Welfare Wifeys (15 page)

“Harley, why don’t you quit being such a hater?” Cords shot back.

Harley and his partner Rayfield looked at each other comically. “You hear this nigga trying to sound hip?” Harley laughed.

“He sounds retarded,” Rayfield capped. He was the ex-hustler who had squared up due to health issues. The doctor told him that
the next dose of lead he took would be fatal, so Rayfield came in off the streets and became a square. He often reminisced on his heyday of getting money in Harlem, but had no desire to get back in the game. The game was the same, but the players and the rules were different. Sonny had seen man after man fall to the new fad of snitching for shorter sentences and it turned his stomach every time he thought of it.

“You know Cords thinks his ass is still the shit, even though he ain’t put a record out in a hundred years,” Sonny said in his southern drawl. He had been living in New York for years but still carried himself like a country boy dressed in overalls and work boots.

These four men were known as the Senate, unofficial keepers of the block and gatherers of information. Day after day, rain or shine, they congregated around their rickety old card table swapping stories and being nosey. They were as much a fixture on the block and the old peach tree and everyone knew them in one way or another.

“Hey, guys.” Tionna stepped onto the curb and greeted them.

“Hi Tionna, ain’t seen you in a minute.” Harley smiled warmly.

“Yeah, I’ve been busy with work and school.”

“Work?” Cords chuckled. “I never thought I’d see the day when you’d be working somebody’s job.”

“If that ain’t the pot and you ain’t had a gig since ’seventy-two.” Harley checked him. “T,” he addressed the young girl, “I think it’s a good thing that you’re working and going to school. We need more young ladies like you out there trying to better themselves instead of fucking their lives up.” He cut his eyes at his niece Karen, who was standing across the street behind McDonald’s with her boyfriend Craig. Both of them were barely into their twenties but looked to be much older because of their heavy drug use. Let Karen tell it they only used recreationally, but anybody with eyes could tell they were addicts.

“We gonna play cards or what?” Rayfield asked, trying to take his friend’s mind off his wayward niece.

“Yeah, it was on me,” Sonny spoke up.

“The hell it was, me and Ray won that last book!” Cords barked.

“Nigga, you crazier than a muthafucka, I trumped yo punk ass queen!” Harley added his two cents. It would most likely be hours before they got around to finishing the game, but this was the norm with the Senate.

“These muthafuckas are too much,” Gucci said, stepping away from the table and taking a seat on the stoop.

“That’s an understatement.” Tionna joined her. Though she had spent most of her life ripping and running up and down that block she felt out of place being back there after trying her best to avoid it since she’d left for the final time. One Hundred Fortieth Street held twice as many bad memories for her as it did good ones.

“Yo, my lung is on the gate. Let’s hit five-six and get some of that super weed,” Gucci suggested.

“Gucci, you’re bugging, that block is hot as hell. I don’t even like to pass through that muthafucka let alone buy drugs. I think they got some green on the Ave.”

“Please, I’d rather go without than to smoke that dirt they’re trying to pass off as Haze.”

“Oh, I forgot you’re too good for regular weed now that you’ve joined the ranks of the rich and famous,” Tionna teased her.

“It ain’t even about that, T. I’ve been smoking that Cali bud with Animal for so long that regular weed doesn’t even get me high anymore.” Gucci snapped her fingers as an idea formed in her head. “I know who to call to get that fire.” She pulled out her cell and punched in a number.

“Auntie Ronnie!” Duhan said and ran up the block toward the two approaching women.

“And Grandma!” Duran took off behind him.

As usual Ms. Ronnie had on something crazy. She was outfitted
in a tight-fitting black dress and high-heeled green shoes with a silver blouse. She looked crazy, but you couldn’t tell her that she wasn’t the baddest chick on the streets. Close on her heels, fidgeting uncomfortably with her skirt, was Yvette, Tionna’s mother.

Yvette looked cute in her gray skirt suit and flat shoes. Her braids needed to be done over, but Ms. Ronnie had whipped them into a nice style. From the look on her face you could see that she was beginning to get her weight back, but her eyes still had that sunken look about them. Tionna couldn’t look her in the eyes for too long because she saw too much of herself in her mother.

It had been a minute since Tionna had seen Yvette other than in passing. Growing up they had a great relationship, but as the drugs got hold of Yvette and the streets got hold of Tionna they seemed to grow apart. On more than once occasion Yvette had cleaned herself up long enough to play the role of mother to Tionna, but it was never for more than a few months at a time. After a while life without Yvette in it seemed more normal than life with her and Tionna numbed herself to her mother’s bullshit. Over the years Tionna learned to accept her mother’s addiction for just what it was, a sickness, but the pain she carried with her since she was a little girl still lingered. She and Yvette had developed a decent relationship when she was older, but she had never been able to shake that feeling of abandonment that she had carried since being a child.

“Girl, look at you. Somebody’s ass is in trouble at service tonight!” Gucci sang, admiring Yvette’s outfit. She and Yvette had always been close, sometimes closer than she was to her own mother. Ronnie had always been good to Gucci, but she didn’t have her finger on the pulse of the streets like Yvette did. There were things Gucci could talk to Yvette about that she wouldn’t dare mention in front of Ronnie.

Yvette blushed. “Gucci, I’m going to church to worship not chase men.”

“Speak for yourself.” Ronnie fluffed her weave. “It’s some fine,
and employed, Negroes in the house of the Lord. If I got to be saved to combat being single then so be it, hallelujah!” Ronnie stomped her foot for emphasis.

“Mommy, you’re going to hell,” Gucci said, embarrassed.

Ronnie looked Gucci and Tionna up and down. “At least I’ll have plenty of company.”

Yvette broke the ice. “Hi, Tionna.”

“Hey,” Tionna said slightly above a whisper.

“Been a minute since I seen you, what’s been going on?” Yvette asked warmly.

“Not much, trying to make it from day to day like everybody else.”

“So how’s them studies coming? I know working and going to school is kicking your ass.”

Tionna look surprised. “How’d you know I started going to school too?”

Yvette winked. “You know ya mama always got her ear to the streets. You better keep your nose in those books and outta these streets. Some of those paralegal courses are no joke.”

“And how would you know that?” Tionna asked.

“Because I got certified in 1984,” Yvette shot back, shocking her daughter.

“I didn’t know that,” Tionna admitted.

“There’s a lot you don’t know about your mama, which is why you need to come by and visit her more often,” Ronnie butted in.

“I know I should, but you know I be super busy with the kids,” Tionna said. As if on cue Duhan and Duran came running up.

“Grandma, Grandma,” they sang in unison, rushing Yvette for hugs.

“And have my two boys been behaving themselves?” Yvette rubbed the tops of their heads lovingly.

“Hell no, you know they stay in something.” Tionna cut her eyes
at her sons, who were staring at her mockingly from behind their grandmother.

Yvette smiled. “Tionna, you better leave my babies alone.”

“Your babies need to stop working my nerves. They need to have their lil asses in church too,” Tionna said.

“I ain’t trying to be sitting up in no church clapping and praising.” Duhan imitated someone catching the Holy Ghost.

“Boy, don’t be poking fun at the Lord.” Ronnie shook Duhan. “As a matter of fact it might do y’all little asses some good to come to service with us tonight.”

“Ronnie, we can’t just kidnap Tionna’s kids, she might’ve had plans,” Yvette said.

“Take em!” Tionna blurted out, drawing a disapproving look from Ronnie. “What I meant is that I don’t have anything planned. Me and Gucci were just gonna ride around for a while in her new truck. Besides, I know Mommy wants to spend some time with them. Ain’t that right, Grandma?” Tionna smiled devilishly at her mother.

“I think I’ve got a couple of hours to spare,” Yvette teased. She was actually thrilled to be able to spend some time with her grandsons considering both she and Tionna were too busy running the streets to make sure they visited.

“Now that that’s settled we’ll be on our way.” Gucci pulled Tionna by the arm.

“Hold on, heifer. We got one more piece of business to settle first.” Ronnie held her hand out.

“What?” Gucci looked at the outstretched hand.

“Tramps, we doing y’all a favor by taking these lil demons into the house of the Lord in the first place. The least you could do is throw me some money for gas and a Dutch.”

“You are so thirsty,” Gucci said before handing her mother a twenty.

“I don’t know why you acting like you ain’t got it. I just saw Animal’s video. My son-in-law looked good on that TV,” Ronnie said.

“First of all, we ain’t married yet. And second of all his money is his money and my money is mine,” Gucci said with conviction.

Ronnie grabbed her by the shoulders and looked her in the eyes. “Who are you and what have you done with my baby?” she joked.

Gucci broke loose. “Get off me and stop acting crazy.”

“I can’t lie, I seen the video too,” Yvette admitted with a smile. “You and that pretty lil thing fucka is gonna have some fine babies.”

Gucci checked them. “See, now I know y’all are speeding. Me and Animal ain’t having babies no time soon, if ever.”

“Gucci, you better come on wit it I don’t wanna be no old ass grandma. Catch me while I’m still young and fine.” Ronnie gave Yvette a high-five.

Gucci rolled her eyes. “Anyway, if y’all are done trying to plan my future me and my girl are about to spin Harlem. Come on, T.”

Tionna kissed her kids then hugged her mother. “Thank you, Mommy.”

“You know that’s what grandmothers are for. I ain’t been around much, Tionna, but I’m gonna try and do better.” Yvette kissed her on both cheeks.

“I know, Ma.”

“Listen, before y’all two get all caught up in the bullshit you need to remember that service is over at ten, so have your asses where we can find you when we come back. Ain’t nobody trying to be babysitting, ya hear?”

“Yes, Ms. Ronnie,” Tionna agreed.

“Ma, would y’all go ahead already,” Gucci said.

“Just remember what I said,” Ronnie warned before they left to get in her car.

“Now that we’ve got that out of the way let’s hit the liquor store and hit the bricks,” Gucci said.

“Where should we go?”

Gucci tossed her keys in the air and caught them. “Anywhere we want but I suggest we head to the projects and get some bud.”

“I ain’t been to Douglass in a minute. I wonder what’s going on down there.”

Scar lay back on the tattered bar stool blowing rings of smoke through his nose and watching them dissipate into the air. Between his legs Boots knelt on a sofa cushion staring up at him with weed-slanted eyes. In one hand she held a twenty-two-ounce of St. Ides and in the other his cock.

“You know I don’t be doing this kinda shit, right?” she asked, taking a sip of her beer.

“I know, baby, and that’s why I’m gonna make sure you’re taken care of,” Scar assured her, gently running his fingers through her sloppy weave.

Boots hesitated for a minute before she finally allowed him to guide her head down to his waiting penis. When she closed her mouth around the head he hissed like a rattlesnake that had just been disturbed from an afternoon nap. She teased the rim of his penis with the tip of her tongue, occasionally licking down the base of his shaft.

“Damn, this shit is good,” Scar panted. “Jay, come get some of this.”

“Nah, I’m good.” Jay stood in the corner looking like he was
about to audition for
American Idol.
He was a young boy, who wasn’t much older than Solomon, but dying to prove to the older cats that he belonged.

“Let me find out this nigga is scared.” Lloyd snickered from the kitchen table where he was weighing coke and baking soda that had to be cooked.

“Fuck you, man. I ain’t scared,” Jay said in a very unconvincing tone. He had never been with a woman, but he wouldn’t tell them that and leave himself open for further ridicule from his new friends.

Scar continued to manipulate Boots’s head and regarded Jay with a critical eye. “Shorty, I know you ain’t in here talking scared business? You talked all that shit about getting money on the block and you scared to tag some pussy?” Scar shook his head. “Maybe you ain’t ready to play with the big boys.”

“Nah, I’m ready to get it with y’all,” Jay said.

A tremor went through Scar as Boots took all of him in her throat and tickled his balls with her tongue. “If you’re ready then you need to get over here and handle your business.” Scar tossed Jay a condom.

Jay stood there staring at the condom and the huge brown ass hiked up in front of him. The prospect of mounting Boots made him so nervous that he felt his bowels shift. He looked from Scar’s judgmental expression to the golden tunnel in front of him and knew what he had to do. With trembling hands Jay slipped the condom on and eased behind Boots with his pants around his ankles. When he entered her from behind the heat of her vagina radiated through him as if someone had trapped a little piece of the sun and stuck it up in her. As Jay stroked her, he fought to keep his cool, but it was a losing battle and he ended up blowing his wad in less than five minutes. Jay got up and duck-waddled to the kitchen.

Boots took Scar’s dick from her mouth and looked over her
shoulder at Jay who was cleaning himself with a wet paper towel. “Damn, either my pussy is just that good or your little ass is a virgin.”