before running out with Lou on his heels. They took three steps at a time and jumped in the Hummer parked outside Lou’s crib.
”Yo, the nigga said he at Share’s house. Bitch on 142nd own them brownstones and shit,” Ladelle said. He told Lou how fucked up Petie had sounded. They turned onto Share’s block and didn’t see Petie but saw his truck. Ladelle parked, and he and Lou immediately got out of the Hummer and began searching up and down the block for him. Finally they saw him slumped over a parked car. Ladelle ran over to him and bent down to get a closer look at his man. Petie’s head was swollen and he had razor cuts on his face, with old and new blood. Ladelle wasn’t sure, but it looked like he had lost some teeth. ”Call a fucken ambulance!” he told Lou.
Petie screamed when they took off his jacket, and he winced when they stood him straight up. There was blood coming out of his ears and dripping from his wounds. Lou was getting teary-eyed now. He, Petie and Ladelle had all grown up together. Petie and Ladelle pushed bricks in the BX and Lou kept it uptown.... This shit couldn’t be happening. Somebody was gonna die behind this shit.
The ambulance arrived and Petie was put on a stretcher. His pulse and blood pressure were low, and the EMTs and the police were asking all kind of questions that Ladelle didn’t want to answer. He gave them his cousin’s name instead of Peties; he knew if blue and white ran his name they’d see a warrant pending. Ladelle rode in the ambulance with Petie and Lou followed in the Hummer. He called Renee on his cell phone and filled her in on what was happening.
Kalif was looking out the window when the ambulance and three police cars had pulled up around ten to eleven. He smiled at the scene. ”You don’t want no problems with Harlem, you don’t want no problems...” he rapped. He called out to BJ and Will, and they all watched as the EMTs strapped Petie to the stretcher and pulled off.
Kalif knew the white Hummer parked down the street from somewhere. He thought it might have belonged to one of Rasheed’s peeps. Rasheed was Kalif’s older brother. He had more props than a stage play, so Kalif wasn’t worried about anything....
Kalif’s guns went off, and niggas in the hood knew that. They used to call him ‘Wild Child’ when he was younger. Now at twenty-four he was even wilder. He had braids down his back and a basketball player’s body. He was slim and tall with thick eyebrows. Young girls loved him. They all said he had a big dick, and Kalif was well aware of it. His anaconda was his pride and joy.
