Eastside (12 page)

Chicken lifted her remote and turned the television set off. She stared at Lil Fade, Travon, Marcus, and Darius in disappointment.

“Anyone want to explain this?” she asked.

“I got jumped, and they pulled guns on me,” Travon told her.

Chicken nodded. “Okay, that explains one. What about the other seven dead and twelve wounded?”

“There were six of them,” Travon said softly.

Romeo bounded down the stairs, and seated himself on the couch next to Travon.

“What about the seven dead and the other seven wounded?” she asked.

The boys remained silent. Chicken jabbed her finger at the television.

“Tonight, there are seven mothers crying, Tre!” she shouted. “Seven! Do you remember when it was your mother's night to cry?”

Travon, Romeo, Darius, and Marcus looked down. Lil Fade looked away.

“I'm an emergency room nurse,” Chicken told them. “I see this shit every day! Every time a child comes in lying on a stretcher, I pray that it isn't one of you! I walk out and I see the family waiting and praying, and I know what the doctor is about to tell them. What do you say to a woman, a mother, who has just been told that her baby is never coming home! And worst of all! Worst of all! It's over a God damned color! Look at me!” Chicken screamed.

The boys quickly shifted their gazes toward her.

Chicken pointed her finger at them. “There are no medical or dental benefits in gang banging! There is no 401(k) plan, and you sure in the hell don't get paid for it! If you get wounded, you don't get a God damned disability check from your gang! So what the hell is it for? What's it all for? Why are you kids killing each other? Why?”

Chicken shook her head and walked out of her front door in tears. From the front yard, she called out to her son. “Romeo, get my nurse's bag, and my keys, and bring your ass on!”

Aunt Vera's House
The Next Day

“Yeah, Blood!” Suga shouted. “We served them hoes!”

“I gave Mike-Mike and Pooh-Pooh at least five shots apiece!” Capone bragged.

“But the news people said that the car was abandoned when the po-po's got there,” Lil Fade told them.

Travon exited the house, and joined the others on the front porch.

“You think them niggaz made it?” Darius asked.

Lil Fade shook his head. “Shit, ain't no telling.” He shifted his gaze to Capone. “Did y'all take all of the straps to Mr. C already?”

Capone nodded. “Yeah, we did that last night. He said that he was gonna re-thread the barrels for us, and put new barrels on the ones that he couldn't re-thread.”

“Where y'all straps at?” Suga asked.

“We buried them hoes in a creek out in Lakeside,” Darius answered. “We'll pick 'em up and take 'em to Mr. C next week. He should be through with the others by then.”

“One Time says that they ain't got no witnesses,” Lil Fade told the others. He threw his head back in laughter. “A park full of muthafuckas, and they ain't got no witnesses!”

“I watched the news this morning,” Marcus commented. “The sheriff and the chief of police was on there begging for fuckin' witnesses. They was puttin' up reward money and damn near promising their firstborn child, if somebody would come forward.”

“Man, if they offering rewards and shit, we'll beat that shit in court so easy, it won't even be fun,” Capone said.

“Even if somebody did come forward, they wouldn't live to testify during trial anyway,” Lil Fade announced.

“Man, this shit is getting boring,” Capone told them. “We can do just about anything we want to!”

Capone and Lil Fade shared a laugh.

Marcus turned toward Travon. “You got down for yours yesterday, Blood! You was bustin' like a muthafucka!”

“Hell yeah, Blood, I had to go for mine!” Travon told them. “Everything goes, from now on.” Travon turned and stared down the street. He had used that word again.

Suga grabbed Travon, wrapping his massive right arm around his head. “Shit, lil homie put in work yesterday. He got his cherry popped!”

The boys broke into laughter. Suga released Travon, leaned back, and stared at him for several moments.

“Your name ain't Tre no more, you're too dangerous to be called Tre,” Suga told him. “From now on, your name is T-Dog. You gonna be my little trigga nigga from here on out.”

“Don't worry, I'm a bring it out of him,” Lil Fade said. “He got more of it inside of him, just waiting to get out. So I'm a bring it out of him.” Lil Fade stared at Travon with his cold, penetrating blue eyes. Travon turned away.

“You getting down for the hood no, Tre?” Capone asked.

“Yeah, I keep hearing you say Blood this, or Blood that,” Darius added.

“Shit, you done put in work as a Blood, and your new hood is a Blood hood,” Marcus told him. “You're on the gang file as a Blood, and all of your cousins are Bloods. You might as well, kinfolk. It's all good in the hood.”

“We all get down for each other, and protect each other,” Darius added.

Lil Fade stood. “Don't convince nobody to be down with my hood! Either his muthafuckin' ass is, or he ain't! We don't need no half-ass dedicated muthafuckas running around the hood. You either love your homies and your hood, or you don't. I was a Blood the day I came outta my momma's pussy. Nobody made me one, or talked me into a muthafuckin' thing! Blood is in the heart, and BSV is in the soul. It's for life! It's BSV until the day I muthafuckin' die!” He approached Travon, and stood just before him. “I killed for you.”

“And I for you,” Travon replied.

“Then let it be done.” Lil Fade waved his hand through the air in a grand sweeping gesture, motioning toward the yard.

Travon nodded and rose. He walked down the porch steps and into the yard.

“Let the lil homies do it!” Lil Bling shouted.

Lil Fade, Robert Jr., Cibon, and Antwon walked down the porch steps and into the grass, where Travon waited. Robert Jr. swung first, but missed. Travon had been anticipating it.

Cibon and Antwon, who were twins, both took swings at Travon. Their punches were immediately followed by one from Lil Fade. Travon was ready, but could not possibly dodge all three fists. Lil Fade's and Antwon's connected.

“What up, Blood?” Lil Fade shouted.

Travon absorbed the blows and then charged at Lil Fade. Before he was able to reach him, though, he was punished by a barrage of fists from all three boys. Hit from all directions, he stumbled back and began to swing wildly.

Robert Jr. landed a left hook on Travon's right cheek, while Antwon managed to land a right jab on Travon's left eye. Travon's wild swing struck Lil Fade on his nose.

“Fuck!” Lil Fade shouted. He stopped and clutched his nose.

“C'mon, Blood!” Voices shouted from the crowd. “Get 'im!”

Cibon was able to get in close and give Travon a strong right to his stomach. That, along with a kick from Antwon, caused Travon to stumble back.

“Don't fall, Blood!” Lil Bling shouted.

“C'mon, Lil Fade, get 'im!” Suga shouted.

Lil Fade entered into the fray again. Travon threw a right punch and missed. Punches from all directions began to land all over Travon's upper body. Several fists struck Travon's face in rapid succession. He stumbled and fell.

“BSV for life!” several of the boys shouted, as they descended upon him.

The boys punished Travon with kicks and blows for several minutes, before Darius and Capone declared the initiation over. Lil Fade continued to kick.

“That's enough!” Darius shouted.

“That's enough!” Capone repeated more forcefully.

The boys backed away from Travon, who was lying on the ground curled into a ball. Marcus was the first one to reach him. He helped his cousin up.

“You BSV now, baby!” Marcus said excitedly.

“Yeah, boy!” Cibon shouted. “You a villain now!”

Lil Fade approached Travon and hugged him. “Welcome to the family, Blood.”

A car pulled into the driveway, and Travon quickly dusted himself off. It was one of his aunt's cars, and five of the seven sisters were inside.

Regina was mother to Cibon, Antwon, Robert Jr., Niesha, and RaLisa. Vera was mother to Darius, Marcus, LaTonya, and JoBeth. Chicken was mother to Capone, Romeo, Erica, and Jeanette. Elmira was Travon's mother, while Clarissa was the mother of Red, Omar, Spliff, Maurice, and Caesar. Two of the sisters were not present. Irma Lee, who was Winky, Boss, Lil Daddy, J-Bird, and Carlwell's mother, and Martha Ray, who was Frank, Buddy, Urisa, Candy, and Lashonda's mother. Regina exited the car first.

“Oh, girl,” Regina exclaimed. “You got all of these hoodlums in the front of your house!”

“Hell, two of them hoodlums is yours!” Chicken told her.

“I'd rather have them right here safe, and know where they are, than to have them out there in them streets getting into all kinds of shit,” Vera added.

The women were greeted by several indistinguishable “hello Mrs. Robinsons,” “hi Aunties,” and “hi Mommas” as they filed past the boys and into the house.

Regina shook her head. “Oh, girl. I couldn't have this shit at my house.”

Clarissa shook her head in agreement. “Me neither.”

“That's because you got enough bad-ass kids of your own living there,” Chicken told them. “And besides, this ain't your house, so shush up. You two always did think that you was better than everybody else.”

The last of the sisters filed past into the house, and the door was closed.

“Damn, all y'all's moms look alike,” Lil Bling said. “That shit is weird, like they was cloned or something.”

Several of the boys broke into laughter.

“Say, let's smash to the spot,” Lil Fade told them.

“C'mon.” Suga nodded.

Everyone except Travon, Marcus, and Darius filed out into the street, and climbed into various vehicles. Robert Jr. turned back toward his cousins.

“Y'all coming to the spot?” he asked.

“Yeah, we'll be there later, kinfolk,” Marcus told him.

“All right then, I'll holler at y'all later.” Robert lifted his fist into the air, then climbed into Lil Bling's car.

After all of the cars had pulled away, Marcus said to Travon, “So, how do you feel?”

Travon lifted his head. “About what?”

“About getting down?”

Travon turned away and began to examine his surroundings. The street was quiet and peaceful, the sky was clear, and the evening was warm with a cool, gentle, moderating breeze flowing through the air. The stars were starting to appear, and the retreating sun was meandering across the sky, painting it different shades of red, yellow, orange, and purple. It was a beautiful South Texas evening.

Travon turned back to Marcus and started to speak, but was interrupted by the sound of his mother and aunts enjoying themselves inside. It was the sound of family. It was also the first time that he had heard his mother laugh that much since the death of his brother. His mother was happy, and so he was happy.

“I feel like I'm home,” Travon told them. “I feel like I'm finally home.”

Marcus slapped Travon across his back. “All right, Blood!”

Marcus, Darius, and Travon shared a smile, and then an embrace.

T
hat night, Travon, Darius, and Marcus did not go to the part of the neighborhood where all of the other boys were hanging out.

Instead, they went to their own private spot that Darius had found for them. It was the middle of the month, so business was average.

“What was that one?” Darius asked.

The car Travon serviced drove away, and he walked back into the yard.

“That was a fifty,” Travon told Darius, counting his money. “But on the real, the cuts is dead tonight.”

The house that they were using to sell their wares belonged to a heavily addicted drug abuser who allowed the boys the use of his property in exchange for a small amount of drugs for his personal use. On average, Darius gave the dude about a hundred dollars' worth of crack cocaine every week.

“Shit, ain't nothing poppin' tonight,” Marcus told them. He seated himself on the front porch of the crackhouse.

Soon, another car drove up, an old Ford Thunderbird, with three of its four hubcaps missing. A skinny, dusty white man with torn jeans and a filthy aqua T-shirt climbed out. He walked up to Travon and smiled, releasing a torrent of bad breath, and revealing a mouth with three missing teeth.

“Got a twenty?” the man asked.

“Yeah.” Travon nodded. He walked to a small bush near the house and bent down to get his stash.

“Who's in the car with you?” Marcus asked. He walked to the car and peered inside.

A smiling dirty white woman waved at him. She, too, was missing several teeth.

“It's my wife,” the man told them. He smiled nervously at the woman.

Marcus turned toward Travon and nodded. “It's cool.”

Travon pulled a small white piece of cocaine base from his tiny plastic sack and handed it to the man.

The man examined the small piece of crack, and nervously rolled it around in the palm of his hand. “It's too small; can you add another piece?”

“Hell no!” Travon shouted. “Now where's my fuckin' money?”

The man nodded toward the car. “My wife's got it. Hold on.”

The man walked to the car, with Travon following closely behind. Once the man was close enough to his vehicle, he leapt through the passenger side window.

“Go! Go! Go!” he shouted to the woman.

Travon and Marcus grabbed the man's legs and began to pull. The woman drove off just as Darius reached inside of the car and opened the passenger side door. The man was pulled away from the moving vehicle, and hit the ground hard. Like a pack of wolves, Darius, Travon, and Marcus surrounded the man and began to kick him brutally.

“Muthafuckin' geeker!” Travon shouted.

“Yeah!” Darius added while delivering a blow. “I bet you won't try to beat no one else!”

“Yeah, fuckin'g stupid-ass geeker!” Marcus yelled.

The man's wife stopped the car down the street and began honking the horn. Travon, Marcus, and Darius continued to kick brutally, until too many lights from the surrounding houses began to come on. Doors began to open, blinds began to crack, and the once dark and peaceful street began to come alive.

“Let's go!” Darius shouted. “Fuck this trick!”

The boys took off running into the backyard of the crackhouse and hopped the fence into an adjacent alley. They continued to scale fences and cut through trails, until they reached the main hangout spot. Out of breath, they emerged from the shadows between two houses.

“Man, y'all better cut that shit out!” Lil Fade shouted. “Y'all asses almost got mowed down by this muthafuckin' chopper!” He showed them the AK-47 assault rifle cradled in his arms.

“All of that running out from in between the houses almost got y'all killed, Blood!” Lil Bling shouted.

Travon, Marcus, and Darius slowly walked to where the rest of the boys were standing around and hanging out.

“What's poppin'?” Darius asked.

Lil Fade shook his head. “Shit, nothing. Everybody done boned the fuck out, that's what's happening.”

“Where y'all coming from?” Capone asked.

“Shit, we was on our way here, and we had to stop and whip this geeker,” Darius lied. He wanted to keep his other drug spot a secret.

“Oh, yeah?” Lil Fade asked. “Damn, I missed all the fun.”

A car pulled up in front of them and the passenger flashed a cigarette lighter twice.

“Shit, I'm out,” Capone announced, extending his arms out to his sides.

Lil Fade shook his head. “I ain't got nothing.”

Marcus turned to Travon. “Go on and get it.”

Travon strolled up to the driver's side and examined its occupants. There were two young, attractive women inside. They both smiled at Travon.

“Hey, baby, what's up?” the driver asked, fondling Travon's zipper.

“You wanna do something?” the passenger asked.

“Fuck!” Travon smacked his lips, and walked back into the yard where the others were standing.

“What's up?” Capone asked.

Travon smacked his lips once again. “They ain't got no money; they wanna get busy and shit.”

Capone peered over Travon's shoulder, examining the occupants of the vehicle. He liked what he saw and turned back toward Travon. “Say, lil kinfolk, let me get a piece from you and I'll pay you back tomorrow.”

Travon shook his head and pulled out his small plastic sack, which was filled with pieces of crack cocaine. He unwrapped the sack, and handed Capone a twenty-dollar piece. Lil Fade hurried over.

“Break it in half and give me a piece,” Lil Fade told Capone.

Using his fingernail, Capone snapped the twenty-dollar piece of crack cocaine in two, and handed Lil Fade one of the pieces. Together, they approached the car.

“Yeah, boy!” Lil Fade said excitedly. “I'ma get my duck sick tonight!”

“So, what y'all wanna do?” one of the ladies asked.

Lil Fade held up his palm. “Hold on, bitch!”

Capone, who had walked to the passenger side window, quickly examined the ladies, and then headed over to the driver's side. “I wanna get my jimmy waxed.”

“Me too,” Lil Fade told the passenger.

“You got a dime?” the passenger asked.

“Yeah, just come on!” Lil Fade told her.

“Hold on!” she begged. “Let me hit it first.”

Lil Fade shook his head. “Nope, first I handle my business, then you can handle yours.” Lil Fade grabbed her arm, pulled her out of the car, and then led her around to the side of the house.

“Get in the backseat, and take your mutherfuckin' pants off,” Capone told the driver.

“You got a twenty?” she asked.

“Bitch, please!” Capone told her. “You better be happy with this dime I'm a give you.”

The driver climbed into the backseat, and removed her blue jeans.

“Ho, open your muthafuckin' legs!” Capone told her, as he climbed on top of her.

A second car pulled up, and the man inside held up two fingers, then cupped his hands into a circle. He mouthed the words
two
and
zero
.

Travon nodded and pulled out a twenty-dollar piece of crack from his little plastic sack, and then handed it to the driver. The driver handed Travon a twenty and then pulled away.

“Let's go to the weed house, and the bootleg,” Lil Bling suggested.

Marcus, Darius, and Lil Bling rose, walked to the Chevrolet Impala, and climbed inside. Marcus turned back toward Travon, who was standing in the yard.

“You coming?” he asked.

Travon shook his head. “Naw, y'all go ahead, I'm a stay down.”

“All right, BSV out then, Blood!” Marcus told him with a smile.

Lil Bling flipped a toggle switch on his dashboard, activating the hydraulic suspension system on his car. The car bounced up, lifting itself off the ground. After a few seconds, the booming stereo system came alive, and Lil Bling pulled away.

Another car pulled up to the house where Travon was standing. This one was a late-model Nissan Maxima with chrome rims, tinted windows, and a ground effects kit. It looked more like a dealer's car than a drug. The window slid down.

“You got a two-oh,” the passenger asked.

Travon removed a twenty-dollar piece of rock cocaine from his small plastic sack and walked to the passenger's side. Both driver and passenger were wearing military uniforms. Remembering what Darius had told him about military customers, Travon added a few pieces of loose chips from the bottom of his sack, to make it appear as though they were getting a lot more. He handed the merchandise over to the passenger.

“Look at this!” the passenger said excitedly. He held out his hand so that the driver could see the amount that he had been given. “I told you that this was the spot!”

The driver looked up at Travon. “What will you do for a C-note?”

Travon pulled out six pieces of rock cocaine and added several loose pieces from the bottom of his sack.

“Bet!” the driver said happily. He handed Travon a one-hundred-dollar bill and Travon handed over the crack. “What's your name?”

“Rico,” Travon told them.

“All right, homeboy, the next time we come through, we are gonna ask for you,” the driver told him.

Travon nodded and returned to the empty porch. Soon, the car pulled away, leaving him alone with his thoughts.

Travon sat quietly, thinking about his life, and the direction it had taken. Too-Low had been dead for less than a year, and in that short period of time, he had gone from being one of the favorites in the Courts to being its sworn enemy. In that short time period, he had gone from not knowing anything about drugs to sitting on a porch in one of the city's hottest dope spots. In that short amount of time, he had gone from being an unaffiliated innocent to being a member of one of the state's most notorious and violent gangs.

This time last year, he would have been sneaking out of the house to meet Frog, Justin, and Re-Re in the park. Now, with the exception of Frog, the others wanted him dead. He never saw it coming, and he didn't really understand how it happened. Everything was moving at warp speed, and it was so hard to get a grip on things, to gain his bearings. He felt like a bullet. Traveling fast, not knowing where he was going, when he was going to stop, how he was going to stop, and worst of all, not being in control of his own fate. His life was spiraling out of control, faster and faster with each revolution. He would be dead within a year, he told himself. Dead within a year.

“Why you do it in my mouth?” the young lady from the passenger seat asked.

“Shut up, trick!” Lil Fade told her, as they emerged from the shadows. “Just swallow and be happy.”

Travon peered in the direction from which they came. Lil Fade was zip-ping his pants; the girl was spitting. She huffed, and stormed back to the car, where Capone was climbing out and pulling up his pants. Capone tossed the young lady in the backseat her payment, and then returned to the porch where Travon and Lil Fade were now sitting.

“Y'all tricks hurry up and get the fuck outta here!” Lil Fade shouted.

The young lady in the backseat emerged from the vehicle, and put her pants back on in the middle of the street. Then she climbed in the driver's seat, and turned to the passenger, who was already inside.

“Bitch!” the driver shouted. “I knew you would start smoking without me, give me some of that!”

They sat for a few moments and quickly ingested some of the payment for their services, before finally driving away.

Lil Fade opened the front door, grabbed a radio, along with his AK-47 and an extra thirty-round magazine. He turned on the radio, rose, and then walked to some nearby bushes and stashed the AK-47. When finished, he returned to the porch, where they all sat quietly listening to the radio and bobbing their heads. Soon, they heard the distant rumbling of some deep bass notes.

Lil Fade rose, walked over to where the AK-47 was hidden, and waited patiently as the bass notes grew louder. Soon, Lil Bling's car turned the corner, and Lil Fade rejoined Capone and Travon on the porch.

Lil Bling's car pulled up in front of the house and slowly lowered itself to the ground when he hit the switch for it to pancake. Laughing loudly, the boys climbed out of the burgundy lowrider, and strolled up to the porch carrying bags of beer, liquor, and marijuana.

“What the fuck took y'all so long?” Travon asked.

“We ran into some hoochies at the store,” Marcus told them. “Plus, Lil Bling had to call his baby's momma back at the pay phone. She kept blowing his shit up.”

Lil Bling set a bag of beer, chips, and other items down on the porch, and then headed back toward his car. “I'll holler at y'all later.”

“Where the fuck is he going?” Travon asked.